Steven's Journal Blog Part 1: 3. Calculate your Ecological Footprint

After taking the "Consumer Consequences" quiz to help determine my Ecological footprint. I was a little surprised. I'm aware that I don't do too much, however I did not expect to get such a high score. The consequences of my consumption would be 7.0 Earths to sustain all the people on the planet if they lived exactly like me. This means that my family and I do not do near enough to try and conserve resources, and energy.  This means we really need to make more drastic measures to try and conserve resources, and energy. Especially non-renewable energy sources, like gasoline, which comes from fossil fuels. My family and I's lifestyle might do some small scale things to try and conserve, and recycle; however, we need to do much more to make the Earth more sustainable. Changes do need to be made, and they need to be drastic. There needs to be drastic changes to preserve the energy and resources of our planet. The main reason is not for our generation, but for the generation of our children. If resources, and energy is expensive, and already somewhat difficult to attain now, imagine how it will be in 20 years? 50 years? What about 100 years? Non-renewable resources are exactly that, non-renewable, or they take an extremely long time to renew. This results were definitely a little surprising, and they are important in that they show that drastic changes need to be made to my lifestyle, and the lifestyles of the people around me.
  In a typical day, over 24 hours, my family and I use lots of resources, and copious amounts of energy. During the day, we run the energy a lot more then it should be. Sometimes we run the Air Conditioner very low, while the windows are open a little, which continues to make the A/C work at full capacity, and use lots of energy. Also, many times during the day all the lights are on in the house, even though we have windows everywhere, and the windows during the day offer plenty of light themselves. When it comes to fuel, even though I have a pretty fuel efficient car that gets 27 mpg city, and about 33 mpg highway; I drive around a lot. Many times I give my friends rides, and I hardly ever ride with anyone else. Many times I like to drive my own car regardless if I can ride with someone, simply due to the fact that I like having my own car around, and not having to rely on anyone else. When it comes to Food I really need to buy more vegetables, and fruits. My diet pretty much consist of meat, and almost never has anything organic, or locally grown, besides an occasional watermelon, or something. My food intake pretty much consists of meat, and the most inexpensive stuff, regardless of where it comes from, and how it got there. I would buy way more organic, and green stuff, but I'm constantly on a budget, and green and organic goods are ALWAYS WAY more expensive. As for water, I don't use too much, but I could definitely run the sink, dishwasher, and laundry way less. I need to do less loads in both the dishwasher, and laundry. I use water everyday to feed cats, and a dog, run the dishwasher, clean the dishes, clean the house, and run the washer machine. Also, I utilize the water for gardening, and washing the family cars. Packaging is also a major issue. Although I recycle almost everything I can. There is still so much that is too nasty, or dirty to recycle, or just looks like garbage, and therefore ends up in the garbage and not recycling bin. I open food, and drinks, and usually throw away the wrappers, and cardboard and other packaging. Although I recycle a lot, I could easily recycle many more things. Just because they are a little dirty, or nasty looking does not mean they could not be easily recycled.
 This really opened my eyes to showing me that how I, and the people around me live is not sustainable at all. Even though it may not hurt me very much one day, the generations of my children, and especially their children will constantly suffer, and deal with the consequences of how I, and the rest of the world lives our lives, and most of all how we use our resources, and energy, especially non-renewable resources.

