Blog Entry #12

                                                                                     Colloquium

To tell you the truth, I was so nervous before I entered this classroom. This was my first honor’s course and on top of that it was one of the first courses that signified I was a junior. Everyone on campus knows that you are almost done with your college years at FGCU when you have taken colloquium. Well that’s the way I think about this course when I think about FGCU.  Everyone knew each other in the course because they entered the honors program together and I was just inducted to the program a few months before the course started.

I felt relaxed when we were given the first task and this task could be completed without working in groups. The big question was, what do you think colloquium is. At first I automatically wrote down service learning. As the course progressed, I quickly realized that it is not just about service learning. It is about conserving our environment and learning ways to live a sustainable life without taking drastic measures. The course emphasized what is happening to our environment in our community as well as what is happening to the environment in other parts of the world. Basically this course is about awareness and using the knowledge that we learned to take action.

I have learned so much in a short amount of time and that is incredible to reflect on. I have had the opportunity to explore parts of Fort Myers that I would have never ventured on my own. I probably would have never seen downtown Fort Myers or ECHO or any of the other places we toured on field trips if I was not in this course. This class has opened my eyes and helped me understand our environment and community as something bigger than my regular studies. 

Blog Entry #11

                                   Edison Who?

There was so much information that I learned from the downtown Fort Myers field trip. Before arriving downtown, I learned that the Edison name used for most buildings in Fort Myers is named after Thomas Edison who lived in Fort Myers and at the time he was the most famous man in the world. I have lived in Fort Myers for almost two years now and I am ashamed that I didn’t know that Thomas Edison was a contributing factor in this city. Now that I know a piece of history of Fort Myers, moving forward in the field trip looked promising.

            It is sad to admit as well that I have never been to downtown Fort Myers until my junior year of college. This experience was truly one of a kind; I have always enjoyed history and the historical museum was a treat. Our historian and tour guide Jim took us through a timeline that started with Paleolithic times, into the Seminole wars and then the present. The modeled artifacts that are displayed all over the wall helped me visualize what times would be like back then. The historical museum of southwest Florida will be a place that I would like to take my family too.

            Since this was the last field trip of the semester I was sort of sad because there was a lot of information that I never heard about Fort Myers and the environment until recently. I could not even imagine if this course was offered for a whole year; how much information I would gain from this course. A neat part of this field trip was walking through the downtown area with our classmates and seeing what kind of shops there are. There were so many eateries, the place I enjoyed the most was the downtown pizza shop. As the field trip was ending and we were heading back to the shuttle, I was thinking to myself how much I learned from this course and all of knowledge that I have gained.

Blog Entry#10

                                          "Wonder Trails"

I thought the Echo field trip was interesting but I was wrong. The campus hike which was our “on campus field trip” definitely topped every other one. I won’t lie I was scared to walk through the nature preserve because the grass was very high. I know that may sound dumb but I was terrified my skin would have an allergic reaction to the itchy grass. Other than that seeing the other student’s reaction to the nature preserve was too funny. I think once everyone got passed the fact that we were going to walk through a lot of tall grass, the field trip was even better.

            There was so much to learn from snails to an assorted array of wild flowers. I liked that the nature preserve had so many different areas to walk through. At one point when we finished walking through the tall grass we were in a forest area. It is amazing how fast the zones changed. It felt as if we were at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, it is nice to experience that again on campus.

            Memorable moments from the on-campus fieldtrip were the paths of the nature walk. I thought that there was one narrow and straight path that goes through the nature preserve. There are so many adventures that could happen depending on what path you take.  When the nature walk ended I missed the shade that was given from the trees. It was peaceful in the preserve compared to the sidewalks of the school. If I have more free time, I would definitely go out there again and enjoy what nature has to bring.

Blog Entry #9

                             Nature Reads
Reading the excerpt from The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise by Michael Grunwald was interesting. I know that politics play a major role in our everyday lives but to see how much it could affect nature was astonishing. I just couldn’t believe that when situations got serious, certain people who are in control would not step up and take charge. A good part that came out of all this was that in the end people were able to get bills passed.

            Reading The Nature of the Everglades by Marjory Stoneman Douglas was really difficult to get through. I like the fact that she is very passionate about nature and concerned about the everglades but it was also difficult grasping each sentence. One part that I especially like from the reading from Mrs. Stoneman was about the meaning of “hatchee”. I am from Loxahatchee, Florida and I found out the word hatchee means river. I live on a dirt road and on the corner of 3 canals. This made me feel connected to the everglades somewhat more.

            If I had to choose which reading was more interesting, I would definitely say that Michael Grunwald’s story was more intriguing. Reading about politics is actually very interesting because the events that happen are historical. The decisions that we make now will affect what life will be like in the future.  Whether it is was Marjory or Michael the stories were interesting but I would say that Michael’s writing was more compelling.

Blog Entry # 8

Fountain of Youth

  When I was home again for spring break there was article that I found that was amazing. The article was called “70-year-old woman says her garden is the Fountain of Youth”.  Her name is Annette Larkin and her backyard garden is full of fruits and vegetables. She has been eating vegetables, seeds, nuts, and fruit as her diet since 1960. Unlike her husband who owned a meat shop, he did not follow her diet and he has high blood pressure and diabetes which he has to take medicine every day. Annette has no need for even aspirin since she became a vegan in the 1960’s. 

