Journal 20

The hardest thing I found was changing my mind on climate change. I knew it was there and that it happened, but I always thought it was on its own, and that what happened was normal. Now after the class I am seeing we have a large effect on the change in the environment, and our actions are having negative effects. I always assumed that global warming was just leading to global cooling, so it was a joke to me, now I see it is a serious matter that may or may not end life as we know it. It took a while for this to sink in but when I realized the top scientists in the world are scared, I realized this is not just a joke or conspiracy. We all need to start taking this seriously, like was said in class is it cheaper now to do something about it and be wrong, or not do anything and be wrong. It is a gamble that we shouldn’t take, money can be made back the environment wont be as easy, nor will the lives that could be lost. It is serious and I think we all need to start taking steps to slow down, or steps may not be able to be taken and all this talk will be nothing, because being correct on this and having it happen isn’t a I told you so moment, but more of a what do we do to survive moment.

Journal 19

After taking this class my decisions will be thought about more when coming to the environment. I was one who respected the land before, and cared for it, but now I realize it is about more than the land. It is about the air, what we put in the ground, the big picture, sometimes the surface looks good but under the surface a storm is brewing. I will base decisions around being as sustainable as I can, so instead of buying the one thing at the store or going to get food whenever I am hungry I will begin planning ahead more to reduce trips and save pollution. In the business world I will try to only work companies which are “green” or pull from sustainable resources, try and help those companies because they will help the environment. I think all the little things add up now, before I thought it really didn’t, but if I save water and electricity it will begin to save me money and hopefully catch on to other people. If that happens a big change can be seen, especially if I can do that in my business, if people do that at work, save water and electricity, they will most likely do it at home, so it will have a catalyst effect.

Journal Entry 18

Douglas describes the how the people of the everglades came about. How this question is answered has to go into a lot of detail. As he says man was not created here, but has been here for a very long time. It was amazing to hear the travels that man had to make to get here. That no mammal had ever made that long of a trip, showed it took a lot of intelligence far greater and a quick adaptation ability that animals do not have. A question posed was that it was not understood how these animals had gone extinct in this area, and the only answer is that man must have been a leading cause, developing skills to hunt and eat these massive beasts. As the man began to develop they started wearing jewelry and designing their bodies to attract women. Which is like today how we were fashions to attract women, we took these simple ideas. The glades people developed excellent woodworking skills which allowed canoes to allow them to live in the areas they did. Reading this amazed me how these people developed these skills and lived in this environment for so long. Even today people struggle to live there with the technologies we have, they lived simple and developed skills that made it easy for them to survive that harsh terrain. These were the people called Indians and even today the ones who live there do amazing things, to read how they developed with new materials throughout the time is something that amazes me.

Journal 17

Douglas describes the Everglades so well that one could picture them if they understood the shape of Florida. I like how he goes into detail about how up until just recently it was not studied, people have been at awe with how weird it is and how it exists nowhere else in the world. The way the Okeechobee Lake feeds into the Everglades and how no person has ever traveled the entire river running down. Even today parts of the Everglades are unmapped and unknown hidden from mans touching. The water will overflow its boundaries in the lake and flow south towards the glades feeding the clean fresh water over the land and flowing into the glades. The way the rock has been carved by this massive force of water is amazing, they say that if you took out the saw grass it would be the weirdest country ever seen, with just open rock areas, carved, holes, it would be an amazing sight. All from traveling water. It is amazing what this has done for Florida, our climate, animals, and plant life, all feed and survive off the benefits it provides. We have destroyed parts of it, and now are beginning a restoration project for it, but I like how Douglas describes the beauty of this weird phenomenon instead of talking so much about the usage, people fall in love with beauty then fall in love with the usage of something, and to draw people in, he did the correct method

