Reflection on Colloquium

Coming into this class, I didn’t really have high expectations and just wanted to get the requirement out of the way. I assumed colloquium was just going to be another boring class teaching me about certain plants and animals and how they are affecting the environment. I had heard it was going to be easy but with a lot of busy work, something I wasn’t looking forward too. After the first colloquium lecture I was definitely impressed by my professors teaching methods and way to keep the class interested. He didn’t bore me at all, he stood in front of the class and got to know everybody because he felt that was a big part of teaching. If you do not get to know who your students are in a discussion based class, then you’re not doing your job right. Well Professor Wilkinson definitely did an awesome job at getting students involved and letting us share our opinion or story, because it helped him get to know us better and it made us feel like we were contributing to the class discussion. I also learned that the class was going to be a lot more than lectures about different plants and animals, but about all of the global environmental problems we are currently suffering from and how every action we take can make a difference in someone’s life. I never realized how many environmental issues there are that are affecting the sustainability of every country around the world and how much of an impact an individual can make. That’s another big thing I learned, is sustainability, the definition and what it really means and how it’s affected by such small actions as changing our light bulbs to be more efficient or turning off the lights after you leave each room and not leaving water running when you’re not using it.

After all these rumors and stories about how bad this class was going to be, I can honestly say I enjoyed it and really learned a lot. Especially after completing our Plan B projects and watching everyone else do theirs, it really taught me a lot. It was interesting to see and hear about all these problems from my peer’s point of view and hear what they have to say about the different solutions we could be taking. I am glad colloquium is a required course for the university because it really teaches students about problems that they are adding onto without even realizing it and its problems we should all be aware of. Thank you Mr. Wilkinson for an awesome successful semester and for teaching me a whole other side about the environment that I wasn’t ever fully aware of. I feel like I can make a huge impact in someone’s life now.

A trip to Downtown Fort Myers

Visiting downtown Fort Myers was a really cool experience for me, especially seeing the side that our Professor showed us. I really enjoyed walking through the museum and seeing the side of history that went down in Fort Myers. I had no idea there was so much historical information and different culture and lifestyles in the city I presently live in. I really thought it was so interesting because it was like walking along a life like time line and learning facts about everything that happened during each period. I saw some things in that museum that I had never even seen before or ever learned about. One thing in particular that caught my eye was the tools made by the Indians and other settlers to defend themselves. They would take strong sticks and tie large pointed shells to the end and it was a resourceful tool and weapon. The museum also had on display some of the spears the settlers and Indians made and successfully used as weapons. I always read about objects like this in different history classes but actually being able to see a real one was really neat, it really brought the history to life. Our colloquium professor knew so much about all the history and the tour so he taught it to us from a perspective we would understand and relate too so he could keep us interested. Another really cool artifact I saw while in the museum was called an “Iron Lung.” I didn’t really know what it was but it was nothing I had ever seen before so I googled some information on it. An iron lung is a machine that enables a person to breathe when normal muscle control has been lost or the work of breathing exceeds the person's ability. It is a form of medical ventilator that was first used back in the 1920’s. 

As our trip was coming to an end, and we were walking our way back to the bus, we find out that our bus has broken down and another bus would arrive in about 30 minutes to pick us up. I was sitting with a couple of my peers at the picnic tables when one of them pointed out a hawk that had swooped down and picked up a baby bird. Talk about watching a live food chain, it was so cool to see the predator just come down and take its prey. Overall it was a great trip and learning experience. I definitely want to go back to downtown and see more of it, and visit the Thomas Edison house. Isn’t it cool to know Fort Myers was once home to somebody really famous who invented so many useful things? I think it’s something to brag about. 

 

Hawk with Prey

 

 Thomas Edison's Fort Myers Home

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_lung

Florida's Ecosystems

There are so many different ecosystems in the world and we don’t even realize it. Florida is home to many different varieties of ecosystems. Even on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University, we see all different types of ecosystems of life. You can walk the nature trail offered for the students through our beautiful woods and it’s a whole different world for the animals living there. I was recently jogging through the trail and heard some noise in the bushes, turned around and saw two baby dears running through the trail. An ecosystem, according to biologyonline.org, is A system that includes all living organisms (biotic factors) in an area as well as its physical environment (abiotic factors) functioning together as a unit. Our colloquium class took a small hike on campus and observed some of the ecosystems close by. You can learn so much about a certain area or animal or plant just by watching one ecosystem function. You can learn many details about the plants, what kind of habitat they need and what kind of sun or shade they need to survive, if they are a water plant or high land plant.

