Downtown Fort Myers

Ft. Myers was one of the first forts built along the Caloosahatchee River as a base of operations against the Seminole Indians.

During the 1870's, two general stores, a school and a number of private homes were built. 

By 1885, the population was up to 349, the Ft. Myers Press was in operation, people were beginning to settle along the river away from the immediate fort area, and Ft. Myers was about to gain its most famous resident. 

In 1885, Thomas A. Edison visited the town, fell in love with it, and within 2 years, he had built his home and laboratory on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River.

Today, Downtown Fort Myers has a lot to offer. They have many events, such as the art walk. Downtown offers beautiful high rise condominiums and wonderful restaurants and bars.

It is always a fun time going downtown and to know that there is so much history behind it makes it twice as nice. 

Being able to notice the architecture of the buildings from the older days makes it special to see that builders didn't want to knock it all down and start from scratch.

Final Thoughts on Colloquium

After six weeks of Colloquium I must say I have learned a lot and have had a great semester with my professor and classmates.

My preconceptions of this class were both good and bad. I had heard many bad things and with the help of a great professor that all changed my outlook on the class itself.

Yes, It is required to graduate. Yes, we all have to take it. No, its not going away any time soon. Our school is required to have it. If you go into the class with good thoughts and open ideas no student should have a problem. Some professors are more difficult and take the class more seriously than others. Researching the professor before hand helps out. I did my homework and ended up enjoying my six weeks. My after thoughts of this class are great. I have a few recommendations but nothing to harsh. I do think that this class should be more than just a 3-credit "colloquium" credit. I believe it should count towards 3 credits of your degree. It should be used as a humanities credit just like the visual arts class every student has to take. I think if this was to be done more students wouldn't hate the class so much.
Overall, I have no complaints other than that. The readings were enjoyable and the fieldtrips were great expect for the bug bites.
Thanks for a great semester :) 

10 of Today's Most Important Environmental Issues

1. Climate Change

Global warming has been concerning scientists for decades, but Al Gore legitimized the crisis with his controversial film An Inconvenient Truth. From the melting polar ice caps to catastrophic weather and threatened ecosystems, not only is climate change real, scientists agree that humans are influencing climate change with our production of greenhouse gases (mainly stemming from carbon dioxide and methane). What can you do? How bad is it? Why do so many people still think climate change isn’t real? Is it real? These are just some of the issues worth exploring. The good news is that despite the urgency of the crisis, there are exciting technological developments as well as meaningful lifestyle changes you can make to help.

2. Energy

Clean energy vs. dirty energy. Renewable energy. Energy independence. Petroleum. Biofuels. Coal. ANWR and offshore drilling. Even Paris Hilton has something to say about energy. Energy is second only to climate change in significance, but the picture isn’t as clear as one might think. China is heavily criticized, but did you know the state of California is worse? Look for plenty of myth-busting and interesting news to come, as well as practical tips to reduce your own energy dependence. Though no single energy source is going to be the solution, positive developments toward a cleaner future are happening every single day.

3. Waste

With the immediate looming problems of climate change and energy, focus has shifted away from landfill waste, but this is a serious problem. The world has largely gotten accustomed to a throwaway lifestyle, but that’s neither healthy nor sustainable. Waterways are choked with trash and modernized nations ship their undesirable leftovers to the developing world. Fashion fashion, fast food, packaging and cheap electronics are just some of the problems. The amount of waste the industrialized world generates is shocking. Water bottles are the defining symbol of this critical issue. Fortunately, people are becoming aware of the consequences of “fast consumption” and there are many simple changes you can make in your own life to help significantly reduce landfill waste.

4. Water

Pure Water is in short supply. Our global reserves of drinkable water are a fraction of 1% and 1 in 5 humans does not have access to potable (safe) water. Many people do not realize that strife has already broken out in some stressed regions. There are many potential solutions, some promising, others challenging. Desalinization is an energy-inefficient, expensive option. But there are many things you can do. (Hint: it starts with turning off the faucet when you brush.)

5. Food

Biofuels have turned into a global controversy – the idea that people may causing the starvation of millions in order to fuel their SUVs is sickening. And yet that’s not the whole picture. For example, eating hamburgers has as much or more impact on the global food picture as the use of biofuels. And then there’s the whole issue of “food miles” – at first, local seemed logical, but the situation is more complex than that. It’s all about resources and efficiency. There are big questions: can we support the world without turning to vegetarianism? We know that the planet can’t afford the Western way of eating. It would take 5 earths to support that lifestyle! What about hunting – is that good for the environment? Look for more articles soon exploring the complicated world of food. Fortunately, there are a multitude of tasty diets that incorporate greener values, so it’s not necessary to adhere to veganism, for example.

6. Consumption

This is directly tied to waste. It is well-known that the industrialized world simply consumes in a way that is not sustainable. And the developing world is rapidly imitating the model. Sustainability in the most compelling sense is about long-term solvency. The way we live now is borrowing against the future. Reducing consumption, and smart consumption, are both necessary – and there are many ways to go about doing this. Some methods are pure geek, some are high tech, and some are just common sense. And once you start exploring, you’ll see that it’s actually fun.

7. Land Management

From desertification to polar ice melting to erosion and deforestation, existing land management choices are not serving the planet or its inhabitants very well. The 1990s saw some headway with forest management but the Bush administration’s various initiatives (most notoriously, “Healthy Forests”) have set back progress by decades. There is very little land left that is undeveloped, either with structures or roads. And there is virtually no land left that is not subject to light or noise pollution. The modern green movement believes that in order to create a sustainable future, people will need to return to the conservation spirit Americans were once famous for. That’s a value system that includes meaning, adventure, and self-sufficiency – no wonder so many people are getting inspired.

8. Ecosystems and Endangered Species

The good news is that some species have made a comeback. The bad news is that many more species are now under threat, including indicator species and evolutionarily unique species. (When an indicator species becomes threatened, endangered, or worse, extinct, this means an entire ecosystem faces collapse.) The consequences can have global impact. From the most unusual endangered animals to a complete list of indicator species for key ecosystems and how you can help, you’ll find plenty of fascinating information soon. (Be sure to bookmark this post and check back for updates and links.)

9. The Science of Public Health Issues

Our tomatoes have fish DNA? Killer bugs are on the loose? Superweeds are taking over corn fields? Wild animals are sprouting extra limbs? Autism is on the rise? WTF! What on earth (literally) is going on? From genetic manipulation and cloning to public health issues and food and drug contamination, get to know the new, strange, important and most interesting green issues related to genetic science, agribusiness, public health and more. What’s this about electromagnetic fields? Is all that exhaust on my commute killing me? Do cell phones really cause cancer? Will soy milk give me man boobs? How much of our groundwater is contaminated? Is smog getting worse or better? How much acid rain is there? Why can’t I drink out of streams? These are just some of the fascinating questions you can read about here in future posts. You can look forward to sane analysis that debunks myth and takes fear-mongering to task.

Did you guess the tenth issue? There are more issues, but those are the most critical green challenges. It will take a combination of technological developments and lifestyle changes to address these challenges successfully – and that begins with learning, which is perhaps the most important environmental challenge of all, rounding out the list at 10. Stay tuned for more!

Generation Tech: More Kids can play computer games than ride a bike

9 percent of children aged 2-5 can use a computer mouse, but only 11 percent can tie their own shoelaces. More young children know how to play a computer game (58 percent) than swim (20 percent) or ride a bike (52 percent). There is no gender divide. Boys and girls under the age of 5 were equally adept at using technology.

Italian children are particularly handy with a mobile phone. 44 percent of Italian tots can make a phone call, as opposed to 25 percent in the US. American children are, however, at the top of the leaderboard when it comes to using smartphone and tablet apps, with 30 percent able to operate such an app.An earlier study looked at the increasing tendency of parents to upload pictures of their newborns with the result that 92 percent of children now have an online footprint before they are 2 years old. The average “digital birth” happens at around six months old.

I was walking into a supermarket today and saw a WHOLE family walking inside and every one of them were using their cell phones. 

Technology today is ridiculous and every one uses their cell phones.

This study is interesting. I wouldn't think that more kids would know how to play a computer game rather than ride a bike.

I loved the outside and loved being out of the house with my friends. I couldn't imagine sitting inside all the time with my family on my computer. 

Nature is amazing and kids should embrace it.

