University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future

https://www.nature.org/cs/groups/webcontent/@web/@florida/documents/media/everglades-1.jpg 1. Think about how much Florida has changed over the years. Include the reading by Grunwald and Douglas . You also need to incorporate the first ten chapters of A Land Remembered by Patrick Smith.     Florida has changed so much over the years for a number of reasons. The first being obviously that we have more people than ever before and are continuing to grow exponentially. Therefore, to accommodate for such people, we are forced to build-build-build.  Then once these people have houses, they have cars to drive along our roads which then need repairs which then employees more people for service jobs which turns into a seemingly infinite cycle of running out of room for the incoming crowds.  This forces developers and (hopefully) politicians to think smarter (and probably harder at the drastic expenses they rack up). Furthermore, in this cycle, the wealth, speed and...

(Photo: Lauren Lukasik) ECHO Farm Experience Reflection: What did you learn about sustainability ? Why are organizations like this one important to the world and to you? Describe an example of adaptive technology . Give examples of plants encountered and how they are being used. Did you discover something in ECHO farm that you might apply to your own life? Explain.     Sustainability in impoverished and resource limited areas where ECHO aims to help is more than just 'reduce, reuse, recycle'--sustainability is the difference between life and death for most of these people.  If they use farming techniques that deplete the soil of all of its nutrients in one harvest, then in the next year they are left with nothing.  Furthermore, if they use inappropriate fertilizing techniques, they can potentially damage or even destroy their few and far between water sources.  Additionally, if they cannot adapt to the changing sea...

(Photo: Tara Lukasik) What did you learn from the readings and group presentations on Louv and Orr?     Ultimately, I learned that the environment and human's relationship to it is a lot more important than thinking the sunsets are pretty or animals are cute.  From what I've seen, people are either 'indoor' or 'outdoor' people in that in one's free time, they would either like to stay inside and watch Netflix or spend some time in the fresh air.  Academically, this distaste for the environment is called ' biophobia ', while the opposite affinity is ' biophilia '.  From the readings, it opened my eyes to the science behind each term and backed up each claim with hard facts.     The most eye opening presentations for me were the ones that discussed ADHD and some environmental factors that either enhance or  scale back ADHD . "Studies suggest that nature may be useful as therapy for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Di...