My Footprint

(weblogs.pbspaces.com)

I was amazed at how much of an impact I make on the Earth! My results were:
1. To support my lifestyle it would take...4.9 Planet Earths to provide enough resources
2. To support my lifestyle it already takes...23.9 acres

I am so taken aback because I consider myself a "green person". I use cloth bags to go grocery shopping instead of having to use plastic. I reclcyle and use a composte so I don't waste a lot. I didn't realize how much of an impact it is to just eat animal products, or to just drive my car.

I clicked to see what I could do to lessen my footprint, and one of the things was to cut my the meat I eat in half. If every American did this, 645 million global acres less than we do now. AND if I pledged to take public transportation one day a week, along with every other American, than we would save another 352 global acres. Of course, there isn't much public transportation in this area so that would be a little difficult for me to work on.

There are somet things I am going to work on, like trying to carpool to work or school more often. I am also going to try to eat less meat than I do now. This quiz was a real eye opener and now I am going to try my best to lessen my ecologocal footprint.      (Photo at right courtesy of petroedge-sd.net)

(Photo courtesy of mapawatt.com)

Lovers Key

Lovers Key was where I went for this field trip and it was so relaxing! I really didn't mind going to the beach for school. I really enjoyed taking in all the sights, smells, and sounds. The shells here were so beautiful and there were so many different kindsI went out in the morning and there were a lot of people out looking at the shells. As I was walking up there was a  sign that had all the types of shells and how to identify them. Although, it did make it tough to walk barefoot on. When I closed my eyes, I heard the sounds of waves and birds and the smell of the salt water. The beach is always a great place to go to relax, but this one had a lot of unique characterisitics that was very interesting to learn about.



As I walking the boardwalk to get to the beach, I noticed a lot of birds were out feeding. In the picture to the left is the first one I saw, and this is the Great Egret. Other birds I saw included Brown Pelicans, Ibis, Laughing Gulls, and Willets. A lot of them were wading through the mud and the mangroves hunting for food. And, of course, the Pelicans, Willets, and Gulls were all over the beach.

What I think is so unique  about Lovers Key are the different habitats that you get to see in just the short walk on the boardwalk. I went from mudflats, to mangroves, to beach. The mangroves are so important to the wildlife here because they provide a nursery for the fish, as well as food for them. They also provide food and shelter for the birds. Mangroves are also important to us. This is because they are a natural barrier from the ocean and protect the mainland. This is very helpful during high tide and while there is a hurricane. There were a lot of different plants that I saw. The trees I saw included mangroves, Sea Grapes, Cabbage Palms, Royal Palms, and Wax Myrtle. For non-woody plants, I saw Sea Oxeye, Sea Purslane, Railroad Vine, Beach Panic Grass, and Sea Oats. There was also a lot of drift wood around.

The history of this area is also different than from other beaches. This is actually a barrier island. A barrier island is pretty much a piece of land that runs parallel to the main land. In 1965, a road was made to connect the island to the main land. Lovers Key is one of 4 other barrier islands that were all accessible at the park. In the 1960’s the islands were going to be developed for houses, however, the land was altered because of the dredging that was made. So in 1983, it became property of the state and became a park not too late after that. The land has also been eroded greatly due to hurricanes. However, in 2004 there was a restoration project where they added sand and native plants. I have to point out that I thought how the this island got it’s name was funny. In the pamphlet it explained that since this use to be only accessible by boat, the only ones that would make the trip over would be lovers at sunset. Hence the name Lovers Key.

This picture to the right is one of the reasons why I loved so much. I'm sorry but I don't know the technical term for this, but this was the "step" on the beach that everyone has to walk down. Well I sat in my spot and took a look behind me and saw this. I think it's so amazing that you can see the layers in the sand, and the layers are so well defined! Call me nerdy but I spent some time just looking at the sand here and looking at the differences in these layers. I've grown up on the beach, the one on the East Coast of Florida, but I've never gotten to see these layers. There has been massive erosion on this beach, as the picture shows. This is due to the hurricanes that have hit the area. In 2004, there was a restoration project where they added sand and native plants to the area.

