Final Impressions

It's that time of the year. Finals are here and the class has just about ended. My final impressions of Colloquium are good. I never thought that I would enjoy the field trips as much as I did. I also felt they were handled well, with our teacher having us write up on them during the field trip and after in these blogs. It helped me relive the experience and actually take a step back and look into them more and see them for what they really were, learning opportunities. I also really liked the fact that they incorporated service learning in this course as well. I'm sure it introduced service learning to some of the students who were new to the university, as well as it helped others who needed the hours in general. I also liked the fact that when we presented our projects to our teacher, she wanted us to be creative with them and not simply show a powerpoint. I felt this was good because I'm sure it forced a lot of students to think outside the box, because I know it did for me. In terms of changes to the course, I would probably shorten the amount of papers written to about two or three, but definitely not four papers. These journal blogs were also good but I would recommend having one due a week as opposed to having five or six all due by a certain time. I think having a journal entry due once a week or twice a week would be good and keep the students on track. The one thing I didn't really like, was the Colloquium Test that we had to take before the class and at the end of the class. I think a simple survey at the end of class would have been just fine because I feel like we just wasted our time on that exam. Many of the questions were asked repeatedly and I just think that they could have gotten information from us on the class and our opinions towards the environment in a different way. I felt we got graded on our readings during the quizzes and we shouldn't get graded on all the readings at the end of the year. In terms of readings, I really enjoyed reading A Land Remembered. At first I thought the book was going to be extremely boring to read, but it was actually interesting. It was also very easy to read which made me enjoy it that much more. I also liked some of the readings from Louv and Dewey because they made me think about how nature isn't getting a lot of attention from us these days. It also made me look at how my attention span has drifted from when I was a kid and when I use to go out running and playing outside every day. I especially enjoyed Dewey's take on Education and how much experiencing things really educates us because that was a main theme in this class I felt, especially with all the field trips that we took. In the future, I would suggest the same field trips, but definitely include something along the lines of canoeing again because that was fun since we were out there in nature, but not just walking around. I also liked the sustainable meal because I felt that was fun and it brought our class together a little bit since we were all just sitting around and eating and drinking together and it wasn't a stressful environment. There's not much that I would change about the course, in terms of removing assignments, however I would change some things with the project we had for the wiki page. I think there should definitely be more time given for the project and at least more time in class to work on the page when everyone is together in groups because for my group personally it was very hard getting people to come together and commit to meeting. I would either make that change, or just have groups present on their chapter in power point form as opposed to making a wiki page because making that page was rather difficult. All in all, I enjoyed the class and I will definitely miss it.

Sense of Place

For this interview, I decided to interview an older woman by the name of Teresa. She is originally from Europe and I wanted to get her take on conservation and with the things we do in class. In her opinion, it's important to protect nature. We have to plant trees as much as we can to make up for the deforestation that takes place. She feels that we need to protect the parks too. In addition, she feels that people in our generation, in general, actually DO try to be more clean. She feels they might be saving more for the economy's sake. "They want to save more money. I believe people were wasting more initially because everything was easy, however I do see a trend in your generation of activists who take a stand and try to save. They're not throwing away as much." I asked her about her life growing up and how conservation was. She said that, "Growing up, we were taught to reuse glass bottles. We didn't have so many things so we had to reuse everything." She also feels that there might be a gap in conservation between the two continents, with the U.S. and Europe. "People in the U.S. are more interested in throwing things away and not recycling." She claimed back in her day, there wasn't much building going on over in Europe like in the U.S. where there is a lot of building and new construction and cutting down of trees. When I discussed FGCU with Teresa she mentioned how she, likes the steps that our university is taking to be green. In addition to her thoughts on FGCU, she also talked about the auto industry. "I think it's important for others to explore driving more fuel efficient vehicles as opposed to the gas guzzlers." She also feels that other countries look at innovative cars and fuel efficiency more than the US does. Going back to basics, she feels that we don't need a lot of the things we have and this may attribute to our waste. She feels that, "tv commercials fuel our need for wanting things and being consumed with materialistic things. We don't need to have the stuff we own. The more stuff we own, the less happy we are." Teresa is old fashioned and feels the less she buys, the better. Teresa likes the fact that I'm taking a class, like Colloquium which is introducing me to more environmental ideas that I otherwise wouldn't be introduced to. She thinks some of the trips like canoeing and walking around downtown are good because kids my age hardly go out anymore and enjoy nature like that. She hopes that FGCU keeps up this policy of having its students take the course and would like to see it implemented in other universities as well so that all students may eventually share in our experience and come together so that we can eventually take a stand towards the destruction we've been putting Earth under.

