Blog entry # 13

My overall opinion of the Estero Island Cottage and Matanzas Pass is that the cottage was a cute piece of history with lots of informative pictures to look at on its walls. The sights that stood out to me at the cottage were the wooden floors because I am not used to seeing wooden floors in Florida. The local quality of life is being enhanced because the island is now based on tourism and there are many more shops and restaurants. My hometown of Fort Myers Beach has changed greatly since I was a child many restaurants and stores have changed names and owners throughout the years and the library is expanding. The beach pool was built to attract more people to the island, although I believe that this did not have much of an effect on tourism. I feel a small sense of community, however when you live on an island or in Florida in general you have to get used to people coming and going. If a developer offered me 300% the market value of my childhood home to develop into condos I would take it because I don’t live there anymore and would not really see the effects it will have on the community and the beach is mostly covered in condos anyways. If the county approached me about purchasing the land under the 20/20 program for 80% of its market value I would still sell, I would prefer the 300% from the developer though.

Blog entry # 12

Sustainable consumerism is purchasing more sustainable items and trying to reduce your carbon footprint through making more sustainable selections at the store. I believe that globalization and capitalism are both negative and positive drivers in this phenomenon. Capitalism can be a negative driver because it causes people to buy more, causing them to waste more. Globalization can also be a negative driver because it reduces barriers in trading which can prevent people from buying locally made products by giving people more options. However both globalization and capitalism can also be positive drivers because they could encourage people to buy more sustainable items because they will have the option to. Globalization could help to spread the message of sustainable consumerism to other countries throughout the world. Greenwashing is when items are falsely advertised to seem environmentally friendly. I might be willing to pay a premium for foods labeled “organic”, “local”, or “fair trade” if they were monitored to make sure that the labels were correct, and easier to access. I would rather by food that is locally grown than food that is imported from other states and other countries. However, it would depend on the dollar amount of the premium for these labeled foods. The price of the premium could greatly impact my decision on whether to buy these items. I prefer to shop at the chain stores at Gulf Coast Town Center over the mom and pop stores in downtown Fort Myers because the prices are generally less at the chain stores. Also the shops at Gulf Coast Town Center are at a much closer distance to my house than the mom and pop stores in downtown Fort Myers. However the ramifications of my behaviors are that many of the products at chain stores are imported and could greatly impact my carbon footprint in a negative way.

Blog entry # 11

The word downtown evokes neutral emotions. In my opinion the word downtown brings thoughts of a very urban lifestyle and reminds me of a city setting. I do not visit downtown Fort Myers very often but when I do it is usually for one of the events such as music walk or art walk. Downtown Fort Myers is experiencing something of a renaissance because the area is centered on the ideas of music and art and a lot of downtown Fort Myers is decorated with and inspired by art. With downtowns art and music walks they are supporting the ideas of the renaissance.  The night life of downtown consists of many young people because of the various bars and nightclubs. Downtown Fort Myers is a totally different scene during the day, with the normal crowd being seniors and business men and women. Their stature in communities has changed over time because the downtown area is now attempting to try to appeal to a younger crowd and become a place that people of all ages can enjoy.  Downtown Fort Myers seems to cater to an older crowd with its expensive high end boutiques, maybe if some more affordable stores were created in the area it would attract younger shoppers. Some of the prominent architectural features in downtown Fort Myers are some of the original buildings such as the bank and the post office. Some features such as the First National Bank, the art gallery, and the statues of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone are very prominent in the downtown area. These features are designed to rekindle the pedestrian spirit by attracting tourists to travel here to see Florida’s history at the museums and to marvel at the art. Another nod to history that we saw on our tour was the mosaic with the picture of the soldiers and the Native Americans and the Art of the Olympians museum. The economy of Fort Myers has evolved from past to present in that most of the business now is based on the tourism industry. With all of Fort Myers’ natural beauty and old historic sites the area is attracting many tourists from all over the world. Downtown Fort Myers relates to sustainability because the area preserves and maintains old historic sites, has preserved the natural beauty of the harbor, and has created a park for people of all ages to enjoy.

