Blog #13

My overall opinion of the Estero Island Cottage and Matanzas Pass is pretty positive. Anything that gets people outside, walking, and thinking about their environments is a great thing. The natural Southwest Florida beauty was all surrounding. I came across a few older couples enjoying the outdoors and getting in their exercise during this field trip. Exercise, togetherness, and environmental education are examples of how the quality of life in that area is being enhanced.

In regards to the hometown question, I was born in Haiti and grew up in a very rough neighborhood. I haven’t been back there since I left but I imagine it has changed a great deal since the earthquake. Honestly I wish a developer was interested in that area, or any area of Haiti for that matter. The people and the land could use a complete overhaul. It would be a great community if a true form of government could get in and redo everything. The values that I was taught as a young boy make me a different man than many I have seen here. The values that my sisters were taught are very different than many women I see here. The basic life foundations in Haiti are very strong and positive, but everything else crumbles around it. 

Blog #12

I took the ecofootprint challenge. If you want to, go to http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/ .
Be aware that the results might scare you. My results scared me. Here I was, thinking that we were doing good by trading in our SUV for a car, not using the air conditioning, and installing an indoor clothesline, and it would still take four planet Earths to sustain my family's way of life. Until this country stops purchasing goods from other countries, we will still be accountable for using large amounts of fuels for transport, which was a big part of my usage graph. I honestly don't really know what we could do to improve the results for my household. The suggestions on the website were for someone who lived in a little more active area- I live in Naples Florida where they only sell things in packages. Is driving to Immokalee's Farmer's Marker worth the gas that we spend to get there or should we buy the produce at the grocery store with the rest of our items? The questions and possibilities are endless. 

Blog #11

The following blurb is from Osgood Sustainability Consulting’s website. I read it while researching the term “sustainable consumerism” and couldn’t manage to alter it to describe it in my blog- so here it is, quoted from them: “One of the world’s most pressing issues is that humans are consuming beyond our means. We are in debt both to our planet’s ecosystems and to the financial mechanisms that keep our economies growing.According to many scientists, we are currently consuming at least two planet’s worth of natural resources, stripping away the core ecosystems upon which we rely for food, water, shelter and inspiration. At the same time, above a certain level of income, consuming “more” does not make us any happier. It does not create meaning in our lives, nor does it leave us healthier or feeling more connected to our communities.” Another website quoted that if every person in the world live like average Americans, we’d need five planets to live off of. That, to me is terrifying and embarrassing. Globalization and capitalism are to blame- negatively. Greenwashing means that the consumer is tricked into thinking that a product or production of a product is eco-friendly. My family and I already pay premium prices for organic foods. There aren’t many local markets in this area, but when we visited Cincinnati, Ohio, we went to a huge fantastic market that only sold local grown and raised goods. The restaurants only used the foods from the vendors within the same market. It is called Findlay Market. We would love to have a market like that here in Naples, or at least Ft. Myers. That being said, if there were more mom and pop stores, we would certainly frequent them more. I do quite a bit of shopping at a local Haitian market when I run out of spices and special things that I cannot buy at the regular grocery store. I do refuse to shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joes for the majority of our groceries because I do believe that the prices are jacked up just to serve the retailer’s name. Holistically, we try to make the right decisions, economically and ethically. Sometimes it can be difficult.

Blog #10

I didn’t grow up here in Southwest Florida, but the field trip to the Southwest Florida Museum of History helped me to learn a lot about the history of Ft. Myers. My wife grew up in Lehigh Acres and she told me that going to Ft. Myers was a big deal when she was younger because that’s where all of the stores were, particularly the mall. Before the field trip I had been to downtown Ft. Myers a few times, my wife loves Centennial Park. It appears that downtown Ft. Myers flourished for a time period, but like everything, it’s fire went out for a while due to the economy and morale. More activities are being held downtown in order to draw more attention to the businesses and the area. The window shops are designed to rekindle the “pedestrian” spirit. The museum was very informative as far as the natives and their tools and ways of life. The iron lung was fascinating and my sons especially loved the war artifacts. As far as sustainability goes, downtown Ft. Myers can relate because it is resilient and appears to be bouncing back. I would love to see it flourish as the downtown area where I live in Naples.

