Eye Opener: CSPI

2. Eating Green Calculator

1. Every week my current diet requires 1.1 acres of grain and grass for animal feed and over 30.4 pounds of fertilizer to grow animal feed. Over 7400 pounds of manure are produced by the animals I eat. My diet is currently high in fat at 39% of my daily value and cholesterol at nearly 50% of my daily value.

2. According to the calculator, by eating 1 serving less of beef, chicken, cheese, and milk, I can reduce my environmental burden. My results would be reduced to .8 acres of grain and grass for animal feed, 22.9 pounds of fertilizer to grow animal feed, 5650 pounds of manure, and .2 pounds of pesticide. These changes will help reduce my risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity, and other diet related problems.

3. I took the pledge. I will be more aware of the products that I am eating and the effects that they will have on the environment. Eating more natural foods that are not processed will benefit my health and the environment in the long run.

Please feel free to calculate the burden your diet has on the environment and things you can do to improve our lifestyle using the eating green calculator.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

My smart goal was to eliminate my use of paper plates. In the last week, I have not used a single paper plate. Throughout the entire week I have used our re-usable glass plates. I have also been hand washing my dishes at the end of each day instead of using the dishwasher, which saves on water and electricity.

Planning my meals ahead and not eating when I'm rushed has helped me not use paper plates. Some challenges I had last week was eating fast food. Even though I did not use paper plates, my meals from Burger King and McDonald's come in paper bags, and the food and drink containers are made out of paper.

Since I have been more aware of the products I am eating and using, I feel better about myself when I have washed my dishes by hand and saved on electricity and water. I am also hoping that by not using paper plates it will cut down the amount of garbage we have each week.

This week has taught me that one simple change to your lifestyle can have multiple impacts on the environment. For next week I will be changing my SMART goal to make it a little more challenging. I am going to eliminate all paper products including napkins, paper towels, paper plates, and paper cups from my lifestyle. I will also try to only eat at fast food restaurants once a week to cut down on my use of paper products.

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

My first reaction after taking the ecological footprint quiz (click here for quiz) and seeing that it would take 4.3 planet earths to support the entire world if everyone lived like me, was shocking. I knew there were some things in my lifestyle that I could do more often to improve the environment, but apparently there are many things I should change.

Here is how my results broke down: Services 47%, Food 29%, Goods 13%, Shelter 7%, Mobility 4%. According to these results services were the biggest area of resources I used, followed by food as the two most significant. My current lifestyle produces 19 tons of carbon dioxide, which is a hazard to the environment.

One thing I could change is the amount of meat that I eat each day. The majority of my meals contain some type of meat and other processed or packaged food items. Eating more food that comes from a local source would help benefit the environment. I am also trying to bike or walk to some places that I go instead of driving my car. One thing I wish I took advantage of is public transportation. Even though taking public transportation can be less convenient, I should take the bus to places instead of driving my car to help the environment. Other simple things I need to do more often is recycle, use less electricity, and use less water. Improving on these things will create a more environmentally friendly lifestyle and hopefully lower the number of planet earths resources I use.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1: My SMART Goal

For the next ten weeks, I will completely eliminate the use of paper plates from my lifestyle. I have a bad habit of using paper plates for the convenience factor of not having to do dishes. There are bad effects on the environment from using paper products. First, when creating paper plates many trees are destroyed and that also has an effect on wildlife and other types of plants. Second, during the process of making paper, there are harmful cancer causing chemicals used in the process. Last, unlike regular paper, not all paper plates can be recycled because they are contaminated with food residue.

This habit is important to me because the majority of time I use paper plates it is completely unnecessary. It is more environmentally friendly to re-use my dishes instead of wasting paper plates. I also enjoy being outdoors hunting and fishing and the process of making paper destroys other plant and animals habitat.

Welcome to Colton's Healthy Lakes

My name is Colton Borwege. I am a student at the University of Duluth, majoring in Community Health Education. My blog is about the lakes in Minnesota and what people can do to keep them clean and healthy. I enjoy fishing, boating, and swimming in Minnesota lakes and keeping them healthy is important to me.

There are 5 possible types of posts in my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
5. Share and Voice

The Members of my web group are:

1. Hannah@hikingwithhannahb
2. Judy@Judy's Cloud Contemplations
3. Sarah@Sarah's EcoEndeavors
4. Dr. V/ Kristen@Enviro-Surfing with Amy and Kristen

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

Please feel free to explore and post on my blog. Hopefully readers of this blog will come away with a few things they can do to help keep Minnesota lakes clean and healthy.