Reading #6- Moving Ecoagriculture into the Mainstream

I have heard of this “Ecoagriculture” idea before, although I did not realize that it had a name. I just assumed that people in different parts of the world were striving to better the ecosystems in their area. Ecoagriculture is definitely something that most definitely has potential in society today. With all of the different organizations we have going on, I’m sure more than enough people would jump on the bandwagon of this conservation strategy. Businesses are slowly adapting to this idea of ecoagriculture because there is such a concern about the sustainability of their sources and their supplies.

I believe that ecoagriculture is something that can and should be incorporated into society. I think it would have a positive effect on businesses which ultimately would affect the lives of other individuals, both common people and underprivileged. I think the potential for the ecoagriculture in society should be more than just potential. It should be put into action.  

Reading #5- Charting a New Path to Eliminating Hunger

In Reading Chapter 5, Charting a new Path to Eliminating Hunger, I really began to think about the hunger issue in the world. I’ve known for a while that starving people in the world, including in our own country. But I was unaware that there was something being done about it in underdeveloped countries, involving oysters.

I’ve been on mission’s trips before with my church. I have reached out to the homeless, I have fed the hungry. But I am usually only working on these projects for a couple of days at a time. The people that are working on this seafood project are helping to serve those that are undernourished. This is something that they have committed to, much like a job.

It is amazing to me how hard these people are working to serve the undernourished individuals in the world. Different organizations each have their own purpose in helping solve the hunger crisis, whether it be closing the oyster harvest season or those just helping create a long term plan to end world hunger. These are the people who are really making a genuine difference in the world.

Personal Journal #1 ; May 21, 2011

Today I took a friend of mine outside to experience the environment with me. We walked near a small pond and sat on stone benches that were located next to the pond. We just sat and reflected on things such as school, and we also just sat and listened to the bugs in the woods behind us. We did that for about 30 to 45 minutes before we got up and began taking pictures for my species identification. I am really upset, because usually there is some type of armadillo or something near my building, but today there were none. ): I just did my best to capture the plants and animal species in my surrounding environment. I am located in northeast Florida, so there were not really any of the same species from the species list given on Angel, so I captured some of the most prominent species in the area.

In the area I am living, there is large amounts of saw palmetto. I’m not sure this is something that is located all over the state, but everywhere I have been I have spotted it. To me these palmettos represent Florida just as much as a Sabal Palm tree does.

This plant is a fern. Ferns are perennials, and grow best in shaded areas. 

The area in which I am staying is surrounded by pine trees, this tree was one of the tallest ones in the area, and I thought it was very interesting. It towered over most of the other trees surrounding it. There was also a pinecone on the ground closeby.

I know it’s a little hard to see, but this is a picture of a baby frog. It hopped on my foot as I was coming back from my walk, and scared me half to death. I had to put it in my blog. The frog was about the size of a dime, and looks like a piece of bark- look closely at the picture to see it.

I also found a bunch of Spanish moss hanging from the trees in the area across the street from my apartment. This is one of the largest bundles of moss that I could find.

I thought it would be cool to capture the entire environment that I was experiencing, so I did just that with a video. I wanted the video to be a sort of panoramic view of what I was looking at.

Overall, the experience I had today in the environment was fun and relaxing. Although I did get bit by mosquitoes, stood in an ant pile, accidently locked myself out of the apartment, and had a baby frog jump on me, I definitely got the environmental experience this morning. 

Reading #3 - John Dewey

In watching the documentaries on John Dewey's life, I have realized many different things that I knew, but never really thought about. I didn't realize how strongly my upbringing in an environmental area effected my life now, as a college student. I really want to start incorperating John Dewey's idea of an agrarian lifestyle into my own life. I think that incorperating nature and having a more nature-centered approach to my everyday life may help preserve the environment and relax (or even better me) as a person. By just experiencing nature in its entirety I believe that I will appreciate the world even more, and hopefully better it in one way or another.

Reading #4 - Incorperating Nature into Children's Lives.

I felt that the article written by Richard Louv was extremely informative, as well as very interesting. I also began to realize, towards the end of the article, how his article tied in with the documentaries and the work done by John Dewey.

