Sunday, April 10, 2011
Your Social Action
Since all of you have (hopefully) written your papers by now and have (hopefully) begun working on social action projects, then by now you should be able to tell us about what your topic is and what you're doing. This is an opportunity to get your classmates interested and, potentially, get them to help you out if your cause is something you need audience participation for. As usual, 250 word post up by Thursday night (04/14) and 100 word response up by Sunday night (04/17).
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For Project Three, I decided to take the extensive topic of water pollution and focus specifically on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is located between Hawaii and California in the Pacific Ocean. Basically, it is a floating pile of garbage in the ocean. It was formed with the help of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a high-pressure zone which forces ocean surface currents to move slowly in a clockwise rotation. This creates a whirlpool effect that sucks garbage from various parts of the ocean into one centralized area. This is where the garbage that doesn’t make it to the landfill ends up. Even though humans are the cause of the problem, we are also the only ones who can try and fix it. It would be very costly and damaging to the environment to try and pick all the plastic and trash out of the ocean. Instead, we need to drastically reduce the amount of plastic we send out into the environment. So, for the first part of our social action we decided to raise awareness about this issue by displaying posters and handing out flyers. The solution starts with education. Then, we set up recycling bins around our apartment and dorms in hopes that people would participate. We also encouraged people to use reusable bags and water bottles versus the plastic ones. It’s important to understand that everyone can recycle and be aware of environmentally friendly options, and it takes little effort. Every person’s contribution will make a difference in preventing this garbage patch from increasing.
ReplyDeleteFor project three I decided to take a look at something that I use everyday – the internet. A majority of the world (74%) has absolutely no internet access at all, as much as we tout that in the digital age the world is far more connected than it has ever been. Well, that may be true but the bar was not set high – we are still failing. 74% of the world does not have a voice in the global community, the internet has changed the way we live our lives – for better or for worse. So much relies on a World Wide Web connection that it is virtually impossible to live a modern life without being connected in some fashion. Thankfully there are organizations out there dedicated to remedying this situation, one of which is A Human Right. This organization believes that internet access has now become a basic human right and they are fighting to provide free internet access to most of the world’s underprivileged areas. Not going into how the internet can help improve lives (if interested look at a project called “Hole in the Wall”) this company is trying to raise money to buy a satellite from a recently bankrupt telecommunications company and move it to where I can benefit millions. I plan on drumming up awareness here at the University of South Florida, hopefully inspiring people to donate to the cause – as well as writing to multiple satellite companies to see if they can donate a fraction of their satellites power to A Human Right organization. If you do donate go to buythissatellite.org – there is some awesome merchandise in it for you.
ReplyDeleteFor project three, I decided to become more familiar and get involved with the Tampa Bay Community soup kitchens. I had no idea that Hillsborough County had the most homeless people in Florida. Can you imagine 9,566 men, women and children are homeless and struggling everyday. When I came to Tampa for the first time to visit USF that’s the first thing I noticed if all the reflective jackets on the side of the road hoping for money to get food and support there families. Last week was my first time volunteering at a soup kitchen ever. I grew to have so much appreciation for all the volunteers that where there because without them it would be impossible. Yes, you could say some homeless people are just the typical lazy person and just want the easy way out. Well, in reality that is defiantly not the easy way. By observing them as the are getting there food you can tell how grateful they are to have people that actually volunteer there time to help them. The first time I went it was basically serving food and chatting with the clients. The second time I went was when I had an eye opener. No, I didn’t serve the homeless there food and have conversations with them... I did all the back work. For example I had to take out the trash, refill containers, mop the floors, and constantly wash dishes and put them away since there were a lot of families. You would think they would have more than one person running this thing but they don’t. It’s just one person that works the soup kitchens and the rest volunteers. This is why now I’m making this a weekly thing as much as I can. If you guys want to help go to this website you wont regret it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.metromin.org/page.aspx?pid=302
Community Stepping Stones is located in Sulphur Springs, Tampa, located off of Sitka Road. It is one of the poorer areas in Tamps, so it is very important for a place like to CSS to keep kids occupied after school. I found out about CSS through Bullserve, the volunteer organization at USF. Since Community Stepping Stones doesn’t need volunteers on a regular basis, I plan on helping out at the monopoly tournament on Saturday from 11 a.m. until about 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. At 11:00 a.m. I’ll drive the supplies from CSS to the Tampa Letter Carriers Hall. Then I’ll help register guests, and possibly act as a banker at tables, and also raffle off tickets. That is about it for the event on Saturday. I’m also planning on volunteering next Friday since they did not really need me last Friday. On Fridays, the students usually just work on art projects or play games outside. One time when I was there, they played kickball by the river; and the ball decided to go into the river the day I volunteered. I then swam across to get it, so my days there can get pretty interesting. I was also able to give a few of them a tour of USF. I’m most likely going to make a powerpoint presentation when I talk about my experience at CSS, unless I think of another way to present.
