Sense of Place ‐ My Neighborhood

As I took a walk down my parent’s neighborhood in Tampa, FL, I noticed everyone had recycling bins out by their driveways, but that’s the extent of it. Even though it’s all I saw, this shows me we are still trying to be sustainable and more eco-conscious. As I kept walking, I also noticed a trail in the woods that’s about half a mile from the house. I went walking through it and it made me so relaxed. It was really nice to get away from the crazy madness of a world we live in.

Journal 5 - Ecological Footprint

When I played the game to find out if I live a sustainable life, I had a few consumer consequences. I got a score of 4.1 planet earths. This means it would take 4.1 planets it would take to sustain all the people if they lived like me. My score: Housing is 1, Electricity is 1, Transportation is 2, Carpooling is 1, Food and Drinking is 9, and Shopping is 5.

I have a big family, so we do many things that aren’t sustainable. For example, have over 5 bags of trash every week and few energy saving light bulbs. It’s really hard to change my family’s habits because this is how they grew up, but I definitely will not be the same when I have my own place. I definitely need to change a few of my habits to become more sustainable. I feel it's my job to change some of their habits before I move out and start my life. This will be one of my short-term goals!

ECHO Trip!

The ECHO field trip was a great experience and I learned many things. I didn’t know there was such an organization that provides help in gardening to those who need it. It’s really interesting to see what can be done with the limit resource you have. There is so much basic creativity that goes in when ECHO helps. Anyone who has any kind of dirt space can do pretty much any planting. There is no limit to what ECHO can do. I have no experience in gardening. I don't even know the first step to take to plant something, but after this trip i think i've learned a bit. I think I enjoyed every part of this trip. Here are some pictures I took on my ECHO field trip.

Future of Food

Watching the documentary “Future of Food,” was a bit disturbing. I didn’t know those things were happening. I strongly believe consumers should be informed about what’s in their food. I think this is extremely important because anything can happen and we need traces as a just in case. This film made me open my eyes and actually look in the back of certain products to see if I notice anything weird.
My favorite foods are pretzels and they’re made by over 45,000 employees in the US and Canada, where it’s made, delivered, and sold all over. The ingredients are: enriched flour, corn syrup, salt, corn oil, yeast, malt extract, sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, and artificial flavor. The ingredients are farm-grown and the company (Frito-Lay) is reducing their environmental footprint by conserving natural resources as well as harnessing renewable energy technology that reduces harmful emissions (www.fritolay.com).