Canoe Trip

(Photo courtesy of http://www.thedirk.com/2008/04/)
On our last field trip we got to go out on canoes at the FGCU Marine Lab, which is right next to Barefoot Beach. Some people drove separately there, such as myself but others carpooled. I originally wanted to carpool however I had so much trouble finding the Marine Lab at first that I decided carpooling would have made things more difficult since I couldn't find the Publix that I needed to stop at either to meet the other people that were going. Fortunately the other people were able to carpool because we didn't have much room parking at the lab itself.

(Photo courtesy of http://www.fgcu.edu/vestermarine/)

Once everyone was there, we were given a brief overview of the map and a general idea of where we would e canoeing and then our professor's husband gave us a little talk about canoeing and the technique for proper paddling. After that, I began helping out along with the other tall strong guys, in getting the canoes down the rack and into the water for my classmates who had already gotten a partner. Towards the end, I ended up getting partnered with two other people in a somewhat smaller canoe. I don't believe it was a proper three person canoe however it still fit three of us. I was a bit annoyed because I just wanted to be in a canoe with one other person, and even then I would have preferred being by myself. One we got in the water, we realized the girl in the middle wouldn't be able to paddle since she didn't have much room. My other partner was in the front and I was in the back since I was the heaviest and would be steering. Once we were out there, we began to get the hang of things and followed the class out. After a while, we would make periodic stops and our professor would point out some things, mainly the mangroves or even the oysters. I appreciated the stops since my group seem to always fall behind and needed to catch up! It was kind of difficult following because I paddled much harder than the frontman and we were essentially carrying another person who couldn't paddle so that definitely slowed us down a bit. Fortunately, I had a good time otherwise just being outside, even if we did crash into others in canoes and mangroves! The only hard part was sitting down for so long during the whole thing. My butt was real sore even WITH a seat cushion during the whole process, and I would have hated to feel it without one.



My impressions of the mangrove estuary were fine. It reminded me of the field trip when we went out to see the old cottage and then walked along the boardwalk. I do realize how important mangroves are however, and I won't take them for granted. They provide shelter for the smaller organisms that wouldn't survive out in the big water alone. They also aid in carbon sequestration. They also protect our shorelines too which is important because sand erosion isn't good and we need to make sure we can stop or slow it down by any means necessary. All in all, I would definitely like to go canoeing again and check out the mangroves again.

Urban Ft Myers and Southwest Florida Historical Museum

On this field trip we ended up going to downtown Ft Myers and the Southwest Florida Historical Museum. First we toured downtown and walked along the streets and check out some various sites, including this area that had different types of palmettos growing and planted in separate spots. It was interesting to see that there were that many different types of palmettos, especially in areas that I didn't even know could grow palmettos. We also saw some statues too that were in honor of civil war soldiers too.
(Photo Courtesy of Robert Wozniak)

We walked further downtown in Ft Myers and saw this amazing mural that was painted.
It shows soldiers and native americans standing, with shots of various things throughout that era occuring right behind them. That was interesting to see and I wondered what motivated the artist to come up with that image. In a way it makes me wonder if I too could be capable of such work in any capacity. After viewing the mural we made our way to a museum. The museum had a lot of cool interesting artifacts such as various skeletons from previous animals that use to live in the area.
(Photo courtesy of Robert Wozniak)

