Tuesday, November 15, 2011

#12--sustainable consumerism

One of the world’s most pressing issues is that humans are consuming beyond our means. We are in debt both to our planet’s ecosystems and to the financial mechanisms that keep our economies growing.  It implies consuming differently, not necessarily less. Green washing is making sure that a companies’ policies or products are environmentally friendly.
I would not be willing to pay for premium foods labeled "organic" after what we learned in class.  All it means is that it has a fancier way of being grown than a normal product that makes it more expensive.  I wuld buy locally grown food to support local businesses.  I would rather do that then go shopping in a publix or other grocery store.  Not only does it taste better and better priced but I believe that the people who grow it actually take pride in their crops.  My best friend lives downtown so we spend a lot of time walking around.  I do not go to gulf coast town center very often I do prefer to go downtown.  I Like it better downtown because I really do not like the "college" atmosphere.  All of my friends are older and we really like the atmosphere downtown.  The bars and the night life are amazing as well as the food.  Our favorite resturaunts are all ma and pa places. 

Friday, November 4, 2011

#11-downtown!

When I think of Downtown fort myers I think of (honestly...)::
-bums
-MLK and the ghetto
-heavy drinking and bars
-downtown pizza
-taste of town and other festivals held in the park
-the dirty water
-jail

... I have grown up in fort myers so I think that I have a view comparable to most who have also been raised in the area.

The main idea when downtown was built was so that people could walk everywhere they needed to go within a couple short blocks or within 5 minutes.  Well, it definitely takes much longer than that now.  I think that is pretty funny that the one building by the court house was supposedly painted in "UF" colors... more like Miami Dolphin colors. 

A few cool things that I learned today:
-Fort Myers was actually a military base (with a different name!) that was used to scare off the Indians. 
-Fort Myers was huge on cattle herding and McGregor was one of the main trails!
-the 3 uncommon friends are Edison, Firestone, and Ford (the main statue in centennial park)
-Red mangroves are all along the water's edge
-There is an "Art of the Olympians" musuem! (I had NO idea AND they had an autographed basketball from Chris Bosh--my favorite!!)
-There are many significant statues and works of art (like the tile mosaic of the 3 different generations on the building behind the back entrance to starbucks) all around the downtown area
-The odl bank was used to folm day of the dead-cool!

Downtown is trying to fix tiself however it is nowhere near where it needs to be and far from being sustainable.  There is much work that needs to be done and plenty of fixing up to do!!