Eco-tourism

                 

Ecotourism can be defined as a type of tourism where the environment, local community and visitor all benefit. It can also be defined as tourism that is designed to contribute to the protection of the environment or at least minimize the damage to it, often involving travel to areas of natural interest in developing countries or participation in environmental projects. Ecotourism offers many fun activities like sailing, biking, rafting, hiking and many other activities that evolve around the ecosystem. One of the benefits of Eco-tourism is helping out local communities economy in developing countries around the world. The local people are the ones with the knowledge about their land and they could be used as guides. The main difference between tourism and eco-tourism is that tourism primarily concentrates on pure entertainment and financial gain. Where in the other hand eco-tourism is primarily focused on attractions related to the natural environment and provides environmental and social awareness. The money from eco-tourism could be used to preserve nature, wildlife species and earth's natural resources. In my opinion I would rather make a trip to the Amazon jungle than visiting a busy city full of pollution and noise. Everyone has the right to choose where to spend time on a vacation but its important to be educated about the opportunity eco-tourism offers.  

 

University Colloquium.

This will be my last Journal post. I believe my writing has improved however; it would be important to continue practicing in the future. I did not know what to expect from Colloquium. After only six weeks I have changed the way a view our environment and our food. Colloquium really made an impact in my life. I learned a lot about the issues going on around the world. It is important to know about this issues and what we can do to help. I enjoyed watching the videos and learned a lot about them. My favorite video was Food, Inc. and Bag it. Those two documentaries changed my life for the better. I also really enjoyed taking the field trips. I really enjoyed going to Echo farms. Colloquium has encouraged me to start growing my own vegetables and fruits. I am glad that I had to take this class. Now that I know what Colloquium is all about. If you ask me again if I would take this class even if I didn't have to I would take it because I really enjoyed it. The semester went by fast and I am glad I took this class over the summer. Now I'm off to try to make the world a better pace.             

                                                    

                          

Plastic

Plastic is a problem for the environment yet, we still manage to produce it and use it in almost everything we use. If is not made from plastic, it comes wrapped in plastic. Plastic is made from petroleum and natural gases. It takes about a quarter a bottle of petroleum to make a single plastic bottle. It also contains chemicals like pthalates and bispehnol-a that can be harmful for our health. There is websites and organizations that can help inform the public about the use of plastic and how it affects our health. The production of plastic, the use of plastic and the dispose of plastic is all toxic and is not good for our environment. We are dumping plastic into the ocean. Plastic doesn't go away it just keeps on breaking down into smaller pieces and fishes are mistaking it for food. More than 100 thousand marine animals die every year from eating plastic. Fishes that eat plastic are ingesting toxic plastic that makes them unsafe to eat. Birds also are dying and what they find in their stomachs is plastic caps from all kinds of bottles. The production of plastic is not going to stop. Humans need to change their habits and use less plastic.

Eco Shuttles

 

Group 4 presentation on Eco shuttles was interesting. They mentioned three ways to to improve shuttles with alternative fuels; Electric, Hydrogen Powered, Vegetable oil. I like their idea however; it will be extremely costly to transforemed a gas shuttle to anything else. The best idea would be to purchase new shuttles with alternative fuels and that would be expensive as well. They mentioned many ideas that will actually work for all three alternative fuels. They also mentioned how FGCU shuttles could be transformed to use other fuels. My opinion is it would be extremely hard to make all shuttles in FGCU not run on gas but maybe run on electrcity or vegatable oil. There is cars on the road like the hybrid models sold by Ford and Toyota that run with less gas but they cost more than the average vehicle. Making the shuttles hybrid could make a difference and help the environment. Overall I enjoyed the presentation and it is a great idea to have shuttles run with alternative fuels.

Rain Barrels

During the summer an average of 40 percent of the water we use goes to our yards to keep them green. One way to safe water is using rain barrels. Rain barrels collect water from the rain. Most barrels are 55 gallons and when they are full they can weight to about 400 pounds. In order to get a full use of the rain barrels is important to build it correctly. One way is to have an opening on top in case the barrel gets full so water can escape. Also cover the opening with a screen to prevent mosquitoes and leafes to go into the barrels is important. The benefits of the rain barrel is inexpensive supply for water, especially during the summer. Florida is known to be hot during the summer. Gardens need water in order to keep green. Keeping a rain barrel just for the use of the garden can safe people money. One disadvantage of rain barrels is that they could be costly to install. Also if not install correctly it can attract mosquitos. Overall if you have a nice yard that you will like to keep it green all year around a rain barrel would be something to think about buying.

