Liquid Gold

Water is just as essential to us as the air we breathe. We plain and simple cannot live without it. Listening to the water group made me realize many things that I previously had no idea about. Millions of people every day go without drinking clean water, or any water at all. With this being said many of these people also die from drinking the contaminated water that they struggled so hard find. Knowing this breaks my heart because in other places, like the United States, we take fresh water for granted. We use water for everything, and we are indefinitely extremely wasteful of it. In the U.S. most of us act like water is infinite and will always be as abundant as it is now. Many people need to open their eyes and realize that water is an unrenewable resource and we should treat it that way. Today some places are starting to realize what the lack of fresh water can feel like. Places like California, which is now being impacted by a massive drought is realizing the effects from the lack of water. Events like these should definitely make us change the way we live and no longer take for granted our precious resource.

A Land Remembered

     As Punta Rassa and the prairie start to become more inhabited, Tobias and the crew start facing more and more problems each day. Many people in the area are getting greedy for gold and land, which greatly troubles the family. Zech and Glenda end up losing a child to the greediness of men who are after their gold. At one point Zech remembers a time as a kid when he saw all the different animals, predators and prey together, sharing the only water source to survive. At this moment he thinks, why men can’t live this way. This made me think about how much bloodshed has happened for this sole reason. It is impossible for most men (people) to think like animals, greediness and dominance takes over and they will destroy everything in sight to get what they want. If people learned how to live together instead of wanting to own everything, the world would’ve been such a different place. 

Estero Bay

The Estero Bay field trip was hands down my favorite field trip we went on. I was truly enticed by Jo Hughes’s stories. Jo talked about how life in Fort Myers beach was like many years ago. Before listening to Jo talk about how beautiful this Island was and how rich in history it is, I honestly did not appreciate Fort Myers beach. I always thought of it as the murky polluted beach that all the college kids went to party. I’ve had my fair share of fun on this Island, but while doing so I never once thought about the history of it.

Jo mentioned that when she was a kid she loved playing in the beautiful waters of the beach. It saddens me to know that this beach was once pristine and full of beautiful marine life. Now Fort Myers Beach is murky with little water clarity. I would kill to experience this Island before pollution and over population. It probably would’ve been like something out of a movie. Many efforts have been put in place to help get the waters of the Island back to how they once were. It is nice to see that we are finally realizing all the harm that we have done to beautiful places like these, and are making efforts to reverse our footprints. 

Food Inc.

        Many people now a days will consume anything without knowing where it came from or how it is made. I myself can be one of those people. After watching Food Inc. my eyes really opened up to the horrors behind most of the food we eat. In this film the ugly truth behind most of the meats we eat was revealed. It was heart breaking to see these animals being tortured, all for the sake of cheap and affordable food. This film also made it clear that the animals are not the only creatures being harmed in this all for profit industry. Many small family farmers are being harmed and harassed by these huge monopolized corporations. They no longer have a voice in the food industry and many are owned by the big boys. 

However, this film also made it clear that we the consumers have all the voice in the world, to demand and decide what we want to eat. If we start buying organic and locally grown food over mass produced, GMO infested inexpensive foods; we can expand the organic market and help out the little guys. Larger companies will then be forced to shift and change their markets by also providing organic, healthier foods. Massive corporations like Wal-Mart have begun to provide more organic products that both benefit our health, and also benefit local family farms. If the consumer demand has already changed the way of thinking for large companies like Wal-Mart, just imagine how many other large minds we can change. Buy Organic!

ECHO

ECHO was an inspiring place for me. The appreciation I have for this place is unexplainable. The thought of others wanting to help underprivileged people in third world countries, and even here on our own soil, is admirable.  In this facility people, mostly volunteers made ways to provide affordable and versatile ways to access clean water for people who otherwise would have to walk an average of three miles a day in order to find some. These volunteers also help these people by teaching them helpful ways to grow crops in not so prosperous terrain.

This facility will not only benefit underprivileged people in third world countries, but can also help people who want to eat healthier by growing their own foods. People living in cities can have their own gardens by planting in objects that many people would consider to be garbage. In our tour of ECHO, our guide showed us a garden where vegetables where grown out of car tires and cans. Walking through this wonderful place, I saw plants and trees that I’ve never seen before.The vast array of exotic plant species being grown in our very own back yard was breathtaking.

