Journal 20

Overall thoughts of class…

A lot of people complain about having to take Colloquium here at FGCU but I honestly feel that this is what makes our school different. In part, yes we did build on land we shouldn’t have so there is a conscience effort to promote sustainability, however I really feel that as a whole this campus does their part. Everyone from faculty and staff to its students. We all are aware of this eco-friendly campus and I feel that whether the students realize it or not, they have somehow changed their ways and become more environmentally conscience then they realize. I find myself buying reusable bags at publix, carpooling, using less electricity, and buying as much organic as possible, without even thinking about it. Overall this class has been enjoyable, t saying that I’m not happy it’s over because graduating is a little more enjoyable! However I am glad I took this class and I am proud to be a graduate from FGCU.

Journal 19

Final Group Projects

Overall I found the last class an awesome class. Everyone did a great job on their presentations. I especially liked the group with bingo, I never would have thought to incorporate something like that! I also found each groups different presentations interesting and informative. The one about meat and how the animals are treated was eye opening. I find it confusing however that our government would allow this to go on, not only is it horrible for the animals but the way they are treated and grown doesn’t seem like it could produce quality healthy food for its consumers. I also liked the presentation of the service learning places. I didn’t know some of the places that the students talked about existed. I was proud of all the groups and excited that I was able to learn as much as I did in class.

Journal 18

Pelican Bay Naples, FL

I am a regular visitor to Pelican Bay in Naples Florida. I love to visit their beaches because to get to the beach you must walk or take a golf cart trolley on a boardwalk throughout mangroves. It is a relaxing and beautiful experience. On the way through the mangroves I often see alligators, roseate spoonbills, egrets, and herons. The three local mangroves also reside there, black, white, and red. I also see sea grapes when you get closer to the beach area. The area is nicely keep with zero littering and it just makes you feel like you are in another world. However because of construction and over population you can quickly remember where you are when heading back to the mainland.

Journal 17

Trip to Naples Zoo

I am a nanny for a seven year old little girl. She recently had spring break and I took her to the Naples Zoo. I was excited on our way there but was highly disappointed when we got there and started to look around. I know that Naples is not a huge city like Orlando or Tampa and therefore their zoo would not be as big, however the living conditions of these animals upset me greatly. The large animals such as the Lions, Tigers, and Bears were in such small areas. When we went to see the Tigers one poor Tiger was pacing back and forth in his small area probably because he was restless and wanted to be able to be free and run. I just felt bad for these animals and thought that there must be some type of rule they have to have a certain amount of room for these animals. Overall the zoo is a fun experience especially with a seven year old girl, however I couldn’t help but feel sad as well.

Journal 16

State of the World Presentation:

My group had Sustainability and Media.

            Billboards, Facebook Ads, Television and Radio Commercials, Magazine Ads and more. These are just a few aspects of media that we see every day. Media has become such a norm in society due to all the advances in technology we have today. Not only can media be used for consumerism, today media is being used to help promote sustainability. Due to the rise in media because of rapidly growing developments in technology media has skyrocketed. People now spend much of their time interacting with media. Now people have the ability to create everything from their own programming, music, art, news, etc and then distribute them even further then email by using YouTube, Facebook, and more (Assadourian, Starke, Mastny 2010). Now the term “word of mouth” should really be “word of social media/technology”.  The more that people use these aspects of media to change the mindset of consumerism and focus more on sustainability the more of a chance we have to change the world and the destruction that the human race has created.

Journal 15

Downtown Fort Myers Field Trip:

During our Downtown Fort Myers field trip I was in the Media group. We got to go to local restaurants and bars and speak to the people that work there. We found that they were happy with how the media portrays Downtown and that their business is steady even with the condition our economy is in. While walking around however you notice many empty and vacant buildings and stores. It makes you feel overall that the place is maybe not the “best area” or even “safe” when you see buildings like that, that still need a little clean up and construction. Overall there is a steady theme throughout of keeper Downtown as historical as possible. From the quaint buildings, shops, and restaurants to the hand laid paver bricks on the streets you feel as though history is preserved there and I can only imagine what will come of Downtown when and if the economy begins to boom again.

