Journal 19

-Reflect upon how you made meaning out of this colloquium class experience from a personal, academic, and relationship to your chosen major or future profession.  

I think that personally I made meaning out of this colloquium class by trying to really make changes in my life that do/ will in fact make a big impact. I think that the number one thing that I learned is that the time to really change habits and help change the world is now. Not tomorrow, or next week, but now. Mostly because we really just don’t have and can’t afford to sit around and wait for everything to just “work itself out”. I think that academically this class shouldn’t be as long as it is and grading for this class should just be either pass or fail, and not actually receive a letter grade. I think this because how are you going to grade someone of learning about sustainability, especially if they don’t believe in it. I know that if I didn’t believe in it I would think that learning about it is being forced upon me.  Actually, even though I do believe in sustainability I think this class is still for upon us, but I regress. I think that when I get older and become a marketing manager some of the topics covered in class will help me to a certain degree. Overall, I understand why we have to take this class, but think that it should be shorter like a six week class and that we should also get a pass fail grade on it.

Journal 17

- Reflect on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Articles 

When I was reading Majoiry Stoneman Douglas’s article “The Nature of the Everglades”, I was kind of taken aback. I was because I have lived and traveled throughout Florida constantly my WHOLE life, and have never heard or thought of the Everglades in the way that Douglas described and talked about it them. It was almost like I was reading a love song or poem. I have just always thought of Everglades as a huge swamp that covered a large part of Florida. I didn’t know that there wasn’t any other place I the world like them or that they were called River Glades, but then it switched to the Everglades in the early 1800s.

        When describing the Everglades Douglas talks about every part of them starting with the grass. Here he describes how big the Everglades actually is and how big it is and how there’s saw grass. He talks about the grass as though it is almost indestructible and unstoppable and how the only thing that can really ‘conquer’ it is fire. He then goes on to talk about the waters. Here he talks about how the water is mostly made up of rain water and how the rainy season is long. And he too describes the rainy seasons, and how the water just piles up. Which clearly we all know because we live here and we know that during the summer it rains at least once every single day! Next, he talks about the rock, which holds up the sea water and how it holds a lot for freshwater.  When I originally read this I didn’t know if he was talking about the Florida aquifer but, I took it as if he was. Then he talks about “The River of Time”. Here he talks about different events that have taken place to shape Florida. Lastly, he talks about “Life on the Rock”. Here he talks about a lot of the different species that inhabit the land. He talks about everything from bees and flies to trees, to  dragonflies, to birds, and even talk about Big Cypress Swamp.

Journal 20

Describe some of the high points or the things you found most difficult about colloquium.

There were a couple of things that I found to be difficult about colloquium. I think that the most difficult thing is the excessive amount of reading we have to do. Not only, are the readings excessive, but they are extremely repetitive. Save the environment, environmental education, sustainability, human impact, etc. After you have read four different readings you get tired of reading about the same things. On top of the reading being excessively long they are sometime hard to read. Now, I LOVE to read in my spare time, but those are books that I WANT to read not ones that I am FORCED to read, and there’s a big difference. The books and articles that we are required to read are also complicated at times. The authors use complicated phrases and words that I think if they just put more in laymen’s terms people would actually be able to enjoy reading their work more. The next difficult things about colloquium are the movies. When I say this I mean it is hard to watch a movie one week and get a test and fully comprehend what we saw three weeks later. Sometimes we are asked very intricate questions one a movie that yes, I personally can recall the gist of the movie, but not small minute details. I am taking five OTHER classes excluding colloquium, so one small detail in a movie, three weeks later doesn’t exist in my memory.

        It was also difficult not knowing what your grade was throughout the semester. Yes, I’m not going to lie and say if I knew I had a high grade then I would take it easier at times, but it would have definitely been helpful. Not knowing what you have in class does make a difference, because like most other students who take colloquium environmental biology or sustainability isn’t my major. While I think the things that we learn in class are very valuable, I think that my major classes are more valuable. I know that when I have a finance test coming up and I also know that I have to read 20+ pages for colloquium, I am picking finance. This is because finance is something that I am going to NEED when I want to get a job. If I don’t know the things that I am supposed to learn in classes that pertain to my major when I get out of college, but I know a lot about sustainability, realistically it’s not going to benefit me. I feel as though you can learn a lot of the stuff that we learn in class by just being and informed person.

        I also, think that it is difficult having a class schedule that isn’t really definite. It is kind of a letdown when you stay up till two in the moring reading things that you are supposed to be quizzed on in class the next day, only to find out that you’re not going to be. I’d rather have a class schedule that is followed or at least have an email sent out informing me that I wasn’t going to be tested on the material as planned. This just makes my ‘happiness or appreciation’ for the class drop lower and lower.

Journal 18

-My though on Climate Change and the human impact on the planet

My thoughts on climate changes… where do I begin? Should I start of by telling you my thoughts on the oil crisis or how it seems like we as a species are going to end up starving ourselves to death? It feels like more and more no one cares. No one cares about their environment, not one cares about education, no one cares about anything. Only thing that people care about is whether or not they are going to be able to get the new iphone when it comes out at four in the morning. The things that humanity finds value in are things that are cheap. TVs, cars, reality shows, fast food. All these things are relatively cheap. Clean water, clean air, renewable energy resources, all of these things are PRICELESS, but these are the things that people value the least. This probably makes our ancestors roll over repetitively in their graves. It’s almost like everyone is only looking out for themselves, which leads to countries only looking out for themselves, which makes no sense because everything is connected.

