My name is Alyssa Gammel and I am a sophomore at University Park. I live in a small town in north New Jersey and it has always been my home. It’s a place where everyone knows and cares for each other and I don’t think I would have enjoyed living anywhere else. It’s a super rural area with probably more cows than people but you learn to love the peace and quiet. I am pursing a career in education. My goals in the future are to become a principal or superintendent and really influence the education system in someway. I am interested in this course because it will be useful in education in the future. I will be able to explain geography concepts to children while engaging in debates about the implications of human change on the environment. Some interesting facts about me are that I used to be a competitive cheerleader in high school and my new years resolution for this year was to become a person that enjoys running and being healthy. I have a long road ahead.
I thought an interesting topic brought up in this module was the idea of ethics in regards to geography and the environment, As new technologies rise and the world becomes more globalized, the human population seems to put the environment on the back burner. An interesting example would be climate change. The negative effects on the atmosphere has been human induced, and yet its hard for the politicians of the world to come up with answers to help diminish the negative effects that we contributed to the earth. The reason its hard to discuss answers is because of the idea of ethics. What is ethical is different to everyone. There is also the debate as to whether be more concerned about the people that live on the earth, or the environment that supports the people. Finding an ethical answer for these global dilemmas is a challenge, but I would enjoy learning more about how these issues are debated about in geographical settings.
Hi Alyssa!
My name’s Lexie! it’s awesome that your also an ED major, or intend to be! You mentioned you’re a sophomore, so you should be officially getting into the major this semester! Exciting.
I think climate change is a really, really huge deal! Especially with the mild winter we were experiencing here at State College right before break. Look forward to possibly meeting you in potential future classes!
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Hey Alyssa! It’s nice seeing familiar ‘faces’ even in an online course! I’m excited to have another class with you!
Hey Alyssa, it’s interesting to see how many kids from outside of Pennsylvania choose to come to Penn State. I am from Florida and would not want to go to any other school. Good luck with the running goals, I have tried to enjoy jogging for years but I am still trying. In regards to the topic of climate change I think one of the major issues is that there is not enough evidence about the sources for climate change. This allows politicians to constantly argue over the main cause of the climate change without ever figuring out the best way to fix the problem.