This past week, a dear friend of my family's passed away. He was a friend of my parents in college, and I had known him all my life. I attended his funeral this weekend and wanted to have another way to honor him as well.

Jim Sicks was a rare and special man. He was a giving and loving person who truly believed in helping others. He was a gentleman and a loving husband, father, grandfather, and school vice principal. He passed away after a seven year battle with cancer. I have to admit that I am very angry at the universe on this one!

Jim was a native Floridian --of the old school variety. He loved the Everglades before it was hip and loved to use native plants in his home garden. There were many times he and my mother would tramp in the woods to look for bromeliads and orchids --even in the pouring rain, dressed in yellow rain slickers! Jim helped his wife Joy (a teacher) to plan and plant a butterfly garden at her own Sarasota school for the students to have a special place to witness the beauty and joys of nature.

Jim always gave of himself --to his community and his environment. He gave honestly and happily. I ask everyone to honor him and remember him further by doing the same. Go out and plant a native tree or bush. Go out and help someone learn to read. Go out and help someone struggling to get his/her groceries into the car. Just give of yourself to others and to the earth in honor of Jim. As my mother said, "We need to grow more people like him."

For a project in another one of my classes, I have begun to learn the healing art of Reiki. Reiki is a Japanese hands on healing technique using energy fields rediscovered by Dr. Usui (that's him at the top) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is believed to be what Jesus and Buddha used. Reiki can be used on plants, animals, and people.

Reiki is not just something you learn either. You have to be connected to the Reiki energies to use it. I had my first "attunement" two weeks ago. It threw me for a loop for at least a week and is now settling within my system. I still have one more week of adjustment to go, then I can have my next attunement.

Reiki can be used to heal others and to heal yourself (which is the focus of the first attunement). One of the reasons I wanted to learn it is because of how it connects humans across borders. I can trace my attunement energy back to Dr. Usui through a lineage of 16 people. It's very cool! Plus I can use it to help others. One has to be open to have a Reiki treatment and open to give a Reiki treatment. You have to intend good for the world. I love it! I feel more connected to the earth and to my fellow humans --even though right now, my attunemnet has stirred up a great deal of anger at the moment!

Two things I've been thinking about:

1. When you go to Publix, the cashiers/baggers can't stand it --they have to use plastic. Every time I have my own bags or ask for paper (I put my recycling in paper bags to take to the recycling stand in my complex.,) they always end up giving me at least one plastic bag! If I have one item left not in a bag, instead of putting it in one of the existing bags, they toss it into a plastic bag on its own. If they start to put it in plastic and you remind them of wanting paper or that you brought your own bags, they just put the plastic bags in the bags. Yeesh! Do you think that they will have nervous breakdown if they don't use a plastic bag at least once? Is it so ingrained in our beings to use plastic bags that we can't deprogram ourselves?

2. Most beauty/personal care products don't come in recyclable containers, yet they are most often made of plastic. Toothpaste, eyeshadow, deodorant. They don't have recycle logos, and I feel guilty every time I throw one away. When are they going to got on the bus --green on the outside too, not just the inside!

Remember to check your plastic bottles and other containers --those in the recycle numbers of 3,6, and 7 contain dangerous chemicals that mirror estrogen in the body and affect fertility. Don't reuse them --recycle them! Especially do not consume anything that has been sitting in those containers in the heat or sun --the effect is worse! And check the numbers before you buy! Many plastics will state they are BPA free too. Better yet, search the antique and thrift stores for old glass refrigerator containers. Those are re-usable and friendly to the environment. (Although, I can't remember if there were some that contained poisonous compounds or dyes. Might just be pottery --something to investigate.)

A word about those cheap, reusable shopping bags available at various stores. These are polypropylene and polyester. Both are synthetic fibers and are not biodegradable. How many tons of them are made, and how many of them are not recycled when they are damaged?

The stores make them available for their customers to purchase and then improve their "green" image with the consumer --and cheaply too. However, they are creating just another problem. Further, the consumer has not educated him/herself enough --on the whole --about what s/he is consuming. We've become sheep, trusting in those who lead us.

Open your mind and learn some things! And for the love of all that is holy --think things through! I was in Earth Fare (a healthy living grocery chain) a few months back, and they had a sign up that stated that plastic bags are lighter and therefore use less energy in transportation. Let's think this through. Would not the shipping truck be the same size? And would not the manufacturer pack that truck with more bags because they are smaller, thinner, and weigh less? So would they not in the end take the same if not more fuel to ship? Also how much energy goes into manufacturing plastic versus paper? Further, plastic is still not biodegradable! What happens to those bags that don't make it back to the store to be re-used?

Just saying. . .think it through. Don't just jump on the nearest bandwagon screaming past because it sounds good! And buy organic cotton canvas bags and troll the thrift stores for old tote bags!

In this post, we are to describe the high points or things we found most difficult in the semester.

I think the high points were the field trips, the final project, the films, the David Orr readings, and an excuse to a read Carl Hiaasen mass-market paperback novel because it was for school! I loved the chance to see Ding Darling without the added stress of trying to find time in my crazy schedule. And I finally got to see ECHO. My mother has made me promise to bring her when she comes down for my graduation.

I did find it difficult to juggle the extensive work load that the Colloquium class required. Four papers plus a blog plus a final project have worn me out, and at this junction of the semester, I wonder how I am going to get it all accomplished on top of the workload in my other classes. Colloquium should really be worth far more credits than it is.

Though I understand the need for many of the projects, papers, viewings, and readings, I think the university should consider more projects that focus on getting us outside and just being! Also, is it really sustainable to have people drive to campus to take a bus and then drive home, when many of our field trips were near various students' homes? Yes, the bus trip is used as teaching time, but that makes the class an hour and fifteen minutes longer than normal. It's wearing on the students, especially as it's during lunch time --not healthy. A little restraint, please! Also is it not wasteful, and a little hypocritical, of a class focused on environmental sustainability to have a textbook that is only good for one school year? Hmm, something to think about.

In this post we are to reflect on the meanings we have made from our Colloquium class experience personally, academically, and in relationship to our major.

I dragged my feet about taking this class as I am a native Floridian and have had plenty of experience in the wilds of my native land. Still, I learned a lot and enjoyed the field trips as a break from classroom activities. Plus, I wisely waited until the spring semester when it was much cooler, which made the trips far more enjoyable. As I told an adviser who questioned why I had not yet taken colloquium: "I am not about to traipse about this campus in the heat!" More snakes then too. I'm sure they all have some vital role in the ecosystem, and their absence would discombobulate everything like the absence of wolves did, but I prefer to live in denial and continue to think of them as thoroughly unnecessary.

I am an English major with a Creative Writing minor. I love to write, and this class has reminded me why I should devote some of my writing time to writing about the environment and sustainable practices. I hope to keep that in my mind as I continue forward in my studies and my career. Things are desperate and to me they seem hopeless. I don't tend to have a lot of faith that people can change. I spent most of the semester depressed about this. Maybe, I can help to make a change through my writing.