My initial expectations of University Colloquium are mixed. I expect to learn about sustainability, and am interested in learning about this topic, but I also expect to be indoctrinated to believe that Global Warming is a full-fledged truth. I personally find it quite partisan for the school to teach such a class, or rather to force all students to take such a class. I am interested to hear the topics in the class, but at the same time, I disagree with this very biased class being required for graduation.
I have very little outdoor experience, as I have never really been an outdoorsy person. Until this summer, I had never even been camping. Although I enjoy walking nature trails and learning about nature, I have never been interested in taking a course on the topic. However, since it is a required class, I will try to make the best of it.
Blog 2: Your neighborhood
I took a walk through my neighborhood tonight and realized that my apartment complex is not very green. Our complex was built in the early 1990’s, so I did not really expect to find green architecture. However, our complex is very secluded, even though it is in a very busy part of Fort Myers. All along the road to our apartment, tall pine trees shade the road, with oak trees at each corner. There are always all kinds of birds. Vultures fly over the parking lots and dumpsters, while ducks swim in the pond in our backyard. There are also many fish in the pond.
The Vulture by the dumpster
The same vulture swooped by my head... Scared me!!!
Birds by our pond...
The road to our apartment...Blog 3: Sense of Place
My favorite place to be is my bedroom. I love being cozy and comfortable in my queen size bed, with a down comforter. Reading in bed is my favorite thing to do. Snuggle up with my teddy bear, a nice cup of tea, and a good book. Nothing could be better for me. The dark furniture we have reminds me of when I was a kid; my parents had dark furniture in their room, and I always felt at ease with them. The decorations make it homey, just like my room from when I was in high school. My bedroom comforts me and makes me feel at ease.
Blog 4: Field Trip #1: Echo
ECHO was a very interesting and informative field trip. I learned a lot about plants, and the agricultural areas around the world. I enjoyed it. I have several friends that have taken the class before, and they told me it was boring. I, however, enjoyed it. I feel like I learned a lot about the environment.
I grew up in a small town, where everyone had at least an acre to work with. My dad had a garden, and I helped him tend to it most of the time. I enjoy gardening, but unfortunately, gardening is difficult if you do not have the means to create decent soil and protect the plants from the extreme heat. We tried to garden when we moved here, but had great difficulty. We do have a plant that I saw today though, we have, three actually, plantain trees. They don’t produce fruit (or maybe they do, but the dogs probably eat them). If I had to grow my own food, I would figure out how to make the soil better, and build proper coverings.
I never knew people ate rabbits!! :(
Rice
Vermiculture... Lots of worm poop. Blog 5: Future of Food
My favorite snack is salad. I eat it every day when I get home from class, at dinner, and sometimes for a snack after the gym. I usually make it with the prepackaged lettuce (romaine lettuce, carrots, and red cabbage, and sometimes iceberg lettuce), a lot of cut up cucumber, grape tomatoes, shredded Colby jack cheese, and some ranch dressing. The cucumbers and tomatoes are usually Florida grown. If possible, we get them at the farmers market, so they are locally grown. The lettuce and ranch dressing are packaged in California. In addition, we buy Vermont Cheeses. None of the ingredients in my salad are genetically modified.
I found the “Future of Food” documentary to be very interesting. I learned a lot about the people behind genetically engineered (GE) food. I have personally kept abreast of the political debate of GE food. Politicians are crooked when it comes to anything, which is why it did not surprise me when the movie said that former Attorney General John Ashcroft had rallied for allowing GE food without proper labeling. I wish it did, though. All GE food should be properly labeled and signage in stores should be extremely obvious. Consumers deserve to know what they are buying, especially since most of them have not been around long enough to know the long-term effects of ingesting such foods.
