SUSTAINABILITY

What I got out of Colloquium.....

After taking this Colloquium class I feel that I am more aware of my natural environment and the affects I have on it. I think this class is important for all university students to take because it has really opened my eyes to how wasteful I really am. It also taught me that I am exactly what the government wants....a CONSUMER. We all buy more than necessary. As a future teacher this class has taught me that I should be teaching my students about the environment and ways in which we can help protect it. I think that I will try to incorporate nature into my lessons when possible. Overall I have learned a lot from this class and it has really opened my eyes to what kind of person I am and what kind of person I want to be.

Service Learning- Campus Clean Up

For this service learning activity we walked around campus and picked up litter. I found that there were a ton of cigarette butts and little pieces of trash. I was surprised to find that there wasn't a lot of large pieces of trash. While picking up trash I realized how clean our campus was overall. Compared to other universities I have been at ours was by far the cleanest. I also spent time thinking about all the times I have littered and how much of my trash someone else has picked up. I refuse to litter now and would never just throw my trash on the ground. I am not a smoker so I don't contribute to the nasty cigarette butts. Overall this service learning activity was fun and I could tell I made a difference. I would be willing to do another campus clean up and I am sure I will again someday. It is so important to keep out campus clean!

FGCUs Mission

I personally feel that FGCU is doing a great job at its mission that includes modeling best sustainability practices. I have taken 3 classes here at FGCU including Colloquium that focus on sustainability. Every student I have talked to from FGCU knows more about the environment than the average college student. I feel that we have a very green campus and the students at FGCU are participating in recycling and doing their part to keep the campus clean. I think every student at FGCU has an appreciation for the environment because we know so much about it. I think that more schools should teach their students about their local environment. I truly believe knowledge is power and the more we know and understand our environment the better we will take care of it. It also helps that the buildings at FGCU are Environmentally friendly. The students get to see first hand that it is possible to have a green university. Overall I feel that FGCU is doing a great job on its mission.

Field Trip: Downtown Ft Myers

On our trip to downtown Ft Myers I learned a lot about the history of Ft. Myers and some of the famous people who lived there. For example, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford both had winter homes here. I enjoyed walking around downtown because it was so close to the Caloosahatchee River and I felt a breeze the whole time. While walking around I really enjoyed looking at the architecture. It had an old small town feel to it since many of the buildings have been kept the same. I also liked the small shops and cafes. After we walked around and learned all about the history we took some time to sit and look at the river. This was my favorite part of the whole trip because we were able to relax and just enjoy the scenery. I have never been downtown before so it was cool to see something new. Since the field trip I have been downtown again for the Boat show at the convention center. It was nice to spend more time down there knowing the information I had learned on the field trip. Overall I felt like this was a great field trip because we got to go to a cool place and learn about its history.

Green Building

What can we do to make our buildings environmentally friendly? Here are some ideas when building or redoing a home.
*Smaller is better- Building size should be kept small.
*Energy Efficient buildings- high levels of insulation, High performance windows, and tight construction.
*Buy local products.
*Avoid ozone depleting chemicals in mechanical equipment and insulation.
*Buy Eco friendly appliances.
*Buy energy saving light bulbs.
* Set up easy recycling.
*Composite Decking
*Paper-based counter tops.
*Bamboo Plywood
*Rubber Mulch
*Synthetic Grass
*Repurposed Furniture
Those are just a few ideas you can use when trying to make your home more green.

Service Learning- Trail Clean Up

I spent 5 hours at the trail clean up. To be honest I didn't really like this activity. Everyone worked very hard to get the trail cleared and we spent a great deal of time physically working. However the end result was worth it. There were a lot of people at this event that worked very hard. I think the hardest thing done was removing a cabbage Palm so they could hang a hammock. I was slightly confused on why we would remove a plant to hang something for our own benefit. Besides that the day was fun and we were provided lots of snacks and pizza. I'm not sure if I would attend this event again. It was hard work and I felt that I didn't really make a difference because you couldn't really see individual progress since everyone was working together. I learned that is takes a lot of work to maintain a trail but it is necessary because a lot of people including myself enjoy walking on the trail every now and then. My favorite part of the day was probably just being outside in the early morning. I often don't wake up before 9 am so it felt good to watch the sun rise. Overall the day was a success.

Global Warming Proven False

http://inpersuitofhappeniss.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/global-warming-proven-false/

I found a website that claims Global Warming is false. After reviewing this website it has slightly changed my mind a little about global warming. I do think the planets heat is rising but I don't think it is as extreme as everyone thinks it is. An interesting fact that was presented was, "According to collected data from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Illinois, Artic ice extent was 30 percent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on August 13, 2007. This is a conservative estimate based on the map projection"-PrisionPanet.com article. I also found that last winter was the coldest winter we have had in seven years. This could have just been a fluke but the data is there. I am not sure about Global Warming because there is so much different information out there. One thing I do know is we are harming the planet in one way or another by all of the pollutants we create. I have mixed emotions about this subject but i feel that we should all do out part in protecting Earth.

