“Far from being the rock or island in the Simon and Garfunkel song, it turns out that the best metaphor to describe the human body is 'sponge’. We’re permeable. We’re absorbent.” (Smith, Lourie, 2) This quote from Slow Death by Rubber Duck best explains what is going on with all of these chemicals we are all surrounded with; it affects us so much because we are literally sponges. This book explains a new chemical in each chapter that is in our everyday lives and explains the experiment and how it affects us. I, only reading 2 chapters found the book pretty interesting; I read the last chapter named, ‘Mothers Know Best’. I chose to skip from the introduction I chapter eight because I love kids so seeing Mothers knows best caught my attention right away. That chapter told of a protest against baby bottles that contain bisphenol A (BPA) causing children to go through early development because it mimics estragon, also could have neurological issues in the future.

Back to the quote; it’s very important that people are aware of the fact that our bodies absorb everything! I’ve realized more and more how much I’m affecting my future health because of my everyday routine. For example, I went to heat up some leftovers that was in a plastic container but decided to dirty a dish and use the glass plate instead. People just don’t think ‘well if it’s sold in the store to be safe enough to put our food in, they wouldn’t sell us stuff that is going to hurt us’. Well they do. Now it’s up to you to eliminate as much from your daily routine as you can.

I think that this model capstone was a good idea, you can take something you’re interested in, do a little research and end up learning about something you were completely unaware of. It’s good to know all of the information I’ve learned in this five weeks doing a model capstone; excited to do my own. Overall it’s a fun project, compared to sitting in class listening to a teacher talk and doing worksheets, it gives us as students a sense of control or variety instead of so concrete and normal.

Smith, Rick, and Bruce Lourie. "Introduction Page 2." Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2009. N. page 2.

Only reading 2 chapters of the book Slow Death by Rubber Duck, I found it a huge eye opener. I wouldn’t have even thought about all of these things in my daily life that are affecting me. It makes me want to be more cautious about what I consume or put on my body. It’s impossible to escape it completely but if I can do anything to prevent future cancer or diseases, I will.

            I can’t tell you that this book is 100% accurate, but with all of the experiments the people in this book did to prove to the world that these chemicals in our everyday lives are and will affect us; they convinced me. Some scientists may question the integrity of this book because they didn’t follow the rules of a “normal” scientific experiment. Although, I don’t think a bunch of people would do all of these experiments and write a whole book if they didn’t truly believe this was an issue and the world needed to know. I found the book interesting and would like to read the rest!

Chemicals in our everyday lives affecting us before we're even born?

 Staff, The CNN Wire, and CNN Medical News Producer Stephanie Smith. "Everyday Chemicals May Be Harming Kids, Panel Told." CNN. Cable News Network, 26 Oct. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2013

               After reading this article I want to do something to stop all of this pollution that humans are putting into the air but that would require me to throw away all of my basic needs including wants! I feel that some of this can be prevented though. According to CNN, only 5 products have been banned by the Toxic Substance Control Act in 37 years; resulting in people going to the store, buying a cleaner for example, going home and cleaning with it, then releasing unwanted chemicals in the air that we breathe in. All of this is causing problems with humans before they’re even born. Research has been done to prove that babies come into this world ‘pre-polluted’ because they breathe and eat what their mother does. Also research has found a negative correlation between higher chemical levels in a mother’s umbilical cord to the baby causes lower IQ scores. Hopefully a law can be passed to get rid of some unwanted chemicals and start banning ones before it can be released!   

Taconite Mining UPDATE

"Wis. GOP Set to Roll Mining Bill - WEAU.com - WEAU 13 News - News and Sports - Eau Claire and La Crosse." WEAU RSS. WEAU, 25 Feb. 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2013

      There has been an update on the Taconite Mining issue. Voting is going to take place starting this week! Legislature’s budget committee-Monday (Today!), Senate-Wednesday, The Assembly-First week of March, and the Republican leaders in the assembly are shooting for March 6th. If this bill is passed and this industry goes on with their project it could affect our water resources and drive Wisconsinites out of their own homes. This bill shouldn’t even be considered. When it’s your home or state being ruined you take an offense but these people from this big corporation don’t care; they’ll rip up our land and leave. All to create jobs and get a couple paper clips. Random people from all over are going to show up to work at these mines not making jobs for us.. At least Scott Walker backs the proposal bill.

Quirmbach, Chuck. "Business Group Speaks Up For Taconite Mine." WPRNews.org. Wisconsin Public Radio, 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2013

              

         Today the Taconite debate continues, the state’s largest business group got together and discussed whether the mine should go through or not. The opposed bill will be brought up to the state capital soon. The DNR is not sure how much this will affect our environment and how. A study to determine the impact Northern Wisconsin would take around $20 million dollars! Do we want our beautiful Northern Wisconsin made into mines and take the risk of it affecting our Great Lakes and our precious water?? They say it will create a lot of jobs which is always needed but now everybody has to vote; their environment or jobs that will only last for a couple years then just be left in ruins.

Environment

           When getting on the subject of environment there’s a lot to talk about; from recycling, oil, chemicals, ozone layer, destruction of land, water, etc. I think that people don’t think about how much everything in their daily lives effects the environment. It’s 11 A.M. and I can name three things I’ve done today that effected the environment in a bad way; one being that I used hairspray this morning which released chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) into the air, biting away at the ozone layer one molecule at a time. I’m not much of an outdoors person but I do enjoy the beauty of landscape. One recent issue that really gets under my skin is the Taconite Mining that people want to do in the Penokee Range up North, WISCONSIN. There are miles of beautiful trees, waterfalls, land, animals homes that they want to ruin for a couple paper clips. The reason I get so worked up about this is because it has been a tradition every year for my family to go camping up North at Madeline Island. I’ve never been to the Penokee Range, it’s a little west of where I go every year, but pictures I’ve seen look just as beautiful as Bayfield and Madeline Island. Another interesting fact about the taconite mining is that a bill just came through congress saying that if they follow through with the mining any houses in the way or water damage (most likely will happen) is not their fault. Most likely people are going to be forced of their homes. The rivers they want to destroy as well are the main water ways to our great lakes. I fear the day when we destroy every beautiful piece of land and are left with ruin of dirt and mines. Slowly but surely it’s happening; people need to open their eyes and fight back for beauty of our environment.