Personal Journal #5 - Exit Reflection on Accomplishment

I think I have accomplished a lot in this class. I have learned about not only the importance of conservation and education, but the things being done now and years before that are still helping us today. Through this class, I've also discovered an amazing horse ranch that I will be continuing to volunteer at. Without the requirement, I probably would have never made the initiative to start volunteering there, but I am certainly glad I did. I hope that the things I learned in this class will stay with me and I will always remember how important it is to become one with nature and our environment.

Reflection - Marine fieldtrip

I really enjoyed my trip to the beach. It wasn’t overly hot so it wasn’t uncomfortable to be in the sun for an extended amount of time. The most annoying thing was probably the heavy amount of smoke, which did shorten our stay there considerably. It was nice to pay attention to the atmosphere of the beach and observe the different people that were all probably vacationing, or at least were mainly tourists. There was minimal wildlife, and we didn’t see many birds or seagulls. This could probably be blamed on the smoke as well, but I still had a great time.

You can see the thick smoke, visibility not great.

Flags changed to warn the public about the safety concerns.

Personal Journal #4 - My Personal Land Ethic

Now that this class is coming to an end, I have discovered to always appreciate nature. I've always loved nature, but sometimes it is easy to take everything for granted. It's nice to just take a walk or go swimming or something that is just outside. My land ethic has stayed about the same, I would say. I always try to waste as little as possible, take as little as possible and appreciate most as possible. I will continue working with the retired horses, it feels great helping them and it is such a great cause. It makes you feel like you are a part of nature and are part of something special. If anything, it has instilled my belief that the world is not ours. We don't really own land, we don't own animals or plants either. We're simply living on it and it is our job to take care of it.

Reading 17- Love It or Lose It: The Coming Biophilia Revolution

Biophobia is the discomfort one gets from basically being outside too long. They long for technology, a modernized world, and air-conditioning and feel stressed or uncomfortable if they are in nature too long. Biophilia is almost the opposite. These people long to become one with nature. They have an affinity for nature and want to spend time outside more often than not. I think that there could be a biophilia revolution, but I wouldn’t say that is necessarily the case. it is hard to tell how a mass of people feel about nature. One could enjoy it while others prefer to stay indoors. Although I love nature, I’m not going to lie and say I don’t like air conditioning in 100 degree Florida heat, because I do. 

However, I don’t think I will ever get over nature. There is something extremely calming about just being outside by yourself. I specifically enjoy the night time, gazing up at the stars. It gives you a sense of life. Like you’re part of something bigger than yourself. I don’t think nature will ever get old, and I would hope that others feel the same. But I don’t think I can accurately say whether I think biophilia is trending or not. It is all in the eyes of the beholder.

Agricultural Field Trip – Personal Reflection

Personal Reflection

The UNF verb (vegetables and hers) garden was a small sample of what is being done in a larger scale around the world. There were many butterflies around, which was nice to see and being so close to something like that really makes you appreciate the beauty of the world. Although it did not blow me away, it still gave me a good idea in how agriculture preservation works and is being used everywhere.

Squash being grown.

As you can see they are also doing their best to limit the amount of fertilizers they use by trying to gather natural materials.

Tomatoes growing!

Reading 16- The Earth Charter

I have mixed feelings on the Earth Charter. I would be on the fence to sign it. If I had to make a decision at this point, I would probably be against it. It is one thing to create a pact of goals, but the goals on the Earth Charter I find many problems with. It’s too fast, too much and quite overwhelming. Rome wasn’t built in a day. There is no way that all of these things are possible to complete, not even in the near future. I think that if we severely limited the objectives in the Earth Charter, than things would look easier and not be as discouraging. 

In my Civic Engagement class in the spring, I learned that you can not stress yourself out with so many goals. You take it one step at a time. I feel as though the Earth Charter is the layout for the perfect world, and that is unrealistic at the moment. Yes, it is good to have goals, but making smaller, more attainable goals at first I think is a better route to go. The Earth Charter sounds like a fantastic plan full of high set goals and optimists, but right now, it is too unrealistic and I would not sign it.

Reading #15 - The Land Ethic

Land ethic, according to the reading, is appreciating our land in a new light. Not taking it for granted, and becoming one with the land was what Leopold stressed. It’s a community. Nothing will succeed unless we work together, learn to appreciate the land and all it has given us.

Being that he died 60 years ago, it may not seem realistic that his ideas about conservation are still legitimate today. But when you think deeper about it, the concept is still much the same. There is a practical appreciation for nature, but we also get the aesthetic and beautiful types of nature as well. 

Leopold worked to create the first dedicated wilderness area in the world. I give him much credit to understand, much before the majority of his time, about the partnership that rural and urban areas, and the relation of people to land have an effect on our world. I think it’s amazing how he picked up on how to live alertly in life. It is one thing to preserve for land, it is another to actually care about the wellbeing of the earth. He taught us how to enjoy land, how to not take it for granted and appreciate what we’ve been given. We don’t need to be taking from it all the time. Sometimes it’s nice just to just be. It’s amazing to see how just far along he was in his ideas, he really was a man ahead of his time. It’s nice to know that, even in modern days, people are still learning and reading about what he had to say about the environment and community.