Blog #6 Course Reflection

Well Colloquium has finally come to an end. Although I decided to take it during the summer it didn't seem so bad like I was anticipating it to be. The best part about this class was all the field trips. I'm someone who learns by being able to do hands on activities and tours really allowed me to learn more about this class. Being activity engaged in something helps us retain the information better. If it was up to me I would make it with even more field trips or extend the canoeing one so we can have more time to explore the area and enjoy being surrounded in nature. Walking into this class at the beginning of the semester I had no clue what to expect in this class.

 This class to many of the students here seems to be a waste, although you don't truly realize the impact it's made on you until after you're finished. I would define sustainability as humans being aware and able to live with nature. Being more aware of the consequences and actions we take that affect our environment. The topic of our sense of place was a broad topic that came up. It's us being aware of our personal impact, what we do there is a consequence.

Colloquium is a class that I enjoyed when we had our field trips. Although I feel like this class would be more beneficial if we took it our sophomore year rather then the Junior or Senior Level. With our school being so strongly focused on the environment I feel like it should have us start being more active and engaged from the start. If I was to teach this class I would try and make more group activities in the in class days. So then the students are more engaged in our lecture. The material for this course can become a bit bland and uninteresting. That happens quiet a bit when we take required classes so I'd try and put a pep in it's step.

Blog Entry #5 Downtown

DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS

Strolling through Downtown Fort Myers with the entire Colloquium class. When I hear the word "Downtown". I envision the nightlife the excitement of business suits, and crazy fast pace lifestyle. Unfortunetly, here in Fort Myers you are likely to see a few business suits and many older couples holding hands strolling down the sidewalks. Downtown Fort Myers isn't really a focal point for the locals anymore, the local indoor malls took the attraction away. Unless your 21 and its at least 10 pm downtown is more of a ghost town on the streets during the day. 

I've been downtown Fort Myers very rarely and I've lived here my entire life. I never noticed that we actually have artwork around the area. It's not like the graffiti artwork that's along the walls of the city of Miami. It's artwork that took time such as the piece which is made up of individual tiles. The feeling of downtown is a oldschool feel to it. The aritechture has the vibe of what Fort Myers was back in the day a bit. Keeping some history locked in since our town is in such a fast pace motion of developing. 

Fort Myers isn't known for its wild nightlife activities such as Ybor located in Tampa or Downtown Miami. Although with out University being such a hot item to try and attend focusing on the youth would be profitable for downtown Fort Myers. Develope more of a nightlife for the college students, give this town a mix of both worlds. A place to retire to when you're older and develop amazing memories at a young age. I think it'd be a great idea if they could articulate a plan for this in the near future. 

Blog Entry #4 Estero Island Cottage and Matanzas Pass

Our first stop on this trip The Estero Island Cottage; I've lived here my entire life and I didn't realize all the history behind our little old Fort Myers Beach. Arriving into the cottage with cookies and lemonade handed to each of us creating a welcoming environment. Our speaker was very knowledgeable and passionate about all the history he was telling us about. Although he lost my focus sometimes going of on tangents toward the end I was just anticipating and getting antsy for that was to come next on our field trip! Compared to how it was back in the days our speaker was talking about Fort Myers has flourished in comparison. Although we do see a expansion in our community I feel as if they need to improve our roadways inorder to keep up with all the growth thats developing. Our community is still very small and homey here in Fort Myers, although it may not compare to how it was back in the old days, I still feel like we are small and continue to uphold a welcoming environment. Fort Myers is my hometown so I've seen it flourish greatly since the 90's. I've been here my entire life and there are many places that I'm still not full firmiliar with. Personally, I might take the offer of a 300% offer on the market value of my childhood home. It's not simply all about the money, but I see it as I wouldn't want to simply continue to live in the same place and it would give me the chance to expand to a different location. I'll just have the memories of that home.. but, we can't continue to live and hold onto the past I feel like we should continue to develope our community and if thats the next best thing! Go For It. 

Canoeing

I got myself a amazing canoeing buddy! 

We adventured together through the river and saw mainly mangroves and some small fish.

I learned there are different characteristics that set the white, red and black mangroves apart from one another.

