Share and Voice 6: Going Green in Mexico!

Hey everyone!!

If you know Kaileigh @ Kaileigh's Nature Log and I, I am sure you are sick of hearing about our spring break stories (sorry)! But as much we wanted to forget about school during break, "green" things followed us down there and we still talked about this class and pointed out some environmentally friendly things that Cancun, Mexico does to save money AND our planet!

Here are some things Kaileigh and I found while we were down in Mexico....

*We flew through Sun Country Airlines where we found brochures in the seats telling us how Sun Country is doing their part in helping the environment. Sun Country is one of the "greenest" airlines in the nation. If you can't read the following below, you can learn more about what they are doing by going to this website.

*We stayed at the Oasis Hotel where we found this little sign in the bathroom! It says "Dear Guest, we kindly invite you to join our environmental awareness campaign." Then it list ways to help the hotel by leaving towels on the floor if you want them washed, hung up if you didn't, and to avoid leaving the sliding door open if the A/C was on. Oasis is considers themselves as an ecologically responsible hotel.

*This shirt is from the Hardrock Cafe! There were shirts like this all over the flea markets.

Hope you got a little taste of Mexico :)

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Advocacy Project: My Political Representatives!

My Political Representatives Contact Information

President of the United States:

Barack Obama

Democratic

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

phone: 202-456-1111

U.S. Senator:

Amy Klobuchar

Democratic

302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
phone: 202-224-3244
fax: 202-228-2186

U.S. Representative:

James L. Oberstar

DFL

2365 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2308
DC Phone: 202-225-6211
DC Fax: 202-225-0699

MN Governor:

Tim Pawlenty

Republican 

130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
Phone: 651-296-3391
E-mail: tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us

State Senator:

Yvonne Prettner

DFL

75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Capitol Building, Room G-9
St. Paul, MN 55155-1606
651-296-4188

State Representative:

Thomas Huntley

DFL

585 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
651-296-2228
E-mail: rep.thomas.huntley@house.mn

St. Louis County Board 

1st District
Commissioner:
Dennis Fink, Board Chair

Room 208
100 N. 5th Avenue West

Duluth, MN 55802

Phone: 218-726-2458
Email: finkd@co.st-louis.mn.us

2nd District Commissioner:
Steve O'Neil
 Room 208 100 N. 5th Ave. W
Duluth, MN 55802
Phone: 218- 726-2359

Duluth Mayor:

Don Ness

DFL

Room 402, 411 West First Street
Duluth, MN 55802
Phone: 218-730-5230
Fax: 218- 730-5904

E-mail: dness@duluthmn.gov

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Ghandi

Review of Documentary: "Thirst"

So as we all know, technology has a mind of it's own. That was the case for this documentary we watched! We watched the first half of "Thirst". 

Summary:

Thirst is a non-narrated documentary which takes a look at the issue of water privatization all around the world. Going back to our reading 31, some of us learned that water privatization has some issues concerning human rights, corruption of the government, and economic dilemmas. Thirst takes a deeper look into this and shows us the corporate drive to control and profit from our water. This film also showed us what other communities such as Bolivia and India are doing about the issue of water privatization. "Thirst" also gave us an inside look at conferences that are held and attended my many people such as members of the World Bank who discuss this issue and are really only looking at profits and money figures, rather than the concerns of the citizens.....they were all drinking bottled water.

Stockton, California:

The main focus from what we have watched in this film was about a town called Stockton in California. Since 2001, the issue of water privatization concerned the citizens because through privatization, water could be raised 30-300% in prices being managed and operated by OMI-Thames. Stockton's Mayor Podesto wants to approve privatization of water because it will save the government >$172 million over 20 years if approved (although I have read on many sites that it was $600 million). The citizens were enraged because they want to have a voice and vote for this issue. Citizens of Stockton are saying "Water for life, not for profit!"

What I Found Through Further Research:

After going through multiple websites about the Stockton, California water issues, I found a very informative site from the Sierra Club website. The Sierra Club is the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization. 

After 7 years of this on-going battle between the government and the citizens of Stockton, the city council decided in favor of local water control, marking a victory for the people of this town! By a vote of 5-o, the city council decided to end the water and sewer services contract. Dale Stocking, Conservation Chair of the Delta/Sierra Group of the Sierra Club stated, "After seven years of fighting for local control of water, it is great to see such a victory for the people of Stockton, and we hope it will serve as an example and inspiration for communities across the country."

