1. There are a lot of threats to biodiversity in the world today. The biggest ones can be remembered by using the acronym H.I.P.P.O.: Habitat Loss, Invasive Species, Pollution, Human Population, and Overharvesting. What are the biggest threats to biodiversity in your home state? (150 – 200 words)

Biodiversity is a constantly evolving concept and is going to change whether we do anything about it or not. We can make an extra effort to slow down threats, but no matter what species will grow and some will die. I think the biggest threat in Pennsylvania to biodiversity is habitat loss. Although I don’t think it is a giant problem, I think it is the biggest of the H.I.P.P.O acronym. A large amount and variety of different species that live in Pennsylvania live in the numerous forests that span across the state. Humans are constantly cutting down these forests for our own needs. When these forests are cut down we are destroying homes of a lot of different animals. When we remove almost any animal from its natural habitat its chance of survival decreases greatly and leads to a decrease in population.

2. What are some things that you or your state could do to minimize these threats? (150 – 200 words)

There is no way to completely eliminate all the threats to biodiversity without putting ourselves in harm’s way, but there are definitely ways to minimize it. The state of Pennsylvania could survey different forests around the state in order to collect data on different species that live where and how many live in that area. By doing this they could selectively cut down trees that would cause the least damage to diversity. Not only could they minimize it, but if they see that a certain species only lives in a certain area they could avoid accidentally killing a species of something by cutting trees in a different location.

3. Why is minimizing threats to biodiversity important? (150 – 200 words)

Everything has its place in the world and who are humans to eliminate another species? We need biodiversity to fulfil all the requirements of this complex planet that we live on. Sometimes we are the only thing that can stop a species from going extinct. Humans are a major threat to biodiversity, but we are also one of the biggest supporters of it as well. All species play an important role in the ecosystem. If we let species go extinct it will create a domino effect in which more and more species begin going extinct. By minimizing threats to biodiversity as much as possible, the likelihood of any species at all going extinct is greatly lowered.

My diagram is designed to show you how a lot of the base causes loopback to cause or reduce other things. For example, the top portion of my diagram starts with Greenhouse gases which led to the Copenhagen Accord, to climate mitigation which returns back to greenhouse gases again, however this time it is reducing it. It shows how depending on whether these greenhouse gases levels are rising or dropping affects climate change. The bottom half of the diagram explores the other side of greenhouse gases and how it affects the political scene. The high greenhouse gas levels leads to different solutions such as the copenhagen accord and how that benefits or hurts differing nations. For example the Copenhagen Accord didn’t offer many benefits for developing nations, but did benefit richer countries such as the U.S. The United States knew this which led to the wikileaks cables of the US spying, threatening, and offering money in order to gain support. Once they gained support it looks back to benefiting the US.

I think it is very important that the cables were made available to the public. It may be okay to hide certain sensitive information from the public that could cause harm, but when discussing a topic as global as climate change I don’t believe anything should be done in private. Climate change isn’t a problem for one nation, but should include every single person on this planet. I don’t agree with the way that the US went about conducting diplomacy with regards the the Copenhagen accord. A policy dealing with climate change should be beneficial to everyone and not just certain nations. It hurts everyone when you begin spying and threatening other people to do something to benefit yourself. A whole new policy should be written up and discussed publicly with any nation that wishes to join.

I will be talking about State College again in this module, because I grew up here and this is the town I know best. State College is a fairly unique area when it comes to natural disasters and hazards solely because of its location. Due to being decently inward and surrounded by mountains we have a lot of protection, but it definitely doesn’t stop everything. Some of the different hazards we face here in State College include tornadoes, hailstorms, earthquakes, and sometimes very heavy rain can be considered a hazard. Although these things happen around here, they are usually rather minimal and don’t cause too much damage. The Nathan map does a very good job of giving a global look at natural hazards, but not too much for specific towns and cities.

