From time to time, Ethan Marshall will share interesting things that he found on the internet,
for your enjoyment and enlightenment.
for your enjoyment and enlightenment.
April, 2022
I have had the lovely experience of meeting some "radical gardeners" in my Intro to Environmental Science class. My class went on a field trip to Gulfport, which is a small artsy town in southern Pinellas County. There I met a group of locals who took their love for gardening, horticulture, and community to the city and acquired 3 city blocks of land that was just laying barren, aside from some beautiful and mighty oak trees. Over 9 years, more than 90 different plant species have been planted in this "Food Forest." The concept of a Food Forest is that the plants grown have some part of the plant that is either edible or medicinal, and one can use it or eat it when the plant is ready. The people from Gulfport Food Forest did express their difficulties with proving to the city that the park should not be turned into more residential housing and how it increases the land value of the community they all live in, also the challenges of cold winter or hurricanes, and keeping the homeless from living in the park. Today, the park has a paved walking path with some local artwork and a growing amount of biodiversity. No matter how strange this sounds, these people are very dedicated to their work, improving the land value, and growing the community. This video done by VOX reminds me of my experiences at the Gulfport Food Forest. There are lots of logistic, scientific, communal, and political aspects of running such an operation. Note that the work discussed in the video was in motion before many key pieces of legislation would make their work easier and more mainstream, like the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and many others. I hope you find the video and my discussion as interesting as I do.
September, 2021
Here are three photos that I took last week. The first is of the USF Sarasota/Manatee Courtyard, the second is from my favorite place to study - the second story of the Main Rotunda at USF-SM, the third is of Thursday's SpaceX rocket launch taken from the porch of my home.
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