Hi there everyone! For my blog today I will be discussing a product which I like to drink and go into detail of where it comes from and what exactly it's made of to get a better look at what is really in the foods and drinks we consume. The product I will be talking about today is Rockstar Light Vanilla Roasted, one which I drink about once a week. I decided on this product because I was never a big energy drink consumer but do occasionally need that small boost about once a week.
So what exactly is in this flavor of Rockstar? I got the list of ingredients from the website, which lists : brewed espresso coffee, whole milk, sucrose, non-fat milk, taurine, natural flavors, salt, potassium phosphate, sodium phosphate, caffeine, mono and diglycerides, inositol, l-carnitine, milk thistle extract, niacinamide, calcium pantothenate, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, ginko biloba leaf extract, caramel color, guarana seed extract, panax ginseng root extract, pyridoxine hrydrochloride, and cyanocobalamin. A few of the items are quite self-explanatory, such as the milk or brewed coffee, or even caffeine, but others are not quite so easy to understand. In order, sucrose is pretty much just an organic compound mostly known as table sugar. Then there is taurine, which was described as an amino acid which helps neurological development. potassium phosphate is the compound combing potassium and phosphoric acid. These work as a PH buffer to keep the acidity of the drink where it should be. Sodium phosphates can have many different purposes within foods or drinks and are studied quite well and are known to be safe. These can also be used as a PH buffer as well as just an essential nutrient in the drink for humans. Mono and diglycerides are pretty much found in animal fat and vegetable oil. It can be used to extend shelf life of foods and drinks. Inositol is a vitamin like substance which can be used for various reasons. It can be used as an antioxident, and also works well with b-vitamins. L-carnitine is an amino acid used as a building block for proteins, and helps convert food to energy. Milk-thisle extract is used for liver suport in energy drinks, because, as you may have noticed, there are a lot of vitamins and such which may be too much for the liver, so this helps to balance it out. Niacinamide is pretty much just a form of vitamin b3, and calcium pantothenate is just vitamin B5 which is pretty much used in the release of energy from carbohydrates. Acesulfame potassium and sucralose are sweeteners used mostly because they are calorie free. Ginko biloba leaf extract may have a few reasons for being in Rockstars, one being that it improves on blood flow and circulation. Guarana seed extract is used in energy drinks for its natural levels of caffeine. There wasn't much reason I could find for panax ginseng root extract to be in rockstar other than the fact that it lowers blood glucose levels, which could be good for those who drink energy drinks. Pyridoxine hydrochloride is vitamin B6, used for proper nerve function and metabolizing nutrients. Cyanocobalamin is a form of vitamin B12 used for a healthy nervous and immune system. Now there could be a lot more to write about for each of the ingredients, as well as both good and bad effects of each ingredient, so much more research would need to be done specifically if one would like to know more about it.
The company Rockstar energy drink is centrally located in Las Vegas, Nevada, but sells its products all over the world. I was unable to find exactly where the energy drink was made, so my assumption would be they make it at Las Vegas. It was manufactured by the company, which benefits from all the money made. As far as environmental impacts, it is packaged in 16 oz. cans which usually go out to grocery stores and other stores in 24 pack cases. Aside from shipping and being packaged, I'm unable to find any other way it might impact the environment. The company, much like its competitor Redbull, hosts many concerts and events which can impact the environment, such as motocross races which can damage a property and release fumes into the air. The drink itself, in my opinion, is tasty, and can be both healthy and unhealthy depending on how you see it. As stated above when the ingredients and what the use of them was for, they could go either way. Some of the ingredients can only be taken in small doses. For example, panax ginseng root extract can cause bleeding of the nose or estrogen like effects, including tenderness of the breasts or male erectile dysfunction in certain cases. So, although I don't think it's healthy, so long as I'm not drinking them all the time for the rest of my life, I won't mind having one every once in a while.
