1. Identify one aspect of H.I.P.P.O. within Pennsylvania. In 150-300 words describe what impact this occurrence has on the biodiversity of the habitat it is affecting. Be sure to include a link of your source information. 

2. Now Identify a similar occurrence of H.I.P.P.O. in a foreign country. For example, if in Question 1 you spoke about pollution give another example of pollution in a foreign country. Describe the impact on the biodiversity of that environment and compare it to the situation in Question 1. Do this in 250-400 words. Be sure to include a link of your source information. 

3. Pick an aspect of H.I.P.P.O. from one of the above questions and create a social and ecosystem impact diagram. Be sure to link the social aspects with the environmental impacts to form a flow. Include any possible solutions to the situation that are already in the works, or a solution that you would suggest for creating harmony between the social and environmental aspects of the situation. Label each connection between boxes in your diagram as well.

1. I chose to identify an occurrence of invasive species in Pennsylvania. Invasive species have an impact on the biodiversity of a habitat because the invasive species may out compete against the native species of an area causing regional extinctions. I chose to analyze the Round Goby species introduced into the Great Lakes including Lake Erie. Round Gobies compete with native bottom dwelling fish like Sculpins and Darters. However, there are out competing these species causing the native species to have to relocate from preferred habitats and spawning spots. Round Gobies do provide a positive impact in that they eat another dangerous invasive species known as the Zebra Mussel. As for the Round Goby’s impact on biodiversity it is at the moment neutral, but in the long term will lead to various issues. These Gobies are forcing out the native species which is making areas like Lake Erie slightly less diverse, but the reduction of the Zebra Mussel population due to the Gobies also helps keep the waters diverse. There is also an impact on humans due to the Gobies as well. Because they eat Zebra Mussels which are filled with toxins, there is a greater risk of fisherman catching and eating the Gobies and ingesting those same toxins. If the spread of the Round Goby species is not stopped, many native fish species will be forced out of the area causing major biodiversity impacts on Lake Erie and other Pennsylvania waters.

Link to information:http://www.protectyourwaters.net/hitchhikers/fish_round_goby.php

2. I chose to examine a particular case of invasive species in Australia. The Red Fox was introduced into Australia in the early 1870’s for hunters to enjoy harvesting. However, Australia has a large population of rabbits as well which provided for a good food source to expand the fox population. The biodiversity of Australia is affected immensely because of the ever spreading population of fox. Red Foxes pray on native Australian species like birds, small mammals and even reptiles. The recovery efforts of the malleefowl, the bridled nail-tail wallaby and the night parrot are being directly affected by the presence of Red Fox in Australia. Australia has even gone as far as listing the predation of the Red Fox is listed as a “key threatening process” under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999. This is because the Red Fox is causing the biodiversity of native species in Australia to decline.

There are similarities between the situations in Pennsylvania involving the Round Goby and the Australian Red Foxes. Both are causing negative effects on the biodiversity of the habitats they populate. Each are invasive and are out competing the native species for food. This in turn has caused rapid population expansions and the forcing out of native species. There are a few differences as well. In Australia, there have been active attempts to reduce the Red Fox population through hunting and even bounties. These have not been effective. When it comes to the Round Goby there has not been much effort to reduce the population. Many think that the positive effect the Gobies have on reducing Zebra Mussels warrants no immediate action. Furthermore, The Gobies were only discovered in North America in 1990. In a short time they have expanded into a large population, but the reach of the Gobies has not gotten too much farther than the Great Lakes, and some tributaries of the Mississippi waterways. However, the Red Fox in Europe has spread throughout the country and was introduced over a 100 years before Gobies were even discovered in the U.S. Without control of both of these populations, major implications can be made for negative effects on the biodiversity of both Pennsylvania and Australia.

Link to Red Fox information: http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/1910ab1d-a019-4ece-aa98-1085e6848271/files/european-red-fox.pdf

3. 

