My Sense of Place-Journal Entry #2

My current sense of place in life is something that has been building up as I experience and learn new things each day.  I have absolutely always loved to be in nature and outside, observing each kind of animal and plant there is.  I have a deep passion for animals, which I have had since I was very young.  Although I, like many other people, are ignorant of the many environmental issues and dangers, I have truly learned a lot about conservation, recycling, and keeping our streets and oceans clean of litter.  Last semester, at Edison State College, I took a trip to Costa Rica for a Leatherback Sea Turtle Ecology project.  I know I mentioned this trip in the previous blog but it is one that has truly changed my life and opened my eyes.  The trip made me realize that my current sense of place has no set guidelines. It showed me, firsthand, that there are so many people out there who are unaware of the threats that many species in our world, specifically the Leatherbacks, face due to our ignorance.  One day on the trip, we went to the mouth of the Pacuare River where we found plastic bottle, styrofoam, glass pieces, plastic bags covering the beach.  This was all run off pollution from a nearby hospital.  This goes on all over the world and has made me think twice about using a plastic water bottle instead of a reusable one, or how much food and water I am wasting with every meal or shower.  The world and every life source in it needs our help; my sense of place is to try and do as much as I can to preserve the many species and resources we are so lucky to have.  My sense of place has been derived from many educational experiences that I have been involved with.  I have volunteered in beach and road cleanups, I have been on a few field trips where I learned about so many different animals and the way they affect the rest of the food chain.  I am so excited to go on the different field trips in this Colloquium course to experience and learn new things!  (In the above pictures, I was picking up the trash on a beach in Costa Rica. We didn't have enough space or time to pick up all the trash, so we were told to make a turtle shape of the bottles to let the next group of people know that we had been there.)