Handle with Care * Blog 9

Yesterday, March 7, 2010, I handled and ate only a few things:
· Toothbrush – plastic
· Shampoo/Conditioner – plastic
· Crepes (300 cal) – conglomeration of paper and plastic to make the final product
· Clothes – cotton/nylon/polyester
· Car – metal/leather/carpet etc.
· Laptop – plastic
· Spaghetti (450 cal) – cardboard/glass jar/metal pots
· Door handles – metal
· Water throughout the day – shower, drinks
· Glasses for drinks

ECHO * Blog 8

Echo, my voice is an echo of places I don't know and stories I've been told.
--The Hush Sound

So pretty much that first sentence is in here because that’s the first song that came to mind when I first heard about ECHO. It’s a great song. And, has a little bit to do with ECHO or Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization.

Before this Colloquium class, I had never heard of such a place—only been told stories from teammates.

“ECHO is a non-profit organization whose vision is "to bring glory to God and a blessing to mankind by using science and technology to help the poor.’”

This Christian foundation studies new ways to develop food in different settings including rain forests, hillsides, desert land and moderate temperatures. They do this to learn for themselves, but also in order to distribute their knowledge to the rest of the world. The ECHO farm is located in Ft. Myers, but there are people all over the world working with this widely known organization.

One of their aims is to teach people in underdeveloped countries how to grow and produce food in their own yards or even on their own roofs. One of the testing houses had old tires with different plants growing in them.

Helen, our tour guide, gave an awesome tour of the complex showing us two different ways of watering crops, how they are decomposing trash with worms and that the chickens are cultivating the soil so crops can grow.

In order to be more sustainable, people can become more aware of how growing his or her own food can help each other be compatible with the earth. By doing so, people not only enrich the soil, but cause less trips to the grocery store or market because the food will be in his or her own back yard. ECHO’s goal is to teach the world how to grow foods from unlikely sources, not just from the norm.

Publix has a small organic section that I could possibly shop in. I have eaten organic food before, but do not purchase it regularly for it is a bit more expensive than other foods. There is a variety of foods the few aisles; for example, different types of seeds, various pastas, milk, chips and other foods are available for purchase.

ECHO was a very cool field trip. I think climbing the tree across the way was pretty legitimate too.

My Footprint * Blog 7

Well, if everyone lived my lifestyle, supposedly we would need 5.66 Earths. That can’t be a good thing.

I am hesitant to fully believe in the statistics of this quiz, only because as of right now I can only do so much. I was slightly above the global average in Carbon Footprint and Food Footprint, but I was slightly below in Housing and more than half under in Goods and Services.

I am not surprised that my Carbon Footprint is higher than the global average. It’s not that I don’t carpool because my teammates and I do it very often; it’s because I am a student athlete and we travel more often than regular students. We bus to all away games that vary in distance from Miami to Atlanta. We also fly to schools in Tennessee and next year to New York.

One of the sections in Reduce Your Footprint under the Carbon Footprint category talks about making a home more energy efficient. Well, I live with four other people and none of us own the townhouse we live in; therefore, it is nearly impossible to replace the windows and appliances, for example, with more energy efficient alternatives. All I can say right now is that when I finally do buy a home in the distant future, that I can do my best to make it as energy efficient as possible.

I don’t really have a problem with any of the Food Footprint suggestions except for the “plant your own garden” idea. It definitely is a great idea and would be a great way to save money, but having a garden is against the Home Owner’s Association rules in Copper Oaks. They wouldn’t like it.

As I said before, I am doing well in the latter two categories. I was semi-surprised that my Goods and Services Footprint stat wasn’t higher. I pretty much only recycle when I am on campus so when that question came up, I said that I didn’t recycle at all basically. It is something that my roommates and I can work on. All we have to do is get a bin. Lord knows we have quite a few bottles and cans that fill up our trash that could be recycled.

Shark Attacks, Resulting Human Deaths on the Rise * Blog 6

By Jennifer Viegas Mon Mar 1, 2010 01:32 PM ET

This is an article that hits close to home. How close? Well about 45 minutes.

According to Viegas, deaths that resulted from shark attacks in 2009 increased by one from 2008. 61 deaths occurred last year around the world off the coasts of several countries including the United States (28), South Africa (6), Egypt (2), Ecuador (1), Indonesia (1), Mozambique (1), New Caledonia (1), and Vietnam (1).

Even though the world number has slightly increased, the U.S.’s death rate has decreased severely in the last two years.

In 2008 the magic number was 41.

The article mentions that the decrease parallels the recent recession during the past decade. It seems as though not as people are visiting the beaches for vacations and such.

