class impressions

I think colloquium presents students with wealth of information on what’s really going on in the world.  It shows us the injustice of the agricultural industries.  It shows what our ecological footprint really is and how we compare to other countries.  I was surprised when I saw how electronic waste is really disposed of and recycled.  The field trips were great, I really enjoyed going to the trash facility.  I never knew we could burn our trash like we do fossil fuels.  The national park was also beautiful as we walked through the different habitats.  All in all I can say I gained more appreciation for the world I live in and will treat it better as a result of taking this class.

garden

The gardening group showed us practical ways of growing our own food.  The girls printed a very well made brochure that was packed with information.  They also provided plenty of pictures of how to plant things as well as hand painted pictures done by an art major.  The project was very informative and showed us how to plant a garden on a college student’s time and budget.

going green

Going green was an interesting 2 part project, one with an informative video filmed on campus.  The video was a little trite with more recycling statics but the second part was really original.  David wrote a very well throughout and expressive poem that depicted nature leaving from the earth due to maltreatment.  It was very original and I think it sums up the state of affairs today, in my opinion going greens project was by far the best presentation.

Tree Health

The group that presented tree health experiment had a real interesting and original concept.  They cored trees and looked for rings to indicate the health of a tree.  They found that most health trees had 6-8 rings a year.  The tress closest to campus showed great distress having only 1-2 rings per year.  The only thing missing was a bench test for a tree out in the wild.

Recycling video

The group with the recycling video presented us with a lot of statistics.  I did not find the video interesting at all because it has no sound only sheets with statistics written on them.  I think recycling is a bit of a trite environmental topic because it’s been shown to all students so many times already.  To be honest I did not learn much from this presentation but they certainly had a lot of information.  They also had a fish made out of recyclables that was very artistic.

Ocean Pollution

The group presenting on water pollution described the 3 different trash island located in the worlds ocean.  They presented us with interesting facts about recycling and how trash will eventually go out to sea if not disposed of properly.  The video was short and direct with some comedic bloopers in the end.  I had no idea there was more than one trash island but it turns out there’s three

climate change

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Baggit

This week we watched a documentary called baggit, it's about the shocking number of onetime use plastic convenience items like bags and bottles and packaging.  The documentary really shocked me, not because of the plastic not breaking down in landfills or litter in the ocean, I already knew about that; what really surprised me is the amount of toxins we intake into our bodies on a daily basis.  At one point in the documentary a man uses plastic convenience items and shampoos and other artificial products and his blood analysis came up spiked with harmful toxins.  Whats worse is these toxins can even be found in many children's toys and soaps some are even linked to ADHD and Autism.  It seems company's have been asleep at the wheel when it comes to product safety and something has to be done about it.

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Echo

After watching a video on how food is grown by most American farms I was amazed by how efficient Echo really is.  Everything at Echo is environmentally Conservative, from simple irrigation methods to advanced seeding.  Not only dose Echo provide the needy with healthy foods they also show people simple cost effective methods of agriculture that could be used anywhere in the world.  Echo impressed me so much I have chosen them as the origination where I will do my Service learning hours for.

Farming industry

We watched a video about the commercialization of the farming industry.  Large corporations have taken over the farming industry driving prices up and cutting the small farmer out of the picture.  More artificial ingredients, more steroids and antibiotics.  As well as cost cutting methods that risk our safety has all become a part of the farming industry.  In my opinion we need to find  a more ethical and sustainable way of feeding this country what ever the cost is.

Crew

Today was my second trip out to CREW.  I first saw crew in my SW bio class freshman year and could not get over the beauty of it.  CREW was set up by Audobone society and displays many difrent ecosystems from marshes to pine flatwoods and more.  You can see where lightning struck 100 year old trees and where hundreds of exotic birds come to migrate to every year.  You walk on a board walk through raw untoched everglades and it offers many beautiful sights.  I can Honestly say that this will not be the last time I visit CREW.

Nat Geo

This week we watched a national geographic documentary on the carbon foot print of the average American. It really opened my eyes to how much we leave behind for hundreds of years.  There are many statistics in this movie that did not really surprise me like 1500 chickens I will eat in my life time or the 3000 pounds of hamburgers I will eat.  Other statics's like the 15 tons of garbage i will leave behind or the thousands of pounds of plastic I will throw away is shocking.  I know the world will not be a very good place to live 50-60 years from now if we don't change out ways.  Nat Geo suggested things like recycling and HE lighting to cut down carbon usage.  Not only will I buy a few led lights when they go on sale I will try and recycle as much as possible, I will also try and buy locally grown food to cut down my carbon foot print.

Nature Trail

This week we went of a Field trip to the FGCU nature trail.  I had no idea how diverse the nature trail was, with different ecosystems living at different elevations.  We saw plenty of slash pines and oak hammocks as well as numerous mosquito's.  I had no idea that only 45% of the land that FGCU owns is built on the rest is set aside for nature.  Also the university takes great steps to be as green as possible on campus as well.

carbon foot print cars

I'm very into cars so far I have owned 3 cars in my life.  A mustang gt which drank gas, a subaru impreza 2.5rs and now I drive an Acura RSX Type S.  The Acura is decent on gas even though its a sports car, I have a six speed manual and can get up to 31 on the highway.  I still go through 12.5 gallons of premium a week,  I also change my oil religiously at 3000 miles.  I believe I will go through cars rather quickly (I get bored and trade up) and will probably buy a car every 4 years minimum for the next 60 years.  Now here's how everything adds up, I will go through a minimum of 36,000 gallons of gas in my lifetime as well as 120 quarts of full synthetic oil (which I recycle). I will probably buy at least 15 more cars for myself at a minimum. 

Story of stuff

This week we watched a documentary on the plight of the current consumer.  The documentary was called the story of stuff and pointed out the flaws in the current product life cycle.  Every part of the chain was flawed from production to disposal.   The main problem in lies in the cheap toxic manufacturing processes, exploitation of developing countries and planned obsolescence in product design.  After working in a retail shoe store for years I know full well that planned obsolescence exists in consumer products, why do you think your 90 dollar running shoes never last more than a year.  The documentary was interesting and presented a very real problem in our global economy.