1.Find a protected area anywhere in the U.S. and tell us why it’s protected

A protected are that I found is the Badlands National Park located in South Dakota. This national park is filled with striking geologic deposits, which contains one of the world’s richest fossil beds. This was once the home to mammals such as the rhino, horse, and saber-toothed cat but now the park’s 244,000 acres protects an expanse of mixed-grass prairie where bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets live today. A quick look at the Badlands will reveal that they were deposited in layers. The layers are composed of tiny grains of sediments such as sand, silt, and clay that have been cemented together into sedimentary rocks. It’s said that biologists have identified more than 400 different plant species growing in Badlands National Park. Each plant species is adapted to survive the conditions prevalent in the mixed-grass prairie ecosystem. The climate here is one of extremes, ranging from hot, cold, dry, windy and stormy, with occasional blizzards, floods, droughts, and fires.

2.What level, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), would your found protected area fall under and why?

The level that the Badlands National Park would fall under is Category 2: National Parks. Under this level, these areas are intended to balance ecosystem protection with human recreation. The Badlands National Park serves to protect it’s rich mixed-grass prairie, along with serving as a campground to humans. One problem with national parks in many developing countries is that there is little or no enforcement of regulations. I find this to be very true because while looking up this parks rules and regulations, all that they had listed was that as of February 22, 2010, a new federal law allows people who can legally possess firearms under applicable federal, state, and local laws, to legally possess firearms in this par. Then they mentioned that Federal law also prohibits firearms in certain facilities in this park; those places are marked with signs at all public entrances. Therefore, they have little regulations, as there is only one listed on their entire website.

3. Compare your found protected area with one of the protected areas mentioned in the module.

Yellowstone National Park, was the first national park in the world and was established in 1872. It provided habitat to the only wild bison herd during that era. Its model for protecting nature was to draw a boundary around a particular area and restrict human uses within it. The Badlands National Park is similar to Yellowstone National Park because they both are national parks, which means they’re both level 2, according to the IUCN. Also, both National Parks provided habitat to bison at one point or another. As stated in the module, National Parks can be very effective for conserving biodiversity, but it also raises questions of social justice. Although I agree with the concern of social justice, I believe that National Parks such as Yellowstone and Badlands are anthropocentric. I say this because many people “value” biodiversity for the sheer fact that these protected areas provide recreational benefits to them as well. hese National Parks are intended to balance ecosystem protection with human recreation

1. Looking at the Nathan World Map of Natural Disasters, my hometown, Syracuse or more specifically, the upstate of New York, seems to be in Zone 1 for hailstorms, zone 2 for winter storms, zone 1 for tornados, zone 0 for wildfires. Evidently, my hometown is at a low risk for all potential natural hazards with exception to winter storms. These findings are not surprising, seeing as how Syracuse is the number 1 snowiest city in New York State.  Syracuse is is not located near any tectonic plate boundaries, therefore its potential risk for earthquakes is little to none, as we can see because on the map, Syracuse lie’s in zone 0 under the potential earthquakes category. Although I felt that this map was somewhat difficult to read, I believe its sufficient for discovering natural hazards in different parts of the world.

2. On March 28th 2016, Buffalo Recycling Enterprises located in Buffalo, New York, experienced a massive fire. There’s no damage estimate for the original property, but crews say there was some $15,000 in damage to a neighboring property. One firefighter was hurt but other than that there were no casualties. This specific disaster caught my interest because Buffalo New York is about an hour and half from my hometown, Syracuse. Therefore, yes with out a doubt this kind of disaster could happen at home. Syracuse has a huge landfill where you are able to bring old junk and dump it into a landfill and then later on it’s burned. We also have a number of recycling centers. Recycle metals, recyclables and rubbish are the materials that caught fire at the recycling enterprise in Buffalo, therefore, Syracuse having these centers, containing these same type of materials, makes it so that Syracuse is susceptible to the same disaster Buffalo under went. As far as vulnerability, the city of Syracuse would be on the same scale as the city of Buffalo. Firefighters said the property was a quarter-mile long, therefore, residents who live relatively closer to the recycling enterprise would be slightly more vulnerable to the fire disaster in both cities. In order to decrease vulnerability in Syracuse, I think houses and buildings shouldn’t be built within a certain radius of such enterprises, just incase a fire did happen to break out, there wouldn’t be any near by neighboring property.

3. Living in Syracuse, undergoing server snow storms every winter is a norm. The most recent gigantic snow storm was that in December of 2010. As the fourth-highest total record for a four-day period, the National Weather Service reported that 43.2 in of snow had fallen. An astonishing finding, was that Buffalo, the city referenced in number 2 above, was number 1 on TheRichest list for ‘The Top 10 Biggest Snowstorms Ever Recorded”, with the snowfall averaging out at 199.4 inches that storm. So as assumed above, natural disasters that happen in Buffalo, most certainly occur in my hometown as well.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/syracuse-area_snowstorm_total.html

http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/the-biggest/the-top-10-biggest-snowstorms-ever-recorded/?view=all

4. The number one action to be taken to reduce vulnerability could be pre-event preparedness. Being pre-event prepared means paying attention to the upcoming weather and if a potential snow storm is in the forecast, make sure you take the necessary steps in order to make the disaster the least harmful. The best thing to do no matter what the hazard is, is to be aware and knowledgable of any potential events. The best people to inform others of weather hazards, is meteorologists, and if it’s a biological hazard, such as an illness or disease, then the best people to get information from would be healthcare officials. Personally, in order for me to reduce vulnerability in my area, I can make sure I’m paying attention to ongoing events and if I become aware of any potential hazards, to make sure I spread the word.

