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.   

Allocating Funds (Week #4)

Well the first question is are we doing more harm from our transportation sector or fossil fuels...we are in a globalized world where we need globalized energy poilicies. Globalized energy policies would hold everyone to the same standards.  Everything is cheaper in China because the environmental standards or green energy policies arent as strict.  If they have a manufactured plant that wants to dump wastes into the environment, they can do so, whereas in the United States there are more laws and restrictions regarding our wastes. Although, this is the most pressing global environment issue, I wouldnt take $100 billion and dedicate 100% of these funds to this issue.  If I did, that money would be going towards all the lawers and political parties necessary to give us the standard needed.  The political world is so corrupt that the money allocated to this fund wouldn't give us as much of a success as I would hope.  Putting some of the money towards this issue would benefit to a degree and then splitting the rest towards some other pressing issues like that of transportation and fossil fuels may be more beneficial. 

Corkscrew Sanctuary (Week #3)

Driving to the Corkscrew Sanctuary gives you that feeling of being in the wild.  You are away from all civilization alike.  Entering into the park, and into the visitor center, you will notice the boards displaying all the history behind the park.  The boards displayed in the visitor's center, caught my eye the most.  They were nicely lit up and were maps of Florida, showcasing the amount of land Florida used to have and how over the years the land has been eroded.  They took action in preserving the watershed to ensure a healthy ecosystem of the people and wildlife of SW Florida, specifically the egret and other birds.

Corkscrew Sanctuary is split between the wetlands and drylands.  At one point you are walking down the boardwalk and on the left, you have the drylands and on the right you have the wetlands.  Wetlands are natural filters acting as the living machine.  All the plants and such are used to filter the waters.  The motivation to preserve this particular acreage, originally was to save egrets and other species of birds back in 1912.  The government's role is to regulate these environmental standards so that more parks like the Corkscrew Sanctuary will exist. If government doesnt regulate, then who will?  As much as you dislike the government, they would be the only ones who could regulate.  If you were to say big businesses then that would be a mistake (as kindly put).  Sustainablility and capitalism are opposing ideas. 
 

FGCU Campus Walk (Week #2)

    
     On my tour of the campus, I started down the boardwalk where I was hunting for some terrestrial or ground orchids that I saw a few years back, continuing down my path were aquatic plants and birds such as the ibis that I had taken a photo of.  There were indeed some ground orchids, but none were in bloom.  It was a rainy week but that didnt stop me from entering into the FGCU trail.  Tracking through the puddles and mud, were cypress trees, ferns, insects galore, and a snake had even crossed my path.
     The campus is built on a lot of wetlands which is definitely eco-sensitive land.  Wetlands are important for ground water flow and watershed improvement, and for the natural hydrology for the region.  They also offer a unique habitat for biodiversity.  At FGCU, this is unique biodiversity is apparent by all the cypress trees, aquatic plants, insects and birds noticed on my tour alone. The walk on campus is nice because it demonstrates this wetland.  FGCU's mission is to be consistent with the "eco-empowerment", in which they are to a certain degree.  What I've heard is that FGCU was able to build this school on the preserve only under the stipulations that they will be an "uber" eco-friendly, "green" campus.  Although they have done a good job on installing solar panels and providing the campus with recycling bins (not to say this is the only two things they have provided to us), they could take it a few more steps further. 
    I grew up in the woods and appreciating the trees and animals that surrounded our living.  Cutting down trees for the land isn't something we ever felt necessary.  FGCU continues to build their school on this land and it seems to be a bit contradicting. 

Ecofootprint (Week #12)

My eco footprint ranked at 3.8, but if I reduced my services, which was my biggest contriubutor at 56% by traveling locally this year and buying more products that use less packaging or 100% recycled material, then it would be reduced to 3.5. I understand I can reduce the amount of animals I eat by half, and also pledge to use public transportation, which will ultimately reduce my eco footprint to 3.4. This I cannot do though. I do carpool as much as possible, but I live in a city where public transportation isn't as accommodating or convenient. I need my protein, and I can't imagine giving up meat. I can change a few other things to lower my value in compensation, as listed before, and be more cautious of the amount of electriciy and water I use.

"Some rank the eco footprint as the de facto standard for sustainability metrics." In order for this to be true, the value of the footprint depends on a few factors so that the data is credible and consistent. These factors include the methodology, consistent results and communication of these results, as the website stated. If more and more countries/people adapted the practice, then there would be a higher risk of misrepresentation of data. To avoid this risk, the Global Footprint Network initiated standards worldwide, set forth by the Standards Committee ensuring the Footprint dara is credible and consistent catalyzing an ongoing sustainable future. Since this committee is composed of supporting organizations, the government, consulting firms, academia, NGO's and other Global Network staff, I wouldn't suggest another sustainable index to be more superior, and couldn't imagine one to be out there. But that is just to my knowledge.