I will be looking at a tornado that touched down today in Northern Alabama. State College is at very minimal risk for tornadoes, due to surrounding mountains not letting them become very powerful. The damage level of the event is considered medium and therefore if it were to directly hit the middle of State College it would cause severe damage due to the density in the middle of town. The area where it is currently occurring is more rural and can withstand something like this more easily due to most of the population being spread out. State College has a mix of a lot of different people and the most at risk would be the elderly. Everyone would try to leave and the elderly would be the most at risk due to not being able to escape. Reducing vulnerability in State College could be done by making all of Atherton a one way out of town to increase speed of people exiting.

I believe the two biggest hazards to State College of all natural disasters are tornadoes, and earthquakes. Although State College has never been impacted by a big enough one to cause severe damage they are the biggest possibilities when compared to other threats. A tornado could cause severe damage if it were able to land in a very specific spot and harness enough power without being torn down by the mountains. The likelihood of this is extremely low, but not impossible. I collected my information from USA.com.

The two major hazards to State College are earthquakes and tornadoes, so those would be the best options to work on protecting the town again. One way State College could work towards reducing vulnerability to both of these would be increasing building codes to mandatorily be able to resist high level tornadoes and earthquakes. The best people for this would be local agencies combined with people at Penn State due. Penn State would need to be involved because a very large majority of people in State College live on or near campus.

I will be talking about State College since I was born here and have lived here my entire life. As all of you would be familiar with, State College has a very urban downtown with lots of pedestrians, but alongside those pedestrians is a high traffic area with public transits such as buses. I think what makes this area unique from many places is that it’s an urban downtown right next to a large college campus. However once you leave the main area of campus and downtown there are many spread out neighborhoods that are automobile suburbs. Many of them, such as my own, have roads with many cars but do not have sidewalks on them for people to walk down. Many of the other main roads in State College are mainly focused on automobiles, but do have sidewalks for people to walk on. Once you get off the main roads most of the back roads are strictly oriented for automobiles with no sidewalks. Due to these reasons I think State College is a very varied place in terms of types of towns.

One of these cities mentioned in the module which I thought was very interesting was the city of Copenhagen. They have a huge population of people who do not own cars, but instead ride bicycles everywhere. With dedicated bike lanes and specific traffic laws it keeps bicycling as a very safe and efficient alternative to driving cars. I think State College could definitely learn something from this city to benefit itself. As I previously said and you all know State College has a large urban downtown right next to a huge college campus. Many college students can’t afford a car and prefer to ride bikes around. If State College were to construct more bike lanes I think it would greatly increase the number of people using bicycles to get around downtown and campus. This would make State College a much more green town, as well as make everyone healthier.

Another city I thought was interesting that was talked about in the module was Boston. Specifically it talks about Beacon Hill a place in which walking is the most common way of commuting around town. This is another place where I think State College could learn something from. It has very dense neighborhoods where you can’t drive cars built right next to the large downtown area which makes it easy for people to walk to and stops people from driving cars. Although State College has lots of neighborhoods around downtown they are all automobile neighborhoods with large roads. If they were to build more densely populated neighborhoods with smaller roads it may influence more people to walk and bike places rather than driving cars.

College is an interesting place to observe social norms and there are a lot of them surrounding food choices. Before I came to college I would cook a lot of homemade meals that were extremely healthy, but took some time. After entering college I realized I didn’t have neither enough time or enough money to support eating like this for every meal. A lot of the time when I am busy at school or at work it is easiest for me to just go eat a quick bowl of ramen noodles or maybe join my friends at a fast food place like McDonalds or Burger King. This is just the norm for my friends and many other students I know to just grab something quick, cheap, and easy. This food definitely isn’t as healthy as a homemade meal with natural ingredients would be, but it is much easier and fits right into many students schedule making it the go to thing for food.

Obesity is a growing problem especially in the United States. One of the major causes of obesity in America is the widespread fast food chains such as McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, and many many more. The food that is made at these restaurants is supposed to be made as cheaply and quickly as possible which causes a lot of problems. To make this food cheaply and fast they are willing to sacrifice how healthy the food is. If people are constantly eating these cheap fast foods then obviously obesity is going to grow right alongside the growing fast food chains. I think the norm should be the very opposite of this. I think people should be encouraged more and more to cook healthy homemade food with local ingredients.