ReplyDelete@J_Sonderegger
ReplyDeleteI think your topic and social action project is extremely interesting and something I would have never thought about before. I definitely agree that everyone should have access to the Internet, because it is such an integral part of our society. I was unaware that organizations such as A Human Right existed and fought for this cause. I think it is a great idea to spread the word around USF about donating as well as the letter to various satellite companies. I believe that is where you will be able to have the most success in raising the necessary funds. Now, you have definitely intrigued me to go check out their website. Good luck with your project!
For my social action project I have decided to prepare a food drive in which students can buy nonperishable food items from the C Store and donate them to the organization Feeding America Tampa Bay. So far I’m still in the planning stages. There’s been a lot of emailing, setting up appointments, and waiting for the past few weeks, but I’ve learned a lot and am confident that everything will come together.
ReplyDeleteMy original plan was to make it so all students could have the option to donate their remaining dining dollars at the end of each semester to buy one mass collection of food. Then volunteers would take care of all handling of donated goods and students would only need to simply swipe their card. Even after much pestering, I couldn’t get Dining Services to accept this idea yet. However, I did learn of many projects that Dining Services does put on each semester including fundraisers for Dance Marathon and All Children's Hospital fundraiser as well as 2 food drives during the academic year. Although Dining Services didn’t go for my original idea, they do think it’s a great idea for students to buy in bulk from on campus stores like the C store and donate as they please. So I decided to give in since we only have a few more weeks to make some sort of social impact. I googled food banks and Feeding America Tampa Bay seemed pretty legit. Now I am in contact with one of their representatives and will soon be setting this program up. So get excited!
@ eric
ReplyDeleteHey I like your choice of topic. I wasn't even aware there was a floating pile of garbage in the middle of the ocean until Mr. B pointed it out in class, quite matter of factly too. Raising awareness is definitely the first step because I'm sure there are many people like me who never knew. I would like to know if we reduce our trash output in Florida, will it even make a difference? The garbage patch is in the middle of the Pacific so maybe if you could tell people where the trash was coming from specifically that might motivate people more, or maybe less if they feel they aren't responsible. Anyways that's something I would like to know.
@MAX
ReplyDeleteTo bad dinning services didn’t like your idea because that would have been great. I think its because all that money is basically profit to them and that would be a lot of money that they don’t get back even though they don’t need it. I like the C Store idea because I know a lot of friends that have so money dinning dollars left over we by random stuff. I’m sure they would like to help you social act and so will I. Just let the class know when we can go and i’ll help you spread the word.
Project three was a way to get out in the community and do something. My topic specifically was water pollution, and for my social action I chose to do recycling. Water Pollution is a major problem in the United States, which most people do not think it is. We do not realize that Africa's water is also our water and that they have very little sanitation. So for my social action, my group thought of ways that we could make recycling well known around our apartments and dorms. So we made signs and flyers and hung them around our complex's. We also made a few bins for people to place and type of plastic or paper in. We figured that since these are the most common items used that they would be the easiest for people to recycle without hassle. Another thing that was big, was to recycle plastic bags. I know that in my apartment we have so many bags from just going grocery shopping that it would not be hard at all to recycle. Although recycling will not stop water pollution it is a start. Most of the trash has chemicals that do not help water, especially the water that we drink. If we recycle then their is a possibility that our water will be cleaner. Anyone who contributes is helping not only the United States itself but they are helping their selves from major health problems that come from water pollution.
ReplyDelete@Maxwell
ReplyDeleteI think a food drive is an awesome idea for a social action project, because it really helps those less fortunate. I think that the USF dining just wants that profit from all of the unused bulls bucks that students have. Although it would benefit those in need a lot more. I think that where you are taking this idea is great. Many do not see the backstage of where food drives lead to, but for me I have volunteered for homeless shelters who are often the receivers of the food that has been donated. They love it, and they could not be more great full. So keep up the good work! :)
I am doing a my project on water bottle awareness. Obviously everyone that was in class knows what the issues are but they might not fully understand the depths that they go to. Just a few fun facts: it takes 17 million barrels of oil yearly to produce the disposable plastic water bottles, 3 water bottle amount of water is used to make one bottle, and re using disposable water bottles is potentially harmful to you for various reasons. The very simple solution to these disposable bottles is a reusable one. Just fill it up with your tap water and be on the way. it adds maybe 10 seconds to your day. Besides tap water is check 5 times a day for harmful things and your favorite water company usually only test once a week! Imagine how many bottles are processed and shipped in just one week. I plan on handing out flyers out front of MSC that list random facts regarding disposable water bottles. Currently I am trying to contact Nalgene which is a water bottle company. To have them donate some bottles that I can hand out. This way people can tell their friends the cool facts they learned about bottled water. I mean think about it if everyone used disposable ones 17 million barrels would be juristically reduced. That means cheaper gas! If your interested in coming out just let me know and I can tell you for sure when I plan on having this shinndigg go down! s
ReplyDeleteFor Project 3, I am writing on the awareness and prevention of child abuse, the better ways we can prevent child abuse and many options the community together can do to help this cause. It's estimated out to be that four children die each day from child abuse, and that may not seem like a high number but it adds up, and it can be prevented by bringing it awareness. So my call to action would be for the community to start being more aware of the signs of child abuse, start taking classes, having volunteers to give classes on how to properly discipline your child, start organizations that raise money for classes to give to parents who can not afford them. The community together can change a lot of lives, by doing very little but having strength in numbers. Writing a letter to your congressman or starting an organization to raise money are just a few ways to start bringing more attention to this subject.
ReplyDeleteFor Project 3 of ENC 1102 I decided to write about water pollution. This was a topic that I have learned a lot about growing up and have grown somewhat a passion for. There are so many dangers if water pollution that many people do not know about. Water pollution is not only harmful to our waters and marine life but humans as well. I have seen first hand how water pollution harms our marine life. Born and raised in Miami, I have spent a lot of time out on my boat with my family. One day while being out on the boat my family and I spotted a baby dolphin stuck in a Publix plastic grocery bag. It was so horrible to see this dolphin struggling for its life because someone threw his or her garbage, polluting, into the ocean. Most people are unaware of the fact that people can get diseases like cancer. There are many health risks and dangerous to humans due to water pollution. The most important thing about this project for me was creating awareness about water pollution, and other forms of pollution. This is where my social action for Project 3 comes in. Liz, Kayla, and I passed out flyers and set up recycling bins at my dorm and Kayla and Liz’s apartments in hoping to get people to recycle and become more aware of pollution. We also tried getting people to recycle their plastic bags. I really hope that people continue to be aware of pollution and continue to recycle and help save our environment.
ReplyDeleteI decided to write about people texting while driving to complete my social action. Texting has become a very common habit that people seem to do when they are driving, no matter how dangerous it can be. It has been increasingly common among teenagers. 71 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 49 admit they text on their cell phones when driving. Also, people who send text messages while driving are 23 times more likely to be in a crash than non- distracted drivers. Distracted driving is an epidemic that is sweeping through our country, claiming lives and destroying families. Many traumatic stories including two freight-train collisions that caused 135 people to be killed, have occurred because of the dangers of texting while behind the wheel of any type of vehicle. This is something that people are aware of but accidents have still occurred, so something more needs to be done about the issue of people texting on their cell phones. Florida has not even passed the “No Texting While Driving” Law surprisingly, unlike the majority of the other U.S states who have passed it. For my social action project, I plan on writing a persuasive letter to the Governor of Florida or Florida’s Transportation Services. Having research on the topic could make it quite reliable and may even change the opinions of the authority. Before I send the letter, I plan to form a petition on campus and have many people who also feel that no one should be texting while driving, sign it, too.
