WOW

after doing this exercise I became a little, well actually a lot overwhelmed at the thought that if everyone in the world lived like me we would need 4.8 earths. I currently live with 2 other roommates who are not as conscious of their electricity and water usage as I am so in theory they would need even more earths to survive. The thought of this, that there are poeple out there consuming ang polluting so much really actually stresses me out. I eman if you think about how fragile our ecosystem is, there is already evidence that climate is changing, chances are its kudos the human race. Lifestyle changes are in order, we need to step back from our super convienent lifes and make small changes that will benefit us and our planet in the long run.





For me personally most of my earths get eaten up in what I eat. Foods today come in so much wrapping and packageing all fo which just gets trashed every day. Before this test I looked at packaging more like burger king bag and wrapper, but really EVERYTHING has packaging and unless your will to go completely organic you're gonna have bags, boxes, and wrappers from anything you buy at the store. I am not financially able to go completely organic but what I can do is recyle what I use, I can use reusable bags when shopping so I do not have 100 plastics Publix bags when I get home.

To break my usage down specifically I think my highest usages would be water and packaging. I will admitt that I go through a lot of paper towels in a month and its not nescessary. And I will also admit that I enjoy a nice long hot shower at the end of a day. My fuel consumptions are actually very low as I drive a Prius so I use minimal gas, I do however drive probably about 50-60 miles a day, public transportation is always an option but never convienent. For  my energy consumption I would also think that this would be rather low too, I keep my A/C at 80 when I am away and 78 while at home, I make sure my fridge is set only at mid level and both the washer and dishwasher only run on cold water. Fans and lights are off when we are not in the rooms, the one thing that we could improve on though would be to unplug anything we arent using, again comes down to convience. My food intake isnt really that high I will usully only take in one small meal and one big meal a day, but again going back to the packaging as being my biggest issue. Everything I eat comes in a package.


Pictures were found via Google images:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.defeatamerica.org/images/earths.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.defeatamerica.org/%3Fp%3D365&usg=__3nUsuogDmsdQVzEZw2HK8QRX56w=&h=496&w=500&sz=72&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=xcTgNL1OlvAPTM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dearths%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D591%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=864&vpy=95&dur=125&hovh=224&hovw=225&tx=99&ty=106&ei=d3qhTMXHGMH38AagzuyHBA&oei=d3qhTMXHGMH38AagzuyHBA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sustainableisgood.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/11/packaging_trash.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sustainableisgood.com/blog/news/&usg=__5Pj6hrDqLRea55EmcDVLlPfP-9Q=&h=285&w=380&sz=16&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=f0hX0tEVkBholM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=151&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dplastic%2Bfood%2Bpackaging%2Btrash%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D591%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=140&ei=IXuhTLylE4P98AbWg6XKBA&oei=IXuhTLylE4P98AbWg6XKBA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:16,s:0&tx=99&ty=57

They call me "Grasshoppa"

I did not really enjoy the Campus tour but I did find it to be the most informative. I learned a lot about the campus that I didn't know prior just as the steps the designers took to ensure that the campus would have as little effect on the surrounding ecosystems as possible, actually trying to work with them in the way that they deisgned the lakes thorughout campus. Another thing I found interesting was how the A/C works at our school, not your typicaly A/C unit, turns out our classrooms are actually being cooled down by cold water vapor form melting ice. I think that I didn't really care for this tour becuase of the fact that I was cold and wet and tired, I do have to say though that this was the tour that I learned the most on.


The Swamp Walk and Corkscrew swamp were simliar to me, we saw a lot of similar ecosystems only difference being with the Swamp Walk we were right there in the mix of things actually walking through the swamp. I didn't find these to be as great of a learning opportunity, I have already taken Environmental Studies of SWFL so I felt like it was kind of a reveiw to everything we learned in that class. I personally liked the Swamp walk better than Corkscrew Swamp just because it was more hands on, there was less talking and more looking listening and aborbing.