2. In the diagram above I outlined the social and environmental aspects of the cables associated about the Copenhagen Accord. The Copenhagen Accord resulted from the collective action that was the UN Summit on climate change. I explain that through the need of fossil fuels for energy, manufacturing and transportation the amount of greenhouse gas emissions created led to global warming. This global event led to the need for a collective action from the major countries of the world. However, the United States did not agree with some of the ideas presented during the summit which led to some unethical actions on the part of the U.S. The Copenhagen Accord is a collective action the U.S. created to combat fossil fuel usage, greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. The UN wanted to charge the major countries that are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions a large sum of money along with forcing those countries to change their manufacturing practices. The U.S. decided to create the Accord in order to ensure these major changes did not happen by taking a different route. Many countries did not want to support the Accord because they were already supporting the UN’s plan. This led to U.S. officials offering promises of aid from $32 billion from the Accord. When offering this aid didn’t work, the U.S. threatened to cut aid to the countries. The U.S. also used spy tactics to learn more information about each countries involvement with global warming. Eventually most countries that supported the UN bill decided to support the Copenhagen Accord as well which will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help the world fight global warming.

3. I agree that a collective action needs to be mitigated in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help fight against global warming. The events associated with the Copenhagen Accord led to political boundaries being crossed. I think that many private political conversations should be released at least a few years after the event occur. The leaks of these documents should not have even happened because those documents should have been released by the government. What the leak shows is that the government was trying to cover up the details of how they got support for the Accord. I think that how they received support was not entirely wrong. Although many of the actions were taken in an anthropocentric manner, the actions were partially ecocentric as well. The main purpose of the Accord was to benefit the U.S. so that manufacturing practices would not have to drastically change, but there is still funding associated with the Accord so that countries can lower greenhouse gas emission in the fight against global warming. The threats of cutting aid are not uncommon and are hardly considered unethical anymore as funding cut threats are always used in situations where support needs to be gained. Honestly, if the country that wants the aid isn’t willing to support an economically beneficial plan that also fights global warming, then that country doesn’t deserve funding. The use of spying to discover information is unethical because the U.S. does not have the right to meddle in foreign affairs that aren’t associated with national security. Offer countries aid for their support of the Copenhagen Accord is warranted because that is the real purpose of the Accord. Overall, the U.S. government should have handled the situation without the use of spying, and actually focused on a collective action instead of anthropocentric means of getting the support they wanted.

