Ft. Myers Beach Trip

 I have been to Ft. Myers beach over the years, many times since moving to Florida over eight years ago. However, where we went was somewhere that I didn't know existed, had no clue how to even get to, and no idea what to expect. The professor had been many times over the years, he even lived on the beach for part of the year. We took a bus to the beach and turned onto a couple back roads and pulled into a small parking lot. We were at Matanzas Pass Preserve. The building was covered with wood inside and out and had displays of the history of Ft. Myers Beach. Cookies, lemonade, and crackers with jam awaited us when we came into the main room filled with chairs. The cookies were delicious and the lemonade refreshing. We all took seats and a sweet, little elderly lady came around the corner out of the kitchen holding a bunch of papers in her hand. Her name was Jo and seemed to fill the room with warmth. Her family had been growing seagrape jelly for generations and was looking forward to a bountiful harvest in the fall and how the jam she had put out wasn't actual seagrape jam. Jo moved to Ft. Myers in 1936 when she was just five years old. She talked about the downfall of the local net fishing industry and how past hurricanes have changed the geography of Ft. Myers Beach. She even went to talk about how a local cult lost its leader's tomb to the hurricane, which has never been found. It was easy to tell she was passionate at the place that she lived in and had many more stories than the ones she had described to us. We all grab another cookie, some more lemonade and took a bathroom break before we went outside. The breeze was cool on our faces as we huddled around a site with benches. The professor talked about what was happening to the local environment from all of the pollutants in the river. The trail was on a boardwalk and the ground, with growth everywhere. We saw examples of all three types of mangroves, black, white, and red. I thought the red mangroves were the most appealing because of how they grew and reproduced, with roots growing up from the earth a few feet above the ground level to the rest of the plant. The trail split into two parts and we headed left onto the mangrove path. We pasted a decaying raccoon, and the musky smell of skunk lingered in the air. It was a local plant that surprisingly didn't smell worse the closer you got. We saw a plant called Cat's Claw, which had sharp thorns on it as well. We rested for a bit in a local pavilion and discussed how Rick Scott's legislature has changed Florida's environment laws and has taken a step back in environmentalism. We saw passerbys in boats, pelicans swooping in and out of the water and even a Bald Eagle. It was the first time I have ever seen one and was surprised to see one in Florida, even though I found out that Florida is prime habitat for Bald Eagles, as described by the professor. We started to walk back to the entrance, and I had so many more thoughts in my head about this place. It was like walking through a different part of Florida, a place I had never known existed. The forest was so incredibly pristine, with plants everywhere. Heading on to the bus I promised myself to go on the other trail sometime, to make sure that I can back to the little slice of nature nestled next to the glamor and partying of Ft. Myers Beach.

An Inconvenient Truth

 When I think of Al Gore, two things pop into my head; the highly debated 2000 election and the slander he gets for the things he does by politicians. When the professor told us we were watching his documentary, I was unsure what to think. Prior to viewing, I knew who Al Gore was and that he was an environmentalist but that was all. I had mixed feelings about what was going to be played, whether I would believe him, enjoy his documentary, or even stay awake. Nonetheless, the documentary was the complete opposite. The man behind my mental enigma grasped me, and kept me interested. He was funny, and had a certain aura around him that was felt through the screen. He talked about global warming and the extent to which humans have destroyed our natural environment. Being an engineer, I wanted facts, graphs, material details to prove the phenomena he talked about. He provided a plethora of all of these; pictures, correlations, graphs, facts, and many more things that tore me up inside. One of the best graphs he showed was the temperature over time graph, that cleared showed how hot our planet is truly becoming. Instead of trying to stay awake, I was trying to contain my anger that I had inside for my fellow man. I do my best to be environmentally friendly; not litter, turn of the lights, and ask people to do the same but the data he showed me proved that things are only growing exponentially worse. From every single picture he provided, it made em feel like our future is more bleak than ever imagined. I wanted it to stop, to stop hearing about what was happening and to go fix it. To leave where I was and march to Washington to make action, to write letters to whoever would listen, to force Exxon-Mobil to change their destructive ways. Other parts of the world are becoming just as disgusting as we are; China opens an insane amount of coal-burning fossil-fuel-using mother-nature-killing power plants every week and I believe they will be the new United States in nature destroying policies. Not saying that we have come a long way from 20 years ago, we are making progress yes, but there is so much more that can be done. As the movie concluded, my disgust, anger, and sadness for the human race rolled off my skin into the air. However, one thing that did calm me slightly was how the end of the movie provided ideas for humans to do to reduce our impact on mother earth. As a result, when class was over, I was still disgusted and angry, but a lot less sad; they may be hope for us after all.

