Environmentality & Sustainability - Week 5

During Week 5 of Environmentality & Sustainability, the class took yet another field trip! This time, we went to The Land at Epcot and visited the Living with the Land ride and went on the "Behind the Seeds" backstage tour of the greenhouses. The best part of the whole tour was that it was given by two of the professional interns that work at The Land. For all of us College Program participants, having the opportunity to talk to people who are just a little older than us and doing these "dream" internships is an awesome experience. My group's tour guide, Rebecca, was an entomologist at The Land, which means she studies insects. She is there simply because bugs like plants! She gave us a backstage tour of all of the greenhouses and the fisheries and even let us release lady bugs onto the plants at the end of the tour (lady bugs kill harmful insects)!

I think the most interesting thing I learned during the class was that almost everything they make/grow at The Land is used on property in some way. A lot of the food and spices are used at Park and Resort Restaurants (especially the Garden Grill). What the restaurants won't take, they send to Animal Kingdom, where they try to incorporate some of the food into the animals' diets! Finally, whatever the people and animals don't want gets composted, which is great for the environment. Rebecca told us that such a small number (around 3%) of the stuff grown there goes to waste, which is an amazing percentage!

Also, did you know that the Imagineers had to start working on The Land before they had to start working on the big Epcot ball?! How cool is that?

Once again, this was an amazing experience. Most people have to pay to go on these kinds of tours, and I am getting them for free and getting to meet so many amazing people with awesome jobs! Look for my post next week about our class field trip to The Seas!!