June 28th, 2013

Overall colloquium was a class that I thought would be so pointless and didn't understand the reason why we had to take it. I do think that at the end of this class I was able to learn how important our environment is. Reading the Plan B book was a little scary knowing that all these types of situations could happen in our future. Reducing our population, and being able to switch over to other resources to help our environment is something people should consider. Even producing more wind mills and solar panels is helping sustain our environment and keep it clean. These changes are so small right now, but I do think in the future there will more wind mills and not so much electricity will need to be produced. Going on the various field trips was also interesting as well, because I have never been to any of these places. Knowing how involved these places were with the environment was awesome because it does show people actually care about the world and changes taking place.

June 28th, 2013

Doing our service learning project at Echo was something that I was able to learn much about. Chaya and citronella were two plants I was able to research. These two plants also play a great role to my major. My major is health science and with that I want to go into dietetics. Considering the fact that chaya helps reduce carbohydrate cravings and stimulating the liver is something that I can use for my job when I'm out of college. Also citronella is used for keeping mosquitoes away. Some mosquitoes bites can be very dangerous so with the oil citronella produces this is very helpful to people. I feel this project is very sustainable to our environment because we are able to give back and help people be able to learn about these type of plants. Creating the QR codes for people is a lot easier as well for people to just scan the code right off their phone instead of having to go home and research the plant if they want too.

June 27th, 2013

For last class, we were able to go to downtown Fort Myers. I have only been here a few times but learning about the history here was interesting. The statue of the Three Uncommon Friends of Ford, Edison, and Firestone was very cool. Never would you have thought about the reason they all came down to Fort Myers for. The Yacht Basin was very big. Knowing that this has been around for such a great amount of time is awesome. Wherever we go in Florida, we see palm trees but seeing the area of palm trees from all around the world is something we don't usually see. Learning about the history of Fort Myers was something that I had no idea about considering I am not from this area.

June 20th, 2013

Today in class, each group presented a chapter from Plan B. It was very interesting to learn about all the plans they have for the future. I was assigned chapter five, which talked about wind and solar panels. Windmills are very important for the environment because with these we aren't having to use so much electricity. Also this is saving money. A lot of the wind mills are more up in the Midwest. A plus to these is farmers are able to make a profit off them on their land because of the windmill being there. Solar panels are also very helpful to the environment too. FGCU even has these on some of our buildings. Some of the other Power Points that were discussed talked about the over population for the future. This is a concern because many of the resources that we use now are going to be scarce. With more people the environment is going to be more polluted. There was a lot discussed in Plan B that was  very informational and anyone can take into consideration for the future.

June 13th, 2013

For colloquium today we went to Lover's Key State Park which I have never been to before. It was a very pretty beach, and definitely worth going back too. One thing we were able to see was the estuary. Learning that we have to keep the environment clean here because these are our resources and we as people rely on a lot from the estuaries and beaches. Shrimp and fish are two big resources that we rely on from here, if the water is dirty and there is no life then people aren't going to be able to live off these.   South Florida is a big attraction for visitors and this is where we attract vacationers from all over the world, if we don't keep care of the environment here than people won't come. This is a very big thing to think about. At the beach we were able to walk around and enjoy it. We were able to see lots of shells, and we actually were able to see a starfish and snails, which was very cool to see.

June 6th, 2013

Some interesting things that we were able to talk about today in class was the ecological footprint. This is what resources we consume to make our lifestyle. Fossil energy consumption, our environment, the food we eat, and forest products are all something that make up our ecological footprint. The activity we did figuring out how many earths it is for one person to live was very cool. It would take around 7 earths for one person to live because of all the resources we consume. As Americans we don't think about how much we take things for granted and how we are slowly destroying our earth as it is. The fact that a lot of people don't save their money is really causing them an economic downfall for when they get older due to being so far in dept. I think that every person including myself need to realize that we are slowly destroying our earth and we need to do something about it because sooner or later there won't be time for this.

May 30th, 2013

Going to Echo was definitely something I never expected. It was a very cool process that they do there.

Learning about the different ways to farm and how plants are harvested was very unique. Some of the different animals we were able to see were goats and rabbits. It was very awesome that we were able to try different plants and fruits. One thing that I thought was very cool was the fact that you are able to plant different things in tires, kiddy pools, and buckets. Which this technique is used for people who live in the city where there isn't much room to grow plants because of limited space. The bamboo is a very useful plant that is used for shelter and even some homes. Coming here we were able to learn a lot of techniques that I would have never known that people do and saves money as well. Helping farmers be more effective at growing food and producing crops under harsh conditions is a great way that Echo does to help out. Echo is very similar to Food Forest that is on our campus.

May 23th, 2013

Last Thursday's class, we were able to learn about the different environments around the world and how they work. Without our ecosystems we would have no life, this is our life systems. Something new  I was able to learn about in Kansas, was the Dust Bull that occurred here that damaged a lot of the land.   Kansas is relevant to SWFL because everything in the Midwest filters into the Mississippi River which from there flows down here and into the Gulf of Mexico, which is polluting the water. From Africa I never knew that there were so many invasive species there and that they were taking away Africa's water supply. As for Canada, I never knew about all the protests that occurred in Canada about cutting down the trees and with the lumbar carving. From watching these videos I was able to take in information that I had never knew about other parts of the world and learn about the different things that take place in it.

May 17th, 2013

Last Thursdays class the field trip to Corkscrew sanctuary we were able to learn much about Florida's environment. Knowing that the Autobun society saved this sanctuary and was able to help preserve this environment is an awesome thing. The Cypress dome that we walked through, we were able to see deer, hawks, black vulture, and alligators. One of the trees that we saw was a native Florida tree called a Sable palm. The deer were eating in a wet prairie. This is better for the deer because its better for bigger mammals to drink and water stays three to four months at a time. It was also very interesting to know that panthers scratch on the trees to sharpen their nails or even to mark their territory. It was very noticeable looking on the trees seeing these markings. Another interesting fern we were able to see was the resurrection. This tree comes back alive when water touches it and can live up to 100 years. The liken tree was a tree we were able to see that had red splotches on it. I did not think going here we would see so many different trees and animals, very cool place.

May 9th, 2013

May 9th, 2013

First day of class today for colloquium. In today's class, the professor pointed out a very good point that happens both in the classroom and in other everyday life situations. He said there will be times in this class, that he will say something that might offend us. Which we would think is rude, but in reality its not. We are able to reflect on this and be able to think of a way to go around the situation or do something about it. Doing this makes us learn more about life and other things. We also were able to go on a tour of the food forest. This was very interesting because I didn't even know FGCU had this. Learning about the different types of foods that are grown there and plants was cool. Especially the fact that we were able to eat some of them.

-Brittany