President:
Barack Obama - Democrat
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Phone: 202-456-1111
Website
Congress:
All Franken - Democrat
320 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-5641
Website
Amy Klobuchar - Democrat
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3244
Website
Governor:
Tim Pawlenty - Republican (Incumbent
Office of the Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-296-3391
Website
U.S. Representative:
Chip Cravaack - Republican
Cravaack for Congress Campaign Committee
P.O. Box 951
North Branch, MN 55056
651-317-9245
Website
State Representative:
Tim Faust
567 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-296-0518
Website
County Board:
Gary McInerney
500 SW 5th Ave.
Grand Rapids, MN 55744
Dale Christy
dchristy@ci.grand-rapids.mn.us
Joe Chandler
218-259-9298
jchandler@ci.grand-rapids.mn.us
Ed Zabinski
ezabinski@ci.grand-rapids.mn.us
City Mayor:
Dale Adams
1806 Fraser Drive
Grand Rapids, MN 55744
Home: 218-326-8119
Website
Monday, November 8, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Reflection: Weeks 5-8
Overview:
Over the past couple weeks we have discussed the effects of plastic bottles on the environment, water mining has on communities, and industrial plants have on communities. We have also checked out what cool websites you can find such as JunkMarketStyle.com or costmeticdatabase.com.
Film:
The documentary 'Tapped' showed the effects that water mining has on communities. It showed how corporations like Nestle can enter in to communities with cheap permits to pump water before the citizens realize it. They pump the water and then sell it for many times its value, without the communities being compensated for their resources. The documentary also showed the negative effects of the overuse of plastic bottles. Consider this map and Wikipedia page. It is pretty disgusting to think this is something real.
Websites:
JunkMarketStyle.com is a very cool website that shows creative ideas that people have had with their old, otherwise unusable, stuff.
The other website that we used in the Eye Opener post is called cosmeticdatabase.com. At this website you can search for the things you use for personal hygiene to learn about how hazardous it is for you.
Conclusion:
Overall, I have found the stuff listed above as the most interesting stuff covered up to this point in the semester. I love films and found Tapped to be very well done, I think I can speak for a lot of viewers in saying it kept you engaged the entire 75 minutes and raised concerns that will not be forgotten anytime soon. I loved the websites too. I am always looking for ways to make my house feel more 'homey' and I think this is going to help me open my eyes to find different ways of doing that for the future. And the next time I am going to buy cosmetics for myself, I will be comparing them in cosmetic database before I purchase new ones, partly to see how hazardous mine are, and partly to see if I can discover something new!
Over the past couple weeks we have discussed the effects of plastic bottles on the environment, water mining has on communities, and industrial plants have on communities. We have also checked out what cool websites you can find such as JunkMarketStyle.com or costmeticdatabase.com.
Film:
The documentary 'Tapped' showed the effects that water mining has on communities. It showed how corporations like Nestle can enter in to communities with cheap permits to pump water before the citizens realize it. They pump the water and then sell it for many times its value, without the communities being compensated for their resources. The documentary also showed the negative effects of the overuse of plastic bottles. Consider this map and Wikipedia page. It is pretty disgusting to think this is something real.
Websites:
JunkMarketStyle.com is a very cool website that shows creative ideas that people have had with their old, otherwise unusable, stuff.
The other website that we used in the Eye Opener post is called cosmeticdatabase.com. At this website you can search for the things you use for personal hygiene to learn about how hazardous it is for you.
Conclusion:
Overall, I have found the stuff listed above as the most interesting stuff covered up to this point in the semester. I love films and found Tapped to be very well done, I think I can speak for a lot of viewers in saying it kept you engaged the entire 75 minutes and raised concerns that will not be forgotten anytime soon. I loved the websites too. I am always looking for ways to make my house feel more 'homey' and I think this is going to help me open my eyes to find different ways of doing that for the future. And the next time I am going to buy cosmetics for myself, I will be comparing them in cosmetic database before I purchase new ones, partly to see how hazardous mine are, and partly to see if I can discover something new!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain
This post is an introduction to junking. I will let you know what it is and why it is done. First of all, some helpful terms:
- antiques/antiquing: "an object belonging to, made in, or typical of an earlier time period."