Choh's Final Thoughts: 

This week really opened up my eyes to a brand new issue for me concerning water privatization. It was a huge global issue I didn't know much about! I am glad we were able to read about this issue, watch part of a documentary, and discuss and share thoughts about privatization of water.

Mayor Podesto stated, "...it's time to think of Stockton's citizens as out customers." What do you think about this statement??

Dr. V said something in class the other day that I think will inspire us to think outside of the box...

"Think globally, act locally."

Have a great Spring Break!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Reflections: Week 7 and 8!

So weeks 7 and 8 came and went. We covered a lot of material so let's recap what we did within these past 2 weeks:

Week 7:

We were assigned to read "Ill Winds: The Chemical Plant Next Door". This reading left some people thinking about the life of Becky Bradway and her life in Buffalo, Illinois. The small town of Buffalo had a chemical plant nearby called Borden. Borden is a plant that produces products many people use without thinking twice about where it came from, such as PVC, glue, saran wrap, etc. Borden has been accused of dumping illegal amounts of toxins into the water and Bradway gave us her insight on this issue and how it has effected her family. The reading left us wondering, did this chemical plant next door lead people to develop cancers or not? In class, we discussed why some people liked the story and some did not because if left many people wondering and not really had a direct answer, by this point, I didn't know much about the effects of chemical plants and how they contaminate water. Which is why I enjoyed the documentary "Green"...

"Green" was an amazing documentary made by a student named Laura Dunn. This was interesting because this opened our eyes to an issue along a 100 mile stretch of the Mississippi River in Louisiana nicknamed "Cancer Alley". Cancer Alley had an alarming trend of cases of cancer and sicknesses among the residents of this area. The plants and companies responsible for dumping illegal amounts of nitrates and toxins in the water were many companies we have heard of and are consumers of! The plants were responsible for reporting their own amounts of waste into the water, but in discussion it was said "It is like turning yourself in for a speeding ticket!". This documentary felt more personable because people that were effected from Cancer Alley were interviewed and clearly many of them are sick, sad, and feel helpless. This film opened our eyes to the issue of contaminated water and the effects of chemical plants near residential areas.

Lastly, another interesting thing this we did on Week 7 was our Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group. For this eye opener, we went through the Environmental Working Group's database of many cosmetic or "COSMANIC" (Steve@ SteveGoesGreen) products we use on a regular basis and found out how dangerous it is to the environment and to ourselves. What I found out was that my favorite face moisturizer rated a level 7, that is VERY dangerous to the environment had many chemicals. Many others found out that their products were harmful too! What this eye opener showed us was that the things we use everyday has an impact on the environment and some of the products we use support the chemical plants that we learned about in the reading and the documentaries we discussed this week. Everything from week 7 was tied together!

Week 8:

So the theme of this week was water privatization which is a new term and an eye-opening issue for me. I was assigned to do the reading review of Reading 31: Privatizing Water. Since this was a new term for me and some of the classmates, doing a little research on what water privatization IS helped with understanding the reading. The reading talked about the riots in Cochabamba, Bolivia where hundreds were injured and one killed due to citizens being enraged by water privatization in their area. Water privatization is opposed by many due to poor customer service, poor quality, and many people could not afford the water. This reading lead us to the documentary of "Thirst". Thirst was about water privatization as well. This film showed us what other countries are doing with their water issues. Some are preserving, some are not having issues, and some are having many problems with this issue. The mayor of Stockton, California is planning on signing for having their water run by a private sector which is enraging some citizens of this town. The protesters of this town are thinking "Water for life, not for profit!". As a class, we discussed our views on water privatization and the raising question was "is water a human right? or can someone "own" it and charge people for something that is a necessity of life?" Then the documentary had some technical difficulties but I think we all can imagine what is going on!

A view of the beautiful Lake Superior. A water source we are so lucky to live by!

(Image from hickerphoto)

Again, this class never fails to teach me something new. Have a great spring break everybody!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Share and Voice 5: Pass the Torch!

WOW guys, I cannot believe how long I have had these blog awards. Sorry! 

So I received 2 awards, one from Sara@ A Leaf of Sara's Life and Samantha@ Samantha's Running with the Wild. I received the Enviro-COOL blog for my Share and Voice #3 post about the environmentally friendly toilets I found at our school here at UMD! :)

***So I am passing this award on to 2 people. The first one goes to JEFF @ Cuddling Conifers with Jeff for his recent Share and Voice about helping out a friend after a fun night (you can be a good friend AND environmentally friendly!) I think this was great because it is something most of us can relate to and probably use on most weekends! I also thought it was humorous! 

