Calculate your Ecological Footprint

http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumerconsequences/

Reflect on the results. What is your score? How many Planet Earths? Reflect on what this means to you and your family. Evaluate your lifestyle and your family's lifestyle? What changes are you/they willing/not willing to make in your/their lifestyle to promote a sustainable planet? What do you think about these results? Will you change the way you live? How? Or do you think you need to change the way you live? Why?

Well, I received a 4.4. This means that if everyone was like me then it would take 4.4 earths to sustain my living habits. My highest number was under the food category; all my other numbers were under 3 and one was zero. I hardly eat out...rarely lunch with my husband. I think that if I try to incorporate more organic foods maybe that would help, but I am not exactly sure what I am doing wrong. I cook almost every night.

I think that if my family recycles out product packages more that it might help. I would love to cut down on our garbage. I must say though that we only put out 1 can of garbage for a household of five. (three young kids for that matter) I thought we were doing good.

We do try to conserve our electric bill as much as we can, but it is not for the planet that we do it....sad to say. The reason we conserve is to try to cut down on the cost of the electric bill. We recently moved from a house we built five years ago. Our old house had well water and septic; now we have city water and sewer. It has been hard getting use to trying to conserve the water based on the payment. We always try to conserve water for Earth's sake though. When brushing our teeth we always, always, always turn the water off. I never do dishes with the water running constantly. A few years ago we bought energy efficient washer and dryer front loaders to try to cut down on water and electric. We try not to run the heat if we can stand it.....but that is for cost purposes...once again.

I think for the most part we live a clean environment life. I do think that a few changes are necessary. We need to recycle more. This is a MUST!

Autumn Barionnette

Environment in the News

"Crews work overnight after 462,000 gallons went into port waterway" (MSNBC, 2010).

Surfing the web today for a current environmental topic I found one that seems very important and all over the news.

A collision between a 800-foot tanker and a towing vessel spilled about 462,000 gallons of oil. This was the largest spill in Texas in 16 years. There was another spill about 20 years ago involving Norwegian tanker Mega Borg that leaked 4.3 million gallons of crude oil about 60 miles off Galveston. "Two sensitive wildlife areas nearby remain unaffected by the spill, which is mostly contained in a 2-mile stretch of the Sabine Neches Waterway near Port Arthur, about 90 miles east of Houston" (MSNBC, 2010). Nearly half the oil that spilled has evaporated, dispersed or been recovered from the water at this point.

Please read more and see pictures at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35033604/ns/us_news-environment/

Autumn

Field Trip #1 - Campus and Trails

On January 19, around 11:30 I took my children on a nature hike through my FGCU campus nature trail. I wanted them to see nature up close and personal. I worried that they might not like to get dirty or might be scared. To my surprise they loved going. My four year old was a little hesitant but, still participated. The funny thing was he had to go pee-pee really bad and did not understand there was not a bathroom. I told him to pee by the bushes and the plants would love a drink. I caught a picture of this, so funny.

My oldest son (9) and my daughter (7) took a walk on a long tree that fell. They saw that it was slippery from the dew and moss that had grown on the tree. Burrs stuck to their clothes and they had fun picking them off each other. We all laid in the hammock. They thought that was a blast. My daughter and I took a picture of how the trees looked from in the hammock. I had them listen to how nature sounds or if they could hear any animals. It scared my four year old a bit, but he listened....probably only to run if he heard something...hahaha.

We stayed four about 2 hours. We tried to play a game of who could find the most strange stuff. I took my mom also, she loves nature.

I have included several pictures that show our journey.

I let my oldest be the head of our line through the trails. This made him feel important. My daughter kept close behind her brother, but the baby (4) stayed glued to my leg. We found a few huge mushrooms. My oldest laid on a tree full of green moss. My four year old found small round berries. Not sure what they were, but they knew not to eat them. I took a picture of a butterfly but, it did not turn out. It looked like a monarch butterfly. I remember this from school when I was a kid, but my oldest looked it up on the Internet to make sure. We found a plant full of red leaves, not sure what they were. I had them all on the look out for poison ivy!

When I had them quiet down to listen for animals and just to how nice nature sounds they thought it was "cool!" My oldest tried to say he heard ants building their houses, hahaha!

Overall we had a good time!

Autumn Barionnette

Reflection of your choice

Nature or "outside" is such an important part of the lives of children. Richard Louv describes the importance so perfectly in his writing "Gifts of Nature". I remember as soon as I got home from school and my homework was done, I would rip off my school clothes and put on my play clothes and run out the door. I would not come inside until it was dark. Shoes were not a necessity. Shoot they were more of a problem than a need. I caught tadpoles for hours. I chased chickens until I was out of breath. I rode my bike everywhere. I smelled like a hobo by the time I came in and my body was filthy, full of dirt and sweat, but my fingernails were painted, nice pretty pink. My cousin and I made a house out of a great big dirt pile and leaves were our money. We collected different color dirt, large and small leaves, sticks, and rocks. We wrapped the different color dirt in the leaves and that was our pretend food. Swinging on the tree rope was fun even when it gave you a nice rope burn.

Mu children don't see this closeness to nature. I don't know how to provide them with what I had. I grew up this way because I was poor and lived on a farm. I had an outhouse. My kids would not even know what an outhouse was if I showed them. I try to go outside and play with them as much as I can, but it seems as if activities need to be planned now a days. Children don't amuse themselves as much as we did growing up. A stick, dirt, and a bike took care of us for hours. If I gave my children those same three things they would think I was crazy. It is not that they are stuck up or too proud to play with them it is just that they would not know how. Kids now a days have so many other options to stay inside.

I must say that the park for my children is fun and they will play with sand there, but not at home. The beach is fun and the zoo is fun, but those are all outings that must still be planned. I wonder how I can provide the closeness that I had with nature for my children? Any ideas?

Autumn Barionnette

Sense of Place - Your Neighborhood

I took a walk with two of my three children around several blocks in my neighborhood. We live in Cape Coral, Florida. I grew up in North Fort Myers, Florida. The road that my children walk is completely different then the roads I walked on when I was little. The road is black and grey with a type of shell molded in the cement. When I was a child my road was dirt with rocks protruding up to stub your toe on.

I tried to show them that just because we live in a more city like neighborhood nature is still around us. We made a game out of how many plants we can identify in our neighbors' yards. Some of the plants included hibiscus, coconut palms, st. Augustine grass, magnolias, roses, impatients, and a man even planted lettuce and cabbage in his front yard.

One problem that we had on our walk was fighting the cars and getting out of the way of the cars so that they did not hit us. I did not experience that problem, cars were not a big issue. I am not saying that they did not exist in the 1980s, of course they did, but they did not come around the corner every 3 minutes.

We took a picture. We only had one left on the camera. What kind of flower do you think that this is a picture of?

Autumn

Incoming Reflection

Yes, my name is truly Autumn. My initial thoughts when enrolling in the FGCU colloquium was hoping that I have a few experiences that I would not normally have without taking this class. I grew up in farm country so, it is not like I have never been one with nature. I hated shoes when I was little. I ran outside over rocks and stumps without any thoughts or concerns. Now, that I am an adult with children of my own it is hard for me to check the mail without shoes on. The childhood that I had is completely different that the one my children are living. I had many animals, rolled in dirt, and did not come inside until it was dark outside. It was great for me! I lost my connection with our world, but that does not said I don't remember. I love to tell my husband and children of the life I lived as a child. When we all go out as a family and I recognize something like a plant or animal I stop and tell my children and husband what I know. The problem that I see is that my family should be experiencing what I was able to experience as a kid. I hope this class allows for some ideas to connect my children and husband with nature as I once was.

Autumn