November 17th Class - Organic Methods for Vegetable Gardening in Florida Chapters 6,7,& 8

The first presentation was on Chapter 6 in Organic Methods for Vegetable Gardening in Florida by Stibolt. The group did this presentation on Harvesting, handling, and seed saving. In the presentation, they talked about the pride that a gardener has when they harvest their own food and have that delight of being able to skip going to the grocery store. When harvesting, you need three main tools to harvest your crops; a sharp knife, shears or pruners, and a lightweight portable container. You want to make sure that you don't pull on the vine to remove your crop from the plant. This can cause damage to the fruit/vegetable or the plant. You will use the knife the most to cut the heads of the crops (broccoli & cauliflower) and to remove the fruit or vegetable like lettuce heads, leaf lettuce, arugula, and french surreal. The shears will be used for snipping herbs and cutting kale and collard greens. the container is important because that is want you will use to hold what you harvest. It is really important to handle your crops in the cleanest manor possible. One, you always need to have clean water. A clean garden starts from the water because it's the water that irrigates the garden and contaminated water can kill/infect your crops and can infect you too if you eat infected crops. When handling the newly harvested crop, make sure you wash your hands with clean water and soap and rinse of the crop with clean water. After you harvest and properly handle your crops, it is a good idea to save the seeds from the crops so that you can choose to grow more plants if you want to. Even if you don't want to grow more plants, saving the seeds is a good idea because you can give them or sell them to people who may want to grow the plant and get started. It ensures that we always have the resource to plant that crop.

Chapter 7 was the chapter that our group presented on. In this chapter, we talked about weeds, crop rotation, and cover crops. In the presentation, we talked about what a weed actually is and what type of different weeds there are. Weeds are essentially plants that are growing in inappropriate places. Weeds are pests because they take soil, nutrients from the soil, and crowd crops in your garden. If you use a combination of garden soil, compost, and compost manures, expect to deal with weeds. The roots of the weeds are the important factor among the different types of weeds. Strong rooted weeds have roots that are deeper than four inches in the soil and are harder to remove because of how deep they are in the soil. It is important to remove all traces of the root so the weed doesn't grow back. Crop rotation is important because it reduces the amount of bug infestation. Rotating your crops will confuse bugs and reduce the amount of bugs in your garden. It is important to plan out the rotation of your crops ahead of time so you aren't constantly growing in the same place. Keep a record of the rotation in a gardeners log book. Assign numbers or letters to each crop and area in your garden to keep track and have a rotatable method. Label each section with a small sign. It is also important to rotate within the crop families (Tomato group, Squash group, Mustard group, and the Carrot group). The next really important thing to do is to always have mulch and surround mulch around your crops. Mulch do a really good job of maintaining weed problems, except tough weeds because they are stronger due to their strong and deeply planted roots. Sifting mulch keeps soil from mixing in with it and makes it less attractive for weeds to grow. Weeds can harm your garden and mulch is the best way to prevent that.

The next presentation was on chapter 8, irrigation. Irrigation is important because the two main components needed for growing plants and crops is sunlight and water. The most efficient irrigation system, that we learned from other chapters, is the drip method or the overhead sprinkler system because they reduce the amount of water being used and wasted water that becomes evaporated. The process of irrigation is a pretty basic concept. The water seeps into the the soil and then gets absorbed by the roots hairs of the plant. The water absorbs the nutrients from the soil and the water takes the nutrients with it into the root hairs to bring the nutrients into the plant. The water gets absorbed in the roots tissue and travels from the root of the plant to the tip of the leaves and then gets evaporated into the air.  Most gardeners recommend gardening in the morning so the plant has all day to dry out from the sunlight before the sun sets, making them less vulnerable to fungi attacks and reducing the amount of water lost through evaporation. Gardeners need to watch out for wilting so permanent damage doesn't come to the plant. Wilting is the symptom when a plant has too much water or too little water moisture. Too much water creates a lack of oxygen to photosynthesize and will rot the root. It is more efficient to create an automatic irrigation system as opposed to a manual system.  A manuel water system works for very small garden, but it is easier to set timers and to control how much water the plants are receiving through an automatic system. Make sure you treat each section of your garden differently cause certain landscapes and certains plants may need more or less water than other sections or plants.

October 27th- Reader (Leopold & Douglas)

In today's class, we discussed two chapters from the Reader.

Leopold:

• Aldo Leopold was an author, scientist, ecologist, and an environmentalist. He was very influential in the development of modern environmental ethics and in the movement of wilderness conservation. If it were not for his push for this, the environment would be much worse than it is today. He has a foundation named after him that sets out to raise awareness for the environment. 

Douglas:

• Marjory Douglas was a writer, feminist, and an environmentalist. She wrote the book called "The Everglades: River of Grass", which is her most famous piece of writing. It defined the popular conception of the Everglades as a treasure of Florida, rather than a useless and worthless swamp. The excerpt from her book that was included in the Reader was very interesting, and although I had previously visited the Everglades and had an appreciation for it, this made me realize just how special it is. Overall to was a great excerpt and I would love to read the entire book. 