Journal 16

For my service learning I went to habitat for humanity. I painted and tore apart walls, I was glad to see that people were helping people get better lives and get a roof over their head. What bothered me though was the waste. The walls we took apart had been put together for houses never built; things were wasted that did not need to be. Especially in today’s world the wood that was thrown away, served no purpose, all the nails lost, it was a large waste. It was all made with one thing in mind, but instead plans backfired. The people there tried to salvage as much as they could but there is only so much you can do if the wood is filled with cracks and holes. I wish they would save the wood and build as needed only; this would reduce waste, and allow for more efficient money spent. People donate that wood, and some of it goes to waste. The idea is great and what they are doing for people is one of the best things I have seen, to allow someone to build their own house for very cheap and teach them how to fix home problems along the way is the greatest tool anyone could have. It teaches them a skill set to save money and help better themselves. It is also affordable and relies mostly on volunteer help, so the people volunteering are doing something for someone that not only changes a life, but will help future generations down the road.

Journal 15

When I first started class I thought climate change was a made up idea trying to scare people. I now think it is something that is going on, yes I believe climate change will happen with or without us, but at a slow natural rate, not at the rate it is. The fuels we burn and the things we do the environment are causing it to offset the natural order of things. Can we go back, no, but we can figure out ways to live better. If we don’t do it soon, it will be too late, as of now we already see things that are startling, but will people change their lives for things they aren’t sure how bad it will be, just educated assumptions. Society needs more than just America to change, the whole world must change, the way we live, yes great and fun cannot keep going on. We can still have great lives and have fun, but we need to remove our pollution, recycle, plant trees to help rebuild forests, start protecting our seas and animals within it. If we all cut back some we can make a large difference over time, but if we don’t I feel that the outcome will be worse than what we would have if we made changes now. If a doctor told me to stop smoking because my lungs were looking bad and I had the ability now to stop from getting cancer, then I would stop immediately. What I don’t understand if climatologists who study the climate are saying change now or see consequences why don’t we change.

Journal 14

After reading that we have a large portion of untouched oil left in the ground due to the fact we don’t have the technology to acquire was a nice relief. I’m glad to know we still have oil that can still be used once recovered; it allows us to have a little bit more leeway in developing a better, cleaner, and more sustainable energy source. What worries me though is that people will see we have so many barrels left in the ground and will want to continue pushing off on developing new technologies. Companies will keep pushing off and using if not more oil, since they think there will be plenty left. It is like a catch 22 now. It’s great we have a large amount left, but when will we wake up and realize that if we have to work so hard to get it, that we should discover better ways to use energy and harness it. The other problem is we have to create technology to get this oil, this will not be easy to stay dependent on it would be a very stupid thing, we have the ability to move away from oil now, before it’s too late, and possibly have harnessed a technology that will work very close to the time we run out of oil

Journal 11

I will use this journal as my one journal I do not have to do.

Journal 13

As of now living in the dorms it is a difficult thing to really step out on my own and cut consumption, I can do small things though like shut lights off, reduce my shower times, and unplug electronics which would have some effect. I think though when I am on my own to really quit relying so much on electronics is to live in the country like I plan. Growing up I was always outside, so there was no need to have electronics or lights on, could have the a/c turned up since most times it was dark before we came home so no reason to actively keep the house cold. I think by living in cities people have lost touch with the environment, by living away from that traveling out will not be as big of a thing since the drive will be longer so trips will be more effective and need based. I could have a small garden to have vegetables grown and help the soil gain nourishment. This would not mean living in a shack, I could still have modern amenities, and it would just mean less use of them since my time could be filled with other activities. If more people lived this way we could have a large effect on the global footprint, while still having a comfortable lifestyle with above average things. The main question is though is if our society will allow this change to happen, yes a small group can make a large impact but with millions of people, millions of actions must be taken.