1. North central PA has experienced some natural disasters in the past, but not in recent history. Nathan’s map of natural hazards help demonstrates some possible events that may occur. The main map of the world’s natural hazards demonstrates the possibility of heavy rain events in the Pennsylvania area. Furthermore, there are small risks of hail storms and stronger risks of winter storms in my home area of north central PA. Tornadoes pose a moderate threat to my home area, but wildfires are a smaller threat. Nathan’s map is a great tool for analyzing the various natural hazard risks in the world. Also, Nathan’s map can help determine where natural hazards can easily turn into natural disasters.
2. The Pavlof Volcano in Alaska started erupting on March 28th, 2016. There were plumes of ash 20,000 feet into the air. Pavlof Volcano is on the Atlantic Peninsula about 600 miles away from Anchorage, Alaska. The USGS stated that the volcano is on the highest level of warning due to the hazards in the air and on the ground with ash and lava. This kind of disaster is highly unlikely in my home area because it is far from any tectonic plate boundaries or any active volcanoes. The Adirondack Mountain range goes through north central PA, but none of those mountains are active volcanoes. Barring a science fiction style event, a natural hazard of a volcano would never affect my home area. If there was a volcano near my home town an eruption would most likely cripple my town and hurt hundreds of people. A lot of people in my home town are elderly or poor so it would be difficult to just leave the area in the event of a natural disaster without help from the government. Those that are younger and can afford vehicles and other transportation would flood the rural roads and sparse highway roads with traffic that would still make it difficult to leave the area. Even if the volcano was a few miles out of town, the effects of ash fallout form the volcano would kill people and cause travelling to be very difficult. This doesn’t include the severe environmental destruction that would hurt my area ruining farms and water supplies.
3. In the past 100 years examples of natural hazards have turned into natural disasters on a small scale in my home area. In the 1970’s there were three major floods.(tiogacountypa.us) The first occurred in 1972 when Hurricane Agnes came through north central PA. This natural hazards still exists today as flash flooding from slow moving heavy rain storms still occur today. A dam was built along the Cowanesque river in Tioga County, PA. This dam was built as a defense measure against natural flooding. Dikes along the river were also built to help prevent flooding. However, other flooding events still happen when there is simply too much rain to contain. Another natural hazard that has affected Tioga County is tornadoes. In a town a few minutes from my home town a tornado damaged various houses and knocked down trees over 100 years old. (ireport.cnn.com) This natural disaster occurred in 2011 and was the fifth tornado to hit the area in recent memory. (tornadohistoryproject.com)
4. Many of the natural disasters in my home town cause serious damage, but this damage can be kept to a minimum with action. The high schools in the area only complete an occasional tornado drill, but with the recent tornado in 2011 they should be sure to teach tornado safety beyond that of a drill. There should be town meetins and drills to ensure that everyone is prepared in the event of a tornado. Preventing a tornado is not possible, but preparing for one is. Flooding is a problem that will also never go away for my home town, but they can try to alleviate it more. First of all, flood safety should be taught to the community so that everyone knows what to do in the event of a flood. Furthermoe, house designs, town projects, and other building projects should be prepared for the possibility of a flood so that properity can be protected. Myhome town’s council and mayor should be in charge of presenting this safety information to the public as they are the elected officials of the town to promote safety. By participating in these information sessions and practicing for possible natural disasters I can help show others how important the issue is and help spread awareness for these events.
5. Sources: http://www.tiogacountypa.us/Departments/Emergency_Services/Documents/TiogaCountyHMPUApprovedPendingAdoption.pdf
   http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Pennsylvania/Tioga
   http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-616439

I live in a small town in North central Pennsylvania by the name of Osceola. I will be discussing the joint area of Osceola and Elkland in Tioga County because the towns are right next to each other. This is a largely rural area built for automobile transportation. In town there are not many businesses, but there is school so ease of access via automobile is important to sustain the school. More importantly Corning, NY is within a 30 minute drive. A state route and the northern corridor of Interstate 99 provide access to Corning. Corning has far more opportunity for work so many people in the Elkland/Osceola area drive to Corning to work. Elkland is a small town with houses that are close to one another. Osceola is a smaller town yet with a small town like structure towards the center and houses spanned out over large distances. Osceola has a grocery store, post office, and a few churches, but it mostly it consists of farms. Elkland has small businesses including restaurants, a hunting supply store and a bank. Osceola spans an area of 13.9 square miles with a population of 700 people, and Elkland occupies 2.3 square miles with a population of 1,800 people. I am connected to this area because it is where I grew up and went to school. I learned how to hunt and fish in this area and I worked my first job at a local grocery store.

The first city I would like to compare the Elkland/Osceola are to is Rochester, NY. Rochester is only a few hours away from my home area, so naturally it is a very similar kind of urban design. Rochester is an automobile transportation area too, as mentioned in the module. There are rural areas around Rochester that use roads to allow people to drive into Rochester every day for work. My area could be more efficient if the automobile transportation aspect was implemented closer to a larger area. Being so far from Corning makes driving inefficient compared to if Elkland/Osceola was more like Rochester and built automobile neighborhoods closer to the area people need to commute to.

Copenhagen is an interesting city to compare my area to. My home area is not similar to Copenhagen very much at all. There is no real push to stop driving so much to cut back on emissions. This may be because there isn’t much pollution from the little area that includes Elkland and Osceola. Also, Elkand and Osceola residents rely on their cars to get them to work and everywhere else. Even getting around town usually consists of driving. Unless you’re a kid that is not old enough to drive, there is no real consistent and encompassing use of bicycles to get around town. Walking is more of a leisurely activity as well. Most people walk around Elkland to get out of the house or as a form of exercise. However, if someone needs to go to the bank or anywhere else they tend to drive even if its a few blocks away. I think this is similar to Copenhagen’s characteristic of taking for granted how the town works. Everyone has lived for so long driving cars around the area that they don’t consider there may better ways to maintain a sustainable environment. I think Elkland/Osceola should try to follow in Copenhagen’s footsteps and promote local bicycle usage along with walking to cut down on unnecessary driving to get somewhere that is only a few minute walk away. This would make the town more sustainable and save money on gas and decrease emissions in the air around the town.

