Author Archives: Eunice Hae Jin Lee

Module 10: Biodiversity

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  1. In the first paragraph of 175-250 words, in your own opinion describe the level of biodiversity in your hometown. State the factors that contribute to the level of biodiversity.

I live in a city called Seoul located in South Korea. To be more specific, South Korea is located in the East Asia, on the Southern half of the Korean Peninsula. In the country, Seoul is located at the north-west side and is the capital city of South Korea. In my opinion, Seoul would be considered to be in the low level of biodiversity because of several reasons. To begin with, according to to the module, if a continental region of the world receives a lot of sunlight and rainfall and is buffered from extreme disturbance events, it is likely to expect a highly biodiverse in the region. Seoul does have distinct four seasons with sunlight, rain and snow. However, due to global warming and rapid urbanization of the city, the region is mostly covered with man-made buildings and transportation rather than natural environment the world has presented to us. Also, one fact is that Seoul is ranked as the second largest metropolitan area of the world which means the city is overpopulated with urbanized life. What is more, Seoul is located in the center of the country. The region does not have fulfillment of natural nourishment. The area I live is mostly surrounded by modernized buildings, apartments and transportation. However, if we consider the whole country, South Korea would be considered to be at the average level of biodiversity. The country itself, is mostly mountainous with 64% of the land compromised of mountains surrounded by ocean on three sides.

 

  1. In the second paragraph of 200-250 words, explain the biodiversity threats in your hometown, what caused the threats and suggest a prevention on how to protect the biodiversity.

 As I mentioned above, Seoul is one of the biggest metropolitan area in the world. This explains that the area is covered with majority of man-made kinds instead of natural environments. A major biodiversity threat in the city would be the climate change, habitat loss of animals and plants and the loss of environment in the area. According to the CBD, there are large number of endangered flora and fauna. Approximately 20.4% of wetlands, 15.9% of farmland and 2.1% of forested land have been reduced in size within the last two decades. Not only did it reduce but also created one of the biggest issues in the world, climate change. As we learned in the previous module, climate change is a serious issue that needs to be prevented. However instead of preventing it, we are creating more problems that leads to climate change such as deforestation and loss of environment. Furthermore, the biggest reason of the changes is from rapid urbanization and industrialization. Seoul became one of the biggest metropolitan area in recent years. The rapid urbanization and industrialization has caused the country to deforest the mountains and build high, modernized buildings. In order to prevent the varieties of damages, the city should limit the number of buildings in the area and create campaigns that advertises the growth of trees, grass and flowers. Also, since saving the environment is the key of the prevention, there should be stricter rules of recycling and throwing garbage.

 

Reference:

“Republic of Korea – Main Details.” Main Details. Convention on Biological Diversity, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2016. <https://www.cbd.int/countries/profile/?country=kr>.

  1. In another paragraph of 100-150 words, choose one image of endangered or extinct species in your hometown and explain what and how it became endangered or extinct.

biodiversit_ehl5050

This picture illustrates an endangered wild animal called Asiatic Black Bear. This bear is categorized as a first-class endangered wild animal in South Korea and internationally and is considered as a Natural Monument No. 329 in South Korea to protect the species. The Asiatic Black Bear usually could be found in Seoraksan Mountain and in Jirisan Mountain but now it is hard to find as it became endangered by us. Asiatic Black Bear became endangered because of over-hunting and as loss of environment they used to live in.However, in order to prevent its extinction, there is an Asiatic Black Bear restoration program in the country (Jirisan National Park) that stands out to prevent the endangered animal.

Module 9: Climate change

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  1. Module9_climatechange_ehl5050

2) In my diagram, I wanted to illustrate the connection between the WikiLeaks cables to climate change. Before going deeply into the details of the connection, I began my diagram by demonstrating how climate change is taken place. As mentioned in the module, burning of fossil fuels is most commonly used source of energy. By burning the fossil fuels, CO2 or the greenhouse gas is emitted in the air causing the change in the atmosphere. The change in the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is then led to climate change. Climate change is a universal problem that affects everyone. In order to prevent and stop the problem, the world nation has gathered and discussed about taking a collective action to prevent it. The Copenhagen Accord was proposed by world leaders to find ways that would decrease the emission of greenhouse gases which can help to warm the troposphere and the surface of the Earth. However, during this stage, there were levels of distrust among nations and also created third world countries facing more climate change. This accord was backed up by espionage on the U.S. front in the form of cables in the attempt to bride developing countries into accepting and joining their opinions to combat the issue. However, the interactions between the U.S. and developing countries that were involved became known throughout the world by WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks action exposed the U.S.’s manipulation of climate change and changed many other’s view. Since the exposure by WikiLeaks, 116 countries have associated themselves with the accord, and 26 countries announced they intend to associate. Total number of 140 nations, around 75% nations within the UN accepted the Copenhagen accord. Furthermore, at the UN climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, the approval of huge boost to the accord took place.

