Week #7

Eucalyptus trees are species that according to Wikipedia "can be found along the banks of watercourses, as well as the floodplains of those watercourses. Due to the proximity to these watercourses, River Red Gum (eucalyptus) is subject to regular flooding in its natural habitat. River Red Gum prefers soils with clay content. The trees not only rely on rainfall but also on regular flooding, since flooding recharges the sub-soil with water."

If ArborGen had expressed a desire to plant test plots of genetically modified eucalyptus here at FGCU that would allow the tree to potentially grow in SW Florida and as far north as South Carolina, I would disapprove.  Although the plant is genetically modified to enhance cold tolerance, the eucalyptus is native to Australia and widespread in areas that are inland, water courses.  They rely on rainfall and also on regular flooding. Invasive plants can do really well sometimes but can take over native plants.  It can also bring in a real economic impact.  If it happens to thrive, there can definitely be some real expenses. 

Week #9

Dirty energy is cheap and it's one of those pay now or pay later things, so there's plenty of environmental costs.  Coal power plant is cheap but will charge you up front for smog empowerment, and the costs would increase over time.   So steering away is the way to go...nuclear power should be taken into effect.  Jimmy Cardigan had great intentions, but I would tell him, he's a bit extreme.  Although, we would love to be this environmentally friendly and live this sustainable life, socially and economically, it wouldn't happen overnight with people agreeing and living their lives in accordance to his standards.  An awareness would need to take place, which would take many years for people to understand this kind of issue.  Tomorrow I can carpool to school.  I already unable to drive since I'm on bed rest, but carpooling is the way to go to save energy and money in my pocket.  Within the next five years, I can buy more re-used furniture and other conisgnments.  There's no need to buy brand new.  This increases energy costs worldwide.  Well, I take some of that back...the only reason to buy new is for electrical purposes.  Buying newer appliances will be more energy efficient!!! But with that said, you can buy a fairly used appliance, in which we are in the market for a washer and dryer!!! Any sellers? :p

Week #11

Sustainable consumerism is buying local produce that is in season and taking into account goods from "cradle to grave"  Globalization is negative because you can get these goods at a lower price across the globe.  This lower cost is because they would be fossil fueled over from the other hemisphere.  In capitalism, cost is first, foremost, and alone in considersation for anything; goods or whatever considered.  Environmental empacts play no bearing on the capitalism idea, unless regulated to be so, which nobody seems to be fond of.  I have paid more for organic and fair trade products.  It just depends on how more the costs are and how organic or naural it is.  I for sure prefer mom and pop stores over any corporate place.  Yes, you may be paying higher price but your dollar is well spent.  These mom and pop stores or restaurants usually buy local, which means fresher, natural made products!

Week #10

The word "downtown", evokes a sense of coziness, that warmth of history that hasn't been touched, a sense of place, but in today's society, downtown is about the nightlife and going out.  Bars have taken over, where coffee shops, art, and history should be the focal point.  I say coffee shops because within this social environment, you get the same feeling as "downtown"!  Downtown Ft. Myers has been witnessing a sort of renaissance because it has the mixture of the two;  the nightlife that exists, the historic presence is still captured with the old bricks and colums and the artsy side featuring a theater and coffee shops too!!!  This type of renaissance relates to sustainability because it's progressing with the changes in our society on an economic scale yet still capturing the essence of the history!

Week #8

Certainly, climate change is the combination of the two, anthropogenic and "natural".  As far as non- manmade climate change, geologists have found that before man's existence climate change had already been in the picture but there are also some constituents, such as all the green house gasses that we emit, the anthropogenic causes, like automotive exhaust, and coal power plant exhaust. Climate change portrayed on the media is dependent upon where you get your media.  According to fox in the far right political scene, man made climate change doesnt exist.  As if to say, we run our a/c and we will cool our planet down.  They equal each other out. 
Climate change will have economic implications, so things will cost more for our children and grandchildren in the future.  It will be a continuous cycle, unless we start reducing and taking change in our lifestyles.  The ecofootprint helped me to realize the changes I can address, such as limiting my driving  or start carpooling more often.  I'm going to even start growing some of my own vegetables.  I've been wanting to do this for a long time now, but for some reason been putting it off.  Vegetable garden here I come!!!

Echo Farm (Week #6)

ECHO was a very beautiful farm.  Very organic in nature and serene.  They had so many beautiful bamboo trees clinging against each other as the wind blew.  All the bamboo was missing was a nice koala bear! :p Although, they are organic and practice "sustainable" farming, ironically one of the things they do is genetically modify fruit trees and fruit bearing biota to help feed the hunger.  Overall it's a great place to be with a great mission.  They go abroad and teach people effective ways of farming to maximize water to irrigate with and produce food.  The farm is a Christian farm, very religiously based.  Although, their motives are great, I would not be interested in performing my service learning with this agency because of the religious aspect. 

Sustainable Farming (Week #5)

"Sustainable" farming is maximizing the irrigation efficiency...so basically trying to use as much of natural fertilizer as possible in the soil as possible.  Natural fertilizer doesnt require as much energy to produce, but we have to be careful because if we used a natural fertilizer that contains cow manure, well...cows are a ruminant so they expel methane gas.  Methane gas is a greenhouse gas.  I try to buy as much organic products as possible, some are not as beneficial as others or cost effective.  There are basically 3 companies that fill every aisle in our grocery store.  There's a large interest barrier to compete with these companies, making it nearly impossible for "sustainable" farming to exist in our social and economic environment.  For financial reasons, "sustainable" farming wont succeed as we would wish.  To my personal experience, orgnaic foods don't last as long.  This is one of the reasons why I don't buy some foods organic, but we do for the most part buy orgnaic, and this could be another factor playing a role on "sustainable" farming with others buying.

I feel connected to the current food system but surprisingly, there's a lot of people who aren't as connected and know as much as what is needed to know about this system.  There's definitely more that I could know!  I would be more interested in growing my own fruits and veggies on my own property as opposed to FGCU campus.  If I were living on campus, that would most definitely be an interest of mine.