Copenhagen Consensus

I visited the Copenhagen Consensus website and found that the information given there was very useful and informative. I liked how the website was laid out because it was very easy to navigate. As for my thoughts on what they are doing and their approach I feel that are doing it in a respectful way. Their main purpose is to meet every four years to discuss world issues and solutions to these problems. The top ten challenges at this point in time are; Air Pollution, Conflicts, Disease, Education, Global Warming, Malnutrition and Hunger, Sanitation and Water, Subsides and Trade Barriers, Terrorism, and Women and Development. I feel that they have touched on the main problems facing the world. I enjoyed reading the interesting facts such as, air pollution causes 2.5 million deaths a year, the vast majority in the developing countries. I was totally unaware that so many people died each year because of air pollution. If I were part of this organization I would like to meet every 3 years because challenges change quickly. I feel that we need an organization like the Copenhagen Consensus because it ties the world together. We all live in different countries but we all share the same planet therefore we should all share the same problems. I feel that Americans often forget about the other people living around the world. Americans are very closed minded when it comes to international affairs. We think that its happening over in other countries so it is their problem but we don;t realize that we trade with those countries so we are contributing to their problems. If I could change one thing about Americans I would change their ignorance. I don't totally blame the average citizen I blame our government and the media. The media only discusses other countries minimally therefore the average citizen has no idea what is going on in the rest of the world unless they take time out of their busy daily schedule to look up and research the world news. I admit that I am a typical American citizen and have no clue what is going on in different parts of the world. Although, I have become more aware of this and try to find out information as much as possible. Overall I feel that the Copenhagen Consensus is a great idea and I totally support them.

Service Learning: 350 Day

After completing my community service I felt that 350 day was my favorite project. I really enjoyed planting the cypress trees and felt that I actually made a difference. One thing I would have changed would have been either less people there or more trees to plant because our time spent planting was very short. I felt that the day was very organized and everyone there was ready and willing to work. I also liked that the work was not extremely difficult and you got to see the progress that was made. Overall I had a great day and felt that I really did make a difference on campus. If we had another event like this one I would be sure to attend.

Tragedy of the Commons and Externalities

Definitions:
Tragedy of the commons- Describes the phenomenon of overuse of resources held in common (i.e. by "public" or government) that occurs because the failure to adequately define property rights means that no one has an incentive to conserve or maintain the resource and all have an incentive to use the resource before others do.
Externalitlies-The cost and/or benefits that are not internalized by the processes of production and exchange, and which therefore spill over onto third parties. Externalities may be positive or negative.

Will a capitalistic Free-Market Economy Always Optimally Allocate Resources?
Personally I don't know how I feel about this question. I feel that the free market should always optimally allocate resources but I don't know if they will. As humans we feel that everyone owns the natural resources and who are they to take that away from us. This is a very difficult question to answer and feel that I don't have one single answer for it. I feel that at this time the capitalistic free-market economy is doing an alright job at optimally allocating resources but when the resources start to diminish I have no idea what will happen. You never know what the future will bring so to be honest I can't tell you.

Poverty

Poverty is a huge issue that the world faces today. We see it in every country and it affects every type of person. I feel that the major crisis of poverty is lack of education. When we went on our field trip to ECHO they showed us some examples of how people can use the resources they have to make food, purify their water systems, and live a healthier and cleaner lifestyle. I feel that if the people living in poverty would be willing to learn and use the ideas given to them it would help tremendously. People who live in poverty don't have clothes, food, or shelter and live just to survive. We on the other hand have more stuff then we could ever possibly need. I think that we should help underprivileged countries by donating things, giving our time to teach them, and overall caring more about their well being. They didn't chose to be born into that lifestyle and I feel that we should help them as much as we can. Education is key in this situation. I think we should not only teach them ways in which they can live a cleaner healthier lifestyle but also teach them about sex education. If we taught them about different types of birth control and they actually used them we would be saving lives. I see signs of hope and success if the people are willing to learn. Many times they don't want to learn what we are teaching them because it is not part of their culture. They need to realize that it might not be part of their culture and their way of life but their way of life isn't working out to well. I think if people are willing and the education is there they will be more than successful.

Newspaper Article: Miami Ponders Whether the Good Outweighs the Bad.

While reading the article entitled " Miami Ponders Whether the Good Outweighs the Bad" I realized that we have this conversation in colloquium on a weekly basis. We have talked about whether it is a good thing to expand and build our economy up or is it a bad thing because we are using up our natural resources. This is not only a debate in our class but it is a debate through out the country. More than 100 million square feet of residential and commercial space has been added in Miami since 2001. This means that the natural surroundings have been cleared to make room for these buildings. Many residents of Miami feel that this has taken away some of Miamis appeal. Ms. Galliana lives in Miami and used to have a nice scenic view outside of her home. She now sees a 13 story apartment building. She says, "This was a quiet, nice, beautiful neighborhood, and its not like that anymore." I understand where she is coming from and think that we are building things at a rapid rate. This is a debate that will continue probably until the end of time.

5 Important things about China and India and the developing countries.

* China is experimenting with ecofriendly technologies from electric cars to urban wind turbines.

*Coperate India is getting eco friendly by planting trees, using solar energy, constructing smart bulidings, and collecting litter.

*Water quality and air pollution are major problems in the developing countries in the Asian region.

*Air pollution causes up to 1,750,000 premature deaths each year in China.

* China is one of the few countries in the world that have been rapidly increasing their forest cover.

Corporate Ethics

After doing research on some of the major corporations I have found that most give some recognition to environmental issues. The Nestle website is the one I chose to focus on. At this website they have a section under the community tab where they talk about what they are doing to help the environment. For example, their factory in Anderson, Indiana has a sustainable design that includes waste water recovery for reuse in cooling towers, a new recyclable package, and low emission gas boilers. Also, at their factory in Freehold, New Jersey they have a unique way to capture energy and avoid waste. At an Ohio factory they have operated a boiler system designed to use landfill methane gas effectively. After reviewing this website I have found that they are aware of environmental issues and are trying to make their company environmentally friendly one step at a time. Eventually I feel that more and more corporations will catch on to this trend and will make their factories more sustainable. I think that it is necessary for them to do so otherwise we will be destroying our planet at an even faster rate.