Lover's Key

I had never been to Lover's Key State park, and I learned a lot about the estuary environment during our field trip. An estuary is a partially closed body of water with a connection to the sea and it has rivers and streams that flow into it, which I did not know before this trip. It is also interesting how the mangroves, grasses and other species of plants and animals are so important. I had no idea that mangroves could be somewhat of a barrier to winds during hurricanes, or that fish used them for breeding ground. I am glad that mangroves are a protected species because they are important to humans as well as animals. Walking on the beach gave me time to reflect on this park and my surroundings, and it added to my sense of place of southwest florida.

This is completely off topic, but I was thinking about the solar panels at FGCU...how many trees did they cut down to be able to put those in? Isn't that kind of counterproductive?

Downtown Fort Myers

I did not think this field trip would be as exciting as I found it to be...but I learned SO much on Tuesday! I have only lived here since August and I've never made it downtown(I didn't even know it was on the Caloosahatchee River), but taking this trip made me like and appreciate Fort Myers a little more. I liked learning about Edison, Ford and Firestone, the old buildings, and all of the Civil War history that this city holds. I read A Land Remembered so i could picture the MacIvey's doing their cattle drives through first street or going to the local saloons downtown. This field trip definitely contributed to my sense of place in Fort Myers. I think educating yourself about the place you live or the new place you move to is imperative in order to gain a sense of place of your environment.

Dr.Morris also made a good point about the city environment being "natural." When beavers build dams, people look at it as just something that occurs in nature. When people build houses and buildings, even though it doesn't seem natural, it is because we have to build shelter for ourselves too. We have to live somewhere too, I guess people just take it to an unnecessary extreme.

Paddle-In

Recently, I participated in an event called a paddle-in. It is where hundreds of kayakers come from all over Florida and participate in a group kayaking trip in Everglades City. We paddled from Chokoloskee Island to a small island called Slade Key a few miles out into the gulf. We all ended up in different spots along the route rather than crowded all in a clump, so I really got to reflect on my surroundings. I appreciated everything more than usual that day--the plants and animals, the ocean, and even the sunrise (we started our trip at around 6 in the morning). When we got to Slade Key, we all had lunch and got to explore the island. I took a mental note of all the native species around me. It had been so long since I wasn't in a suburb or city environment, so I was very appreciative of this opportunity to kayak in the ocean all day. I grew up taking trips from the east coast to Everglades City. I spent a lot of my childhood on these waters, so it was nice to be back and remember my roots!

Thoughts on Colloquium

I have had the chance to learn and reflect on a lot of things in this course, and especially develop my "sense of place" in Florida. From the papers, frield trips and journal entries I have explored many things that I never would have if I wasn't enrolled in this course. Dr.Morris has made me think about a lot of things. Why am I going to school? Am I a creationist or an evolutionist or a little bit of both? Why am I not familiar with native Florida species of plants and animals? He said he might say things that would offend us throughout our time together, but I never got offended, it just got me to think a little harder about my own philosophies and opinions. A class is pointless if you leave with the same ideas as you came in with, and I definitely have reflected on some ideas of my own in this class. To be honest, I got more out of this class than I expected to. I never knew what was going on in Africa with the farmers, I had no clue about ECHO, Corkscrew or Lover's Key, I had never reflected on my idea of success...the list is long! The idea of reflecting is something I only started doing since we went to Corkscrew and reflected on the environment around us. I never even knew what colloquium meant! I will try harder not to be such a follower now.

Oh, and I'm going to make all my friends, especially the native Floridians, read A Land Remembered!

Success

We were told in class to think about what we think it means to be successful. Are we getting an education solely to make money? If we get a beautiful house and car, will that mean that we have reached success? I think material items indicate monetary success, but thats it. Most of the time they don't even indicate monetary success because people are in so much debt, they don't own them. What about emotional success? I personally will not be fulfilled unless I am affecting others lives somehow. ER nursing is my calling, and if I can help others and make them happy, it will make me happy and fulfilled. It's a win-win situation. :)

A Land Remembered

After years of my grandfather and father telling me to read this book, I finally got a chance to read it in my Colloquium course. It depicts 110 years of rich and interesting Florida history, starting with pioneer Florida in the 1800s. The book takes us through three generations of the MacIvey family. They start out with nothing in the scrub, starving and dealing with the American Civil War at the same time. They eventually become successful in the cattle industry, orange grove industry, and real estate. I think the main theme of the book was how the generations changed over time in regard to their relationship with the environment and native land around them. They go from living off the land and not taking more than they need, to taking advantage of the land and pushing it to capacity just like everyone still does to this day. Look at Ft.Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, etc. There was actually still some wilderness and nature in those cities, and I think people would have a hard time picturing that. I am thankful that my grandparents were living in Florida in the 40s so they can tell me about how it was over 70 years ago. Even when my dad grew up here in the 60s, he said it was completely different than it is today.

Plastics & the Environment

Many of the things in our homes are made from plastic--it is everywhere. However, it has damaging effects from manufacture all the way to disposal. Here are some of the things I've learned through recent research: production requires high levels of energy which depletes non renewable resources. Production of chemicals produces dangerous VOCs into the air. Also, they do not degrade which means more and more landfill space is being taken up. Recycling is always a better alternative than just throwing water bottles away, but it really isn't saving any energy or resources in the water bottle industry. This is because recycled water bottles are "downcycled," which means they are recycled into something less usable. They are not recycled into more water bottles, but if they were it would save energy and non renewable resources. Also, it will not be recycled into a third our fourth thing, which means that the secondary item that is made will go directly into a landfill. There is a lot of waste either way.