For this interview, I interviewed both of my grandmothers. Because they were raised in different states and cities, there would be an interesting comparison of the two. To my surprise, they had a lot in common but had many differences.
My mom's mother grew up in Fort Lauderdale. At a young age, my grandmother was a working woman and had three children. Her economic sustainability was not good since she was well off. Her and my grandfather has nice cars, a nice house, steady jobs, and everything else they wanted. Her philosophy on sustainability has little importance since education on the environment was not a priority. As the years went on, my grandparents moved to North Carolina where they inherited my great-grandmothers house. This house is so isolated from town it takes about 15-20 minutes to get to the nearest gas station! The house is not visible from the road, nor the beginning of the driveway. My grandmother learned how to grow some of her own fruits and vegetables so she wouldn't have to drive into town as often. She grew lots of tomatoes, squash, herbs, and many more. When my mother was growing up, my grandmother never allowed television, playing video games, or phones. My grandmother's priority is family. Still to this day, she is all about down home cooking, farming, and playing cards. My mom told me that she would go out into the woods with my uncles and play on the river, climb orange trees, and build forts to entertain themselves. This really helped structure her family. I am very impressed by my grandmother's way of adapting to a new environment and making use of her 50+ acres of land.
My father's mother is complete opposite of my other grandmother. While in her early 20s, my dad's mother lived on a farm and owned a feed store for animals. They would grow all of the hay on property and sell it for a living. After my dad, aunts and uncles were born, the business skyrocketed and was making lots of money. This means my grandma started to drive the nice cars she wanted, build a house for the whole family, and enjoy the things life had to offer. Still to this day, my grandmother enjoys the finer things, such as first-class vacations, shopping, dining out and much more.
Carol (left) is my mom's mother, and Helen (right) is my father's mother.
The things my grandmothers have in common are their unawareness for the environment. Besides certain times in life, their ecological perspective never really changed by choice. I would rate myself as a balance between the two. I am learning the importance of sustainability, yet enjoy the finer things in life.
Both of my grandmothers showed appreciation to Colloquium, and want me to share with them what I learned this semester.
My favorite quote I learned from this trip was "If you give a man a fish, you feed him that day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him a lifetime." I take that very seriously. The people, volunteers, and workers for ECHO provide people in other counteries means of survival. Not only fishing, but growing their own crops, and being able to maintain them. Since our field trip was cut short, we didn't get to see much, but we walked around the building and looked at some of the plants. 
There were a few trees and bushes that, when in season, grow foods and fruits. To most of us Americans, we would not regulaly go out and pick from these trees and eat what grew. But that could be someones meal in another country. Sometimes we take for granted what we have.