 

3) In my personal opinion, I think the State Department Cables should have been publicized and notified to the public rather than being exposed by the WikiLeaks. Also, the Copenhagen Accord should have been informed by the leaders of the nations to their country to allow citizens of the world to know that collective action is taking place to prevent climate change. Climate change is serious worldwide problem that affects everyone’s lives. It is considered a collective action problem that needs a collective action, the actions taken by a collection or group of people based on collective decision, (Module 4) to take place. In this case was the Copenhagen Accord. Moreover, I think hiding the accord and accessing the information through a leak changes the meaning of it. The climate accord is a positive prevention gathered with nation’s voice to prevent the climate change but was illustrated as an illegal action taking between nations. The State Department should have informed it to the public. Furthermore, despite the good intentions of the accord, the espionage from the U.S. was leaked by WikiLeaks. I think the action caused by the U.S is considered to be altruistic. U.S did not think about developing countries situation but rather bribed them with money to keep things the way they believed it should be. I think the country should have tried to convince developing countries like Zenawi that the accord was for the better or created prevention that resolved the climate change throughout the world that could benefit the countries as well. In other worlds, procedural justice should have taken place. I believe the world should be a sustainable place for us to live. We should stop being ego about what we gain but try to make the world a better place for all of us.

Natural Hazard

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1) My city of Seoul, South Korea is located in the east part of the Asia. To be more specific for the people who may not know, it’s the country right next to Japan and the country below China. According to the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards, the biggest threats that we face is the tropical cyclones and the sea level rise. We are mostly threatened by the tropical cyclone beneath the country which is labeled as zone 4 and 5 but most of the country’s land is classified as zone 3 and 2 which may also need to be cautious about it. For the sea level rise, it’s beneath the country but the arrows indicate it strikes the country. Using the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards was somehow difficult to effectively and clearly read the map but it was simple enough to read if my city and country could be threatened by natural hazards.

2) The event I chose was the biological hazard that occurred on March 18th, 2016 in an area of Guinea, Africa. This event was specified as the biological hazard because of the Ebola Virus Diseases. In my opinion, I don’t think it is possible for my hometown to experience the same type of biological hazards, Ebola Virus. This is because when the Ebola virus occurred and alarmed several countries like the United States, our country did not worry about the disease spreading towards our country. What is more, there are very less number of people from Africa who visits our country or Korean citizens visiting Africa unless it’s a volunteer matter. Therefore, when this event occurred the Korean volunteer workers or the visitors to Africa were tested and alarmed by the government to them. Also, when Ebola was alarmed, the government ordered a very high security in the airport to check the disease. However, I think if the disease spread throughout my city and country, our government wouldn’t have been prepared for event as we haven’t faced or experienced such big epidemics. The even only concerned 4 people but was considered a 4/4 level Biohazard. Africa has a much larger scale than my hometown, however I think if the virus spread in my hometown, it would have been worse because we are a small city with a massive number of population. Human contact and spread would have been much faster than the event. I think there would be a less severity of the disaster in my hometown because of the age and the hospital or health system. According to the module, the older you are the higher risk of hazards you face. I think my hometown has younger population compared to Africa. Also, we have better health and hospital system compared to the area of the event occurred. It would have saved more people or have had faster action to prevent it to spread so fast. An idea that would reduce my city’s vulnerability could be fast government’s action of alarming the citizens and having free tests available to the citizens at the near by hospital.

