Share and Voice: Take Action to Stop Global Warming

I wanted to find some ideas that we can all partake in for my last Share and Voice to fight global warming. The site I found, StopGlobalWarming.org: Take Action had some really good ideas that are easy to take up and can do a big part... Read on!

1. Use compact fluorescent bulbs

2. Inflate your tires

3. Change your air filter

4. Fill the dishwasher (i like this one!)

5. Use recycled paper

6. Adjust your thermostat

7. Check your water heater

8. Change the AC filter

9. Take shorter showers (yay me! my eco-chic lifestyle change)

10. Install a low-flow shower head

11. Buy products locally

12. Buy energy certificates

13. Buy minimally packaged goods

14. Buy a hybrid car (maybe in a couple years :) )

15. Buy a fuel efficient car

16. Carpool when you can

17. Don't idle in your car

18. Reduce garbage 

19. Plant a tree

20. Insulate your water heater

21. Replace old appliances

22. Weatherize your home

23. Use a push mower

24. Unplug un-used electronics

25. Put on a sweater

26. Insulate your home

27. Air dry your clothes

28. Switch to a tank-less water heater

29. Switch to double pane windows

30. Buy organic food

31. Bring cloth bags to the market

32. Buy the bracelet

33. Turn off your computer

34. Beat a meat reducer

35. Ditch the plastic!

Click on the website link to get more in-depth with each of these. Go Green!

Share and Voice: Quiet Hurricane Season due to GLOBAL WARMING???

I found this article on National Geographic News ... 2009 Hurricane Season Quietest in Decades.

What I thought was interesting about this article was that it seems to be another sort of proof that global warming is in fact happening.. despite what oh so many politicians are trying to tell us. November 30th was the last day of the hurricane season and the article goes on to talk about the count of hurricanes being down quite a bit from last year, but mentioning that when there is a hurricane though, it is bigger in force and size.

National Geographic states, "Hurricanes draw their energy from ocean waters that have been heated to at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 degrees Celsius)." This would explain why global warming causes these hurricanes to be a lot more powerful. Check this article out; it is quite interesting. Let me know what your thoughts are!

Share and Voice: Superstar Blogger!!

I received this award from Danielle for my quality format and content for my blog post Share and Voice: Eco-Chic Hotel. 

 

 

I will be now passing this Award onto Karly for her Share and Voice: Keep Tahoe Blue. This blog post was especially interesting to me because I like to travel and be involved in environmentally-friendly things while doing so! The pictures were gorgeous and I liked how the Tahoe residents have taken a stand in keeping the lake blue before it is too late. Great pictures and overall very eye-appealing post! Good job Karly!

Award Instructions for the Award Winner(s)

1. Leave a comment below so that I know you "picked up" the award.
   
2. Within 1 week, 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. Be sure to include the Award in the post as well!
   
5. Publish the post.
6. Visit each blogger you've awarded and leave a comment telling them they've won.
7. Continue the process...

Share and Voice: Eco-Chic Hotel

As you may have heard, I recently vacationed in Arizona and California. Since I missed class on Monday, I wanted to find something on my trip that I could take pictures of that I could relate to what we are learning about. When we entered our first hotel suite, I immediately found notes and signs around the room that related to the environment. I decided to take pictures of as many things on the trip as I could find that were eco-chic and here are some that I found!

 

I really liked this last one about smoking. $250 is a high price to pay if you think you need to smoke in rooms where people shouldn't have to be exposed to it.

Windmills! (Go California!)

This one is a little bit harder to see, but this was at a seafood restaurant we ate at. It was explaining how they don't bring out water glasses to every table except upon request so that they can waste as little water as possible. I thought this was very cool.

Even when travelling, we have to remember to preserve the resources there just as much as we should when we are at our own homes. Happy November!

Share & Voice: The 10 Healthiest Cities for Women

1. Burlington, Vermont.

2. Bethesda, Maryland.

3. Portland, Maine.

4.Cambridge, Massachusetts. 
5. San Francisco, California.

6. Honolulu, Hawaii.

7. Stamford, Connecticut.

8. Madison, Wisconsin.

9. Santa Barbara, California.

10. Fargo, North Dakota.

...click on the links to discover more about each city.

 According to MSNBC.com, this is the 10 healthiest cities for women in 2009.

"Women everywhere are making healthy changes. Now we’ve found the people doing it best: With the help of an expert panel and BestPlaces.net, we crunched 7,700 bits of data from 100 metro areas to find the 10 top spots for women. Not lucky enough to live in one? We asked gals in bottom-ranked cities to share how they create the good life absolutely anywhere. Because change happens one smart woman at a time." -SELF magazine

Would you ever move to any of these.. or visit? Have you already been to any of these cities? What do you think?