So there it is, just a bit more info and look into a product which I decided to write about. Most of the information I was able to gather was from Rockstars website (Rockstar69.com), or from livestrong.com.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
campus sustainability
How sustainable can a campus such as RCC be? There are many factors one could measure to figure this out. For example, how about measuring the amount of trash thrown away. Or even better, measuring the amount of trash that's being thrown away compared to what amount of that trash might be something which could be recyclable, such as cans or other recyclable material such as paper? That's where I would start. Then, I would measure the amount of electricity being wasted through things such as keeping the lights on and A/C running in classrooms/bathrooms which aren't being used(which, by the way, I don't understand why it always has to be freezing in there). We could also measure the cost of how much electricity the campus uses in general and try to cut that down, or how efficient everything is, such as the air conditioning and heating, which could be lost due to poor insulation in the buildings. Another way to measure the sustainability which we may not think of so much is the use of harmful chemicals in products used to sanitate and clean the bathrooms, classrooms, and overall campus. Another factor which can easily go unnoticed is the amount of trash build-up from things such as the styrofoam plates used at the cafeteria or disposable cups used for coffee.
A perfect example of a university trying to transform their campus into a more sustainable one is UC Davis with their new West Village "zero-net energy" living towers. The Towers plan on making up as much energy as they use through the use of solar panels. Not only that, but the way the towers were built allow for them to get in much sunlight without too much heat, and the courtyard below will soak up all the excess rainwater into the grass so it won't over-flood any of the storm drains. The building is made with extra thick amounts of insulation to keep them warm on cool days and cold on warm days so much energy won't have to be used on the A/C and heating. Not only that, but any energy not used which the solar panels make during the day will be sent back to the grid so it can be used whenever no sunlight is available. To learn more about the project, a simple google search of UC Davis' West Village will provide many articles.
A factor which I would personally want to fix is the use of harmful products used around campus. Now I don't actually know if RCC uses harmful chemicals to clean bathrooms or around the school, but I'm pretty sure it's safe to say they probably don't. First thing to do would be to look at what products are used around the school, from things such as bleach and toilet bowl cleaner, to things such as pesticides if those are used around the campus, or cleaning products in the kitchen. We would need to know how if any of the products are harmful and just harmful they might be. We would need to take a look at what toll they have on the environment and where these chemicals might end up. I would measure just how much of these chemicals are ending up around the campus by simply doing an inventory check on how much was bought and used for the year of these different chemicals. A few people I can talk to about this would be the local janitors and cafeteria cooks and cleaners to see what they use, as well as talking to whoever keeps inventory on the products used to see what is being used throughout the year. To get permission to do all this surveying, I would probably try and contact president of the school since I'm sure he would be the one I would need permission from, and if not, then I'm sure he could point me in the right direction. I would get fellow classmates from my environmental science class to help out so they may gain both a learning experience as well as perhaps have it count for extra credit/volunteer work (after asking the teacher if that would be fine, of course!). After all is said and done, I would have to do some research to see what products there are out there which aren't quite as harmful (or preferably harmless) and also won't cost the school more. I would also try to see what other schools might be using on their campus and do research on that. With a little research online, we can all see that there are obviously ways to create a more sustainable campus, it just takes a little research as well as seeing what others are doing to make their campus more green.
A perfect example of a university trying to transform their campus into a more sustainable one is UC Davis with their new West Village "zero-net energy" living towers. The Towers plan on making up as much energy as they use through the use of solar panels. Not only that, but the way the towers were built allow for them to get in much sunlight without too much heat, and the courtyard below will soak up all the excess rainwater into the grass so it won't over-flood any of the storm drains. The building is made with extra thick amounts of insulation to keep them warm on cool days and cold on warm days so much energy won't have to be used on the A/C and heating. Not only that, but any energy not used which the solar panels make during the day will be sent back to the grid so it can be used whenever no sunlight is available. To learn more about the project, a simple google search of UC Davis' West Village will provide many articles.
