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ECHO was an amazing experience. My friend Christina, who had taken this class before, had assured me that I would like it. We all met up at ECHO's office and were eager to get started. We watched a video about the founding of ECHO and what they were all about. I liked that this organization was based on trying different approaches to solve everyday problems. I also liked that they went overseas as well as trying things here in Fort Myers. Our tour guide's name was Justin (at least, I'm pretty sure that was his name!)
Anywho, the first thing we saw was the Duck Hut. The ducks were put in this hut thing and their poop droppings fell into the water, in order to feed the Tilapia fish. We then learned about two different types of bamboo. Running Bamboo is bad! It can get out of control! The next things we saw were the worm composts. I did not really want to look too closely because worms gross me out.
I learned a lot about the environment and ways to do things to help with just a little imagination. For example, their water purification system, growing plants in tires, as well as housing for third world countries!
I'll have a link up for pics soon. I just have to figure it out...
Since I do not really like dirt and things like that, gardening has not ever been a hobby of mine. Our neighbor, Jill, does our gardening because she enjoys it. However, I can account for numerous weekends in which my sister and I did the weeding. I think that growing vegetables would be pretty cool. I remember my sister used to grow some tomatoes and peppers in our backyard until my father accidentally ran them over with the lawn mower.
In the sixth grade I had an experience with grafting two different types of flowers. I thought that was pretty cool. I do not remember the type of flowers we used, however. I could definitely grow my own vegetables. But one cannot live on veggies alone. What if we could grow meat? Sounds kind of gross, but it would be cool if it were possible.
Ever since my childhood, I was never very big on the outdoors. My sister had always been the "tomboy", playing street hockey and collecting lizards with the neighborhood boys. I, on the other hand, preferred to spend my time indoors with Barbie and Ken. My dislike for playing outside has still not changed. While I no longer play with Barbies, I continue to have a strong dislike for bugs and the sunshine and sweat.
I know that bugs are a necessity to both our ecosystem as well as the food chain, but I do not understand why they must co-exist so closely! Also, I am not one of those people who can be in the sun for hours and tan. Or burn and then tan. I just burn. It is annoying and painful. I could be wearing SPF 85 and I would still probably get sunburned. Not only that, but I would probably sweat all of that sunblock off anyways! I sweat A LOT. These are the main reasons I do not spend a lot of time outside.