The picture above shows the jaw of a baby megalodon which was actually an ancestor and precursor to current sharks today. I thought it was too huge to be a baby, but the lady that was giving us the tour concurred that it was indeed an infant. I would sure hate to meet the parent!
While going on the tour we also saw other skeletons of animals, such as a huge sloth like creature that was rather intimidating. We then walked around this Egypt exhibit that had these things set up to resemble artifacts you would find in Egypt. My favorite part however was getting a chance to see the Crackhouse. The Crackhouse was this little shack set up that resembled an outhouse basically. It was rather small and didn't look like it could comfortably house one person, let alone an entire family.
In terms of redesigning Ft Myers and getting more people involved, I wouldn't necessarily change the sections of the area, or reconstruct anything like that. I actually like the way downtown ft myers is set up, because it's easy to walk around. The only thing I would do differently to make it so that more people got involved is to throw more events in downtown, especially those activities that get kids involved. Every Halloween I would set up stations for free candy and kids could stop by and get free candy. I think this would introduce them to the area if they hadn't already been and then after a little touring they might just stop by again .

Energy Usage

A. For this blog, I experimented with the amount of energy I use in my every day life. Starting in the morning, I notice that I keep the A/C on during the night and for all of the day. I have the A/C going on for 24 hours. In addition, I used my phone several times throughout the day, totaling 1 1/2 hours on the phone for the 24 hour period. My alarm clock is constantly plugged in so that counts for 24 hours of usage. I kept track of how long I watched tv for, and the hours totaled that I watched was 6 hours of tv. I only showered once and that was for only 15 minutes. I also used the microwave for 1 minute to heat up some leftover food.

B. I wasn't able to check out my meter however the company I deal with for power is FPL. According to their website, "FPL uses a diverse mix of fuels at its power plants to generate reliable electricity. Because of its fuel mix, FPL is recognized as a clean-energy company, with one of the lowest emissions profiles among U.S. utilities." (http://www.fplgroup.com/about/contents/fpl.shtml).

C. The total number of miles that I drove was 41 miles. This included my commute to school, and various errands that I had to run throughout the day. Throughout the day I drove by myself.

D. The odometer on my car reads 109716 miles. It's a 2003 Ford Explorer. On average, it's been driven 15, 673 miles a year.
(Courtesy of http://4wheeldrive.about.com/od/explorerrides/ig/Ford-Explorer-Offroad-Photos/Doc-s-2003-Ford-Explorer-XLT.htm).

F. According to the website, www.fueleconomy.gov, my car actually puts out 12.4 tons annually of CO2 emissions.

G. Looking back, I feel somewhat ashamed at how much energy I use. I could definitely cut back on the amount of energy I devote to the AC. This will only save on money for me as well, however I was so used to our long winters that I'm a bit spoiled on the cool air and I'm just not quite ready for the hot weather to be here yet. I could definitely make better choices, such as turning the AC unit off after I leave the house, or unplugging my clocks after I leave the house since I don't need to know what time it is when I'm out of the house. I try not to drive a lot of places however I do live far away enough from the school that I have to drive pretty far out. In the future, I plan on setting a limit with my driving and make sure I can keep myself to a certain budget of driving. This will not only benefit the planet but also save me on money too.

Corkscrew Swamp

On our fourth field trip of the year, we went out the furthest we have gone, all the way to Immokalee, to a place known as the Corkscrew Swamp. When I first heard we were going here, I had no idea about the place. In fact, I just thought the Swamp was actually right on Corkscrew road near the university. Little did I know that it was actually an hour away! When we arrived at the swamp we began by going inside and then discussing the history of the water flow in Florida. I found it all very interesting because I hadn't known about the impact we have as a civilization on the water flow in Florida. We saw the three different maps about the water flow way back many years ago, and the population in Florida at the time, which was rather small. We then saw the map of how Florida is currently and I realized then how important it is that we help to restore the natural water flow in Florida for the sake of the environment and ourselves since we rely on the natural water our aquifers provide. After learning about that, we went along the boardwalk and split up into two groups. I felt this was smart since we could both cover much more ground splitting up rather than being together. Plus there wasn't much room on the boardwalk as it was for our entire class. We followed along the grad student who had a lot of information on the swamp. We learned about the background of the swamp and how it was purchased. We also learned about the animals in the swamp as well and spotted a few of them.
One of the animals we saw was a green anole. This was actually pretty cool to see because I hardly see the green anoles. We have the brown "cuban" anoles all over the place on our campus. We also saw some red-shouldered hawks as well. The most interesting site for me though was the divide between the cypress and the pine trees across the sawgrass.


