Day+05+Optional+Activities+and+An+Inconvenient+Truth

Sunday May 8th Sunday was cool. We had a day in and our only activity was to watch “An Inconvenient Truth”. We had a discussion about the movie later. Our discussion was really interesting because of people’s opinions about climate change and what we can do as young college students. We pretty much came to an agreement that the climate control and global warming era was like a fad because the push for environmental change died down substantially.

During my day off I went kayaking to an beach that was about a mile away. It was really great to be in full control of my day, and able to explore the island. I met several locals and was able to discuss environmental issues with people who don’t work for the government, but experienced the problems of the land. Also, I was able to help my friends when they had “kayaking issues”, which was basically another close encounter with sea urchins. Although our group runs into problems with sea urchins, they serve a valuable role in ocean ecosystems. Sea urchins mainly feed on algae, so although they're painful, they serve a pivotal role in keeping the water clear. However; as a group we have learned that they can be quite painful. When kayaking back from the beach, I watched three of my friends' kayak flip over, which caused them to step on sea urchins. Ashley landed so hard on a sea urchin that several of the urchin's spines penetrated Ashley's Crocs. I can only imagine how bad her feet would've been had she not been wearing shoes. We learned from locals that to cure urchin spines, you soak your feet in vinegar and hot water, and eventually you carefully tweeze the spines out.