Module 2: Effect of Biogas Generators

GEOG 030: Module 2: Coupled Human-Environment Activities
The diagram included below examines the interaction of various components of an ecosystem which is exposed to new technology and the effects of positive feedback on the lives of villagers who have access to that new technology. The positive feedback results from the improvements in the type of fuel used for cooking, generated biogas as opposed to harvested wood and other forms of “burnable” materials. The decreased use of wood, allows the increased growth of trees and vegetation, reducing destructive deforestation. This, in turn permits increased retention of ground water and therefore more fertile fields with better crop yield. All of this results in a more stable, resilient, sustainable ecosystem. Resultant outputs of this new technology are a reduction in pollution, improved health of the villagers, less need for children to scavenge for fuel which allows them more time for education, and by-product compost which can be sold to improve the economic standing of the villagers who have more income with which to improve their education and lives. My diagram focuses solely on the processes of the human – environment activities without much differentiation between the social system and the ecosystem. The Marten diagram does more to categorize these activities by placing them on opposite sides of the diagram, therefore visually displaying the amount interaction inside each system and also between the two systems. It would be interesting to be able to measure the overall, collective effect of all of these biogas generators in terms of the IPAT equation for the country.GEOG 030 Biogas Diagram mae(2)

One thought on “Module 2: Effect of Biogas Generators

  1. Hello Michael, my name is Jason. Your diagram caught my attention because I notice a lot of similarities. It looks like the big difference between our ideas and the diagram that was in the reading is the mentioning of revenue or type of business impact. I noticed that was something that was not in figure 1.5, that the compost created a business for the villagers.

    If interested, here is a link to my post.
    http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/01/27/module-2-5/

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