***My 2nd award goes to Derek@ DP Keepin-It-Green for his recent Share and Voice: 1% for the Planet. I LOVED the video that he posted along with it because the song is amazing, there are cool pictures, and it shows companies that will donate 1% of their sales to environmental groups! I didn't even know about this and Derek spread the word! I ate a Clif bar today AND I am a fan of Jack Johnson :)...both are part of the 1% for the Planet!

So here you go Jeff and Derek! 

Here are directions for you to "pass the torch"! 

1. Leave a comment below so that I know you "picked up" the award.

2. Create a Share and Voice post that says you've received the award and indicate who the award is from (be sure to hyperlink).

3. Also indicate to whom you are going to pass on the award and why. Be sure to hyperlink the blogger (use main blog URL) and the blog title (use the specific URL for that blog post).

4. Copy and paste these instructions at the bottom of your post.

5. Publish the post.

6. Visit each blogger you've awarded and leave a comment telling them they've won.

7. Continue the process...

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Review of Reading 31: Privatizing Water

Hey Class!

So for my reading review, I read the article "Privatizing Water" written by Curtis Runyan. 

Before we begin, I think we all should have a little lesson on what WATER PRIVATIZATION even is so we can all have an understanding of what is being discussed!...

• Privatizing water is a private sector's participation in the provision of water sanitation, services, management, and ownership. Which means the water run and owned by these private sectors are not government funded.
  
• Reasons for privatizing water: mobilizing financing for investment, need for technical expertise, saving the municipalities money, and increasing efficiency.
  
• In developing countries, there have been pressure from financial institutions for these developing countries to privatize their water because their government doesn't have the funds to support the water in addition to the other government-funded resources that their citizens need.
  
• Arguments opposing privatizing water: 
  

~water is more expensive

~less quality and safety of the water

~will lead to giant multinational corporations controlling the necessities of life

~profits would be valued over service

~reduced access to the poor

~loss of jobs due to staff cuts to reduce operation costs of the companies

Image from David Baldinger

Summary of Reading 31: 

This article starts us off with an event that happened on April 8, 2000 in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Thousands of people had stormed the central plaza to continue a protest that has been going on for months. A 17 year old student was killed and hundreds more injured during this protest. What was all this rage and chaos about? WATER PRIVATIZATION. 

The city of Chochabamba privatized their water in 1999 after the World Bank had threatened to withhold money in debt relief if Bolivia did not privatize their water. Water bills rose by 35% which lead the citizens to this protest. Eventually, the protesters declared victory after the Bolivian government decided to take control of their water systems. In the world, 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water due to government failure. There are now 36 countries which are all in Africa, Asia, and the Middle-East that are water stressed and 7 more countries will join the ranks by 2015 which will effect the global water-market by $1 trillion. Many developing countries  are faced with rapid urbanization and are looking to the corporate sector for assistance. This dependancy on corporate sectors has lead to citizens of poor communities paying up to 40 times the municipal rate and the quality of water is questionable and unreliable. In Ghana, the average income is barely over a $1 a day. This is still an on going debate on who controls the water, and back in Cochabamba, the future of the city's water system is still uncertain.

Choh's Final Thoughts and Concepts That Challenged My Thinking:

• Water: A human right or a commodity? Do you think water is a fundamental human right, or a commodity, a privileged service that you can only access if you can afford it? We all know water is a major necessity of life! Why take this human right away from people who cannot afford it? We all need water and many people will not be able to have adequate amounts to live a healthy life.
• To put yourselves in the shoes of the people effected, I want you to imagine making $1 a day, supporting a family, and also think of your current utility bills right now...now think about increasing that bill by 35%! Is this sustainable? Definitely not.
• The issue of privatizing water and lack of quality to low income families reminds me of the documentary "Green" and environmental racism. Maude Barlow, an opponent of water privatization stated, "Because the companies are motivated to profit and not public service, they have no incentive to supply the poor with water." I believe water is not about profit, but since these citizens have no money, they don't have rights to a basic need? 
• I don't want to be narrow-minded and one-sided here, so I tried looking at why some areas should privatize water. I can understand why financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have encouraged developing countries to privatize their water because it will financially help the money issues of the government. But in the long run, I believe the nation's government would eventually become corrupt because of the citizens not being able to afford a necessity in their life. I think as long as countries are going to be money-hungry and not concerned about the well-being of their own citizens, water privatization will be an on-going issue.

