Journal 3 - FGCU Sustainability Efforts, Nature Trail Walk and Ecological Footprint
Florida Gulf Coast University is a treasure trove of self sustaining biomes and environments. There are many beautiful places around campus, but my favorite would have to be the boardwalk connecting parking garage two and the main campus, by Whitaker Hall. There are a number of different reasons why this sticks out with me the most, one being that it is the path I have walked every day for the past four years on my morning commutes. Each morning I take in the fresh air and peek out over the railings to see what kind of secrets I can find that day. Sometimes you can hear a woodpecker going at a tree, other mornings birds can be seen on the banks of the lake drying out their wings. Night time brings the sounds of crickets and other loud night crawlers, and no matter what time of day it is there is always something unique to be found. This helps me understand and appreciate my sense of place, it puts things in perspective.
Boardwalk to Campus
About two weeks ago we took a class trip on the nature trails around campus. It was a fun and informative experience. The first part of our trip was by far the most informative, as we talked about how FGCU plays a part in environmental sustainability. One big takeaway from this section was the creativity of handling waste around the school. Most of the recycle/trash cans are solar compactors. They retrieve power through the solar panels on top of the cans, and compact the waste inside using that energy. To prevent animals from rummaging through the trash, each can is equipped with a steel handle that requires a person’s touch to open. One more aspect of creativity that stood out, was the burlap sacks filled with cherry pits attached to trash cans. The cherry pits act as a repellent to bees and are a humane way of dealing with the issue. Seidler Hall, the universities prized ecological possession is very intricate when its parts are broken down. The building is made out of recyclable materials, and most of those materials were brought in from relatively close by to cut down on fossil fuels being used for transportation. Seidler Hall actually won LEED Platinum, the highest honor for a structure that is environmentally friendly.
Seidler Hall LEED Platinum Honors
Now personally for me, the most enjoyable section of the walk was through the cypress dome. It was a marshy area, in fact we had to trudge through water that was about knee high. This was a dryer time of the year, so you could see marks on the trees indicating that water levels can easily be waist high in the wet season. You can see in a photo below just how high the water levels can rise, and the pure beauty of the cypress dome.
Cypress Dome
After taking my ecological footprint quiz, it was stated that if everyone on earth lived like me we would need 3.4 earths! Now, compared to some of my classmates this number is relatively low. However, it is still unacceptable and makes me wonder what else I can do for our environment. Maybe instead of driving everywhere, it would be beneficial to use a bike. Maybe instead of taking a long hot shower, it would be beneficial to take a quick cold one. These are just a couple of different aspects about my day I noticed I could cut back on to contribute to the sustainability of our environment. If we all took a look at how we live our daily lives and sought to cut down on irresponsible behaviors there would be an extremely noticeable flourish in our environment. Our discussion in class about Louv and Orr highlighted the importance of biophelia and treating where we live with respect. Our trip on the nature trail once again highlighted this importance, we are not to take for granted for one second the grand beauty of where we live. It pained me to see there was recently a fire on the trail, because some careless student flicked a cigarette butt into the brush. There is no excuse for such carelessness, which brings back another point made by David Orr, strive to be a steward and not careless. We must care for the land we live upon, and not destroy it with every ignorant move we make. I hope for a day when we all realize the wonderful earth we live on needs our help, to sustain its grandees life and beauty.
About two weeks ago we took a class trip on the nature trails around campus. It was a fun and informative experience. The first part of our trip was by far the most informative, as we talked about how FGCU plays a part in environmental sustainability. One big takeaway from this section was the creativity of handling waste around the school. Most of the recycle/trash cans are solar compactors. They retrieve power through the solar panels on top of the cans, and compact the waste inside using that energy. To prevent animals from rummaging through the trash, each can is equipped with a steel handle that requires a person’s touch to open. One more aspect of creativity that stood out, was the burlap sacks filled with cherry pits attached to trash cans. The cherry pits act as a repellent to bees and are a humane way of dealing with the issue. Seidler Hall, the universities prized ecological possession is very intricate when its parts are broken down. The building is made out of recyclable materials, and most of those materials were brought in from relatively close by to cut down on fossil fuels being used for transportation. Seidler Hall actually won LEED Platinum, the highest honor for a structure that is environmentally friendly.
Now personally for me, the most enjoyable section of the walk was through the cypress dome. It was a marshy area, in fact we had to trudge through water that was about knee high. This was a dryer time of the year, so you could see marks on the trees indicating that water levels can easily be waist high in the wet season. You can see in a photo below just how high the water levels can rise, and the pure beauty of the cypress dome.
After taking my ecological footprint quiz, it was stated that if everyone on earth lived like me we would need 3.4 earths! Now, compared to some of my classmates this number is relatively low. However, it is still unacceptable and makes me wonder what else I can do for our environment. Maybe instead of driving everywhere, it would be beneficial to use a bike. Maybe instead of taking a long hot shower, it would be beneficial to take a quick cold one. These are just a couple of different aspects about my day I noticed I could cut back on to contribute to the sustainability of our environment. If we all took a look at how we live our daily lives and sought to cut down on irresponsible behaviors there would be an extremely noticeable flourish in our environment. Our discussion in class about Louv and Orr highlighted the importance of biophelia and treating where we live with respect. Our trip on the nature trail once again highlighted this importance, we are not to take for granted for one second the grand beauty of where we live. It pained me to see there was recently a fire on the trail, because some careless student flicked a cigarette butt into the brush. There is no excuse for such carelessness, which brings back another point made by David Orr, strive to be a steward and not careless. We must care for the land we live upon, and not destroy it with every ignorant move we make. I hope for a day when we all realize the wonderful earth we live on needs our help, to sustain its grandees life and beauty.
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