Monday, November 17, 2008

Something new everyday

This has really been a great semester and I am enjoying my courses a lot. My biggest surprise so far has been Crisis in Environmental Health, which I chose because of the ECCE requirement but have really loved. We were asked to write a short paper about an environmental issue in our community, so I wrote about a boat motor company who was polluting nearby Waukegan Harbor for many years with contaminants from their plant operations. Next up is a longer research paper on the history of flooding and issues of the Des Plaines River throughout Lake County. I am really excited to work on this because I love to research and study the past and especially since I have memories of many of the old floods. I have learned so much about the field of environmental health... the big responsibilities they have, how they do so much with so little, and how they have a true passion for what they do. I have been talking about things I have learned with my friends and family and I now have a new appreciation for workers in the field. There seems to be an environmental health crisis almost daily across the country. It makes me look and think about the Southern California fires from a whole new perspective.

2 comments:

Andy Egizi, Program Coordinator said...

You might have seen the word Emiquon in emails from UIS. Check out their page, you might be interested. Michael Lemke does teach online from time to time.

http://www.uis.edu/emiquon/

Dan B said...

I took Crisis in Environmental Health in Spring 08, I thought it was a great course, I don't see how any student in any discipline wouldn't benefit from it. It makes you really appreciate the efforts of all the people who work in this field, from the first responders to all the people supporting them, in keeping our communities safe and in putting things back on track in the event of disasters.