 I researched some of the different ecosystems found in Florida and to me the most interesting ecosystems are in the ocean. I love the ocean and everything about it, hence why I love the East Coast of Florida and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. One of the many ocean ecosystems are coral reefs. Corals that grow in sunlit areas depend on tiny algae called zooxanthellae. The zooxanthellae help provide oxygen and food for the polyps. Individual corals are interconnected colonies of soft, fleshy polyps that secrete complex shells made of calcium carbonate. There are over 30 different types of coral reefs found in Florida’s waters. Now imagine snorkeling in Australia along the Great Barrier Reef, and how cool it would be to see so many different animals and underwater plants. Another cool ecosystem is the Sand Dunes. Its so interesting to research further in to the specific ecosystems because you learn why and how everything involved is so dependent upon each other. If something goes wrong than it can lead to worse problems, which is usually like a new endangered species. As I was saying Sand Dunes are an interesting ecosystem and unfortunately a loss of beach habitat to real estate development, erosion, and rising sea level has caused a decline in the nesting shorebird and sea turtle populations. Dunes are created by wind, and the plants and grasses that grow there keep the sand in place as it blows down the beach. The vegetation found within Florida's dunes varies and is dependent upon many factors, including storm waves, windblown sand, salt spray, soil type, and climate. Overall Florida is a very unique and interesting place to live for all creatures and if we don’t function together, just like our environment, something will go wrong along the chain and in the end will create bigger problems down the road. 

 An ecosystem in the Great Barrier Reefs of Australia.

 This is  an image of a Dune ecosystem.

http://www.gator-woman.com/ecosystems.html

The Everglades

I personally really enjoyed the Everglades readings by Marjory Stoneman Douglas because I could understand and relate to what the author was talking about. She ties in not only very specific details about all the different plants, animals, and ecosystems in the everglades, but also her personal relationship with the Glades. Douglas contributed her most effort towards the Everglades Restoration project the last 29 years of her life, and she lived to be 108. Now that is a dedicated woman! The Everglades truly is a one of a kind place, just as Douglas tells us. It is not only a great tourist attraction but also a huge attraction to Florida citizens. I visited the Everglades for the first time my sophomore year of high school. I did not know what to expect of the visit at all. I definitely will not forget this trip though. The coolest part to me was walking down a trail in the woods and just seeing a 7-foot alligator sitting 2 feet away from you. But what I learned from our tour guide is that alligators are nocturnal, thankfully we took a day trip so the gators left us alone. I do not think I had ever been so close to nature before this trip. We also got to go up on this tower so we could get a higher up view of everything we were driving through and it was so cool to experience this, and it makes me much more thankful to live so close to such a unique place. I did some further research on the Everglades and found out many interesting facts I had never known before. I assumed there were several different types of ecosystems in the everglades, but according to the National Park Service, the established ecosystems are Hardwood Hammock, Pineland, Mangrove, Coastal Lowlands, Freshwater Slough, Freshwater Marl Prairie, Cypress, and Marine and Estuarine. Before the name “Everglades” was established, the Indians used to call it Pahayokee, meaning “the grassy waters.” Not only are there hundreds of different species that the Everglades provides a habitat for, but the Glades are also a home to 67 threatened or endangered species. Now for someone to even consider making changes to the Everglades in an industrial form would never pass. People like Douglas really make a difference in their defense of the Everglades and fight hard to keep this beautiful and prized National Park the only one of its kind in the world. I think it would be a smart investment for FGCU to send students in certain classes down to the everglades to help with studying the environment because it really is an eye opening trip and teaches you a lot just through seeing what’s in front of you.

 Alligators basking in the Sun in the Florida Everglades

http://www.nps.gov/ever/naturescience/naturalfeaturesandecosystems.htm

http://www.evergladesfoundation.org/pages/quick-facts/

Population and Sustainability

Learning about our planet and the amounts of people living here and being born every day is absolutely mind-boggling. In lecture, we recently finished presenting our group projects on Plan B 4.0 and our group presentation was on population and sustainability. I learned so much just from hearing what my group members had to say about their part of the project. One thing I, and the professor, thought was very interesting was about how our food supply in the world is increasing by ones (1,2,3,4,5) but the population is increasing exponentially (4,8,16,32). Soon there won’t be anything left for generations to come if we can’t somehow manage our food sources better or educate the planet on not only preventing unwanted pregnancies but how to live life more efficiently to help our planet last longer. We only have one earth and if we do not start caring more as an entire population then our resources and our earth will start depleting even faster than it is now. I found a website called the population and sustainability network, which informs us about the Importance for sustainability of population and consumption worldwide. The founders of the website are really hoping to reach out to the decision makers of the government, institutions and NGOs as well as Network members to create some kind of impact. This network also looks at “both sides of the coin.” Which are population growth and overconsumption of resources, which without a doubt go hand in hand.

The group of people who created this website are truly trying to create a difference. They want to reach out to regular citizens by informing them of their mission and by giving out just small facts to make people realize really how quickly we are damaging our planet.

Another interesting website that was included in our presentation was the website that shows a pretty accurate estimate of how the population in the world (Link attached below). To be completely honest, as an incoming freshman in college I really had no idea how large these numbers were and how much of a difference we really can and need to make on our planet, or even in our own cities to start. Taking colloquium may seem like a bunch of bologna in the first couple days but you really learn a lot of valuable realistic information that you need to know. Education is one of the first most important steps we can take to solve the majority of problems, and when it comes to our environment we definitely need to learn more. 

http://www.ibiblio.org/lunarbin/worldpop