Pollution

Pollution is the presence of chemicals at high enough levels in the air, water, soil, or food to threaten the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms.
Pollutants can enter the environment naturally, such as from volcanic eruptions or through human activities, such as from burning coal.
Industrialized agriculture also is a major source of air and water pollution.
Some pollutants contaminate the areas where they are produced. Others are carried by wind of flowing water to other areas.
Pollutants come from 2 types of sources.
Point sources and non-point sources.
-point sources of pollutants are single, identifiable sources.
-non-point sources of pollutants are larger, dispersed, and often difficult to identify.
Pollutants can have 3 types of unwanted effects.
1. disrupt or degrade life-support systems for humans and other species.
2. they can damage wildlife, human health, and property.
3. they can create nuisances such as noise and unpleasant smells, tastes, and sights.

Manatee Park

Opened in 1996, this 17 acre Regional Park is built and operated through a cooperative effort of partners & sponsors. Since opening in 1996, Manatee Park has become an outdoor classroom for visitors of all ages.  A wide variety of plants and animals can be seen while walking through the native plant habitats and beautiful butterfly garden. While small in size, Lee County’s 17 acre Manatee Park provides environmental programs for more than 100,000 visitors annually.  During the cool winter months when the temperature of the Gulf of Mexico and rivers drops below 
68 degrees F, the endangered Florida manatee seeks refuge from the cold waters by swimming 
into the Florida Power and Light warm water discharge canal.  This non-captive manatee sanctuary provides a winter haven for these warm-blooded native mammals that live, feed and raise their young year round in the fresh, brackish or saltwater coastal areas of Florida.   

Myakka State Park

Myakka River State Park is one of Florida's oldest and largest state parks and was developed in 1934.
I visited Myakka a few years ago and absolutely loved going there.

The shallow, winding Myakka River flows 14 miles through Myakka River State Park, attracting and
 providing for a myriad of wetlands and uplands creatures.
The Myakka is the state's only "Florida Wild and Scenic River."

Myakka Canopy Walkway

The canopy walkway is on a spur trail that goes off of the Boylston Nature Trail. The entire loop trail 
takes about 30 to 40 minutes to walk at a very leisurely pace.


My boyfriend and I are actually thinking about spending a weekend in the cabins at Myakka and 
kyaking and hiking the state park.

Alligators

Interesting fact about me: I LOVE alligators.

Adult Florida alligators are usually 6 to 12 feet long. The largest recorded Florida alligator measured 17 feet 5 inches.

Alligators eat fish, birds, turtles, snakes, mammals, and amphibians.

The breeding season begins in the spring. 

Alligators are capable of killing humans, but are generally wary enough not to see them as a potential prey.

In 1967, the alligator was listed as an endangered species 

The lifespan of an alligator is 30-40 years in the wild

They breed at about 8-10 years

Alligators communicate by hissing and bellowing

In the Everglades they have an Alligator Farm.

It contains over 2000 alligators

Home of the famous 14 ft. "Grandpa" alligator, the farm has an awesome staff of Airboat drivers, Alligator Experts, and even Snake handlers.

Living Wisely

Sustainable farming is a method of producing crops for human needs while following ecological practices.  Those practices include:

a)      Satisfying the human’s food and fiber needs

b)      Efficiently using resources while making the lightest human footprint possible and using natural elements to protect and grow food crops rather than synthetic substances. 

c)       Keeping the farming operations viable for economic growth

d)      Enhancing the quality of life for humans

The air at some factory farm test sites in the United States is dirtier than in America’s most polluted cities and exposes workers to pollutant concentrations far above occupational safety guidelines, according to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).

Sustainable agriculture is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals, does not harm the environment, is humane for workers, respects animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities.

Sustainable agriculture is more a way of life than a law or regulation. Each step you take benefits both you and your family, and helps preserve and protect the planet for future generations.

Greener products are a great thing, and they'll become less expensive with availability. But for many, their desirability is tempered by the reality of family economics. The fact also remains that it's not what you buy that makes you green, but what you don't. Hybrid autos are a good green choice, but so is dusting off that bicycle and driving less. Eco fashion is terrific, but so is learning to repair old clothing or buying secondhand.

Sculptor turns rotting oak tree into art

Sculptor turns rotting oak tree into art

Old tree gets new life in downtown Fort Myers

Mantanzas Pass Perserve/Historic Cottage

Saturday June 11th I made up my field trip to the Ft. Myers Beach/Estero Bay Historic Cottage.


