JOURNAL #12-BP OIL SPILL... STILL.

FACT # 12- BP Claim Payments Exceed $100 Million; 31,000 checks issued in seven weeks - 19 June. BP said today that it has paid $104 million to residents along the Gulf Coast for claims filed as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP has issued more than 31,000 checks in the past seven weeks.

The oil from the BP oil spill has been pouring into our gulf for 63 days now. It saddens me greatly, that both my first post and my last post, are both concerning the oil spill. I thought for sure that clean-up efforts would be well underway and the spill would have been eradicated long ago. As of now, clean-up efforts have commenced, however, cleaning up the oil now is like shoveling when it's still snowing!

We discussed often in class that it is completely absurd that we can make microchips so small that they can't be seen by the human eye, but that we can't seem to manage plugging a hole. Though it is obviously much more complicated than that, I still cannot fathom why the oil would still be pouring into the gulf so many days later!

Though I am distraught about this situation, I also wanted to dedicate this post to some of my favorite colloquium memories. I had heard so much about colloquium before the class began and was not looking forward to it at all. I have never taken a class before and been upset when it was over. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy school, but to be upset on the last day of a summer class seems a bit odd. I am so amazed at how much I was able to learn from colloquium and how much I have changed my life and been able teach others some of the same things.

I had planned on writing about my favorite field trip but I don't have one! Each one was so different and gave me a completely different perspective on my life. I never enjoyed nature before visiting Corkscrew Swamp and now I can't get enough, I had no idea there were so many alternatives to growing plants and vegetables before Echo, I had never heard of the historical cottage, my arms had never had such a good workout in the outdoors before canoeing in Bonita and I never would've guessed that the view of downtown Ft. Myers was so amazing!

Some of my favorite experiences were seeing the alligator and the red rat snake at the corkscrew swamp, learning about how water is cleaned in third world countries using moringa and how manure can fuel a stove for an entire family for months, seeing the sea turtle and the little native boy ;), getting to know my classmates better and overlooking the city I live in with some amazing new friends!

Even if my lifestyle changes start small, I'm so proud to be seen using green bags and I am also happy to announce that since my last blog regarding water waste, I have since written a letter to my homeowners association and hope the situation is fixed soon!

Here are some pictures I liked from one of my classmates that really captured my feeling through colloquium!

I loved holding the snake on our first trip!

I got really close with Andrea on our field trips and in class!

I really enjoyed Colloquium and learned so much about the environment and myself! Thank you so much for contributing to a great and memorable summer for me!

JOURNAL #11-FT. MYERS CEMETERY

FACT #10-Edgar Artemas Watson was the son of Elijah Daniel Watson, who was born Clouds Creek, SC in 1834 died in Columbia SC in 1895 and Ellen Catherine Addison, born Edgefield Courthouse, SC in 1832 and who died in Fort White, FL 1910.

His name was somehow changed to Edgar Jack Watson. Some believed it was after the so called murder of Belle Starr, the famous woman outlaw, which a "Jack Watson" was supposed to have shot. Edgar was supposed to be in that area and during his years back in Florida he never answered those charges. (Genealogy Trails Note: An individual by the name of Edgar A. Watson who had rented a house in Texas from Belle Starr, was arrested for her murder, but he was acquitted. At the time he came to Texas, he was wanted by Florida authorities for murder and Belle Starr had apparently threatened to turn in Edgar Watson to the authorities. She was later ambushed by an unknown individual(s) and shot more than 60 times. Circumstantial physical evidence against Edgar Watson included footprints, which were his size, leading from the murder scene to within 100 yards of his home.)

In the years that Edgar Watson lived in Columbia County, Monroe and Lee Counties of Florida, the rumors said he was responsible for lots of killings. As far as the records show he was supposed to have killed Belle Starr, Quinn Bass, Sam Tolen (his brother-in-law), Mike Tolen, a man named Tucker and his wife or nephew, Hannah Smith, several unknown Negroes, Old man Waller, Dutchy Melvin and a Leslie Cox. In 1910 Watson was shot by a crowd of angry neigbors in Chokoloskee, Florida after a hurricane when stories flared up on some of the killings in the Everglades area and Ten Thousand Islands of Monroe and Lee County, FL.

