Environmental Reflection

A growing problem in the world today is the affect humans have on the environment. Specifically, humans are having a greater impact on the habitats of animal species. As a child, I have always had an interest in animals and nature. My fascination with them became even more profound as I got into high school. Senior year of high school made me acknowledge that fact that I could something about our environmental issues. This was why I majored in Environmental Health. I wish to dedicate the rest of my education to come up with solutions for the health of animals. The classes I took as senior extraordinarily impacted my life. The teachers in my environmental class and my English class were very focused on helping us find what we wanted to major

We stayed at the Chincoteague Bay Field Station in their dormitories. In the mornings, we would go to a classroom and learn about what we will be doing and studying at the location for the day. The first day we went to on a boat trip through Chincoteague’s Bay. We looked at the organisms that live in the waters and did water testing. We did actual field work and tested the salinity, current, pH, and turbidity of the bay. The next morning, my teacher and our group woke up at four o’clock in the morning and drove to Assateague Island beach to watch the sunrise. The trip that day was to the intertidal zone of Wallop’s Island. We hiked through a muddy path and spent the day on a sandy shore near the marsh. The intertidal zone is the area of land that it visible during low tide and covered at high tide. We examined some fish and crabs that live in the region. My favorite part was learning about these snails that lived their entire lives on a single blade of grass. Twice a day, they would climb up the blade of grass as the tide came in. Their sticky residue would collect tiny organisms and minerals which the snail would eat as it made its way back down the grass. Our next trip was near a wetland, in a ghost town. The town survived on a big clam and oyster business. The company would throw thousands of tons of oyster shells into the ocean after using them and they would wash up on the shore. The shore that we were on was made up of broken pieces of shells. It was surreal learning about the environmental impact this town has had. We were actually standing on the foundation of an old building that was destroyed from erosion. The last place we visited was my favorite place. This was on the beach of Wallop’s Island. Wallop’s Island is actually owned by NASA and no tourists are allowed on it. It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The beach was beautiful, untouched by humans,