ReplyDeleteFor project three, I wrote my paper about hunger and poverty not only in the world but also in the community. For my actual project I volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House in downtown Tampa next to Tampa General Hospital. For those unfamiliar with what the Ronald McDonald House is, it is a location where families that do not have a lot of money can stay while a loved one (usually a child but not always) is in the hospital being treated. Effectively it is a hotel with only 22 rooms that allows families to pay only as much as they can afford to stay there. Many of the families are staying for only five dollars a night or others are paying in chores like helping clean the bathrooms or vacuuming the kid’s playroom. Everyday, volunteers cook a meal that is prepared in bulk to feed the whole house of families. For example on my visit, I cooked a family recipe of tatertot casserole in a huge pan to feed many. Most of the families that stay there are so poor they are not sure how they will pay the hospital bills and the Ronald McDonald House is always willing to accept families and put them back on their feet as fast as possible. They are always accepting volunteers and donations and are basically doing their part to help those who already have a lot of life problems and help them at least keep a roof over their head in a time of crisis.
ReplyDeleteProject 3 came faster than I originally thought it would. Spring semester flew by in what seemed like an instant and I suddenly had to decide what to do for my social action project. I decided on making an attempt to motivate the kids in my building (more specifically, my floor) to recycle the plastic that they typically would throw out in the trash. Living in a dorm environment is a pretty good recipe to end up with a lot of plastic, usually as a result of students drinking bottled water. The convenience of being able to grab a bottle of water on the way out of your dorm to class every day is enough incentive to drink an entire 24 pack of waters in 2 weeks, which I have done myself a few times already this semester. These numbers add up when you start to look at the number of students in my same position, living in the same conditions that I do that coincidentally promotes producing a lot of waste. Basically in short, I just wanted to designate one small area on my floor for plastic recyclables. I know systems like this have already been implemented in the newer halls, but not over here in Castor. I found this to be a pretty relevant issue for any Florida citizen as well because the abusive use of bottled water is leading to dry aquifers that are detrimental to Florida’s ecosystems.
ReplyDeleteFor project 3 i made sure that my social action would be something that would be small enough to accomplish yet big enough to mean something. I decided that i would get my neighborhood in carrollwood involved in recycling so i was thinking of making a flier with information that will get them excited about recycling. Im going from house to house and knocking on people's doors. If they decide to open i will ask them if they recycle, if they tell me they dont, i will tell them why it is important for the environment to do so and i will ask for their permission to issue them a recycle bin to get them started. If they do not answer i will still leave the flier underneath their doors. I will collect signatures of people that make the commitment to start recycling and i will bring it to class as part of my presentation. I think in order to accomplish something big, people have to start out small and that is exactly what i plan to do. I hope that my meeting for draft 1 goes well and i hope to get some good tips on how to make my paper a better one for the final draft. I hope everyone does well on this last project, good luck to all
ReplyDeleteFor my social action project, I was on the Bulls Business Community team (and the planning committee) for Relay for Life. I feel like this is an important cause because almost all of us know someone who has cancer, no matter if it is a friend, relative, neighbor, coworker, or anyone else in our lives. This disease affects not only that person, but everyone who knows them. I participated in the social action by informing the BBC residents about the event, helping with the production of the t-shirts, gathering the setup materials and finding a tent our team could use, going around to different businesses and telling about our cause and asking for donations, and informing family members, friends, and neighbors as well. I exceeded my goal by collecting 115% of it, and was successful in selling and auctioning the donations we gathered the night of the event. Events such as Relay for Life, as well those who donate to places such as St. Jude’s is a great way for us to help cancer research and treatment. While it is great that this is being done, not enough people are helping, and many people are dying of cancer every day. Medical bills can be outrageous, even to those who have health insurance since that doesn’t cover nearly everything. The more people that are informed and willing to help such events and donate, the more successful we can be in our battle against cancer.
ReplyDelete@Maxwell
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I would love to donate any un-used Dining Dollars at the end of the year towards a food drive. I do believe I would not have much at the end of this year but I would have some that I would be willing to donate. That idea though is genius, especially when marketed towards Freshman since we are required to have a meal plan our first year and they are bound to have extra dining dollars. Otherwise good luck with your project, sounds great!