[source:http://genealogytrails.com/fla/lee/bios_watson.html]

Though we already discussed our service learning project through our poster, I wanted to take the opportunity to add more pictures and elaborate on our experience. A reoccurring trend in my experiences in colloquium seems to be that I am frequently surprised at my encounters in Ft. Myers. I have lived in Ft. Myers for nearly 8 years and I am always discovering something I never knew existed.

I never expected that I would end up plotting a cemetery for a service learning project, but I ended up learning a lot. At first I was apprehensive because spending 10 hours in a cemetery wasn't exactly my idea of a good time but then I realized that helping other's isn't always glorifying, but it is important. Once the project commenced, I quickly learned that I wasn't helping the cemetery as much as I was helping myself. The knowledge I gained of the place I live in, is priceless.

Ft. Myers has so much to offer and holds so much history for such a small place. I really enjoyed having an opportunity to not only learn about Ft. Myers, but also learn about the people and events that shaped the city many years ago.

Before the Ft. Myers Cemetery, I had never seen above ground graves, and since having discovered them, I also learned that above ground graves (or vaults) are very common in New Orleans and are much more cost efficient than underground graves. Burial plots are shallow in New Orleans because the water table is high. Dig a few feet down, and the grave becomes soggy, filling with water. The casket will literally float. The early settlers tried by placing stones in and on top of coffins to weigh them down and keep them underground. Unfortunately, after a rainstorm, the rising water table would literally pop the airtight coffins out of the ground. To this day, unpredictable flooding still lifts an occasional coffin out of the ground in those areas generally considered safe from flooding and above the water table. Another method tried was to bore holes in the coffins. This method also proved to be unsuitable. Eventually, New Orleans' graves were kept above ground following the Spanish custom of using vaults. The walls of these cemeteries are made up of economical vaults that are stacked on top of one another. The rich and wealthier families could afford the larger ornate tombs with crypts. Many family tombs look like miniature houses complete with iron fences. The rows of tombs resemble streets. New Orleans burial plots quickly became known as "Cites of the Dead."

[source: http://www.experienceneworleans.com/deadcity.html]

Here is a picture of the vaults at the Ft. Myers Cemetery.

All and all, I had a good time learning about the history of Ft. Myers, making the map and serving our community, and discovering yet another fascinating aspect of the neighborhood!

JOURNAL #10-MINDLESS WASTE

FACT #10-The average college student produces 640 pounds of solid waste each year, including 500 disposable cups and 320 pounds of paper. At the current pace, we'll be generating 222 million tons of waste by the year 2000. Currently about 130 million tons of MSW ends up in landfills each year (NSWMA). In a recent survey of World Wastes subscribers, of those owning landfills, 53% expect their site to remain open 10+ years; 12% said 5 to 9 years; 7% reported 3 to 4 years and a whopping 26% said less than 3 years. It involves the use of composite liners and having an elaborate monitoring system. The costs of the regulations will result in a regionalized approach for volume-based business and a dramatic decrease of publicly owned facilities. Also specifies that landfill obtain an amount sufficient to close and cap the site and perform care and maintenance for 30 years after closure.
[source: www.green-networld.com]

The topic of my journal entry this week is mindless waste and I chose this topic because of two students in my Senior Seminar class. They live together and strive to live in harmony with the world and it's resources. In class last week, they were discussing their frustrations on trash days in their neighborhood because their neighbors throw away so much trash and they said that it would take them an entire MONTH to create one bag of trash, and even then, most of it could be recycled.

I was completely shocked by this fact because I live in a house with two other girls and we fill THREE large green trashcans with garbage WEEKLY! It's not that we don't care about the planet, but rather that we don't know how to change our lifestyles to better suit our future.

The best way to combat this issue would be to begin in the classroom! Though many items are marked with the recycle symbol, many are not and knowing what is recyclable and what is not is sometimes difficult. Being more mindful regarding recycling isn't the only problem though! Another problem is how wasteful many of us are with water.

Today my neighborhood thought it was a good idea

...to water the shrubs while it was raining.

It's problems like this that can be easily eradicated and aren't. Rain sensors are made for sprinklers and are affordable and easy to install. It's sad that an issue of this proportion can't be fixed. We see silly things like this so often but do nothing. For example, I could approach the homeowners association and request that they find said sensors, but instead, I'm blogging about my unhappiness.

