Concluding Colloquiem Contemplations Concisely #6/7

Let’s dive right in and talk about my Colloquium experience. To be completely honest, I was annoyed at having to take this class. I realized when coming to Florida Gulf Coast University that this would be one of the requirements, but it still was not high on my list of things that I was looking towards with happiness.

That being said, I really did enjoy the class. Personally, I got to see quite a few places that I hadn’t been to in years—Matanzas Pass, Koreshan, etc. Academically, the class put forth information either I didn’t know about, or merely didn’t think about.

When it comes to my major, psychology, it affords me a different perspective, specifically that of an environmentalist bent, that I can use when building rapport, or talking to people. There were quite a few highpoints with regards to the class itself; I enjoyed the people in the class specifically, fun and entertaining group of individuals if you ask me and the trips that were taken were a nice change of pace from the typical classroom setting.

The field trips were also the most difficult part for me—I am from this area originally so much of the information given was merely a repeat from my past; additionally, I am not the biggest fan of being outside due in large part to the heat. This still doesn’t hamper my overall like of the class and the professor specifically.

All-in-all, I do not feel that the class was a waste of time, which sadly was how I originally felt. I take away a larger understanding of the current world situation, and what FGCU is putting forth by requiring the colloquium class. Looking forward, it is definitely something that will cause me to put forth effort into helping sustain the world. Would I recommend the class and professor? Yes.

 

 

[Image Credit: FGCU.edu]

Good to the last Drop & Natural Gas: The Ugly Step-child of Energy #5

Well, it would seem that some things that people think that we have ironclad information about are not so ironclad. For instance, if the oil industry/regulation experts keep adding to the number of barrels of reserve oil that the US has in its possession that they really don’t know how much oil is lurking under our feet? I mean, I am all for new technologies that have the potential to net us more “energy” and hopefully for cheaper, but isn’t their estimations and second-guessing a little absurd? Leonard Maugeri makes sense when he talks about easy oil, that which takes little to no effort to obtain. He says it is running out, but when it was first found it could in no way be considered easy. Our current “difficult oil” will become easy oil when we develop the technologies to make it easier to procure. Oddly though it doesn’t make me as happy to find we really aren’t running out of oil. Less pressure about the lack of oil means less drive to move to alternative fuel sources so long as oil is easy to get. More oil sounds like a huge paradox in emotion. Onwards instead to Natural Gas, and its extraction from shale, everyday land owners are finding themselves newly rich when natural gas rich shale is discovered on their land. Previously the natural gas would be impossible and impractical to remove from the shale, but horizontal-drilling, merely drilling sideways instead of up-and-down, and hydraulic fracturing, which is forcing water and chemicals into the vein to force the natural gas out through the added pressure. The process is thought to be safe, but, given the nature of people, human error and shortcuts can always cause issues. Natural Gas may be marketable and profitable, but should it be used as a fuel source? It can be argued as cleaner and safer than petroleum, but can America live with the issues that come from its extraction process or its use?

 [Image Credit: IMAGE © ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/ ANDREW PENNER]

Early Fort Myers—Where Everybody Knows Your Name to Modern Fort Myers—Backwater Beginnings Beget Bold Present #4

Fort Myers was a great place to grow-up, and from Untold Stories: Fort Myers Part 1&2 it seems like it has always been that way. The videos start where the history of Fort Myers should start—its beginning. It is odd to think that a simple fort that was semi-influential during the Seminole Wars would grow to a lush area with a state college and a university. It was for all measures abandoned, however, until the war of northern aggression when it was re-staffed as a union fort. The first citizens would found the city not too long after. During this time it wasn’t the county seat of Lee County; it was apparently a part of Monroe County which was based in Key West. A bureaucratic dispute over the rebuilding of an arson destroyed school caused the few citizens to incorporate into their own county. As locations tend to do, Fort Myers grew steadily from their gaining items such as railways, a major stop along the path from Tampa to Miami, and two airports. Notable People began to take an interest in the location as well, such as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Though things were brighter, attitudes were still in need of adjustments. Fort Myers itself has the dishonor of being one of the last cities to end racial segregation in the United States. This dark era did in fact end, and with came a large boom in culture. Art and Theatre had large venues for exhibition with generous grants from patrons and appropriations from governmental funds. All totaled, Fort Myers has blossomed into an amazing metropolis. It will be interesting to watch how it grows from here.