Blog #9

To be honest, we could certainly use more Jimmy Cardigans right now, about a billion of them. I’d like to think of myself similar to that persona. As described in previous blogs, we have made many changes in our home and lifestyle to be healthier all around; healthy for us and healthy for our planet. Like trading in our SUV for a 4 cylinder car and cutting our cable. Cutting the cable reduces the amount of time we sit in front of the television burning electricity. Instead, we burn calories or read. I agree with steering us away from non-renewable energy sources. We have so many resources available to us that are free and will never run out. Solar energy is the one with the most potential. Solar energy is also the source of other renewable energies that we use such as wind and plants. We are looking into retractable indoor clotheslines so that we can stop using the dryer when washing clothes. That, over time, should save not only money but energy, reducing our footprint at my address. In the next five years, we plan to have our air conditioner converted to solar power, and eventually, have a home built to run on solar power altogether.

Blog #8

I believe that climate change is a combination of man and nature. I would consider a source reputable if it were backed by research and not just sentiment and opinion. We don’t have cable in our home. Aside from couponing and buying organic, my wife and I believe that cable television is a waste of time and money. Our children read books and play board games, video games, and we interact quite a bit as a family unit on a daily basis. So what I see from the media isn’t much, just the local news at night. I have seen blurbs here and there about automobiles being a major pollutant and the amount of gas causes our natural resources to dwindle lower and lower each year. The increased pollutant from these autos is a main source of the climate issues reportedly. As a matter of fact, we have recently traded in our 8 cylinder sport utility vehicle for a 4 cylinder car that is a little newer. I have to admit that I feel a sense of relief now that we aren’t dumping as much gasoline into a vehicle like we used to; not only for our bank account, but for the environment. I truly hope that our children and grandchildren will be able to enjoy what we have enjoyed for all of these years. I feel that people have really noticed what has happened to our planet and changes and laws are being made to protect it. I think that in the future, there will be more strict regulations in place for citizens and nations to follow.

Blog #7

     Eucalyptus trees originated in Australia but have been introduced to areas of the United States. The trees appear harmless and beautiful, after all they are trees. Trees represent life, strength, and shelter. Benefits of genetically altering trees might seem ideal at first by providing strong, resilient trees to areas that have been stripped or have lost its native trees over time from foresting or chemically altered grounds. Initially, it would be perceived as a no brainer, plant the trees, save the forests!

     I am a firm believer that we should not introduce something new to an environment. We have all heard stories about frogs, birds, vines, etc. that has been introduced to the United States over the years and have proliferated in exponential amounts and have changed ecosystems. Right here in our backyards, we are experiencing the very same situation with pythons and boa constrictors. Escaped from pet stores and homes during Hurricane Andrew and released from owners that have changed their minds, these snakes have taken over the Everglades. They eat the natural wildlife in the swamps that are staggering to stay within acceptable numbers as it is with the Everglades vanishing little by little.

     I believe that the GE trees will do the same. According to the Global Justice Ecology website, in California, where eucalyptus trees have already been introduced in the 1800s, the government spends millions to try to eradicate them. The trees fuel wildfires, take over water sources above and below ground causing drought, destruct the carbon rich forests, and are known hosts of a fungus that is deadly to humans and animals. They have taken over and are eliminating the native plants and animals by changing the native ecosystem.

     So in my opinion, the benefits of having trees do not outweigh the risks of the type of tree being considered. If ArborGen wants to be green and genetically develop trees, then they should develop trees that are native to the area in which they wish to plant them. Otherwise, the ulterior motives are only going to further damage our gentle ecosystem and we will be in a worse predicament than we are now in five years.