Marine Paradise

I definitely feel like I ended the semester right with this last field trip. It was an unbelievable experience. I went on a day trip to a small beach up in Boyton, where I did some snorkeling and explored some mangroves. My surf and turf experience was great. Underwater I saw all sorts of fish from small, blue Damsels to some big Yellowtail Snapper swimming in and out of all the reefs. There were several reefs each about 10-15 ft wide and in 10-12 ft of water. Though most were man made they still made awesome homes for these little creatures. The negative to this reef location was that it was located close to an inlet so many boats came flying out of it made tons of noise. I’m not sure exactly what kind of effect it has on wild life in this area but I am pretty sure that it probably has a negative one.

On land I saw a different type environment, one flooded with green, salty, leafy mangroves. These mangroves were huge and covered the beach location like in many places in Florida. Lizards roamed the sidewalks next to these Mangroves and with the presence of any person quickly disappeared. Closer towards the sand a tiny, yellow crab crawled in and out of holes searching for who knows what.

Overall the beach is located in a somewhat secluded part of Boyton beach. Though this beach was once pretty much completely isolated, the city has tried to keep it as pristine as possible by only allowing the development of homes nearby and has left out the commercial lifestyle. The community has helped maintain the habitat surrounding this beach by strongly reinforcing the rules of what you are allowed to fish for, protecting sea turtle nesting and performing weekly test in the water to insure all is good. These minor efforts are huge in making sure this beach is ran in a sustainable way so that it can be used and experienced the same way over and over again.

Like stated above the city has performed several tasks to ensure the protection of such an ecosystem. The noisy inlet provides acute complications now, but the constant lighting of the boats and activity going in and out of the inlet can cause long-term effects to sea turtle nesting sites because it can disorient the baby turtles and inhibit their entrance into the ocean.

As far as the beach goes I would say it is different then ones seen on the west coast. The water is much clearer, deeper and provides a more tropical ecosystem in the water. However, the maintenance of both marine habitats on the west or east coast is pretty much the same. We must ultimately respect the wildlife and put in place restrictions so that we the people do not destroy the marine ecosystem. The community has restrictions in place for this location and continues to enhance the marine wildlife here by placing rocks underwater in order to make more artificial reefs for the sea creatures. The methods used are not particularly unique but still very efficient in providing homes for the marine life.

Investigate your Consumption!

Sustainable consumerism is the art of consuming materials, which were manufactured in a sustainable way. In a way globalization and capitalism are in fact two negative drivers in this phenomenon. Globalization is the ability to develop in order to influence globally in its operation and capitalism is when a country’s trade is govern by private owners for profit rather than state. So you could see that clearly both of these are methods that interest a particular group of people. If one country tries to globalize the way they produce they search for places that can minimize their cost to produce and maximize their profit i.e. third world countries where unemployment is high. On the other hand capitalism is in favor of making high profit for private investors or greedy people because they compete in order to make the most profit for their product at whatever cost and most of the time exhaust the resources needed to produce. Therefore, globalization and capitalism can be seen as obstacles for consumers to purchase items that were created in a sustainable manner.

Overcoming the impacts of capitalism and globalization is one thing, but being able to identify what “green” products to consume is another. Many companies do what is called “greenwashing” which is when they try to promote products that seem to be eco-friendly when used but in reality the production of them is more detrimental to the environment. The consumer must be very careful purchasing such “eco-friendly” products and not give in to all the green propaganda around. For example Christmas tree planting seems to be very “green” but the maintenance of these commercial plants is horrible. Hundreds of pesticides get sprayed on them in order to maintain quality for the consumer. When purchasing food products the FDA has been able to combat these greenwashing efforts by labeling foods with the title of organic. In other words the food has no pesticides. Herbicides, fungicides, or steroids and are grown in sustainable land. Therefore I would purchase organic foods. Another label around is the one that states that the food is local. This is good and bad at the same time. Good in that you reduce the use of transportation aka carbon emissions but bad because they may not be grown in a sustainable manner which of course isn’t good even if it’s local. Chances are however if you buy products from local sellers in farmers markets it is better for the environment because you reduce carbon emissions and promote local economy however you may not know if it is organic or not. Purchasing from giant chain stores you are more likely to know due to labels what you are purchasing but at the same time the products purchased from a chain store have traveled long distances to reach the shelves and therefore do not promote local economy as much.

When consuming any product it is crucial that one considers the farming techniques used, distance traveled, and who you buy it from. Making these considerations can severely minimize your environmental impacts.

More than Beach- Ft. Lauderdale

Downtown is a word that brings to mind an idea of an urban, polluted, high skyscraping building city. Overtime downtowns have evolved from just business oriented, low class to a more sophisticated family type of environment. Ft. Lauderdale has changed from a college partying escape to a more affluent family oriented community. This east coast oasis is promoting a modern twist to its architecture and location. When first inhabited Ft. Lauderdale residents were highly interested in living off of the New River, where ferries were the highlight of the evening now people have migrated towards the beach and now the shoreline is infested with hotels and apartments. Tourism has exploded and the economy thrives on it. Yet the people must find ways to control this explosion before the people exhaust the land. On my trip to Downtown I learned that in the efforts of the people to preserve this tourism and create more touristic destinations the government allowed the disposal of hundreds of tires into the ocean in order to create a man made reef. But failed to do so because the tires drifted and destroyed other real reefs.

In spite of all the tourism and modern buildings, the downtown still has old houses, which lie along the river and gives the downtown area a homey less touristic atmosphere. The preservation of these landmarks is crucial in the preservation of history and culture of Ft. Lauderdale.

The downtown also has numerous natural parks around that are available to the public for camping, hiking and biking. Though slightly located on the outskirts of downtown they still are close enough to the high sky rise buildings to balance the concrete and nature. These parks are crucial in order to minimize the detachment of people and the land and are very likely to help control what some would label as Nature deficit disorder in many urban areas.

Overall my visitation to Ft. Lauderdale was very different than what some would experience on a day trip to the beach.