            Annette Larkin does not look 70 at all in fact she looks like she is 40 years old. Her skin is flawless and a wrinkle has never appeared. There is no need for her to go to the grocery store because her backyard is the store. She juices her fruits and vegetables and all her food is unprocessed. This really shows someone that living a sustainable life is not difficult and you will really reap the benefits from it. Her husband is the same age but is dealing with problems every day, whereas Annette wakes up at 5:30am everyday with ease.

            I found this article to be so interesting and inspiring at the same time. I know that if I could own some land, the first chance that I would get is to plant trees and seeds. Eating the right foods, exercising daily and being sustainable is the life that I want to live. This article shows that those three ideas can be achievable. It will help your body in the long run plus the planet. There is nothing wrong with that. Annette Larkin will be in mind when I think about how I want my body to function when I am 70 years old.

Blog Entry #7

“Estero Bay Field Trip”

No other field trip could ever compare to Fort Myers beach historic cottage. The sights were amazing from the beaches to the houses. Our first part of the journey was getting to the beach historic cottage and since the traffic was really bad, I liked the fact that we walked for a little while to the cottage. It was sort of a “green” thing to do and the weather was especially nice, so walking was a nice way to get the field trip started. Getting lemonade and cookies especially put a smile on my face because it was a nice treat to have.

Jo Hughes was our presenter and the information that she was presenting was very intriguing. Learning about her experiences through growing up in the 1930’s on Fort Myers beach was fascinating.  I liked when she spoke about the different schools she went to for early education. The schools were cottages and named after a person. There was only one teacher per three grades and the teacher was the school driver as well. That was a lot to fulfill and I couldn’t imagine doing all these jobs.

 Another interesting point that she mentioned while growing up on Fort Myers beach was how hurricane disasters have changed the bay. At first there were only three canals and now there are over a hundred canals. Which worries her the most because if we have a major hurricane; she says it would be scary to think how many pieces the bay could break into before it becomes obsolete. Learning about southwest Florida’s history and what it was like before and how it is shaped now is very interesting. I like learning about history and to learn about Fort Myers history was to cool. The final part of the field trip was a walk through the mangrove preserve boardwalk and the best part was the dock that we stood on and the view of the water was amazing. The wind and the smell of the water was just a wonderful experience. Estero Bay Field Trip is something that I will not forget about for a long time.

Blog Entry #6

  

As a child I had a very fortune experience with nature. I could say almost that I had an experience like someone from an older generation. At first I lived in a somewhat gated community but there was still a good amount of land in the backyard where I could play and come up with pretend adventures that my sister and I would go on. Then when I got to middle school I moved to an area where everyone lives on a couple of acres of land. This is where nature came into play a lot. I would be outdoors every single day after school and play with my next door neighbors until the street light came on. Then on the weekends I would be outside playing all day long. Whether it was swinging on the swing set or playing hide and go seek in the yard. Nature was my playing ground.

I do not know what type of person I would be if I was not outdoors and not in sync with nature. My life as a child was for the most part outdoors and it was very rare if I spent time indoors unless I was playing a board game or it was night time and I watched television before I went to bed. I guess I was very blessed to have parents who wanted their children to be outdoors and enjoy what nature has to give to them. I was also fortunate to have a sibling and next door neighbors that were interested in being outdoors as well. It is nice to look back at the days when I was a kid who played in the yard until the sun went down and even sometimes played when it was pitch black outside because the thought of danger lurking around was even more exciting.

Blog Entry #5

ECHO I would certainly say was a unique and knowledge filled field trip. Our tour guide definitely had a knack for people who agreed or said “yes” to what he was telling us. Every part or mostly every section of ECHO’s land was edible. Some of the other plants could be used for other necessities as well such as the Neem tree. The Neem tree is traditionally called the “toothbrush tree”. Neem bark helps to brighten teeth and maintain good oral health as well as provide aid for skin, nails, and hair. We also learned about ways to filter water by using the moringa seeds. Just one moringa seed filters bacteria out one water bottle, all you have to do in put the seed in a plastic water bottle (do not use glass) and let it sit under the sun to filter through and the bacteria will clump together.  Moringa has a lot of nutritional benefits; it has a significant source of beta carotene, Vitamin C, protein, iron, and potassium.

      There was so much to learn about living a sustainable life, we learned about using blessing or “poopies” from animals and other green manures to fertilize the land. Something interesting that I learned is that the banana plant is technically considered an herb. The banana plant does not have a wooden trunk and grows back from scratch over and over again at the end of the season. We also learned techniques on how to build water pumps that could be efficient for different cultures. All you really need is a PVC pipe which comes in handy a lot.  There was so much information and details that went into this field trip that really was truly amazing.  Even if you do not have land, there is a way to garden such as urban gardening. There are many ways you can get out there and live a sustainable life, you just need to ask questions and do research. 

Blog Entry #4

FGCU Food Forest, Who knew?

            One of the best field trips so far in the university colloquium course was the Florida Gulf Coast University food forest. We learned so much about growing vegetables, fruit, and other native and non-native plants. The FGCU food forest was created by students to show them how to live a sustainable life as well as learning where food comes from and how long it takes for food to grow. The food forest was so impressive, they were growing all sorts of vegetables from carrots, eggplants, green peppers to radishes.

            I never knew that you could use natural pesticides such as onions and grits to get rid of ants and other unwanted guests. Knowing that you can have fresh vegetables and fruit without harsh pesticides that are not good for you and the environment is pretty neat. The food forest really opened my eyes and made me care for the environment a lot more. I’m actually really interested in growing my own vegetables and fruit trees, it would be nice to look in the backyard and see all my hard work bloom.

            Being in the university colloquium course, we read stories all the time about how to live a sustainable life. But for the first time I got to experience what it actually looks like to be living a sustainable life. Kelly Walsh who is one of the directors of the food forest was really passionate about growing food and she often makes meals from the food forest and from her home since she grows food there. She made star-fruit salsa the other day with her own star-fruit and even made tasty sandwiches with the different types of lettuce growing in the forest. I never really knew how influential one visit could make on a person to change their mind about sustainability.

Blog Entry #3

Hot, Flat, and Crowded was such an interesting read, I think my favorite chapter out of all of chapters two, three, four, and five was definitely chapter five. Especially the section called “Let us Pray”, what I found most astonishing about this section was that in Australia there was a drought called the “Big Dry” that began roughly in 2000 and ended near 2007. When I read this section, I found this completely shocking because children who were six and seven years old had never remembered playing in the rain before. I cannot imagine being at that age and never seeing rain in my life so far. The sad thing about that whole situation is that these incidents such as the ‘Big Drought” can happen at anytime and anywhere because of drastic climate changes.

            Another interesting part in this book was in chapter three called Our Carbon Copies (Or, Too Many Americans) and an interesting concept of this chapter was called cradle to cradle. A way to think about natural resources and how to take care of our environment was in a book called Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. I like that this concept was trying to show that the environment can get better if we do something about these problems instead of going straight to another concept called cradle to grave. We just need to realize that it is not too late to make a change for our environment.

            Hot, Flat, and Crowded was really an eye opener on how much we have done to this fragile planet but it also gave us an insight on what we need to start right now and this minute to turn this situation around. As I got to the last sentence of the chapters that I read, this quote really stood out to me, it said “every day you look in the mirror now, you’re seeing an endangered species.” It is already enough that the river dolphin is extinct and that many other humans are making other animals extinct. If we think about all of these problems, we are basically doing the same thing and making ourselves extinct because we are ruining our environment and not making it a sustainable environment that we can live in. So everyday now that I am living on this planet, I need to find a way to make it sustainable.

Blog Entry #2

When the professor asked us to view the Audubon website before we went on the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary field trip; the first part of the website that interested me was the pictures of the boardwalk and the birds. Reading about the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, they are known for creating an environment where birds can live in and other animals can hibernate. When we arrived at Audubon, I found it very interesting on how they have a plan on restoring the water system to help with the everglades.

Before we started our nature tour, the part of the field trip that I remembered the most was a bulletin board that had pictures of what animals you could encounter at the sanctuary and seeing those pictures made me smile. The most fascinating part about the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary to me was the different areas that you walked through on the boardwalk and how fast the areas changed. One moment you are in a swamp with palmettos and cypress trees then all of a sudden you are in a grassy area with no trees. The areas drastically changed just by a dip in the boardwalk that we didn’t even feel or notice.

 Another park of the sanctuary that I enjoyed was spotting the birds in different spots. The woodpeckers were at the very top part of trees and then there were larger birds such as egrets in the swamp. We also saw an alligator that was relaxing above the swamp near a bed of rocks. It was nice to see so many animals all in a couple of hours. It was definitely difficult to end the field trip and get back on the bus.  

Blog Entry #1

The big question was brought up during the first day of class. Which was what do you think colloquium is and what have you heard about colloquium? We were given a note-card to write down all our thoughts and feelings about what we have heard and think we know about colloquium. The professor told us that we can write down anything we want and to tell the truth because we can select what we want to share with the class and what we want to keep to ourselves. The first thought that came to my mind was “outside field trips”. The first time I set foot onto FGCU and heard about the university colloquium, every one said that you go on outside field trips which are very different to other classes offered at FGCU.

            The second thought that came to my mind was that colloquium is for learning about the environment and how to take care of it, as well as finding areas locally in Fort Myers that focus on environmental issues. Another topic that pops up into my mind about colloquium and that everyone would agree on is that this class is a service learning course and it is a FGCU requirement that fulfills service learning along with a Gordon rule requirement. The most common statement that I heard about colloquium and that I had to include on my note card is “colloquium is a course that everyone has to take some time or later in your junior year”. I think that was my favorite idea that I put on my note card. 

            Later on in the class we were given a presentation on why it is important to preserve the environment and why this class can be useful for us in the future. Overall the big question in the end was simple and the answer was a sustainable future. What we can do on our part to help the environment and how we can be informed about it.