I had a blast canoeing in the Florida Sunshine. This was by far my favorite field trip. I wish we could of spent longer out on the water getting to explore more on the water giving us a chance to maybe see a alligator or manatee. Being active rather than in a classroom setting was such a great time and allowed me to really bond and experience nature with my classmates.

Blog Entry # 3 Echo

This field trip I wasn't super excited for, as we were driving I was like oh dear goodness where in the world are they taking us. Surprisingly once we arrived and we got exploring I learned quiet a bit of information through out our tour. 

The first thing we were shown were Bamboo. I found it interesting that there are different types of bamboo. This one here strictly grows in clumps! Bamboo can also be used for piping.

This is a video showing small things I saw during our field trip on Echo.

I was surprised when I saw there were animal here at Echo. I have such a soft spot for them. So having a whole small section with bunnies how could I not resist to make a video of these fluffy animals. 

I was so happy to be able to capture such pretty pictures while on this field trip of insects.

Photography is a passion I've recently discovered and in this atmosphere it gave me a great opportunity to capture such peaceful moments. 

During this field trip they had so many neat inventions throughout the entire tour. 

The one thing I thought that didn't seem so honest and true and is helping this company with developing knowledge and expanding. Was the way they were saying they were processing their information. It came across as more of a hear say ordeal. Without too much background knowledge, although that could of been my misinterpretation of it. This organization isn't one that I'd personally like to do service work for, they are more focused on plants and  crops, and the most excitement that I got from the field trip was the animals, and that's something we barely spoke about. Although there was a tone of great things to be scene at Echo it just isn't my forte. 

Blog Entry #2 Corkscrew

On 5/20/2013 we took a field trip to the Corkscrew Sanctuary, the three ecosystems present as Corkscrew were 

• Tall Grass Prairie is what a good amount of the Florida Everglades is made from. What's unique about this is it actually stays wet up to 3-4 months a year. I found that really interesting that it actually can continue to hold water for such a long time. 

• Pine Upland is made up normally of slash pine, sable palms and palmetto trees. I variety of larger mammals live in this ecosystem which vary from deer,  beers and even panthers. This type of land is what builders find most desirable. 

• Cypress Swamp is a interesting ecosystem it creates a dome like shape; smaller trees on the outside and then they gradually get larger toward the inside. In the center of the dome there are no trees simply because of the depth of the water. 

Although we might ask why can't we just demolish all the trees and build condos and apartments, and a mall while we're at it. We have plenty of land available. Although we may have the land not all land is buildable. How are you going to afford to building a cypress swamp ecosystem? The land thats desirable for building is the pine upland; but, a set back to building on this land is the wildlife that inhibits it. Where will they relocate to. Building on land effects all the wildlife and can lead to extinction of species if we are careless and don't preserve their homes. 

Blog Entry #1 Expectations

Starting the first day I walked into this class knowing the bare minimum  other than it was a requirement at FGCU, and that every Universities colloquium class is different. Being known as the Eco friendly school I simply knew it was going to be focused on the environment. One of our universities statement is to provide the students the necessities to develop “an ecological perspective.” Which in other words to me means, to give us the chance to be more aware of our actions and what impact we partake in our environment. Sustainability is finding a sense of balance. 

• Sustainability- is one finding a sense of balance
• Eco-literacy- the understanding of the environment and how it works; and forming our society around it and allowing it to continue improve and not demolish nature entirely. 
• Sense of Place - Our standing in a society, where we find a place in which we make an impact on

Sustainability in the field of communication; its a huge factor. One of the theories I learned in the class Theories of Communication, is our nature is to find and get to this state of sustainability. We have all idealistic endeavors or where we see ourselves, a goal; although with the universe constantly evolving there is never a true match for that perfect moment. We're continuously chasing this want for sustainability that's unattainable. Change is around us constantly and you never know what encounters the universe will give you, although you may reach what you think is your perfect moment, it's not unbreakable and resistant to change. 

Personal behaviors that are unstainable I would have to be someones emotions. There is never a sense of pure happiness all the time or a constant sadness. The encounters you have daily shift them and there never is a true stability. Although you can feel balanced but, one moment one could go from being on top of the world to swift anger.