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.