Water usage

On a regular day I must say I use a good amount of water for my daily uses. My mornings start off with a nice 15 minute shower, in where I also brush my teeth while I leave my conditioner in my hair. A 15 minute shower consists of 30 gallons of water usage. I use the bathroom twice at home and about once at work, its about 3 gallons a flush so I would use 9 gallons a day. My house did cone with a dishwasher but since its been broken for the longest time, I wash my dishes by hand. What I do first I just somewhat wet them, soap them up first and then turn on the water when I'm ready to rinse. In order to was a load of dishes you use approximately 5 gallons. I have a schedule for my laundry, I only wash starting Friday night after 7 and Saturday morning. Now I only wash big loads I try to stay away from doing mini loads. My washing machine takes about 10 gallons of water to do one load. While at home I do try to drink as much water as possible, but one glass of water is 1/16 of a gallon. I think I do take water conservation into consideration, I limit my showers and I don't let water run why doing the dishes or etc.

The website I used to help calculate my information was ga2.er.usgs.gov

20/20

This is the first time I have heard of Conservation 20/20. The programs main focus is to protect and preserve natural wildlife habitat, protect and preserve water quality and supply, protect developed lands from flooding and provide resource based recreation. This program was in charge of putting on the voter's ballot the option of increasing taxes to help preserve Florida's native land. Thanks to this program we can go to places and experience firsthand what Florida's nature is like. I honestly think this program is awesome, it wasn't too long ago when the city of Cape Coral was one of the nations fastest growing city in the nation. Us humans when building or expanding we tend to go outwards instead of up, by doing all this we are destroying habitats. The only conservation 20/20 property that I have been to is the Matanzas Pass Preserve in Lee county. I would like to visit the Six Mile Cypress slough with my son one day.

Ecological Footprint

My score after completing the ecological footprint was 4.3 planets. Si, it would take 4.3 worlds to sustain my type of living. I must say my score did surprise me. I honestly thought I was doing my part to help conserve our planet. My family and I scored high on food consumption(10), home (2), electricity (1), recycling (1), transportation (4) and goods and services (1). After taking this quiz with my husband by my side we were concerned with our food consumption; we have noticed that we do eat a lot of red meat. So, we came to an agreement that we would eat red meat once or twice, at the most, a week instead of every other day. Another agreement was once the toilet paper was done, that we would put the paper holder into the recycling bin. We discovered this after watching a special on a woman who only throws out her trash once a year. What she does is she sorts out the trash and most of it is all recyclable. This inspired us, we went out and bought washable napkins, instead of paper towel, and all kinds of stuff that can be reused instead of throwing things away.

Everday items

When actually having to sit and think of all the items I handle daily, I realize that I tend to handle certain items daily. The list of items are cell phone, of course, my purse with my wallet inside, credit/debit cards, hair products, makeup, mail, and my shower and hygiene products.

When I received my cell phone, after ordering it online, it arrived in a medium size box. Once I opened the box there was a smaller box that actually contained my phone in it. The phone was wrapped in a plastic bag, which was had Styrofoam around it which helps protect it from getting damaged. My purse and wallet didn't come wrapped, when I bought it but I'm sure it did when it arrived at the store. My credit/debit cards came in an envelope along with a letter stating this is my new card. Just like my credit/debit cards my mail arrives in a sealed envelope.

My hygiene and shower products were all wrapped in a plastic bag and some do come a box just like my makeup.

Corkscrew Swamp

This was my first time hearing and going to corkscrew swap. While on our way I was informed that the state purchased several acres of land to have as preserved land. The facility was very different compared to others. They actually have a treatment system on their property just a few feet away from the restrooms. This allows them to reuse their water supply. If I remember correctly, once the toilets are flushed the water would go the treatment plant and come so clean that it is considered drink able. As we walked through the sanctuary I saw a red ribbon, I believe it was called a turkey vulture, and a lot of spiders in their webs, big cypress trees that have been there for ages. I also learned about the Plume Birds, and how they were almost extinct due to people wanting their feathers. I enjoyed walking through all those trees, the cypress trees are just huge, I kept hearing about cypress tree and I thought that they were going to look average. I enjoyed the experience and would go again, in hope to see some wildlife, besides spiders.

I must say our nature trail field trip has been so far the best field trip we have done. I’ve been in the wilderness before but I never been so close to a snake before. During our walk we heard a woodpecker, saw a snake, heard and saw baby wild bores running through the bushes and saw the different type of trees that surround the trial. In 2004 there was a suspicious fire on campus which almost ended up going to the road. Our tour guide mentioned that some trees do benefit from being burned a little. The burring process allows the tree to let go its old bark an example of a tree that needs to be burned every so often is the Oak tree. As we walked more in to nature we walked to a little swamp, where the water was cold and was knee high. This part for me was fun and muddy; it’s not every day that you go to school and end up walking through a nature trail. I think that it’s great that FGCU has a somewhat getaway right on campus, one minute you’re in class and the next you could end up hanging out with wild bores.

Estero Bay Historic Cottage & Matanzas Pass Preserve

When we arrived at Fort Myers Beach I remember looking around trying to see which house was the cottage. I was amazed to see that this cottage was somewhat hidden. Walking into the cabin we were greeted by a very nice lady who informed us that she is a Fort Myers beach native. She had lived on the island all her life, and how the new bridge to Fort Myers didn’t exist is fairly new. The cottage in where our adventure began used to be located on the actual beach and was later moved back inwards to help persevere it. The cottage was used as a home, and a school house. After our introduction of the Matanzas Pass Persevere began, in where we crossed a board walk and we saw some animals, mangroves, heard birds singing and got attacked by mosquitoes. I really enjoyed sitting by the water and just watching people drive their boats slowly through the river. By just being in the cottage and walking the trail I felt like we were back in time.