It was an amazing site because I've never seen such a natural divide in nature. Overall I would like to visit the swamp again because I would like to see more of it and I also think it's just a nice quaint place to visit anyways. My only hope for next time is that I can see more wildlife and possibly a few alligators too.

Ecological Footprint

What would the world look like if everyone lived like me?

That's the question that's proposed with the ecological footprint game, a game that is pretty interesting to try out. It basically calculates your ecological footprint on this planet based on how you live your everyday life. It takes into account your transportation, eating, shopping habits, etc, to figure out how many planet Earths we would need in order to sustain the human population if everyone lived liked you. I took the test and was shocked to learn that it would take 4.6 Earths to sustain my lifestyle. I never really considered myself as having that devastating of an impact on this environment. I think that perhaps my lifestyle is a bit lazy. I don't like carpooling, I prefer driving alone. I like being able to go where ever I want to and be able to leave whenever without having to compromise because I'm traveling with someone else.
Although I'm sure this can cause a lot of traffic and emission.














(Photo courtesy of http://tucowsinc.com/news/2007/06/tucows-goes-to-the-traffic-conference/)

I'm also pretty bad with leaving lights on in the house and things plugged in.
There are times when I will unplug appliances and tvs when I know that I will be away from my house for a long time. However I still leave my phone charger in the wall whenever I leave my house just out of habit and laziness. I think my lifestyle isn't that bad for the environment. I don't litter and I don't really waste water or electricity that much. I will turn a light off if I leave a room. I think part of my reason is that my electricity bill isn't that high and since I don't see the effects of wasting electricity here or there in my bills each month, I don't think there's much to be made if I change my habits. I'm not willing to change my driving habits because I do live far

(photo courtesy of http://www.gearfuse.com/driin-mobile-phone-holder-shackles-cables-from-causing-chaos/)

away from the places I need to be at every day, whether it's work or school and I just feel that carpooling doesn't apply for everyone. In terms of food, I feel that I shouldn't have to change my lifestyle unless it affects my health directly. Fortunately I don't need to change my shopping habits since I don't even shop at all anyways. I also won't change my household since it's my house and where I want to live and I feel that no one should have to live uncomfortably if they don't want to, strictly from a size perspective. I will however, take steps to recycle more and stop creating as much waste since I do agree that I throw away too many garbage bags each week when the trash comes. I will begin to take steps in separating out paper, plastic and aluminum each week.



















(Photo courtesy of http://eltterengganu.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/save-our-world-be-the-protector/)

Food Intake/Packaging

I love to eat. I never really cared too much about where food comes from or how it's made, just so long as it tastes good. With this journal entry, I decided to keep track of how much food I eat and how many calories I intake. For breakfast every morning, to start out with, I eat a bowl of cereal, Apple Jacks to be exact.
(Photo courtesy of http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=61444)

I poured the amount I typically ate, which was about 2 cups, and a cup of milk totaling the calories to be 240 calories according to the nutrition label on the side of the box. For lunch, I always eat a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread. Today was no different. I use Oscar Mayer Turkey Breast meat, Arnold's 100% Whole Wheat bread and Borden's Dairy Singles, White American Cheese. Two slices of cheese are 140 calories, two slices of Turkey are approximately 32 calories, and 220 calories for two slices of whole wheat bread, totaling 392 calories for lunch. For dinner I ate a Red Baron pepperoni pizza. The total calories for the entire pizza equaled 1240 calories!