I feel like many people think that climate change is a joke or just some hypothetical thing that might happen a hundred years from now. Climate change is saddening. As we read all the different articles about the large about out species that are either already extinct or on the verge of extinction, I think “When are we going to go extinct? When is our expiration date?” I hope that we will be able to find the technology that it takes to keep living great adventurous lives. I don’t want to have to tell my kids to go on the computer to see what a lion or grey wolf looks like.  I want them to still be around for my kids, and I am not talking about in a zoo where there are only three of them, and they were bread and born in captivity. I want them to be able to go and take trips all over the globe without feeling guilty that their ecological foot print is getting bigger and bigger. I just want them to be able to enjoy life like I do without worrying about destroying the world.

Like the saying for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, for everything someone does in one part of the world it has an impact on someone else in another. I think the key to stopping all of the madness is education. Education is the key. Through education people can not only learn about how what they are doing is impacting other people, but they can learn how to live better lives. Lives that don’t always involve sitting in front of TVs, or driving to the grocery store to buy one thing. We can learn how to grow our food in a more sustainable way and how to live with the resources that this ONE Earth provides. I think that in order of us as a species to survive the next thousand years we have to make huge strides in many different ways. We need to become more eco friendly, we need to find renewable energy; we need to renew ourselves.

Journal 16

- Reflect upon Squeezing More Oil from the Ground & Crude Awakening

Oil, oil, oil! It seems like now a days everything that matters revolves around oil. After watching Squeezing More Oil from the Ground and the Crude Awaking clips, I feel like our world is up a long river with absolutely no paddle. I feel after watching these videos that oil is almost an evil. I mean that in the sense that not only does oil control literally how much food we eat, because of escalading food prices, but it controls our governments, who in a way kind of control us. In the videos they talk about how oil starts and dictates wars.  Honestly I feel almost at a loss, because I want to say oh oil doesn’t control this or oil doesn’t control that, but I feel as though it almost ALWAYS does! It is sad that something that is way less complex than a human can have such control over our lives.And on top of all of that we don’t even have an absolute definite answer on how much oil there is actually left!

            I know that finding a replacement energy source for oil isn’t going to be easy, but after watching these videos it feels like leaders of many countries, especially ours, aren’t taking this crisis very seriously. It feels as though they are just trying to drill, drill, drill, for as long as possible! If they spent half as much money and time on coming up with solutions for renewable energy as they do with finding new oil reserves and fields, I think that we would be A LOT closer in finding a real replacement. Unfortunately this is not the case. As long as countries are still hooked on oil, people will be hooked on oil.

Journal 15 Field Trip to Downtown Fort Myers, Fl

           

        I actually liked the field trip that we took to downtown Fort Myers. Usually I am a little hesitant on some of the field trips we take because they are almost always outdoors during the HEAT of the day, but luckily this one was different. For one it rained before we went so it wasn't so hot outside. Second we did a scavenger hunt around downtown. I really enjoyed the hunt. I kind of wish the clues were more clear and the objects were easier to find, especially since we couldn't go into the stores, but all in all it was fun and enjoyable. Before the field trip, not being a native of the Fort Myers area, I hadn't been to this historic part of the city before, but I liked it. It kindda reminded me of the city where I am from, which is Jacksonville. Except that Jacksonville is a lot bigger and there a lot more people.

            I also liked it because it brought my fellow classmates and I closer together. I am not saying that they are my best friends or anything, but it did bring us together. I think that you should actually do it more towards the beginning of the year, this way the students do become more comfortable with one another and will probably voice their opinions more in class. Also, I think that next time you do it there should be a prize for the class as a whole instead of just groups, because I know my group members and I tried hard, but we still got seven wrong.

Journal 13 and 14

Red Sox Spring Training

My service learning couldn’t have been more enjoyable! Hanging out with cool friends and people while helping out the environment at the same time, what could be better than that? Not much! This semester I did my service learning at the Red Sox Spring Training stadium. I was a part of what they call the Green Team. As a member of the Green Team it is your responsibility to go around the stadium and collect any type of plastic recyclables that you find or that people hand you. Already at the stadium there were so many recycling bins, but we were still able to collects tons and tons of plastics and recycle them. Some fans that were at the games loved the fact that there was a Green Team while others didn’t really care. As I said before there were already so many recycling bins around the stadium and even though there were a lot of team members too there were still so many people who still didn’t recycle their garbage. The worst was when I would see someone throwing away their plastics in the garbage can when the recycling bins were directly next to the them. At times this got EXTREMELY frustrated and I wanted to yell at them and be like “Hello! You could have recycled that!”  It really amazed me at times that people didn’t do it, when it was so easy to do! Other than that frustrating aspect I really enjoyed doing this as my service learning project instead of just going to a nature preserve and picking up garbage or weeds! Personally I think that there should be more service learning projects that are fun to do like the one I enjoyed doing!