- junk/junking: "the retrieval of ordinarily discarded things and materials (junk)"
- flea market: "a market, usually held outdoors, where antiques, used household goods, and curios are sold"
- thrift shop: "a shop that sells used articles, especially clothing, as to benifit a charitable organization"
- upcycling: "the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value"
- resale shop: "the selling of something purchased. Example: a secondhand store."
Below are some resources that you can use to find some of the places that go with the terms above:
Antiques: Father Time Antiques, 395 S Lake Ave #1, Duluth, MN 55802. 218-625-2379. And they don't have their own website or blog, but here is their contact info and a map of the area where the store is located.
Junking: Look below for some great finds from JunkMarketStyle! Their website provides a great resource for anyone interested in getting involved with junking. Here is the blog.
Flea market: Hinkley Flea Market, 701 Fire Monument Rd. Hinkley, MN 55037. Website here.
Thrift shop: Goodwill, 700 Garfield Ave. #1, Duluth, MN 55802. 218-722-6351. Here is their organization's local website.
Upcycling: I couldn't find a good local example for the local Duluth area. I would say a good example of this is something someone could use in their home. Rather than discarding something, think of a creative way to utilize your waste. My roommates and I are saving bottle caps of all different colors to make a cool design for a table we are going to construct. When you consider things like this, you know that you can find a purpose in just about anything.
Resale shop: Savers, 1740 Mall Drive, Duluth, MN 55811. A great place to search and find discarded clothes and furniture for much cheaper than you can find in a department store.
Here is some cool things I found at JunkMarketStyle.com:
Table cover - I think the reason I like this is that it reminds me of home. Living on my own now I have noticed how much more cozy my parents' house feels. This isn't a reflection of the furniture, mine has plenty. But I think it is because of all of the little, slightly decorative things.
Candle holder - I like candles and this seems like it would be something cool. It hangs down from the ceiling and the candle sits in the middle. I wonder how the light looks after it comes through the crystals?
Broken plate table top - You may have to flip through the different pictures of this one, but it is pretty cool when you see it. They used broken pieces of dishes and some tiles to create different designs and textures for table tops.
I have always liked to find things that I can get some positive use out of. I never thought I would find so much about this kind of thing. I can see that a lot of people find a lot of value in what others may discard as trash. Sometimes I worry about hoard too many things, but I think a good explanation is that I just wanna make sure I can get all the value that I can out of the things I own.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Read 'n' Seed 5: The final quarter of The Omnivore's Dilemma
The final quarter of the book covers chapters 16-20 named: 16) The Omnivore's Dilemma, 17) The Ethics of Eating Animals, 18) Hunting: The Meat, 19) Gathering: The Fungi, and 20) The Perfect Meal. These chapters covered pages 287-411.
The first chapter I read in this section doubled as the title of the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, chapter 16. In this chapter, Pollan explains the problem that Americans have when it comes to food. When we have so much food to choose from, what do we pick? He also points out that America is so diverse, with people from so many different backgrounds, that we will have a very diverse selection of food. Our country has no singular tradition of food, which is why our cultural norms can change so easily. Just in the last decade, think of how we have strayed away from carbs. How many other countries can you think of that would change the focal points of their diets so often?
In chapter 17, The Ethics of Eating Animals, he decides he needs to spend some thought on the ethics of eating meat. He reads a copy of Peter Singer's book called Animal Liberation. Singer poses questions that can be summarized as: how come we as humans justify not eating less intelligent humans but use the same logic to eat animals? I thought that was kind of a dark question to ask but he also says that if you were to say "because we are human and they are animals", well then we would be a "speciesist". Pollan ends up exchanging emails with Singer, and Singer makes a point that the principle of eating animals isnt wrong, its the practice. Pollan states that slaughterhouses should have glass walls, to ensure humane efforts are taken in slaughterhouses.
