“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.