(Photo courtesy of http://www.caymanshoppers.com/page10.html)


I only drink water each day since I gave up Soda for lent, and I drank 6 bottles of Aquafina water, each equaling 16.9 fluid oz, or 12 glasses of water.





















All in all, my food is essentially pre-made, coming from factories and grocery stores. The Aquafina water I purchase isn't exactly the best way I could go about getting my water in terms of being eco-friendly, however I do purchase the new Eco-Fina bottles. According to aquafina, their new Eco-Fina bottles use 50% less plastic than their 2002 bottles, and save 75 million pounds of plastic each year (http://lighterfootstep.com/2009/03/aquafinas-new-eco-fina-bottle-greenwash-or-progress/). After doing some research I wasn't able to find exactly how much energy is put into making the other items of food that are pre-made, that I eat however I could find some other alternatives. I could perhaps purchase food to make my own pizza and actually buy organic tomatoes, to make my sauce for it. In terms of my lunch, I feel there isn't really any other way to make that more sustainable.
Outside of food, I also go about my business each day, handling items that may have a standing effect on the environment. Each day that I go to Publix I always get a plastic bag to put my groceries in. I could instead use the Green Publix bags.













(Photo courtesy of http://sustainability.publix.com/what_we_are_doing/community.reusable_bags.php)

To this day, over 700 million plastic bags have been saved since the introduction of these reusable bags (http://sustainability.publix.com/what_we_are_doing/community.reusable_bags.php). Another way I could save on the things that I handle personally could be using a lunch box instead of a paper bag to carry my lunch to work. Every day I use a plastic sandwich bag and a paper bag for lunch when I go to work and I never really considered how wasteful that could be. I never really thought about how much energy goes into making plastic bags in general. Oil needs to be pumped up from the ground to power refineries and then shipped to these factories, requiring energy to get the oil and then transport it. The factories run on electricity to power and change the oil into material that will then be made into plastic. The machines operate to fix the plastic into bags (http://www.midamericanenergy.com/eew/help/act_bags_plastic.html). Looking back at this, I think that I will take a stance and begin using reusable bags instead of plastic bags for my grocery shopping.

Estero Bay Historic Cottage and Matanzas Pass Preserve

(Photo courtesy of Robert Wozniak)

Our class had the privilege of visiting the Estero Bay Historic Cottage. There, we had a talk with a nice old lady about the history behind the cottage and the town itself. She spoke with us about a time before there were condos and hotels and all these stores around the cottage. She discussed with us about the history, and how there was a massacre in the area, which gave the name for the preserve, Matanza, which is Spanish for massacre. We got to see the shells and also the other things that were originally around, such as old tools and seashells. I really enjoyed the talk the old lady gave us and thought she was well spoken and actually kept my interest with her personal anecdotes. The cottage itself was very quaint as well, although it must be extremely cold in the winter.


(Photo courtesy of Robert Wozniak)
After we looked around the cottage, we talked about Conservation 20/20 which is essentially a program involved in using tax payers' dollars to set aside land to be preserved.



(Photo courtesy of http://www.conservation2020.org/background.html)

They focus primarily on undeveloped lands in natural habitats. According to their website, they have four main objectives. 1. Protect and preserve natural habitat. 2. Protect and preserve water quality and supply. 3. Protect developed lands from flooding. 4. Provide resource-based recreation. (http://www.conservation2020.org/background.html). I think tax dollars used to pay for these pieces of land is smart and should be done for certain high risk areas, however I think there should be a limit as to how much money is used and how often people are taxed. I think at a certain point it becomes the responsibility of private funders to help preserve these lands since they are in a better position financially to do so. The preserve itself was a nice, serene place and I would like to visit more places like it this semester, and probably will during my time of volunteering, even though I'm not familiar with any of the others on the list. In addition to learning about Conservation 20/20 we got a chance to walk around the boardwalk and observed the environment around us, observing native species in their habitat such as the Turkey Vulture, Sabal Palmetto, and Mangroves.

