Readings on David Orr

David Orr discusses many different aspects of educating students and creating a connection between humans and sustainability in the few chapters of his book, that I read, “Ecological Literacy.”He makes several connections back to Greek mythology discussing how even back then there was some connection to sustainability because they didn’t have the technology we have today and to me I feel like that was a very relative strong point. Orr discusses that through time we have lost our connection with sustainability and stopped caring about the environment and the damage we are contributing to the Earth’s atmosphere by living our daily lives so carelessly. As our technology is increasing, we are in a way getting dumber because we are becoming addicted to these machines that are doing everything for us and nobody is learning how to go out and work for what you need in life. New generations of children aren’t going to learn how to go out and successfully plant crops and what chemicals you need to keep them growing successfully and in what seasons what plants will grow the biggest; or how to use minimal water and electricity so we aren’t putting so many bad emissions into the atmosphere. We are just learning how to run bigger and more modern televisions, and how to use Microsoft Office, which is a useful tool, but will never get us as far as being able to grow your own food properly so you can live. Orr also discusses the concept of ecological literacy. He defines ecological literacy as understanding your environment and being able to read environmental terms and relate to it and understand what is going on around us in the world. He talks about how much the government, and international companies, and corporations can do to contribute to sustainability but Orr also says that nobody is talking about what schools, colleges, and universities can do to make a difference. One of the main things we need in American and all over the world is an education. Although Orr believes in trying to teach children about ecological literacy, I have to disagree. As a child you won’t be able to retain the information required to learn about ecological literacy. Instead give the children fun environmental related projects and games to play that will teach them what is right and wrong. You learn the majority of what you remember for the rest of your life as a child, so teaching land ethics, as Aldo Leopold discussed, in a simpler way so the new generations can understand will create a whole new era of future environmental scientists and “green” children.

Echo Field Trip

On the most recent Colloquium field trip, we visited a farm called ECHO. Echo stands for Education Concerns for Hunger Organization. Their mission statement: “Our goal is to improve the abilities of international community development workers assisting poor farmers by providing useful, important information and by networking their skills and knowledge with each other.” At Echo, almost all of the staff is volunteers, and they provide internships for students who are majoring in an agricultural field of some sort and are looking to benefit their own knowledge by getting an awesome hands on direct experience. The volunteers give many many tours a day around their farm to all sorts of groups of people looking to be more informed about programs like echo and how they are contributing to the environment.

While I was at echo, I learned about many different aspects of farms that I have never seen before. They use many appropriate technologies at Echo, which are tools made out of resources you can mostly find in nature that help run the environment. For example, biogas turns cow manure into gas for cooking and lighting. They also had many animals on their farm such as chickens, will help eat and kill bugs that will destroy crops, goats, which are used for milk and transportation and their manure, and bunnies, which I honestly wasn’t quite sure why they were there but they were very cute.

Echo is a Christian based organization that has such strong faith in their community and the people who are contributing anything to help the poor farmers and inform them of how they can raise a better environment to grow food for themselves and their families. They offer tours to the community so they can share their faith and beliefs so other people will get involved. Echo’s core values are “We are Christian in our behavior, beliefs, motivations, and attitudes; We are Stewards of the resources God gives us; We are Servants in both our management style and our focus on others; We are Partners as we join with other organizations and agencies to accomplish our goals; We value People as we work and interact with each other and those we serve, giving priority to people over institutional structure; and We are committed to helping those who help the poor!”

The staff at Echo have the right attitude and commitment and this visit made an impact on me and taught me many interesting aspects about farms I never would’ve thought of before. I am glad there are people like these that are truly committed to making a difference.

"An Inconvenient Truth"

“An Inconvenient Truth” is a movie hosted by Al Gore that taught students the seriousness and severity of global warming if Americans keep up with our attitude and habits towards the environment. After watching this movie, I realized how much of an effort Gore made to reach out to all sorts of crowds and teach us about how our everyday activities are affecting our planet. We only have one home, planet Earth, and if we do not take these harmful effects seriously, our home will slowly start deteriorating and global warming will start killing the population in numerous amounts that no one would think possible. Many countries already have head start on the United States, such as China and some Scandinavian countries. Although China has a larger population than the US, they are forcing their citizens to become more “green,” and therefore are already making a huge difference.

