I chose to examine the biome I am most familiar with, Los Gatos-Monte Sereno and the surrounding area. I intend to examine the actions taken by the town, and by the county, to preserve the biomes that surround the ‘developed’ areas within the region. And I will offer a proposal as to what can be done to further conservation efforts already in place.

Los Gatos-Monte Sereno, is a thriving California town tucked in between three mountains just inland from the coastal city of Santa Cruz. There are many nature reserves in the area I went to high school. These places were set aside by the county, and besides the elaborate trail system, there has been very little human intrusion. Of the human intrusion that has occurred, the effects on the biodiversity of the area are negligible, as the reserves span most of the mountain ranges surrounding the town of Los Gatos. The climate of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno area of California is one of a coastal chaparral. That is to say, the further inland you go, the more arid the climate, but overall it remains temperate for most of the year. The biodiversity of this area increases the further away you move from the human settlements that populate it. The sanctions on the park restrict human infringement,

Many people living in urban-developed areas, it seems, overlook Biodiversity. There is little need (nor time) to stop to examine the multi-layered biome around you when one is late for work and driving seventy miles an hour on the highway. In my humble opinion, most of the people in the area do not recognize the natural biome as it is, or understand their effect on it. I think this could be (in the long-run) detrimental to both the biome, and humanity within the biome. Therefore, I propose that the responsibility should be that of the schools. The elementary schools, to my knowledge, do not facilitate any interaction between the students and the nature reserves. Perhaps a field trip to learn about the local flora and fauna would encourage young people towards ecocentrism. If not wholly ecocentric, then, at the very least, young people would be aware that humanity is not alone in the region, and that they have a responsibility to preserve the biodiversity of the region. Not only because many flora and fauna of the region are interesting to study, but some may prove useful for future generations.

According to the Nathan Map, the two biggest natural disaster threats my hometown of Los Gatos, California face are wildfires and earthquakes, the latter being more likely to immediately affect the population. The Nathan Map is easy to read and understand if one reads all keys and understands the rating system therein. The categories laid out, I found, used terms that were too similar in meaning, and as such I referred more to the numerical categorization of the natural disasters than the superficial distinctions of ‘strong’ and ‘rather strong’ (in the case of earthquakes). Overall, the Map was more informative on a global scale, not just for the area of my hometown, which I had difficulty pinpointing within two hundred miles of its actual location.

I chose to examine an earthquake that happened today, Friday April 1^st. The quake took place in Japan at approximately eleven o’clock in the morning, local time. It was measured as a 6.0 (Magnitude-Richter) and classified as a 6 on the Mercalli scale. The description of the potential impact notes, “Everyone feels movement. People have trouble walking. Objects fall from shelves. Pictures fall off walls. Furniture moves. Plaster in walls might crack. Trees and bushes shake. Damage is slight in poorly built buildings. No structural damage.” My hometown is at risk of earthquakes, as is most of California, and similar earthquakes are comparatively common. Many buildings in my hometown are built according to a standard designed to minimize structural damage, yet there are some older structures that are at serious risk (e.g. St. Mary’s Church).

I myself, while living in Los Gatos, experienced a similar earthquake, measured at a magnitude of 5.2 (Richter). It was the first earthquake I’d experienced, and I remember feeling movement that I had no control over. The movement was not enough to send me into a panic, but enough that I stopped what I was doing to question what was causing it. The quake (and memory may not accurately serve the fact of it) lasted about fifteen seconds, and then there was nothing else. I recall things falling off of my desk, but beyond a mention on page seven listing minor structural damage to buildings in the South Bay Area, there was nothing of note.

As far as I have discerned, triage during an earthquake in Los Gatos is likely, as the earthquakes experienced in San Franscisco decades before are still throwing aftershocks. The actions to take include families making an ‘emergency plan’ and drilling the plan to remain individually prepared during a quake. The town council could also draft a ‘emergency gathering point,’ where people could go to receive food, water, and shelter should they need it. Or they could order a full evacuation if the earthquake was communicated to be disastrous enough. What I can do is remain prepared myself, and as a young, strong man, I can assist in pulling people from rubble and the ‘grunt-work’ (if you will) of rebuilding should the need arise.

