Sustaining Human Societies and the Natural Environment
To fill my anchor course requirement, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Australia over 2016-2017 winter break. This course has definitely been one of my favorite college memories. We traveled to Sydney, Carnarvon Gorge, Noosa, Lady Elliot Island, and Brisbane. In my opinion, this is one of the best study-abroad programs because you get to travel around the country, learning on the go, instead of having to stay in the same place in a classroom all day. While traveling to these places, I was able to learn about sustainable development by studying the Sydney and Brisbane urban areas, the Aboriginal culture in Carnarvon Gorge, marine life in the Great Barrier Reef, and the eco-tourism that has developed throughout the city of Noosa. This program is a diverse, hands-on course that did a great job kicking off my sustainability certificate with an international perspective.
One way this course impacted me happened while we were staying on Lady Elliot Island. This island is very small and the only thing on it is an eco-friendly resort. I have never stayed at an eco-friendly resort, but it was definitely an experience. I would describe it as like camping, but instead of sleeping in a tent you sleep in a wooden hut with bunkbeds and electricity. There was a restaurant where everyone staying on the island ate. One thing that stuck out to me was how the employees really emphasize only taking what you will eat. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all a buffet which in America, is a large contributor to food waste. During the island orientation, they would say only get what you know you can eat because you can always go back for seconds. Everyone staying here followed this. While on Lady Elliot Island we studied the marine environment. We got to snorkel The Great Barrier Reef, for class and during our free time. I also got to scuba dive The Great Barrier Reef which checked off a huge activity on my bucket list! We would study tide pools and the lagoon as we conducted research projects. Life here is spent the best way possible. Every night, we looked for turtles, watched the sunset, and saw shooting stars. In the mornings we would watch the sunrise and hit the ocean for a morning snorkel. We got to snorkel right off the island, in the lagoon at high tide, and even took boats out to snorkel far off the island. Spending time on this island is very peaceful not only because of the environment, but also because there is no access to Wi-Fi. What I took away from spending time on Lady Elliot Island was have less, experience more. This statement describes sustainability as a whole for me. I believe many people think sustainability means just having less stuff instead of thinking wisely about what you use and replacing stuff with experiences. For example, we had to ride on tiny planes to get to the island. These planes had weight limits, so we were all limited to one backpack we could bring to the island. This made me choose wisely and realize how much stuff I had that I could go without. After my experience at Lady Elliot Island, it easily became my favorite place on earth.
Another way this course impacted me was during our time in Noosa. Noosa is a city in Queensland that puts a big emphasis on eco-tourism and sustainability in general. One of my favorite sustainable things in Noosa is their use of roundabouts. There are only two stop lights in the whole city, both of which are for the schools. Everything else is a roundabout. This just amazed me, and I thought it was so cool. It seems like such a simple concept, you start wondering well why do more cities not do this? Roundabouts are not an eyesore like stop lights and they require no electricity! Another thing that grabbed my attention, was that all the dinner places in Noosa closed at 9pm. This goes against our American culture of having as much food as we want and whenever we want it. Not staying open late or all night saves a lot of resources. Even their shopping stores close at 5:30pm. Another example in Noosa is they do not build tall buildings and have a population cap of 60,000 people. There are many parks in Noosa to hike through. They keep their parks free so there is no entitlement and hope people see the intrinsic value. Noosa thrives with an undeveloped coastline. They depend on the natural coast to contribute to a healthy environment. Something I love about the people of Noosa, including the town council, is that development of their river or beaches will always come second to the environment. They have even shot down marina and resort proposals, and the organization who protects the beaches are all volunteers. They are able to thrive without the big resorts because they have put so much pride into their parks, beaches, and town that tourist still love to visit. Overall, Noosa has a unique sense of place that contributes to their sustainable development.
Lastly, I would like to reflect on my experience with sustainability in Carnarvon Gorge. In the outback, we got to truly live on the land and study the Aboriginal culture. We were in pure isolation, hours from the closest grocery store alone. We stayed in tent-like huts, and cooked and eat every meal outside. Every day we would go on hikes through the outback. We were able to experience how people use to live solely on the environment. Every morning we woke up to the sound of animals and went to bed when it got dark (there were no lights). The Aboriginal people had technology, but they do not consider technology the same thing as we do today. Theirs includes items like a boomerang, a woven basket, and a sharpened stone, each of which had a specific purpose, or else they would not use it. This is one of the things I admire: they would not use something unless it served for a specific purpose. To survive, the Aboriginal people had to have a great wealth of knowledge. They had to know how to weave a basket to carry water in, how to make a boomerang to hunt, and even different plant species so they knew which ones they could use. Overall, people seem to always look towards the future, but I think we could learn a lot by looking in the past.
I could not have taken a better course to kick off my certificate in sustainability. I learned so much while taking this hands-on course in Australia. The places we visited also sparked a lot of thought when thinking about sustainable development. It is funny how everyone wants to visit big cities like Sydney or Brisbane, but I have the best memories from the three most sustainable places we visited, in my opinion. Sydney and Brisbane still practice sustainability, but I believe that a lot of the concepts behind sustainability come from within us. This was best displayed to me at Lady Elliot Island on The Great Barrier Reef, Noosa in Queensland, and Carnarvon Gorge in the outback. I hope to spread these concepts to many more people throughout my life.