Journal 7

Electricity is not thought of in my household very often, unless for some reason we don't seem to have it. It is definitely taken for granted. The first thing I do in the morning is check my phone, which has been plugged into the wall charging all night. I might turn on the TV, and then I'll walk down the hall to use the bathroom, and a light is turned on. Maybe I will make breakfast on the stove, grab some things out of the refrigerator, and start my day. EVERYTHING that I do in the first 30 minutes of my morning requires electricity. What if we did not have electricity?? I am not quite sure what I would do. I am sure I would manage, but the number of activities that we do on a daily basis require electricity. It would take a lot of time and patience to go back to not having it. I remember being in the 5th or 6th grade and we had an ice storm where I lived in Maine. Some of us did not have power for almost 15 days. Thankfully we had a gas stove and a woodstove, and we used coolers outside in the snow instead of the refrigerator. We were lucky enough that it was cold, but without electricity in a warmer climate, and possibly no ice, it would have been impossible to save all of the items that were kept in the refrigerators. Overall I feel that electricity is taken for granted and some may not realize the value of it until it is gone for an extended period of time. Growing up in Maine, we used to have the power go out frequently, so as a habit I usually keep candles and flashlights around. One can never be too prepared!

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Journal 6

Our field trip to Fort Myers beach was interesting and educational! It was great to learn about how the island became populated and how much quieter it was eighty years ago. The Island is only 7 miles long and only 1 mile wide at its widest point. The first bridge was built in 1921 but was later washed out in a Hurricane in 1926. They built the second bridge in 1926 and it was much sturdier the second time! The hurricane that washed out the bridge was also the hurricane that established the University of Miami’s mascot! The Island finally got electricity on 1934 but it was only on beachfront property and along the main BLVD. They finally started mosquito control in 1949, and then finally in 1950 shrimp boats arrived. As amazing as the beach is today it has changed drastically from the years that it first started being populated. Land has washed away throughout the years and many storms, and landfills have been made to create causeways and bridges. These man-made things have changed the flow of the water, and have also caused pollution, so the waters are not as clear and beautiful as they once were. Fort Myers beach and the Gulf waters are also different from other shrimping communities. At first shrimpers thought that the waters just weren’t filled the shrimp, but it was later discovered that the shrimp in the gulf come out at night and not during the day like on other Florida coasts. This brought lots of money and fisherman to the Island! I thought this was quite interesting. After learning all of this in the cottage, we look a walk on the boardwalk! It was so pretty walking through the mangroves, and we got to look out over Estero Bay and we were also able to see sea grapes, which are sometimes made into jelly!!

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Journal 5

The carbon footprint was interesting. I had to take in previously in a different class, and my results were about the same in both instances. It’s amazing to think that by living the lifestyle I do I use that much energy and resources. If everyone lived the way I did, it would take almost 6 earths to support everyone. Here I am thinking that I am doing pretty good at living green, by recycling and using less waste, but I am actually having a huge impact on the way the earth works. It makes me wonder what kind of impact people that don’t recycle or care about the planet are making. It makes me really get to thinking about how much of an impact my place of work is having by not recycling the many bottles of wine we go through. I asked my manger what gives. Why do we not recycle if we go through hundreds of wine bottles on a busy night during season? Amazingly enough it is because they want you to pay an outrageous amount of money for someone to come pick it up every week! How ridiculous is that?? Paying to recycle and save the planet. Besides that bothering me, it still amazing me that people need to drive around these huge SUV’s just to get from point A to point B. Large gas guzzling vehicles have always irritated me, and I have always owned a gas efficient car. Sometimes it is necessary, but those who drive them for fun really need to try and understand why they shouldn’t! With the way everyone is living now….and how everyone is constantly trying to make things bigger and better I wonder if the planet will survive. We together as a world community seem to be getting better and are becoming more aware, but we still have many more people to educate!

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Journal 4

My overall thoughts on the field trip to the corkscrew swamp sanctuary were that it was awesome! The only thing i wish that we could have done was walk the ENTIRE boardwalk since we only got to do sections of it. The cypress trees are amazing and the overall feel and look is unbelievable. It was interesting to see the different aspects of the eco-system that exists there and how everything works together to keep it the way it is. We got to saw an alligator just floating around in the swamp, and also we saw a million spiders and heard birds calling. I wish we could have stayed longer to see if any other animals would have made their way out of their places. The Friday after the field trip I took a trip to Fort Lauderdale and caught myself staring more at the sides of the road and looking past the trees and imagining what I saw out there for miles and miles. I kept trying to figure out if the trees I was seeing were cypress trees and if it looks just like it did on the field trip. It made me wish I could have walked through the entire swamp and compare all of the different areas. It really did amaze me and I think I might go back just to walk the entire boardwalk again. As little as I thought I might be interested in this class in the beginning, it really is giving me a new perspective and I have caught myself explaining and telling others of all of the cool places we have gone to in the area that I have never known were here! I told my boyfriend that I was taking it to the sanctuary….hopefully with less people following along we can be quieter and more birds and animals will come out to see us!!
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