SWFL Museum of History

The field trip to the SWFL museum was very educational. I learned a lot about the history of Fort Myers. I found out information I never knew before. The museum showcases an extensive collection of chronicling history of SWFL. They have man displays that are very amuzing to see. Our tour guide had a very good knowledge about the history of Fort Myers. I enjoyed how the museum has a good collection of artifacts from early civilization. Sadly, after thirteen years of living in Fort Myers, I learned about the history of SWFL. I think school should have a class on the history of Florida because it is important to know about our history.
My favorite part about the trip was getting in the private train. Considering the time the private train seemed very luxurious. I can not imagine how society viewed the people that traveled in one of those private trains. I would recomend the museum to all my friends that are interested about the history of Fort Myers.

Bag It

The documentary “Bag it” has made an impact the way I view plastic and especially plastic bags. Plastic is an amazing material used in mostly everything we own. If it is not made of plastic it comes wrapped in plastic. The bad thing is that plastic does not go away.  No one knows how long it takes for plastic to decompose. Some plastic can be recycled or reused but plastic bags are not recyclable. There are many places around the world that have banned the use of plastic bags in order to help the environment. However; in the U.S. the American Chemistry Council are not against the use of plastic bags. Producing plastic bags makes a lot of people rich since so many bags are used every day. Trying to get rid of plastic bags will be difficult because the system is too corrupted and it seems that we care more about making money than making our environment cleaner.

Sadly humans are throwing trash into the ocean. More than 100 thousand marine animals die every year from eating plastic. Many fishes and turtles are found dead and inside their stomachs they have found large quantities of plastic bags. Birds also are dying and what they find in their stomachs is plastic caps from all kinds of bottles.

Plastic bottles are another plastic item that is affecting our environment. Plastic is made from petroleum and natural gases. It takes about a quarter a bottle of petroleum to make a single plastic bottle. Then if you add transportation costs, in order to make one plastic bottle a half bottle of petroleum is needed.  Regrettably some bottles get only one time use because people do not recycle or the bottle is not recyclable.  

The production of plastic is not going to stop. What humans can do to help the environment is less consumption. If we don’t demand plastic as much, especially plastic bags and bottles, the production will reduce and there will be less plastic bags in the ocean and less dead marine animals. The way I decided to help is by reusing bottle water and bringing my own bags to the grocery store and not buying plastic bottles.
 

Flow

The world is running out of fresh water. Without water we have nothing.  The earth would not be what it is without water. Is not a problem we need to take off in 10 or 50 years, it is happening now. Water circulates from the top of mountains down to the rivers then goes out to the seas then it goes up to the clouds then to the top of the mountains again. Many people die every year from water diseases. Most of them are children. Countries like South Africa, Bolivia, China, and India have people in poverty that cannot afford fresh clean water so they have to find their own by drinking from rivers and streams. Some of this water is dirty and people are dying from water diseases.

Organizations want people to pay for the water even when they have no money to pay for it at all. Fresh water is compared to oil and compared to power. The picture people have to understand is who owns the fresh water owns their way of life. The water industry is third in ranking after oil and electricity. Even bottle water is a problem. One out of five Americans will only drink bottle water. Studies have shown some bottle water is even worse than city tap water. Companies are filling bottles with tap water and selling them with pretty pictures to make it look like its water from the mountains.  People don’t know where the water is coming from. Yet no one really is controlling the water industry.  Companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestle are hunting fresh water under the earth everywhere in the world. They are destroying communities because they go and take the fresh water without any charge. How can they get away with doing this? Where is their ethics? Money and corruption is killing people all over the world and is sad.