I’m from Syracuse, New York. Depending on what kind of “New Yorker” you ask, Syracuse is considered Upstate. It’s about 4 hours from Manhattan, close to Buffalo and Rochester, NY. Syracuse is definitely an automobile suburb, as majority of people use cars or the bus services to get from place to place. According to the U.S. census, in 2014, the population of Syracuse, NY is estimated to be about 144,263 people. Syracuse isn’t huge but it has a lot of businesses and companies within it, which opens doors for a lot of job opportunities to its residents, along with residents in surrounding areas. If you live in the heart of downtown in Syracuse, walking to get to places is pretty convient, as there’s restaurants, convient stores and apartments almost on every block. If you love in the section of the city where I do though, everything is still within about a 5-10 mile radius but you drive to get to said places.

A city I choose from the module, is New York City. I choose this city because even though it’s part of New York, which is the state I live in, our cities differ in many ways. In NYC, many people live in very tall apartment buildings or tightly packed town homes. As mentioned in the module, higher density can be achieved via taller buildings and narrower streets, therefore pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods, which NYC is, has high density and Syracuse, where I live, which is an automobile suburb, has a lower density. Also as mentioned, transportation is, very fundamental to the proper functioning of a city, therefor a city is more likely to succeed when people can get around town easily, quickly, inexpensively, and safely. New York has many public transportation options including buses and trains that operate frequently and conveniently. When homes and businesses are close together, it reduces the distances required for transportation and makes it easier to walk or bike from place to place. It can also help certain types of businesses.

The other city I found interesting from the module was Bogotá, Colombia. I found this city intriguing because they have Ciclovia, which is when they shut down 75 miles of streets to make them car-free. Thinking about an event like this happening in Syracuse or even NYC, seems nearly impossible. As mentioned in the module, the health of people living in cities is affected by many factors and one of those factors is the amount of exercise that the residents get. When we drive everywhere, like in an automobile suburb where I live, we don’t get any exercise unless we go out of our way for it, like driving to the gym. When residents walk and bike everywhere, like in a pedestrian-orientated neighborhood such as  Bogotá, they get a lot of exercise just by simply getting around town. So as the module suggested, there should be no surprise that people who live in pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods and streetcar suburbs are on average healthier than people who live in automobile suburbs, such as myself. I also found it interesting that promoting resident health is another reason people may favor high-density, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented development. I think I could definitely live in a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood such as Bogotá.

1. I remember back in High School, a social norm for everyone every morning was to come in with Dunkin Donuts. I drove to school, so every single morning before I went into school I would go through the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru, which was always long because thats was the spot to be in the morning. My large coffee was a must and sometimes I’d add a bagel and/or hash browns in there. It became such a norm because it was convent, it was on the way to school and short term, it was inexpensive. Of course, as you could imagine, over the time frame of the school year, it added up rather quickly. Currently my diet does not consist of any meats or fried foods, just by personal choice. This is a plus because as we read, plant-based diets leads to a more sustainable environment.

2. Consuming Dunkin Donuts everyday, surfaces a lot of societal issues. Two of these issues could be not getting enough necessary nutritional needs and also obesity. There isn’t a wide menu at Dunkin Donuts, you’re most likely either going to get a doughnut, which serves zero nutritional needs, or a breakfast sandwich which is filled with processed meats and egg. Currently one of the largest known factories for Dunkin Donuts is in Illinois, that means theres a lot of food miles and energy being used to deliver such food to all the different locations. Therefore and abundant amount of green house gas emissions from fossil fuel-based transportation is being emitted into our air. People who go to fast-food places on a regular basis are most likely anthropocentric. It’s evident they don’t really care about impacts on the environment based upon their food decisions, except to the extent that the environmental impacts may potentially affect people. If people actually sat back and thought about how much money they were spending on processed foods, that are in essence, creating an unsustainable environment, maybe fast-food popularity would deplete.

3.

For the first case study, the location of this development is focused in central Namibia, primarily in the city of Windhoek. It’s predicted the city of Windhoek will run dry by September of this year, unless the rainy season refills the three main dams supplying the towns in Namibia. The link to the web page i’m drawing all this information from is, http://allafrica.com/stories/201601130754.html. In the article they spoke about how the water shortages will affect households, businesses and the Namibian economy at large, saying the only solution would be to tap underground water sources. They’re also looking at other various options to relieve the current water scarcity. It’s believed that recycling of sewage water would not eradicate water shortages, but could possibly increase the supply source and ensure that water is used for a longer period.