Journal Blog Part I: Entry 2, Campus and Trails

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary was an eye opening event for me, as was the Florida Gulf Coast University Swamp walk.  Upon arriving at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, I knew this was something very different, and awesome. It has an awesome wooden walkway that is made of a long lasting, fireproof, and swamp(water) proof wood from Brazil. The wood was also cut from a sustainable tree farm, and company that considers the environment, and resources when cutting down the trees. It is not like the wood was just bought from some organization that just ravaged the forest, and all the wildlife in it for the sake of profiting. Walking on the walkway through the different natural ecosystems of SouthWest Florida, I felt like I was witnessing God's work in real life. I had this realization that this is how this land has looked for millions and millions of years. This is probably what the land looked like when the earth was first created, before human beings. This is Florida in it's most natural form, how it is supposed to be; unaltered by mankind. It was amazing to see how important the wetlands are, and how every part of it contributes something to the functioning of the ecosystem. This gives a strong realization that every plant and animal has an important purpose, and job. Every plant and animal needs each other to make the ecosystem function properly. The plants and animals filter the water, that is drank by the animals, and used by the plants. All things must coexist in order to be successful. Although some animals might eat, and kill other animals; it is just part of nature. I spotted a small American Alligator among numerous other species of wildlife, and plants. It was a juvenile, and still had spots on it's body that made it recognizable as a young American Alligator (they lose their spots when they get to certain age).
 The campus swamp walk on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus was awesome too. We got to experience first hand how the environment around the university is naturally, and most of all what it was like before Florida Gulf Coast University was built. We also got to see first hand how vital the wetlands are to our aquifer, and overall to filtering and holding water. It was a little difficult at certain points walking through the swamp since many times there were sunken logs, and branches that would almost trip you when you stepped on them. Since they were submerged in the swamp, they were almost impossible to detect unless you stepped on them, so sometimes you would find out too late as you stumbled across the swamp. It was really an eye opening experience to see how our environment, and ecosystem is naturally, and how vital it is to all animals, plants, and especially humans. Again, it was a great feeling to know this is probably what these lands have looked like since the beginning of time. Everything was in it's natural state, how it has been for millions, if not billions of years. I enjoyed everything probably because I have always been intrigued, and continue to be amazed by Mother Nature, and God's natural works of art.
 Before attending University Colloquium, I had no idea how vital the wetlands, and swamps of Southwest Florida, and Florida in general were. I had some sense that they were important, but I did not have any idea before of the extent the wetlands, and swamps have in purifying and filtering our water, and our aquifer.

                       The walkway at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.

                                      Wetland at Florida Gulf Coast Univeristy

                            Deer in  Swamp at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Steven's Journal Blog Entry One: Incoming Reflection

Water in Florida

The hill  I used to live on in Panama where I would play in rain forest.

 Initially,  I had no idea what to expect for Colloquium. From what  I had heard from former students, as a "Gordon-Rule" course, the work, especially writing for Florida Gulf Coast University Colloquium could be a little tedious. However, I'm expecting it to be very interesting, because I have always been fascinated with wildlife, and mother nature. As a child, I grew up in the country of Panama for a significant portion of my life. As a child in Panama, I was constantly exposed to many awesome things that Mother Nature has to offer. For several years in one of my families houses in Panama, we literally lived right next to the rain forest. Nearly everyday I would spend most of my time, all the way into the evening exploring, and playing in the rain forest. I was exposed to lots of awesome, and even exotic wildlife, like Toucans, Deer, Snakes (including a Boa Constrictor, and a Coral Snake that I almost stepped on) Sloths, Capibara, and many more. I have always been very intrigued, and amazed by what God has created and made a natural part of our Earth. When I moved back to the United States I would  continue to enjoy spending time outdoors. In the county outside of Charleston, South Carolina my father took me to walk around the woods, and countryside and shoot pellet guns. This is where I first shot a gun, a .22 rifle at a creek that ran through a marsh. I have never really been a hunter, but I have always been a huge fisherman, and enjoy everything about rivers, creeks, bays, oceans, and the land near them. In Jacksonville, Florida I worked as a Referee and general laborer at a Paintball Course in the woods. I saw a huge albino snake one time, over 6 feet as I was guiding several groups of Paintballers. My relationship with the natural world has always been critical. I have always been amazed, enjoyed, and took advantage of what mother nature has to offer, whether it be through exploring, picking berries, working, or especially fishing. I really have no anxieties for this course, the only thing is that I hope this class on top of my other full course load does not get too overwhelming between the work I must due for each course. My personal goals in this class are to succeed, but even better have a strong understanding of the natural landscape of Southwest Florida, and Florida and general. Especially, a better understanding of the wildlife, and vegetation and how they each play a critical role in the ecosystem. This class is very important to my education at Florida Gulf Coast University as it shows me what type of land, and environment this school was built upon. Also, it helps us promote sustainability, and proper use of resources, which is also going to be very vital to my major of Business Management, and my minor of Global Studies. It is important to my life as I have always been intrigued, interested, and very concerned for our environment, and the wildlife it encompasses.