September 1st- Earth Charter & Ecological Footprint

Today we went over the document titled "The Earth Charter" and our ecological footprints. The "Earth Charter" is related to principles that we should all keep in mind about the earth, such as respect the earth and care for the community. The document was very interesting and presented information that I did not know, and had never considered. The other thing we did was review our ecological footprint. Even though I don't travel much, nor do I eat meat everyday, my ecological footprint was still 4.2 planets, which means that if everyone lived like me, we would need an additional four planets to support our lifestyle. This is ridiculous owing to the fact that we only have one planet. These two things, the reading and the activity, were eye opening and a shock. We need to change our ways if we want to survive.

September 22nd- Plan B 4.0 Chapters 3 and 4

In today's class we heard two presentations of chapters from Plan B 4.0, Chapters 3 and 4.

Chapter 3: Climate Change and the Energy Transition

• Chapter 3 was in regards to climate change and the changes that it is causing on our planet. These climate changes included rising temperatures, melting ice, and the decline of oil and coal burning. All of these factor contribute to the changes in our climate and the the decrease in the ozone layer. If this continues in future years will end up destroying the human race. The group that presented this chapter did an excellent job in inserting the information into their presentation without simply writing everything on the slides. Overall it was a great presentation.

Chapter 4: Stabilizing Climate: An Energy Efficiency Revolution

• Chapter 4 was about how we can stabilize the climate to avoid future climate changes that can potentially be life-threatening to our population. These energy-efficient technologies include lightbulbs, zero-carbon buildings, and smarter energy grids. Hopefully, if we could all transition to these energy efficient technology then we could help make the situation better and not use as much energy as we are. Group 4 presented this chapter and they did a great job of doing so. They included great information and really presented rather than reading from the slides or just pointing to the information. 

These two chapter and groups were very informational. I learned a lot more about the climate situation and how we can be more energy efficient, and that, in the long run, can help us survive.

December 1st - Final Presentations

Today we presented our final presentations on various topics. Each group had a different topic, which they chose from a list that was provided to us. These were interesting and insightful topics into some sustainable practices and native plants, animals, and other organisms.

Reducing Energy Use (Group 1)

• An important factor and step towards sustainability is reducing our energy use, not only in the United States, but also worldwide. Some ways that we can be more energy efficient is by having energy efficient machines, such as dishwasher and washing machines. With these technologies, we also have to be more mindful of energy. In order to do so we should load up the dishwasher and washing machine rather than having one or two plates or a couple shirts in a load. By loading the machines up we can reduce the number or loads that we need to do and reduce the water usage in our homes. Other ways we can be more energy efficient include installing solar panels or using LED lights, insulating our homes to keep them cooler, walking, biking, or using public transportation in order to save gas, and using water-efficient toilets. There are various ways to be more energy efficient and we presented just a few ways to do so. 

Native Plants (Group 2)

• This presentation was very interesting. I actually didn't know a couple of plants that they presented and what they could be used for. They also explained what popular plants that are seen in Florida are used for, such as making pancakes and rubbing it on infections as an antibiotic lotion. White water lilies, for example, are used for bronchial problems and dermatological issues. Most of the plants that they introduced have medicinal qualities and can be helpful to know what each plant can be used for in case something happens when you're out in nature and that is the only thing you can find. 

Biomimicry (Group 3)

• Biomimicry mimics patterns that naturally occur in nature and in animals in order to be more sustainable. The goal of biomimicry is to create products, processes, and policies that are well-adapted to life on earth. One of the examples they provided was a building in Zimbabwe that mimics a mound of termites. These patterns are not only seen in animals but also in agriculture, such as the Colombian Coffee Farm System and Land Institute's Natural Systems Agriculture Project. The latter is a model of food production that focuses on sustainable methods that deviate from GMOs and other "unnatural" production of foods. 

Beekeeping (Group 4)

• Bees are very important in the ecosystem. The Queen Bee is at the top of the hierarchy, then come the worker bees, and finally the drones. The Queen Bee is responsible for reproducing for the entire hive. Bees are important because they pollinate the flowers. Apiary, or bee yards, can differ in shape and size depending on the beekeepers preference. Beekeeping is done in order to collect the honey that bees make in order to jelly and beeswax for sale. Protective clothing is necessary in order to not get stung by the bees and beekeepers use smokers in order to calm down agitated bees so they don't escape or sting the beekeeper. 

Permaculture (Group 5)

• Permaculture is a system of agriculture and social principles that focus on simulating the patterns that are observed in natural ecosystems. On our field trip to ECHO we saw exactly how permaculture works. This includes sustainable ways to grow food and techniques to have different kinds of plants growing side by side so that they can work together. Permaculture practices include rainwater harvesting, sheet mulching, and fruit tree management. Within South Florida, permaculture is extremely important since we have a variety of plants that have different needs, such as high or low temperatures, and require more water than others. 