For the second case study, the location of the development study is in Europe. In this case, their focus is on potential water scarcity and how it is of immediate relevance to the brewing sector. In other words, their focus was on how to make more beer with loosing less water. The website for this case is: http://www.erm.com/en/insights/case-studies/case-study-the-brewers-of-europe/.  Over the past few years a broad range of guidance documents, tools, standards and schemes focused on more sustainable and integrated water management practices have been developed by various organizations. The Brewers of Europe wanted an online operational water source tool library, that would inform the workers about the diversity in approaches to sustainable water management and provide clarity on the current most applicable and relevant water stress identification and assessment tools and methodologies for the beer sector. The tool provided an opportunity to ensure that the brewers understand that water vulnerability requires a holistic approach that considers not only on-site water consumption and wastewater treatment but also issues around water availability, ecosystem management or supply risk.

Although water scarcity and quality is an increasingly urgent and politically sensitive issue, fortunately where i’m from, Syracuse, New York, I haven’t personally been affected by this rising issue. The primary water supply for the City of Syracuse is Skaneateles Lake, a “Finger Lake” located approximately 20 miles southwest of the City. Although we get our water supply from a lake, this specific lake is part of the Finger Lakes, which is composed of 5 different bodies of water. On top of that, we have a back up water supply, which comes from Lake Ontario. The City normally relies upon Lake Ontario water during times when drought conditions limit the available supply from Skaneateles, during emergencies, or during periods of high consumption. Therefore, the likelihood of water becoming scarce is far less likely than it is from places like Windhoek, where their water supply is dependent solely on rainfall. As referenced back in our model, they stated how the simplest and most common measures for development, are those based on monetary statistics like income or gross domestic product. I liked how neither of my cases were measured by monetary statistics.

Is it more important to be a good person or to perform good acts?

I think it’s more important to be a good person. I think being a good person is more important than performing good acts because anybody can perform a good act, that doesn’t always necessarily mean there’s good intentions behind that action. For example: Im not very big on politics but recently Donald Trump boycotted the Republican debate and instead held a conference where he would would speak and show recognition to veterans. There was a lot of criticism behind this because it was said Trump had made previous statements showing his lack of care or interest for Veterans. So to tie that scenario into ethics, Trump holding this conference is indeed a good act..but that doesn’t mean there’s good intentions behind that act; as it was probably strictly for publicity reasons. If you’re a good person, majority of the time your intentions are good as well.

Do the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matter as much as the pleasure and pain of humans (speciesism)?

Absolutely. There are many species on this planet, humans being just one of the many. So who are we, as humans, to declare superiority? I think this belief that humans are a superior species compared to non-human animals, comes from the fact that we’re so advanced in certain aspects of life. When it comes to technology, medicine and modern day life in general, theres no other species out there living like humans are. While this is true, I think humans tend to forget where we originated from; back to the cavemen era. We weren’t always this advanced in life. Just as us humans see ourselves as the important species, I’m sure there are non-human animals who think the same of their species, how would we know? The only circumstance in which my ethic outlook would change on this topic is when it comes to food. I myself am not a die hard vegetarian but I can go without meat, no problem. Although some people choose to go without ingesting any type of animal, meat is considered an important part of a humans diet. Even with that, I still think non-human animals and humans matter equally, it’s just due to the food chain, some non-humananimals are needed for our survival just like some non-human animals are needed for another non-human animals survival.

Is my own life worth more than the lives of others, the same, or less (selfishness vs. altruism)?

I believe my life is worth the same as the lives of others. I’m the type of person to always put peoples needs before mine..but to an extent. I wouldn’t put somebodies needs way above mine to the point where I’d be hurting my well-being. I believe that everyone was put on this earth to help someone or something in some way. Some people find their purpose and some people unfortunately don’t but I still believe everyones worth is equal to one another’s. I guess the word ‘worth’ could represent a number of things but when I think worth I think importance. There’s never been a time in my life where I was in a position where I’ve personally felt my worth was more than somebody else’s. I think when it comes to worth, us a humans tend to let other individuals try to determine our worth. We let other individuals make us feel less worthy or in some cases, more worthy than another individual.

Hello! My name is Alexus Gersbacher but I go by Lexie. I currently live in State College but Syracuse, NY is where I call home. I’m in my junior year and my major is Early Childhood Education (PreK-4). With this major I will be a certified teacher, enabling me to go teach anywhere in the world. I’m interested in the Human Geography specifically, I think it’s interesting learning about how human societies are arranged differently world-wide.

One issue that I find very worthy of discussion is air pollution. I plan to become a teacher somewhere in a metropolitan area and it’s found that most air pollution exists at the scale of a city or metropolitan area. Due to this the air pollution will heavily affect people who live in the city and breathe the air there. I’d love to further my understandings on air pollution and learn about ways I can go about diminishing it and also ways in which I can teach my future students how to better protect their air and environment as well.