Politics and a Land Remembered.

1. Think about how much Florida has changed over the years. Include the reading by Grunwald and Douglas. You also need to incorporate the first ten chapters of A Land remembered by Patrick Smith.

Florida  has changed in many ways over the course of the years. Whether it is from its name, Pahayokee to what it is now commonly known as The Everglades. Not only has it grown in age but it has also grown in importance. Over the years more and more people and politicians have realized just how important The Everglades are to Florida's ecosystem and not just the ecosystem but to the inhabitants of south Florida. All throughout the 20th century momentum had been building and many people were working towards salvaging what remain of The Everglades. Even though many environmentalists and Florida conversationalists worked hard to help stop plume hunts, preserve millions of acres at wetlands, mandate minimum flows to The Everglades National Park, and secure the largest nutrient cleanup in history it still wasn't enough. The ecosystem  was drastically changing, you couldn't preserve one species without harming another. As described in A Land Remembered, the influx of people to south Florida didn't help at all.

2. What do you make of the politics surrounding the Everglades? How much does it affect you? 

I honestly thought the politics surround the issue of The Everglades back in the 2000's was a bit ridiculous that it took over a year to finally have people realize that our ecosystem was more important than money. It wasn't just our ecosystems future that was at stake but also the livelihood of south Florida. It would've affected me because had the airport been built all the waste and runoff from it would've most likely been dumped in The Everglades polluting our drinking water. 

For our last field trip we went to the beautiful Six Mile Cypress Slough in Fort Myers. During our time there I learned that the preserve was started by a group of students that were studying ecology known as the Monday Group. Their goal was to be able to preserve 20% of all Lee county for conservation. Today that goal has been reached. I also learned that that a slough, which is a shallow,slow movement of water in one direction;which is what Six Mile Cypress is. I also learned that our bedrock here in Florida is made out of limestone. Limestone is make out of the carcass of really old shellfish. CaCO3 is it's chemical composition.

                                                              Photo Credit: Danielle Saenz

Throughout our walk through Six Mile Cypress, I was able to see that the water levels in the preserve vary and fluctuate, especially in the Hardwood Transition Community. Many of the native plants located in this area have adapted to this way of life, this is why they flourish in this transitional area because they get both wet and dry periods. Like the trees below:

                                                            Photo Credit: Danielle Saenz

During our trip we were also able to see more Cypress tress and their Cypress knees, just like on campus. Pond Cypress is among the oldest living organisms in the slough. Our trip throughout Six Miles Cypress I learned just how important it is to preserve our environment even if it is just pieces of it. Six Mile Cypress is like a transitional highway for animals. It allows them to cross from Fort Myers down to Estero.
                                                 

Campus walk 

                                                                Our naturist explaining the different aspects of our campus

The campus walk... very interesting to say the least. You know you walk past things everyday and don't even think twice. I think one of the most interesting things that I learned was that the roofs are shaped at an angle because that way they disperse water more evenly on the ground. I actually thought that was quite ingenious because a lot of buildings that you see have water dripping down in one single spot causing it to sort of carve out a hole. I also thought it was really interesting that because FGCU bought land from Miromar, they had to pretty much follow what they id in terms of building regulations. I also thought it was pretty ironic how college is supposed teach us to be model citizens yet FGCU didn't listen to Miromar and had to pay a fine for not following regulations.

 In all honesty I didn't really know much about our campus until the campus walk. I was actually very happy to finally find our why the library is always so cold. The walk really didn't help me develop my sense of place because my sense of place is at the Naples pier. I do however have a favorite place on campus, which is the FGCU lawn. I especially like to sit out there when our days finally start to cool down and there's a nice breeze. It s a nice place to sit and forget the craziness of school. Sort of like my place at the beach, where I can just sit there and forget about the worries of the world.

                                                                       FGCU Lawn

Ecological Footprint...

"For every action there is a consequence"...With that being said, have you ever stopped to think about how your lifestyle impacts the environment? I'm sure that not many of us have. After calculating my ecological footprint (http://www.earthday.org/footprint-calculator), I realize just how much my everyday actions and lifestyle affects our environment. According to the calculator, if everyone lived like I do, it would take 5 planet Earth's to have enough resources.

