In Environmental Science, as students/explorers, we were encouraged to find our own answers as to why things are the way that they are, and think critically about the conclusions we draw from research.
The course began with us discussing Earth Systems, and Resources. We wanted to not only identify ways that we as humans alter our environment, but try to be more aware of the ecological footprint we leave on this Earth. We talked about how we can make the Earth more sustainable, which still doesn't have a clear and concise answer. We continued the discussion with the topic of environmental justice, and what it means to be environmentally just.
To end the semester, we ended the class by doing a lab which related back to how we can alter the environment by certain factors, and how we can make the Earth more sustainable. The lab consisted of planting our own seeds, taking care of them, and monitoring them on a daily basis, to see if there were certain factors that prevented them from growing as quickly, or factors that enabled them to grow quickly.
The way that we were going to do our garden was in the style of a "Tower Garden". Now, I can be one hundred percent honest and say that before this class, I had never even heard of the term "Tower Garden"; nor seen one or knew how it worked. I can admit that I was ignorant to the world of gardening, but it was only because it never interested me. Tower Gardens, according to their official website are defined as "vertical aeroponic growing systems which allow the gardener to grow up to 20 vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers indoors or outdoors." The topic of being able to grow plants, still didn't interest me, but since it was for a grade, I had to do it.
My group, which consisted of Samir Smith, Mark Palmer, Savion Cummings, and myself decided that we would plant sweet basil, cherry tomatoes, peppers, and gourmet lettuce. I didn't want to get my hands too dirty, I decided that I would be the organizer of the group, and keep track of the observations, and organize all of the documents.
As you look at the photos from our photo journal, you will see that our plants didn't grow as much as we wanted them to, but it could just be because we either watered them too much, or we didn't water them enough. It also could have been because we planted our seeds at a later date, so we were behind (because of the class schedule). Based on these observations, I do believe that if everyone planted their seeds on the same day, we would all have similar results, or if we all followed the same routine of watering our plants. However, one additional observation that I made was that we could have damaged our soil, or our seeds prior to planting, so that could have had a major impact on the growth.
As I reflect on this project, one thing that I think I could improve upon was keeping track of the temperature inside of the building during the time we were in class, as well as the temperature outside, and took a ruler to measure the growth of the plants. I do think that this was a fun project to do, and I do believe that tower gardens are a more sustainable way of living because the plants aren't altered in anyway, they're one hundred percent organic, and full of pesticides.
I hope that you enjoy the photo journal below, and hope that you get some type of motivation to go start your own!
https://docs.google.com/a/slabeeber.org/document/d/1-3D7VFucAgl0xfjVCaxTlyFqmQksXzG6ipjLSyhQM9c/edit?usp=sharing