Journal 12

My ecological footprint was about average for the nation, but that is entirely too high. While doing the quiz I actually had to think about some of the things I do on a daily bases and realized that I thought I was doing a better job than what I am. What I noticed is by cutting down on one thing I could cut down on others at the same time. A large way I could do it, would be to cut my trips to the store down, this would reduce my miles travled in a car and also cut back on the amount of food I purchased from restaurants since most trips would be to the supermarket for large quanities of food. If I did not live in the dorms I could have a small garden which again would cut down on my usage of the environment but also give back to the earth. Most of the appliances in my home are energy efficient and all the lights are, but I do not unplug items when I am not using them, that would cut back on usage. If I could work on the small things, a large cutback would be seen, it would not drastically change my lifestyle, but it would have an effect on how much my carbon footprint was. Every little reduction helps, and if over a large scale it could really reduce what is happening to the world as a whole. When I saw it would take 5 earths to sustain the whole world living on my lifestyle it made me think how selfish I am being, if I have that much effect, what would happen if it was only 4 earths or less.

Journal 10

Aldo talks about how our ethics have changed from years ago when women and slaves were considered property and the owners could do what they wanted to them and no one minded what happened to them. Now property is not people and times have progressed where that is unlawful to do. Yet the way we treat our land has not changed. People still worry about their own well being and don’t seem to care about the effects they have on others property or well being as long as they are doing ok. The land has been stripped clear in some areas for the benefit of the few with the harm of the majority, yet our ethics allow this to be ok. Since this person owns the property whatever they do is ok even if they have a negative effect on other areas. Ideas to prevent this were put on the table; people had options on how to prevent some of this and were offered help as long as they made sustainable, good decisions. Most of the people took the help, but did not keep up with the sustainable, good decisions. Some were given the option to even write their own rules on how to farm and keep soils nourished, yet they did not even write those, instead they took the help for their own benefit and did not hold up their part. I think what is being said is maybe it is more than our methods that need to be looked at, we should look at our ethics as a whole also to truly make a change. Things need to be changed fundamentally so that is common nature for people to be sustainable instead of it requiring constant reminder.

Journal Number 9

A free market economy is great for the individual but as a whole not so great. If someone has the ability to make an extra dollar, or get ahead of the competition, most people will do so without thinking of the long term effects to a resource or an area. The example from Wikipedia of cows grazing is a perfect example, if the farmer can make more money from one cow he doesn’t care if that extra cow destroys the field for other farmers since he will only see the benefits. As a society though we all love this idea though, personally I do also, but it does not provide the perfect sustainable environment. Sometimes you need some sort of watchdog, or regulations on the exact amount of what can be used by each person to continue a resource for a long period of time. Its not something people like to hear, but as the oil consumption rises, and food supplies begin to deplete we may need to have some sort of control taken over some items if we are to use them in the future. The problem is, if I decide to cut back on how much oil I sell to customers, someone else will up their supply to make up for the new demand, consequently taking away the benefits of sustainability. I don’t think that we need more government control, I feel that is our right as people to make our own choices, but in some situations we must be protected from ourselves and realize that for the whole system to benefit and for us to personally benefit later down the road we must have some sort of intervention slowing us down.

Picture

Im the guy on the right.

Journal Entry 8

The downtown Fort Myers trip was perhaps the best field trip I have ever been on. The scavenger hunt at first I thought would not be that much fun, but once we ate and started it, it got really fun. I think that it showed us things we hadn’t thought about. Personally I only go there to go to the bars, so to see how it is during the day and all the history that is involved within the area was awesome to me. There was a lot of stuff within that area that I liked and the list we had to find allowed us to see more stuff than I think I would have ever looked for. I liked how it was away from the customary trip so it felt like a break from class and there was no real pressure on what to do or not to do. We all got to have fun as a class. I think that the trip was placed in the perfect spot for class, right before a large paper, and after we just got done with a lot of other work so it took a lot of pressure off. I think that the trip should be mocked as much as possible in other trips, allowing groups to go find things on our own sometimes allows us to learn more and have more fun. I think that the location is great because it is the historic district and the fact that the water is right there it made it fun trying to compete with people finding stuff there.