A factor which I would personally want to fix is the use of harmful products used around campus. Now I don't actually know if RCC uses harmful chemicals to clean bathrooms or around the school, but I'm pretty sure it's safe to say they probably don't. First thing to do would be to look at what products are used around the school, from things such as bleach and toilet bowl cleaner, to things such as pesticides if those are used around the campus, or cleaning products in the kitchen. We would need to know how if any of the products are harmful and just harmful they might be. We would need to take a look at what toll they have on the environment and where these chemicals might end up. I would measure just how much of these chemicals are ending up around the campus by simply doing an inventory check on how much was bought and used for the year of these different chemicals. A few people I can talk to about this would be the local janitors and cafeteria cooks and cleaners to see what they use, as well as talking to whoever keeps inventory on the products used to see what is being used throughout the year. To get permission to do all this surveying, I would probably try and contact president of the school since I'm sure he would be the one I would need permission from, and if not, then I'm sure he could point me in the right direction. I would get fellow classmates from my environmental science class to help out so they may gain both a learning experience as well as perhaps have it count for extra credit/volunteer work (after asking the teacher if that would be fine, of course!). After all is said and done, I would have to do some research to see what products there are out there which aren't quite as harmful (or preferably harmless) and also won't cost the school more. I would also try to see what other schools might be using on their campus and do research on that. With a little research online, we can all see that there are obviously ways to create a more sustainable campus, it just takes a little research as well as seeing what others are doing to make their campus more green.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
24 hours
Hi there, it's me again. For this weeks homework assignment, I was assigned to try and log down everything I used in a 24 hours period which came from the earth. The assignment called for me to carry a notebook or smartphone to jog down my ideas, which I thought would have been a hassle and thought I could easily remember so long as I put my mind to it. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and now I wish I had put things down in my smartphone. luckily for me, I did pay close attention to everything which I used or came into contact with. I started my assignment from yesterday morning, March 6 2012, up until this morning. I was going to write down everything I used in chronological order, but on my assignment I was told to organize everything into categories. So although I will be posting everything into categories, I will list everything within those categories as I had used them, in chronological order.
Category number 1 was food and drink. First thing I had to eat was a bowl of golden grahams cereal with some 2% milk. Later, before my class, I reheated some chicken, rice and potatoes in the microwave. After class I had stopped at Clark's Nutrition for a few items and bought myself a bag of Boulder Chips. When I arrived home I made myself a bean and cheese burrito. I then went to TGI Fridays that night and had myself blackened chicken alfredo pasta and a wild-berry lemonade. Aside from the lemonade, I only drank water and the milk which was in my cereal.
Category number 2 included housing and other buildings. The only buildings I had come into contact with from yesterday til today were my house, the math and science building at Riverside Community College, Clarks Nutrition, TGI Fridays and my girlfriends house.
Category number 3 was reserved for transportation and roads. My source of transportation yesterday was a Scion TC and my legs, which were used to get me around yesterday. The roads i used were from my house to school to Clarks and back home. Then from my house to my girlfriends to TGI Fridays and back home.
Category number 4 is clothing. Yesterday, when I had woken up, I was using a pair of pajamas made out of 100% cotton from Sri Lanka. I then used a pair of jeans, a t-shirt which was 94% cotton, 6% organic cotton, a sweater which was 50% cotton, 50% preshrunk polyester, and a pair of vans to school. When I arrived home I put on a pair of gym shorts to clean and then work out in. After, I had showered and put on some boxer briefs which were 95% cotton 5% spandex, a pair of pants, and button up, some sock and a pair of boat shoes. At the end of my night I had put on the original pajama pants I had started the day in.
Category number 5 was school supplies. This included my laptop, which used electricity to power it. I also had my binder, a lead pencil, a pen, some paper, and my backpack.
Category 6 was personal care products. In the morning I had brushed my teeth, meaning I had used a toothbrush and toothpaste, as well as some floss. I then proceeded to put on deodorant. Later, after my shower I used my face wash, some cologne, more deodorant, and body wash. Oh and can't forget toilet paper!
Category 7 was leisure activities. This included my laptop(again) as well as a book I had been reading, A punching bag I have at my house as well as my weight set. I also have my fish tank which uses electricity to power the filter as well as the heater and light. I also cleaned my car yesterday, so I had used some vinyl cleaner for the dashboard and a vacuum.
Category 8 was for miscellaneous or "other" items, and although I'm sure there are some, I believe I was able to make them fit into the first 7 categories. Some items I'm able to name off the top of my head though that I know for a fact I used were my bed, gasoline for the car, forks, knives, spoons, cups, my phone, etc.
