Personal Reflection # 10

Today July 11th, I chose to do my final personal reflection at Veterans Park in my community of Lehigh Acres. It was a beautiful evening and the weather was excellent. It was the perfect day and setting for me to sit back, relax and reflect on my personal journey in this colloquium class. It has been a wonderful journey for me. I had the opportunity to vistit some interesting places for my field trips and also for my personal reflections. I learnt so much and I had fun doing it. I enjoyed these trips so much that I am sure I will be taking more of them on my own after this class is over. I now have a greater appreciation for the environment and will be more environmentally conscious in my actions.

Me relaxing at the park

Young men playing basketball at the park.

Children playing at the park.

Children having fun at the park

Adults walking the excercise trail.

Personal Reflection # 9

On Saturday July 10th, I decided to spend some time outdoor enjoying nature while helping my husband with the yard work. I felt this was a great way for us to spend some time together and do our part to beautify the environment. The weather was nice so I decided this was the perfect day for me to help with mowing the lawn. I was really enjoying it and thought this was a good way to excercise. However, after a few minutes I realized it was more tedious than I thought so I left the mowing to him and decided to use the weed wacker to edge my plants. After edging the plants I used the blower to blow the grass and leaves from the driveway. We both had a great time performing these outdoor chore and when we were finish the yard was looking beautiful. This outdoor activity was well worth it.

Opinion Paper # 3 - Benefits and Challenges of integrating Environmental Ethics into an Environmental Literacy Plan

As the humanities offer a diversity of opportunites to engage others in discussions that focus on those core values that represent human dignity, are life affirming and are consistent with those of much culture around the world. In my opinion integrating a discussion of Environmental Ethics into an Environmental Literacy Plan for the State of Florida through the Humanities would be a good decision. I believe there are many benefits that could be achieved from this integration, however, since our society is one that strongly resent change, we will be faced with many barriers and challenges during this implementation process. There are those who might disagree with this integration, but if you carefully review the impact these benefits will have on our society you will realize why this is a good decision.

I believe some of the benefits of integrating Environmental Ethics into an Environmental Literacy Plan for the State of Florida through the Humanities would be educating students on how to ethically practice sustainability to solve some of our environmental problems for present and future generation. This would teach students how to respect and care for our environment. I think students could use this as a tool for preventing or solving environmental problems in their neighborhoods or communities when they become future community leaders. I believe this would create environmentally literate citizens who would understand their connection to the world around them. It would also help people to make informed and responsible ethical decisions regarding environmental issues and would give us some type of acceptable guideline to live by. The Earth Charter states that we need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community. (Earth Charter Commisson, 2000). During my service-learning project at a nature center and also while reviewing the sixteen principles of the earth charter I realize the positive impact it would have on students if Environmental Ethics was integrated into an Environmental Literacy Plan. In underprivileged or underserved communities environmental ethics is hardly practiced so these communities are greatly affected by environmental problems, now students would be able to practice the environmental ethics they learned. I believe this would be a good method of using children as agent of change to educate their communities on environmental ethics which would help to raise awareness and incorporate sustainable living into their lifestyle to help save the environment.

Our society is one that resent changes and with many citizens being uninformed and misinformed about environmental education, I believe we will encounter many barriers and challenges as we try to integrate Environmental Ethics into the Environmental Literacy Plan. Many of these programs are underfunded and many institutions do not have the resources to implement or sustain this type of education. I believe the lack of support from educators, community leaders and influential businesses will be some of the major problems we face. Another challenge we will encounter is the fact the many educators are not qualified to teach environmental ethics so a statewide program will have to be developed to train teachers and make them qualified to teach environmental education. I believe training and motivating individuals who have very little interest in environmental issues will be very challenging.

Overall, I believe Environmental Ethics should be integrated into the Environmental Literacy Plan for the State of Florida through the Humanities regardless of the cost or the lack of support. I believe the benefits outweigh the barriers or challenges and it is worth investing in for present and future generation so we all can enjoy a better environment that is sustainable to all.

Work Cited
Earth Charter Commission. (2000). The Earth Charter. Retrieved from the World Wide Web
Sepember 2, 2006 from http://wwwearthcharter.org.

Personal Reflection # 8

Saturday July 3rd I decided to play my part in making sure that kids enjoy the outdoor environment. So I took my neices and nephew to an outdoor water park in Naples, called the Sun-N-Fun Lagoon. They had a wonderful time. It was very hot, however the heat did not seem to bother the children. They went swimming and splashing in the pool and the lazy river and they also enjoyed the water slide. I spent my time enjoying the environment by relaxing outdoor in the shade trying to stay cool and hydrated while watching the children have fun. It was obvious from their reaction that they were having a blast while enjoying nature. Overall it was a fun trip for everyone.


















My neice swimming in the pool









The children taking a break from the pool













The children trying to convince me why they should go back in the pool.










Me trying to stay hydrated in the heat.