Blog entry # 10

My ecofootprint said that it would take 4.3 planet earths’ to provide enough resources for the entire population if everyone lived the way that I do. The calculator also said that it would take 19.3 global acres of the Earth’s productive area to support my lifestyle. The ecofootprint calculator gave me three scenarios to help reduce my ecofootprint. The scenarios consisted of reducing the amount of animal products I currently eat by at least half, purchasing products that use less packaging or are made out of 100% post-consumer recycled content material, and avoid flying by taking local vacations. I could definitely explore some of these options. Reducing the amount of animal products in my diet is a possibility, however I do not wish to cut out all animal or packaged products all together. This year I could make an attempt to fly less by making fewer trips to New York. Most of my family lives in New York and I try to visit them a few times a year, but I could possibly reduce my visits to twice a year. I could modify these three behaviors to reduce my ecofootprint and the resulting value after modifying these behaviors is 4 planet earths reducing my number by 0.4.  Assuming that the average American ecofootprint is 4.6 earths and my calculation was 4.3 earths, if everyone lived like I do the maximum population that the earth could sustain would be about 1.6 billion people, which means that the planet could not support the current population.

Blog entry # 9

I don’t believe that energy is cheap at all and conservation is not a dirty word. Conservation is preventing waste or the careful utilization of a natural resource in order to prevent depletion; this is not negative at all. Conservation is something that we should be practicing to ensure that resources will last for future generations. The rising population is creating an overconsumption of energy and other resources. However this does not mean that the price to use this energy should be raised. There are many ways to be more conservative as it relates to the environment such as carpooling, buying energy efficient cars, and turning off lights when not in the room. If I were talking about renewable energy sources with Jimmy Carter I would try to steer America away from fossil fuels and promote research on a renewable energy source. One of the types of renewable energy that has the most upside potential is wind energy. Wind turbines are powered by air flow and are not at all harmful to the environment. Steps that I can take to reduce my energy footprint tomorrow would be using less water by taking shorter showers and not leaving the water running while brushing my teeth. I could also make sure to turn off lights when leaving a room and unplug appliances and chargers when they are not in use. Steps I can take to reduce my energy footprint within the next five years would be to buy energy efficient appliances and a more energy efficient car to help to reduce the amount of energy I use on a daily basis.

Blog entry # 8

        I believe that climate change is a result of a combination of both anthropogenic (manmade) and natural causes. Manmade causes such as the greenhouse effect impact climate change. Using fossil fuels to power our manmade machines creates greenhouse gases. Natural causes of climate change are ocean currents that move heat across the planet, the change in earth’s orbit, and gases and ash from volcanic eruptions influencing climate patterns. A reputable source for climate change information is www.climatechangechallenge.org. Another source I found helpful was www.climate.nasa.gov/causes/.  Climate change is portrayed by the media as being manmade in hopes to scare us all into living more sustainably. This portrayal makes me less likely to alter my lifestyle because I feel like the media is over exaggerating the negatives of climate change, and the manmade influence. The effects of climate change on future children and grandchildren will most likely be negative. There will be less land above water for future generations to live on, but there will be a higher population. Overpopulation and overconsumption will become a problem because of this issue. Electric bills will be higher due to the need for using more air conditioning in the winter.  I am not really sure of the other issues that climate change will cause for future generations but I don’t think there will be any positive effects.