Corkscrew Swamp

 When we traveled to corkscrew swamp I was unsure where it was, what I was going to see, or what I was going to learn. The weather was bleak at best and the smell of smoke from the far away forest fires lingered in the air. The preserve was located far from any civilization and was in its own little nook of the road, I doubt I would be able to find it again. Standing at the entrance, the professor explained what the whole place was about with the National Audubon Society being the biggest role player in its existence. The professor's apparent love for the place made more interested as time went on, he knew every plant, animal, and sound that we heard. We stopped at a couple places to talk about wood storks, the population of which had decreased exponentially when man came to Florida. I found it really interesting to hear about the history of the birds and their plume feathers, which at one time were worth twice there the weight in gold! With the rain coming down we headed inside and huddled around three large displays. They showed the everglades in the pristine condition in the late 1800's till present day, which are now being strangled by roads and civilization. I found it disturbing to see how we have ruined one of the most important natural resources we have. We then went to go talk about the Living Machine, which is an environmentally friendly way to recycle and treat water with the use of plants. I could see it being implemented in every household and how easy it would be to make. The swamp was underneath a huge boardwalk system which expanded far into the distance. On one side of the boardwalk you could see the untouched forest, with all the low lying palms and taller slash pines. The other side had much less plant life, indicating a recent prescribed burn. The burns help limit the amount of fuel for unintended fires and also help wildlife come to the area. We felt the boardwalk have a slight downward slope and came into a marsh. In front of us was a forested area and behind us the palm filled land. It was absolutely amazing to see three distinct, different ecological zones thriving right next to each other.  It felt like I had traveled from Florida, to North Carolina, to Pennsylvania in an instant. The marsh was filled with grasses and we searched for deer and other wild life to no avail. The forest was much more interesting, every twist and turn revealed something different. One thing that was cool was how the Skipper Butterfly would go inside an unopened leaf and eat, which lead to a circular pattern of holes when the leaf finally opened. Coming around one corner we saw a White Ibis which was being stalked by a huge alligator. We waited in suspense for any sign of seeing it getting gobbled up by the gator. A bit further we saw more gators, a total of five for the day. Turning around, we saw a Red-shouldered Hawk perched on a branch, it was awe-inspiring. It was one of most beautiful birds I had ever seen with my own eyes. As we left, I felt happy for the things I had learned, saw, and experienced on our visit, and told myself to come back and see it again.

Mixed Bag

 Getting ready for the first day of colloquium I was unsure what to expect. I had heard about it from friends, all of which said it was more of a pain than anything else. Nonetheless, I told myself to be open about the class and to not expect anything. I had bought a bike the day before, intending on riding to class, which was only a couple miles from my house. Leaving for class, I crossed the street on brand new bike and after a couple revolutions peddling, the chain popped off and I heard the sound of plastic breaking. I fixed it no problem. My bike chain broke three more times on the way to class. I walked in twenty minutes late with eyes all on me. However, the professor seemed like a pretty easygoing person and likable enough. My classmates seemed to come from all walks of life and I the first day uneasiness went away. The professor talked about little known facts about the environment, everything from the Osprey nesting outside to the way that Americans are funding both sides of the war on terror. Moreover, I felt my assumptions of what the class was about changed, I started to actually enjoy this class! Before long, we were sitting outside closer to the Osprey nest talking about what everyone wanted to do and who they were, we really were a mixed bag of people. We discussed the environment, something I had little experience talking about. Nonetheless, I wanted to do more and more for it as it went on, I considered changing my major to environmental engineering on the new found zeal for the environment. As the first class drew to a close, my outlook changed from dreading this class to wanting more from it.