Reflection weeks 13 and 14

We have only two weeks left in the semester as I write this on April 30, 2009. My finals week is basically next week with all of the presentations I have to do and projects to turn in. Finals week leaves me with one test and then will have to kill time in Duluth unitil May 16 for commencment ceremony.



What Week 13 has to offer

We started off the week with watching a video called "Story of Stuff". The video will explain where the stuff we throw away comes from and goes after we use it and throw it away. Quotes I like from the video.
"We are running out of limits, we are running out of stuff (natural materials)."
"Less than 4% of the USA's original forestry is still intact."
"If everyone consumed at the US rates we would need 4 to 5 planets to give everyone the things they need and waste."

The video gives a 20 minute explanation of how we are creating toxic substances and taking up resources at an amazing fast rate, and not replacing the resources. So, the earth will not be able to sustain itself as we are taking more than it can give without losing something like animal species for example.

Now Thursday's event was to go to Bagley Nature area. We were instructed by two Outdoor Education majors on how to navigate through the woods using a compase and destination points. We also learned how to "leap frog". What this means is that you find the point at which you need to travel and then send your partner ahead of you and tell them to go in the direction the compase is pointing. You find you main focus point and tell them to stop, then you count the paces they went by walking up to them. Note: a pace is two full steps. My group was Jayme, Randy, and Abbey. We all did exceptionally well at our compase skills.

I also should note the Advocacy Project we did which was "Issue Overview". We took from our last assignment and expanded on it. The bill and its issue were to be discussed and explained in full detail. This was a very important task to do to lead up to week 14's advocacy project assignment "Write a letter to an official".

What Week 14 has to offer

I would first like to start off by talking about the advocacy assignment of writing a letter to your public government official or letter to an editor. This was a very fun assignment for me as I could really see myself doing this in the near future. It makes me feel very American to do something like this. My letter was about urging my state senator to write a bill that stops Urban Sprawl an issue not really talked about. This issue could help keep the cost of living down by keeping the city more condensed which will mean less dependence on your cars for travel. We can walk to the grocery store rather than having to drive over 3 miles to get to one. Traffic will go down by living and working in the same general area. It is a very real concern of mine.

The next part of week 14 I would like to talk about is the guest speaker we had. The guest is apart of the masters program here at UMD with Environmental Health and Safety Master's Program. The guest told us about his experience as a Sustainablity work. This means that he finds ways to educate the public about how to keep wastes down and other ways on how to be more energy and waste efficient to save the environment.

On Thursday we were able to have some un-ordinary fun by participating in a "Junk Competition". We got together in our web groups and had to come up with interesting ways we can re-use a piece of junk. With the items being a glass jar (Fish Bowl), yellow plastic thing (bicylce basket), cup cake metal molds (wind chims pieces, or nut holder for a party), metal rack (Back scratcher), and an old sprinkler (pizza try holder). I believe these ideas won them all and blew all the other web groups away.

Now we wait for the end of the semseter and my college undergraduate career will soon be over. Hurray for May 16, please come as fast as possible.

Share and Voice: Ecological Solutions

Here is my website I found called Ecological Solutions.

It is a company that helps arcitetcs create "Green" certified buildings.


From their website

If your goal is to earn LEED certification for your project, or simply to reduce your building’s overall operating costs and environmental impact, EcoLogical Building Solutions has the glass, coatings and paint products you need, all from a proven, innovative company you can trust.
USGBC LEED Program
United States Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Program is a voluntary market-driven building rating system designed to accelerate the development and implementation of green building practices.
PPG manufacturers a variety of Glass, Paint & Coating Products that can help architects earn LEED certification credits for their projects.
Information on LEED can be found on PPG’s web-site and at the USGBC web-site: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19

Advocacy Project: Letter to Public Official

TO: U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

FROM: Kevin R
6 Brooklyn, MN 55444
April 28, 2009


Dear Senator Klobuchar,

I am writing to you in regards to a needed bill that will diminish "Urban Sprawl", of which is causing costs of living to go up for every U.S. citizizan. If we are going to have more and more people live on the edges of a city that city will become so spread out that public transportation cannot get to them. They will be forced to drive to work. If we can keep everyone in the city close to the buisness districts there will be more availablity for peope to walk, bike, and take a public form of transportation to work and to other needed destinations.

With many people not being in the "heart" of the city this forces a lot of people to drive from suburb to suburb rather than going from suburb to the Central Buisness district of their city. This causes major traffic lock from so many people traveling across their town and through the city and congesting traffic. If we can get people to all work and live in the same area there will be less need for cars, and there will be less need for travel. This will keep the cost of living down as their dependance on paying for gas and a car will be less (or even nonexistant). It is important to note that residents of sprawling neighborhoods tend to emit more pollution per person and suffer more traffic fatalities.

References
For more information on this topic you can vist http://www.sprawlcity.org/
They have a lot of information on the effects of urban sprawl to our nation's largest cities. This is a subject that doesn't have a lot of attention by fedural government. We need a bill that will help prevent Urban Sprawl. This will help keep people living in a more centralized location, which will help keep traffic conditions low as more people will be able to walk to work and the local buisness district. The use of public transportation will be increased as you will not need to lengthen out the reach of buses and other local public transportation by keeping the people of the city in a centralized location. The benifits of having a bill for this cause will be benificial on gas emission to be cut down as walking and biking will be more prevalent.

Normandale Community College Professor Ron Ward talks about Urban Sprawl in his class "Intro to Geography". He is a great resource person to get more information on the subjec of Urban Sprawl and how it affects people whom live in urban, and suburban areas.

Normandale Community College
9700 France Avenue South, Bloomington, MN 55431
Normandale main office phone: (952) 487-8200

Prof. Ron Ward
His office phone (952) 487-7437

What to do about it
What I would suggest is to create a bill that promotes people to live near the central buisness district of their city. A suggestion I have for this is to keep land taxes cheaper, the reason being if you live in a more population dense area you should have lower taxes. If you live in a less population dense area there should be a higher tax on land for such luxury. Another idea to prevent urban sprawl I have is to start promoting to people and educating home buyers that if they live near the city they will have a cheaper cost of living (and have an easier way of life) by not needing to drive to work everyday, they can take the bus or walk to work.

These are the quick references to my suggestions
-Promote the prevention of urban sprawl
- Lower the taxes on population dense areas of the city, and raise taxes on low population dense areas.
- Bring forth a bill that will prevent Urban Sprawl

Sincerly,

Kevin R
6 Brooklyn, MN 554444

share and voice: PBS report on Green Buildings

On the PBS television show News Hour with Jim Lehr they reported that the city of Washington D.C. is about to pass a law that will require every new building to be a certified as a "green" building. The report also talks about how many schools are adopting the "green" building way of life as they can save a lot of money. Every school spends most of its budget on energy bills to run the lights in their school.

At the end of 2006, there were 550 LEED certified buildings in the country and more than 3,500 registered projects in the works. About 220 of these projects are schools.

Here is am important section of the report that talks about how these new "Green" buildings do not cost tax payer more money, in fact it saves them money and in a short period of time.

"When Clackamas High School in Oregon began looking into planning an environmentally friendly new building, not everyone was in favor of it. "People were skeptical because they thought it would cost more money to build and we would not see much money back," said Dave Church, special projects consultant for North Clackamas School District. In the end, the contracting bid cost no more than an average school in the Portland area, and the finished product was a modern building that has saved the school 20 percent on its energy costs. The school owes the savings to solar panels, natural lighting and a high-tech ventilation system." (News Hour, 2006)


This is a great area of study that tax payers should take interest in. We need to cut costs in our schools to keep them running, and if we build or modify schools to be more "green" than we don't have to fire teachers or cut after school programs as the improvements will help keep the school running at a cheaper rate.

Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

Introduction of my issue- Urban Sprawl: how the land is being taken away from the wildlife. Look at this definition of urban sprawl and look at the second paragraph to get the health/environmental aspects of what it is.

A current government bill was recently passed and enacted into pubilc law relating to the issue I am discussing. It is "H.R. 146: An act to designate certain land as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System, to authorize certain programs and activities in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes" was sponsored by Rep. Holt, Rush D. (NJ-12) was first introduced in the senate on 1/6/2009, and became pubilc law 111-11.

I would like to propose that there be a higher tax on untouched land, that if a land is secluded that it has a higher value, than if a piece of land is in the downtown area of a city. It should be more advantageous to live in the city as everything you could need comercially is there at your fingertips. The ablity to live out on the outskirts of town should be a privelage only to those whom can afford the really high taxes, which will have more people living in the city and less people taking the habitat of the natural environment.

Who is affected by the issue?

There are two groups affected by this issue.



The first of the two being people that live on the boarder of the urban/rural area of their town are the people whom are affected by having to drive everywhere and have little ablity to walk or bike to their local areas of need such as the grocery store. And they create more pollution from driving to every destination as they live far away from the buisness districts of the city.



And secondly, the wildlife is affected by getting their land (habitat) taken away as humans invade their habitat. With the human population comes tons and tons of garbage that can pollute the once majestic un-touched water and land. We are a nation of consumers, and we need to cut back on how we take more than we put back into our land.

What are the consequences of the issue?
When we move out to the cities' outer limits we are expanding our reach into the wilderness. The wildlife need land to live off of as much as we do. The nation's forrest has been reduced to just 4% of what they were back some 50 years ago. (Story of Stuff)

With people living farther away from their jobs and commercial retailers, they will be forced to drive a lot more. If we all lived in a more centralized area we can walk and bike to work, rather than pollute the earth's air and drive everywhere.

What is the economic impact of the issue?
The land on the outskirts of the city are usually much cheaper than that of land in the city. This is a big reason for people to move out and expand the city limits. So, the costs that people have to move to a cheaper area of land attracts them to move. The costs to the environment is a dwindling area of land to live in, of which humans control. The benifits to the issue will be towards the privacy of the home owner lives in a secluded area. With this seclusion comes a cost of needing to drive everywhere with limited options to walk or bike as they live so far away from everything. Another benifit is to the city being able to get higher tax rates to those that own land.

What are the barriers?
If we were too all live a more centralized location than that leaves more room to develop resources. The problem is not everyone can afford living in the downtown areas of a city as real estate prices are much higher. Owning land in the city is much harder to come by, so often many people are renting an apartment in the city, rather than buying a home. This process of being a renter can be a problem if you want security in your home. If you do not own your home you may be forced to move.

The barriers can be overcome with the reduction of land prices in the downtown districts. Another idea is to have many tall buildings that a big number of people can live in. Making in a dense area of land that people live in and own (condominium). A direct problem to a high population denisty in a small amount of land is that people often want their privacy, and since we are often inconsiderate of our neighbors we then make them want to move out to have a more secluded lifestyle in the outskirts of the city limits.

What are the resources?
With the land being consumed there is little room to expand. It is a great honor to be able to own your own land. When we take up land than that leaves little room for the natural environment to expand. Praires, foressts, and swamps a few ecosystems that will be destroyed when they are cleared for residential housing.

What is the history of this issue?
When we had a full abundant forestry, some 50 years ago, we were able to expand our reach and move out of the busy city to a quieter area just outside of town. Now a days we have taken up the land so that there is little room to expand to allow for the vast needs of our wildlife. A wolf for example needs around 50 square miles of land to be able to hunt and find enough food. If we take away the habitat of the animals we take away a natural resource. Currently 96% of the nations' forests have been cut down. It is important to try and make sure that people live in the city, and not take up the land.

Allies and Opponents to my issue
1. The biggest organization that I have found that would support my position is http://www.sprawlcity.org/

They are able to give out charts and graphs of USDA Conservation Survey Data to show how much urban sprawl is happening locally near your town. The reasoning behind why Urban Sprawl is affecting greenhouse gas emissions is due to the needs of an expanding city. The need for more travel and thus gas due to an outreaching city. My take on solving this is to have everyone live in a condensed area. Keep the city to a limit on its boarders. Develop ways to be able to live in high rise apartments this way the land will be preserved.

2. Environmental Planner, Leon Kolankiewicz
He discusses the impact of population growth on greenhouse gas emissions, sprawl, energy consumption and our foreign oil dependency.
"Population growth is affecting greenhouse gas emissions. Due to a rise in an ever expanding city."

My recommendation of action
There should be an action to raise awarness of urban sprawl. I would like to initiate to have a bill written that will stop urban sprawl. My idea for this is to bring down taxes on inner city land, and to raise taxes on suburban lands. Thus, getting everyone to move into the city limits and allowing for the environment to have room to grow and develop. The reason being is that we have taken more land than we need to live off of. Many of our forests have been cut down, and our natural land (swamps, praries, etc) been destroyed. With this being said I would like to ask my senator (Democrate Amy Klobachar) to bring forth a bill that keeps Urban Sprawl to a stand-still.

Reflection weeks 11 and 12

Week 11

This week I got to write a review on the documentary series "Un-Natureal Causes". The episode we watched is "In Sickness and in Wealth". The video is based on the health disparities amongst the people in Lousiville, Kentucky and how rich people live about 9 years longer on average compared to the poorest people in the city. The reasoning for this was due to the lack of health care coverage and a high amount of daily stress due to a lack of control over obsticles in their lives. The rich can manipulate stress better as they have money power to better control when they work, and rarley have to worry about losing their home or some other thing based on a lack of money. The biggest disparity is that America spends by far the most money on health care, and have less than stellar infant mortality rate.

We then later in the week covered the Healthy 2010 objectives. Our assignment is to pick out an objective of the Healthy 2010 list. My objective I chose is objective 25, reduce chlamydia trichanosis. Find out if it is meeting its goals by looking at the graphs. We then went to the THOMAS homepage and searched for a related law that is under review by the Minnesota state government that will work towards supporting our Healthy People 2010 goal.


Week 12

What a week of fun. The Tuesday class day was focused on talking about how a bill gets turned into a law. The use of YouTube was used to show us the School House Rock educational video "I'm Just a Bill". In the video there is a song and skit of a bill going from an idea to a written bill by the local polititican. Then the bill got to go to a subcommittee for debate if should be brought forth to be voted on. The democratic process was explained in a song and action cartoon. The week was a lot more of a relaxed week. Then on Thursday we had a discussion on reading article 20 of are text "News on the Environment Isn't Always Bad" by the Christian Science Monitor. This aritcle was a change of pace from the usually stuff we have read that denotes negative environmental problems. This aritcle focused on the past decades and what they have done to accomplish environmental feats. The 80's was the was about getting rid of the CFC's (chorofluorocarbons) that are putting a hole in the ozone, and the 90's was able to get rid of the harmful pestacide DDT.

Advocacy Project: Healthy People 2010/THOMAS

Goal of Figure 25-1 Reduce the proportion of Chlamydia trachomatis by the year 2010.

ORIGINAL OBJECTIVE
Reduce the proportion of adolescents and young adults with Chlamydia trachomatis infections

Target and baseline:
Objective Reduction in Chlamydia trachomatis infections


Percent
25-1a. Females aged 15 to 24 years attending family planning clinics 5.0 3.0
25-1b. Females aged 15 to 24 years attending STD clinics 12.2 3.0
25-1c. Males aged 15 to 24 years attending STD clinics 15.7 3.0

Target setting method: Better than the best.

Data source: STD Surveillance System, CDC, NCHSTP.

Progress towardes the goal Progress Qutient Chart
The progress that has been made towards this goal is moving away from the target range at an alarming rate. For section 25-1a. the progress has declined by 70%. For section 25-1b there has been a decrease of improvment by 21%, and for section 25-1c the progress has declined by 28%. All of these numbers are bad. There are more and more cases of Chlamydia Trachomatis every year.

Taken from the Healthy People 2010 report.
"Objectives that moved away from their targets. Between 1997 and 2003, the proportion of females aged 15 to 24 years with chlamydial infections who attended family planning clinics increased from 5.0 percent to 6.4 percent (25-1a), and those who attended STD clinics increased from 12.2 percent to 14.1 percent (25-1b), moving away from the target of 3.0 percent. From 1997 to 2003, the proportion of males aged 15 to 24 years with chlamydial infections who attended STD clinics (25-1c) increased from 15.7 percent to 19.3 percent. The increase in the overall number of cases of chlamydial infections in family planning and STD clinics may be a reflection of increasingly sensitive diagnostic tests."

Opportunities & Challenges

An opportunity is to have the infected people of chlamydia take anti-biotic medication to eradicat the infection, to kill it off and make it go away. A challange is that with viruses becoming resistant to drugs by way of patients not completly killing off the virus and the surrviving virus adapts to the medication. It is very important to complete the series of anti-biotic medication to completly erradicat the virus.


Emerging Issues
Here is the report from the Health People 2010. Released in the year 1997, and 2003.
Increases also have occurred in gonorrhea and in a previously rare form of chlamydia, lymphogranuloma venereum. Some of these increases may be attributable to an overall rise in the use of methamphetamines (crystal meth) among MSM, which has a documented association with increased risky sexual behavior. The Internet also has become a major venue for men to connect with other men to arrange sexual encounters. These phenomena present substantial challenges for STD/HIV prevention programs. Current chlamydia screening programs for males are limited. CDC recommends screening all sexually active females 25 years of age and under for chlamydia on an annual basis. In 1999, CDC initiated a research project on male screening to determine the proportion of males with cases of asymptomatic chlamydial infections, the feasibility of screening asymptomatic males for chlamydia in multiple venues, and the risk factors for infection. This research project comprises a screening demonstration, a longitudinal study, and a cost-effectiveness analysis. Recommendations about screening men in
settings with a high proportion of chlamydial infections are under development.

Find a bill that will help towards progress of the wanted goal.

I couldn't find a bill specifically aimed at chlamydia prevention, but this bill is aimed at HIV/AIDs prevention which is another promotion of stoping transimtion of a sexually transmitted infection.

H.CON.RES.62
Title: Supporting the goals and ideals of "National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day"
Sponsor: Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] (introduced 2/25/2009) Cosponsors (23)
Latest Major Action: 2/25/2009 Referred to House committee
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce

My own recommendation is to vote "yes" to help pass this as it is a form of STI prevention. It is all related to having safe sex, and to reduce transmistion of disease. Please make an amendment and add in chlaymida trachonosis awareness along with HIV/AIDS awarness as the STI chlamydia trachnosis is heavily spreading amongst our sexually active population.

My politicial representative is US Representative Erik Paulsen of District 3.

Review: Un-Natural Causes Video

Un-Natural Causes
…is inequality making us sick?

This video presentation was the first episode of a seven episode series. Episode one is called “In Sickness and in Wealth” (56 minutes). The production company of this film is the California News Reel, with Vital Pictures Inc., and in association with the National Minority Consortia. With this video the class was introduced to the notion that healthy people are “wealthy” people in the literal sense that the more money you have the healthier and longer life you are going to live. This is the synopses of the video presented on PBS (Public Broadcasting Systems).

EPISODE ONE: In Sickness and In Wealth (56 min.)
The hour-long opening episode paints the big picture. Set in Louisville, Kentucky, it is a story about health, but it's not about doctors or drugs. It's about why some of us get sicker more often and die sooner in the first place. What are the connections between healthy bodies and healthy bank accounts and skin color? How do social policies and the way we organize work and society affect health? Solutions, the show suggests, lie not in more pills but in more equality. "In Sickness and In Wealth" sets out the series' main themes: that health and longevity are correlated with socio-economic status, that people of color face an additional health burden, and that our health and well-being are tied to policies that promote economic and social justice.(newsreel.org)

A review of the episode from a Minnesotan critic
"Dramatic and powerful. It provides a new framework for viewing health [which] shifts from holding individuals solely responsible to recognizing that the policies that affect health are too large for individuals to tackle on their own. The series offers hope and shows that we can make different policy choices that lead to better health for all members of our communities." Joan Cleary, Minnesota Post

Notes that I wrote down while I was watching the movie that are “New concepts that challenged my thinking”

*The United States of America ranks 30th in the world in life expectancy, but yet we rank number one in annual costs spent on health care per year with 2 trillion dollars spent. That 2 trillion is nearly half of the world’s cost of healthcare.

*We have a horrible infant mortality rate, we rank 29th in the world. From the World Socialist Website that commented on the CDC’s 2008 report on US infant mortality rate being ranked 29th in the world, "Infant mortality is a critical indicator of social progress. As the CDC report explains, "Infant mortality is one of the most important indicators of the health of a nation, as it is associated with a variety of factors such as maternal health, quality and access to medical care, socioeconomic conditions, and public health practices." This decline in world rankings is another expression of US capitalism's decay. The gutting of social programs by successive Democrat and Republican administrations over the last four decades has led to an extraordinary social reversion. A tiny layer at the top has enriched itself through the dismantling of all impediments to the accumulation of private wealth and corporate profit, supported by tax cuts and the slashing of investment in critical social infrastructure. That infant mortality rates are now stagnating for the first time in five decades underscores the accelerating character of the social crisis." (O’Connor, 2008)

*Working Class (Idea of how it effects health- constantly under uncontrolled stress over extent of lifetime)
versus
Professional Class (Idea of how it effects health- less stress on the body, more vacation time and ability to care for one’s self)

Comments from the movie that caught my attention.

“Power is a public health issue” stated by the Louisville Director of Public Health Dr. Adewale Troutman
“Being a CEO is a high demand job, but Taylor usually has the power, resources and control to
manage that pressure. Tondra Young (a clinical lab supervisor) has a high demand job, but less power and control.”

What this means (Power is a public health issue) is that the people whom are constantly under a lot of stress are releasing cortisol into their bloodstream. This should only be a short term action of release, but if it is going on for too long (like for example the lab supervisor cannot take as many days off from work as the CEO due to power of position and control of work hours) it will cause damage to the body as it is a harmful hormone. What cortisal does is it heightens the senses and causes the body to become at a more hyper and tense state to try and get ready for stressful activity. If cortisal is released into the bloodstream for too long it causes damaging effects to the body.

The list of new terms:
Cortisol

Infant mortality rate

Life Expectancy

Working Class

Professional Class

To view the transcript of the movie click here


Reference
O’Connor, P. (2008) US infant mortality rate now worse than 28 other countries. World Socialist Web Site, Retrieved April 9 2009 from http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/oct2008/mort-o18.shtml

Reflection Weeks 9 and 10

In these last two weeks of 9 and 10 we have been getting back into the groove of school with spring break coming in week 8.

week 9
As a class we reviewed what is advocacy. What I read for the week 9 advocacy assignment.

To sum it up
"Advocacy is exciting work. You get the pleasure of fighting the good fight, and sometimes, the thrill of victory. In order to have that, though, you need to get through all of the day-to-day details and specifics. You'll need to keep an eye on the forest while working on the trees individually. By going through the following sections carefully, we think you will be better prepared to bring about the changes that matter to your community." (from the website http://ctb.ku.edu/tools/en/sub_section_main_1196.htm)

As a health educator we have seven responsabilities to cover. The last and seventh responsilibity is advocacy. This is why we are learning about this subject. My first advocacy assignment is to look up who my polictical representatives are. I am from Brooklyn Park, MN. The mayor of my city is not affiliated with a political party, and his name is Steve Lampi. I also learned that at the moment Minnesota is the only state with one sentator. The second senator has still yet to be decided as the voting results are being disputed in court between Republican representative Norm Colman, and Democratic representative Al Franken.


Week 10
We have not been in class this week as the AAPERD conference is going on. This was a nice break for the students to be able to get more time to focus on other classes. During this time we were required to do a photo essay assignment. My focus was on urban sprawl. I live in Duluth, MN and we have a lot of forrestry as you go outside the city limits. We have deer that come into town and surprise you when you wake up in the mourning as they somtimes are right outside your window. They are so big and wild I love mournings with them around to suprise me. The issue is that with humans invading the wildlife's habitat, we are taking up all the land. It is good to let the open forrest stay natural. Wild animals have little choice if we take up their land. It is important to not let humans take up all the land.

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

Would you rather live in an environment full of smoke stacks and pollution filled with loud industrial noises, or live in a clean environment that is spacious and quite.



When we live in developed cities we often forget about how we affect the natural world. When we have "Urban Sprawl" we are diminishing the habitat for animals and other natural environment. The more land we take away the less habitat our wild animals have to live on. If we get to close to their habitat they start to mix in with our way of life. Examples of this are wild bears going into neighborhoods looking for food in people's trash cans. Coyotes walking down the street looking for food and shelter. These wild animals wondering around the neighborhood is not safe for children whom want to play outside as they are fierce animals when agitated. As a society it is important to support your local habitat by giving to nature reserves that help keep the habitats for wild animals intact and abundant. My favorite nature center is in Ely, MN. The International Wolf Center is located there and they support the wolf population.