Colloquium Overview

This class has opened my eyes to a lot of things. World hunger, the amounts that us as Americans waste and the fact that not much is being done to stop it. If only more people recycled, reused and renew products we would be in a cleaner more healthy world. After this class, I have realized that I need to recycle more, as well as making sure that I do not waste food,and keep the environment as clean as I can. I recently moved into a new house and I now have a separate trash can for recycling. So I am what you would call an "avid recycler." I am now watching the portions I cook and order at restaurants as well as what I buy in publix.By watching all of those things I will lower my rates of throwing out food. If I just buy food at publix for the week it will not go bad and all of it will be consumed. If I do not cook a lot of food and do not order a lot of food as restaurants I will save the amount that I would throw away. To keep the environment clean would be less driving more walking and I could clean up the streets, beaches, parks, etc. This will help with our environment. If I did this I would be the change and I could and would influence others to get involved. This class has taught me how important and precious our environment really is and if we do not do anything about it soon we will not have this most precious gift anymore.

Thursday July 11th

Today was our last class. We were supposed to read our essays aloud to the class but since each student did the same service learning project we did not have to. So instead we watched our videos we made on our plants and fruits as well as handed in our essays and service learning sheets. Each video had very educational facts about each fruit and vegetable. It was interesting to see how each group organized their videos and collected their data. I thought it was a good idea to let us watch each video as a class because now we know what those certain plants can offer us. Some of them were edible, some of them were good for your skin, as well as some of them had a purpose of their appearance. Now that we know these facts about these plants we can go out on our own and purchase the ones we are most interested in as well as do further research.

Thursday June 27

During class on June 27th we went to Downtown Fort Myers. When we first arrived we went straight to the fruit and vegetable stand. We walked around and I noticed all the different options of fruits and vegetables that were there for the public to buy. I thought that having the fruit and vegetable stand in the middle of Downtown Fort Myers was a very convenient and a great idea. It is a good source of food. All of it is locally grown and the prices are not high. It is absolutely a win win situation. I personally love going to farmers markets. It is the best way to get fruits and vegetables for a decent price and it is the healthiest choice. We then walked around Downtown Fort Myers and looked at different statues and buildings all stopping to discuss them. The one that I found most interesting was the statue of Ford, Edison and Firestone. I found this most interesting because this statue is about how they are all best friends. I feel that friendship is such an important part in ones life and for them to have a statue of them resembling their friendship is pretty powerful. Another interesting aspect of this statue is that Fort Myers was the city that was chosen to have it in. After we walked from the statue we walked along the boardwalk and saw the memorial to Fort Myers form the Indians to the Fort of Fort Myers and the train. Seeing all of these historical monuments was eye opening because it really showed how many historical moments took place in Fort Myers, it made me proud to live here.

Thursday June 20th

During class on Thursday June 20th we presented our group presentations. My group did Chapter 7: Eradicating Poverty and Stabilizing Population. In this chapter I learned how poverty has increased in the past years and what we can do about it. Its amazing to know that there is still so much poverty in the world and that there is so much that can be done. There are so many people who wake up hungry each and everyday or wake up in a very unsafe home. A lot of people don't realize the severity of this because they are not in that position and they do not see it so it isn't real. This describes the saying "out of sight, out of mind." If more people realized that this is such a worldwide issue maybe it would be on its way to becoming fixed. Obviously it will not be fixed within a day, week or month, it will take years but it will happen. If everyone comes together whether its by food drives, donating food, cleaning up the streets, etc. The world could be a better place.