Another thing which was assigned to the class was to choose one of the item which we had observed and to research it. The item which I had decided to research on was the face wash I had bought yesterday. My reason for wanting to research this item is because I had bought it at a Clark's Nutrition, which is supposed to be a natural market, and I would like to see just how natural it is (or isn't) and also, because it seems to work really well so I'd like to know more about it. The name of the item is Desert Essence face wash. It's ingredients listed on the bottle are as follows: Castille soap(water, cocos nucifera(coconut) oil, tall oil, potassium hydroxide), glycerin, melaleuca, alternifolia, leaf oil, chamomila recutita flower extract, hedychium coronarium root extract, fucus vesiculosus extract(bladderwrack), cymbopogon martini oil(palmarosa), citrus auantium amara peel(bitter orange) oil, lavadula angustifolia (lavender) oil, chomomilla recutita(matricaria) flower oil, calendula officinalis flower oil, callitris introtropica wood oil (blue cypress). It's face wash, so I pretty much just wet my face with warm water, then apply a small amount to my face and rub it in, and after about a minute, I rinse it off. I got the item at Clark's Nutrition as had been mentioned, and it is distributed by Desert Essence in New York (http://www.desertessence.com/). I originally got the product from my mom, who had bought some a couple years ago when she was out shopping. Now I currently had the product because I had just gone out to buy it. When all of the face wash had been used up, I will either keeping the bottle it is currently in to put something else in it, or will just recycle the bottle. The product falls in between want and need for me. My face isn't really dirty to begin with, so I suppose I don't really need it, but I do need face wash. The effect on the product for me is great. As far as the environment goes, unless i just dump it in the trash, it should be recycled, and the company seems to do a good job for itself. All their products are BPA free and recyclable. The company swears that it doesn't do any animal testing, or use any animal derived ingredients. Now I'm not sure how they get the oils from things such as coconut or fruit, so that might be of some concern for the environment depending on how they come about that, but other then that, it seems to be fine for the environment. Was this product out 100 years ago? No, not this specific one, but perhaps some sort of face wash was. I was unable to find one, so my guess is people just used body soap for the face as well. As far as I was able to read, the only way to do more good is to buy something made locally, or to find a way to make home made face wash that is natural and organic so one would not have to rely on bottling and transporting of the face wash.
Now although the product I had did my research on seemed to have been a good one, I'm sure the majority of them weren't. Perhaps my body wash was used on animals and the company might not recycle, or perhaps the jeans I used required a lot of transporting and bathtubs of water as well as electricity. What surprised me most about this was just how many things I used without realizing it. What else am I able to do to conserve Earth's resources? I could, if I had a bike, bike to school for one, which isn't too far for me to bike. I could buy more local and organic or natural things. I could use my laptop to download all my textbooks rather than purchase them, although then I would be using electricity. There's a lot which can be done, and now that I know just how much I use through out the day, I can be more wary of how I can change that so as to preserve Earth's resources.
Category number 1 was food and drink. First thing I had to eat was a bowl of golden grahams cereal with some 2% milk. Later, before my class, I reheated some chicken, rice and potatoes in the microwave. After class I had stopped at Clark's Nutrition for a few items and bought myself a bag of Boulder Chips. When I arrived home I made myself a bean and cheese burrito. I then went to TGI Fridays that night and had myself blackened chicken alfredo pasta and a wild-berry lemonade. Aside from the lemonade, I only drank water and the milk which was in my cereal.
Category number 2 included housing and other buildings. The only buildings I had come into contact with from yesterday til today were my house, the math and science building at Riverside Community College, Clarks Nutrition, TGI Fridays and my girlfriends house.
Category number 3 was reserved for transportation and roads. My source of transportation yesterday was a Scion TC and my legs, which were used to get me around yesterday. The roads i used were from my house to school to Clarks and back home. Then from my house to my girlfriends to TGI Fridays and back home.
Category number 4 is clothing. Yesterday, when I had woken up, I was using a pair of pajamas made out of 100% cotton from Sri Lanka. I then used a pair of jeans, a t-shirt which was 94% cotton, 6% organic cotton, a sweater which was 50% cotton, 50% preshrunk polyester, and a pair of vans to school. When I arrived home I put on a pair of gym shorts to clean and then work out in. After, I had showered and put on some boxer briefs which were 95% cotton 5% spandex, a pair of pants, and button up, some sock and a pair of boat shoes. At the end of my night I had put on the original pajama pants I had started the day in.