[Image Credit: Eloise Pennington, Local Trainer and Graphics Specialist. 2004]

Cure for ADHD- TREES #3

Richard Louv’s article: Nature-deficit Disorder and the Restorative Environment quite honestly threw me for a loop at first. It first starts talking about lack of recess and PE, and how those programs are being cut, and then it violently shifts to ADHD. At least from there it brought me back to ground when it merged the two. Nature as a treatment for ADHD? Sounds fishy at first, but I had to look at it logically. I never had a problem with paying attention, nor did I have issues with sitting still; my cousins however did. The only real difference between us is that from the time I could walk I was out the door; be it climbing trees, playing in the dirt, or just all around being outside. My cousins, and some kids in my neighborhood for that matter, had really strict overprotective parents, and weren’t allowed to go outside with the rest of us children. These were also the ones who had difficulty in school for one reason or another. So perhaps there is something to this whole nature versus ADHD supposition.

Being a Psychology Major, I would really like to test this with a group of ADHD children; unfortunately I currently haven’t come up with a solution to get past the ethical implications of denying a child access to nature. Though the article itself talks about attempting this theory in a research environment, and though I would like to attempt to measure the benefits of nature on a child, the data probably wouldn’t capture the full benefits of unadulterated nature on a subject.

 [No image credit - Public Domain Tree from Word, so Credit Microsoft I assume.]

Whose life is this anyway? #2

My sense of place? Well sadly I can’t speak much for my sense of place because I am stuck in a rut. I get up, finish any work for class that I haven’t completed yet, and go to class. Get done with class, come home, clean, cook, more work for class, and then sleep all to do it again the next day. It is because of this direct contrast to my former life that I am very glad that I am in this class and civic engagement. Before, in the long-long ago, I was very active in my “community” I helped out charities, I gave blood, heck I even stopped for people who broke down on the side of the road. I was just as nice as I could be.

Where did it all go wrong? That is a question I have asked myself many times. I mean how I could have fallen so far from my path, it is unhealthy that is what it is. Here is what my sense of place should be: I begin each day with a quick bike ride through the neighborhood. If I see trash along that route I pick it up, no need for thanks, just doing my part to make sure things look nice. After my ride, I should get going on any errands or class I may have that day. When I have completed that, I call up either my contact at Harry Chapin and see if they need some sorting, or I head to a park. If they need help I help them, otherwise I’ll just enjoy nature as it should be.

New goal- Get back to where I want/need to be. 

 [Image credit to the Concord Players and their play Whose Life is it Anyway?

Bacteria will inherit the Earth... #1

     You may not be aware of this, but there are more bacteria on the planet than other species. As far as can be figured there are 5 nonillion bacteria on earth, which is 1, followed by 30 zeroes. This odd thought came to me while I was reading Vandana Shiva’s article “What is Biodiversity and Why is it Important?” The article itself was widely informative on the topic of the diversity of our plant and animal life, and the steps mankind has taken to cause their lack of diversity. We grow crops that will survive in order to make a profit; one type of corn doesn’t grow very well, or is prone to disease that would eat into profit margins: don’t grow that corn- grow a safer market proven one. This is also occurring with animal species. There was a time where pork was taken from numerous breeds of pig, but currently we only receive our pork from 4 different breeds (Shiva 49).

     Even though we as a people keep forcing the world to adapt to our view, all is not lost. Jane Goodall in her book “Hope for Animals and Their World” which I had the pleasure to read some excerpts talks about numerous individuals who are making it their goal to turn the devastation around successfully. The most intriguing anecdotes was actually about Goodall herself, in which she helps the Tanzanian people enrich their lives which in turn helps protect the Gombe Chimpanzees.

     So whether you think we as a species have doomed ourselves and our world to extinction, or have merely placed a tiny setback that nature will overcome, ponder on the microscopic. Shiva speaks on a group of scientists from Denmark who scooped up one cubic meter of earth from a forest. Within this sample was found fifty-thousand earthworms, fifty-thousand insects and mites, and twelve million roundworms, yet one gram, one gram (restatement and emphasis mine), yielded billions of individual bacteria of four-thousand unknown species.

 Image credit to: http://hopeful-ink.blogspot.com/2011/01/wonders-of-bacteria-and-viruses-civic.html

Adding first post to check format, and to add a picture of myself. Not the best picture in the world, but I like it. It is from a wedding I attended recently.