In college, it is hard to get a good meal in between classes and work. I live 30 minutes from campus, so my day is shorter by about an hour because of just driving. A part of the social norm of college is to eat unhealthy food because it is cheaper and more accessible than healthy food. Since freshman year I have found myself gaining weight because of how I feel like I am forced to eat. The quickest food options for me these days include pizza from Berks Creamery, fast food from places like McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A. Food prices are so high these days that buying food to bring to campus is just as expensive as eating quickly on campus. Furthermore, I see other people my age doing the same thing all the time. My friends get pizza on campus more than once a week because of how fast and cheap it can be. I would eat sandwiches or salads occasionally, but they tend to be more than double the cost of two slices of pizza. The social norm aspect comes from the pressure to save money by spending it on unhealthy food instead of healthy food because that is what college students do.

In the United States there is a problem with the health and weight of the population. Food prices are expensive for nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables. Prices are low for food like processed hamburgers and chicken. These cheaper food options are meant to help people who are poor afford to eat food, but instead it offers a cheap option of unhealthy food that tastes good. This problem directly affects my situation with the college student social norm of eating unhealthy food that is easily accessible. Salads and healthier food options like sandwiches with vegetables are far more expensive because of the ingredients. Beef and Chicken are cheap on the market because of the mass production from factory farms. This overabundance of meat has helped lead to a cheaper cost, and this has led to obesity in the United States. Another aspect to this is the growth hormones added to genetically modified livestock. This creates fatter meats as well which adds to the obesity problem as well. There is a slight difference between my social norm situation and the societal issue of obesity though because on average college populations, such as Penn State’s, are slimmer and more active. While many college students do eat unhealthy food because of how inexpensive it is, they also exercise more and do more physical activities. This shows in this case that there are differences between social norms and the current societal issues.

Study Case 1:

Topic: The Narmada Valley Dam Projects

In India there are issues with flooding, irrigation for agricultural crops and issues with power. The government of India proposed building 3,200 dams in the Narmada Valley of India. They believe that these dams will provide the Narmada Valley with flood control, hydroelectricity and irrigation control for crops. With these potential benefits come large consequences for the Narmada Valley. The case study took the example of the largest proposed dam in the Narmada Valley, the Sardar Sarovar Dam, and analyzed the impacts it would have on the surrounding area. The Sardar Sarovar Dam would displace more than 500,000 people. The dam would also destroy valuable fertile land for agriculture. This land is some of India’s most fertile land. On top of that the dam would only produce around 50 megawatts of power, and this power would account for the power required to run the dam. This case is an example of the downsides of development. India is a low income country with a high population. India’s GDP is around $1,500 per capita. To compare the United State’s GDP is around $53,000 per capita. India’s money investment into these dams could turn losses for the people of India and for the government itself. The project isn’t sustainable because it displaces people, destroys fertile land and doesn’t provide enough power to justify its existence. The case study suggest that the first step for India to take to save the Narmada Valley Dam Project is to reassess the social and environmental impacts that these dams would have in the Narmada Valley. Furthermore, the case study also suggested that alternative energy sources tat are more effective be implemented instead of relying on hydroelectric dams alone.