@elliot321
ReplyDeleteThat is a really good idea. I know that in JP we have a recycling system, but I’ve been in Castor, Beta, and a couple others across campus, and I didn’t see anything of the sort. As college students, we do use a ton of plastics, and other things that can be recycled as well, so it’s a great place to get people into making the environment better. It’s funny because in our room, my roommate and I have a “wash-a-bull” section for our dishes, and a “recycle-a-bull” section for our cardboard cereal boxes, old papers, and plastics. Good luck!
@Alexandra
ReplyDeleteWhen you started talking about water pollution, I thought you were talking about chemical waste such as fertilizer waste or runoff from factories. It is great though that you care about trash being dumped into water because I live somewhat close to the ocean, so I know how it feels when others pollute the water and think nothing of it. That’s pretty terrible that you saw a dolphin desperately trying to get its head out of a bag. We have recycling bins in Beta, so it is great that you have started recycling in your building. I hope it works out for you!
@ Lindsay
ReplyDeleteLindsay I think your social action is so great! That is so genuine and caring of you to volunteer your time at the Ronald McDonald House. I have heard a lot about the Ronald McDonald House and know a lot of people who have volunteered there but I haven’t actually ever volunteered at the Ronald McDonald. That’s so great that you cooked a large meal for all of those people. You did a wonderful thing and I am sure they all appreciated the time and effort you put in to volunteering! The Ronald McDonald House is such a great organization!
@nsmart
ReplyDeleteYou have a great social action idea! Up until we began talking in class about different social action projects we can do, I have always thought that reusing the water bottles that are meant to be thrown away afterwards, was something that was economically friendly. I usually do reuse a water bottle a few times and then recycle it once I have used it as many times as I could. Now that I have an idea as to how harmful reusing disposable water bottles really can be, I will make sure that I pick up a reusable water bottle that you have come up with. Good luck with everything!
@ebarton
ReplyDeleteThe great Pacific garbage patch is definitely a major problem and people need to start looking for solutions. I agree with what youre saying, if more people recycled, it could decrease the amount of garbage dumped there. It sucks though that even if the amount of garbage doesnt increase, the patch is still harmful to our environment and there is no way right now to get rid of it :/
@Lindsay
ReplyDeleteThat sounds really cool that you’re going to help with poverty. I have noticed how many people have to deal with poverty and it’s sad to notice so many, especially here in Tampa. I feel like there are so many people with poverty in Tampa than many other cities. I have lived across the country and truly haven’t noticed how many people are dealing with poverty until I started school here and started to live here in Tampa. That sounds great that you were able to cook for the people that have nothing and you were able to feed them.
@ebarton, it sounds like you picked a very interesting topic! To be honest, I really had only heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch once or twice, and even then it was usually someone talking about it not being real. I'm really looking forward to your presentation in class to learn a little more about it, and how successful you were with getting more people to recycle! Now that I know how big of an issue this is, you can be sure I'll recycle more often!
ReplyDelete@maxwell
ReplyDeleteWow you put a lot of effort into your social action project! That is cool how you tried to get the USF dining services to be able to donate our dining dollars to the homeless. If it were up to me and how my leftover dining dollars were used, I think they are better off helping someone going hungry rather than going back into the school that has already robbed me of a million dollars. I think it is great that you were able to organize a hardcore food drive and donate to people that are in need of food in our community.
At the beginning of the semester I joined a Human Sexual Behavior class, and we recently had to do a response paper on a given topic. Because I waited until the last minute to do my paper, the only topic left was one on HIV. I'm glad I had to write on that topic however, because I never knew how big of an issue HIV was until I did some research. So my topic for this paper is going to be HIV and other STD's that are becoming more and more widespread. Although many people are aware of HIV, many more do not take the steps to protect themselves, or they blow it off thinking they will never contract the disease. For my social action I am going to raise awareness for HIV by passing out flyers and volunteering in a clinic that tests for STDs and AIDS.
ReplyDelete@nsmart
ReplyDeleteI definitely support your idea of going out to the Marshall Center to raise awareness for your social action project. This is a good way to get people motivated, and facts and statistics always help individuals get a better picture of the situation. And just so you know, I'm doing my project on recycling plastics too so I'll probably be looking for you at MSC when you're passing out those flyers.