ECHO Field Trip

During our third field trip, our class went to a farm in North Fort Myers known as ECHO. ECHO is a non-profit, Christian organization that focuses on equipping individuals with the resources and skills to reduce hunger through sustainable solutions. The main division of the North Fort Myers campus that we observed was the Global Farm Research Center. The Global farm was broken into eight different sections. Each of the different sections exemplified a variety of affordable and sustainable farming techniques. For instance, there was the Tropical Monsoon, Urban Garden, Semi-Arid Tropics, Tropical Highlands, Tropical Rainforest, Hot Humid Lowlands, and the Community Garden. The section of the Global Farm that stood out the most to be was the Hot Humid Lowlands. The reason why is because it incorporated a man made fish and duck pond, which I found to be extremely interesting. Ducks have the ability to provide people with protein from both their eggs as well as meat. The Ducks themselves consume provided grains as well as the surrounding plants and then release their solid wastes in the pond. The release of the ducks waste creates a large amount of algae . However, algae is the main source of food for the vegetarian fish Tilapia that also subsides within the pond. Therefore, the ducks provide the Tilapia's food source therefore, the Tilapia controls the algae level of the pond so the ducks could live safely until they are used to provide us as humans with protein from their eggs and meat. Therefore, this one section of the farm displays a perfect example of the cycle of life. In addition, when the Tilapia fish also releases their waste into the pond ,it leaves the water with high levels of nitrogen. Therefore, the farm can take the water from the pond and use it as a free fertilizer for all of their plants. In addition, our guide also taught us how they take the scummed pond water and turn it into clear and drinkable water. They place a seed into the bottle with the scummed pond water and begin shaking it. Then after the water bottle being left in the sun for a few days it turns from dark scum infested water to clear drinking water. This would be a great thing for third world countries to learn about since many of them do not currently have clean drinking water.

Sense of Place Interview

I decided to interview my grandmother, Maria Mazzucco. Immediately, as I informed her that this interview would be about sustainability, she could not stop talking about it importance. My grandmother wished that more people would understand the concept of sustainability and learn how they could live a sustainable life. In no way does my grandmother live a fully sustainable life however, she makes several changes and sacrifices within her daily life in order to reduce her personal carbon footprint. In addition, my grandmother believes my generation has become so unaware of how our everyday lives hurt and effect our environment. It is known that my generation has been the society to create the most amount of trash. Therefore, she agrees with the overall message of our class and hopes that my classmates as well as myself will learn and share all of the information taught within this course. The reason is because the more people that are educated on the concept of sustainability, the more changes being made to be come a sustainable community.

Corkscrew Swamp

I was unable to go on the Corkscrew field trip with our class. However, I will be joining Professor Coventry-Payne on October 27, 2011. Therefore, after I go on the field trip I will re-write this post with my observations.

Sense of Place-Your Neighborhood

Returning from my walk, I've come to realize just how much my neighborhood has to offer. For instance, my apartment complex is located in Naples, Florida that has a private boat ramp with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, my complex includes a 10 acre lake with a joggers trail that is completely surrounded by nature. There are also many different species that also call my community their home. For instance, there are a variety of fish and an alligator that resides in our lake, many insects as well mammals such as raccoons. Last but not least, my community includes both regular waste cans as well as recycling bins that are separated intro four departments. These departments include paper, aluminum's, plastics and glass. Each of the trash and recycling bins could be found surrounding each building, all of the mailbox stations, management office and as well as all of the three pools.

FGCU Campus Trail

Prior to attending Colloquium, I have always thought fondly of Florida Gulf Coast Universities campus. I knew our school based themselves on being an environmentally friendly and sustainable campus. However, I was not aware of all the additions our University has already made and is continuing to make in order to keep their promise to be sustainable. For instance, I did not now about FGCU's unique air conditioning technique. Learning that large blocks of ice are formed during the night when energy costs are low and then used to cool classrooms and building on campus during the day is truly remarkable. I have never heard of a University use air conditioning techniques as unique as ours. In addition, another aspect of our campus walk that I truly enjoyed was being able to observe all of the different ecosystems we have right here on Florida Gulf Coast campus such as Cypress Swamps and Pine Flat woods. This field trip allowed me to recognize how lucky I am to be a part of such an amazing and unique University.

Incoming Reflection

To be honest I was quite skeptical about having to take FGCU's colloquium course. The reason why is because I had heard from fellow students that this class was pointless and extremely boring. However, after the first day of class my opinion quickly changed. I believe this class has an extremely important message to deliver to all of the students. This huge message is about sustainability and how we as a community could begin living a sustainable life which will ultimately benefit our environment. I've already learned that if we keep going at the rate that we are, our resources will become scarce and run out before we could ever imagine and we as humans will cease to exist. I hope to learn about my personal ecological footprint as well as how I could decrease my footprint and begin living a sustainable life. After I gain this knowledge I could hopefully pass the information onto my family and friends that will hopefully make changes towards living a sustainable life even if those changes are small.