Something I have learned in this class is that it is much easier to talk about a problem than find a solution. It always seems to be easier said than done-I think it's just a matter of figuring out what you can do and realizing that though it may not be possible to do it alone, there are plenty of other people to be recruited for the cause!

I found some helpful tips on how to be a bit smarter when it comes to water wasting!

INDOOR TRICKS

1. Dye Trick
Uncover a silent toilet leak by putting a few drops of food-coloring in the tank--if any color shows up in the bowl, you've got trouble. (See instructions here for fixing it.)

2. Drip Relief
A faucet dripping once per second does more than shred REM sleep: It wastes up to 3000 gal. a year. Most leaks can be fixed by replacing a washer. A cartridge faucet is slightly more complex--bring along the old cartridge when buying a new one.

3. Faucet Update
Check the flow rate of faucets with flow bags, which are available in "water audit" kits provided by many water utilities. It should be less than 2.2 gal. per minute (gpm) in the kitchen and 1.5 gpm in the bathroom. If it's time to upgrade, look for faucets with EPA's new WaterSense label.

4. Air Heads
To get a more forceful shower from a low-flow head, try this $55 Oxygenics model (top), which pressurizes the incoming water with air. Federal rules stipulate a flow of no more than 2.5 gpm; this achieves it without sacrificing comfort.

5. Portion Control
Run only full loads in washing machines and dishwashers--and don't pre-rinse dishes if you have a newer machine.

OUTDOOR TRICKS

1. Rain Barrel
Containers to collect rainwater date back 2000 years--and are just as useful today. Directing your downspout to a rain barrel will not only reduce runoff, but also provide water for your lawn and garden.

2.Beyond Shingles
Green roofs, incorporating vegetation, have begun to appear on single-family homes. Even those with sloped surfaces absorb about 45 percent of the rainfall in a 2-in. storm, and delay runoff of the rest for 45 minutes.

3. Acid Test
Determine the pH levels of your soil with a kit from your garden center. Once you figure out which nutrients your soil actually needs, you can stop applying unneeded chemicals that wash away.
[source:popularmechanics.com (you should check out the cool graphs!)]

I'm going to try my hardest to not only live by these examples, but also to not waste another day that could be spent encouraging others to follow the same path!

JOURNAL #9-DOWNTOWN FO TOWN

FACT # 9: Fort Myers was constructed as a military fort. It was utilized to prevent the Seminole Indians from continuing to kill the settlers in the region. The fort was given its name as a tribute to Col. Abraham C. Myers who was stationed in the state of Florida and was the son-in-law of the commander of the fort. In 1858 the Indians surrendered and vacated the area which allowed the soldiers to abandon the fort. However, federal soldiers took advantage of the existence of the fort and they occupied it during the Civil War. When the Civil War ended, the fort was abandoned. In 1882, the population significantly increased by the arrival of a vast amount of settlers. The city experienced another population surge in 1924 due to the construction of the Tamiami Trail Bridge which crosses the Caloosahatchee River.
[source:citytowninfo.com]

This semester, we have gone on some pretty amazing field trips and I have learned so much! I wasn't expecting to learn so much on our downtown trip because I (apparently like many before me) was under the impression that I knew most there was to know about the city considering I've lived here for 7 years and spend a lot of time downtown. Boy was I wrong!

I figured for this blog it would be interesting if I listed some of the neat things I learned about! I took so many picture this week that I couldn't pick just two, so I decided to make a picture documentary of our last field trip :(

1. We have palm trees in Ft. Myers that have the biggest leaves of any plant in the world!

2. Reclinata Palms, native of Botswana, grow in spirals!

3. The city of Ft.Myers is beautiful, especially from the roof top of Indigo hotel!

4. City Tavern has great happy hour specials! ;)

5. Historical artwork can make even the ugliest buildings beautiful!

In class we discussed that the above mural was never dedicated because the government wasn't happy with the artist's description. Though it's hard to admit, I believe that sort of thing happens often and I can even apply it to environmental sustainability. Just as the government doesn't want to admit what happened, people struggle to admit that climate change is happening and that there are things we can do to impact our community and ultimately, our planet.

I think it's really crazy how much you can learn in your own backyard! I was an orientation leader for FGCU and thought I knew almost everything there was to know about our school, yet before this class, I couldn't define sustainability. This class has helped me to open my eyes to the endless learning possibilities everywhere, and more importantly, to be willing to listen!