In chapter 18, Hunting: The Meat, Pollan goes on two hunts for a wild pig. The first hunt ends up unsuccessful. But during the second, he is one of two men who shoot and kill a pig. He described his feelings of the kill first as happy and grateful to have slain an animal. But then his feeling changes, he now feels disgusted, both by what he has done, and for the fact that the pig had begun to be dressed. And after this is all over, he sees a photo of him after the kill when he is very happy and excited, then felt a great sense of shame. Through all of this, he says he would rather suffer with this level of disgust, than become a vegetarian and miss out on all the meat he loves.
In chapter 19, Foraging: The Fungi, Pollan goes mushroom gathering with a friend who is more experienced. When they end up finding some, they go home to cook them, but Pollan feels much more comfortable eating the ones that his friend, Angelo, had picked. After throwing his away he realizes that this is one of the signatures of omnivores, we would rather eat something that someone else has and lived to tell about it.
In chapter 20, The Perfect Meal, Pollan finally makes a meal that features the big he had killed in chapter 18. One part I found interesting, was him saying grace, he thought it would be too cheesy to thank the food that he was about to eat. He then realizes that that form of grace was already done in the way that he had found and prepared the meal with such care. He states that he knows most families wont be able to prepare meals this way, that it just isn't practical. He knows this type of meal is more of a ritual, and as such it still does have a place in our lives.
Summary:
This book was very interesting from beginning to end. It was something I really enjoyed overall. I loved how he dove head first in to finding out where our meals come from, and how much effort it takes. Some of the most interesting things I will take with me are things about the corn industry. The fact that corn is used to make almost everything we eat, about how it is fed to animals unnaturally, and about how it loses almost 90% of its food energy... I don't think I will ever forget these things. I also really enjoyed the farm chapter, about how the cows and chickens help form a circle of life with each other to contribute to a self-sufficient farm. I think this book will have an effect on me that I will start to put more thought in to what I am eating. I know I want to lean towards more organic foods when I can, and that there is a price that goes along with that. I am willing to pay for what I believe is a better product, produced in a better way. I think that these are important matters, farms and communities should be self sufficient, there would be a lot less potential for food shortages if all communities work to provide for themselves, independent of other parts of the world. Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested in the food they eat or looking for new perspective on the food industry or our own cultural norms. For those who don't care, there will still be McDonalds.
The first chapter I read in this section doubled as the title of the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, chapter 16. In this chapter, Pollan explains the problem that Americans have when it comes to food. When we have so much food to choose from, what do we pick? He also points out that America is so diverse, with people from so many different backgrounds, that we will have a very diverse selection of food. Our country has no singular tradition of food, which is why our cultural norms can change so easily. Just in the last decade, think of how we have strayed away from carbs. How many other countries can you think of that would change the focal points of their diets so often?
In chapter 17, The Ethics of Eating Animals, he decides he needs to spend some thought on the ethics of eating meat. He reads a copy of Peter Singer's book called Animal Liberation. Singer poses questions that can be summarized as: how come we as humans justify not eating less intelligent humans but use the same logic to eat animals? I thought that was kind of a dark question to ask but he also says that if you were to say "because we are human and they are animals", well then we would be a "speciesist". Pollan ends up exchanging emails with Singer, and Singer makes a point that the principle of eating animals isnt wrong, its the practice. Pollan states that slaughterhouses should have glass walls, to ensure humane efforts are taken in slaughterhouses.
In chapter 18, Hunting: The Meat, Pollan goes on two hunts for a wild pig. The first hunt ends up unsuccessful. But during the second, he is one of two men who shoot and kill a pig. He described his feelings of the kill first as happy and grateful to have slain an animal. But then his feeling changes, he now feels disgusted, both by what he has done, and for the fact that the pig had begun to be dressed. And after this is all over, he sees a photo of him after the kill when he is very happy and excited, then felt a great sense of shame. Through all of this, he says he would rather suffer with this level of disgust, than become a vegetarian and miss out on all the meat he loves.
