The Nature of The Everglades: Did You Know?

"The word "glade" is one the oldest English origin. It comes from the Anglo-Saxon "glaed," with the "ae" diphthong, shortened to "glad." it meant "shining" or "bright," perhaps as water."

This sentence has a great, and valuable meaning to me as a Floridian. I have lived in Florida all my life, and I have taken many field trips to the Everglades, but never knew the significance, or the meaning of the word "Everglades." Now as a student at Florida Gulf Coast University who lives on the east coast (Broward County), the everglades has been something I have unwarily been attached to my whole entire life. Driving back and forth on Alligator Alley at the age I am now, I saw the beauty of the Everglades, but never knew the history behind the meaning of the actual name, and why this big body was known as the "Everglades." See that it means "Shining" or "bright" I would have to definitely agree with that translation. When the Sun hits the water it begins to glisten and the water becomes very bright. As I drive on the Alley again I will never forget the meaning of "Everglades."

www. everglades-wilderness-waterway.com
This is a Photo of the Florida Everglades

"There must be heat and wetness for the porous thirty or more eggs  the female alligator lays."

This sentence further explains how female alligators prepare to lay their eggs in this big swamp. This sentence is very interesting to me, because I did not know this was the process that female alligators had to do before hatching their eggs. Living in a city where alligators are present everywhere, I thought this was something I would have known, but I didn't and having a fond interest in alligators it opened my eyes to how the preparation before the birthing happens. The water-weeds are of good use in the Everglades, instead of just a plant that's there! It's a source used by the gators through a 2 month process before the eggs hatch! Seeing the difference as to how both the alligator and the crocodile and how they lay eggs was also very interesting to me, when reading this excerpt. It just goes to show there is a lot more going on in the waters of the Everglades, then we really think!

www.blackmorephoto2013.wordpress.com

"To understand the Everglades one must understand the rock"

When I read this part, I didn't understand what rock the author was talking about and the description came along and I understood why the rock is present. I didn't know there was a rock present that helps to separate fresh and saltwater from mixing! Again living in Florida for the majority of my life, I never know there were borders to the Everglades, because it just seems like a big body of water that is endless! Now to find this out, its ruins my preconceived notions I have had for a long time about the Everglades! 

This is oolitic limestone, what is found at the bottom of the Everglades!
www.jaynesunshine.blogspot.com

Sol MacIvey: A Land "Remembered"

Briefly describe who the character is and their role in the novel.

Solomon MvIvey
In the novel "A Land Remembered" Solomon MacIvey is the son of Tobias MacIvey and his wife Emma. The Novel begins to open with Tobias's son Solomon rolling through Key Biscayne which is located in the county of Miami-Dade! Solomon's roll within the novel is  known that he is the last one that is living from the Generations of the MacIvey's and he has lived to see the changes that has happened within Southwest Florida. Throughout the novel Solomon (Sol) is the main character that readers will encounter and relate to on different levels.

www.unlockkeybiscayne.com

What is the relationship between the character and their environment and the natural world? 

The relationship between Sol and the environment and the natural world, is Sol and his past family have made many, many investments into land. They used land to make a living, and also their interaction to cattle. Before things became so industrialized, Sol has had a solid relationship with the natural world, seeing his father invest in to land for farming and the building of preservation, but money and wealth eventually became his priority and the lack of care to the environment and natural world began to decrease as the story progress's!

http://www.quickmeme.com/p/3vy8x6

Where does this character experience a strong sense of place and what legacy will/did they leave behind for others?

www.patricksmithonline.com

Sol experiences a strong sense of place in Chapter 1. Sol MacIvey is rolling throughout Punta Rassa and is having his driver take him through the memories of his past life and the construction that holds his family's name on it. He gets a strong sense of where he has allowed money and greed to ruin what his father and grandfather have built up for many years. He drives through certain neighborhoods, and gets a sense of familiarity with some of those places. Another sense of place is at the Seminole Village, where he had not been for decades where the people that came before him, had a solid relationship with. Sol didn't reproduce any more MacIvey's, and the legacy he left was many industrialized cities!

How do you relate to this character?

I don't relate to Sol. I wouldn't allow money or greed to ruin what my family has worked so hard to build and worked so hard for me to have the life that I have, and then end up regretting what I did to ruin what was built before me. If there was a relation between Sol it would be both of us choosing to live in a more industrialized area rather then nature.

Land Ethics: Is it right or wrong?

Agree Quote: "In Short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it."

I agree with this statement because it lets us know that as humans we have evolved in many different ways and it shows the inevitable changes that were made. As years have gone by our perception of being conquerors of the land-community has deteriorated. More and more people became accustomed to the lifestyle in the city and less and less people became disinterested in taking care of their community values. Later down in the article Leopold says that trying to be a conqueror of the land can lead to self defeat. It leads to self defeat because one who wants to be  in that "conqueror role" must know the ins and out of the community and the end result is they don't know, just as Leopold states. This alone states that we are just a plain member to and a citizen of the community because we don't know what the lands use is.  Often times we don't know about what it takes to keep the land in good conditions, we often times don't know the great values and goods and the bad about the land. I definitely agree as one who is just a citizen of land-community. I can't tell what is valuable about the land, and what its going to take to keep the land in good health. Someone cannot be a conqueror over the land if they don't have the ability to or a responsibility to the health of the land, and that is most times why the quest is cut short!

Homo sapiens evolving
www.importancia.org 

Agree Quote: "We can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel, understand, love or otherwise have faith in."

I would have to definitely agree with this statement made by Leopold. Why, because we only tend to care for the values of places, people, and things when there is a sense of attachment to them. When an individual has that attachment to the environment or land, there will be an ethical viewpoint for them. That individual will get a sense of wanting to take care the environment, fight for it to be kept in healthy conditions, for the atmosphere as well as the animals that are present within that environment. If I am unable to see or feel something or I don't have a sense of attachment towards something, why would I place any ethical value to it? The reason I believe I have no ethical value to the environment, is because I don't have a sense of attachment to it. It will be difficult for me to find good in keeping the environment healthy. 

www.deepgreenpermaculture.com

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"When one asks why no rules  have been written, one is told that the community is not yet ready to to support them ; education must precede rules."

I strongly agree with this statement by Leopold. I agree that if any rules and regulations are going to be set in place for the environment, there must be an educational standing that will support the rules that are being set in stone so individuals who actually want to study the understanding of the ruling, but I'm not necessarily grasping the knowledge as to why that is.