Community Service Presentations

Today we presented ourselves on the topic of community service we have been doing. I of course did my volunteer work at the Food Forest located at Florida Gulf Coast University. About a half a dozen other students did the same thing as me, but that's okay because they mentioned a few things that I had forgotten about. This concludes my work as a Colloquium student and at writing in this online journal. Thank you for reading. The End.

25 New Reef Fish Species

According to another article, this month 25 new species of fish were discovered in the ocean. I guess I find this information so fascinating because I've always been interested in marine life. Since I started with a 1.5 gallon freshwater tank in middle school, I have grown more obsessive and now I am maintaining a 30 gallon saltwater tank as a senior in college (not a great idea). It's extremely costly and high maintenance, especially for a college student paying their own way. However, now you can see why I mentioned this article over others. 

Shown above is a picture of the 'Fairy Basslet' found only at one particular deep reef off Indonesia.  

Risky Offshore Drilling

According to a recent online article, just a little over a week ago the Obama administration announced plans to dramatically expand offshore oil drilling, particularly in the Arctic as well as in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This plan schedules 15 lease sales in six offshore areas where an oil spill would be nearly impossible to clean up. Obama's plan also encourages further reliance on oil and threatens species already stressed by the impacts of climate change. Most people are against this solely because of the polar bears. However, I am personally against such measures because I am most upset about the pollution of our waters. If there is any untroddened territory left on this earth, it is in our waters and I am personally anxious for a marvelous discovery of species one of these days. 

Estero Brush Fire

Yesterday afternoon a brush fire started in Estero right off of I-75. Today the smell of smoke is strong and is supposed to last a few more days. They say it was difficult to put out because the firefighters were having trouble getting through the dense brush. I think that it would be a good idea to work on more evenly distributing trees in populated ares. To me this is sign that we still need to keep our environment somewhat in check and to tidy up once in awhile because it always seems that areas are either unhealthily lacking greenery while the remaining others are unhealthily dense. The brush fire would not have taken off so easily if there was a little more room in between trees and bushes.

Home Garden

Today I helped my dad with our own personal garden. There was a spontaneous thunderstorm with really high winds so I helped him gather and replant his herbs afterward which is what the garden mostly consists of. We live in a gated community so we aren't really allowed to plant much. We never have to buy many spices though, especially rosemary, because we just go right outside and cut some fresh for ourselves. However, a spider did almost crawl on my hand at this time.

The Garden at Eden

Today I completed another 5 hours of community service at a place called the Garden at Eden Organic Farm. We basically weeded and rearranged plants for this place with the goal of restoring some organization to the garden since they were inbetween caretakers. This place also happens to be some sort of school for autistic children which I enjoyed because I have worked with autistic children in the past. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of them.

Downtown Fort Myers

Today we took our last field trip to Downtown Fort Myers where we learned a lot about Thomas Edison and other historical occurrences of the area. Apparently, the first light bulb ever to be invented was made partly out of bamboo. Here are some pictures that I took along the way...

A Land Remembered

I just finished this novel called A Land Remembered (1984) written by a man named Patrick D. Smith. This novel is considered historical fiction which takes place in pioneer Florida and spans from the years 1858-1968. It follows three generations of MacIveys who migrated from Georgia to avoid the conflicts of the American Civil War. They battle everything from starvation to illness within in the swampy confines of their new land. It is a more interesting read than I originally thought, especially if you live in Florida. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the ecological and/or historical aspects of Florida.

Lovers Key State Park

On Thursday we went to Lovers Key State Park for another field trip. I have never been there before, but I really liked it and would like to go again sometime when there is a little more sunshine.

We walked the beach and contemplated the benefits that such an estuary might have as well as things that could threaten its existence like construction and hurricanes. 

ECHO

This is my first blog post of many to come over the next several weeks. It will be a journal kept specifically for my environmental Colloquium class that I am taking over the summer at Florida Gulf Coast University. I have decided that this morning's field trip to ECHO was a good place to start. ECHO stand for Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization. It is located in Fort Myers and is currently one of only a few in the world, but this organization is growing rapidly and they have recently opened up a few in countries such as East Africa and Thailand. Basically, this is a Christian organization aimed at equipping individuals with the skills to grow their own food with the ultimate goal of reducing world hunger and improving the lives of the less fortunate.

Anyhow, today we took a field trip to ECHO and we were taken on a tour of the place by an older woman. Essentially, the whole thing is one giant garden run by a hundred staff members and as many as five hundred volunteers. Unfortunately, today was extremely hot and humid despite the clouds, but at least it was not raining. We learned about a lot of what the organization does and were taught about the different plants they grow such as banana trees and rice as well as how they develop equipment from ordinary objects or even the very same plants that they grow such as bamboo. Below is one of our tour guider's favorite proverbs.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
-- Chinese Proverb