1.) http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/trans-jap.html
I chose the case study found on the Colby – Sustainable development page. The case study that I decided to read is titled, “Bicycles as Transportation Policy”. This case study discusses how Japan continues to develop after World War 2 and one of the main reasons for their development is the growing use of bicycles. They have encouraged citizens to ride bikes by making it easier to rent bicycles, and have made it more difficult to travel around by automobile. Japan has a limited geography and has a lack of petroleum. This lack of petroleum makes it hard for Japan to develop, so it is important for citizens to reduce fossil fuel usage. One of the topics that is covered in the module is how these transportation methods are helping Japan develop economically. Their GDP is increasing and many of the citizens are purchasing automobiles again as the economy develops. The study discusses how it will be difficult to continue to promote bikes as the population wealth increases.
2.) http://www.cgdev.org/page/case-14-curbing-tobacco-use-poland
The site that I was able to find as an external case study was found on the website titled, “Center for Global Development”. The article I found on this page is titled, “CASE 14: Curbing tobacco use in Poland”. This case study discusses a health development in Poland and how the tobacco use in Poland was causing so many problems to their population. The goal of the study was to determine how to reduce the negative impacts of smoking on the population. Poland was able to reduce the tobacco use by 10% by requiring the largest warning labels to be printed, the ban of electronic advertising, and the ban of smoking in certain areas. This case study discusses some of the topics talked about in the module because this case does not show an economic development. This development is for the health of the Polish citizens, and the environment that the Polish citizens live in. This development leads to healthier children and an overall healthier population, which will lead to development in other areas.
3.)
The location I will be comparing these cases to is my hometown of Pompano Beach, Florida. The discussion of promoting bikes in Japan is very similar to what I see in my hometown. This is because I live in a dense area close to the beach in Florida. This allows for bikes to be almost quicker than driving a car. There are also areas that offer bike rentals in the area. However, unlike Japan the city is a larger geographic area and there is still a high demand for cars. My experience in this area tells me it is possible to promote development in health and to cut back on fossil fuels by riding bikes. The second case is very similar to Tobacco in America. This case study shows the movement against smoking over the years. The bans of advertising and smoking in certain places. The tobacco campaign is now putting out advertisements against smoking. There are also products that attempt to offer nicotine without the burning of tobacco.
Hello my name is Doug! I found it very interesting how Japan is encouraging citizens to ride bikes which increases physical activity as well as benefiting the environment. Another way they could reduce the amount of fossil fuels that they burn is by developing a renewable energy source. In my post http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/02/24/sustainable-impr…ts-douglas-apple/ you can see that Denmark has wind turbines that have increased their economic and energy efficiency. I also read the case study about Poland’s Curbing of Tobacco and we had very similar point of views how it is increasing development. The wellbeing of the people will lead to increased development.