I think that two of the biggest areas that I could work on improving would be my meat/animal consumption and also the services area. I wouldn't say that I am a huge carnivore but yes given a choice between a steak and a salad, I would probably chose the steak. I will say though, that I have seriously considered becoming a vegetarian or at the very least a pescatarian. Just like eating meat has its consequences that affect the environment so does eating fish, especially if you are eating farmed fish. Waste from a fish farm, if not properly taken care of, can run off in our ground water and eventually run off into our oceans thus adding to the pollution. On the flip side, eating wild caught fish although it is much healthier for consumption than famed fish, can also lead to over-fishing and the depletion of fishes in our oceans. This leads to a chain reaction because if there are less fish in the ocean, animals who are dependent on those fish for sustainability end up perishing, creating an unbalance in the food chain. If we as a general population consumed meat in moderation we could lessen the side affects of dairy and meat farms.

As for services, the quiz didn't really explain what "services" meant and to me it seems like it could mean how much electricity I use. I actually try to be very conscious about how much electricity I use. Whenever I leave a room or are not using my computer, I always try to shut off the lights and shut down my computer. I would say that my biggest issue is leaving the water running. In the mornings especially when I am brushing my teeth, I'll leave the water running while I'm brushing and I have to consciously tell myself to turn off the faucet.

All in all, I do try to do my part in helping our environment and not be part of the problem. At one of my jobs we go through so much paper, it's an office, and I started a recycling initiative. I have a bin in which I place paper, plastic and pretty much anything else that can be recycled. Then at the end of the week we have a recycling dumpster that I just empty it out in. If we as a society don't accept and realize that our actions no matter how big or small affect our environment, then we are just going to lead ourselves into extinction. 

Introductions, Preconceptions, and My Sense of Place....

Introduction:

Hello and welcome to my blog for Colloquium. To being I'd like to introduce myself: My name is Carolina O. This my senior year at FGCU, go class of 2016!! I am an Elementary Education major and in the future I hope to teach second grade and eventually teach at the college level. I recently moved to Naples from Fort Lauderdale about two years ago. When I moved here I enrolled at Edison Ste College (before the name change) and was the last class to graduate under the Edison name :). Afterwards I enrolled at Florida Gulf Coast University and absolutely love it. This semester I am in my level one internship and I am just as excited as I am overwhelmed to say the least; I just hope everything goes smoothly.

Terrible picture but here is the last graduating class of Edison State College (photo: Carolina Ortiz)

Preconceptions:

My preconceptions about Colloquium....oh man where to start.

Of course I have heard both good and bad things about the this class. The general consensus is that we shouldn't be forced to take a class that has nothing to do with our major, which I agree with to an extent. I think that many times we take classes that do pertain in someway to our major and they end up being a waste of time. That being said why not take a class in which awareness is brought and we learn just how we impact our environment. I personally love nature. Whenever I can I like to go to the beach and just sit, I'll talk more about that later. Could you imagine if one day we had not more beaches to enjoy because of what harm we are causing the environment? To some degree it is somewhat "annoying" that if you don't take Colloquium you don't graduate; it sort of cancels out all the effort you poured into your other classes. All in all, I am looking forward to this class and to learn how to lessen my own environmental footprint.

My Sense of Place:

As I mentioned earlier, I thoroughly enjoy going to the beach whenever I'm not at either of my two jobs, school, or internship. Like the video we watched in class, I think whether we realize it or not we all have a spot/place we like to go to and just feel safe or comfortable. For me whenever I go to the beach, I feel like I can just unwind and let go of everything even if it is only for a couple of minutes. For the most part I like to go around dusk when there is less people and the sun is setting. There is just something about laying on a blanket in the darkness while listening to the waves crash on shore that is so soothing.

 This picture was taken by me close to the pier. (photo: Carolina Ortiz)

 This one was also taken near the pier (which if you haven't noticed, it's my favorite spot). (photo: Carolina Ortiz)