Journal 14

An Inconvenient Truth: Al Gore

This movie was depressing to say the least. I understand the need to connect to an audience emotionally to grab their attention long enough to get your point across but I feel this film dragged on. Gore kept repeated statistics and facts about global warming and the problems we will inevitably face if we do not do anything to stop or prevent it. It is all understandable and truly tragic, however I feel it was to drawn out. You can hit the audience with a few hard and emotional facts and be done. One thing I also noticed was that he talked forever about the problems yet never once told the audience what they can do to help make a difference. If I’m getting depressed about what is happening to the world I want to know how I can help and what I can do to make a difference. You need to educate your audience in all aspects so that we can make a difference. Overall I just feel the video could have been improved quite a bit.

Journal 13

Wetland loss has become such a problem not only in Florida but all over the country as well. There are many things that we can do to try to help preserve the wetlands and stop and further damage or loss. The federal and state governments create legislation that guards wetlands from harmful activity. Scientists and engineers work to restore wetlands to their original, pre-disturbance conditions. They also collect data and run tests to compare current and historical wetland conditions. There are actions that are preventing clear cutting of coastal forests. Volunteers donate their time and skills across the state to spread awareness about environmental issues and to ma.ke a difference in their local public policy.

Journal 12

The Florida Panther is and endangered species. The number of Florida panthers remaining in the wild is probably between 30 and 50. Panthers live in long, connected wilderness areas in the southern part of the region. The habitat includes swamps and marshes. Panthers eat mostly white-tailed deer, feral pigs, armadillos, and raccoons. Hunters used to pose the greatest threat to panthers. Today habitat loss most threatens the panther. The panther does not adapt well to human intrusions and habitat changes. However, the population should remain stable as long as habitat protection continues.

Journal 11

Florida Wetland loss

Wetlands support many of Florida's most popular, and endangered species. Florida has lost the most acreage cover, 9.3 million acres. In the last 200 years, the continental United States has lost 53% of its wetland acreage. The Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission currently lists more than 100 animals in the state as endangered, threatened, or species of special concern. The human activities that cause wet land loss are, drainage, dredging and stream channelization, deposition of fill material, tilling for crop production, levees, logging and construction. Natural Threats that cause wet land loss are, erosion, subsidence, sea level rise, droughts, hurricanes and other storms.

Journal 10

When looking for a place to complete my service learning hours for Colloquium I wanted to volunteer at an institution that followed the classes guidelines. I wanted to make sure the establishment was environmentally conscience and educational as well. I also remember visiting Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium as a sophomore here at Florida Gulf Coast when I took Environmental Biology of Southwest Florida and remembered what a fun experience it was. Therefore I chose the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium.

To be honest I am not the type of person that can clean animal cages and prepare the animals food so I took the opportunity to do more clerical work for the center. I helped to prepare for a spring break camp they were starting a few weeks from my volunteer date. The camp would consist of hands on activities, games, live animals, and different crafts for the children to experience. All animals and games etc. would relate to the Southwest Florida environment.  Dissecting owl pellets (something I remember doing myself as a child in elementary school) would be one of the events the children would partake in. I found this interesting that in order for children to experience the same science/nature activities I did in school as part of the curriculum, children are now having to go outside the school to have these experiences.

Journal 9

My favorite Southwest Florida animal:

The Manatee is my favorite animal here in Southwest Florida! I not only see them from my condo in the river however I kayak a lot in lovers key on Fort Myers Beach and I see them often! The come up right next to you and sometimes under you! I will admit that it scares me sometimes, they are not small creatures and I am not a fan of murky water that I can’t see what is around me so if I were ever to be flipped over by a Manatee I may freak out a little. I think they are such interesting creatures, the term “Sea Cows” seriously fits them well! They are big slow moving harmless creatures and I love it!

Journal 8

My favorite Southwest Florida bird:

The roseate spoonbill is my favorite Southwest Florida bird by far. I have seen them often throughout my stay here in Southwest Florida but didn’t know what they were until I took Environmental Biology of Southwest Florida. Once I learned about them and how they mainly live in mangrove areas I began to see them a lot. I visit Pelican Bay in Naples often and there are so many mangroves in that area it is hard to visit and not see a roseate spoonbill. Once I researched a little about them I found that In 2006, a banded bird 16 years old was discovered, making it the oldest wild individual, which I thought incredibly interesting especially today when were are losing to many species.