JOURNAL #8-SMOKING HAZARDS

FACT #8: In an hour cigarette-manufacturing unit requires almost 4 miles of paper for rolling and packaging of the cigarettes. Just to produce 300 cigarettes one tree is being wasted. Energy and water is also being wasted for the production of the cigarettes as well as the chemical wastes from the manufacturing unit is also dumped into the soil. Hence it is clear the cigarettes are in total adding huge strain on the body and environment. With the use of more advance technology tobacco industry can help in decreasing the strain from the environment. But just to save billions of dollar profit/year the industry is not willing to go for the advanced technology. The best and the easiest way to control this environmental destruction, is to stop buying this harmful product.

Lately, I have been noticing an extreme amount of cigarette butts on the ground of our beautiful and "environmentally sustainable" university, so I thought I'd do some research on the harmful affects of cigarette butts and smoke to our environment.

Many people say that smoking is their choice, just as one chooses to be overweight, they too can choose to pollute their lungs. That being said, I think it is important to learn the facts about the harmful affect smoking has on our planet and on non-smokers.

How Smoking Causes Air Pollution? (smoking environment pollution)
It is quite evident that smoking causes air pollution and to some extent also pollutes the ground. Approximately 4000 chemicals are present in cigarettes, which are breathed out and released in the atmosphere. Out of the total North American population 30% of them are smokers and the percentage of the smoking population in developing countries is much higher. This indicates that an enormous quantity of pollution is being released in the atmosphere every day.

How Smoking Causes Land and Water Pollution? (smoking environment damage)
Pollution caused due to smoking is not confined only to the air or body but to some extent it is also responsible in polluting the land and the water. Every day millions of cigarette butts are left on the ground. Maximum of the cigarette butts finally end up in lakes and rivers. By mistake fishes and other water animals eat these butts resulting in death of these water bodies. The remaining butts left on the ground will approximately take 25-26 years to decompose. The various additives and chemicals are leached into the soil, polluting the soil as well as plants. During dry seasons cigarette butts can even cause major fire, which is even harmful for the environment.

How Cigarette Production Affects Environment? (effects of smoking environment)
Effects of smoking environment: Major impact on the environment is due the production of the cigarettes. The land, which is used for the cultivation of tobacco plants, could be better used for producing food for the third world countries. Moreover as the tobacco plant is highly susceptible to pests and disease so to maintain their proper growth and health various chemicals and pesticides are being sprayed. For the production and packaging of the cigarette requires a lot of trees. [source:ygoy.com]

We often discuss the issues of environmental sustainability and I believe that cigarettes are leaders in ignorance towards sustainability. Though smokers are here today and will eventually die, it will take 500+ years for the cigarette butts they leave on the ground to disintegrate, and even then, our ozone will be further polluted.

I understand that we live in a free country and people feel that they should be able to make choices for themselves and should be able to experience freedom, however, I take my health very seriously and I don't feel as though I should have to suffer from the choices my freedom seeking American neighbors make.

http://www.chamainc.com/images/no-smoking-ad.gif

JOURNAL #7-CANOE TRIP

FACT #7: The canoe varies in material according to locality and in design according to the use made of it. In North America, where horses were not generally used and where the interlocking river systems were unusually favorable, the canoe in its various types was highly developed. Where large logs were available, it took the form of the hollowed-out log, or dugout, especially on the N Pacific coast, where immense trees grew at the water's edge, where an intricate archipelago invited navigation in ocean waters, and where the tribes came to depend to a large extent upon sea life for their food supply. A semi-seafaring culture developed there, and the great canoes of the Haida and Tlingit tribes, with high, decorated prows, capable of carrying 30 to 50 people, began to resemble the boats of Viking culture.On the northern fringe of the American forest where smaller tree trunks were found and rapid rivers and many portages favored a lighter craft, the bark canoe dominated, reaching its highest development in the birch bark canoe. At portages this light canoe could be lifted on one's shoulders and easily transported. It was the birch bark canoe that carried such explorers as Jacques Marquette, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, and David Thompson on their journeys and carried fur traders out to trade with Native Americans; thus it played an important part in early American history.
[source:Yahoo Education]

Thursday was a lot of fun canoeing and exploring Fishtrap Bay. Though Andrea and I are both big nature fans, I don't think we had any idea what we were getting ourselves into! The hardest part was by far the steering, but it was a lot of fun once we got the hang of it!

