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ECHO Field Trip

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ECHO was by far my favorite field trip this semester. ECHO is a global farm and research center. ECHO helps to fight world hunger across the world. Every 12 seconds, a child dies from hunger related causes and there are close to 1 billion people who are living in hunger in the world today. One average a small scale farmer only produces half of the food that is needed for his/or family. 75% of the worlds food is generated from only 5 animal species and 12 plants. More than 90% crop varieties have disappeared from farmers fields.  While at ECHO I saw many different animals. I saw chickens, goats, pigs, and bunnies. Pictured to the right is a picture of the chicken coup. Our tour guide, opened up the bottom to show us some of the eggs that had been laid. Pictured below is a picture of a Neem Tree. Neem has many different uses such as toothpaste and mouthwash. Neem is fast growing and drought resistant. To the left, is a picture of a hut. It is made ...
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Waste to Energy Field Trip

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While at the Waste to Energy facility I leaned a lot of cool and interesting facts. Prior to going on the field trip, I had no idea where our trash went. Pictured to the left is a full view picture of what the facility looks like and how it is run. Each day 120,000 tons of yard waste is processed at the facility. A majority of it is balance ground up mulch/compost mixed with bio-solids. One of the mo st cont aminated things, that is often recycled is plastic bags. Most people are unaware of the effects that plastic has when it comes to protecting the environment. There are 4 R's that were discussed on the field trip. Those R's include REDUCE<REUSE<RECYCLE<RECOVER. Listed below is the Waste to Energy's definition of the four R's and what we can do to follow the four R's. Reduce- Make smarter choices about what to consume Resuse- Repair, share, sell, barter, buy second hand Recycle- Learn about your local recycling program and place only appropria...
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Vester Marine Station

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Vester Marine Station was a blast, and has been my favorite field trip so far. While on the field trip I alot of saw mangroves. I was very surprised at how shallow the water was. Mangroves are plants that live in saltwater. In Florida, there are three different types of mangroves. Those include white, red, and black. The mangroves, pictured below are red, because they live in the lowest elevation. Mangroves help stabilize the soil and protects from storm surge. They also help to protect from flooding. A lot of the mangroves at around Vester, serve as a protection. Another important thing I learned that it serves as a home to oysters, which filter 50 gallons of water a day. The oysters that are at Vester, die and eventually fossilize. The naturalist that was on the field trip talked about the importance of estuaries and how they provide a lot of ecosystem services. A lot of those services are provided for humans.  "Plants, animals, and other organisms in lakes, r...
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Six Mile Cypress Slough

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The field trip at Six Miles Cypress Slough was very informative. We got to see a lot of plants and trees while on the boardwalk. Six Mile Cypress Slough is open year round and is right on the preserve. The lake that is on the slough is called Alligator lake and it is manmade. The Six Miles Cypress Slough is a wetland ecosystem. Year-round, there are a variety of animals that can be found. Those animals include racoons, alligators, birds, snakes, and a variety of fish species. As mentioned in our textbook chemical pollution has become a big problem, one thing I liked about the slough is that no fertilizers or pesticides are used on site. The sloughs mission is to preserve and protect the environment for future generations.  Listed below are a variety of plants and trees that were spotted while on the tour. Cypress Tree   Cypress trees have a big trunk that flows out like a dress, that absorbs water. The white stuff found on top of the cypress tree is called La...
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