Feburary 28, 2012

Kelly Siegrist

I really enjoyed the guest speaker we had today.  Not only did it make me want to visit ECHO, it almost made me even more excited to have my own edible landscape once I live in my own house.  As of now, my home back on the east coast is filled with organic tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, strawberries, lettuce, and herbs, and being in a dorm makes me miss growing my own food. Now I know the same day I move into a house with a back or front yard, I will plant multiple fruit trees in order to begin my edible garden.  The second part of the class was also enjoyable.  My minor is in community planning and development and my career goal is to work with cities to make them more sustainable and environmental friendly, so this movie gave me some great ideas.  Also, the concepts Brazil used were all very simple and its shocking to me that cities here don't have anywhere close to their technology.

Geri Coppola
The guest speaker today was extremely informational, and interesting. I learned a lot about edible landscaping and in the future I would like to plant some of the trees, plants, and fruits that the guest speaker mentioned. The video about Brazil was also very interesting. It is nice to see that other places have such great ideas and are thriving with those ideas. I think if the bigger cities in the U.S. did what the video talked about in the city in Brazil, then traffic would be so much better.

Field Trip: Estero Island Historic Cottage

On February 21, 2012 we visited the Estero Island Historic Cottage. Here are the Organic Eagle's pictures.

Mangrove

Spanish Moss

Interesting root wrapped around the tree

We couldn't figure out what the black bulges coming off the tree were

Drop roots from the mangroves

Sacrificial yellow leaf

Snail

Sea Grapes

Horse shoe crab shell

Mangrove types

Air plants and Spanish moss

Sabal Palm

Wild Coffee Plant

Cabbage Palm

The Organic Eagle's!

February 21, 2012

Kealy Stapleton
I had a great time on the field trip, despite the hour and a half bus ride there! I really enjoyed the speaker before and thought she was very interesting. It was a beautiful day outside and it was really nice to walk the trail.

Geri Coppola
This field trip was a lot of fun besides the long bus ride. I found the speaker very interesting and loved learning about all the history she told us. I really enjoyed being able to walk on our own with our groups.

Kelly Siegrist

I really enjoined the field trip to the Estero Island Historic Cottage.  I learned a lot about Florida's history and native areas.  It is crazy to think that in such a short period of time, an area can change as vastly as Ft. Myers has, including the rapid increase of population.  It put into perspective the amount of changes we are doing to our local environment throughout the matter of someones lifetime.

February 14, 2012

Kealy Stapleton
This class was interesting because we started presenting on Plan B. The presentations about chapters 1-4 were really interesting and I really liked the jeopardy game especially because our team won. I am looking forward to our field trip next class.

Tom Ruch
Class today was very interactive which made the material much more interesting. Plan B is flowing much better than the previous book. The movie we watched in class had some interesting points as well, like the fact that for every 5 barrels of oil we use, we're only finding 1 barrel. This is not a practice that can be sustained.

Geri Coppola
I had a lot of fun with the presentations this class especially when one of the groups played jeopardy. That was a very different and cool way to interact with the class. I also enjoyed watching the video about Cuba and the oil. 

Kelly Siegrist 

I enjoyed this class because we were able to talk about Plan B.  Plan B is a book that looks into more serious environmental issues than our colloquium book did.  I also had fun playing Jeopardy.  The movie on Cuba was also interesting, I did not know Cuba had such a history involving oil. 

*I also found a website showing population of the world.
http://www.miniature-earth.com/

February 7, 2012

Geri Coppola
I really enjoyed this class. It is nice being able to open discussions about various environmental topics from the presentations. I also liked the video we watched, it was very interesting.

Kelly Siegrist 
I also enjoyed this class because we were able to have discussions.  I also really enjoyed this video.  My parents always speak of South Florida back in the 60s and 70s but it was nice to finally see photos and another persons view on how much Florida has changed. 

Tom Ruch

I enjoyed watching the movie we saw in class very much. I thought it was very interesting and touched on every topic which is important, from the environment to the natives that lived here long before us. The speaker was really easy to follow even though all he did was sit and talk. 

Kealy Stapleton 

I enjoyed reading and presenting on this chapter. It was a subject close to my heart because my mom is a newspaper journalist that actively covers the everglades restoration project.  I was happy to see that the class was actively engaging in discussion and that the professor had some input as well. 

Calusa Nature Center Field Trip

On Tuesday, January 31st we visited the Calusa Nature Center. Here are our pictures.

American Alligator

Red Maple

Poison Ivy & Virginia Creeper

Swamp Bay Leaves

Brazilian Pepper

Horned Owl

Bald Cyprus

Turtles

Wild Coffee Plant

Southern Slash Pine and Saw Palmetto

Bayberry

Organic Eagles!

January 31, 2012 


Kealy Stapleton
I had a great time on this field trip, I really enjoyed learning about all of the different plants and animals. I especially liked seeing all of the animals up close that were inside the center. I am glad that we get to get out of the classroom and see what we are learning. I am looking forward to the other upcoming field trips.

Geri Coppola
I really enjoyed this field trip. It was cool to learn about all the different plants that we have growing in our area. It was also nice to see all the animals that I wouldn't normally see and learning more about them as well.

Kelly Siegrist

I was so glad we were able to go on this field trip.  I have always wanted to visit Calusa Nature Center and this trip provided a great opportunity.  I learned so much in this field trip, mainly about native and invasive species here in south west Florida.  I also enjoyed seeing the animals and being close enough to touch them.