Blog 3- 1/31/11

The trip to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary today was a lot more fun and interesting than I thought it would be! Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary was initiated to help save the natural and native plant and animal wildlife along with restoring the original processes that occur there. It has turned in to a great education spot as well, seeing over 100,000 people a year. I learned that the area we were in was considered a pine flatwoods area, and what that means is that it is dominated by pine trees and is relatively flat. This type of area helps slow the water flow so it stays on the land for a longer period of time which benefits the wildlife and us as well since it helps replenish our aquifers. It also helps cleanse the water as it sifts through the plants and soil. I was really able to understand this concept when we saw the plant based sewage plant (as I like to think of it) at the beginning of the tour. There were underground tanks that filtered the water first, then it went to the above ground tanks, and finally to the plants and greenery for a final wash through. Pretty amazing what nature can do for us without even trying.

            Conservation is preserving and protecting the land, nature, animals, and anything we can for future generations. It goes hand in hand with stewardship, which means to take care of the Earth and everything she provides for the future generations. In order to be a more eco-conscious society we need to understand the importance of conservation and stewardship. If everyone cared just a little it would benefit the Earth, the future, and the lives we lead now.

            Private non-profits are wonderful assets in the goals of conservation and stewardship. Most of them have the same ideas or ideas along the same lines to help something in some way. These organizations help educate people in many different ways about how they can become better Earth stewards through prevention and conservation. Besides education they are the ones who are out there actually trying to make a change and save what we have left. Without non-profits we would see a vastly different number when it comes to how much nature we have left in the world. Civic engagement, like the service projects we are going to do for this class, help to keep non-profits running and operating. It would be extremely hard to maintain a non-profit without people who are willing to help protect and save what we have left.

The government should play a role in the preservation of the natural world. It is difficult to find enough funds to properly manage preserve land, and this is where the government can help. A government’s resources plus the dedicated people interested in preservation equals a great way to save the Earth piece by piece. This may not jive with some peoples’ ideas of a nice place to live because that would mean sharing with wild animals and bugs. But it is not a good idea to just bulldoze everything and build up condos! This destroys the natural landscape and natural flow of water and other materials. It also destroys habitats for hundreds of thousands of creatures big and small! It is better to try to work with the land in order to get what we need out of it instead of just taking everything down.

Can't wait until the next field trip!

Blog 2- 1/24/11

The FGCU campus definitely has a lot to offer. The land is beautiful if you know where to find it. I did not know that the campus was designed and built (at first) to make it so you could see from one end to the other; that is kind of cool. I think subconsciously this is part of the reason I chose to go to FGCU. I don’t like the ‘city’ feel of gigantic universities and FGCU seemed to have a lot more openness to offer me. The nature trail walk was very relaxing. I learned a lot about the native landscape we have on campus and in Florida in general. I personally liked hearing how when birds eat certain berries and store them they can end up being “drunk” and flying into windows and doors. It made me laugh because there is a bird that does that at my boyfriend’s mother’s house every morning.

As for the campus selection site, I’m not sure that I see anything wrong with it. I know that people who live around there might not have wanted to see a university so close to their backyards, but it would have just been in someone else’s backyard if they had moved it somewhere else. The school has the agreement to keep a certain portion of the land in its natural untouched state and they are keeping that agreement. I think the site was actually a pretty good one because of this agreement. The students will always have a certain amount of land that will remain natural, so they will always have the nature experience and the opportunities to learn about the plants and wildlife native to Florida. I think the site is consistent with the eco-empowerment mission that FGCU has because of this reason. School is for learning and growing as individuals; we have the means and the land to teach students and show them how important it is to be eco-conscious and to preserve what we have left. Any other site might not have had this land agreement so we might not have always had the natural land for teaching and preserving. I don’t really think that I have any background that would push me towards believing that the site was the right one to choose or not. I just feel like the site has a lot to offer and can provide so many opportunities for students to learn a lot about what it means to preserve the land.

I think that the school is working towards being more eco-friendly and eco-conscious and it’s evident in all of the efforts they are putting out there: the solar field, the recycling, the trash compactors, etc. I think that the school and the students will continue to grow and become better Earth stewards. 

Blog 1- 1/10/11

            Honestly, probably like the majority of the class, I did not want to take Colloquium. My friends had been in the class last semester and said it was a complete waste of time. They said the teacher was so boring and monotone and did just the minimum for the class. They also said that it was pointless and shouldn’t be a required class at the school. So naturally, my expectations were very low to say the least; I thought that I would just get it over with and move on. However, after the first day of class I must say I am a little intrigued. I’m looking forward to learning about my ecological footprint because it is something I stress in my house. I am always turning off lights, hand washing dishes, and recycling and trying to get my roommates to do the same. I want to learn more ways to reduce my input on the Earth because it really is the only one we have. I know now that this class is going to help me understand new ways to be sustainable so I can share with others.

            I try to be sustainable in my everyday life, but sometimes little things slip through the cracks; I don’t always recycle everything that I can and I drive alone when I know I can carpool. It’s the little things that add up to the major problems we have today, so I know I need to change these.

            My area of focus is psychology. An upcoming part of psychology is eco-psychology. This focuses on the connection between a person’s psychological connection with nature and nature and the environment itself. Sustainability is a big part of eco-psychology because there is a goal to retain and protect what we have on Earth today for future generations. Teaching sustainability in this area of psychology is obviously a big component.