4. Field Trip #2 – ECHO

(Image from :http://www.worldserveintl.org/Portals/58/files/echo.jpg)
(Image by Aaron Y.)
(Image by Aaron Y.)
(Image by Aaron Y.)
(Image by Aaron Y.)
(Image by Aaron Y.)
(Image by Aaron Y.)

I started out not really feeling like I was going to enjoy ECHO. I love nature, but living in the woods almost all my life I have seen plenty of plants. That being the man focus of ECHO worried me that I wouldn’t be interested when we took our trip. However, like times before in this class, I was surprised yet again. ECHO turned out to be really interesting. We learned the many simple but very effective ways of growing food, cooking and preparing food, as well as purifying water for drinking. It was mind blowing on how the simplest instrument or contraption could help give food and water to less fortunate countries. The different plants and how they affect nature was also interesting. For example the leaves from the Neem tree can be soaked in water and used as pest repellents on other plants. This keeps crops alive and free from bugs that may kill an entire harvest. Another useful contraption was able to extract the methane from manure and turning it into a source of energy.