End-of-Project Reflection

This project has helped me understand my place in the natural world by how the decisions I and my family make have such a large impact on my field site. It has made me more conscious of myself as a human and the interactions I partake in. The food I eat, the products I use, the clothing I purchase are all part of my carbon footprint. On the microscopic level, I exhale carbon dioxide (CO2), I myself am a part of the carbon cycle. The goal isn't to eliminate carbon completely but to keep an equal sustainable balance.

I think humans have a responsibility to protect and nourish the Earth if we want to remain a part of it. In the Gizmo assignment, scientists were able to save an ecosystem by analyzing what the problem was and performing a simulation to decipher what organisms were most important to stabilize the ecosystem. They found that adding more wolves to the ecosystem would create balance. Because humans were able to help this ecosystem I think our obligation to this planet is to restore the environmental destruction we have caused.

My favorite thing I did during this project was spending time out in my field site and observing the animals and seeing the plants throughout the different seasons and watch their growth and production. Learning and observing my fieldsite this year was a great experience and I think it helped me understand how every part of an ecosystem is necessary especially when we did Assessment #6 the Gizmo because it showed in a real simulation how reliant all the organisms are to each other.

I didn't find anything to be too challenging as my field site was in my backyard and easily accessible to me. I found a better sense of appreciation for my field site through this project. We decided to make some changes in the garden this year to support some of the organisms that we were not actively helping. We scattered two and a half pounds of wildflower seeds that will attract butterflies, beneficial bugs, and bees. This will not only provide for all of the insects it will also help our garden as the beneficial bugs will feed off the pests, keeping the plants strong and healthy and more bees will visit to pollinate the vegetables and fruits.