Thursday June 13

On Thursday June 13th our class went to Lovers Key State Park. When we arrived we walked on the board walk stopping at certain places talking about each mangrove. Mr. Morris stopped and he talked to us about each mangrove. There are three different mangroves: black mangroves or courida, red mangroves or red mango and white mangroves. The black mangroves can be easily identified by their roots that are specialized to take it oxygen. Their seeds can be edible if cooked right, but if they are not they can be toxic. The red mangroves are evergreen trees. They have an elaborate prop and aerial root which stabilizes the trees. The roots contain a waxy substance which help keep salt out. If salt does get into the roots it is deposited onto older leaves and the tree then sheds them. The white mangroves are the shortest out of all three of the species. The bark is light brown to reddish dark brown, and the leaves are ovate. The leaves on the white mangrove have adapted to their salty environment, allowing salt to pass from inside the tree to the outside. The leaves are then coated with speckled white salt crystals which are what gives this species its name, white mangrove. After he discussed these mangroves with us as a class, we were free to search the beach on our own. As I walked down the beach I took it all in. It was such a peaceful feeling. I have always loved the beach so going on this field trip was very exciting. I laid on the sand for a while looking at the shells and before we had to go back on to the bus I went into the water. The water was very nice, not too hot, not too cold. After I got out of the water I walked down the beach and a few of us went on the boardwalk. We saw Mr. Morris on the boardwalk looking for a huge Snook he spotted earlier. After standing there looking for the Snook we finally saw it. It was huge about 3 to 4 feet, such an awesome sight. Overall the field trip was a very informative and peaceful day.

Thursday, June 6

In class we watched a film that talked about how we are ruining our planet and that in X number of years it will not be readily available for humans anymore. This film stated how we build from our planet, to factories, to our homes and then to our garbage. It was a viscous cycle that gets repeated very often. Its something that we do not think about when we pick up our Ipods, Ipads, Iphones, our computers, etc. But it is something that we need to be thinking about 24/7 because if we keep this out of our minds then we will not ever change our fate. In order to change our fate we need to change how we are acting today. It will be very difficult for the majority of us to change our daily habits of life with our over usage of technology, television, computers but in order for us to have a better/longer life on this planet we need to consider these thoughts. Without changes we will only be going down hill. I believe what will make this world a better place is not only the act of going green but the thought of going green. In order to go green you must WANT to go green. If a person wants to go green it will happen, but if the person is forced to go green it will not happen. Just as will anything, one must want to do something in order to do it. If we all start to conserve one day at a time it will eventually turn into a habit and we will loose all of our bad habits. I believe that this can happen we just need the right set of people to get it started.

May 30, ECHO Field Trip

During class on May 30 we took a field trip to ECHO. ECHO is a self sustainable farm that focuses on efficiency and providing food and knowledge to those in third world countries who unfortunately do not have access to even clean water. Before I arrived to ECHO I honestly had no idea what it was. I obviously knew it had to do with the environment but I did not know what exactly it was. Once we arrived I realized that ECHO had a lot to do with farming, crops/harvesting and water, just by the looks of it. After I got there we walked around and I realized that my theory was right but it also had a lot more to it that I was not aware of. I realized that it is more of a lifestyle for the people of ECHO. They take pride in this farm. They take their time and effort into each thing they do for the world. They are trying to make the world a better place, one step at a time. As we took the tour though out ECHO I saw that there were many different means of food. There were fish, goat, rice, etc. They even had a way to make their own electricity for the stove. I thought all of this was impressive. The most impressive part was that the interns had to live on the land in order to get the whole experience. This I thought was very productive because in order for them to preach the life they needed to live it, and that is exactly what they did. ECHO is a very up-warming and generous system. The people at ECHO are thinking of everyone but themselves. They seek other problems from other countries and they make them their problems. This helps out the world because once ECHO figures out a solution to a problem they let that country know and it is then fixed. This solves more than just a mediocre problem. ECHO can help solve hunger, crop issues and it can help save a lot of energy. Going to ECHO makes you think twice about your every day habits. It makes you realize that buying groceries are not such a necessity when you can grow food. But in all reality, the regular human being is not going to grow their own groceries. This is contributed to laziness and impatiences. I will agree wholeheartedly that I am at fault for this. I could only image how hard it would be to harvest their own food and to create their own electricity, this is why I have so much respect for ECHO and I can only hope that I give back as much as they have in a lifetime.

