Biogas- Alex Fernandez

For my diagram, I thought of the negative effects of collecting firewood and dung had, then the positive changes biogas generators would bring to those rural areas. This topic strongly correlates with the coupled human – environment systems topic we learned in the module. With the use of biogas, there are several positive outcomes. Using firewood for cooking fuel has several downfalls: deforestation of the environment, and added pollution and greenhouse gases in the air. Using biogas generators allows for waste to be used as fuel, saving time for children to go to school and do schoolwork. In addition, the women in the community reported increased income with business opportunities. The connection between the social system and the ecosystem is undeniable, because all of the changes brought about with the biogas generator directly affect the way the ecosystem’s state. The main difference between my diagram and Marten’s diagram is that Marten’s has several more correlations between components. I leave my diagram as it is for the sake of simplicity, because the more you look at the involved components the more connections one can make between them all.

Biogas diagram

2 thoughts on “Biogas- Alex Fernandez

  1. Alex,

    Your diagram charts “deforestation” even though the film did not specifically reference the problem and I think that is appropriate. Even if it was left unsaid, we can assume that deforestation is a significant problem in Bangalore and areas like it. The fact that the film mentioned that families have to travel farther into the rural areas to find wood lets us know there is substantial deforestation taking place — conditions that would only be made more devastating if alternatives like biogas generators aren’t implemented. You also charted a cleaner environment. The film mentioned the impact of burning wood on the immediate environment, but again, you are right to mark a broader impact of the switch from burning wood to using biogas.
    http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/01/27/biogas-diagram-julian-pamplin-m02/

  2. Hi Alex,

    My name is Humna and I am an Accounting major, very much interested in sustainability. Here is a link to my post: https://wp.me/p3RCAy-b8w

    Even though both of our charts divide the biogas generators into categories of social and ecosystem, they’re quite different. I’m a bit confused with the your chart’s perspective on the connections between each other. Also, I was definitely interested in your post because unlike me, you caught the population factor in this topic. The others were mostly the same as what I included in my work!

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