Downtown

I am not a Fort Myers native, I am originally from Miami, but I will say that the one place Downtown reminded me of was Wynwood, or at least its aesthetic did. Downtown Fort Myers is a place where people of all ages can go and explore. From boutiques, to chain restaurants, to mom and pop shops, theres something for everyone. Downtown serves as a source of income for many people, especially the mom and pop shops that rely on locals and tourists for their revenue. Having the river right next also helps a lot too. The buildings are also an interesting reminder of history, because many of the buildings are actually from the 1900s, much   like The Sidney & Bernie Davis Arts Center, which used to be a U.S Post Office. The first place I visited was Centennial Park, where I came upon the Uncommon friends sculpture. The Uncommon Friends is a makeshift water fountain, with a sculpture of Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and Thomas Edison, who are said to be the reason why Fort Myers became the birthplace of recreational travel. Next to the Centennial Park is the Caloohasatchee River, but I specifically visited the Basin, where I encountered two ducks fighting over a fish. The basin serves as a place where water from the river can be discharged to, and this is necessary because it prevents from flooding to the near city. 

I did enter the LEED certified regional library, which was also one of the more open spaces in the downtown area. A LEED certified building is a building that is built to encompass sustainability in every aspect, whether it be with LED light bulbs, or solar panels for energy. Downtown was very accessible to walk around, and its development has improved greatly considering back in the day it did not look anything like it does now. It used to be an area only for civic operations, considering the city hall and courthouse are located there, but it has been transformed into an area where both attorney offices can mingle with restaurants and shops.

Historic Estero Cottage

On our way to the Historic Estero Cottage, I had no idea where we were going, nor what our trip was going to be about. Estero Island serves as a barrier island, which are islands found on coastlines  and are separated from the mainland by a bay. In this case, the bay is the Estero Bay which also serves as an estuary for the island. And estuary is a body of water that is usually found where rivers meet the sea. These estuaries serve as a home to plants and animals that have adapted to their waters, which is a mix of fresh water and salty water. Once we got there and settled in, the staff at the cottage took us through Estero's history lane, and showed us a powerpoint that depicted Estero island back in the day and Estero island today. The comparison really made me sad because so much of the land has been cleared out for development.  Our professor and cottage staff member then took us though the Matanzas Pass Preserve, a piece of land that is preserved and serves as a sanctuary for native plants and animals. This preserve has the last maritime hammock oak community on Estero island, which is an elevated area surrounded by wetlands or different vegetation, which allows for a diversity in birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. This preserve is also part of the Lee County Conservation 20/20 which is a conservation land acquisition program that aims to preserve land like Matanzas Pass from development, which is the main problem in Estero Island. During the powerpoint it was pointed out that back in the day, it was very easy to go out and fish in the bay and catch so many fish without having to go very far into the water. Nowadays, that is impossible. With development comes the clearing of land, and more of a human footprint in the surrounding ecosystem. During our walk through the Matanza Preserve we also stopped to look at the bay, and noticed the red mangroves that surrounded the bay. Mangroves are trees that grow under salt water. The strong roots help prevent flooding when storms and hurricanes come around, erosion, and they serve as a home for many underwater species. The whole trip just made me sad, and feel a little defeated too. And as I looked around to my classmates, I realized the majority didn't care either, even after the professor went through her passionate speech about why we needed to make a difference. The comparison between the past and the present made me realize that theres things I will never be able to experience, just like my kids wont be able to if we don't raise or voices and get to action to make a change. 

For my service learning project, I assisted the FGCU Food Forest in their Community Fair event by helping out in the set up process, and then assisting with the arts and crafts. We also learned about many fruits and vegetables that are able to grow in our Floridian climate, and how the garden was designed with a permaculture basis that is sustainable in every aspect. My experience with the Food Forest educated me in such a way that motivated me to teach others. I feel like the experience itself opened up my eyes and made me realize that being sustainable isn't all that hard if you do educate yourself correctly. 

          This project inspired me to create a garden as my community service project for my Civic Engagement class. I wanted to work with kids to teach them about sustainable gardening, and hopefully along the way, plant a seed in them to care about the environment. I partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Lee County, and they allowed my group and I to work with a small group of kids who assisted us in building the garden and planting the fruits and veggies. We chose to work with a specific range of kids, from the ages of 8 through 12 because according to Robertson in Sustainability Principles and Practice (2017), children in this age range are learning how things work. They are processing things in a more intellectual level, and it’s a prime time where they are also building bonds with other living creatures and also learn to care for nature along the way. We also, like the Food Forest, designed the garden with a permaculture basis. We didn’t dig into the earth, we simply got a bunch of cardboard and laid it on the ground. We then put mulch over it, as out first layer, and then on top of the mulch we put top soil. Along the way we made sure to explain to the kids why we were doing everything a specific way, and how that way benefited the ecosystem. The whole ordeal was very easy and definitely something that I can do in my backyard. And that’s what our project at the Food Forest, and our Colloquium class in general, made me realize. When I used to think about sustainability, I imagined it to be this whole complicated ordeal that limited my lifestyle. But there are so many alternatives that can carry out the exact same job, just in a healthier and sustainable way. For the garden we built, there was no need for fertilizer because the mulch we used had all the necessary nutrients that a fertilizer is supposed to provide. The difference being that the mulch doesn’t damage the environment like fertilizers do. In Children’s Learning for a Sustainable Society: Influences from Home and Preschool, the study concluded that when kids actively participate in activities that have to do with sustainability, they are more able to learn and retain information about different local and global issues that have to do with sustainability.   

