My vision of a sustainable community is one that is sensitive to the building of and promotion of sustainable living. There would be a need to educate individuals on the purpose of such a community to make sure they are aware of the positive environmental and economic effect such commnity could exist. Behavior would be the main thing that would need to be changed.

it's important to me to be responsible in my energy use 

The biggest impact to my area will be sea level rise and rising temperatures. It will lead to numerous negative impacts to humans and the environment. We will see residents migrate from the coastal areas to areas toward the center of the state that are currently undeveloped and used for agriculture and other industries. The habitat loss to coastal species will most likely be devastating though there will be some species that will be adapt to the new conditions. I'm particularly concerned about the biodiversity lost in our estuarine communities and shorebird populations. Eventually, it is forecast that the nature preserve where I work will be inundated and this threatens land species such as gopher tortoises due to habitat loss. All of these impacts emphasize the need to move to more sustainable practices.

I had not heard the term "silvopasture" before now. There are a lot of benefits to this technique but I was particularly interested in the fact that when silvopasture is implemented, the land becomes more resilient to drought. With superdroughts forecast to be more prevalent in the future due to climate change, this technique could mitigate some of those effects.

I was surprised to learn that peatlands take hundred to thousands of years to form and are second only to oceans in the amount of carbon they store. That is amazing! I started a vegetable garden at home and created my soil using a mixture of peat, vermiculite, and compost. I am going to switch to coconut coir going forward and will spread the word about the importance of keeping peatlands intact. 

So far, I've transitioned to all-natural cleaning products in my home. They smell so much better and are much less toxic to the environment. I was an easy change. Now I'm looking to what products I can move to that meet rigorous environmental standards. I was happily surprised to see Charmin toilet paper listed as a rainforest friendly product! I also am going to look for products that have moved away from using palm oil since the consumption of palm oil is contributing to deforestation. 

I was a girl scout as a kid and they use to take us camping regularly. It was such a different experience than I was use to growing up in Orlando. I remember seeing the stars and wondering why they looked so much brighter than at my house. Time felt different, the air smelled different and I wasn't sure why but I liked it.  

I spent a hour yesterday walking down at our city's new pier. I was so impressed with the thought and design that went into bringing together and highlight the various elements of the space: water, land, and sky. It was a really enjoyable time and was a beautiful space to explore. I also spent time outdoors today in a natural area. The experiences were very different but both were wonderful because my attention was drawn to different natural elements in each space. I noted the arrangement of plants in each space, the different species of plants present in each space, and the kinds of wildlife utilizing each area. Spending time outdoors helps me to learn about my local environment and deepens my appreciation for both man-made and natural spaces.

Innovation is happening all the time. I think it is very feasible that our society will begin to transition to using products derived from agricultural waste. It was interesting learning about the various materials and their impact on our environment. I'm getting ready to do some renovations on my home and learned a lot about the kind of insulation and flooring which would be less impactful to our environment. This was a really interesting topic. Thank you!