Journal Entry 7

It doesn’t seem like a lot to me that just one degree can affect the entire climate with devastating effects. It’s very hard to wrap my mind around that. It’s not the first time I have heard about it happening but this video showed the caribou population dropping and that it’s getting harder and harder for them to eat, and migrate because they are not adapting to the change in weather. I had not thought about the change in wildlife just a temperature change, so that was an eye opener. At this point though I really don’t think there is much we can do about it though, the way our lifestyles are, it will be very difficult to change those so that the total temperature goes down. It showed a lot of how the water temperature also affects the way plankton lives which keep numerous other things alive, this is all stuff we do not think off when we do things. I feel climate change will happen with or without us, but that we are contributing in ways to it, and it will be very hard to find the balance of what we can do and cannot do. I’m not sure if there really is a tipping point though, I think the environment is tougher than us and will survive, it has its ways to deal with things, as it did in the first Ice Ages, so I think we need to really focus on trying to save these species in the ways we can and hope that is enough to keep the populations up.

Journal Entry 6

I had been to corkscrew sanctuary once before in my Environmental Biology of Southwest Florida Class so I knew what to expect but it was still fun. I had forgotten about the water purifying method they use for the drinking water, and it would be nice to see that utilized on a larger scale. What I really enjoyed was seeing how healthy the area is, when most areas seem to be struggling this natural habitat is doing quite well, it was reinforced by seeing the alligator by the boardwalk, and all the grass that had signs of alligators swimming in it. As we were walking our tour guide would stop and explain things that I didn’t notice, for instance he picked up a lizard and showed us how it was an invasive species and explained how it populates much faster than the native one. To me I always thought they were native so I learned something important there. I also liked how our tour guide brought up the question about using wood to build an unnecessary boardwalk and how is that being green, and explained it, so he acknowledged a legitimate question and answered it with a very good answer. It was good to see the different white and red things growing on the boardwalk and it was explained that only the red ones grow in very clean air and that a cigarette could kill it. So it was nice to see an area that is almost perfectly untouched by people. I think the great thing about Corkscrew is that they have preserved something that my kids would not of been able to see, if it wasn’t for that sanctuary.

Journal Entry 5

When I was growing up in Indiana I began to spend a lot of time in our woods, there was a particular spot where my brother and I built a fort that we would always go to with our friends. As we got older we stopped hanging out there so much but I would still go back there from time to time. It was away from everything and you could do pretty much whatever you wanted without being noticed. At the time I would try and watch birds and it was a perfect spot, since we put up bird feeders it attracted almost everything and I would watch them and it really made me zone out and forget about stuff going on. When I moved down here I never found an area like that, where I could just go and relax, so when I would go back to Indiana I would go there and see what was happening to the fort we built the woods around it. The last time I was home I went to see it and some of the neighbors kids had started to fix what we had started to build. It was a good feeling, and I sat there and hung out the area is not as lively with animals anymore because of a new house in the area but it was still nice to sit there and relax. It made me remember when I was a kid the fun I had there and I was glad to see that other kids were getting that same experience.

Journal 4

After reading the segment in the book it does open my eyes to things. Yet I can also see where some things I still find hard to believe. The cultural norms are something that will be nearly impossible to get over. Yes the things we do are using earth’s resources are depleting them, and we do need to find alternative methods, but the people who run these experiments are not using primitive methods that save resources, they are using the top of the line equipment to run these experiments, so without us depleting these resources they could not do their experiments, so even the critics are adding to the problem.
I do agree we need to find a way to conserve resources and cut our carbon footprint, which is something though that will be a hard sell to people when you tell them they must reduce what they are used to. It would be like asking someone to go back in time. Many things have come from this and health care being a major thing, what would happen if we stopped developing technology and using these resources? Yes the earth will begin to regenerate these, but people will still die from the possible lack of health care technology, or from not using daily conveniences which keep us safe. So this is a catch 22 do we reduce our usage and consumption of things and allow the earth to slowly regenerate or do we live in comfort. I think a great way to cut our usage would be education, instead of slowing technology teach people the small and large things. Show them how yes recycling is something small when done by one person but if millions of people recycle we will cut a lot of waste out, or show people that alternative fuels exist and promote those. Give options to people so that they see they can still live a comfortable lifestyle but they learn how to do their part. It is like they say every vote counts, if every person did one thing each day to help the environment we would be on the way to recovery.
If the media pushed these things I think that would really help people for some reason believe things entirely too easily and don’t do their own research, so I think if the media was pushing to do this more people would since they trust what they see on television. If all these things would go on the earth would start to recover, it would be to drastic of a change to ask people to change their lifestyle completely, so yes it may not be what is right for the earth, but it may be what makes people happy, most people would rather live a comfortable life and die happy then change their lifestyle from what they know. That is our problem and when that mindset is changed I feel people will start to do more to protect the environment.