Link for case study 1: http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/narmada.html

Topic: Zimbabwe National Water Project

Zimbabwe has water quality issues in many of their small towns and villages throughout the country. The country has an active proposal to the World Bank for financial support for a project that would improvement to small town water supplies. The proposal did introduce an analysis of the social and environmental impacts of the project as well. One positive social impact from this project is the production of jobs and availability of clean water for many of the smaller areas in Zimbabwe. The proposal claims that most of the environmental impacts are negative, but that these impacts are small. These impacts include soil disturbance, pollution of air quality, and minor deforestation. If these impacts are minor then the project should be able to keep the environmental impacts low enough to make it sustainable while providing clean water to small towns in Zimbabwe. However, this proposal comes from the government of Zimbabwe and doesn’t offer a third part view. It is hard to tell if the actual social and environmental impacts will be the way they are stated in this report. Zimbabwe is a low population and low income. Their GDP is around $950 per capita. This project would cost upwards of $14 million which is reasonable for a project that would result in clean water for the citizens of a low income country.

Link to case study 2: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/AFR/2015/10/25/090224b08316b20f/2_0/Rendered/PDF/Environment0an0er0supply0subproject.pdf

Topic: Tioga County, PA Deforestation

In the late 1800s Tioga County, PA was a booming area. I am from this county and have learned about the history through my schooling back home. Tioga County was known for its coal mining, lumber and tanneries back in the late 1800s to mid 1900s. Today there isn’t much left other than farms and small businesses. There was a point in our county’s history where lumber hit a high demand and high price point. As a part of expanding the counties development many of the counties residents started cutting lumber for sale. At one point there were almost no trees left in entire county. Some hills of trees were completely cut down. Another development impact for Tioga County was the coal mining boom. Furthermore, Towns like Blossburg were known for their lucrative coal mines. Many towns were built and prospered during the coal mining boom in the county. However, this development led to negative consequences no one knew about in that time period. The Tioga River was polluted with acid mine drainage which causes an orange coloration to in the water and has killed almost all aquatic life in certain parts of the River’s ecosystem. These two cases are similar to the case of India’s Narmada Valley. If the people of Tioga County had known the consequences of mining coal and cutting down trees aggressively without considering the impacts on the environment then they could have preserved the Tioga River and the forests in Tioga. This is why India needs to analyze the environmental impacts of the dams in the Narmada Valley before they build them so that they are prepared for the consequences and can make sure the impacts are small as possible. In comparison to the Zimbabwe case the Tioga County incidents were far different. Zimbabwe is taking the time to analyze all of the impacts of creating an efficient water supply in the small areas of Zimbabwe, whereas in Tioga County no one analyzed any of the risks or impacts until the damage was already inflicted. Today the coal mines are no longer functioning in Tioga County and the forests have rebounded to full strength in much of the county.

Part 1-a.

In my hometown of Elkland, PA the water supply system is very easy to trace. I interviewed my roommate’s father who works for the Elkland Borough. He explained to me in detail how the water supply system works in Elkland. First, there are two wells located in a field behind a hardware store in town. Water is fed into these wells from a water vein that flows from Seneca Lake in New York state. Once the water enters the wells it is then transferred to the water treatment plant located in the same field as the water wells. Only one well is used at a time in Elkland. This is so that the other well can serve as a backup in case the other well fails. In the water treatment plant the water is treated with a chemical named Alkamax to reduce the level of alkaline in the water that is natural. From the water treatment plant the water is pumped to a reservoir located on a hill just outside of town. At the reservoir the water is stored and used as needed. The water flows form the reservoir via gravity to the houses and businesses in town for use in sinks, toilets and anything else that uses water. After the water is used it is drained from the houses or businesses into the sewer line in Elkland. The water travels to a sewage treatment plant outside of town where it is cleaned and purified and then released into the Cowanesque River.

Part 1-b.

I used a tool from the USGS called WECalc to estimate the amount of water I use in a single day at home. Below are my results:

• On average my household uses approximately 120 gallons of water
• This is an average of about 38 gallons per person for 3 people
• 46 gallons of this daily water usage is hot water.
• The top chart shows the water usage for specific activities such as toilet use and shower use.
• The bottom chart shows the percentage of water used in specific activities

Charts courtesy of: http://wecalc.org/calc/#

Part 1-c.