I believe there is a lack of education on sustainability, and if it weren't for classes like University Colloquium that force you to learn about it then people aren't going to be aware nor put importance into it. That is why I built the garden at the Boys and Girls Club, because I believe it is our job now to teach kids at a young age so that it is instilled in them as they grow up. By doing this, we also help them establish a sense of place, even if they don’t fully recognize what the term means yet. I can say that throughout the many environmental courses I’ve taken over my three years, I’ve discovered my sense of place and with the fieldtrips in our Colloquium course that sense of place has just been established more firmly. Our project with the Food Forest sparked a new curiosity in me, and simply opened up my mind to want and try new ways to be sustainable.  
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References  
Borg, F., Winberg, M., & Vinterek, M. (2017). Children’s Learning for a Sustainable Society: 

Influences from Home and Preschool. Education Inquiry, 8(2), 151-172. 

doi:10.1080/20004508.2017.1290915 

Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 

My results was one of the highest among the class, and I know its all due to my transportation. I work 6 out of the 7 days of the week, and my job is all the way in Cape Coral, so I drive A LOT. But it's the job I currently have, and hopefully will find something nearer my home in the future to lower my carbon footprint. The category I decided to work on over spring break was Food, since it was the one category that I saw was at easiest reach. Mobility was close to impossible to work on because my job is a little far away from my apartment, and I could not carpool with anyone since all my co-workers live in the general area of the job. For food, I decided I would buy some locally grown produce, so I visited the 

Southern Fresh Farms, which I will say was still a little farther than my local Walmart and Publix (which are less than 5 minutes from my apartment.) The experience was a good one, it was an awesome place to not only buy produce from but also to interact with farm animals and just view the more country side of Southwest Florida. Local produce is also a little pricier than the usual Walmart and Publix, and I am a college student on a budget so what I would usually get with $50 at Walmart, I got much less at the market. This is something I would do when I feel like I am financially stable to do so, but for the time being, I don't think I will be engaging much. 

Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Our trip to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers was a trip that I felt was very close to my heart. As someone who comes from a fully Hispanic family, I can testify that many work for the lowest wages possible. But they do it because they have bills to pay, and mouths to feed; they basically have no other choice. I have many uncles who work in the construction field, and many don't see their paychecks on time because their bosses simply didn't put enough effort to have them done on time.  They work long hours under a the scorching sun; a job that not many would do willingly.  

As the leader of the CIW was giving us the run down of how the workers are paid, more specifically, how little the workers were paid to pick fruits, I started to get immensely sad. There is modern-day slavery happening right under our noses, but we fail to see it. I, like many of my peers, were very shocked to hear what the conditions these farmers are going through in the 21st century, conditions that no human should be working under.  The wages they work for are completely ridiculous. I make more on a 5-hour shift at Charming Charlie, simply by folding some clothes and ringing up people. To me, that is completely ludicrous. So although the Coalition was able to raise the farmers wages through the Fair Food Program, I believe that they still have a really long way to go. No human in the 21st century should be working through such conditions, and I'm genuinely concerned that a topic as important as this one isn't one that isn't being spoken about as much as it should be. I am very happy that the Coalition exists, and that they've battled hard over the years to get where they are, but this issue is something that is going to require nationwide support; it is completely underrepresented. I would also like to point out that the job these farmers do is not appreciated. When we go to Walmart or Publix, we don’t fully realize that those fruits and vegetables didn’t just magically get there. The was a humble man or woman, in a field somewhere in Florida, who under this scorching Florida sun, picked out those oranges from a tree, and that’s why we get to enjoy them. Not everyone would do that job willingly, I know I wouldn’t.  

The field trip to the Coalition was a great example of the importance of Social Sustainability, and how corporations should adhere to the principles of social sustainability in order to maintain a healthy and successful work environment. The companies that the farmers work for have completely disregarded the basic ethics of social sustainability, as well as environmental sustainability with the amount of pesticides that they use in those fields. This field trip definitely gave us all a new insight into the community we thought we knew, and I know it may inspire many to want to support the CIW movement.

https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2007/09/18/sustainability-workplace

Darling

Although brief and short, our trip to Ding Darling Wild Life Refuge didn’t only show how beautiful the state of Florida, but it was truly a reflection on how important it is to keep our environment clean.  