Al Gore uses many techniques throughout his video to teach us how serious this matter (Global Warming) is becoming. Gore uses statistics and numbers to really get into our heads and think, wow we need to do something about this. When people think about serious matters, such as global warming, they typically do not put it into number proportion. Well Gore does it for us and it really drilled into my head and made me realize what a huge impact just a couple hundred people have on our environment. He also uses examples with animals, such as polar bears, showing that the ice is melting and they will be swimming for miles and miles trying to find a chunk of ice to lay on. This part of the video really affected me and made me upset. It shows were destroying more homes than we think.

Gore explains that there are simple steps to decreasing these problems. The first and foremost step is to educate. If the government supplies as much education about ways to create a healthier environment as they do sex education then students will be so much more aware of their surroundings. They will also be more cautious when they go throw a can or bottle in a trash can, not a recycle bin, or shutting the water off when they brush their teeth. If I had some kind of power in the government, educating about the environment would be one of my top priorities, just as Gore took it upon himself to teach many groups of people about the severity of global warming in today’s society. Our generation can make a difference, and we need to start now.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

In my colloquium class, we recently visited the Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. The corkscrew swamp sanctuary is a very long stretch of land and many many animals use these woods to travel from western Florida down to the everglades. During this trip the class split in half and we walked on the boardwalk around almost the whole trail. At this sanctuary, they offer many informative and leisure programs such as sunset stroll and early bird watching. Most of the staff are volunteers truly committed to helping the environment and informing children, students and the elderly of our beautiful environment and remind us of what needs to be done to keep it that way.

In the beginning of the walk through the trail, I did not really have very positive thoughts and just could not wait to leave. However, as we kept going I realized how beautiful the trail actually is and kept taking pictures on my phone. We had binoculars with us and got to see a few cool animals and I learned many facts about different native Florida plant species. Some of the animals we saw were many Ibis birds, an American alligator, two mating turtles, several squirrels, some little minnow fish, and some type of mosquito or bug stirring above the water. My guide was actually an environment major student at Florida Gulf Coast University, she was easy to relate to which made the trip more fun.

Looking back at the trip now makes me realize the beauty and serenity of nature and how one picture or one minute of silence can capture so many different aspects of the woods and all the nature that surrounds us every day. During the trip we also learned about a filter system that uses strictly natural resources to recycle toilet wastes into healthy water for the plants and animals to use. At Florida Gulf Coast University, we are looking into installing some sort of filter like this one to help recycle our water. Students are already looking out for their environment just by throwing cans, bottles, and plastic into the appropriate solar powered trash can that breaks down trash for the environment. This trip made me look at nature a whole new way and makes me appreciate what I have around me and that Florida needs to be be more grateful for some of the awesome aspects of our nature that you can’t find in other places.

Articulating my Environmental Philosphy

Before I discuss the environmental philosophy topic, I will talk about what I discovered while roaming the Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Website. The sanctuary offers several different types of programs to people wanting to learn more about conserving our beautiful nature and environment. These programs consist of things like early bird walks, sunset strolls, wildflowers of corkscrew, and the Florida master naturalist program. To me the people who run these programs are truly the ones making an effort. They are mostly volunteers and they are taking their own personal time to teach our society about why animals, trees, and dirt are so important for the community and how we can properly maintain these aspects. Corkscrew Sanctuary is also beginning to run off solar power. These companies are the people that Aldo Leopold talks about in “The Land Ethic” when he speaks about the proper land ethics and morality.

                After researching this website and reading Aldo Leopold’s “The Land Ethic,” my views on environmental philosophy have definitely changed. Before I was involved in colloquium, if someone asked me to define nature or the environment, I would say something like: the trees and animals around us that help the ecosystem survive. After reading more in depth about what Leopold had to say, there really isn’t a definition for nature and the environment because almost everything we do or think about almost has to do with or effects the environment. In some way’s these activities can be very beneficial, such as recycling or turning the water off when you brush your teeth. But most of our daily routines, as Americans, are destroying our beautiful planet as we speak. Leopold makes many suggestions in the readings and discusses many governmental issues involved with helping the environment. None of which have come through and citizens of society took seriously enough to do anything about. Communities are not informed and educated and therefore don’t take the environments health seriously. People are only worried about right now and their immediate future, not for future generations. If America starts making a turn for the better now, my generation can have a huge impact for the future. And I want to be one of the few who can proudly say that I was a part of creating a healthy more efficient and effective environment for our future generations. My personal opinion has definitely changed and my conscious has definitely become stronger, and I will take as many steps as I can to help make the world a better, safer, and healthier place for everyone to live.