Reflections: Weeks 5-8

  Overview of Some Topics Covered in Weeks 5-8

Weeks 5-8 in Environmental Health have been an interesting few weeks.  We have done different things, such as:

• watched a few documentaries that covered environmental issues

• created new headers for our blogs 

• learned some new facts about "junking"  and other related terms  

• found out some places around the Duluth area where these types of sales and activities go on  

 What I Personally Learned in Weeks 5-8

I learned some new information throughout these weeks that I was not aware of previously.  When watching the documentary, Tapped, I learned some things about water bottles that had never even crossed my mind!  After watching that video, I am really trying to limit and cut back on my use of plastic bottles.  An activity that I really enjoyed doing in these weeks was making the new blog headers.  I think these made our blogs look a lot better and I also enjoyed being able to create it on my own and add details and colors that I thought looked good with my blog and went well with my blog title.  Overall, I have learned a lot of new information these weeks that made me more aware of some of the behaviors I currently have toward the environment and some ways to make my behavior more positive, such as using less plastic bottles, to benefit not only myself, but others as well who live and share the same environment as me.


Picture From Here.

Share & Voice: Environmental Stories to Watch in 2010

I found an interesting website on Environmental Stories in 2010.  This website is useful if you want to take a closer look at it yourself and it relates to some of the topics and issues we have been talking about and going over in class.  All of the things being discussed relate to the environment, they have videos you can watch, articles you can read and easy access to all different kinds of information throughout the site.


Picture is from this site.

Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain

Part 1: Defined Terms:

1. Antiques/Antiquing- This term is Latin for old. It is an old collectible item and is desired to someone by characteristics such as its age, beauty, condition, rarity, personal emotion connection, along with other unique features. It represents a previous era or time period in human society.  Antiquing is an activity done (shopping) in which one searches for specific objects of interest to the oneself. This information came from the link above!
2. Junk/Junking- this word has multiple meanings.  It can be used as a noun to mean old or discarded material, as metal, paper, or rags or possibly to mean anything that is regarded as worthless, meaningless, or contemptible. Another similar meaning word may be trash. You can also refer to junk as a verb.  When used as a verb junk would mean to put aside as junk, discard or no longer of use, referred to as a scrap.  Junk can also be used as an adjective to mean cheap, worthless or trashy.  It is said that some peoples' junk may be someone else's treasures. Junking is the action of collecting junk. This information was found from the link above.
3. Flea Market- a place where second hand materials are sold or bartered and it can be indoors or outdoors.
4. Thrift Shop- aka Charity shop which is a retail establishment operated by a charitable organization for the purpose of fund-raising. They typically sell second-hand goods that are donated by people of the public and usually staffed by volunteers.  The items are typically sold at low or rather reasonable prices. This information is taken from the link above as well.
5.  Upcycling- is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value. This definition is taken from the link listed above as well.
6. Resale Shop- a place where items are sold but the majority of the items are clothes.  The majority of these clothes are used and resold.

Part 2-Answering Questions:

1. They relate to environmental health because they are helping our environment by reusing things instead of wasting them or just throwing them away.  It is a unique way of "recycling" and reducing the need to make new products.
2. In Duluth, you can find antiques at a place called Father Time Antiques. It is located at 395 S Lake Ave # 1, Duluth, MN 55802-2311 and you can contact them by phone at (218) 625-2379 () ‎ . To find out more about this location or to get directions visit their site! To find junk in Duluth, I guess it depends on what type of "junk" you are searching for.  Henderson Towing is near Duluth, about 4-5 miles away.  You can contact this junkyard by phone: 770-990-4978. A flea market in Duluth is located on Lake Superior College, 2101 Trinity Road in Duluth, MN and opens annually 2nd Sunday in August.  To find out more about this flea market visit their site. To find a thrift shop or charity shop in Duluth try visiting Savers, located on 1740 Mall Drive.  You can reach them by phone by calling this number: 218-722-1894. For a resale shop a good idea would be Plato's Closet.  Here they sell mostly used clothes that are in good condition and mainly name brand but the prices are much more reasonable. I know this information from visiting this store and location.  This store is located on 5115 Burning Tree Rd Ste 315C and can be reached at 218 733-9455.  I was unable to really find any locations specific to upcycling unfortunately.
3. I do a few of these things when I can. I have been to Plato's closet (as I mentioned previously) and when I needed to get furniture for my apartment I looked at used items instead of buying new things.

Part 3: Get Your Junk On:

When I visited this website, I liked these three projects: The junk picture frames, and I like it because I enjoy pictures and have a lot of picture frames so this is a unique way to display pictures and reuse materials I may have previously thrown away. Vintage redesign jewelry was also interesting to me. I found this unique and pretty and it relates to me because I like to wear jewelry.  The last item I found was the simple gate for some vintage photos. I thought this would be a good item to display the junk photos!


Picture of junk. (located at the top of this post)