Built in 1921, this beachfront cottage served 5 generations of the Davison family. Remembered as the San Castle Kindergarten, it was relocated from Mango Street and dedicated in 1997 as the Estero Island Historic Society and Nature Center

We went into the Cottage and listened to a woman speak about the cottage and walked around and looked at all the pictures and memorabilia.

After that, we went and walked through Mantanzas Pass Perserve. This was a very nice walk and it was early in the morning so it wasn't hot when we got there.

We further went on to the trails and found a trail that was full of water so we turned around and tried another one. But before that, we sat and looked over the perserve.

We got lost and took a trail that really wasn't a trail and ended up just going into a neighborhood and walking the streets to get back to the car.

It was a great/fun experience and I will totally go back for leisure.

Organic Food Industry

Organic Food Industry

• U.S. sales of organic food and beverages have grown from $1 billion in 1990 to $26.7 billion in 2010. Sales in 2010 represented 7.7 percent growth over 2009 sales. Experiencing the highest growth in sales during 2010 were organic fruits and vegetables, up 11.8 percent over 2009 sales Source: Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey 
• Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives
• Foods claiming to be organic must be free of artificial food additives, and are often processed with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripening, food irradiation, and genetically modified ingredients. Pesticides are allowed so long as they are not synthetic.Organic farms do not consume or release synthetic pesticides into the environment—some of which have the potential to harm soil, water and local terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.
• Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals.
• When calculated either per unit area or per unit of yield, organic farms use less energy and produce less waste, e.g., waste such as packaging materials for chemicals.
• Regarding taste, a 2001 study concluded that organic apples were sweeter by blind taste test. Firmness of the apples was also rated higher than those grown conventionally.

What's on My Food?

What's On My Food?

• 6 suspected hormone disruptors were found on cranberries. These chemicals are linked to cancers, obesity, and developmental disorders.
• Atrazine, a pesticide, is found in 94% of US drinking water. Banned in Europe, atrazine disrupts hormone systems.
• An average American child gets 5+ servings of pesticide residues in their food and water each day.
• 888 million lbs of pesticides are applied each year in the US. That's nearly 3 lbs per person.
• 14 different pesticide residues were detected in one strawberry sample. 697 of 741 tested positive for residues.
• The U.S. agriculture industry uses about 800 million pounds of pesticides annually.
• Homeowners use about 70 million pounds of pesticides annually on their lawns.
• Approximately 90 percent of all households in the U.S. use pesticides.
• In the U.S., about 110,000 pesticide poisonings are reported by poison control centers each year. About 23,000 visit the emergency room for the same reason.

News Article

Drinking water for China, Israeli style

By Karin Kloosterman

May 05, 2011

Israel's IDE Technologies is building China's largest and ‘greenest' desalination plant to meet the country's expanding energy needs.

IDE’s installation in Tianjin.

Normally, "green" and "desalination" are two words that don't go together. Desalination is a process that takes brackish inland or sea water and makes it drinkable.

This can be a lifesaver in countries with limited or no access to fresh water, such as Saudi Arabia or Jordan, but the processes involved gobble massive amounts of energy and produce an unfavorable amount of salt discharge, causing environmentalists to argue that desalination is not a sustainable solution to meet the world's water needs -- especially in countries that can't afford to power the desalination plants.

Now, the Israeli desalination company IDE Technologies has introduced a greener way to pull salt from the world's water. Putting it to the test in China, the Israeli company has created a win-win solution for the environmentally conscious Chinese: using runoff steam from a power plant to help run the desalination plant. The result is water for the power plant, drinking water for the community and salt to sell.

The UK trade magazine Global Water Intelligence is so impressed by the Israeli desalination technology, that in April it named IDE as the "2010 desalination company of the year."

Making what it called “the greatest overall contribution to the desalination industry during 2010” the magazine praised IDE for its “unique competitive position in the global desalination arena during 2010, winning a significant portion of the Chinese desalination business and competing strongly for tenders in the Americas, Southern Europe and elsewhere in Asia.”

For its innovation, the magazine put IDE’s MED desalination plant China on its short list, as a testament to the company’s leadership and ability to take on new environmental challenges and specifications.

Runs on 50 percent less power

Created in Tianjin, China, the Israeli-built IDE MED desalination plant is the country's largest and greenest one yet, says IDE's CEO, Avshalom Felber. Using a process called multi-effect distillation (MED), the plant is claimed to be 50 percent more energy efficient than any other thermal desalination plant today.

