FGCU Campus Field Trip

One thing that really interests me about Florida Gulf Coast University is how eco-friendly they are. FGCU is known for being a green and environmentally friendly university. There is a lot of wildlife around campus, as well as solar compactors and recycling bins.  FGCU also is equipped with filtered water and has a strategic campus design.

The wildlife on campus ranges from all different kinds of birds to alligators. This definitely keeps the students entertained, but is also teaching them to live closely in the same environment with living animals.

I think that the solar compactors and recycling bins are a great addition to campus. There is a recycling bin next to most trash cans all around campus. This encourages students and professors to recycle and help take little steps to help the environment. In many buildings, there are even separated bins for plastic, paper, and waste. The trash compactor reduces the number of times the unit has to be emptied, which prevents animals from getting into the trash.

FGCU is doing a lot to help the environment, and a huge way is reducing the amount of water bottles used. They installed spigots to many of the water fountains all around campus to make it easier for teachers and students to refill their water bottles. This drastically reduces the amount of plastic water bottles. The water also goes through rigorous tests a couple times every month to ensure students that the water they are drinking is clean and safe.

Like I said before, FGCU is crawling with wildlife and the only way the plants and animals can keep their homes is if the campus is designed not to intrude. FGCU is definitely growing and new parking garages and buildings have already been built and I am sure that there will be more to come. FGCU keeps this out of the way of the plants and animals by building around it and even over it. There are many boardwalks that are surrounded with different habitats, which is beautiful to look at, but also keep the plants and animals safe from all the ruckus on campus. 

I have never really been one to do everything I can to help the environment, but I feel by just attending Florida Gulf Coast University, I am helping the environment in many ways.

Service Learning

Going on my the tour at ECHO was definitely life-changing because I got to see the struggles that people go through on a daily basis, just to have some food to eat. This gave me a whole new appreciation of farmers and ECHO because they are doing everything they can to help. I definitely would love to volunteer my time here because I know it will be going to a good cause. 

Agricultural Field Trip

ECHO is a non-profit organization, located in Fort Myers, Florida, that not only has helped, but has been reducing hunger for over 30 years. There are over 925 million people in the world that are hungry and ECHO is dedicated to reducing that number drastically. ECHO gathers solutions from around the world to ‘promote sustainable farming techniques, nutritional plants, and appropriate technologies.’ “Our (ECHO’s) purpose is to help those who are teaching farmers around the world know how to be more effective in producing enough to meet the needs of their families and their communities.” What I thought was very interesting about ECHO, is that they didn’t go and tell people what to do, they research about each place they are helping and teach them specific techniques to be more sustainable in their specific area. What I thought was very interesting is how they recycle almost everything that they grow, and that is what they are teaching these underprivileged farmers and communities to do. They now have opened impact centers in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Arusha, Tanzania, and they are only expanding.

Our tour guide, Russ, was very helpful and explained a lot about each section of the farm. In the picture above, he was teaching us about the Katuk shrub, and we even tried a leaf while we were standing there. We also tried a few more leaves throughout the tour.

There were so many different plants that I have never even heard of before, but apparently are packed with so many nutrients that we could all use in our every day diet. We learned about moringa, which is high in protein, vitamins, and minerals, and is considered one of the most nutritious vegetables in the world. Another plant that we saw was neem, which is also known as “Nature’s Pharmacy.” “To summarize its beneficial qualities in a nutshell, neem possesses powerful anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-tumor, and broad spectrum antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiparasitic properties that help prevent formation of abnormal cells, eliminate infections, and accelerate healing in a broad range of health problems.”    –Dr. Mitchell A. Fleisher

We were one of the lucky groups because at the end of our tour we got to sit down and listen to the President and CEO of ECHO, Stan Doerr. He was so interesting to listen to because he was so passionate about what he does and helping people. He definitely inspired me and made me want to do whatever I can to help, which is why I plan to volunteer my time to help the members at ECHO help people around the world.