(Photo Courtesy of Robert Wozniak)

Mangroves are extremely important to the environment in Florida. It provides resistance to the constant shore erosion that goes on along our shorelines and also provides a habitat for many small organisms such as small fish and crabs and provides protection for them. In addition, it also helps with carbon sequestration. All in all, it was a quaint time.

Water Rights and Water Usage

Water is the giver of life. All living organisms on this planet need water to survive in some shape or form. It quenches the thirst of both animals and plants, and even provides shelter for aquatic creatures. In my opinion, I think it's the one thing on this planet that everyone, and everything has a right to. I don't think it's some commodity that you can just market off to people who are in dire need of it. I understand that a businessman like Pickens wants to make typical business moves, and he already sees into the future a world with a booming population and an inevitable problem with needing water. I understand that he's taping into water that is underground, and needs to be "rescued" and wouldn't otherwise be used for farming. I fear though, that all of this is simply a prelude to an environment where water is directly owned to specific people as opposed to one large body of government, and an environment where water only goes to the highest bidder. I feel that a lot of people will get hurt like this and we'll turn into this reverse Water World society. I don't think any single person should hold rights over it and give it to someone else for profit. I understand diverting water from one area to another to help out with forest fires but this is not what that is. The article about Pickens describes a scenario where the owner will have the ability to simply sell the water to the highest bidder, and that buyer can do whatever they want with the water. I can think that among businessmen, eventually greed will overrule the altruistic nature of society and everyone else will suffer because of it. Local residents that are losing this underground source of water have absolutely no say in anything since their wallets aren't deep enough and that isn't fair when it comes to something like water. Not to mention, how this may affect the natural order in the animal kingdom. Even though this may be underground water that Pickens is referring to, there is no telling what precedent this may set with other people trying to possess water. As of now it's underground water, but pretty soon it could turn into specific lakes being drained, or other unknown aquifers. We don't have an idea of how this may affect the animals in the environment, but there is definitely no way of immediately writing everything off as saying they won't be affected whatsoever. In Florida, I feel that there isn't really a chance of this happening as of now because we are already aware of the damage that civilization and roads have done to block off Florida's natural flow of water and I think measures would be taken to stop any sort of monopoly on water in Florida.
I decided to take on the task of actually seeing where I was with my water conservation and measure out how much water I use in a normal day, keeping true to my usual routine and not adjusting anything. I went online and did a little research, seeing how much water is typically used for everyday tasks and decided to make my calculations. I take about 15 minutes to shower and I found out that I use about 30 gallons of water each time I shower. I used the toilet about six times that day, and I found that for each flush, I'm using around 3 gallons of water. I have a phobia about my hands being dirty so I wash them a lot, at least 5 times a day and I measured the amount to be a gallon of water for the total amount. I'm pretty conscious of water running when I brush my teeth and wash my face though, and I don't leave the water running when I'm brushing or when I'm scrubbing my face, using about 1/2 of a gallon for the total of both activities. I drank a gallon water as well because I love staying hydrated and don't really drink anything else except for ice tea. All in all, I used 50 1/2 gallons in my day. I think that I'm pretty conservative with water. I don't use anything in excess unless I have days where I do laundry and wash dishes. I don't typically do dishes every day, I usually let them sit in the sink for a few days and I decided not to do dishes so my typical calculation wouldn't be inflated. I don't really see any way that I can conserve water, other than not flushing my toilet after each use and cutting back on my hand washing, however I feel those are necessary for sanitary purposes. Other then that, I'll try to improve on my shower time and cut back to 10 minute showers to use less water.