Free Kids

     In louvs reading Last Child In The Woods, he talks about how the lack of outdoor activities can link to problems with ADD and ADHD. I agree with Louvs argument, seeing how nowadays one of the biggest problems with children is their extreme hyperactivity. Most of these kids aren’t used to being outdoors or spending much time outside in nature and playing with other children their age. I would argue that technology definitely has a major part of why this is. 

     As a child growing up I had many friends, mostly because my mother made friends with other parents who had children my age. I remember that all I ever wanted to do was to spend time outside, running around playing tag and other games with other children. I grew up in New York City so its safe to say that there wasn’t much nature around. However we would still find trees to climb and parks to play in and kids to play with. We would find any excuse to not be indoors. Also there wasn’t much technology for us to be distracted by. Back when I was growing up, if we started getting fussy or overly hyper at home, our parents would kick us out of the house to go burn some energy with our friends. They didn’t try to solve the problem with medication. Our medication was the outdoors.

A land I Wish I Remembered

I couldn’t help but feel some jealousy reading A Land Remembered. In this book there are many detailed descriptions of the natural beauty of Florida from hundreds of years ago. I would give anything to spend a day in this uninhabited, wildly beautiful environment. In part one of this book it seems like Tobias and his family are having a tough time trying to survive in Florida’s wilderness. Tobias and Zech run into a few Florida species that are no longer existent. The one species that they ran into which made me extremely jealous was the Carolina Parakeet. As a bird lover is saddens me to know that these beautiful birds were once hunted to extinction. People back then hunted this small bird for its colorful feathers, just to wear them as an accessory. Some other birds in Florida where also almost hunted to extinction for the same exact reason. If only some people had some compassion for these wild animals at some point, many of them will still be in our very own backyard. Reading this book also made me appreciate Florida much more; now knowing how much wilderness and different animals once ruled this state.

The Everglades

This majestic area of land is like no other. Hundreds of beautiful and unique species live in this vast area unique to Florida. This “River of Grass” used to get most of its water source from Lake Okeechobee and Florida’s torrential rainfall. Along with the growing of Florida’s population came the destruction of this precious water source. A dyke was built around the great lake in order to protect the people living around that area. This restricted the water to flow to the Everglades, and it was now left to only depend on the rainfall. This outcome greatly affected many species living in the Everglades, and also affected our water quality in many other rivers in Florida. There is still hope however, to help this area receive the water flow it is meant to thrive off. The Everglades Restoration Plan will be a great help to this beautiful area. This will help get the natural source of water running through this area similar to how it once used to. It will make me really happy to see such a plan be achieved and have our own national treasure restored and made whole once again. I have never been to this wonderful place, only read about and saw in movies the wonders that inhabit this place. I would love to one day go and see The Everglades for myself and experience that environment.

    

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

 The corkscrew swamp sanctuary was a remarkable place. This sanctuary is filled with many of Florida’s native species. It was such a breathtaking experience being in one of Florida’s few old growth forests left. Some of the cypress trees we saw were truly majestic aging over hundreds of years. Knowing that the majority of these old growth forests are now gone truly saddens me. I believe that we need more sanctuaries like these in order to protect and conserve most of these beautiful habitats and the animals living in them. I also think that more people should experience walking through these forests and experiencing first hand this natural beauty. This will help more people sympathize a little more with nature and the beauty it has to offer. Walking through this preserve really had me wondering what Florida looked like before the effects of human civilization. All of the beautiful species that once roamed this land. Some are now gone forever, and others are at risk of being gone forever. With more preserves like the Corkscrew Sanctuary we can really give a lot more species a better chance for survival by giving them a safe place to live. 

My Environmental Philosophy

     When it comes to my environmental philosophy I am somewhat anthropocentric. I believe that as humans and visitors on this planet, we should do everything in our power to care for it and protect it. Many people take advantage of our planet because they think that everything our world provides is infinite. This type of thinking is truly destroying our planet. Even though some may believe that our resources are extremely abundant, we should still use them in a sustainable manner. We are slowly but surely depleting our home and eventually there will be nothing left, and our planet will be sick and overwhelmingly polluted. I may think that it is our natural duty to prevent these things from happening but many don’t. This is why I think that the government should definitely step in much more than they have in the past. Government policies and laws should be enacted in favor of our environment. This will prevent many industries from dumbing toxins into our water, and lumber companies from cutting down excessive amounts of trees. Also I believe that more schools should educate our youth on our environmental issues, and teach them that they are our future and the future of our planet.