In chapter 19, Foraging: The Fungi, Pollan goes mushroom gathering with a friend who is more experienced. When they end up finding some, they go home to cook them, but Pollan feels much more comfortable eating the ones that his friend, Angelo, had picked. After throwing his away he realizes that this is one of the signatures of omnivores, we would rather eat something that someone else has and lived to tell about it.
In chapter 20, The Perfect Meal, Pollan finally makes a meal that features the big he had killed in chapter 18. One part I found interesting, was him saying grace, he thought it would be too cheesy to thank the food that he was about to eat. He then realizes that that form of grace was already done in the way that he had found and prepared the meal with such care. He states that he knows most families wont be able to prepare meals this way, that it just isn't practical. He knows this type of meal is more of a ritual, and as such it still does have a place in our lives.
Summary:
This book was very interesting from beginning to end. It was something I really enjoyed overall. I loved how he dove head first in to finding out where our meals come from, and how much effort it takes. Some of the most interesting things I will take with me are things about the corn industry. The fact that corn is used to make almost everything we eat, about how it is fed to animals unnaturally, and about how it loses almost 90% of its food energy... I don't think I will ever forget these things. I also really enjoyed the farm chapter, about how the cows and chickens help form a circle of life with each other to contribute to a self-sufficient farm. I think this book will have an effect on me that I will start to put more thought in to what I am eating. I know I want to lean towards more organic foods when I can, and that there is a price that goes along with that. I am willing to pay for what I believe is a better product, produced in a better way. I think that these are important matters, farms and communities should be self sufficient, there would be a lot less potential for food shortages if all communities work to provide for themselves, independent of other parts of the world. Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested in the food they eat or looking for new perspective on the food industry or our own cultural norms. For those who don't care, there will still be McDonalds.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Eye Opener: Ecological Working Group
The cosmetic product I use everyday that I chose for this review is Old Spice Antiperspirant Deodorant. This review is done from cosmeticdatabase.com and is really helpful for finding out about your products or ones you may want to try.
The product that I chose to review, partially because I use it every day, is Old Spice Antiperspirant Deodorant Invisible Solid. I really like this product and have used it since it came out a couple years ago. (The Fresh Collection is newer, but I used their other scents before these were available)
The deodorant scored fairly well in all categories except one: neurotoxicity/allergies/immunotoxicity/miscellaneous irritation score of 8/10. This is due to the fragrance ingredient. And while I like the way it smells, it isn't something I need. So if it was possible to offer the product free or fragrance I would be okay with it. And as it is currently, it isn't a big enough concern for me to consider a switch, although I think it would be interesting to investigate new products.
The product that I chose to review, partially because I use it every day, is Old Spice Antiperspirant Deodorant Invisible Solid. I really like this product and have used it since it came out a couple years ago. (The Fresh Collection is newer, but I used their other scents before these were available)
The deodorant scored fairly well in all categories except one: neurotoxicity/allergies/immunotoxicity/miscellaneous irritation score of 8/10. This is due to the fragrance ingredient. And while I like the way it smells, it isn't something I need. So if it was possible to offer the product free or fragrance I would be okay with it. And as it is currently, it isn't a big enough concern for me to consider a switch, although I think it would be interesting to investigate new products.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Read 'n' Seed 4: The Omnivore's Dilemma
For the third quarter of this book I read chapters 11-15. They were called: 11) The Animals, 12) Slaughter, 13) The Market, 14) The Meal, and 15) The Forager.
In Chapter 11, Pollan spends a day learning how a farmer, Salatin, runs his farm. He sees how Salatin tries to imitate nature in the way that birds will follow livestock, feeding on the larvae and parasites while helping to fertilize the soil left behind. He does this by pulling a couple wagons that chickens live in behind a tractor, then letting them out where his cows had been the previous day. (For those of you where in Mrs. V's Environmental Health class, this was shown in the documentary "Fresh") It is this kind of efficiency that makes the author question the way the word efficiency is used to describe a farms processes.