Our Student Naturalist Kai was really enlightening, and had a very broad recognition many of the birds native to Southwest Florida. Although my sight wasn’t very good, and I could only make them out from a distance, it was really interesting to see anhingas, cormorants, herons, ospreys, and spoonbills in their natural habitat. Something else we talked about were the mangroves, which I’ve personally touched up close, and got to say is a pretty tough tree. The roots tangle in a such a complex way that makes it obvious how important mangroves are for our ecosystem, and land during heavy storms.  Without them we’d probably have immense flooding on our coastlines. Aside from that, they help improve water quality by absorbing nutrients from runoff that might cause harmful algae blooms. One of the main problems we’re having in Florida right now is the poor water quality, and the issue that first comes to mind when I think of water pollution is the awful red tide that lasted for over a year in 2017. The effects of that red tide killed hundreds of marine animals. Not only were they affected, but animals that depend on them as food source were affected as well. While we were on the boardwalk, what might have been an anhinga or cormorant, scooped up a fish straight out of the water and flew with it hanging from its beak. A red tide that lasted over a year due to man-made disasters. Pollution from runoff from farms being dumped into our lakes, chemicals polluting our freshwater systems that not only have an effect on fish, but the ecosystem as a whole. This damage to our ecosystem means that it will also affect tourism in Florida. Florida relies on the tourism industry as one of its main economic contributors, and because of the red tide, we haven’t had the same influx of snowbirds. Businesses that rely on them have seen their sales plummet in the last year because of it. K. Brevis also affected people with respiratory problems; breathing conditions were not suitable for many. When we don’t treat our Earth good, there will be effects and Florida is having a first-hand experience with the consequences.  

Something this trip made me reflect on is the fact that I don’t spend enough time in nature, even though I live in an area that has easy access to many bays, wildlife refugees, beaches, and nature trails. At FGCU itself, there are many nature trails that one can explore solo, and I’ve only been on them once, even after living on the FGCU campus for two years. I’ve established a sense of place with a place that is very far away from Fort Myers, but its time I start a genuine connection with the place I’ve called home for the past three years. 

FGCU Food Forest

FOOD FOREST 

The food forest started as a concept between a group of students in 2008, who had the simple idea of incorporating fruit trees/organic garden in Northlake student housing, but then actually transitioned into planting mulberry trees in a small plot of land behind Whitaker. In 2011, the students were actually able to collect funds through FGCU Student Government, and then FGCU administration also granted the students a half acre of land on FGCU property, which is were the food forest is located now. (Food Forest web page) 

The main concept of the food forest was to make sure that it was a self sustainable system. Premaculture and biomimicry were the two main points of design. Premaculture is using all resources to their fullest potential, and not letting anything go to waste. A good example of this is mulching. (Never Ending Food) 

Biomimicry is basically the concept of "lets let nature do its thing," after all, these species have been here for a good 3.8 millions years (Biomimicry, cpp.edu.) Its basically a design that allows nature to work on its own with no human intervention. Its a design that aims to have no use of pesticides or fertilizers. A good example would be the placement of certain species in the food forest. Some plants may be placed on a less elevated, almost toward the bottom of a hill for example, plants that require a lot of water so that when there is a lot of water runoff, these plants are able to receive that water with no problem. A mango tree might be placed on a more elevated surface to protect smaller plants from heavy winds. The design of the forest was designed so that everything works like a puzzle; every plant has its place with a specific purpose. The food forest was divided by cold sensitivity, wind tolerance, water requirements, and soil type.Both of these concepts help in using Earth in a more sustainable manner, and they restore natural ways of using the land that don't affect in a negative manner. 

All species planted at the FGCU Food Forest are species that are able to grow  locally in our Southwest Florida climate. The FGCU FF is essentially trying to shift from products that are being shipped from  miles away, to products that you can get in your own backyard. They have species from many places over the world, such as Central America, South America, the Caribbean islands, Asia, etc. This is especially important because it gives students access to fruits and vegetables they might have never tried before, and it gives student an insight to different cultures. The lychee is a great example of this. I have been eating lychees for almost my whole life; its something that you can find anywhere in Honduras. So to me, lychees aren't anything new. But, many many Americans have no idea what a lychee is, and the FGCU food forest has given students the perfect opportunity to be introduced into delicious exotic fruits. Branching out is good, it feeds the mind and spirit and makes us see things in a different light. 

      The FGCU Forest is accessible to all FGCU students. Students are able to go to the forest itself and plant fruits or vegetables if they wanted to. My freshman year of college, one of the members of the food forest actually allowed me and my friend a small plot of the land so that we could plant whatever we wanted to. They want students to go out there and learn more about how to live a sustainable life, which is the overall mission statement that FGCU aims to achieve. They provides students with an educational tool on how to grow organic fruits and vegetables. One of the statements from one of the members of the FGCU FF was "if people planted their own food, people would respect their food more", which I completely agree with. It also serves as a hands-on experience for students who are interested in environmental sustainability, and its brought so many like-minded people together who are working very hard on a common goal. 

Biomimicry- ://www.cpp.edu/~lacosta/testing9/biomimicry9/42_part_print.html

Never Ending Food - http://www.neverendingfood.org/b-what-is-permaculture/permaculture-guilds/

FGCU Food Forest - http://fgcufoodforest.weebly.com/where.html

Florida Gulf Coast University - https://www2.fgcu.edu/UndergraduateStudies/foodforest.html