Containing the Heat in Austin!

The first case study I looked at took place in Austin, Texas and was dealing with the idea of solar power and its uses. In this particular situation they were using solar power to heat water in order to reduce energy use. They installed solar power water heating systems in three different locations around Austin, Texas and studied how they performed compared to the old system using the typical route of fossil fuels for power. The study was fairly successful and saved all three locations hundreds of dollars each year from using solar power instead of paying for it as usual. This is directly related to the module because it is pushing for more sustainable development. The use of fossil fuels as an energy source will not be sustainable forever, while on the other hand getting it from a source such as the sun will be sustainable for many generations to come. I think this is just the first step in the right direction and studies like this will prove that it is a valid option that more people should consider over fossil fuels.

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/ener-tx.html

Catching the Rain in Buckinghamshire!

The second case study I looked at deals with collecting rainwater. In Buckinghamshire, UK at Fulmer Infant School they are trying to become a more eco friendly school. To try and take a step in the right direction they installed a $3,000 rainwater collection system on the side of their school. The purpose of this system is to collect rainwater naturally and use it to flush toilets, wash clothes, and water the garden. The system collects water from the roof of the building and then automatically filters it to remove any sort of debris that may have been collected as well. According to the study it rains heavily and often in Buckinghamshire which was why they thought it was a great place to try this new system. Once again this relates back to module five because of its sustainability. Collecting water from the ground or lakes and filtering it and pumping it places is a long process and wastes water. If the water is collected directly after rainfall it is much safer, faster, cheaper, and easier. This creates a much more easily sustainable system.  This is a great way to collect and save water by doing it naturally when it rains. According to the school it has saved them lots of money on water bills and they are looking for more ways to become a more eco friendly place.

http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/show_case_study.php/00266.html
Both of these case studies happened in very different locations for very specific reasons. The first study, taking place in Austin, Texas, was done so because it is very hot and the sun is out almost all year long their. This makes solar power very efficient as it is constantly soaking up energy from the sun to be used for our needs. This might not work as well in a place like State College because we experience all four seasons distinctly here and lots of times throughout the year we don’t have lots of sunlight. Overall it just isn’t as hot here as it is in Austin. The second case study as well was done specifically in Buckinghamshire because of how much it rains there. This system make work better here than the solar power system due to the decent amount of rainfall that we receive here in State College.

I am from right here in State College and live only about ten minutes away from main campus. The water supply to my house comes from the State College Borough Water Authority. The water is collected by SCBWA through their 7 Well Fields and the Shingletown reservoir. The water is piped from these two sources into a 6 million gallon per day water treatment plant. In this treatment plant it undergoes the process of fluoridation to prepare it for households. The borough owns over 270 miles of water mains in the State College area and neighboring areas. Through these water mains the water is pumped to each customer’s household such as my own into water tanks. Excess or wasted water is pumped back to the water treatment plant in which the process begins all over again.

One Day of Water

Flush toilet: 4 times = 12 gallons

Wash hands: 8 times = 8 gallons

Take shower: 2 times/15 minutes each = 150 gallons

Drinking water: 8 cups = .5 gallons

Brush teeth: 2 times = 1 gallon

Dishwasher: 1 time = 10 gallons

Total = 181.5 Gallons

I don’t think I could ever live off of two gallons of water a day because I use almost 100 times that on a daily basis. If I had to live off of that with no other option my top three priorities would be drinking water, cooking water, and water to wash my hands. All other things although very nice, are not absolutely necessary in order to get by. I tried for a day to cut down my water usage by taking only one short five minute shower, and turning the water off when brushing my teeth. My experiment of living off of only two gallons failed when I had used up my entire two gallons in the first half of the day and couldn’t go on without washing my hands.

Geography is extremely important to water use because depending on where you are water can be a very scarce or very bountiful. For example if you live in the desert there obviously isn’t a lot of extra water due to it almost never raining. While on the other hand if you live near a freshwater lake or mountains where rainfall is regular then you could be free to use it when you need it.