In Chapter 12, Pollan goes with Salatin to the de-assembly line to learn how to prepare chickens for market. What was interesting about this is that while this is happening, customers can see their dinner being killed. This forces accountability on the farmer because if he wants to keep customers, he must keep it clean and humane. It's hard to imagine what we would see if we could look in to a large corporation's slaughterhouse.
In Chapter 13, there is much discussion about the price of food now. Salatin says that food as Wal-Mart is not cheap, but "irresponsibly priced", and that we must take into account all of the hidden costs of industrialized food. The author gives statistics that Americans only spend about 10% of their income on food. This number was closer to 20% nearly 50 years ago. He theorizes that we have found ways to pay for things that aren't necessity, like TVs and cell phones, and asks what should our priorities be?
In Chapter 14, very appropriately titled: The Meal, Pollan wanted to bring some of Salatin's meat back home to California to eat with his family. But he soon decided that it would go against the principles of a local farm. So he brings the food to a friends house to share a meal with them.
In Chapter 15, Pollan decides to create a meal that he has done all the gathering, growing, and hunting himself. He knows it is a different kind of journey to accomplish this. Because as he points out, the hunter-gatherer food chain no longer exists. He wants to follow this idea though because he wants to go as far into the food chain that we need to as he can.
These five chapters were very interesting because it deals with a lot of what I think of when I think of what I want to eat, where the food comes from, and how it gets there. The farm he was at was small scale, self sufficient and he really went through the whole process of farm > market > meal. I think this was discussed in a video I saw in class, but if communities can rely on themselves for food, then there will be less catastrophic food shortages. When there is a massive recall due to contamination, or if there is a shortage because of a natural disaster, what do we do then? I believe more people would be better served by having self sufficient communities.
In Chapter 11, Pollan spends a day learning how a farmer, Salatin, runs his farm. He sees how Salatin tries to imitate nature in the way that birds will follow livestock, feeding on the larvae and parasites while helping to fertilize the soil left behind. He does this by pulling a couple wagons that chickens live in behind a tractor, then letting them out where his cows had been the previous day. (For those of you where in Mrs. V's Environmental Health class, this was shown in the documentary "Fresh") It is this kind of efficiency that makes the author question the way the word efficiency is used to describe a farms processes.
In Chapter 12, Pollan goes with Salatin to the de-assembly line to learn how to prepare chickens for market. What was interesting about this is that while this is happening, customers can see their dinner being killed. This forces accountability on the farmer because if he wants to keep customers, he must keep it clean and humane. It's hard to imagine what we would see if we could look in to a large corporation's slaughterhouse.
In Chapter 13, there is much discussion about the price of food now. Salatin says that food as Wal-Mart is not cheap, but "irresponsibly priced", and that we must take into account all of the hidden costs of industrialized food. The author gives statistics that Americans only spend about 10% of their income on food. This number was closer to 20% nearly 50 years ago. He theorizes that we have found ways to pay for things that aren't necessity, like TVs and cell phones, and asks what should our priorities be?
In Chapter 14, very appropriately titled: The Meal, Pollan wanted to bring some of Salatin's meat back home to California to eat with his family. But he soon decided that it would go against the principles of a local farm. So he brings the food to a friends house to share a meal with them.
In Chapter 15, Pollan decides to create a meal that he has done all the gathering, growing, and hunting himself. He knows it is a different kind of journey to accomplish this. Because as he points out, the hunter-gatherer food chain no longer exists. He wants to follow this idea though because he wants to go as far into the food chain that we need to as he can.
These five chapters were very interesting because it deals with a lot of what I think of when I think of what I want to eat, where the food comes from, and how it gets there. The farm he was at was small scale, self sufficient and he really went through the whole process of farm > market > meal. I think this was discussed in a video I saw in class, but if communities can rely on themselves for food, then there will be less catastrophic food shortages. When there is a massive recall due to contamination, or if there is a shortage because of a natural disaster, what do we do then? I believe more people would be better served by having self sufficient communities.
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