Lovers Key is a beautiful area with so many things to learn about! I learned a lot by visiting this area and can't wait to go back!

Koreshan State Park

(picture courtesy of www.floridastateparks.org/koreshan/)

 

This past weekend, I went ot Koreshan State Park that is located right here in Estero. My boyfriend and I decided to go there to walk around for about 2 hours. It is a beautiful park with a lot of different plants and animals to see. We followed a path that had followed the Estero River. While we were walking, I observed the different kinds of plants along the river. I saw mangroves, some Cypress trees and other various plants I couldn't identify. We were also looking for American Alligators and Manatees since their main habitats are in rivers by Mangroves. We also saw a lot of bamboo as we were walking arund the path, which is a non-native plant.

                                                                                                  (picture courtesy of www.floridastateparks.org/koreshan/)

The path ended up leading to an area where a lot of old, abandoned buildings. We learned that this was the headquarters where a man wanted to start a culture called Korenshanity. We reach about the place and the ideas this man had, but once he died so did this culture. But he did start a garden and there were some remnants of it there still. The picture to the left is one of the trees we saw. It is called a Monkey Puzzle Tree and had to be shipped here from Australia. As we were walking back we ended up seeing a Gopher Tortoise. They are very endangered and it was amazing to see one. He was actually hanging right outsode of his hole, which on one of the signs there explained how they can be 9 feet deep and be 15 feet long.

(Picture courtesy of exinem.com)

If you want a nice place to walk around in the afternoon, definately check out this park. It is absolutely beautiful and right in our backyard. But make sure to bring some bug spray!!

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

I'm going to start off saying it was absolutely beautiful! I loved seeing nature without having to hear cars or the sounds of civilization. I also loved the fact it was on a boardwalk so I didn't have to worry about getting my shoes all filthy, even though myself and one of my other classmates who I went with almost stepped in scat quite a few times. The day we went, it was a bit rainy out and unfortunately didn't get to see (any) animals, but we did hear them.

We walked through three primary environments. First, we walked through the pine flat woods, as you can see behind me in the picture. Some plants we saw were Palmettos, Cabbage Palms, Air plants, Slash Pines, and Poisen Ivy. There were some paths through the area behind me that could have indicated deer, bears, or bobcats have been through there. We did see a butterfly in that area, but that was the best luck we had.

The second one we went through was the Hardwood Hammock. Here we spotted Button Bushes, Cypress Trees, Elderberry Bushes, Sawgrass, and Pepper Vines. I loved walking through here and listening to the trees and the sounds. We saw another animal here, the Pine Warbler and we would have liked to have seen the Blue Iris, it was listed on the boardwalk as an animal that could be spotted here. I thought the roots in the Cypress were so interesting. I could see how it would be helpful for them to be elevated during floods. The roots are also very helpful during draughts because they are long and spread out, so it's easier to find water in the soil.

The last and my favorite environment we saw were the Wetlands. I loved how diverse the plants and animals were, as well as all the sounds I could hear. It had just rained and since a lot of amphibeans inhabit that, it was quite noisy. We saw Cattails, Water Lilies, Common Duckweed, Ghost Orchid, and Alligator Leaf. I actually think I got a picture of the Ghost Orchid below. I would like to saw I saw a lot animal, but I didn't. I think we might have seen some areas in the mud where Alligators were. Other animals that live there are Otters, Blue Tree Frog, Marsh Rabbit, and Apple Snails. I noticed a lot of the plants in this environment had a waxy covering, and that's so during draught, plants keep more water from leaving due to evaporation. And during rainy season, it can keep rain out.

Again, very interesting field and it was such a great surprise for a trip! I'm looking forward to the next one!