Future of Food

My favorite food to snack on are Snickers candy bars. I just find them absolutely delicious and impossible to resist. I have never really thought about what actually went into making them though and for this journal entry decided to do some research. The actual ingredients that go into making them are as follows: milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skimmed milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, artifical flavor), peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, skim milk, butter, milkfat, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, and egg whites (www.snickers.com). The company that manufactures the product, Mars Incorporated, actually goes about a sustainable way in growing their cocoa for the candy bars. According to their website, "Mars is proud to be the first global chocolate company to commit to fundamentally changing the way sustainable cocoa farming practices are advanced by aiming to certify its entire cocoa supply as being produced in a sustainable manner, by 2020. In April, 2009, we announced a commitment to source 100,000 tonnes of Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa per year, by 2020.

Our commitment to sustainable cocoa sourcing is making a difference that is helping to ensuring the long-term sustainability of essential raw material" (http://www.mars.com/global/index.aspx). The cocoa is grown across many different nations, including Africa, Asia, South and Central America (http://www.mars.com/global/index.aspx).

I attempted to research Snickers candy further but wasn't able to find out much else about the candy treat. There wasn't anything listed in terms of where the other ingredients were made, or how much fossil fuels were used to produce them.

On one of our field trips, we got to watch a documentary called, The Future of Food. It was an interesting documentary looking at the progression of food processing and how we're going the route of gene manipulating crops. I enjoyed the movie because I never once really thought or cared much about how my food is processed and made. I simply accepted food and enjoyed it, not really thinking about any consequences. This movie opened my eyes into the gene manipulation behind making these crops. I'm not exactly hungry to eat crops that were genetically inclined to resist pesticides. I would rather eat something that is strictly all natural. I also feel that it isn't in the consumer's best interest with these corporations hurrying to patent seeds and control the food market. I think once corporations hold rights over all types of foods, they have too much power and will look to extort the consumers for as much money as possible as opposed to putting out the best product. I think in the future people should know about their food and how it's processed and whether or not it contains manipulated genes. They have a right to know what they're putting in their body because I think many people are like me and don't know too much about the crops that are genetically modified.

Field Trip #2- ECHO

Our second class field trip saw us visiting a farm off campus known as ECHO. ECHO stands for Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization. This is a demonstration farm which is put on exhibit for people to visit and learn more about the organization, and also a place where agricultural items can be purchased, such as fruit, fertilizer and plants. ECHO reaches worldwide to many developing countries, assisting them in their hunger needs by providing the tools they need to become self sufficient in developing farms. On our field trip, we got a tour of the farm, and first were introduced to tools that are brought to the developing nations.
Some of the tools we saw were interesting, such as bicycles hooked up to motors and machines that actually grounded corn as you would pedal the bike. There were also pots that were put into clay and were made as such to heat up faster.
The farm also had its fair share of animals as well. There were many ducks and a large watch goose on duty as well as the typical farm animals including the chicken, rooster and goats. I really liked how they actually used the animals in an unassuming way, collecting the feces from underneath the cages of rabbits and having that later used in fertilizer. They also had tanks as well with earthworms in them that were also used to make good soil to sell. This was called the Vermiculture Demo.
The farm itself was rather large however somewhat easy to navigate around. There wasn't really anything that stood out negatively about the farm. I like how they had basically everything running under the most basic mechanics and under the most ecological friendly ways. I think it reiterates the point home to any who visit that the farm and organization really want to push the agenda that they want to help out and improve developing nations that are facing a hunger crisis. Me personally, I would love to have an organization like ECHO around because I don't have much confidence in my ability to grow anything. I have never grown food before, nor have I tried to have a garden of my own and I would definitely need some advice as to how to go about starting one.

