Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

This was an awesome video of a family that literally creates ZERO waste!

Enjoy! ~ Ryan

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CPHSA Semi-Formal!

Friday was the College of Public Health Student Association (CPHSA) Semi-Formal. I am pretty sure this is the first one that the College of Public Health (CPH) has had. They are very popular, especially amongst graduate programs, because it's a night where everyone can dress up and try not to talk about school or homework ;)

The event was held at a restaurant downtown Iowa City, called ATLAS. There theme is a world grill with a sophisticated taste. It was nice to be able to reconnect with some other CPH students that I had class with last year when I started the MPH program and also get to know some new faces from other departments. If you remember from previous blogs, I am a Masters of Public Health (MPH) in Policy, which is under the department of Health Management and Policy (HMP), which is under the CPH. The point is, that you don't always get to know the other MPH students, along with Ph.D and other Masters students in the College and other departments. All in all, very awesome time and hope that CPHSA continues to hold the event next year.

In addition, I can't believe February is already almost over, I hope those of you that are thinking of applying to graduate school have already started, even if not to Iowa. Hit me up with questions, cause I know I had a ton when deciding where to apply.

Ryan :)

CPH Forum :)

Today I attended the CPH Forum, held once a month with Dean Curry. They are a great way to get updated on the latest happenings within the College of Public Health but also opportunities to learn more about our campus and community. Today we had the Office of the Ombudsperson and Threat Assessment Team (TAT) presenting. I'm going to focus on the Ombudsperson, because I was so intrigued by the issues they deal with on-campus!

Office of the Ombudsperson:

At first, all I could think about was what the heck is an Ombudsperson, and what does such an office do on campus. So before I tell you what I found out, I looked up the definition online:

"A public official who acts as an impartial intermediary between the public and government or bureaucracy, or an employee of an organization who mediates disputes between employees and management"

The two ladies, Susan and Cynthia, who run the office explained that they deal with disputes and issues surrounding them on-campus. They said some of the most common things they run across are "disrespect," which has a lot to do with the communication style of those in the Midwest (Indirect) and Outside the Midwest (Direct). These are generalizations, but on average those from the Midwest tend to be more indirect in their communication and can become offended when someone is more direct, and vice versa. One way is not better over the other, it is just the way it is and the root of some of the issues on-campus. On another note, they also talked about the issues surrounding email (i.e. forwarding messages that shouldn't be, CCing people on issues they don't need to be, saying things in email you would normally not say face-to-face). I'm sure as our lives become more digital, this will become more of an issue, but it was nice to know there is such an office that deals with such a topic of our social lives.

Well I hope you learned something new, as I did this afternoon, haha. Hope you all have a great weekend! Will blog about TAT next time :)

Ryan

PS - I included the header photo from the Office of the Ombudsperson because it reminded me of Spring and it's supposed to warm up in the 40's this week!

Snow Snow and yes SNOW!

So if you haven't heard already, there is snow covering a majority of the country, including right here in Iowa City! It has been a blizzard to remember. Even though, yes it was a lot of snow and classes were cancelled and airports came to a stand still, how come every seems to be so hyper about weather? Is it the news, fear of loss of control, etc.?

I always figure, if you live in the Midwest, you need to expect tornados, thunderstorms, ice, snow, rain and sleet....basically all types! The local and state government definitely have a handle to a certain degree on how to manage such an event, but the community also knows it will need to pitch in and cannot rely on somebody else to do everything for them. Emergency Preparedness is just one of the focus areas in Public Health and happens to be a passion of mine. In any event, most people have enough groceries to last them at least a week, board games and communications to keep busy and as a personal note, enough reading to catch up on to last for a Snow Day! ;)

I hope you all are safe, warm and survived this epic snow storm because one only knows there will always be more weather ahead and another day tomorrow :)

Ryan

PS - I thought the picture on the Iowa Homepage (www.uiowa.edu) was interesting because transportation is a major part of public health and was certainly shut down for the day, including the person's bike pictured.

Food Fridays!

So I have been starting to workout more since the New Year and have implemented new strategies to prevent me from treading back to my old habits/excuses of being to busy to exercise or care about my health.

One of the ways I found to help me stay fit and continue exercising was to join in on workout classes. The University of Iowa recently completed a brand new rec. center, called the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center (CRWC). The classes are free, and you sign-up for them a few minutes before they start, which makes it a first come first serve type of system. I have really enjoyed the workout classes, even if I am one of the few men in the classes. They work my butt off and I feel great afterwards, so what's not to love!

Second, I made an appointment with the Wellness Center staff for a nutrition consultation. I have never liked milk much and really only have it with cereal or desserts, and was worried about calcium intake and just overall nutrition. The best part is that this is another FREE service offered to full-time students at Iowa. I had my consult yesterday and am headed to the grocery store tonight with some great new ideas and more knowledge about specific foods I can eat to boost my workouts and overall health. Plus, the consult was ironically with an alumnus of the MPH program, which made me feel even more at home and confident I had the best resources at my fingertips.

So if your struggling or just plain trying to figure out how to maintain a healthy new you, these are some of the ways and changes I've made and hopefully with help you out :) I mean everyone knows they need to workout and eat healthy, but how many of us actually maintain that attitude...

Ryan

Monday's Garbage!

So as I was checking my favorite online Newspaper Again this morning, another "eco-friendly" or way recycling story popped up again. This time it was about a hotel in Madrid that is made entirely of GARBAGE! Not sure if this is recycling taken to the extreme but the photos are amazing and the statement is obvious. The hotel is located right next to the beach and was made to protest the dirty oceans and the garbage in them, hence the message to keep things clean. I've included a teaser picture but to check out the others visit the story here.

Hope you all are having a wonderful and productive Monday!

Ryan

ECO Hawk and Climate Costs!

This past week ECO Hawk, an environmental group I co-founded and am president of on the UI's campus, met with staff of existing College of Public Health (CPH) buildings to figure out how they can be more sustainable, specifically in the area of Recycling. Many in the CPH are excited for the new building, expected to open for classes Spring 2012, but there are also those that will not be moving and stay in the spaces they occupy right now on-campus.

The "GREEN" topic is definitely one that people are talking about and to even make it more relevant, one of our professors, Dr. Thorne was featured talking about the cost in the local newspapers. " The U.S. National Climatic Data Center has compiled data on all natural disasters since 1980 that resulted in losses greater than $1 billion. Adjusting for inflation, there were a dozen $1 billion disasters in the 1980s, 38 in the 1990s, and 46 from 200 to 2009. Of these, 39 percent involved flooding, including Hurricane Katrina" (The Gazette).

The cost and health implications (physical, mental and social) are staggering and are likely to continue. Recycling is just one way in which someone can help curb climate change but it will take more stringent and sustainable policies to make more staggering change as the decades go on.

Ryan