1.

The location for the first case study is Halifax County, North Carolina, USA. The case study was done by the Michigan- Environmental Justice and undergraduate students at the University of Michigan. Here is the link to my case study page: http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/statter.html. Essentially Halifax County in the 90’s had to decide if the development of hog farms would be good for the community. The goals of this development were to establish hog farms throughout North Carolina, making money for the state while also protecting the environment and the right of individuals. This case study relates to a number of topics from the module. Sustainable development relates to this case study. The many new hogs in North Carolina produce a lot of waste that in turn can harm local water sources. And so to keep the state’s water clean they use “Hog Lagoons” to keep waste away from water. Hog Lagoons are supposed to act as natural trash bags with heavier sludge sinking to the bottom and forming a seal that prevents waste from going in the ground.

2.

The location for the first case study is Maine, United States. The case study was done by the Colby- Sustainable Development and undergraduate students at the Colby College in Maine. Here is the link to my case study page: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/Informal.htm. This case study’s goals were to see if establishing informal property rights to fisherman would help to preserve the ocean ecosystem that plays such an intracle role in Maine’s economy. The idea was that other than discounts providing fishers with exclusive access will create a more sustainable style of commercial fishing in Maine. Overfishing wouldn’t be as big of a problem and fisher’s would have a specific place to fish and it would help boost the overall GDP, another form of development. At the same time again a focal point of this case study too is sustainable development. The case study proposes to protect the ecosystem and future generations of fish, but at the same time takes care of the needs of the people now.

3.

The location being compared to the two previous studies is Lansdale, Pennsylvania. For my first case study there is one similarity. In Lansdale, there is a good amount of farms with livestock around. In particular Hatfield Meats Packaging plant is very close to where I live. I can smell whenever the factory is working. However, the farms are not that plentiful and my town was actually a farming town first so locals don’t care about the smell as much. Lansdale is also different from the second case study because Lansdale is landlocked so fishing is not a source of GDP. Lansdale has a very different economy than a fishing town in Maine might. However, I think observing these case studies can be important to help Lansdale even though the location is very different. These case studies taught me that it’s never too late to think about sustainable development. Lansdale is home to Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. I wonder what Merck is doing to provide now but protect the future.