A Sweet Beach Cottage

3 types of Mangroves: Red, Black, and WhiteSaw Palmettored and white mangove podsair plant

This week we visited Matanzas Pass Preserve and the Estero Island Historical Cottages. A wonderfully cheery old woman named Jo greeted us with a sweet spread of cookies, lemonade and sea grape jelly, a local delicacy and a hit amongst the class. We learned about the incredible change of local culture and environment from the early 1900's till today.
Jo told her story with a reminiscent intimacy as she experienced it all first hand, having inhabited the island since her birth early in the 20th century. She has experienced the introduction of the electrical grid, the construction and destruction of 3 bridges, the rise and fall of the fishing industry, and a couple life changing hurricanes. (Of those hurricanes, an infamous one in 1926 inspired the University of Miami to name their football team as such).
Estero Island was once a simple fishing village with sprawling beaches and sparkling blue/green waters, a haven for mosquitoes but just as much the same for those disinterested in the city life. Mullet was the prize and luxury meant having the "cadillac" of mosquito repellent sprayers. Jo Hughes grew up in a town of about 400 people, one that now has a year round populous of 5-6 thousand and a winter season of 50-60k! It should go without saying that the activity has severely altered the environment for not only the early settlers, but those that were creating a history well before humans; plants, sealife, land animals, etc. Jo told us that when she was young you could stand on a boat and clearly see 15 feet below, all the way to the sandy bottom! Since people began meddling with major bridges and dams, well, there's now a terribly unfortunate silty foot or two of visibility. Mullet used to be so thick that she swore she could walk across their schools, and oysters and scallops abound- not much to be said of them anymore. Fortunately there is a ongoing effort to restore the oyster reefs as they are capable of individually filtering 9 gallons of water per hour!
Now although the changes have produced many adverse reactions there is still plenty of hope for the area. Conservation 20/20 is a major organization committed to restoring and/or preserving properties of environmental significance, and has done so with Matanzas Pass by aquiring nearly 60 acres at a cost of 1.4 million dollars. Check it out! Conservation 20/20 - Matanzas Pass
FGCU and local residents have also contributed hundreds of volunteer hours towards cleaning the area of debris and restoring those oyster reefs, with many more hours to go.

Once we had enjoyed Jo's presentation and another round of treats, we headed out on the trails to identify some plant life and a few marine animals. We identified and observed mangroves, the treasured sea grape, some turtles and the scurrying crabs. Take a look!

scorpian tailwhite mangrovesblue crab hidingSea grapes

Our First Time

Ninja Sharks. There are four of us (all human). This is our class blog. We're enrolled in a course that may well try to open our eyes and jump start our unsustainable,  massive-amounts-of-toilet-paper-using asses towards action.

                                                                                    

*Neat documentary share*

Colloquium as it's called, seems designed by our university to explain by field and lecture, just how detached we've become from the only planet we currently rely on for life. Some classmates are fully engaged having the eco-centric instructor we do, but many, as their gorgeous lives command, stand indifferent and angry.

 
Our instructor, Dr. Segal, is a man who grows much of his own food and hasn't had a check-up by a doctor in over thirty years. His kids - never in their life. It's best when people are exposed, face to face, to living examples; this one proving that both kids and adults can maintan a healthy, agile mind, body and life should they enjoy a natural diet. 
Dr. Segal's discussion on oil (or lack thereof) was a bit scary, but eye-opening. People should be shown the reality of its finite potential as much as possible. Maybe that will dampen the shock. He explained how the start of agriculture and the Industrial Revolution could have been the greatest influence to many of the problems we're currently facing, such as a lack of sustainable resources and a well over populated planet. Using the tragedy of commons as evidence to support these ideas was very interesting. Although not to be related verbatim, the story can be very telling of today's society. Overall, Dr. Segal's introduction to the course was at times subjectively expressive, but with a personality that hit home. Next week should be easier. We watch a movie. 

WEEK: 2

Enter: Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot and the general demise of the American Lifestyle as we know it! 

                                                                                  
                    

*Click this text for preview*

We were told it might be one of the most depressing movies we would ever watch. Dr. Segal repeated his disclaimer against being responsible for any discomfort or ill feelings, and assured us it will be solutions and proposals from here forward. It troubled me however to see the common reactions of those around the room, or lack thereof. For some, the movie seemed to not have as big of an effect as Dr. Segal's introductory lecture, which is fine, this could easily be contributed to learning styles and perspectives, or a calling for Dr. Segal to begin his film making career. 
With that being said, the film did a great job of challenging our ignorance and facing us with the real shit. It's not CNN, FOX, or Hollywood. It's the world; real life, today, right now, and did in fact bring some of the most important issues to light.
In 1950 we used up 1cal of fossil fuel for every 1cal of food produced, a balanced ratio.
We're now running at 10:1. 
Each day the ground relinquishes 84 million barrels of oil to human resources, and according to scientists that supply curve peaked in 1970.
Human population entered the 20th century with 1.6 billion people and left the century with 6.1 billion. 
Now, focusing on these numbers, it is thought that the world population didn't hit a billion until about 1800 but Anthropologists suggest the human species is about 3 million years young. 
So if they're right, it took 3 million years to reach 1 billion people and a mere 200 years to gain 5.8 billion more. 
Read that twice. 

Those aren't his...

Some argue that third world countries have grown to unmanageable proportions, the cause for our demise. What if we said that a common American leaves 32x the footprint of a common person in India, or that a man in Bangladesh has 75x less the impact on the world than a wealthy American? So we raise a better question; are we overpopulated, or simply over addicted? 
Actually, we're "over" a lot of things. There is a superiority complex, one fueled by the concept of ownership, narcissism and ego mania. 
There is addiction. Addiction to magazines, TV shows, cars, resources, food, houses, ourselves, our image; our false securities. There's a frightening commonality which runs through both a drug addict and the modern resource addict - it isn't until one hits rock bottom, when it's change or die, that one might grasp the magnitude of the problem. 
It could be, quoting Adyashanti, that we're at the point a "biological necessity of survival" for people to wake up. 
The hype of being green and wearing a jewel encrusted peace sign should not be seen as such.
It is no hype and it's not a fad, it's a representation of the truth of the state of the world, and it shouldn't be lost in pop culture and commercials. Many people already take steps toward cohabiting with the planet and that's awesome. There are extremists and skeptics to every situation and either one provokes thought, and just raising a thought will be a crucial component to transforming the way we live. 
Next week we get some field experience. We hope it doesn't rain.