Colloquium Fall 2019

Class discussions in Colloquium often include a problem or issue that is very complex. The issue tends to start as one element of an ecosystem that directly affects our lives, such as mosquitoes breeding the Zika virus, and quickly snowballs into a series of other problems like resulting pesticides killing bees, lack of pollination, and an eventual food desert as a result. Discussions like this can often be overwhelming, and it can seem very difficult to find an innovative solution to the issues we are talking about. Our field trip to ECHO showed us some of the solutions currently in place to solve another major issue: world hunger and the need for sustainable agriculture. Through the use of appropriate technologies and farming practices, the ECHO team is helping to feed many different parts of the world and communicate new ways of cultivating crops and livestock. The alternative technologies portion of the tour was definitely the part about our trip that I found the most fascinating...

The Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed is 60,000 acres of protected natural land. On our class visit to CREW, we were fortunate enough to see many of the different plants and animals that live among the marshland with the help of educational guides and naturalists. We were taken along trails that introduced us to snakes, grasshoppers, and turtles while the guides told us about how CREW was developed and why it was important. Started by a local councilman many years ago, the preserved land is now a crucial part of Lee County's aquifer system, which accounts for all of our clean drinking water. At the end of the trail, there was an overlook tower situated in front of a large body of water, surrounded by plants and buzzing with the sound of life. It was here where we gathered to take in the view and discuss in depth the different parts of the ecosystem we were experiencing, and the importance of conservation. Standing atop the overlook tower and seeing the vast amount of wa...