Estero Island Historic Cottage and the Matanzas Pass Preserve

Why don’t we teach local history in schools? It is important to know about how our local society has developed over the years. I started to think about this issue when we visited the Estero Island Historic Cottage. It is the first time in 13 years of living in Fort Myers that I hear about Estero Island's history. The trip was fun and the stories of our guide were very interesting. I learned a lot about the history and the changes of Estero Island. In the last 80 years there has been a lot of changes in the community and the development of the island. my favorite part of the trip was the lemonade and the cookies we were given by our guide right before going to see the mangroves. 

We had an opportunity to walk around the Matanzas Pass Preserve. It is a beautiful natural habitat and is home to many diverse species of animals and plants. During the summer it is very difficult to walk because of the mosquitoes. They were thousands of them and i thought we were not going to make it out of there. Beside the fact that is was really hot the mosquitoes made it very difficult to appreciate the nature around us. Our guide did mention that mosquitoes are a problem during the summer but I never expect it to be that way.   

Food, Inc.

The way people eat has changed dramatically in the last fifty years. Food, Inc. was an awesome video that everyone should watch. It was very informative and it made me think about the way I see food in America and what I want to eat for now on. The video talks about many issues in the production of food in America. One of the biggest issues that made a big impact in my life is the production of processed meat and the way animals get treated. For instance companies are feeding cattle corn because is cheaper than grass and it gets them fat quicker. Cows are supposed to eat grass. Changing their diet and feeding them corn is not safe since it could give cows E Coli and the meat can be deadly. Also the conditions cattle are raised are not very clean. Food, Inc. shows videos of how cattle are treated and it is surprising how the FDA is allowing cows to live in such conditions. The FDA is supposed to keep our food healthy and care about our safety but food companies are producing meats that contain E Coli and Salmonella and the worst part is that these food companies and the FDA are aware of this problems. How can they get away with producing bad meat that is getting sold in super markets? Another animal that is being abused is chickens. After the decline of tobacco many farmers turned into chicken farms. They are feeding chickens hormones and steroids in order for them to be bigger. Chicken are twice as big in less time than 20 years ago. They weight so much that it is difficult for their legs and organs to hold their weight. The conditions chickens are raised in are also not very healthy or clean. Food companies are not producing chickens they are simply producing food. Instead of farms we should call them factories. People demand affordable foods and scientists have figured out how to make it possible. Most people do not know cheap food can also have a high cost. The bad thing is that food doesn’t have the same amount of nutrients anymore. Even when we try to eat healthy some of the food we buy has been genetically transformed and we are not getting the nutrients we need.      

Echo Video

Give a man a fish and it will feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and feed him for a life time.

Echo is an organization teaching farmers how to grow food in their environments. They helps farmers learn about affordable agricultural technologies.  Echo helps find solution to problems like not enough rain, or too much rain, or poor soils and teaches the farmers how to overcome their farming issues. Echo study new techniques of agriculture that is helping farmers learn about fertilization and irrigation. Echo is helping 180 countries feed the poor around the world.

There are four major components of Echo believes. First is problem solving. Different environments around the world can grow different crops. Echo studies how to grow crops in different environments and teach farmers learn the new techniques on agriculture. Another component is providing seeds. One pack of seeds can even feed a whole community.  One seed that was introduced to many farmers is the Meringa plant. They also call it the miracle plant because it grows almost anywhere and contains many nutrients. One of the reasons why farmers are suffering hunger is because the lack of education. Echo’s goal is to educate and train farmers around the world that lack the education of agricultural techniques like irrigation and fertilization.  Last component is networking. Working together with other organizations helps having more people work at educating poor farmers learn better ways of agriculture.

Chapter 1 and 2

Chapter 1 Charting a New Path to Eliminating Hunger describes three major shifts that farmers, scientists, donors, agribusiness executives, and the global community need to consider. First shift needed is to develop new seeds as the solution for hunger and poverty. Second shift suggests the best way to ensure that everyone gets enough to eat is to change what kind of food is produced and improve its distribution. The U.K. based Soil Association encourages less meat production and use more environmentally sustainable agricultural methods that do not rely on petroleum chemicals. Also produce more local and regional foods. The third shift is to make food aid more cost-effective by purchasing food from nearby countries. People in Africa are dying from hunger. There are organizations developing ways for farmers to produce more food for their families to avoid hunger. It is an issue that has been taken seriously for many years and hopefully world hunger will be reduced to zero.