Share & Voice: Monster Dash 10-mile

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46414000/jpg/_46414223_374d0b11-f692-4d48-afa5-9e325b52dd63.jpg

Hi everyone!
Next weekend I am participating in my second 10-mile race of October. It is called the Monster Dash and the course winds around the beautiful Lake Harriet. Now to a lot of people 10 miles seems like an absolute CRAZY length to run, let alone walk, but I beg of you to open your mind to the idea. 

In high school, I used to think 'running for fun' (cross country) was absurd. These people want to run miles upon miles after school everyday.. and then a couple times a week race people from other towns at these distances?? They are nuts!! As I travelled off to college and explored new options for exercise, running kept coming to mind. For me it is something that not only keeps me in the best shape, but it is a great stress reliever. I just don't seem to get the same benefits from using the elliptical or stair stepper. 

What is nice about the Monster Dash (or really any race put on) is that they offer different distances so that the participants are anywhere from beginning runners to experienced runners who want to challenge themselves. For my first 'longer' distance run, I chose to do 10 miles because I could easily run 4 or 5 so that was an attainable goal for me while still having to challenge myself. 

http://marathons.ahotu.com/images/blog/runners.jpg

Not only is running good to get into for the health benefits, but the cardio endurance you build up allows you to do more things throughout your day without fatiguing as easy. A lot of people prefer to walk or jog over taking their car and that is how I like that running ties in with maintaining our environment. I encourage everyone to just get out there for a walk if you are really anti-running. Leave the car at home, your heart and the environment will thank you!

Share & Voice: Are flat-screen TVs power hogs? Calif. weighs

Check out this article!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33310363/ns/us_news-environment/

California is contemplating passing a law about flat-screen televisions. Some people say this will be great for the environment and force all the big manufacturers to maintain an eco-friendly environment while producing these energy sucking appliances. And as you would guess, they are retaliating. Televisions are a HUGE part of their business and by forcing them to regulate their tvs and make them more eco-friendly, the prices may go up and the consumers may cut back on their purchasing of them. So my question to you after reading this article is, do you think this is a needed regulation on the production of TVs and other appliances?

Share & Voice: St. Louis County Health & Human Service Conference

On Tuesday, October 6th, I attended the St. Louis County Health & Human Service Conference located at the DECC here in Duluth.

I hosted for a professor from St. Scholastica that talked about the relationship between depression and alcohol abuse. It was very interesting to hear how much they go hand-in-hand with one another. Many alcoholics fall into a state of depression while many people suffering from depression become alcoholics. She stressed the fact that we cannot simply just treat one or the other, we must treat them both at the same time or they will just relapse.

There was an exhibit hall set up in the DECC that had tables from various health related organizations from the area such as the American Heart Association and the Alzheimers Association. I was able to chat with a few of the advocates and I learned a lot of interesting things about these organizations that I didn't already know. I would recommend going next year if you have the opportunity. If you happen to be in Dr. Tornabene's Health 4000 class at the time of the conference, you will actually get the opportunity to host for one of the speakers! Fun, fun, fun!

Share & Voice: Environmental Health: How to Cut Household Water Usage

This video is a direct correlation to environmental health AND to my SMART goal!!! I was excited when I found this because I am trying to conserve water when I shower. The man in this video is very informative and brought up some good points about ways you don't even think of to conserve water.

For example:
  1. Landscaping (don't leave the water running)
  2. Washing machine (running it less)
  3. Shorter showers (he made fun of this, but I honestly think this is the biggest waste of water that we all do on a daily basis, and yes, it DOES make a difference!)

Share & Voice: Get fit! Health & Fitness Information

The website I would like to share with you comes from the American Council on Exercise. On this website, you will find tons of fitness tips and information to further your fitness knowledge. Not only do they give facts about exercise, but they give some tips on how to make your workout more fun!

http://www.acefitness.org/getfit/default.aspx

Explore this site for a while, you might be surprised what you learn!

Welcome to Mediterranean Melissa!

Hi, I am Melissa Herzig and my blog is going to be about environmental topics with focus on the Mediterranean area. I have a real interest in tropical areas, especially because these are some of the most beautiful places on our planet and we need to keep them green!


There are 6 possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
5. Read 'n' Seed
6. Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post is has been labeled with all six kinds of posts. You will also see the number of each kind of post in my Labels Gadget at the top of the page. All post titles from now on will begin with one of the categories above.

The members of my web group are:

1. Melissa@MediterraneanMelissa
2. Ashley@Ashley's Green Lily Pad
3. Paige@Paige's E Health Blog
4. Mallory Johnson (I cannot access her blog?)


You can subscribe to my blog by clicking the subscribe gadget in the gadget column. You can also follow my blog by clicking "Follow this Blog" in the gadget column. I am subscribed to all the blogs in my blog list gadget. You can see my complete profile and all the blogs I am following by clicking on "See Complete Profile."

I am looking forward to this course and all the fun things I can do to be eco-chic! This course is unlike any other course I have had here at UMD. Here I come blogger!

"Blogged for the Welcome Linky Party hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy."