Watch my travel vlog here.
This trip was the escape I needed. With four months of working through the busiest time of the year and trying to cross things off on an infinite to-do list, I knew I was nearing my breaking point. As someone who recharges through travel, this trip couldn’t come fast enough. And when it was finally time to board my flight to Caye Caulker, I couldn’t have been happier.
As I return from my trip to Belize, I am reminded once again the importance of sunscreen. My skin is fair, and a short amount of time in the sun can cause me to become severely sunburn. As my friend laid out in the sun becoming a golden bronzed goddess, my time was spent cowering in the shade, a towel wrapped around my whole body and a big hat for good measure.
While sunscreen is an essential part of my daily routine on and off the beach, it is important to also note what is in our sunscreen. There are two types of sunscreen that can be used: mineral and chemical. The difference is in the ingredients. Continue reading “Steps Toward Sustainability: Reef Safe Sunscreen”
As I change my daily routine to become more mindful and sustainable, one of the changes I have made is to go vegetarian once a week! Continue reading “Steps toward Sustainability: The Flexitarian Diet”
Watch my video here
Out of all the places I’ve traveled in my life, New Zealand unexpectedly catapulted to my #1 favorite. It was my first vacation to a colder climate, and I couldn’t recommend it enough. It was the adventure of a lifetime, and I may or may not be planning my next trip there already.
Is it just me, or did January feel unusually long? I swear Christmas was six months ago…but anyway with the first month of 2019 over, I’ve decided to show my first monthly plastic consumption chart. Keeping track of my plastic use definitely made me mindful in my choices, and helped me realize where in my life I consume the largest amount of plastic. So I present to you, my life in plastic:
Continue reading “January Recap: Favorite Articles, Monthly Plastic Consumption”
Happy Tuesday! Each month, I will feature a travel destination here on the blog, with highlights of each place as well as travel tips.
This week is a place that is very near and dear to my heart: Fiji, where I lived for six months. When it came to choosing where to study abroad in college, I doubt anyone thinks of Fiji. Most people don’t even know where it is (east of Australia, north of New Zealand. If you hit Hawaii you’ve gone too far haha). Continue reading “Travel Tuesday: Fiji”
Every year, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation releases their “State of the Bay” report, grading the health of the Bay based on pollution levels, habitat, and fisheries. The health levels are compared to the descriptions of Captain John Smith in the 1600’s, which theorizes that the Bay was 100% healthy during this time period. The verdict for 2018: D plus. Continue reading “The Chesapeake Bay’s Health: A Short Summary”
This summer, I had the extraordinary experience of working as a wrangler in America’s first national park, Yellowstone. 2.2 million acres of undeveloped land, and the peaked mountains, rolling plains, and wildlife are something to behold. Everyday in the middle of work I would look out to Pleasant Valley and take in the beauty, realizing how lucky I was to have such a unique experience.
Working with animals, particularly horses, is work that is truly unlike any other. The routines of the horses had to be considered with each new day as we saddled, fed, and prepared them for the trail rides. While I have ridden horses my entire life, working alongside the horses for 12 hour days felt like I’d never actually seen a horse. But with each passing day the routine became ingrained in myself and my entire team, and to this day I still remember the routine that was my lifestyle for four months.
Continue reading “A Day in the Life as a Wrangler in Yellowstone National Park”
Originally published here:
Martin O’Malley sat in the office of his home in Towson, Maryland. The former Governor of Maryland, wearing a casual black shirt and jeans, which were a stark contrast to his usual suit and tie, was surrounded by awards he’d received during his eight years in office. The majority of those awards were for his environmental actions. A plaque with an oyster shell was awarded to him by Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources in 2011 for his work in restoring the oyster beds in the Chesapeake Bay. The University of Maryland Center awarded a map of Maryland and the Bay to him in 2014 for his “outstanding work in preserving our nation’s largest estuary”.
“Some of the happiest days of my life were spend on the Bay with my dad and mom,” O’Malley said. “They would often take us down to the Eastern Shore and we’d explore the black water wildlife refuge or just go mucking around on the riverbank.” Continue reading “The Chesapeake Bay: Hope for a Clear Future”
Google+ was originally created with the intention of being the “new Facebook”, allowing the user to create a social media profile and platform to stay connected. However, Google+ never reached the popularity Facebook had, and today is one of the least used social media networks.
Google+ was first launched in 2011, and allowed users to create profiles to share updates from photos to relationship statuses. Instead of “friends”, contacts are put into “circles” and allow group messaging and upload photos only a certain circle can see. Google expected Google+ to rival the popularity of Facebook, and for its user count to skyrocket within the year. However, while the amount of users grew, the amount of time spent on the site was incremental compared to Facebook. By the end of the year Google+ had reached over 90 million users, but the amount of time spent on the site was just 3.3 minutes. In comparison, Facebook has 1.64 billion users, and the average time spent on Facebook is 7.5 hours.
When logging into Google+, it gives you access to all of your Google accounts such as Gmail and Google Drive. This explains why the user count bigger than the site’s success. However, a small amount of this demographic uses Google+ for the social platform it was designed to achieve.
There are varying opinions on why Google+ failed. One of the main reasons is the confidence of the Google team on its success. Because they saw user count continue to increase, they presented that as a display of success, despite the lack of time these users spent on the site. Google+ also didn’t provide the social media experience other sites such as Facebook provided. Google+ was less user friendly, and made users work harder to create their profiles (such as who to add to their circles) rather than having it be a simple five step process.
While Google+ succeeded in uniting all Google products and apps under one roof, it failed in the aspect of being a social media platform. Today, Google+ is constant at 100 million users, with the average time spent on the site still around 3 minutes. Google has shifted its focus away from the social media aspect and is focusing on creating a user friendly site that will easily connect all Google platforms both by mobile and by computer. While the dream of being the second Facebook is now a distant memory for Google+, its uses in connection can still prove to bring is popularity to the site.
Theresa Schempp 