Side note I while I was at Corkscrew Swamp I was attacked by not one but two Lubber Grasshoppers, I shouldn't say attacked they were just kind of chilling on me but I did freak out a bit ONLY because I didn't know what it was at first I could only feel this huge thing on my shoulder. Anyways the funny thing is that before I moved here from Connecticut my family came down to visit my Aunt and Uncle, I was probably about 8 at the time but they took us to the Corkscrew Swamp and before we could even really get started on the walk a giant orange grasshopper jumped on my leg and I freaked out, much like I did on our field trip. In my defense at that time I had never seen a bright orange grasshopper thats grows to mutant sizes before in my life. And unfortunaly from that day on everyone in my family calls me "Grasshoppa", for a while I was guaranteed some kind of grasshopper related gift for chirstmas.

So far feelings pre and post colloquium in regards to the field trips we have been on have been about the same. I dont really feel as thought my thoughts and opinions have changed to much, expect I know now that rain or shine means rain or shine.

Images were found through Google Images:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fgcu.edu/EHS/Images/fgcu_ice_plant.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fgcu.edu/EHS/CampusBuildings.html&usg=__pUCClSwUei71LPOLjlSQ20oeQuc=&h=499&w=785&sz=90&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=NM7TXYBPqwnN1M:&tbnh=152&tbnw=201&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfgcu%2Bphysical%2Bplant%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D591%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=422&ei=N3yhTOeyKIP48AaruY2OBA&oei=N3yhTOeyKIP48AaruY2OBA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=161&ty=66

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp/ento/images/lubber%2520adult-William%2520Logan.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp/ento/lubber_grasshopper.html&usg=__pfzu9UAUre0Bh7mFWhKeIG4yE7o=&h=166&w=221&sz=48&hl=en&start=53&zoom=1&tbnid=4LCy56d3qzNfEM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=176&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlubber%2Bgrasshopper%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D591%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=234&ei=CnyhTP2iGcKB8gaIyLF4&oei=_XuhTOu-JIP58AapuOnsAw&esq=4&page=4&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:18,s:53&tx=76&ty=75

Life in a Northern Town

I grew up in Connecticut, I was actually back there this summer and I never realize just how much I missed it until I am there. I lived in a town that was probably 80% state forest, untouched nature just begging to be explored. As a child I spent every second of sunlight outside exploring and wandering my yard. We lived across the street from a beach, really a pond but it was the local swimming hole, but I was always out looking for turtles and catching crawfish. I loved to watch them, see how they moved or interacted with eachother and other fish. One of my fondest memories is my back yard, there used to be a small slow moving creek that ran through a portion of our back yard. In the middle if this tiny creek was a giant rock and laying on the rock was a try. Ryan (my brother) and I weren't really allowed to play back there but we always did, we would often pretend it was a pirate ship, climbing all over the rock and tree and splashing in the water. I drove by my old house while I was in Connecticut over the summer, I was sad to see that it was changed a lot. I had to fight off the urge to run into the back yard to see if our creek and "priate ship" had made it through the new owners yard rehaul. I love being in Connecticut because it slows me down, I often catch myself rushing even when I don't have to, when I am in Connecticut, in its nature I am able to slow down and take everything in, it's really something special.

Coming into Colloquium I hope to be able to maybe learn how to better harness this slow pace, in todays world I feel like I have to rush rush everywhere most of the time there isn't even a need to rush. I want to be able to reconnect with nature and get that feeling that I used to feel so long ago when I was out within nature exploring, finding things, learning things.  Being an Environmental Studies major I hope to reignite this passion and carry it on nwith me through out my career.

Photo found via Google Images:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://riroads.com/images/beach_pond_winter_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://riroads.com/outdoors/beach_pond_winter.htm&usg=__4c3ZPF88qhn4HVzCcxa56aTGh5U=&h=300&w=450&sz=22&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=hDkzcSu71TFIwM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=141&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbeach%2Bpond%2Bri%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D591%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=93&ei=rHuhTJeWN4P98Abag6XKBA&oei=rHuhTJeWN4P98Abag6XKBA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=80&ty=23