1. The first case study is from Costa Rica, a serious topic on deforestation and the effect it has on the environment and the native people. From the source of ‘The Gaia Atlas Of Planet Management’., this article focuses on the goals of development that follow along the lines of sustainability. At an alarming rate, Costa Rica has been losing its cultural diversity, land, and forests due to action such as logging, ranching, and the development of large scale commercial agriculture. As discussed in the module, sustainability focuses on what’s important for the present, rather than pursuing further ideas to benefit the future. As a result, many natural resources we use cannot be used in the future, which is why growing a new tree in Costa Rica is simply too difficult. Because of the monetary incentives, Costa Rica has one of the highest rates of deforestation. Thanks to the Development Agreement that was signed, Costa Rica is proposing the use of economic incentives to achieve environmental goals such as preserving future conservation, like the rainforests.

LINK: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/defor-costa.html

2. The second case study is from New Jersey, a topic about preserving a specific wildlife seal; the pinnipeds. Because of the high use of motor boats, kayakers, overfishing, and overhead aircraft, these seals have limited mobility both on land and in water. This source stresses the development of preserving this species, and how end uses are affecting marine life. In New Jersey, this specific economy is so focused on the the idea of fishing and making profit for local restaurants that they’re not thinking about the punishments for the marine wildlife. The first step that New Jersey pursued to develop a conservation plan is to detail the challenges the species, or group of species, face in their habitat. Due to entanglement in fishing nets, oil spills, and mortality caused directly by other pollutants, this weakens the immunity and causes mortality in not only pinnipeds, but other wildlife species. This is otherwise known as another way the module looked at development; a facet of determining mortality, health, and life expectancy, that will save the marine wildlife.

LINK: http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/species/spotlight/pinnipeds/

3. I live in Belmar, New Jersey, directly a few blocks from the water. The two cases from paragraph 1 and 2 relate directly to the development in the place where I live. In regards to similarity, my hometown is so focused on ends use that we don’t really think about the future consequences of what we do until they slowly start to show. For example, we can learn from the first case study that there are better ways to save trees rather than overcrowding my hometown. New apartment buildings are being built every month, and we used to believe this was a great way to increase our town’s population until we realized more roads and houses were visible than trees and grass. Trees give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilise the soil and give life to the world’s wildlife. In order to advance development in wildlife, my town simply needs to be more smarter about overfishing and the overuse of boating. It may be fun, but we clearly don’t think about these effects until they start to occur.