Story of Cosmetics

After watching this video, I learned that there are toxic chemicals linked to cancer is brands I have at home and use everyday before going to school. This was quite shocking to me because I didn’t know there weren’t strict laws about what can and what cannot go into a product. Even soap made specifically for babies contains chemicals that are linked to cancer and even neurotoxins, which damage the brain. In the end, there is nothing we can do except convince the business people controlling this entire industry that consumers want to buy SAFER products that aren’t linked to cancer. People can also take it up with local governments to try and get a bill created that has more narrow restrictions on what can and cannot be placed inside of products for human use. Annie Leonard says that we are  basically just test subjects being experimented on with various chemicals not knowing the effects. That is really scary to think about. This video was very similar to the Story of Stuff video because they both point the leading cause of the problem to the big industry owners at the top, deciding what/how products are made. I plan on using this information to safely buy makeup and hair products that have the least amount of toxic chemicals inside of them. The video refers to safecosmetics.org, so I decided to check it out. I learned about how products that are marketed as “anti-aging” contain chemicals linked to breast cancer. L’OREAL’s products contain chemicals linked to cancer as well. The website was very informative and I am going to remember what products not to buy.

Unit 7 Reflection

 A few major themes we talked about during this unit are biodiversity, ecology, and food webs/chain. Biodiversity is how the diverse species on Earth provide us with food, industrial products, and medicines. Ecology is the study of interactions between organisms and their environment. Food webs/chains consist of producers and consumers than can be herbivores, which are plant eaters, carnivores, which are meat eaters,  omnivores, which are everything eaters, or detrivores/decomposers, which eat decaying/non-living things.

I want to learn more about how to save endangered animals. Threats such as disease are a large factor that contributes to the death of animals such as the Tasmanian devil in Eastern tropical Australia. I wonder how many endangered species there are on this planet and if there are common threats which made those species endangered.

Since I am quite an assertive person, I found collaborating with my group members in the Ecology Conservation project fairly easy. The project was a success because we each individually completed our assigned work. No one completed anything late. All of our personalities somehow meshed, making it easier for us to problem-solve and find solutions.

I learned about how threats such as deforestation and mining destroy the environment and its animals. Construction also plays a role in the endangerment of animals, since in many cases animals fall into trenches, to their death. The ecosystem is very fragile and we must do what we can to protect it. My group came up with the solution to create more national parks to protect animals and the land around them.

I learned from the video that my dominant personality is being assertive. I am a fairly confident person and this helped me share my ideas to my group members because I wasn't afraid to speak up. Things I could do to be even more assertive would be to sit up straighter and try harder on maintaining good eye-contact.

Reflecting back on my New Year's Goals, I have started getting 7 hours of sleep every night, which is an improvement from last month.