I attended a field trip at ECHO in North Fort Myers on Friday, September 2, 2011. I had not previously been but had driven by and read the sign and been intrigued. I enjoyed the tour especially about the water filtration systems and the fire starters.
The amount of clean water that could be derived by one of those small, uncomplicated purification systems amazed me. Why can't we get these to the people who need them? If I remember, one involved a 5 gallon bucket with some hoses running out of it and a lid. The entire set up cost around $50 and I believe could clean up to 40 gallons of water per day. Personally, I am a bit of an apocalypse phobic and believe in that being prepared to self sustain in any circumstances in never a waste of time or money. I have enough wood to board up all my windows (including removing internal doors), I try to grow my own vegetables, I keep a large supply of flashlights, batteries, duct tapes, face masks, plastic gloves, and ammunition; all just in case but hoping that I will never need them. Having a water purification system could prove vital in any instance from hurricanes to plagues and zombies. I have marveled at the twist on bottle toppers that you can buy for around $10 now that go on top of any water bottle. I know that if there is ever to be a disaster that you are to fill you bath tub and any other large container with water to hold as much as possible should your supply be rendered undrinkable.
One of the other ideas that amused me were the made firewood blocks. I don't remember specifically what they were called. But I do remember thinking how much I take for granted that I can turn on my stove or just pop food into my microwave, drive thru, carry out, or sit down in a restaurant while else where there are people who spend the majority of their day walking just trying to find enough sticks to cook their meal. THAT SUCKS. What a simple innovation those little used paper cooking blocks are. Saves a lot of effort. Even though I would imagine that they are inexpensive to make, I bet there isn't a million companies jumping at the offer to ship used paper to a distant place where the can't pay you. I wonder how much of those actually reach the people who need them and what makes it possible for them to be shipped so far.
I also enjoyed learning about how they experiment with growing vegetables. Anyone who has ever tried to grow anything can tell you that it takes a certain green thumb, or perhaps more accurately some trial and error. I am currently slowly killing several plants at once.
Another thing that I found amusing was how several people in the class were amazed at the urban gardens, where they were growing plants in things like plastic bags and old tires. It was like the idea had never occurred to any of the to use anything but brand new color coordinating pots fresh from the store! Ha!
Its crazy to think that ECHO trying new techniques here can possibly help a rice farmer in the Philippines, or an African farmer working on re-greening and local biodiversity.
I also enjoyed getting to eat some of the various plants that were being grown there. I felt a connection to the most prehistoric people who had made the discoveries.
I bought 4 organic herbs that day. Three are currently living. My rosemary bit the dust. If I can go so far to speculate, I would say the soil that I have the plant in is overly loamy and that the plant was receiving too much water.
If it were not for such a drive and if the labor wasn't so physically demanding outside I would consider doing my service learning hours there. Oh, and the tour guy, the doctor, seemed very intelligent and "zen."
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