FGCU Campus Garden

Journal #18: July 22, 2010

Topic: FGCU Campus Garden

During the Spring 2010 Student Government elections, the UNITE party had a platform item which talked about building a campus garden.  This idea came from the SG Director of Environmental Initiatives Tyler Offerman.  The campus garden is finally in the works, and I’m excited to see how it adds to the sustainability of our campus.

The FGCU campus garden will be a food-production garden and it will help students understand the amount of preparation and work that goes into growing your own food.  Today’s society detaches us from where our food comes from and the work that goes into getting it onto our plates.  This will be a hands-on project that all students can participate in.  Students will have the opportunity to get in the garden and plant seeds, harvest crops, and design beds.  This garden will provide locally-grown, organic foods to our campus.  Some things that will be grown are fruit trees, perennials, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and other native vegetation.

The garden will be completely student funded by Activity & Service Dollars and it will be student ran as well (meaning students can get service learning hours).  

FGCU & Sustainability

Journal #14: July 14, 2010

Topic: Impressions of the Campus

I am extremely proud to consider myself a student at Florida Gulf Coast University.  One of the six main pillars of FGCU is environmental sustainability, and I truly believe they do an amazing job at promoting that and making FGCU as “green” as possible.

Our campus is full of trash cans, recycling bins, and even trash compactors.  These trash compactors use solar power to compact our trash into smaller pieces.  During the Spring 2010 semester, FGCU participated in Recylemania which is a national competition that sees which school can recycle the most.  We did extremely well considering this was our first year.

Another environmental initiative in place at FGCU is “Eagles Love Tap Water.”  The Physical Plant added spickets to all water fountains so students could easily fill up water bottles, and Student Government bought over 2,000 aluminum water bottles with the “Eagles Love Tap Water” logo.  As a Student Government representative, I’ve seen how much these bottles are used, and we plan on buying even more for the upcoming school year.

All buildings after Lutgert Hall must be considered LEED certified.  LEED certification is a verification that the building or community was designed and built using environmentally sustainable strategies that improve performance all across the board.  Buildings must have energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emission reduction, and more.  Student Government recently bought benches to be placed by the bus loop, and even those benches are considered to be LEED certified.

I could go on and on about the things FGCU is doing to be an environmentally friendly campus, but these are just a few things that we are doing to live up to our mission of being a greener campus.

Field Trip #3 - ECHO

Journal #12: July 12, 2010

Topic: Reflections on ECHO – Appropriate Technology

Out of all of our field trips, this was the one I was looking forward to the most.  ECHO stands for Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization.  One of their main goals is to teach people in other countries to make what they need out of what they already have.  They call this concept “appropriate technology.”  Our tour guide, Vic Estoye, explained to us that when mothers cook, their babies are often strapped to their back.  This is really dangerous to the baby and the mom because the smoke that the stove gives off is the equivalent to the baby smoking two packs of cigarettes a day!!  He showed us an alternative way of cooking in which recycled cardboard is crushed up and made into blocks that they can use for firewood in cooking.  We also learned about a household water treatment where seeds from the Neem tree are used to disinfect murky water.  We also learned that Neem tree leaves are also really good for your teeth and that they can be used in many other household products.

I found this field trip to be extremely educational, and it helped me appreciate what I have.  I’m lucky enough to have clean running water and a grocery store where I can buy everything I need.  This field trip helped me realize that there are so many ways I can reduce my ecological footprint and still maintain an “American lifestyle.”

Reflection on Presentations

Journal #11: July 7, 2010

Topic: Reflections on Presentations – Find article relating to one of the presentations and write ideas about it

I found the presentations today to be extremely insightful.  I learned a lot about sustainability as well as the little things that I can do to be a more eco-friendly person.

One thing that I found extremely interesting was the eco-friendly towns in places such as Germany, Abu Dhabi, and the United Kingdom.

I visited London two years ago and no one ever mentioned BedZed to me, and to be honest, I’m really surprised!    BedZed, located in London, is a carbon-neutral development and social housing experiment. Located in inner London.  It has many eco-friendly innovations, including used local and recyclable materials, photovoltaics and biomass-fueled combined heat and power, it has local facilities to reduce the need for travel, and it has an on-site permaculture garden. 

After learning all of this, I figured that it must be really expensive to live there!  But after reading an article on Metro News, I learned that the average cost of a house in BedZed is the same as the average cost of a house in London.  In BedZed, residents pay less for their water and electric bills, and they get a bigger sense of community.  There are no cars in the area, so people feel safe walking around the neighborhood.  People talk to each other walking down the street and feel more comfortable doing so.  According to the article, “it is a healthier, happier lifestyle.”

BedZed in London:

Can Chi Omega be a Completely Sustainable Sorority?

Journal #2: June 22, 2010

Topic: What can Chi Omega do to be a “greener” sorority?

A few months ago, one of my sorority sisters asked a question on Facebook: “Can Chi Omega be a completely sustainable sorority?”  She was using this question (among others) for her final Colloquium project.  At the time, I sat back and watched other people’s answers.  Now I have a few answers of my own.

I do believe that it’s possible for Chi Omega to be a sustainable sorority.  It would take participation by all sisters, and it would require sisters to alter their lifestyles.  Is it realistic?  Probably not.

There are steps that we can take to reduce our ecological footprint and be ‘greener.’   One of the biggest things we can change is driving.  A big thing that worries people about the Ride2FGCU program is driving with strangers.  But in Chi Omega, we’re not strangers.  If we all just buddied up and drove to campus rather than drove by ourselves, we’d be reduce the amount of pollution we’re releasing into the air.  This also goes for socials.  Either we need to carpool to socials, use busses for socials, or have socials that are closer to the university.  When we’re at socials, I think it would be smart if we reused our cups instead of throwing them out and getting a new one each time.  We also need to make sure that there are recycling bins at the venues so that sisters can recycle their bottles.  Instead of printing out documents or forms, we could email them out.  If a sister needs to print it, then she could print it on her own.  A lot of times, papers that are passed out just get thrown out (not recycled).

There are many things that Chi Omega can do to be more environmentally friendly.  While I don’t believe we can be a completely sustainable sorority, I do believe that there are many things we can do to reduce our ecological footprint.