One of the most challenging things for me would be to live off of just 2 gallons of water a day. To begin I will analyze the areas where I use water on a daily basis. As a college student I use less water than someone who lives at home a full time. I use water for cooking, washing dishes, flushing the toilet, brushing my teeth, showering, washing my hands and drinking. I imagine this alone is around 40 gallons a day on average. For this experiment of using on 2 gallons of water a day I would have to prioritize the use of my water. First I would need to use water for cooking and drinking mainly. These are the two most important things for survival. I would prioritize cleaning myself last.  Overall I was unable to conserve my water consumption to 2 gallons of use. I did cut out a shower just for the day to conserve most of my water consumption. However, I found my self automatically flushing the toilet every time I used it without realizing. I did not cook anything with water and instead ate sandwiches for food for the day so that I wouldn’t have to cook with water. I did use more than two gallons of water to wash dishes that my roommates and I needed to eat subs for dinner. I think I also drank almost a gallon or a gallon and a half of water in one day as well. I also used water when I washed my hands after using the bathroom. I figured going a day without a shower would save a lot of water which is an example of an individual action to try and change my water use footprint for a day. A small scale collective action was implemented when my roommates agreed to cut out using water for cooking dinner for the day I conducted this experiment. This experiment is vastly different than my typical day as I usually shower and cook using a lot of water. I also tend to wash more dishes at a time than just a few plates like I did for this experiment. It is safe to say that I failed this experiment as I just couldn’t kick the habit of flushing and washing my hands. Geography is largely influential on water use. The location of a town or country can determine how much water can be used. For example, the United States uses a lot of water because there is a lot of fresh water inland. In countries like Hati there is not much fresh water inland and so there has to be restrictions on the use of water. Also the area around places that use water can influence where the used water is treated and then released. The individual and collective actions taken by people in a geographical area also strongly influences the amount of water used.

1. Question 1-Variation: Is it more important to be a good person, perform good acts or both? I think it is most important to be both a good person and perform good acts. These two things go hand in hand. It is true that you can be a bad person and do good things, or you can be a good person and do bad things, but it is most important to be both. First of all, a good person has a natural tendency to do good things. A bad person, however, will most likely do something good for an anthropocentric reason. In other words a bad person is usually selfish. Being a good person doesn’t mean you always do good things. Temptation can lead to lying or utilizing loopholes to gain something without getting in trouble. Of course there is a whole separate question as to whether all bad acts are truly bad. It is my belief that if you are a good person and do good things then you will have the largest possible impact. Demonstrating good values like honesty can lead to others having a desire to also be honest. Performing good actions can also have the same ripple effect on others. But the true combination of both being a good person and doing good things will lead to real change that effects many other people. In this case two positive aspects of a person can effectively make a positive impact. If you compare this to the other scenarios where a bad person does good things or vice versa then you can clearly see that being both a good person and performing good acts is the most important thing.
2. Question 4- Ecosystems matter for their own sake. Nature was here before humans were. We live in a world conquered by humans because humans have one of the most complex thinking and decision making mechanisms out of all life. However, humans cannot survive without the environment around them. If there were no trees, no animals and no fresh air, humans would not be able to live as they do today. I do have more of an ecocentric approach to this subject. I’m not saying the impact ecosystems have on humans is to be ignored, but we cannot be selfish as the “dominant” organisms and destroy all of the world around us. Sustainability of ecosystems is about being able to maintain the needs of humans and the needs of the natural environment in the world without hurting one or the other. However, we should not approach sustainability as a way to ensure the sustainability in favor of humans. The environment should be regarded mutually if not more so than the sustainability of humans. This doesn’t mean that I think humans are less important than the environment, but I do think the focus is too heavily, and selfishly, directed towards humans. There needs to be a balance and before that balance can occur we have to focus more on ecosystems for their own sake more than for humans sake.
3. Question 6- To be honest this is the hardest question on this list for me. It is hard to give a definite answer, but I would have to say that others lives matter more to me than my own. In the readings it did say that generally people put their friends and family’s lives before their own. I would have to agree with that and take it further. Although I do not serve in the military, I would say that I would give my life for this country if it came to it. If I were to be drafted or in a state where I had to try to defend my home land from invading enemies I would gladly make that sacrifice. It may sound untrue, but I truly value the experience other people get out of life than I do. Everyone has a family, friends and hopefully a drive to live life to the fullest, and I would feel guilty if I didn’t offer my life so that they could return home to that at the end of the day. If today someone walking across campus stepped out in front of a bus for some reason, I would push them out of the way to make sure they were able to continue with their life. This is just in my blood I guess. I don’t know why I feel this way. Maybe this is selfish of me though in its own way. Putting others lives before mine is natural to me, but I don’t tend to think about what this would do to the people in my life. Sacrificing myself would surely cause misery and pain for my loved ones, but I would hope they would find comfort in knowing I sacrificed myself because I put other lives before my own.  There are certain circumstances where I feel as if I would not put my life before others, but it is a very specific circumstance. For example, if it was a choice between mine or the life of a terrorist, child abuser, or  a murderer I would not have the same feeling. I do not hold the lives of someone who hurts people above my own. Of course it is extremely difficult to tell if anyone you walk by in a single day is guilty of those offenses, but if I knew I know that immediately their life is not worth as much as mine. I still hold true though that overall the lives of others are more important than my own even if the reasons for this are both altruistic and selfish at the same time.