Chapter 2 Moving Ecoagriculture into the Mainstream talks about what Ecoagriculture is about. I wasn’t aware of the term until I read this chapter. Ecoagriculture is a landscape approach to natural resources management that tries to find a way to sustain agricultural production, conserve biodiversity and support rural livelihoods. Reading about different kinds of agriculture has expanded my interest in agriculture. It is important to have Ecoagricluture to help farmers increase their production. It is remarkable to think how world organizations are trying to help farmers increase production. 

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is beautiful park located in Naples, Florida that has 14,000 acre of wildlife. This sanctuary contains the largest remaining virgin Bald Cypress forest in North America. I had the opportunity to visit the sanctuary with other peers from school. Even though it was raining, I could tell Corkscrew Swamp is a place full of wildlife. We spent about 2 hours total walking down the boardwalk and we saw snakes, baby alligators, hawks, birds, owls, trees, giant grasshoppers, and more. I really enjoy taking trips like these one because I am a person that likes to enjoy our ecosystem and enjoys trip out in the wild. I would recommend the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary to anyone. We learned a lot about how the sanctuary that I didn’t know before. Apparently the rain affects the park and the wildlife. There are different kinds of plants that grow when the Swamp is not full. As soon as the swamp grows some plants disappear till next summer. Now that is rainy season it would take about 2 months for the trees to be under water. Also, The Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary supports an active research program focusing on numerous ecological and natural resources management-oriented issues throughout Southwest Florida. The Sanctuary provides an ideal location for research, as natural conditions are pristine and land use is not changing rapidly. I really enjoyed visiting the Sanctuary specially because everything we saw there today is out of my every day routine. I saw animals and trees I have never seen before. Overall it was a great trip. 

ECHO Field trip

I’m on my way to school excited about the field trip to ECHO. I’m not even going fast and I get pulled over by a police officer. After 20 minutes of waiting he gives me a ticket for not wearing my seatbelt. I wasn’t worried about the ticket. I was worried of missing the bus that was taking us to ECHO. Fortunately the bus waited for me and I was able to go and experience the amazing place of ECHO. ECHO is a wonderful place full of life. I enjoyed walking around learning about soil, fruits, vegetables, animals and more. I was shocked to see the variety of fruits and vegetables available in the same area. I learned that the main reason ECHO exists is to help farmers around the world how to be more productive. For instance some countries in Africa are suffering of hunger because their soil is not fertile anymore and it produces less food. African countries not only put up with the drought, now their soil is losing nitrogen that makes the soil not produce food. ECHO studies ways to have more production in agriculture. Then someone can teach farmers around the world how to become more productive even in bad climate conditions. The problem African countries are having with their soil is serious. It is necessary to find other ways of producing food when the soil if not fertile anymore. If some things don’t change there will be a lot of people dying of hunger in the next few years.     

Affluenza

Spending money is very easy, especially if it is not ours. Credit card companies let us borrow money with some interest and that makes us think we have more money than what we really have. People do not think about when they buy something it costs more than the retail price. There are taxes we need to pay and interest if you use a credit card. The U.S. has the biggest consumption in the world. Fortunately not every country has the same rate of consumption.  If the rest of the world would consume the same as the U.S. then the planet would not have enough room for all the waste produced every day. Another problem is the pollution that a production causes. Many fabrics release toxics into the air which pollutes our environment. I believe shopping is fun. However; if I can’t afford something I don’t buy it. Normally I save money until I can afford it. If I could afford shopping every day I believe I could. If that was the case someone would say I suffer of affluenza. Affluenza is known as the disease of consumerism.  A disease that can make many family lives miserable if not careful. A disease that is harmful and contagious. Some of affluenza’s symptoms are low self-esteem, depression, a loss of future motivation, an inability to delay gratification, a false sense of entitlement. In my opinion affluenza is just a made up disease. Someone came up with a name so they could blame why they go shopping everyday or why they are 20 thousand dollars in credit card debt. Filling our credit cards to the limit and not affording the payments is not a disease. Is the lack of knowledge and education some people were not careful about. Some people let society influence their lives instead of making they own decisions about who they are and what they buy. Overall I believe affluenza exists in people minds. If some people need to be labeled as a disease so be it. It’s easier to blame someone/something instead of taking responsibility of our actions. So let affluenza exist. 