Category number 5 was school supplies. This included my laptop, which used electricity to power it. I also had my binder, a lead pencil, a pen, some paper, and my backpack.
Category 6 was personal care products. In the morning I had brushed my teeth, meaning I had used a toothbrush and toothpaste, as well as some floss. I then proceeded to put on deodorant. Later, after my shower I used my face wash, some cologne, more deodorant, and body wash. Oh and can't forget toilet paper!
Category 7 was leisure activities. This included my laptop(again) as well as a book I had been reading, A punching bag I have at my house as well as my weight set. I also have my fish tank which uses electricity to power the filter as well as the heater and light. I also cleaned my car yesterday, so I had used some vinyl cleaner for the dashboard and a vacuum.
Category 8 was for miscellaneous or "other" items, and although I'm sure there are some, I believe I was able to make them fit into the first 7 categories. Some items I'm able to name off the top of my head though that I know for a fact I used were my bed, gasoline for the car, forks, knives, spoons, cups, my phone, etc.
Another thing which was assigned to the class was to choose one of the item which we had observed and to research it. The item which I had decided to research on was the face wash I had bought yesterday. My reason for wanting to research this item is because I had bought it at a Clark's Nutrition, which is supposed to be a natural market, and I would like to see just how natural it is (or isn't) and also, because it seems to work really well so I'd like to know more about it. The name of the item is Desert Essence face wash. It's ingredients listed on the bottle are as follows: Castille soap(water, cocos nucifera(coconut) oil, tall oil, potassium hydroxide), glycerin, melaleuca, alternifolia, leaf oil, chamomila recutita flower extract, hedychium coronarium root extract, fucus vesiculosus extract(bladderwrack), cymbopogon martini oil(palmarosa), citrus auantium amara peel(bitter orange) oil, lavadula angustifolia (lavender) oil, chomomilla recutita(matricaria) flower oil, calendula officinalis flower oil, callitris introtropica wood oil (blue cypress). It's face wash, so I pretty much just wet my face with warm water, then apply a small amount to my face and rub it in, and after about a minute, I rinse it off. I got the item at Clark's Nutrition as had been mentioned, and it is distributed by Desert Essence in New York (http://www.desertessence.com/). I originally got the product from my mom, who had bought some a couple years ago when she was out shopping. Now I currently had the product because I had just gone out to buy it. When all of the face wash had been used up, I will either keeping the bottle it is currently in to put something else in it, or will just recycle the bottle. The product falls in between want and need for me. My face isn't really dirty to begin with, so I suppose I don't really need it, but I do need face wash. The effect on the product for me is great. As far as the environment goes, unless i just dump it in the trash, it should be recycled, and the company seems to do a good job for itself. All their products are BPA free and recyclable. The company swears that it doesn't do any animal testing, or use any animal derived ingredients. Now I'm not sure how they get the oils from things such as coconut or fruit, so that might be of some concern for the environment depending on how they come about that, but other then that, it seems to be fine for the environment. Was this product out 100 years ago? No, not this specific one, but perhaps some sort of face wash was. I was unable to find one, so my guess is people just used body soap for the face as well. As far as I was able to read, the only way to do more good is to buy something made locally, or to find a way to make home made face wash that is natural and organic so one would not have to rely on bottling and transporting of the face wash.
Now although the product I had did my research on seemed to have been a good one, I'm sure the majority of them weren't. Perhaps my body wash was used on animals and the company might not recycle, or perhaps the jeans I used required a lot of transporting and bathtubs of water as well as electricity. What surprised me most about this was just how many things I used without realizing it. What else am I able to do to conserve Earth's resources? I could, if I had a bike, bike to school for one, which isn't too far for me to bike. I could buy more local and organic or natural things. I could use my laptop to download all my textbooks rather than purchase them, although then I would be using electricity. There's a lot which can be done, and now that I know just how much I use through out the day, I can be more wary of how I can change that so as to preserve Earth's resources.
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