3) Seoul is located in South Korea. South Korea is located at the east part of the Asia. I believe my city and country does not have many threats on natural hazards. Therefore, I want to talk about the recent disastrous diseases or epidemics we faced. The disease was called MERS and was first found in Korea around mid May 2015. It is an abbreviation for Middle East respiratory syndrome epidemic and is a newly emerged beta coronavirus that was first founded in Saudi Arabia which spread gradually around the Middle East. The MERS was first founded in Korea when a single Korean traveler to the Middle East who believed he sought treatment after returning home. He was diagnosed after couple of days but the virus already spread among health care workers and patients in several hospitals. As a result, 186 laboratory-confirmed infections and 186 patients were recovered and been discharged but 36 patients have died. I think this was one of the worst epidemic in South Korea and I know how bad and scary it was because I was living few blocks away from the hospital that could treat the MERS and where MERS infected patients was found. The whole country was alarmed to not go out often and to wear mask, cough with handkerchief and to carry around sanitizers. There was shorten supplies of sanitizers and masks around the whole city, especially the city Seoul and were making citizens to worry much worse. I think diseases spread faster than any could have thought because the government avoided formally declaring the diseases to the country.

Citations:

Normile, Dennis. “South Korea May Not Be Declared MERS-free until September.” South Korea May Not Be Declared MERS-free until September. AAAS, 31 July 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. <http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/07/south-korea-may-not-be-declared-mers-free-until-september>.

“2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Outbreak in South Korea.”Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Middle_East_respiratory_syndrome_outbreak_in_South_Korea>.

4) In my opinion, the major way to reduce the vulnerability to natural hazards in Seoul would be faster communication and warnings of hazards or epidemics from the Korean government and the pre-event preparedness that was mentioned in the Module. I thought that the government should communicate the citizen of Korea in a faster and accurate pace. Like I mentioned above in question 3, the country lost 36 lives because the government did not warn the country earlier when they knew the MERS was occurring inside, did not mention the hospitals that the MERS patient contacted with and did not spread an accurate information about the disease and preparation to the citizens. If this would have happened, it would have saved more lives. Therefore, I think faster communications and warnings with an accurate information would help my city and country to reduce vulnerability. Moreover, I think the education system should promote more campaigns and teach students from a young age about natural hazards that may struck the country. Schools can prepare more education to children. As an early childhood major and future teacher, I think I should prepare more lessons to children about safety and drills incase of natural hazards.

Module 7: Urban Planning

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I live in a city called Seoul in South Korea. South Korea is located at the east part of the Asia and it is the southern half of the Korean Peninsula bounded by the East sea in the east, Yellow sea in the west and the Korea Strait in the South. Within the country, Seoul is located at north-west side. Seoul would be considered to consists mainly of both automobile suburbs and pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods. Furthermore, Seoul is the capital and the largest metropolis of South Korea. The city holds 10.01 million people in 605.21 km 2 area and is ranked as the second largest metropolitan area in the world. Seoul is both my parent’s birth place and home and it is one of my favorite cities in the world. Even though I have only lived in Seoul for 3 years, I crucially believe it is one of the busiest, safest, organized and developed cities. Also, Seoul is recognized for its clean, fast, safe public transport as well as the fastest internet speed in the world.

 

The first city from the module I will be discussing is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The city consists of an exceptional urban setting encompassing the highest point of the Tijuca National Park’s mountains and down to the sea. The city has a well-balanced of urban beauty and natural environment. It is also located on an inlet of the coast of Guanabara Bay, allowing natural harbor and port. Similar to Rio de Janeiro, Seoul is also located in an area with natural environment surrounding it. However, unlike Rio de Janeiro surrounded by ocean, the city is surrounded by 8 mountains, with Mount Nam situated in the central area of the city. To become more sustainable, I personally think my city should use Rio de Janeiro’s balanced setting of urban and nature as a model to try to recover or enhance more nature aspects. For example, Seoul is one of leading cities that has the world’s fastest growing economies. Due to this, the city consists majority of urban and city features rather than balancing with natural aspects. With Rio de Janeiro as a model, the city should plant more greenness to the city brining the environmental factor to the city.

 

The second city from the module I will be using is Detroit, Michigan. Detroit is the most populous city in the country and is also one of the largest cities and the center of a three-county urban area. The city is a major port on the Detroit River as well. However, unlike the city’s rank, Detroit has been acting out an interesting urban agriculture things and made a great case study for urban agriculture. As far as I know, Seoul does not have a lot of urban agriculture practices or may not even have started to adapt this practice. While we are also one of the busiest and urban metropolitan area, the city did not focus on implementing agriculture contribution to sustain urban development but rather focused more on the economy. I think the city should adapt urban agriculture practices like Detroit and continue the urban development.