Kilowatt Ours

Do you know where all the energy we use comes from? I didn’t know all the sources of energy until I watched “Kilowatt Ours”. It is a documentary that helped me better understand different ways of energy and how to be more energy efficient.  Did you know more than 50 percent of the energy used in the US comes from coal. In West Virginia they found good quantity of coal under the mountains. Because of the use of coal to create energy someone decided instead of setting up mines to recover the coal it is better and faster to blow up the mountain. It is unbelievable how humans are tarring up the Earth by blowing up mountains and forests. One thing I do not understand is how the state will let a company do that. If politicians are allowing that kind of massacre towards nature the Earth is going to be destroyed. Then there is the problem about burning the coal to create energy for people to use. When the coal is burned it creates toxics that go into the air and into the ozone layer. That is one of the reasons why the planet is warming.

One way to help our planet is to save as much energy as possible. For instance they make appliances that are energy savers that use more than 50 percent less energy than regular ones staring from light bulbs to washing machines. One thing a don’t understand is if we are experiencing a problem so severe that is endangering human life why don’t they stop the making of those appliances and only allow energy saving appliances to be sold. Pass a bill that will make companies switch to only producing energy saving products. This documentary really made me think about our planet and how to preserve energy around my house and I am glad I had an opportunity to watch it. 

Human Footprint

I always wondered how much of a specific item like bread a person consumes in one life time. It wasn’t until I watched “Human Footprint” from National Geographic that I was able to literally see the amount that an average American consumes.  It was entertaining to see all kinds of foods and other items the average American uses in one lifetime. One of the many things I learned from the video was that when fruit is shipped from different countries it not only travels thousands of miles but also in some cases it takes up to 30 days for us to consume. That means it sits waiting to be shipped to a store where I always thought I was buying fresh fruit. One thing is to hear the number of oranges a person eats in one lifetime, but to actually to see it on the video was truly amusing. It must have taken a lot of time and energy to create the documentary just to prove a point. Another interesting fact I learned about is the Colton mining in Congo. Colton is a metal used to produce cell phones and the there has been human lives consumed by the mining of Colton. I never thought about that. For now on I will recycle all my old phones if possible to try to save that metal. The video was mainly to prove that everyone has a rational contribution to the world. Even bats contribute by eating thousands of mosquitos every night. Everything we do leaves a Human Footprint. Buying meat at the store has more steps than the average American would think of. Overall the video was very entertaining and informative. I would recommend this video to all my friends and family.

Consumer Report- Jijon

Severn Suzuki

I enjoyed listening to the Severn Suzuki's speech. She has a good point about how important it is to take care of our planet. She mentioned the facts that there are chemicals in the air and holes in the ozone layer that are dangerous for our health. Taking care of our planet is important by recycling and not using products that can cause those chemicals to fly out to the ozone layer.  There is other ways to take care of the planet for instance trying to use the least amount of energy at home or not littering. However; it bothered me that Severn Suzuki only criticized the problems. She wants change but she doesn’t mentioned what kind of change our how to change it. She is only a child and the speech was almost twenty years ago. If she was to give out another speech today, she should probably mentioned some kind of solution. Over all it was a great speech.

First Day of Summer B

Taking time off from school is always nice. Not having to take any classes during Summer A was super relaxing but I am ready to continue taking classes. I woke up early then made myself a delicious breakfast and packed lunch for school. Next thing was turn on my car to be on my way, however; the battery from my car was dead and none of my roomates were around to help me out. I was stuck in a bad situation but luckily I had plenty of time to figure something out. I was going to have to wait 30 minutes for one of my roomates to be home. Then next thing I know I see one of my neighbors leaving. I runned towards him and asked for help. I pushed my car out of its parking spot and got my car next to his to start it using jumping cables. Luckily, this time, I was leaving early because I do not like being late specially for the first day of class.
About University Colloqium I am exited about it. I have heard good things and bad things about it. I am loooking forward for the field trips and learning about the environment. I am not the best writer but I dont mind doing it plus I believe with practice I will get better. From what I understand about the course I will get pelnty of practice. The intructions giving by the professor covered everything I need to know in order to complete the course without difficulty.