Sustainable Farming

What are the major elements of "sustainable" farming? How are ecological principles woven into this framework? Do you buy organic or "naturally" labeled foods? Why or why not? Do you feel connected or disconnected to the current food system? If there were space on campus, would you be interested in growing your own vegetables (or, if the thought of vegetables makes you wince, fruit instead)?

Environment protection, social responsibility, and economic viability are the three major elements of sustainable farming. A farmer should keep in mind how their farm affects the environment around them whether it be the way it plants, grows, or harvests its crops. A farmer also has a social responsibility to keep their crops safe and free of harmful chemicals under supervision of the USDA. A farmer has an economic viability to keep so that they can make a profit. It doesnt matter how safe a farm is, if the system does not yield profit then there wont be any use unless the farm is just to feed a family or village. Me personally I do not buy organic or natural foods even though they are probably healthier for me. Being a college student I am more focused on how much a product is rather than how healthy it is. Price overcomes natural/organic when im grocery shopping. If there was space on campus to grow our own produce I would think it would be a waste of space and money unless a class is actually involved with taking care of it. People are to busy or lazy to take care of crops in the open time.

In your estimation, what is the most pressing global environmental issue facing us today? Why? If a wealthy benefactor like the Rockefeller Foundation gave you $100 billion to address a global problem, how would you allocate the funds? Would you dedicate 100% to the most pressing issue, or partition the money among many different issues?

Honestly, I dont know much about all of the global issues and which ones are more severe than others. After doing some research I would say that the most prevalent issues out there now is the humans factor on global warming, and the global natural resource comsumption. In some ways these two issues go hand in hand and if these two problem somehow become resolved, other local or national issues may find themselves in better shape as well. If I was given 100 billion dollars to fix the environmental problems in the world, I would use about 90% of that money to focus on those two problems and use the rest to address smaller issues that may not require as much money. 90 billion dollars is alot of money but considering the magnitude of the issues, it may not even fix the problem. We can only change the actions of us humans. The way the earth acts is totally uncontrollable. Global warming may never be controlled no matter how much money is spent focusing on it but money can be spent creating awareness, changing the way we burn fuels, changing the way we search for fuels, and changing the way we harvest crops.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

 *The following is a response to several questions given by my professor*

  Only about 10 minutes away from my house, I took a trip to the corkscrew swamp sanctuary as my second field trip for my colloquium class. Here are a few animals and plants that i saw and got good pictures of. The entire swamp is considered a wetland, but there were only patchy areas that actually held any amout of water like the picture below with the alligator swimming. There were three main ecosystems that made up the corkscrew sanctuary; these were the pine flat woods, the cypress dome and the oak hammock. Each having a different role in filtering the water before it reaches our aquifers and each were at a different elevation so that the flow of water is specifically directed. 

  The corkscrew sanctuary along with all the other national parks in Florida are usually run by non-profit organization in which require volunteers and donations to help run the day to day organizations. In order for everything to be maintained and run smoothly there needs to be cooperation among the people to have an understanding of how the ecosystem works and how it needs to be maintained to keep the ecosystem working properly. We cannot be ignorant and destroy the environment otherwise the damage will be irreversible.

   It would be a terrible ecological decision to bulldoze and build condos not only where corkscrew is but any amount of swamp land left in south Florida. The swamps play a crutial role in filtering the water and dispersing the water and nutrients to the ecosystems in the everglades. Without the swamp to slow down the flow of water, all the freshwater will flood into the ocean changing the salinity of several marine environments and droughting all the land further inland.

FGCU nature trail

Your musings on the campus trail walk and the selection of this site for the FGCU campus. Is it consistent with the “eco-empowerment” mission of the university? Or is it entirely incompatible? Why or why not? Does your particular background predispose you to a certain viewpoint?

 I went to the nature trail on campus last Friday and didnt see a whole lot. Maybe I just had bad luck, but I didn't discover that the trail had much wildlife to show. Now I wasnt expecting a zoo or anything but i figured there would be some sorts of rustling in the bushes a little. Now, I saw plenty of lizards and  ran into countless spiderwebs, but unless i wanted to venture off the trail and climb through the forest, I didnt expect to see anything I wouldn't see in my back yard. As for the vegitation there were alot of different kinds of trees and the one I thought was spectacular I took a picture of it. Seeing trees like that just make me want to go climbing like I did when I was a youngster. To answer the questions above, the trail does portray the type of ecosystem that fgcu is encomassing and is an accurate representation of what this university is about. But, I live in the estates in Naples so the type of trees and ecosystem present on campus is pretty much what I see every day going to and from school.  Im sure people from out of state may have a different view on the nature trail, but yes my background does change the way I feel about the nature trail. Its not anything exciting to me. However, it is a good reminder that we are not alone as human beings. Walking out there makes you realize that even though you may not have seen anything, there still may be something out there watching you.

Blog #1

What are your expectations for this class? In your own words, what is sustainability? How does sustainability (or ecological sense of place) relate to your chosen field of study? Can you identify any personal behaviors and/or attitudes that are unsustainable?

I understand this class is a required course for every fgcu student to take, and with that being said I will try and keep an open mind on what i can learn from this class. I expect this class to give a different aspect on what this university is all about. Why are we environmentally based and why is this class a required course? As an athletic training major, my profession may not be directly impacted by the ecosystem around me, but it may have some similar aspects i do not realize it has just yet. Im expecting by the end of the course I will have some way to connect this class to what my future holds in the professional environment.

As an athletic trainer, we need to be able to sustain our resources throughout the year. We typically order our supplies once a year making a educated guess on how much supplies we will need and try not to waste any along the way. As for behaviors, one that would jump out at me would be someone who uses excess or having the motto "more is better."