Blog #13 Estero Island Cottage

Jo was awesome, she was really knowledgeable about the history of the island becauser she experienced it. her hospitality made the trip sincerly enjoyable. Her cookies and her pictures were wonderful. Then the canoeing triup was just what we needed to really get out and build a relationship with our sense of place!!!

Blog #12 Sustainable Consumerism

What is sustainable consumerism? Well, I think sustainable consumerism is very good idea, but how sustainable can a consumer truly be in this American culture.Not very is what all I have seen, until i moved here to FGCU were it is a requirment to learn how be a sustainable consumer just by taking one of these colloquium classes, ut means buying smarter, not over consuming to the point that you can replenish for future generations.
Capitalism and Globalization promote unsustainable consumerism it is apart of the American culture, We consumer more than any other country, export little. We consume most of the worlds oil, and try to control the rest through wars and other politcally ethical issue. Unsustainable consumerism means that you overconsume and like America export little.

Blog #11 Downtown Fort Myers

Our downtown was full of information of the history and architectural innovation. The word downtown evokes the a historical or old time feel, it makes feel like I'm apart of a community or a culture. The stature in communities have changed overtime because in the early history of downtown Fort Myers was known for innovation.mthe reason that downtown was known for this was because of three men Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone! They were immortalized in this fountain:

Blog #10 Ecological Footprint

When I tcalculated my Eco-footprint the website reminded me just how much I Ido consume. It would take 4.3 Earth's to sustain my current standard of living. I did not think that my lifestyle was that detrimental the environment, but according to this calculator I am one of the worst abusers of our Eco-system. It said that my worst category was food which I can agree with because I do eat meat everyday. My best category was mobility because I tend to carpool often in order to save gas money.

Blog #9

Is energy to cheap? No, at least not my bills from FPL. is conservation a dirty word? 8 believe conservation is not a dirty word, because we needed to conserve at least some of the natural beauty of the environment. the biggest issue with conservation in my mind is human greed. The United States of American is the most individualistic country in the world and this has caused a rapid growth in urbanization. the funny things about improving your standard living is that ou a deforming the environments natural feel literally. These urban jungles and increasing revenue is all we care about these days. President carter and his famous fireplace talks have inspired people to make a change in their lives by turning the thermostats down a couple of degrees in the winter and up a few in summer, but even these direct presidential talks allowed people to ridicule him calling him "Jimmy Cardigan." With regards to alternative energies I believe that goverment intervention is editable, but I would like to think of myself as a "free-marketeer" but I am just another one of the individual's living in a ethnocentric community.the renewable energy that has the most potential in my mind is Solar energy. Because like every living thing we get energy from the sun, it grows our food, and can even power our stoves...The steps that I could take tomorrow to change my ecological footprint would be to carpool instead of driving my non eco-friendly car which gets only about 17 miles per gallon. In the next five years I will hopefully be making more money which does in fact open up more doors to be sustainable, because I therefore buy a more fuel effiecient car which could market the new growing initiative for going green!

Image Source:
http://www.industrialinterface.com/blog/2009/12/13/sustainable-energy-best-infographic-ever/

Blog #8 Climate Change

In my view climate change is caused by a combination of both man made and natural forces. So the real question is should we believe the media or just keep polluting without a care in the world because we think that all of these horrific so "natural disasters" keep happening around the world. I believe that climate change is editable but humans with all there urbanization have just made the rate at which the climate naturally evolves increase. So where do we get information about climate change or in other words who is a credible source? Well I would most likely believe a scientist over a preacher, so therefore, I think that the most creditable sources of tracking climate change would be the scientific community. Another source could be the elderly because they my have actually experienced some of these climate changes and will be able to explain their first hand experience.The real question is will there be a planet for our grandchildren or will climate evolve into something inhabitable by them? Only a higher power would know that.

Blog #7

Eucalyptus Tree

In general the eucalyptus tree is quite desirable for many reasons it grows quickly, and produces a natural insecticide. These oils can also be used for cleaning, but what the eucalyptus tree is most widely known for at least in our area of the world is for its ability to suck up water. This tree could change the natural environment. The benefits of genetically modifying organisms is that we are able to yield different outcomes from each GM tree. Another major benefit is that some GMO's actually allow farmers to have higher yields of production. Some concerns of planting these trees would be that these GM trees could cause major habitat tranformations for wildlife. In order to minimize these risks there must be some way of regulating them, maybe make them illegal to plant in swamping areas. I believe the benefits do not outweigh the risk.