Blog entry # 7

      Eucalyptus is a flowering tree in the myrtle family and is mostly native to Australia. Some Eucalyptus species are fast-growing sources of wood, some can produce oil that can be used for cleaning and functions as a natural insecticide, and can also be used to drain swamps. Genetically altered eucalyptus is fast growing, invasive and can cold temperatures down to about -20 degrees Celsius or -4 degrees Fahrenheit. They require a lot of carbon and can grow up to fifty-five feet tall. The large height provides more wood and can be used as a bio fuel feedstock. Modified Eucalyptus plants dominate the tropical timber industry. A potential intrinsic concern is that this new species of Eucalyptus plant will grow wild, become weed like, and will destroy native foliage. One of the species used to breed this new Eucalyptus plant has already turned invasive in South Africa. However, this will not be a problem in southwest Florida because of its moist climate. Genetically altered Eucalyptus will not spread because it has been modified in a certain way to prevent the trees from reproducing.  This modification restricts pollen production. A possible extrinsic concern about the genetically modified eucalyptus plant is that altering the plant may cause its medicinal properties to become altered as well, and this could greatly affect humans who use eucalyptus for medical reasons .I believe that some cost-effective steps can be taken to mitigate these risks such as figuring out how to genetically modify the Eucalyptus plants so that they do not become invasive.  I am skeptical about any genetically modified plants so I am not sure if the benefits will outweigh the risks of the plant becoming an invasive species.  Planting test plots of this genetically modified eucalyptus would be pointless at FGCU because the campus has a sub-tropical environment and will never reach extremely cold temperatures that would test the cold tolerance of the plant.

Blog entry # 6

                My overall opinion of ECHO was that it is a great place for farmers to learn sustainable farming techniques. The thing that had stood out to me the most at ECHO was their focus on water purification, and the fact that they used the heat from the sun and moringa seeds to purify their water. The examples that were showcased such as water purification with the powder of crushed moringa seeds did not really compare with my view of American agriculture because Americans have more advanced ways of doing things. American agriculture is not necessarily sustainable but is done in a way to mass produce crops rather than focus on how to grow crops in a way that is good for the environment. I feel that ECHO’s work could be relevant to the developing world because America and some other countries are just now starting to question how sustainable our methods are and may be looking at some of these sustainable farming techniques in the near future. Appropriate technology is finding technology that is appropriate for a certain area, meaning they have the supplies to create these technologies and have the use for them in their current situation. I would possibly be interested in performing some of my service learning hours at ECHO because I feel like I could learn a lot there. I would definitely be interested in learning some farming techniques that I can use on my upcoming trip to Dominican Republic where some other students and I will be planting a vegetable garden.

     

Blog entry # 5

      The major elements of sustainable farming are managing water use, and preventing water pollution caused by pesticide residue. Water should be sprayed close to crops so that it does not evaporate into the air and to prevent water waste. Smart irrigation is the key to conserving water and farming sustainably. Pesticide use should be reduced or eliminated if possible because many pesticides may harm the environment. Ecological principles are woven into this framework by farming more sustainably being better for the environment. When sustainable farming is practiced, the amount of harmful chemicals in the water supply is minimized. I do not purchase foods that are labeled organic because they are usually more expensive and I do not believe that they are really pesticide free. I feel that organic fruits and vegetables are not much different from the ones that are not grown organically. I do not really feel connected to the current food system because I honestly don’t really pay attention to how the food I consume has been grown and I often neglect to read food labels. If there was a space on campus I might be interested in growing my own vegetables. I enjoy fruits and vegetables on a regular basis and I think it would be really cool to grow them myself and know exactly how they have been grown.

Blog entry # 4

         In my estimation, the most pressing global environmental issue that is facing us today is overpopulation.  Overpopulation will also cause un-sustainability and over consumption. The population continues to rise in number every year and with more people more resources will be used. If a wealthy benefactor like the Rockefeller foundation were to give me $100 billion to address a global problem I would use the money to promote education about abstinence, birth control, and safe sex in other countries as well as in the United States. I would also use the money to support programs that make birth control convenient and affordable and provide free condoms for community members.  I would also use some of the money to fund research on green energy in hopes that someone will discover a renewable energy source that can be made affordable and will not harm the environment.  Also, some of the money should be used to set up a system to monitor all the earth’s natural resources. Consumption of resources should be monitored so that we can better predict how much of our resources are being used each year and how much of the resources will we need in the future to sustain our growing population.