I come from a smaller California town called Los Gatos. It’s situated in a sort of natural ‘bowl’ with hills on three sides. There is one highway that runs through the lowest part of the town, which makes the town a hybrid of a walking and automobile suburb. There are streets from downtown to the outlying residences, but most of the constituency lives close enough to the commercial district to walk. There is a nature reserve sanctioned by the town and recognized by the state in the surrounding hills, which contains biking and walking trails by which, if one so desires, one can reach the ocean. The town also facilitates a community event called Music in the Park, which brings in local and big-name entertainers to play in the closed-off main street plaza. And the local electricity provider offers incentives to switch to solar electricity. Solar electricity is big in Los Gatos because solar panels generate enough power that any household that utilizes solar energy sells that excess power back to the power company!

I really enjoyed the first look at Bogotá, Colombia with its Ciclovia. The Ciclovia in Bogota is similar to Music in the Park in Los Gatos in that street closures create a walking mall in part of the downtown area. Bogotá’s Ciclovia seemed more focused on physical activity, which I liked, but the difference that makes this difficult for Los Gatos to replicate is population size. Los Gatos is not so much focused on health through physical activity but togetherness and showcasing local (and on occasion big-name) talent for members of the community. Music in the Park also brings in vendors and local farmers to sell their goods in the walking mall, so people can walk, get lunch, listen to the music with each other, and get some exercise on top of it all. But maybe Los Gatos could make Music in the Park a bigger event by closing down more of the downtown area to vehicle traffic during the event. Maybe they could have two stages on separate sides of the plaza to encourage more physical activity.

I was surprised to learn of the urban agriculture movement in Detroit. The city of Detroit supporting itself by agriculturizing the abandoned parking lots that once supported its industry, I think there is a lot of beauty in that. Los Gatos has a farmer’s market every two weeks, but imports most of its food. The city has very little space available for its own farms, but some of the more environmentally conscious people in the town keep their own gardens and grow their own food. The high school in town has its own small garden too, but not enough food is grown there to make a big difference. Maybe Los Gatos could implement and Urban Farming Initiative like Detroit?

I watch sports on television frequently. The past Super Bowl I had friends over to watch the game and revel in good company. I do not feel good enough about my cooking skills to prepare something for guests, so I chose to order pizza and wings for delivery. The social norm of watching sports and eating delivered “junk” food is common in America, especially among males. When engaged in any television program, one typically devotes their full attention to it. This is exponentially true with sports if a high value is placed on the outcome, as many do with the Super Bowl. Ordering prepared food to be delivered is much quicker and easier than cooking, and allows for minimal distraction from the action on screen.

A visual representation of the connections between individual choices (at the top) and effects.

I found this module interesting, specifically the bit on Factory Farming compared with sustainable communal farming methods. Prior to reading this module I’d given occasional thought to the question ‘where does my food come from?’ but always in passing, and never with a set terminology to define the answer. I wondered while reading how much of the food I have delivered is sourced from local agriculture, if any of it had been genetically modified, and what changes I could make in my food choice that would make me healthier. I do like Pennsylvania. The state’s agriculture industry seems to have a lot of sustainable practices unlike the methods of the Factory Farms. Never have I driven through a state with more livestock grazing open pastures (though that may be because the list of states I’ve driven through is short) than in Pennsylvania. And though I do eat prepared food often, Penn State gives me enough healthy food options that I can balance my diet and have remained at a healthy weight for most of my life. Yet I wonder if the meat I consume here comes from a factory farm or a local livestock source. And who would I ask to find out? How can I support sustainable agricultural practices at a consumption level? A common practice of communities is to bring local growers to a communal hub to sell their goods. So the answer is to cut down on meat and replace it with green foods.

Both case studies I examined come from the Colby database. The first is located here and concerns aquaculture. That is, it concerns the farming and fishing of salmon to create a long-run equilibrium between fishermen and ranchers supply of fish as it relates to the price of fish. The goal of farm-raising salmon is to create a population surplus that both fishermen and rancher may draw from with the end use of regulation of the price of fish. What I found ingenious is ranchers using the natural instinct of salmon to their advantage. The salmon that are farm-raised spend little of their lives in control of the rancher. They are released and then return to spawn, leaving the rancher with exponential salmon population growth and the possibility for surplus. This development and regulation of salmon population is an environmental and economic good.