In IDE MED, salt water from the sea is heated with steam and then circulated through an evaporator to create an end result of fresh water and salt.

The green element in the design is that the steam used to heat the water before the evaporation process comes from a nearby power plant, making sure that some wasted energy is put to good use.

According to Felber: "The first phase of the Tianjin project is already operating for the last year or so, at 100,000 cubic meters of water per day. Currently we are in the execution process of Phase II, for another 100,000 cubic meters. This is by far the largest desalination plant in China."

The plant consists of four 25,000-cubic-meter units, and an additional four are underway.

Meeting China's growing energy needs

China is considered one of the world's fastest-growing economies. As its population westernizes, so do its industrial and household demands for power and water. People in the Beijing region alone consume 1.5 million cubic meters of water every day.

"Water shortage is a major issue in China," Felber tells ISRAEL21c. "It has a growing population, not yet fully reaching its planned population. And the standard of living is going higher, along with water consumption. It's still less than one quarter of the developed world, but assuming China will catch up, water shortage will be a major restriction for its economic development."

In the China facility, located about 150 miles northeast of Beijing, the desalination plant was contracted by the state-owned energy company SDIC, which had to meet strict regulations now coming into effect in China. Any new power plant must provide its own water source, and also must allocate 80 percent of its wastewater for consumer use. This kind of aggressive policy is meant to ensure that its growing society will benefit from increased industrial growth.

An additional green benefit of the IDE plant, which can generate 15 tons of water from one ton of steam compared to industry standards of 10 tons of water from one ton of steam, is that it produces salt as a commercial commodity.

Dipping its toes into Asian market

IDE, which has already built about 400 desalination plants in 35 countries, has experience in custom-making solutions to fit climate and other special needs.

The new Tianjin plant is IDE's first project in China, and the company is now working with a consortium of large multinationals that plan to put together competitive new tenders, with an eye toward expansion into other parts of China and into the greater Asian market.

In April, IDE picked up a major accolade when it won a 2011 Global Water Award at the Global Water Summit in Berlin. With a keynote address by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the prestigious ceremony attracted hundreds of the top figures from the global water industry.

News Article- From Seed To Feed

From seed to feed

ECHO volunteers teach locals in distressed areas worldwide how to grow their own crops

4:04 PM, Jun. 10, 2011  News Press

Stuart Miller, the retail supervisor of the nursery at Echo in North Fort Myers, shows visitor Bob Krupp the citrus trees available at the public nursery. / Marc Beaudin/news-press.com

Delicate paper packets — filled with seeds for cilantro, red cabbage, cantaloupe, mustard and a host of other plants — rest in perfectly neat rows inside a 50-acre global food farm in North Fort Myers.

Seeds at Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization, or ECHO, soon could end up in Botswana or Bolivia, pushed into the ground by the hands of missionaries who are helping those in distressed areas learn how to cultivate new crops.

Each year, the nonprofit Christian organization sends more than 350 seed varieties to volunteers working in about 180 countries. They help locals grow crops to sustain their villages.

“A seed multiplies exponentially,” said Danielle Flood, public relations and communications manager for ECHO. “We’ve heard stories of one trial packet of seeds sent to the right area in a couple years becomes 100,000 trees … There’s no end to the amount of food it can provide.”

On a recent morning at ECHO, three volunteers sorted tiny carrot seeds, spreading them across plastic yellow trays inside ECHO’s seed-sorting room. The seeds are chilled in freezer-sized Ziploc bags until they’re poured into packets and steamed shut with a trusty clothing iron.

The seed bank is part of an agricultural training mission that’s flourished since the early 1970s, when Indiana businessman Richard Dugger visited Haiti and pledged to help the hungry. In 1981, ECHO broadened its focus from Haiti to all developing nations.

The organization recently opened its first regional office in Thailand. By the end of 2012, it plans to introduce a center in Tanzania in East Africa, with a West African office opening in Burkina Faso the following year.

Approximately 300 volunteers donate their time to the nonprofit, working alongside 35 staff members stationed across the globe and close to 10 interns who live on site in Lee County for a year before they travel overseas to volunteer.

ECHO operates on a $2 million yearly budget, which mostly comes from donations and grants, with about 14 percent drummed up from the sale of plants, plus cookbooks and other items from the gift shop.