There is the carbon footprint but that focuses strictly on the greenhouse gases released due to the burning of fossil fuels, and only makes up for a portion of the ecological portion.

Estero Island Cottage and Matanazas Pass (Week #13)

After visiting the Estero Island Cottage and Matanzas Pass Preserve, the first thing I mentioned to Danny when I came home was:  we should go there together sometime.  It was really peaceful.  As you drive down Bay Road, just a small street off Estero, my eye was drawn to the nice lake to the right, with some beautiful houses surrounding it.  This lake was what set the "peaceful" mood.  It was a gorgeous day; 77 degrees with a nice breeze, yet as I approached the boardwalk, I was consistently walking through swarms of gnats.  Gnats always remind me of a hot, humid day, but I didn't mind so much because it was pure nature.  I continued along my path to hear a low pitch "cronking" noise, yes "cronking" because I don't have any other way of describing it.  The noise came from a beautiful ibis.  There were no other birds in sight but plenty of tadpoles and fish in the mangrove waters and lizards crackling the leaves to the left and right of the pathway.  When you come here, you sincerely have a great feeling of warmth and can feel the ecosystem around you.  You can smell the cypress trees, the mangroves, the murky water, and hear the wildlife surrounding you.  I was expecting a snake to slither across my feet at some point.  There were a few, "Oh is that a snake moment!" but only roots coming up from the ground up ahead. 

Locally, as I mentioned previously, the lake had caught my eye.  It's presence alone gave you a sense of serenity.  I'm unsure if this lake was manmade or natural but it enhanced the natural world around the preserve.  People who live here, walk to the beach across the street.  Automobiles aren't too necessary unless you need to go in town for groceries.  I'm sure these homes around the lake were built somewhat recently.  Back when I was a child, none of these homes existed.  Fort Myers Beach has grown to be a very "touristy" area.
I was born in Naples, not too far south, and since I was a kid, they have built so many roadways, major intersections, restaurants, and grocery stores...it's unbelieveable the amount of growth has taken place.  I was the first to "graduate" from Vineyards Elementary School and I remember before they built that school, it was on an actual vineyard.  Even the growth today still feels like a community.  I lived on a street where we considered it the woods, but now-a-days, these kind of neighborhoods don't exist.  Neighborhoods today are in gated communities, house to house with virtually no land.  I can't live this way.  In fact, we just got a house on 1.25 acres with trees and privacy.  This is the way life should be.  If a developer offered me 300% of my childhood home to turn it into condos, I would turn it down immediately. The woods and all the chirping of the animals/insects with the starlit sky surrounding you doesnt have a monetary value in my opinion.  Even if the county approached me about purchasing the land under the 20/20 program for 80% of the market value, I still wouldn't accept.  It is so hard these days to find a home with land that isn't neighboring a house where you can see through the living room window of what television show your neighbors are watching!!

Colloquium is a course I am very much looking forward to.  I enjoy the outdoors and love to experience nature in its highest qualities. So within this course, I expect to find a better understanding between our nature as individuals existing within this environment.  Taking the field trips with addition to service learning, I am sure I will connect more to the environment, even more than I already am. 

I truly believe once you find peace within nature, you will find peace within your life.  This is due to sustainability.  You may never know everything there is to know about the environment, the economy, or life in general, but if you can walk outside and can understand what your purpose is or where you are heading, as the wind flows through your fingers, and it makes you smile, then you are at peace! 

Life tends to fall in the human world with priorities such that success means an economic abundance; the traditional values of graduating college in a timely manner to land a great career. BUT the experiences in life and how you endure those times in learning, bettering yourself and most importantly, gaining knowledge in all fields between our "traditional" world and the existing world around us, for example nature in its entirety, is sustaintial; how we understand these values and unite them all in one to live an everlasting life of purity.

I'm a bio engineer major and for a long time I have tried to figure out what the perfect degree would be for me.  I'm 27 years old and have traveled, gone through some tough life experiences, and learned to open my mind.  I have interests in all fields and have worked in all fields, but within bio engineering, I know I will be able to help people in living their lives such that is an improvement within the medical field.  I can open my mind to new ideas and take action. Bio engineering is very much related to accommodating lives everyday, which is one important part of being sustainable.

I look forward to my future experiences, opening my mind to new views, and gaining knowledge in every direction I can to live a lasting life!