The second case study can be found here and examines the actions taken by the state of California in response to the 1987-1992 California Drought. A ‘shortage’ of water in this case means less water per capita than average, so everyone still has access to it, but because there is less, the price of water goes up. The action of the state was to create emergency water institutions (reserves) and a committee that would prioritize water use in a drought. The environmental good in this revolves around an anthropocentric perspective, allowing for human water consumption to be top priority should the need arise. In the past three years (2012-2015) California has experienced a similar, even more dire drought, with most of their freshwater reserves, some of which were established in the case study, drying up gradually from year to year.

There are three main sources for freshwater for any geographic region: rainfall/snowmelt, surface water, and ground water. In Southern California (where I used to live) especially, the climate and geography differs from central Pennsylvania (where I currently live) in that the mountain range does not receive enough snowfall to provide a refresher to the water supply each year. In Central Pennsylvania there is little concern for the amount of water being enough to sustain both the environment and humanity within the region. Also, I tend to avoid eating fish far from the coast because I am unsure of the means by which the eatery acquired the fish and moreso if the condition of the fish farm that fish was raised in. Of course there are rivers in central PA that breed fish, but with aquacultured fish farms, the quality of fish would improve and lower the price in restaurants, I believe.

a) The water cycle through Los Gatos, California breaks down like this. Los Gatos gets its water through the San Jose Water Company, which manages three water treatment plants in three districts of the South Bay Area. The SJWC has three sources for water, groundwater (40%), imported surface water (40%), and local surface water (10%). In the case of importing surface water, water is imported from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and purchased from the Santa Clara Valley Water District. A majority of all the surface water originates as Sierra Nevada snowmelt. After it goes through the Rinconada Water Treatment plant and through the taps in Los Gatos, the drains dump into the Los Gatos Creek which runs to the Lexington Reservoir a few miles toward the coast. From there it can be recycled by the area in extended no-rainfall periods or slowly feed out to the Pacific Ocean.

b) Here’s a typical day breaks down for my water usage.

Brewing a Cup of coffee (2) = 8 fluid ounces each = 16 fluid ounces

3 bottles of water = approximately 50 fluid ounces

Shower (3 minutes at 2.1 gallons per minute) = 6.3 gallons

Brushing teeth (2 times) = approximately 2 fluid ounces

3 toilet flushes (3.5 gallons/flush) = 10.5 gallons

3 hand washes = approximately 18 fluid ounces

c) I normally keep my showers around five minutes, but the showerhead I have is dated so 2.1GPM is the steady flow of it. The experiment failed, but I did think on rationing my water usage a good bit. For example, I noticed that my soap dispenser was low enough on soap for some water in the top, so I did that to avoid running the faucet as much. I lead a very athletic life, so I tried to safely limit my water intake while playing basketball today. I also discovered I can’t function properly without two cups of coffee in the morning. On the whole, though, the geographic region I’m in allows for a lot of water wasting, or frivolous water usage. I do not see the same measures in State College, PA to conserve or reclaim/recycle water that I saw while living in California.

1. On Virtue and Action:

Virtue and action are not mutually exclusive. It is the consequence of action that forms virtue, and virtue that influences action. Which of these is more important? The is a matter of perspective. For example, a politician places a high value on human survival to gain the trust and votes of the constituency, yet, when elected, authorizes toxic waste to be dumped in to the water supply of one of the constituent communities. By this example, it is easy to say that action and virtue should be a pure reflection of one another. Yet consider another similar example: a community of human beings claims to be sustainable but sacrifices wood from a forest to keep their homes warm enough to survive a harsh winter. In both of these examples, the reflection between action and virtue is blurred, yet the community of humans must burn a certain amount of a limited resource to survive. From an antrhopocentric perspective their end may ethically justify the means, even though, from an ecocentric perspective the forest will dwindle year to year until it and the non-human life it also sustains is gone. In my opinion, the line between anthropocentric and ecocentric must maintain a balance that allows the biomes of humans and non-humans to coexist.