With my diagram on the social system of the village with the ecosystem around the village I am trying to demonstrate how the actions of the village change the ecosystem around them which also forces the village to change in return. This is an example of a human-environment coupling. The people in the village rely on wood to fuel their stoves to cook food. Unfortunately, there is not an overabundance of wood in India. Because of this the people in the village were exhausting the resources of the wood. My diagram demonstrates this as well as the effect it has on the children not being able to attend school due to workers being needed to collect the wood. The diagram goes on to show that because of reduced home air quality, thanks to the overuse of wood, a new fuel source for cooking was needed. The creation of the biogas tanks creates a full circle effect. Thanks to the impact of wood fueled cooking, biogas was incorporated so that the impact of wood consumption could decrease. What my diagram does not quite cover is the feedback loop that exists because of this. There is one slightly demonstrated in that with the creation of biogas the use of wood decreases and then also leads to more jobs and more schooling for the kids. What was not explored in the video or this diagram is the potential effect the biogas slurry dumping can have on the environment. If the slurry is not properly disposed another whole cycle begins which would potentially lead to yet another fuel source being needed for cooking. This is a great example of a feedback cycle as it is always constantly going back and forth between social and environmental issues.

My diagram is similar to that of Gerry Marten’s in that it addresses the social system and ecosystem have a feedback loop and are constantly effecting each other. His diagram goes more in depth though by showing smaller levels of impact like microorganisms, which do play a part in the biogas solution as well through the creation of compost that can be the habitat of worms. There are similarities and differences because everyone’s view on how the social aspect of humans and the ecosystem aspect of the environment affect each other, but the most views on these issues come from the same core ideas which will always lead to similarity.

Hello! My name is Adam Abbott. I am a Senior majoring in IST with an option in design and development here at Penn State University Park. I live in Philipsburg, PA which is about 30 minutes away from State College, PA. I am from Osceola, PA which is in Tioga County. Tioga County is the home of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. Currently I work as a Tech Tutor on campus and I just started my post-grad job part time which will turn into a full time position upon my graduation. I am working as a Software Implementation Analyst for Blue Mountain Quality Resources in State College. In this position I am responsible for installing software for clients and validating it after installation. I am interested in this Geography course because I have not yet taken a course that entails analyzing world issues beyond that of technology issues in today’s society.

My main interest in Geography comes from my strong interest in wildlife. I believe with the expansion of human society the amount of land dedicated to wildlife is diminishing. This is an example of human impact on the environment because the more humans cut into the habitats of wild animals the more the population of those animals is affected. There needs to be a point of sustainability where humans can expand their reach without damaging the environment that many wild animals need to survive.