Juan Morera - Blog Post 2 : Balancing Human Safety, Environment, and Economy - Reflection
Blog Reflection #2 - Juan Morera
This posts main focus is our group's speech presentation for October 15th, we we're tasked with a group project that challenged us, it told us to explore the relationship between the economy and the environment. A topic that felt both important and very relevant to our lives in South Florida. These real world issues present themselves everywhere on a daily basis, we knew this wasn’t just an academic exercise. It was a chance to understand the systems around us and imagine how they could work better, and how we could make and develop potential new systems to assist against the disasters of environmental and economical issues, for people and the planet.
What unfolded over the course of a couple weeks was a dynamic and ultimately rewarding collaboration. We learned how to research, create, and present complex ideas. We wrestled with conflicting viewpoints, time management, and leaned into each other’s strengths. And by the end, we had almost everything we wanted, and we we're relatively prepared to present.
The project prompt was broad, it makes it easier, but that means you need to cover as much material in a short speech as you can, without boring the audience out of their skulls! Analyze the intersection of economic and environmental systems, and propose strategies for resilience, seems simple, but includes the entire timeline. What do i mean by this? When talking about anything, you need to provide context, the story or point, then evidence, images, and sources, on top of your persuasive argument if it is included. Our first challenge was narrowing it down and compressing such vital information. During our initial brainstorming session, we threw out ideas ranging from green jobs and "migrated" to climate migration to sustainable agriculture and urban planning.
Eventually, we settled on a central question: “How can economic policy support environmental sustainability without sacrificing growth or equity?” It was ambitious, but it gave us room to explore multiple angles, policy, industry, and community impact, then connect them to real-world examples. It definitely wasn't easy, given we had enough time but all had things going on in the background, whether it was work, other classes and their projects and midterm assignments or tests, or private issues and non-disclosed personal dilemmas.
Nevertheless, we divided into subgroups based on interest and skill sets. One team focused on economic data and policy analysis, another on environmental science and climate impacts. My part was adding detail and building off of Jenise's portion of the speech, she essentially explained the background information along with the issues existing, then I began to talk about the science and the possible solutions that could be plausible and worthy of thought. I talked about types of infrastructure most of all, I particularly remembered when i talked about how flooding that isn't absorbed by the ground properly leads to sinkholes and dangerous terrain, so I thought of a type of a form of drainage system that's essentially a big storm drain, but it looks really pretty, and its in the center of a park people can walk in. Then i remembered there's a type of stone-like material that can absorb and seemingly evaporate water very quickly, and all I did from then was add a couple of details and the idea was born.
It was a very neat presentation, though if I'm being completely honest, I'm going to like almost every speech I give, I like to talk and I like to get together with people to do stuff like this, its a great learning experience and I feel like this really strengthens other skills that I have in life. For one, I know I like to debate, and since I do, I need to do constant research about my topics, and that can get really mentally tiring. With little projects and fun activities like this, I get to keep my brain fresh while absorbing more useful information I know for a fact I'll need in the future. In addition, I'll also likely use what I learn from these activities to learn to speak more fluidly and correctly with people, as I stated before, I admire those who can speak so naturally and genuinely, cool as a refrigerated cucumber!
One of our biggest roadblocks was info overload. With so many sources and statistics, it was easy to get lost in the rainforest of info we needed to gather. It felt like how Black Friday is depicted in TV shows where you rapidly pick up things you don't need but keep them anyways because you might need them, we were essentially cramming as many sources and info as we could into a google doc and then nitpicking what we needed in the moment to incorporate into our slides. That also reminds me of that one type of dad that keeps every little thing just in case it becomes useful and fulfills its destiny or God-given purpose in 10 years. We had an unreal amount of info on our topics!
In accordance with that, we had to learn how to filter, prioritize, and translate technical data into digestible insights. imagine trying to take information on a topic you're already heavily informed on, and trying to speak it to people, they'd likely be there for quite some time, and also be just as confused! We used shared documents to compile findings, created visual charts to track trends, and held bi and tri-weekly check-ins to make sure everyone was alright.
There were moments of tension, some of us couldn't always meet because work or other classes got in the way. Situations like that honestly made me remember well how different yet similar people are to each other, they all handle and have their own problems and dilemmas, and it surprises me every time, a definite reality check. But those issues pushed us to think critically and refine our arguments, even when we weren't always there. I looked at Jenise's slides more times than i could count just to make sure i was even doing the right thing, or saying things according to the format she had laid out for me.
Once our research was solid, we shifted to building the presentation. We wanted it to be visually pretty, logically structured, and impactful. We chose a format that let everyone do their parts freely, everyone had their own style of organizing their slides and their speeches, which I personally thought was pretty neat. It adds that personality to the slides and shows you what type of presenter each person is for me, some of use used more images than words, and some of us used bullet points instead of paragraphs or images, and some of us didn't even use images at all and focused all of their energy and effort into their speech and performance!
Our slides followed a clear arc:
- Introduction: Framing the economy-environment tension and why it matters now.
- Systems Analysis: Breaking down key sectors, energy, agriculture, transportation, and showing how economic and environmental forces interact.
- Case Studies: Highlighting successful models, as many examples as you can find.
- Solutions: Proposing strategies like green, safe infrastructure, circular economy models, and community-led resilience planning.
- Call to Action: Encouraging civic engagement, education, and everyday choices that support sustainability. Call people to do research and stay informed on their own terms.
We weren't able to rehearse as much as we had planned to. I helped lead the opening and closing sections, while others took on data explanations and case study storytelling. We used analogies, real-life examples, and even had a short fun little Kahoot session to keep the audience physically engaged!!
On presentation day, we were nervous but prepared. We arrived early to set up, and made sure our visuals were working. As we began, I could feel the adrenaline pump, our classmates ready for us to speak.
We spoke with confidence and clarity. Our visuals helped simplify complex ideas, and our teamwork showed through in smooth transitions and mutual support. During the Q&A, we fielded thoughtful questions about policy trade-offs, local applications, and individual action.
After the presentation, we met one last time to reflect. We talked about what worked, what we’d do differently, and what we learned.
We ended our reflection with a shared commitment. We need to stay informed, stay engaged, and keep asking hard questions. The economy and environment will continue to shape our futures, but so will our choices, our voices, and our willingness to lead.
This project wasn’t perfect, but nothing is going to be perfect, and I'm personally glad that I'm allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. I like making mistakes, if I can afford to make a mistake, I won't show any fear in making it. Making a mistake is always going to be a step forward in the right direction if you take it with a grain of salt. If you don't start learning from them now, who knows how many more you'll needlessly repeat along the way.
"All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.
It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time."
-Winston Churchill 1986
Comments
Post a Comment