Week 2 Part B

Estero Bay Field Trip

I have to say that our trip to Estero Bay so far has been my favorite experience from class. I expected our trip to be rather boring. I’ve been to Ft Myers Beach so many times I didn’t think there was anything else I could possibly have missed there. But I was very wrong, as we arrived at Matanzas Pass Wilderness Preserve the first thing I saw was a little cottage, it did not look like a preserve to me at first. Inside this cottage was Jo Hughes, a bubbly woman with a big smile on her face. She was so sweet she set out snacks for us too. My favorite part of the trip was just listening to Jo, her stories were so interesting, and life on Ft Myers Beach was a very different place 70 years ago. Jo had this quality to her, I see in my own Grandma, she was as genuine as one person could be. It was so easy to listen to Jo as she depicted what she has seen on Estero Island as she grew up. Her side stories that made her chuckle seemed to be contagious; when she laughed so did the whole room. After leaving the Estero Island I contemplated what life would have been like for me if I were placed in Jo’s shoes. My generation is extremely lucky to have all of the luxuries that we have today and I think we take a lot of it for granted. We have been desensitized, we grew up with air conditioning, television, and electricity never knowing what life was like without these luxuries. Talking with Jo and listening to her stories gave me the opportunity to step back, look at the bigger picture of life, and realize we are so lucky to be here today.

Week 2 Part A

An Inconvenient Truth

I have seen this film a number of times since is was released in 2006. I think that Gore does a great job explaining the phenomenon of Global Climate Change so the average person can understand this change and the role of humans in it. One face that most people recognize and associate with global climate change is Al Gore. Al Gore has made numerous speeches and made a film An Inconvenient Truth to discuss the issue of global climate change. Al Gore is a recognizable to the general public as a previous vice president to our nation and a presidential candidate in the 2000 elections. He is also known for his advocating many changes to help the planet from warming. In this more famous film, An Inconvenient Truth, he tells about the basic causes of global warming and evidence to support his findings. I think that in this film Gore explains many concepts of global climate change so your average Joe can understand. Since Al Gore is a political figure not a scientist he makes many assumptions that amplify his arguments that are based on scientific research. Gore is an eloquent speaker in front of an audience and knows how to persuade people, which is why I believe this film is so powerful and able to change people’s minds about what is really going on with global climate change. If a scientist were to present the same information I don’t think it would have had the same dramatic effect. A scientist could not make assumptions and present them but just explain the hard data of their findings. Gore was a perfect person to do this film. He is already well known and respected person among the American people. With is reputation and well-rehearsed speech filled with data to support his arguments and real life examples of global climate change are all elements that made this film so successful.

Week 1 Part C

Hot, Flat, and Crowded

The four chapters of Hot, Flat, and Crowded we were required to read were very interesting. The author Thomas Friedman is an excellent writer making the book was an easy read for me. It was so intriguing I would like to read the rest of the book in my spare time. In the chapters we read, Friedman explores several ideas of the human population and how it has affected our planet. One section where Friedman looks at the population and how it affects our planet and resources is an example using light bulbs. With the exponential increase in the human population we will soon have another billion people on the planet. If we give each person of this billion one light bulb it doesn’t seem like much. The light bulb doesn’t weigh more than an ounce but all of them together weigh about 20,000 tons. If these billion people each use their light bulb for only four hours a day we would still need 500 new coal powered power plants. Statistics like this are found throughout the chapters we read and some of them blew my mind. I know many of these concepts and had heard them before but when you quantify situations like the light bulb, the staggering numbers are alarming and defiantly make the point much stronger and member able. Throughout the book I feel that Friedman’s opinion is present. Although he does present information from creditable sources. Even though his opinion is there he uses sources and information justifying it.

Week 1 Part B

Corkscrew Sanctuary

I was particularly excited about visiting Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Since my major is Environmental Studies I have visited many of the parks and preserves in the area with my other classes like Environmental Biology of Southwest Florida and Introduction to Environmental Studies. Previous to this class I had never visited Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. I was expecting Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary to be very similar to CREW, but to my surprise it was a much different kind of place to visit. When we first arrived at the sanctuary I did not know that wading birds we hunted and killed for their feathers to make women’s hats. I was surprised to learn that the population of people that lived in Florida was relatively small when the populations of these birds were significantly reduced. At that point in time not many people inhabited Florida but wading birds were in serious danger of becoming extinct. I know from pervious knowledge that wading birds are good indicators that an ecosystem is doing well. When Storm water Treatment Areas were created just south of the Everglades Agricultural Area, wading birds started to appear in the STA’s. This was a sign that life in this ecosystem was starting to bounce back and be able to support the food chain. One thing I did like about the sanctuary was the boardwalk it makes the trail much more enjoyable to walk. I personally don’t mind getting a little dirty. The cypress dome was very dry when we were there because we are at the end of our dry season right on the verge of wet season. If we would have visited the sanctuary in a couple weeks, I’m sure the dome would be wet and full of water making the boardwalk a great way to get around. You could be right in the middle of the cypress dome without walking in knee-deep water. The best part of this excursion to me was just taking in the aesthetic pleasure of the sanctuary, it was so beautiful. If you could just forget where you were for a minute and looked across the land it looked similar to a prehistoric landscape as if a dinosaur was about to come out from behind a huge cypress tree.

Week 1 Part A

My Environmental Worldview

As I get progress through school and focus on my area of study, my views on the environment change with the knowledge I acquire. At Florida Gulf Coast University I am studying the environmental studies major course. Each new class I step into gives me new information that changes my views on a certain topic but the general theme of my environmental worldview is a more constant concept. When I first came to FGCU, I didn’t appreciate my new home in Southwest Florida. I grew up in Ft Lauderdale right across the state so I thought I had little to learn about Southwest Florida. But today I have come to realize they are very different places. I know about the hydrology of the state, natural ecosystems and human impacts. We are part of these natural processes but we have changed them as well. Humans are just one organism in this diverse world but we have had the most impacts on our natural world. Just one single species has changed the face of our planet. Florida is a perfect example of how humans have changed the natural world. In the 1800’s the landscape of Florida was changed forever. As people came to settle here the Everglades was seen as a useless swamp area. All over the state drainage and dredging of the wetlands took place to create dry land for agriculture. People had no idea the problems that would arise from this. Today we have programs to help restore the damage done to Everglades and worldwide people know of the destruction done to our natural systems. I believe we are in the middle of another great revolution that will change our world again. Just like the Industrial Revolution changed life for humans; I believe our “Green Revolution” will be just as significant.