Journal 4 - FGCU Sustainability Efforts and Nature Trail Walk

 On October 12th, 2023 my colloquium class decided to take a field trip around campus. My schools foundation is based off of environmental sustainability; however many students did not understand how or why. It was even mentioned during our tour, that majority of the students didn't chose to attend FGCU because of their environmental sustainability let alone knew about it. That is what our tour was mainly about. Most of our sustainable practices you can't see, so we do a tour to elaborate on the unseen.

Our tour started off looking at our trash cans and the way they are structured. The nickname we like to call our trash cans is big belly and that is because they can store more trash than your typical trash can. They can do this because our trash cans have simulations in it that crushes the trash to increase space. Next to every trash cans both inside and outside our buildings are recycle bins. All recycle materials can be placed in the same bin without the treat of waste contamination.

Our next stop on our campus was to our chiller or central energy plant. These plants were thermal ice storages that would cool the campus. FGCU campus buildings usually don't have a thermostat so it cools building based off the temperature outside. At night, the water is mixed with glycol and circulated through the chiller to produce and store ice in the energy storage tank. During the day, the ice is melted and the glycol is pumped through a frame heat exchanger. The chilled water is then circulated through underground pipes to cool the campus. Not only does it reduces the impact on surrounding environment but it also saves money that would he going towards power bills. 

We then proceeded to visit Whitaker Pond. This Pond is located on campus between two educational buildings and the bridge students take to class The pond is actually all man made. Also, the reason for them making the pond was to protect the land nearby from flooding. Whitaker pond is not the only pond on campus that serves this purpose but it is good to note.

The pond sits right by a building called Seidler Hall. Seidler Hall is the main building for FGCU college of Arts and sciences. This is a green building and in 2010 it received the LEED platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council. What makes it a green building includes the reduced heat simulations inside the building. As well as the 75% of materials used to build the building were all reused recycled materials. Also, 20% of those materials were collected less than 500 miles from the school, reducing the carbon footprints and CO2 emissions. Another cool thing to note about this building is that they have showers in the building to encourage people to actually bike to class instead of drive. This will once again help with pollution so not much CO2 emissions will be released. 

All around FGCU we have plants called green plants. Its always the little things that count and FGCU made sure to pay attention to minor details like plants to keep the school sustainable. Majority of all plants on campus are native plants meaning they born and fostered here in Florida. This is important because native plants have the ability to adapt to our Florida weather because they have been here for a lifetime. This saves money because they never have to be replaced and they don't make too much of a mess on campus. Surrounding our plants are rocks that separate them from the concrete. Due to this design, the rocks help capture water so it don't destroy the soil for our plants. A last thing to note is that the surrounding plants actually help cool our buildings by not just providing shade but also by releasing water vapor through the air that can cool the surroundings. 

Our last stop included going to FGCU green lawn by the library. This massive land space can be used by anybody in the public and can be used at a place to let your inner thoughts loose. Here freedom of speech is best practiced and many events are held to get people voice or organization heard. You would often see religion advocates come to preach their word around this area and although for most students it may be annoying, that is the one place you can't tell someone no. I can see this being a safe place for someone. 

After our campus trip our professor took us on a nature trail back in this woods. I'll admit, I was not a fan of this activity at all. However, I am super happy that I went just to say that I experienced it, but I won't do something like that again personally. When we first got there, we went to a bench to sit and talked about everything we just witnessed and learned during our campus tour. Afterwards we began our journey walking through a swamp. The further we got, my higher the water level was. The journey was a little scary to say that least due to the animals and branches I kept tripping over in the water. Once we reached our destination, I was okay. Everyone had to pick their own tree and make a connection with that tree. We think had to listen for things we found and things are saw. We took a moment of silence to really make a connection and visualize a past memory you hold dear to your heart. 

Journal 3 - ECHO Global Farm

    On October 5th, 2023, I had the opportunity to visit the ECHO global farm park located in North Fort Myers with my colloquium class. Going into the trip (based on the name), I thought we were going to a farm that harvest fruits and vegetables and ship them to communities in needs. Although this is apart of ECHO mission, ECHO Stood for something much greater. 

    ECHO is used as an acronym for Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization. Their goal was to potentially ease world hunger by their resources of sharing information, ideas, techniques, methods, plants, books, materials and solutions. They function mainly by providing agricultural information to overseas workers, distributing seeds for promising food plants, and offering training opportunities at the farm. They are a nationally known organization however, most people in Fort Myers never heard about them.

    The first part of our tour took place at the seed bank. The seed bank is where the farm grow and harvest seeds and send them to communities all over the world. The seeds they harvest are called open pollination (opposite of GMO) which means to re-use of seeds to produce the same plant the following year. At this spot, we also learned about many other methods in which farmers can grow more efficiently called appropriate technology.

    After that we moved to my favorite part of the tour where we learned 4 different ways to purify water. Most people who come to seek help from ECHO live in underdeveloped countries that lack clean water. With that being said, they are forced to drink unsanitary water from swamps or streams. Being that water is arguably the most important resource in our life, it is important that we feed ourselves good fresh water. The first method we learned was by way of moringa seeds that grow on moringa trees. The moringa seed powder has a good coagulant for cleaning raw turbid water. This method can remove up to 90% of the bacteria from raw water. Another method included adapting an straw that acts almost like a vacuum

because it has a filter in it that has such small holes that only water can get through it and the rest of the bacteria and parasites (metals and chemicals) are left stuck in a filter (that you can pull out). The third method includes using a clay big bowl. Clay can filter and absorb pollutants and through porous ceramic, and purified water then seeps out the bottom through filtration. The last way is the easiest way, which is to capture water in your water bottle and to then lay it directly in the sun and let the sun radiation kill off the bacteria.

    While leaving that spot, we also saw how many people would used clay to make houses or clay to make strong, firm walls. Speaking of house, we also passed by a house made out of bamboo. The bamboo being used was not your typical bamboo, it was a lot stronger. Our tour guide informed us that bamboo have natural sugars insides that insects like to eat at. Therefore, through ECHO they will teach you how to properly clean out bamboo sticks so that the bugs won't eat you out a house. 

    The last portions of our trip or tour consist us going through the garden where we saw different fruits, plants, and harvesting of plants. Many farmers around the world are limited on supplies needed to farm correctly. Through the help of ECHO they are able to improvise by gardening with stacks, tires, and even bricks. I even saw an elevated garden built for people (older typically) who have a hard time bending down or over to do field work.

    I really enjoyed my trip at ECHO. So far out of the rest of the trips we went on, this one had the most sentimental touch. You never really realize how blessed and fortunate you are until you hear about what's taking place in different countries. This trip reminded me to be grateful for the little things and that one mans trash can also be another mans treasure.