Down to Earth Farm

Last week, I had the opportunity to work at a local farm in Jacksonville. It is very small, and the owners only grow organic fruits and vegetables, although they also grow flowers and raise chickens. While I am not really the farmer type, I admit that I have learned to appreciate the hard work that goes into growing the food that we eat. My job was to carry large trash bags from one side of the farm to the other, and empty the contents in a pile. The bags were filled with leaves that the owners picked up off the sides of the road. Luckily, I didn't have to do it all myself. Several of the bags were pretty heavy, so my partner helped me out. I lost track at how many bags we carried. I was at the farm for 3 hours, and for the majority of that time, there was only 2 of us working, (not counting the professor, the owner, and another volunteer). Once another girl from our class came, we were given a very brief tour, then it was back to work. We managed to get almost all of the bags emptied (it was a very large pile) before I left at 3 o'clock. I had a great time, but I was happy to go home and take a shower!

Food Inc

After watching the first part of Food Inc, I am both shocked and appalled at what goes into our food and where it comes from. I knew that some animals were kept in factories, but I had no idea that the problem was this bad. I didn’t know that most of them are being fed corn which makes the meat contain high fructose corn syrup. I am horrified by the way these animals are being treated before they are sent to the slaughterhouses. Where I live, my landlord owns three cows, and I have never seen him do anything to harm them. They mostly eat grass, and occasionally, he gives them some hay. Sometimes, we give them bread that has gone stale. After awhile, my landlord rakes all of the manure across the cow the cow pasture with his tractor so the grass always stays green and nutritious.

UNF Wildlife Sanctuary

Good evening everyone! For this week's blog, I'm going to tell you about the Wildlife Sanctuary at the University of North Florida. My class was treated to a brief tour last Friday, and I have to say that it was a very interesting experience. The weather was nice, and the tour guides were very friendly. They were more than happy to answer any and all questions we had. One of the most intriguing parts of the tour was when they told us about the Eco Adventures. For a small fee, you can rent canoes and other equipment and then go out on the lakes around the sanctuary. Most of the basic supplies are included, and all of the proceeds benefit UNF students and the preservation of the sanctuary. If you are interested in taking one of these Eco Adventures at UNF, then contact them at www.unf.edu/recsports/nature or by calling 904-620-5951.

Water Conservation

Today in class, we had a guest speaker from the St John's River Management company. She was there to talk to us about water conservation, as well as some ways to find water in other sources. I found her presentation to be very informative. I knew that we get our water from aquifers, but I didn't realize that they absorb fresh water like a sponge, leaving room for salt water to be brought to the surface. This was a surprising fact to learn! Also, I had no idea that the "mandatory" watering rules only had consequences if you were visited more than once by the city's water management people. Only then can you be fined. I wish that we had been able to hear the rest of our speaker's presentation, but, sadly our class is only 50 minutes long, and we ran out of time.

Even the X-Men Care About the Planet!

Hello everyone! I can't believe we are already at mid-terms! This semester has gone by really fast! I've decided to switch gears a little bit to make my blog more exciting. In class, everyone has to present something about Chapter 2 of the Living Green book tomorrow. My group, (clean energy), is focusing on the 7 Steps to Sustainable Eating. To make it more fun, we are incorporating the X-Men characters. Each one will represent a different step. For example, Storm filters her own water. Or, Wolverine cuts out fried and processed foods. You get the idea, right? To see the rest of them, just come to class tomorrow. You are in for a treat!

How many of you have your own filter at home? Don't be shy. Not very many, huh? That's not a huge issue, but it's one you might want to consider. Not only does filtering your own water from the tap save water bottles, but it also saves water and eliminates many harmful bacterias that can make you sick. Do you honestly know where your water comes from? Think about it for a second: some animal has probably done his business in the same river that flows through your pipes! Gross! I'll admit that I don't have a water filter at home, and we still drink bottled water, but that's because of the expense. Money is pretty tight these days. However, where I live, our water is filtered before we even turn on the faucet. Maybe I will try something new though. What about you?