New Terms:

• Water Privatization- private sector participation in water services and sanitation
• Private Sectors- private economy which is run for private profit and it is not controlled by the government
• Urbanization-physical growth of rural or natural areas as a result of population growth
• Water Stressed-not enough fresh water to meet the industrial, municipal, and food production needs of the people.
• Municipal Rate- an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory commonly denotes a city, town, or village.
• Commodity-Anything for which there is a demand
• Fundamental Right- or a human right which is the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled

Learn More:

• People's Declaration AGAINST Water Privatization
• Opening the Floodgates: Why Water Privatization Will Continue

Thanks for reading! Let me know what your thoughts are!!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Share and Voice 4: "The Old Man and the Storm"

Hey guys!

So today I watched the documentary titled "The Old Man and the Storm" which was held in Bohannon 90 with discussions led by Dr. V and others from the civic engagement department! I went to watch this documentary for a few reasons, but the main reason I decided to go was because I am embarrassed to say this, but Hurricane Katrina occurred during the summer before my senior year and by being involved in sports, living in a bubble, and it being my senior year, issues in the news did not really interest me. Being in college now, it made it sad to think that the only time I saw issues of Hurricane Katrina was on magazine covers or watching the t.v. show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians"...I needed to open my eyes and understand what happened down there!!!

The focus of this documentary was about class and race and how the environment effects it. This film reminded me a lot about the film we watched in class called "Green". I think "Green" reminded me of "The Old Man and the Storm" because in this film, it was about the Hurricane Katrina victims, but New Orleans is still a mess, nothing has really been done about it, and people are wondering, is this a socioeconomic issue? The citizens are furious and feel that the government doesn't care about poor people or black people. I think it is a socioeconomic issue because many of the Hurricane Katrina victims were from low-income, uninsured, or underinsured families, and even today in 2009, many families are still homeless, job-less, and are trying to put the pieces back together. 

All images from pbs.org

This interview style documentary followed the Gettridge family. One member of the family is an 82 year old man named Herbert Gettridge, who stayed down in Louisiana because he is trying to restore his damaged house to try to bring back his wife of 65 years home. Herbert and his family of 300 members were effected by this hurricane in a major way. Everyone in that family is scattered around the country. This hurricane tore apart the Gettridge family, and this family is just a small reflection of the 500,000 families effected!! 

Here are some alarming facts that I learned from the film about the effects of Hurricane Katrina:

• 500,000 families are displaced
• Charity is the solution for people who didn't have insurance during the storm
• This hurricane caused the largest federal funded restoration project ever! 7.5 BILLION dollars
• Many families are depressed and teenagers admitted that they feel like they needed counseling. Drinking  and violence rates went up and suicide rates tripled!
• 18 months after the hurricane, 100,000 people applied for the RoadHome Program, but only 500 people got some money.
• 25,000 powerlines of Entergy were torn down, leaving that company bankrupt and no electricity
• There are no schools, no police stations, no firestations
• Political figures in that area of that time either resigned or did not run for their position again because they feel like they did all that they could do.

So, what do you think?? Do you think this is an example of environmental racism? Do you think if the people that were effected by Hurricane Katrina were from higher income families and maybe a different race that they would be treated differently and something would be done sooner? Let me know what you think!!!

Thanks for reading!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

Hello!

So for my cosmetic product, I chose my all-time favorite tinted moisturizer, and it is from Shiseido! I went to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. The Environmental Working Group took on this project because the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) doesn't require companies to test for their own products for safety. So you can search for your own product and REALLY know what it is in your personal care products!

This is what I found out about my Shiseido moisturizer...This product was rated a 7 in a red dot. This indicates that this product is a high hazard!

Also, the ingredients in this product are linked to....

The most dangerous and hazardous ingredient in this product is called methylparaben.  It's concerns include: violations, restrictions, warnings, allergies, organ system toxicity, irritation, and biochemical changes.

Choh's Thoughts:

Wow, these results break my heart! I am absolutely in love with this product and company. It kind of makes me feel guilty putting it on now! I had NO IDEA about the dangers, the violations and restrictions about this product. I didn't know the FDA doesn't require for these companies to test for their own product's safety! Hm, I always thought about trying out some green cosmetics, maybe it is something I should consider...I am sure many of my other favorite products contain these hazardous materials. This Eye-Opener really was a wake up call for all of us as consumers!! Let's make informed decisions!!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi