Downtown Fort Myers

To me the word "downtown" reminds me of what the downtown where I live is like. Some parts are low-income and other parts are not. Downtown Clearwater is home to the Scientology headquarters and a lot of their members. They flock the streets and business on the main street in downtown Clearwater. Overtime, downtown communities have gone from very low scale and run down to in a constant up scaling change. Downtown isn't always seen as a "slum" in some areas because of the renovations that have been taking place. Downtown Ft. Myers is experiencing a "renaissance" because it is changing its appearance and common populates. It's turning into a fun daytime place with festivals and live music during the day and a bar and club scene at night, which is giving downtown an opportunity to attract more than just the older generations. Some of the prominent architectural features are the style of the buildings that line the main streets, they have almost a Mediterranean feel to them. There are a lot of bright, inviting colors and large windows for window shopping. Also, on the government buildings there are a lot of distinct architectural features such as large stair cases up to the main doors instead of just walking straight in. These features among others are designed to rekindle the pedestrian spirit because they are meant for looking and browsing as opposed to just in and out to get things done. The large waterfront parks and sidewalks with nice views, trees and parks are also for the pedestrians. They encourage people to come and just take a stroll along the waterway and hang out in the park. Some of the nods to history include the Olympian museum that has artwork of past Olympians and other artifacts. Also there are several monuments that are dedicated to Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone such as the statue of the three of them sitting around a fire right on the waterfront.  The economy of Fort Myers has evolved from being undeveloped and poor to an increasingly growing financial and cultural district. There have been more additions including houses, shopping centers and parks. All of these aspects relate to sustainability because even though the city is continuing to grow, it still promotes its history and culture and making everything pedestrian friendly as opposed to motor vehicular friendly. 

ECHO Reflection

I really enjoyed going to ECHO despite the poor weather conditions. I liked the idea of ECHO and all of the features they had. What stood out the most to me was that ECHO had animals, I was under the impression that it was strictly plants. To me, "American Agriculture" is fields of crops like in the midwest. At ECHO it was completely different. There wasn't any large machinery or tractors to take down large amounts of crops. ECHO changed my view in the way that agriculture isn't always on a large, unsustainable scale. American agriculture can be done in a very sustainable way if you take the time to do it properly. I believe that ECHO's work can be relevant to the developing world, maybe not so much in its entirety so much as taking bits and pieces and ideas from it. In developing countries this technology would be very beneficial for them to get started and have an eco friendly footprint right off that back instead of just having large scale productions brought in and built. "Appropriate technology" is technology that is best fit for certain areas or cultures. Different regions of the world use different types of technology because they know what is most efficient and suitable for the environments in which they live.I don't think I'd be that interested in doing my service learning here, not because I don't like the idea, just because I don't see myself working there. I read up on their website before we went and they identify with a specific religion and I don't so I don't believe that I would be a good fit for them.