Journal 7

FGCU Campus Field Trip:

To be honest the campus field trip was nothing incredibly impressive. I feel that we really shouldn’t have built on this land so anytime you tell me how great our buildings are with the products used to make them or the fact they conserve energy I think, great they should be in EVERY school in the nation, not just here because we feel guilty for building where we shouldn’t have. Furthermore we walked over a bridge to see turtles and fish, then we went to the nature trail which looked like someone’s backyard. Not to mention all the chemically sprayed trees and plants we saw because they were invasive species to our area. It freaked me out to know how many plants we shouldn’t have in this area. Overall I do have to say that I’m proud in general that our school actually does take steps to make the campus and it’s students more environmentally conscience.

Journal 6

The article I found about Religion and Sustainability was Is God an Environmentalist? Religion’s Role in Sustainability. The article discussed one person who’s church started a “Green Team” The girl stated that, “By setting up our team we embraced a long-standing tradition of Earth stewardship, a tradition found at some level in all world religions.” I guess this can be true because if you think of ANY religion they teach ethics and how to have a certain standard of ethics. They discuss that one should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. Why should it be different for the environment. You should treat the environment with respect and care like you wish to be treated.

 

 

Journal 5

I took an ecological footprint quiz and here are my results….

My score was 5.6 worlds… I was in totally shock. I bought the reusable bags from Publix, I buy pretty organic and I’m always careful about consuming too much energy. I do however not have a recycling system at all set up so I guess I do need to do more. I am in my car a lot driving but it’s because of my work and class schedule, once I graduate I hope to have a job in one place so I don’t have to do so much driving. I think I need to start recycling for sure. I do stay away from plastic bottles, I bought a mug from campus and I use that whenever I need a beverage to go. Other than that I really currently can’t change much about the life style I live. Look alone with my journal... I decided to do an electronic journal to not waste paper and I still have a crazy score!

Journal 4

Corkscrew Sanctuary #2

One of my favorite creatures we saw while on our walk was the Anhinga. I think that it not only has a cool name, but I think it’s interesting that it “sunbathes”. It is also known as the snake bird because of the way it looks while swimming in the water. It can catch you off guard! While researching the bird it was also mentioned that they can fly long distances without flapping it’s wings like the turkey vulture. I just feel lucky that they live in this areas type of climate so I can see them often.

Journal 3

Corkscrew Sanctuary #1

Overall experience to be honest I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see more creatures. We saw a few birds towards the end but I was hoping that we would see a gator! Luckily it didn’t rain on us! I like the face that they adopted what is called The Living Machine, which is a natural water restoration system rather than an artificial water treatment plant, which produces and filters all the water used at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. I found it to be interesting and something that I think many more places should adapt. I mean think about what a difference it would make if restaurants and schools and even hospitals adopted this idea.

Journal 2

My neighborhood and it's environment… I live in Downtown Fort Myers, Florida on the river. Every morning I have the luxury of the beautiful views it has to offer. There are regular dolphins that visit as well as manatees. As far as experiencing the environment around me other than the river… well it’s Downtown Fort Myers. It has definitely made major improvements however there is still much room for improvement. Directly downtown is nice, clean, and welcoming however the more busy street surrounding need a little work. This isn’t really a place I would want to raise my children in someday, because it’s not a place they can just leave on their bikes by themselves and ride around. I enjoy where I live and just wish some of the surrounding areas were cleaned up a little!

I live in the smaller building next to the new big ones :)

Journal #1

While I applied to FGCU I already knew how the University felt and dealt with the environment and sustainability. I knew coming into this school that a class such as colloquium existed and to be honest I thought it be pointless. However, into my sophomore year I took a science class called Environmental Biology of Southwest Florida. In this class I really started to care about the environment and my natural surroundings. We took field trips throughout Southwest Florida and learned about the land and ecosystem around us. Therefore, coming into this class I already had a little background and two years later, now I'm a little excited to start with another course similar. My experience with the wilderness I must say is limited. The most I venture out would be the beach and before when  I lived in Massachusetts I would hike every so often but nothing to intense. I feel that this class is important not just for students at FGCU but for any student that will eventually be out in the world living in any environment. It's important to help sustain and preserve our individual environments and try to decrease our carbon footprints. I feel that many people even today with the "green living" being hip/new, many are unaware of what they are doing to the environment and what they can do to help.