Campus Trail

So our first field trip was on FGCU's campus trail. I was somewhat curious about the trail because I hadn't ventured too far off campus into the wildlife. Plus, I like the idea of field trips and having class unofficially outside of class. I was curious to see where our teacher would take us too. As we started walking around, I was amazed at how little I knew about FGCU after having gone here for so long. Professor Davis informed us of the many steps our school was taking in order to become more green. I wasn't aware that the school was designed, such as the roofs for instance, to maximize it's ability to help the environment and help the school run more efficiently. I also didn't know about the water sheds and the fact that we had certain areas built on campus meant to retain water long enough for it to be soaked into the soil and filter properly down to aquifers. After learning about all that, we got the chance to walk further back down the campus back to where the new dorms had been built. This was a different sight for me because I had actually not gotten the chance to see the new dorms since they've been built. I just never took the time to go out there and actually see them. Then we actually walked on the campus trail in the wildlife which was cool because I hadn't been on there either. It was interesting to see the professor describe the trees and be able to identify them out of nowhere. I was definitely not aware of the paper trees that were overpopulating the flora on campus. It apparently got to the point where they all needed to be chopped down. We went further into the forest and I was amazed at how deep it seemed. Sometimes it seemed we were walking forever there! Anyways, after the fact, I was surprised at finding construction STILL being built in the back of the forest and at the amount of space available out there still. I guess I never really thought of FGCU having this much space with all the trees and buildings close together in one part of the area it seemed. Towards then end, I was happy to find that they had this clearing with a few park benches and a hammock. It seemed to be a quiet spot to hang out. My views of campus had definitely been broadened by the field trip. Before I had felt I had seen all there was to see on campus but after the campus trail with my colloquium class, I have definitely been shown a new environment to explore. All in all, I had an enjoyable experience.

My Neighborhood

"You can't know who you are until you know where you are."- Wendell Berry.

This school year I've been dealing with a change of scenery. Over the last two years, I was living in Coastal Village. The place was decent. I didn't have too many complaints about it, under than the fact that people got crazy every weekend, and was no stranger to the occasional cop cars and student arrests. However I knew that I needed a change of scenery. I was paying 549 bucks a month but essentially one room in a four bedroom apartment, including utilities but it just didn't feel like home to me. That's when I decided I would need to move out after last school year and decide on something else. I lucked out to a great piece of property in a nice, quaint neighborhood. Stoneybrook at Gateway.




It is a great gated community about 20 minutes or so away from FGCU. The houses there are great and the whole community itself just looks wonderful. They have numerous facilities including a pool, basketball court, tennis court, and gym. It's all pretty much straight out of a movie. There are so many suburban homes and families here they should have nicknamed the place Suburbia. There are several lakes and pathways along the lakes along with benches to sit and enjoy the scenery.




I didn't really notice too much of things that were put in place to sustain anything. There is only trash cans at the clubhouse. The lakes all have fountains, however so they are reprehensible. There are a lot of kids that travel along the sidewalks and run around, so there isn't much of a sense of peace when I'm out there on my runs. Regardless of whether I'm home in my hometown of Englewood, or here in Fort Myers, I'll always be most comfortable in the house, in my room, tv on or music playing.

Journal Entry 1- Incoming Reflection

It's only been a few weeks and I'm still a little uncertain as to what to expect from this Colloquium class. My initial thoughts going into the class are basically what I have heard from my peers. There's going to be a lot of writing and you get to go on field trips. I'm absolutely fine with either. I'm a fan of writing and I think it's one of my natural talents. And shoot, I haven't been on a field trip since I was in high school so that should be fun too. Plus the class is only once a week, so I think I can manage that. I wasn't aware of how environmental the class would be getting but after these first few weeks I can see where we're going. I myself personally don't have too much experience working in the wildlife. I haven't volunteered too much in the wildlife, nor have I had any jobs in the environment. I am however, eco-friendly. I do have a liking for the environment. When I was little I would play in trees and climb every natural piece of Earth out there. I think it's our responsibility to make sure we keep this planet clean for generations to come. That's one of the things i'm hoping to walk away from after this class. I'm hoping that I will learn of more opportunities to help the environment and to learn more about environmental issues that are going on in our world today so that I can formulate my own opinion and ideas to resolve. I'm hoping to succeed in the class and get an A. I think the environmental tips and experiences I will walk away from this class, while on the outside might not help me with my degree, will be beneficial to me in the long run when I'm settling down with my career and family and deciding on how to devote my volunteer time to my community, to my environment and to my planet.