November 24th Class - Lee County Waste to Energy Plant

In today's class, we visited the Lee County Waste to Energy Plant. This field trip was cool because the main idea behind the plant is that this facility takes wasted garbage from all of the residents of Lee County, who put trash on their curb, and burns it up to make energy for the residents who make up Lee County. This facility processes 1,873 tons of waste per day and processes that waste into 57.3 megawatts clean energy. Most places around the nation have landfills that sit in residential communities, produces pollution and odors that residents that live near the fills breathe, and are atrocious toxic dumps that don't look good. Covanta, the company that makes these plants, saw landfills as a waste and took an innovative approach and created a system that recycles a substance that most people wouldn't think to be recyclable. The United States has a goal for 70% reduction of waste productions. With the innovative technology and development of Waste to Energy plants, Lee County was able to reach 65% reduction, while most counties and states sit around 30%. The plant essentially takes all of the garbage, burns it up, processes all of the heat through a turbine that produces the energy and processes it through multiple acting filters that clean the energy. 50 megawatts of the 57.3 megawatts produced get sold to Seminole Electric Cooperative, while the remaining energy that isn't sold is used to run the facility. This facility does more than just process waste into energy. The Lee County Waste to Energy Plant also processes materials to make tires and other metals that can be recycled and put back into the market to be sold. This multi-use facility has a model that should be present in counties and states all across the nation. There a countless landfills that exist in the United States that could be produced into clean energy and make recyclable products instead of sitting at a landfill being used for nothing but pollution. This type of facility will change the future and make energy accessible to everyone.

October 13th Class - Plan B 4.0 Ch. 9 & 10

With there being a lot of starvation in the world, chapter 9 talks about what is need to be done in order to feed the 8 billion people that Plan B wants to stabilize the planets population at. The first thing that the book talks about is raising land productivity, raising water productivity, localizing agriculture, and strategic reductions in demand. Before the 1950s, farmers were everywhere. In countries all over the world, farmers made up a good percentage of the population. This trend started to die as there became less and less farmers and more people working in the corporate world. As the number of farmers fell, so did the amount of food being produced, and the amount of local agriculture fell with those. The one important variable that didn't change with that is the population growth. There has been a huge increase in fertilizer uses from 1950 to 2008. Fertilizer use grew from 14 million tons to 175 million tons within that time. In order to grow the grains that we require, we need an abundance of soil moisture from irrigation and rainfall. It takes 1,000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of grain. 70% of the worlds water use is dedicated to irrigation. In order to raise irrigation efficiency, we need to switch less effective methods of irrigation and adopt more efficient methods of irrigation to increase the yield. We need to switch from flood and furrow systems into drip irrigation and overhead sprinkler irrigation systems. This will reduce water usage by 30% and reduce the amount of water lost by evaporation. The next thing is that we need to localize agriculture. Farming has recently been increasing over the last 5 years or so. As local food markets and movements are rising, so are the local diets. Diets are becoming more seasonal and local based on your location because there are so many different types of climate conditions that can grow certain crops better, faster, and more abundantly, in certain seasons as well. The last thing in this chapter was strategic reduction. The first thing that would need to be done in order for Plan B's method to work would be an all out educational effort to educate people of the plan. Plan B would halt the population growth at 8 billion people, and everyone would need to be educated in their efforts and follow the methods for it to work. We need to shift from more grain intensive use to less. Reducing the amount of grain use would also put less pressure on earths land and water resources. We should be eating less beef and more vegetables. When we do eat beef, we should be paying the full price of it and eat the higher quality beef that would come from grass-fed livestock, as opposed to grain fed livestock. This would greatly reduce the mass number of grain usage and waste to make livestock bigger to produce more beefs.

Chapter 10 talks about the actual movement itself and if we can mobilize fast enough. If there is one thing that history has shown in the past, it is that massive change is inevitable. Humans have an amazing ability to adapt to new things and lifestyles. It is a survival instinct that we have as the human species. We are heading toward death to our civilization and that massive change is needed if we are to get off that road. First we need to get rid of the corruption in government so government representatives won't be held up by businesses so they can make true decisions that can benefit the people and save the planet, like shifting taxes and subsidies. We need to stop lower taxes on income while raising those on environmentally destructive things. For example, a tax on coal incorporates increasing health care costs that come with the people mining the coal who breathe in that mined coal. We could just invest in clean energy sources such as wind and solar methods to create energy. The next big problem with mobilizing and making changes is changing our use of coal. Coal is the beginning of the end. Our coal consumption is a massive producer in air pollution. Coal plants have produced so much air pollution that 23,600 people die in the United States alone from power plant pollution. There are three main aspects to the mobilization effort; wartime mobilization, mobilizing to save civilization, and what we can do on the individual front. Wartime mobilization is the idea that drastic change will not occur until a big event occurs and really changes the human mindset. Like world war 2 changed from industrial to war mode to help war efforts instantly. If we waited too long to make a change, then something like that would need to happen. The next thing is we need to want to change. We need to want the change so we can adapt our lifestyles, make the proper movements to change things in the government and in legislation and restructure the economy to stabilize the climate, eradicate poverty, stabilize the population, and restore/preserve environmental support systems.