Reflections: Weeks 1-7

Looking back at the first half of the semester. We sure did go through a lot.
Starting with all the new things I learned. I had never before used a blog. I thought it was going to be just terrible, hard to learn, and annoying to use. But after a few weeks of use, it does't seem that bad.

Moving towards the things we learned in class. I have always considered myself somewhat of a "tree-hugger", but there sure a lot of things that I never looked at.

The first video that we watched was really what I would call an eye-opener. It was just a clip from 60 minutes, but it had some really important things in it. It exposed all of the reasons why we might not know as much about the environment as we should. It showed how the government seems to have more control over what we know that the people who do the research. That made me wonder whether the government actually knows what is best for us, or are willing to admit it if they do know.

The next video "The Future of Food" really got me to think about what is in my food. It goes in depth into the unpublicized dangers of genetically modified food. I had never know anything about that, and that documentary shows a little bit why.  All they were really fighting for was to have labels on what is and is not genetically modified. It doesn't seem that hard, but certain people in certain places are willing to spend more money to hide the issue.

Then the documentary "Fresh" helps us see all the ways that we could be growing our own food. I had never before thought that somebody in downtown Milwaukee could have his own successful produce operation. Also there are so many things they pointed out that farmers could be doing to help the environment, but they aren't, just to make a buck. They show where the cost of cheap food really ends up.

Then "Green" really showed what the toll is of our oil refineries and chemical factories on the environment. I had never thought of before, what happens to all the chemical waste for all the products out there. I never knew these plants were causing cancer to the nearby residents, nor did I know they were building houses on top of contaminated landfills.

Lastly the movie "Tapped" points out what is really in that bottle of water we are drinking. I had always know that the plastic bottles were bad for the environment. But I had never seen the beach where you couldn't tell the difference between the plastic parts and the sand. And who is supposed to be making sure these products are safe? Apparently one person (among other duties) is solely responsible for the safety of millions of bottles of water sold every day.

Overall I learned a lot of things is just seven weeks. But those things raised a lot of questions. Like what are we doing? Who is going to stand up for our safety? Who is going to suffer the consequences of the choices we make today? One day someone is going to pay the price for what we do today to save a dollar.