When we got back to Fishtrap Bay we were so tired
but it was a great workout for the two of us....

I wish we would have gotten to see more wildlife when we were out on the bay, but it was neat to identify the different types on mangroves like the ones I discussed in my blog last week.
In class on Thursday we also discussed Professor Wilkinson's trip through the Everglades and his encounters with 20+ venomous snakes! I would have been terrified for sure but as I continue taking colloquium, I have found that I have become much more comfortable with snakes and other creatures.

I was recently swimming with a friend and we found a ringneck snake in his pool. I was so proud of myself for being able to pick it up and transport it to a safer area (especially since he was afraid to touch it) ;)

My new friend!

(though this isn't the picture I took, the snake we found looked just like this!)

After we saved it, we looked it up in his colloquium book and found:

Description: Ringneck snakes are small – 10 - 15 in (25 - 38 cm) – slender snakes that are generally grayish with a yellow or orange band around the back of the neck and a yellow or orange underside.

Range and Habitat: The ringneck snake has one of the largest geographic ranges of any species of snake in North America and is represented by several subspecies. Ringnecks are found throughout the eastern two thirds of the United States from southern Canada to Florida , across the desert southwest and along most of the Pacific coast. Ringnecks are found throughout Georgia and South Carolina with the northern subspecies (D. p. edwardsi) inhabiting the mountains and the southern subspecies (D. p. punctatus) being found in the Coastal Plain. Ringnecks from the Piedmont are intergrades between the two races.

Habits: Like other small woodland snakes in the Southeast, ringneck snakes spend most of their time underground or hidden under logs, rocks, leaf litter, or debris. However, ringnecks can occasionally be found crawling in the open or crossing roads, often at night. Ringnecks are one of the more common species in many habitats in the Southeast and in other parts of their range can reach extraordinary densities.
[source:uga.edu]

.

JOURNAL #6-Too green?

FACT(S) #6:
-When you toss out one aluminum can you waste as much energy as if you’d filled the same can half-full of gasoline and poured it into the ground.
-More than 50% of a new aluminum can is made from recycled aluminum.
-The 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled last year had a scrap value of more than $600 million. -Americans throw away enough aluminum every month to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
-Recycling steel and tin cans saves 74% of the energy used to produce them.
-Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.-Americans throw out enough iron and steel to supply all the nation’s automakers on a continuous basis.[source:http://www.oberlin.edu/recycle/facts.html]

Perhaps you're wondering what this has to do with anything, but for my blog this week, I chose to research some ideas that people have about environmental sustainability, recycling and "going green". I believe that one can only properly form an opinion about a topic after they have researched both sides and done so with an open-mind.
Saturday evening, I was at home and decided to research "Environmental Issues" and one of the first articles that popped up was one that posed the question, "Is there too much emphasis on environmental responsibility?" At first I was discouraged by the topic, but soon I realized the importance of being able to dedicate the time to hear out what others have to say.

"There’s a new sin in town.

Writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, philosophy professor Stephen A. Asma believes that eco-judgmentalism — Too long in the shower! Not enough sustainable shopping bags! — is getting out of hand.

While brushing his teeth recently, Asma recounted, his six-year-old son “scolded me for running the water too long. He severely reprimanded me, and at the end of his censure asked me, with real outrage, ‘Don’t you love the earth?’”

As Asma sees it, green guilt has reached biblical proportions. “Instead of religious sins plaguing our conscience, we now have the transgressions of leaving the water running, leaving the lights on, failing to recycle, and using plastic grocery bags instead of paper,” he says. His “New heresies” also include “failure to compost, or refusal to go organic.”

None of this is to diminish the need for environmentalism, says Asma. “But we have a tendency to become neurotic and overly anxious, especially when we are regularly told, via marketing ploys, that each one of us is responsible for the survival of the planet. That’s a heavy guilt trip.”

I found this to be particularly interesting because, we often discuss in class that there is a generational gap and that students today are being educated for the future and sadly, many of their parents are behind the curve. I just cannot understand how a six year old little boy sees the significance of our issues, and a grown man (a teacher nonetheless) is denying our environmental issues.

I am aware of the fact that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but when you see the above picture of a beautiful sunset being polluted with waste from factories, I personally feel as though it is ignorant to deny the issues at hand.

Through this article and the responses, I have further confirmed my view points and feel even more strongly!