Reflection: Week 8-14

To the left is a picture of my "Junk" project (and the mess that is my room displayed in it, finals have gotten the best of me).  I have had this mirror since probably 6th grade, and it was previously decorated in stickers and was broken off the frame.  I used an old bed sheet to cover the frame, then hot glued the frame back onto the mirror, and used flowers from a lei to decorate it a little.  Fixing this mirror is something that I have been meaning to do for a long time so I am really glad that it got to be part of this class, and I really enjoyed making it.

Not only did I enjoy this project, but the other assignments that we did during the second half of this semester.  I really enjoyed the Share and Voice assignments.  They gave us all a chance to share who we are and what we find to be interesting and beneficial.  I really enjoyed looking around the internet for different things that would be interesting to share with my classmates.

Another thing that we did in the second half of this semester were our Advocacy Projects.  My Advocacy Project was about reducing the heat island and smog effects around Federal Facilities.  I found it really interesting to learn about heat island effects and ways in which they can be reduced.  Through the Advocacy Project I also learned the steps that I would take if wanting to make a change, like learning who to contact and how to properly do so.

Overall, this half of the semester, and this class overall, have been very enjoyable.  I have always wanted to live a more natural and green lifestyle, I'm not sure what exactly was holding me back, but I now feel I have the base knowledge and resources to lead me to live the way of life that I really want to.

Share and Voice: The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes

This video basically speaks for itself.  The fact that this young person has the courage to get up in front of the United Nations and tell them how she feels and what she thinks and what she wants done about it is pretty amazing.  If more people would have the courage to get up and fight for what they thought was right the world would probably be a happier and healthier place to live.  I really liked what she said about if we do not know how to fix the things that we keep destroying why do we feel it is okay to keep destroying them?  That is something that I did not really think about before, but it is a very good point that should probably be brought up more often.  This video also made me wonder, if I had the chance to speak in front of the United Nations what would I say?  I think she covered a lot of ground in a very small amount of time, touching on environment and poverty, I don't know if I could do any better.  What would you say if you got a chance to speak to some of the most powerful decision makers in the world?

Advocacy Project: Letter to Elected Official

December 11, 2011
Senator Chip Cravaack
6448 Main Street
Suite 6
North Branch, MN 55056

Vote YES on proposed bill H.R.51.

I am writing to encourage you to vote YES on the proposed bill H.R.51 Heat Island and Smog Reduction Act of 2011.  The act proposes that each federal agency be required to develop a heat island reduction plan for all federal property and facilities under its possession or control that are located in an area designated under the Clean Air Act as being in non-attainment with national ambient air quality standards for ozone.  The reduction of heat island and smog reduction is important to protect the health of people living and working in the community effected by heat islands and smog.

As a community member and health educator this issue is important to me because passing of this bill will lead to over all health of the nation because we will not be living in places where there are unhealthy amounts of green house gas emissions and illness's caused by heat.

The bill will require each plan to include measures to maximize tree cover on federal property, increase solar reflectivity through techniques such as roofs with solar reflectivity, vegetated roofs, and paving materials with higher solar reflectivity.  These things will cost money at first but will end up costing less money in the long run.  Doing these things will also lead to a happier and healthier population.

Again, I encourage you to vote YES on the proposed bill H.R.51 Heat Island and Smog Reduction Act of 2011.  For more information feel free to contact me at 555-212-3434.

Thank you for your time,
Nicole Hollstadt