Thursday, May 23

During class on May 23rd we watched some films about the environment. The videos are about how we as human beings are hurting the environment. At first I did not believe any of it! But then as I kept listening it made more and more sense to me. The video talked about how we are ruining the environment because we use too much water, waste too many things and the trees are taking up too much space. The videos also said that we are over populating. Basically that we are taking over the planet and not letting enough nature grasp the Earth. I didn't think this could be true at first but then I thought "how much water/electricity/energy do I conserve each day?" The answer is not very much. It is something that we do not think about and without thinking about it is why we are in the situation that we are in now. I do not believe that our planet is going to turn to ruins in the next decade but I do believe that it is going to happen eventually; unless we do something about it. It is going to take a lot more than a voice or a blog to make a change but I believe that it can be done with the right people and the right attitude. As long as people make a change, we will not become the Country that everyone expects us to become.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Fieldtrip, May 16

On May 16 we went to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. The ride to the swamp took about an hour. When we got there Mr. Morris and a Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary worker talked to us about the swamp for a little to give us a brief overview. After that we split into groups and Mr. Morris took a group and the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary worker took the other group. I was in the group with Mr. Morris. We walked through the swamp stopping at certain points of the boardwalk. We saw different types of trees, plants and animals. During our field trip we saw an owl, which was really cool. The owl was up in the tree so serene and peaceful. It didn't even move when all of us walked by and it was pretty close to the boardwalk. Another interesting thing that we saw was the alligators. We saw an alligator in the beginning of the day just laying there by itself. Then we saw an alligator and it's babies at the end of the day. When we saw the alligator and it's babies I thought that was very awesome. There was a little pond for them to swim in and they would sun bathe around the pond. The mother would get into the pond and the little ones would follow her. It looked as if she was teaching them to swim and to hunt for their food in the pond. We sat there for a while just looking and observing them. After we observed them for a while we left the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, it was a very successful day. The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary taught us many different types of life other than human lives. Obviously, we know that there is more than human life but more than likely we are too blind to see it. On May 16th during the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Field trip we realized this. There was so many lives around us other than ours that it was hard not to notice. We also learned about plants and trees. We learned that the three main plants of the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary are pine trees, sabil palms and saw palmettos. Sabil palms are our state tree and saw palmettos are mainly underground. There was also pine upland and pine flat woods. These plants are good for the environment because

First Day of Class, May 9th

On May 9th 2013 we had our first class. During this class Mr. Morris went over the syllabus and the class as a whole. Mr. Morris told us about himself and as a class we told a little about ourselves as well. After the introduction of the class was over, we took the hike to the Food Forest on FGCU Campus. We walked from our classroom to the Food Forest and when we got there, there was a tour guide so to speak and she walked us through the Food Forest. She was telling us about certain trees and plants some that had edible leaves and some that were not so edible. I tried each leaf that was safe to try along with other classmates. Some were sour, tangy and sweet. It was weird eating leaves and thinking of leaves as food rather than just something that grows off a tree. Other than the leaves, there were also plants that had berries that we all tried; those were very good. As we walked through she showed us why certain plants/trees/bushes were planted where they were planted. She said that some of the reasons the plants/trees/bushes were planted the way they were planted was to help them grow correctly, help the wind get to them or shield them, help the sun get to them or shield them. I thought the way that everything was planned to a 'T' was very clever. You could see that it took time and effort when they made this Food Forest. Having this Food Forest on campus is a real benefit for everyone who is involved. I think that it was an awesome way of being green and teaching students new and healthy ways of eating. There were leaves that could be cooked as spinach or simply picked from the tree and used as lettuce for a salad. This is good for our school, students and faculty because we have the opportunity to get healthy fruits and vegetables through our very own Food Forest. There is also an opportunity to get students to do service learning hours at the Food Forest. I did it once and I loved it. It was very education and taught me a lot of discipline. It was very inspiring to see all the FGCU students so in-tuned with nature. They all knew what they were talking about, what plants did what for the environment, which ones were edible and so on. It was a very good experience and I feel that each FGCU student and faculty should spend at least one day out there, giving back. Not many people know that we have this on our campus and we need to make it known. I feel that it is up to us as students and faculty to spread the word. Everyone should know we have this at the tip of our fingers. Students worked hard to make this special for the people of FGCU and it should be shared with all of us.