Out of the 28 in 2009, 19 deaths occurred off the coast of the Sunshine State. This in fact, is where this particular article affects or doesn’t affect me depending on the day.

“Volusia County in Florida retains its dubious distinction as being ‘the world's shark bite capital.’ That's due, in part, to waves off New Smyrna Beach on the central Atlantic coast that can attract both surfers and sharks.”

I live about 45 minutes from New Smyrna Beach and the fact that it is somewhat known as the “world’s shark bite capital” is something I have heard a few times before. This fact, though, does not deter me from going to the beach let alone deep into the water.

On a hot summer day, the dark water calls to me as I lie on the beach sweating. New Smyrna Beach definitely does not have the prettiest water compared to the panhandle or Florida Keys. The water is very sandy and once I go in passed my knees; there is no seeing what lies below the surface. I feel like it becomes a game to see how far my friends and I can swim.

Yes the statistics show that Volusia County beaches have the most shark attacks, but the percentage of everyday attacks is low. And, if I’m supposed to be eaten, well then there is nothing I can do about it.

A Day in the Life--Outside * Blog 5

Sunday, February 21, 2010
· 2-3 a.m. kayaking
· 12:15-3 p.m. soccer game

Monday, February 22, 2010
· 5:30-7:30 a.m. soccer practice
· 75 minutes walking between classes (four total)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
· 20 minutes walking to and from Colloquium

Wednesday, February 24, 2010
· 5:30-7:30 a.m. soccer practice
· 75 minutes walking between classes (four total)
· 6-8 p.m. ate dinner outside

Thursday, February 25, 2010
· 2-4 p.m. soccer practice
· 6-7:30 p.m. soccer clinic with little kids

Friday, February 26, 2010
· 20 minutes walking on campus for office hours

Saturday, February 27, 2010
· 60 minutes walking around Coconut Point



After doing the math, I learned that there are 10, 080 minutes in a week. This equates to about 1440 minutes in a day. The amount of time I spend outside during the day obviously varies after viewing the information above. To calculate the percentage of time I spend outside on a weekly basis, I think it’s only fair to take out the amount of time sleeping.

Last week I slept approximately 49 hours or 2760 minutes—compared to the average of 56 hours or 3360 minutes we are supposed to get—it’s really not too much. I did a little bit of math, and figured out that I spent roughly 955 minutes outside being productive (not just going to a from my car). Therefore, if I divide 955 by 7320 (10,080-2760), I get .1304. I spent 13% of my time, awake, last week outside.

CSS * Blog 4

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary (CSS) was an experience that actually brought me back to my childhood. Near a playground where my mother would take my sister, my friends and I to play, there was a nature walk just like CSS. I remember seeing the alligators lie on the bank sunbathing, watching the fish swim in the water and wondering what the big deal was. Well, a few weeks ago at CSS I figured it out.

I can appreciate now how wonderful it is to see wild animals in their natural habitats. And on our walk through, I saw a hawk, a raccoon (which was not so good being that it was about 2:30 in the afternoon when he was spotted), a couple Egrets, several White Ibises and an alligator that was lurking in the distant weeds.

Wetlands, such as CSS, are protected in Florida for the benefit of our ecosystem. They are habitats for animals that otherwise would have to live among us in the cities and suburbs. It is important to keep them clean for several reasons including wildlife, plant life and human life.

As I aforementioned, if wetlands aren’t protected, then many, many animal species would be displaced; therefore, leaving them nowhere to go but into our everyday lives. On occasion alligators have been found in swimming pools, sewage drains and soccer fields. Instances like these are not only dangerous for us humans, but are dangerous for the animals.

Plants, for the most part, thrive on water and sunlight. There are exceptions to every rule; however, for the basis of this blog, the simplest of terms will do. Polluting wetlands not only diminishes the species of animals count, but also the species of plant life count. Without plants in the ecosystem, several types of animals would have to leave to find food elsewhere. If they were to leave, their predators would have to follow suit. And again, animals are displaced.

With all of these things occurring, humans are, for lack of a better word, inconvenienced. Intrusions of wildlife are dangerous to the human world, just as we are to theirs. From plants, we receive a little known gas called Oxygen. It really is only semi-important to our everyday lives. We can’t just go tearing down every acre of land for housing developments or malls.

Protecting the watershed ranks right up there with the other reasons for protecting the wetlands. The watershed is an area that holds water in a contained area from several different run offs. This is important because it splits up the different species of plant life giving fair chance to grow to various types.

The CSS gave me a chance to get back to the roots of the environment (no pun intended). Protected wetlands such as CSS and the one in Mt. Dora, Florida, work to create awareness that they need to stay healthy and that humans need to know how to coexist with nature.