5) On Speciesism:

Sentience, some will say, is the right by which humans may be at the top of the priority list that concerns conservation of species. We are smart creatures, but we are also selfish. To say that humans are more important than non-humans is elitist, and does not factor in the pain non-humans may be exposed to by our anthropocentric actions. However, to say that humans have a responsibility as sentient beings to avoid invasive actions on non-human life is closer to what I believe to be the truth. This responsibility should factor in to our procedural justice, and combine with our ability to foresee possible consequences for both humans and non-humans. Our sentience allows us to do this, and the exercise of generating questions about possible consequences is easier than answering those questions. For example, in the case of wood-burning to survive winter: How much wood is the ethical amount? Should the community re-plant trees elsewhere in the forest to re-balance the ecosystem? Are there any alternative methods of keeping warm that should be explored? This final question brings an interesting phrase, ‘alternative methods.’ If a method is deemed unethical, if the community democratically agrees wood-burning is a violation of its collective ecocentric system of virtues, it is the responsibility of the community to either research and implement alternative methods of surviving the cold, or adopt an anthropocentric system of virtues to survive

2&3) On Procedural Justice and Sustainable Decision Making:

Americans are democratic by nature, and democracy is a collaborative process of decision making. Yet because we are sentient, it is on our part to speak for non-sentient species as well as our future generations when deliberating amonsgt ourselves. There can be no sustainable lifestyle between humans and the environment if humans fail to account for possible impact of human action on non-human elements of Earth. If we are to be true to our American democratic nature, then humans must learn to speak for non-humans in our procedural justice process. Our virtues must weigh both anthropocentric and ecocentric viewpoints that our actions to an end will not be brought into ethical question.

The core idea here is to illustrate which practices are sustainable. Those practices marked with red lines are societal practices that are not ecologically sustainable. The green lines represent positive ecological outcomes/results and the blue lines represent societal practices that are sustainable. Using the practices marked by the blue and green lines, the stability of the interactions between human society and the natural (non-human) environment increases. The blue and green lines also depict a positive feedback loop, ending with increased income for the rural communities, which will lead to more of these communities installing biogas plants. The diagram is similar to that in our reading that it contains aspects of societal need and ecological factors. The diagrams differ in scale, and Marten’s diagram depicts society and the environment as two separate entities, but it is my belief that the two are so closely related I shouldn’t divide them thusly. Perhaps another, more concrete reason for this difference is the broad scale Marten’s diagram uses juxtaposed with the small-scale, acutely specific scale presented in this module. To me, it seems that my diagram would interact between both parts of Marten’s.

My name is Cody Rhodes, and I am studying to get my Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies at Penn State, University Park Campus. I live in State College, PA, but I grew up on the other side of the country. I was born in San Diego, California and spent my childhood and most of my adolescence in Southern California. My career will be in the entertainment industry, ideally in the theatre, but I have been known to appear in film and record voiceovers as well. Far down the road, I intend on going back to school to work for my Masters in Education. My interest in this course comes from a background in volunteer work and a desire to fully understand and hopefully live a sustainable lifestyle.

I am also an avid believer in globalization. There is a saying that permeates the theatre I have been involved in, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” A bit cliché, but the idea of working together toward a common goal for the benefit of both humanity and the environment is not only noble but completely accurate in my humble opinion.  The sharing and implementation of ideas and knowledge about creating sustainable human societal practices may lead us through a prosperous Anthropocene Era. Geography can lead the way, too. Rather than reading through paragraphs summarizing changes in the environment, Geographic Information techniques can allow us to visualize the effects of certain societal practices on the surrounding (and therefore global environment). An example of this that is given in the module is a comparison of Folsom Lake in 2011 and 2014, and a more recent example would be this video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG87n5Dzdtl&feature=youtu.be] depicting the disappearance of old ice in the Arctic Sea. Through collaboration, we may begin to co-habitate with the Earth instead of utilizing its limited resources for personal or societal gain.