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.