Journal 3

Of all the places on campus, the place I enjoy most is the lake by Everglades Hall. Within the lake there are two platforms where turtles lay during the day and sun bathe, as well as sometimes you see birds wading to feed. The reason I really like this though is there is a small alligator that lives in the lake. I like to watch him float across the water; the alligator will come to the edge of the lake and just stay there. His favorite spot is near the handrails which are close to South Village Dining (SOVI), he will sit there most of the day and not move. I think the reason he does this though is because people are giving him food and since it is easy food he stays in the same spot. This is bad though since he has lost his fear of people, they have brought people out to look at having him removed. This is something I don’t like because without the alligator in the lake it will lose a lot of its appeal, and it will not be as enjoyable to look at. The turtles sometimes stay on the same platform with the alligator which I think is really cool and it shows me that even the top predators are gentle when they are not feeding. If the alligator is removed I am afraid he will be killed, and the lake will be missing its top predator, which may allow for more fish and turtles to breed but it will also allow other things to come in the lake that shouldn’t be there. So I would hate to see the lake go bad without the alligator.

Journal Entry 2

My current sense of place is I am very aware of what I do to the environment. I love the outdoors and want my grandkids to be able to enjoy what I can enjoy now. I feel though that human presence is not the only reason why the world is changing, I feel we have some part in it, but I think the world will change and there is really nothing we can do to stop that. That does not change what I do in the outdoors though. Personally the way I was raised was not to kill or harm anything unless it was for food or survival; I still have that same philosophy now and when I am in the wilderness or outdoors I am very conscious of the things I do. Being that way I feel it makes me enjoy the outdoors much more, it allows me to go camping and just sit and listen to the outdoors or go on a hike and be able to take in what I see without damaging it or bothering it in any way. That is where my education lies, I feel that my sense of place tells me that to see something nice or to enjoy something doesn’t mean you have to touch it, or destroy it to take a souvenir, sometimes just looking at is all you have to do and by saving it for other people they can see that same beauty. By not tampering with it in any way also allows that thing to have a chance to reproduce more, or provide a shelter for other animals, it will allow so much more to thrive, but just seeing it and leaving it be.

Journal entry 1

In this class, like any other class I take I would like to get as much out of it as possible. Colloquium though is a class I have mixed feelings on and I would like to hopefully learn in this class ways I can meet in the middle on my thoughts. Personally I see the world is changing, but I feel it is a natural occurrence, yet I can see where human influence has an addition to this occurrence. I think that by seeing things from a different point of view than mine for the semester will either make me become more aware of what is going on and make me feel more inclined to do more than I already do, or it may harden my beliefs. Either way I would like to see the facts presented from as many points of view as possible. Something I am looking forward to the trips we are going on, I do agree that we should not be destroying nature and I am excited to see the preserves and what people are doing to recover and help to rebuild some of this natural land. So getting to go to these places and learn about all the wildlife within the area and how it all works together is something I am very excited to learn about. I hope that when we are at these places, they teach us about how hard it is for these things to recover, so that we do understand the effect we are having, if I could see that at the places we go I think the overall point of the class would come through much more.