School on President's Day

Ok so here's something that really sucks. If you are a University of North Florida student, then you probably already know that we have to go to school on February 21st, which is President's Day. I only found out about this a few days ago, because I thought we had it off last year. So why I am upset, you may ask? I'll tell you why. My family and I have Annual Passes to Universal Orlando, and we were planning on going back the weekend of the 19th through the 21st for Mardi Gras as a way of celebrating my mom and my grandpa's birthdays. Originally, we were going to leave Saturday morning and come home late Monday afternoon, which was perfect because where I work, (the Jacksonville Public Library), I am off that day because we are closed. Now, my mom and I have to get up early Monday morning and go straight to school. My first class starts at 10 am. I am glad we are still going, even if we are not staying on property. We had this same "problem" when we went back in December, because we waited too late to make our reservations. We ended up having to stay in one of the hotels across from Universal, and then walk across the street to get to the parks. It's not as bad as it sounds though. I enjoyed the long walk, and all ten of us got plenty of exercise that weekend! Looks like I will have more than enough steps for Ospreys on the Move two weeks from now! :)

My World

I am a total Florida girl. I was born in Orange Park and raised in Jacksonville, where I have lived for my entire life. With this being said, I have seen my fair share of the Sunshine State. I have always wanted to keep the planet clean, and I do whatever I can to keep it that way. Once, when I was in second grade, my friends and I noticed how dirty the playground was. We spent our entire recess period picking up as much trash as we possibly could so it would look better. The other students thought we were being stupid and that we should have left all of the garbage. All of the teachers, however, were proud of our efforts and applauded our determination for having a cleaner school. It made me feel really good about myself as well. Even today, I have maintained my efforts of having a cleaner environment. I believe that I have made a difference in the world, one small step at a time. Would anyone care to join me?

Building Sustainability

My main concern for the environment is that we do not have enough resources, and the ones we do have are quickly diminishing away. While we are trying to make an effort to conserve our world for future generations, we seem to be making very slow progress in this matter. Our planet is constantly changing, which makes it more difficult for us to keep up with the changes in our environment. Clean water and energy are probably two of our most precious resources that we just don't seem to have enough of.

Now here are a few questions for you, my dear reader. What have you been doing to protect the Earth? Do you recycle often? What kind of car do you drive, and how good is its mileage? If you could provide one of our most precious resources to someone in need, and you could make it last a long time, which one would you choose? Why would you choose that resource?

As I stated in my previous post, I try to do everything I possibly can to protect our environment. My family and I recycle at home, and I do the same at school whenever possible. I don't usually take long showers, and I leave the water off when I am brushing my teeth. It might not help right away, but I believe that every little bit helps. It's better than not doing anything at all.

I plan on continuing my current efforts to conserve the planet. It is the only one we have, so we need to do whatever it takes to make it a cleaner world for ourselves, our children, and the children to come.

What does Sustainability mean?

According to Wikipedia, the term, "sustainability" is the capacity to endure. This word is used most often when one is describing ecology and the enviornment. Everyone has their own ideas about conserving our most precious resources, such as water and energy, but we can do a lot more to protect our world for future generations. I am a fond believer that if we each do our part, we can help shape our planet and make it a better place to live. By taking small steps today, we can make big changes for tomorrow.

My family and I try to do whatever we can to conserve our Earth's most valuable resources. We recycle our aluminum soda cans and sell them to a recycling plant on Normandy Boulevard. We usually get about 45 cents for every pound of soda cans we sell to the plant. Recently, we have started using s.f.l. lightbulbs in our homes, which last longer than regular bulbs. We also try to turn off lights whenever we leave the room. When it comes to transportation, we usually take my mom's car when we travel or run errands around town, so that my grandparents don't have to take their truck too. This is normally not a problem, because there are only 5 of us, but every now and then we will have my cousins and my aunt, so we have to take more than one vehicle. My mom takes me to school a few days a week, and drops me off on her way to work. Then, I take the city bus home in the afternoons. As you can see, I am very passionate about helping our planet!