In Louv’s article on Nature-Deficit Disorder and the Restorative Environment, mentioned something that really stuck out to me; the amount (and type) of PE classes that are being held in schools across the country. As Louv mentioned, the amount of students who attended PE class dropped from 42% to 28%, in only a matter of a little over ten years. As an elementary education major, I would hope for my students to get a little time each week (preferably each day) to just unwind and take their minds off of school, and get out of the classroom. This ties in with the information Louv brings up later in his article, about ADHD in students.

Louv claimed to have read studies about the environment and how it may help calm students with ADHD. Some students calm down pharmaceutically, but some can also benefit from the “green” perspective; just going outside and playing, relaxing, golfing, etc.

Both Dewey and Louv brought up the fact that our human brains are set up for an agrarian, nature oriented existence that came into play thousands of years ago.  If this is so, I don’t see why many parents are turning to pharmaceutical fixes for their children’s’ ADHD, rather than taking them outside. As Louv mentioned, taking nature and natural play away from students (such as cutting recess or PE out of their day), may be tantamount with withholding oxygen from them.

Another question that came into my head while reading the article by Louv had to do with the agrarian, nature oriented existence that both Dewey and Louv talked about. If the environment and being exposed to the Earth’s natural beings helps children with ADHD calm down, and become more focused, why is it  that children aren’t being brought outside prior to even developing ADHD? Why can’t we as a society try and lower the pharmaceutical fixes that are being handed to children, by “forcing” children into the environment and surroundings around them?

I felt that both the article by Richard Louv and the documentaries based on the works of John Dewey were very informative and interesting. With this information, I might try and do a bit more of my homework and spend some of my down time outside, experiencing the natural environment around me. As I further into my career of becoming a 2^nd grade teacher, I would also like to expose my future students to the environment, and hopefully keeping them nice and calm in my classroom.

Field Trip #1 - My Neighborhood Walk

This morning I decided to go on my neighborhood walk, since it was nice and cool out and not too rainy. These are the trees that I see when I walk out the back door of my apartment building. It is such a serene enviornment. The shade covers a lot of the building I live in, including the parking lot.

When I walked around the apartment comlex, I realized how many different types of plants are located in the area. Since I have only lived here for about two weeks, I haven't gotten a chance to really take a look at my surrounding enviornment until today.

I really enjoyed walking around and really taking in the enviornment. It was definitely a nice change from being inside the apartment unpacking and cleaning. I really felt relaxed when I returned from my walk, and I will definitely be walking my neighborhood more often.

Some questions I came up with while on my walk were:

1. What kind of animals live in this enviornment?
2. Where does the water in the pond come from? (And why is it so green??)
3. Are there mosquitos outside at night?
4. Why do the leaves and flowers fall onto my car in the parking lot EVERYDAY, even when my car is not parked underneath them?
5. Are there any walking trails in the complex?
6. What measures are being taken by the apartment complex to preserve the enviornment?
7. What kind of plants are in the neighborhood?
8. What kind of trees are in the neighborhood?
9. Is there a recycling center in the community? (The area was COVERED in bottles and cans - I'm wondering if there is somewhere that all of those materials can be recycled).
10. Where does the rainwater go when it begins to flood?

Reading #2 - Quality Enhancement

I think that one of the terms that sticks out to me the most is civic engagement. Civic engagement is working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values,and motivation to make that difference.I think this idea is something that can be combined in both this class and in my life for many reasons. In life, making differences is what a lot of people are always striving for. I think civic engagement can also be most beneficial through community and colloquim. People in a community that may have something in common may be able to do more good than one person alone. If this community gathering is in a colloquim setting, I think that it will be taken more seriously.

Reading #1 - Orientation

In taking this course, I would like to gain more knowledge about the enviornment. I hope that I learn things I didn't know about through the field trips I will be going on, and the volunteer work I will be doing. I am both excited and nervous about houw this course is going to be, especially since it is online, but I am anxious to learn more about the enviornment I live in !

Introduction

My name is Jenny Cairo, and I am an elementary education major at FGCU. I am currently a junior this year, although I am quite young for my class standing...I just turned 19 last month. I am really involved with campus activites, especially the Resident Housing Association (RHA) on campus. In RHA, I am the Director of Communications, and I work very closely with many other students to help improve on campus living. I am a pretty laid back person, and I am excited to see what this class has in store! (: