Journal 7: FGCU Green Campus Tour!

I am very proud to say that I am a Florida Gulf Coast University Student, because this campus is fighting everyday to become a sustainable campus. Some "green" improvements that FGCU has made since opening the school are installing the "Big Belly" trash compactors, recycling, cooling system, solar panels, campus draining system, and overall structure of the buildings. Since the school is growing rapidly, more efforts have been made to keep up the "green" campus lifestyle. Listening to the Physical Plant presenters and going on the campus tour has made me more aware of the natural beauty on campus and how much work is put into being an environmentally friendly campus.

The cooling system at FGCU! It saves the campus money by freezing at night and then using the melted water to cool down the  classrooms. Since the campus has grown so much over the past few years, they want to add on to this cooling system, so that the campus keeps saving its money

The Physical Plant presenters gave us a lot of information before our tour about the campus. The Physical Plant helps with the environmental aspects of the campus. Some of the programs that they have helped to start up are Eagles <3 Tap Water, Turn Me Off, and FGCU Recycles. They have gone and put spigots on the water fountains for the students to fill up reusable bottles, placed recycling bins all over campus, made efforts to expand the cooling system, and installed things like the "Big Belly" to help insure the environmental sustainability of the campus. This is the Physical Plants main website just in case you would like to read up on these items or any of the other efforts being made by this department: http://admin.fgcu.edu/phyplant/homepage.htm.

 On the tour we walked out to the courtyards. Here we observed the "Big Belly" trash compactors that the presenters had talked about. Even these trash compactors make a difference. They compact the trash so that there are less frequent trash pick up days and there are no plastic bags to worry about. We also admired how nice the courtyard was, because it provided a ,perfect shaded, study area for students while they waited for their classes to start. It was shaded thanks to the many trees planted by FGCU. Some of the trees that were pointed out were the Cabbage Palm, White Oak, and Slash Pine Tree. These trees not only provide shade for the students, but they also provide shelter and food for the wild animals that live on campus. Walking through the breezeway, are attention was brought to the rocks that had been placed along the side of buildings on campus. These rocks were put there to be a drainage system and to prevent erosion. I had always thought they had been placed around the buildings for decoration.

Zebra Longwing Butterfly

The final two stops were to the water. When we stoped at the bench by the lake, our professor told us that FGCU is trying to plant a White Oak Tree beside every bench that they install. While observing the water we saw the Zebra Longwing Butterfly and the Spatter Dock. I observed so many different plants and animals around the FGCU campus on this tour.

Spatter Dock

 Even before this "Green" campus tour I knew that FGCU was striving to have a our campus be environmentaly sustainable, but since touring I got a first hand look at all of the ways they have helped this campus reach some of its goals. Even though living sustainably is an ongoing event, it is still nice to be going to a school that is aware of the environment and finds ways to insure that they stay this way, even though the campus is growing at such a fast pace. Overall, the tour was very informative and inspiring.

Journal 6: How Much Energy Do I Use?

                             This is a journal of how many times I use anything that requires electricity in a 24 hour period. I will also list all of the consumer goods that I have used throughout the day, that were covered in a packaging. When I woke up at 9 A.M. I used a toaster, coffee machine, light switch, and radio. For breakfast, I ate an egg bagel with philadelphia cream cheese. I used a toaster oven for the bagel, and to make my coffee I used a coffee pot. I put fat free milk and two sugar packets into my coffee. I drank tap water for the entire day. Before leaving for class I made sure to shut off all of my bedroom lights. I was in class from 10:45 A.M. to 4:45 P.M.. I only had a twenty minute break during this long day. During the break I stopped in at Subway to get a six inch turkey sub and a brisk iced tea. After classes, I walked home and started on my homework it was still light outside so I opened up the blinds instead of turning on the lights. I used my computer to finish the sixty math problems. After I finished my math homework, I took a break to cook dinner. I put a lean cuisine into the microwave and sat down to watch a little television. I stayed out in the living room to read up on some of my books for classes. When my roommate came home we watched Glee. After Glee, I was very tired so I took my book to bed, and I ended up falling asleep reading. During the middle of the night I woke up to turn off my lights and went back to sleep.

 The packaged items that I used throughout the day were bagels, cream cheese, coffee, milk, sugar, subway sandwich, brisk sweet tea, and a lean cuisine. After going back and looking at all of the items that I used I realized that all of the products try to grab the buyers attention. For example, the milk had fat free right on the front of the carton, the sugar packet was pink, and the coffee can was red and had a scenery of the mountains and the sun shining. The bagels have a saying on it that states that these bagels last longer than any other. The garden vegetable cream cheese has a light label on it and vegetables on it. Subway wraps sandwiches in paper and plastic bags and there logo is eat fresh. The brisk iced tea is flashy and blue with yellow writing and definitely appeals to the buyers eye. The lean cuisines have picture of the meals on the box, and they also  have the nutrition value right on the front of the box. For those people who are trying to watch their weight it definitely gets peoples attention, because it is an easy and quick way to eat a healthier meal. I noticed that all of the packaging was geared toward catching the buyers eye and appetite. Living in a consumer society, I can definitely tell that producers of products base the way a product is distributed in the grocery store.

Journal 5: Downtown Fort Myers Field Trip

    I was very excited to go on the downtown Fort Myers field trip. I have been living in Fort Myers for three years now, but I have never even been to the downtown area. When driving through the the downtown Fort Myers area I was impressed with the general upkeep of the places that we visited. During the field trip we ran all over the place. We had a surprise tour through the Edison and Ford Estates. Some places that stuck out in my mind about downtown Fort Myers was the Fort Myers Pier, the Art of Olympians Museum, and the Hotel Indigo.

    When driving through to see the Edison and Ford Estates we drove past the beautiful scenery of Royal Palms lining the roadway. When arriving to the estates we got off in the parking lot just to look around, but we were not planning on going inside. We were told it cost to much to for the students to walk the grounds. However, once we arrived to the estates, our Professor was able to get us onto the estate grounds for free. It was an inspiring moment walking onto the grounds. Thinking about the great minds that have walked along the sidewalk and living in those houses. I feel very lucky to have been a part of this experience.

    I thought the Fort Myers Pier was very nice, and going out to look over onto the river was very peaceful. We also visited the Art of Olympians. This was my favorite part of the field trip! It was very cool to see all of these olympic medalist achieving perfection in every day life, as well. It makes me think that anything is possible if you put all of your effort into it. The Hotel Indigo was a boutique hotel. We were able to go up to the top floor and overlook all of downtown Fort Myers, and being so far up we were able to see the try beauty of the city instead of just worrying about the hustle and bustle of the world. Overall, this was my favorite field trip! I got to see many beautiful places, and also learned more about the city that I live in.