Journal 3
Six mile cypress was an amazing experience. I have been living in Fort Myers for almost four years now and I never even knew that it existed. Walking onto the trail, it feels like you are entering a whole new world.
One of the major questions that I had when going on this trip to Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve was, “What in the world is a slough?” This question was answered while on the boardwalk. A slough is a type of forested wetland with slowly flowing freshwater. I was glad that my question was answered because it was bothering me to say the least! The water that is at Six Mile Cypress eventually makes its way into Estero Bay. I thought that was very interesting!
As I was walking, it was evident to me that the home that this Slough creates for so many lifeforms is so important. Which is why it should be important for us to maintain it! Something that I noticed was how clean everything was, I think that I noticed only one piece of trash as I was walking through which made me extremely happy.
One of my favorite parts while walking one the trail were all of these fu quotes that were placed for everyone that is visiting to see. All of them were so different yet, they all spoke volumes about what this place is. Placing them all over the place gave the visitors of Six Mile Cypress the opportunity to stop and think for a minute. Time to think about what this special place means to not only us as humans but to the environment as a whole.
Being able to relax and reflect on my time at Six Mile Cypress while gazing into the calm waters of the slough made me take time to appreciate life, all of the little things. Just having the opportunity to walk and be immersed into such a beautiful ecosystem is something that I should be appreciative of. We all should!
All in all, having the opportunity to walk and experience the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve was incredible. It really made me realize that there is so much to see here and sometimes I neglect that since I have lived in Florida my entire life. Being able to walk and be so immersed in this environment opened my eyes to just how important places like Six Mile Cypress can really be. I look forward to going back soon!
Journal 4
Throughout my time at FGCU, the environment and sustainability has been a huge topic of discussion. In a few of the classes that I have had, the Earth Charter has been brought up but, I have never gone in depth about it like the way we have in colloquium. A big reason why I believe we were able to have such an in-depth conversation, like the one we had in class, is due to the freedom we had to discuss our thoughts about everything that the Earth Charter holds.
I think that my favorite part of the Earth Charter that was a wow moment for me is how focused on the future generations to come it is. In the day that we are in we are so focused the people here now and the resent, which I don’t think is bad but, when we are so focused on us now, we tend to forget about the things that we are doing very much effects future generations to come. I believe that the entire Earth Charter is applicable to some extent, and if they were all practiced little by little, there would be huge changes to Earth and the way that it is doing now.
The major force that may hinder the full implementation of the Earth Charter is us, humans. More and more we are showing that we care more about ourselves versus the way that we are taking care of the planet and it is sad. There are a multitude of ways that we could overcome this but, I think that the major way we can overcome it is if we atop making it all about us. We need to realize the damage that we are, and have been doing to the world over the past decade.
One of the topics of discussion that we have brought up frequently is the greed that humans have and I really do think that it is the reason why we are in the position that we are in on this Earth. Humans, as a whole, are so greedy about everything that we do. If you look at what we use versus what we actually need…. the difference tremendous. There is no reason whatsoever why we use the amount of resources hat we do, we are wasting so much and it heartbreaking. This is why the Earth Charter is so important and a crucial set of guidelines that we all should follow. And, I’m not saying that we need to be extremists, but doing a little and showing effort goes a very long way.
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