Module 6

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1.

A social norm that significantly influenced my food choice began when I came to college. Back at home, my family would mainly eat food that has low sugar and fat and would eat less desserts or snacks. For example, we would eat steam or boiled food rather than friend foods. However, after I came to college, this choice was hard to maintain as dining halls provided foods that have high sugar and fat. Of course, I did eat these kinds of foods before and actually enjoyed them but they weren’t my daily meal. Therefore, when I began constantly consuming high sugar and fat, it ruined my body and health system. The social norm here would be that our society does not provide healthy options when it comes to feeding mass groups of people, like college dining halls. The food choice is mainly connected to convenience rather than health.

2.

The main societal issues that connects to the food choice I addressed above would be the food waste and unhealthy diet. Food waste is one of the biggest problem our world is facing. Each year, one third of all food is wasted and in the U.S alone, 40 million tons of food waste in created. In places like college dining halls, great amount of food goes to the trash as students unthoughtfully take food as they think they can eat but end up realizing they took too much. Food waste is the sad truth in our world. We have many organizations and campaigns that tries to help millions of people who cannot be provided with food. However, unlike how we support these organizations we still create food waste that could have helped those people. Moreover, the food choice clearly serves unhealthy foods that does not encourage healthy diet. Eating high sugar and fat would lead to problems like obesity which is one of the big threats to U.S and which is also leading to the same problem with food waste. We need to appreciate the food we are provided. Through this activity, I concluded that the social norm should be changed to creating and consuming foods that has low sugar and fat and limit the amount of food created in areas that serve big number of people.

3.

Food_choice&social_norm_ehl5050

 

Module 5: Environmental justice movement and development in health system

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1. Cost-Effectiveness of Solar Cookers, Kenya

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/sol-ken.html

The first case study I chose to observe is the “Cost-Effectiveness of Solar Cookers in Kenya” prepared by Jill M. Maccaferri, an undergraduate student at Colby College in Maine. The case study focuses on the sustainable development associated by the introduction of newly designed-designed solar cookers in Kenya. This case study specifically focuses in the refugee camps of Kakuma and Dadaab. The goal of the development is to create a better environment for women in Kenya, to reduce the use of fuel wood and to advance the economic savings of the country. Fortunately, the implementation of solar cookers in the two refugee camps were considered successful. However, the case study mentions that since this is the introduction of the solar cookers, one cannot predict if the success could carry on to the future. Moreover, this case study relates to the idea of environmental justice movement in the module. By focusing on the enhancement of human health, it not only focuses on the population suffer from the burdens of economic but also who has the access to environmental goods.

2. Saving mother’s lives in Sri Lanka

http://www.cgdev.org/page/case-6-saving-mothers-lives-sri-lanka

The case study that I researched on is the “Saving mother’s lives in Sri Lanka” organized by the government of Sri Lanka and illustrated in the Center for Global Development website. This study focuses on the development of health system in Sri Lanka, specifically the maternal health care. The goal of the development is to provide citizens of Sri Lanka with a free service of a strong, systematic health system, to enhance the maternal health care, to encourage the use of midwives, and to improve the overall quality of lives of vulnerable groups. The overall result was successful based on where they started off. The health system may not be great compared to other countries, however, Sri Lanka has achieved much better health status and had a steep decline of maternal mortality. What is more, this relates to the module’s idea of using life expectancy or mortality as a tool to measure development. In the study, they compared the before and after of the implement by using female mortality and declines in the maternal mortality.

3.

I used Seoul, South Korea to connect the two cases. The first one relates to the development of South Korea because they share the concept of both the advancement of women’s lives and improvement of economy. South Korea used to have a low quality of lives to women and was labeled as a low income country. However, the country developed in to one of the OECD countries and gave more opportunities to women. The only difference is the scale of success; South Korea had significant improvement. The second case relates by introducing the improvement of health system. According to The World Health Report 2007, South Korea had the biggest advance in health system in half a century, and now rank first in the OECD for healthcare. Both the country focused on the development and easy access to health care system. However, Sri Lanka had impacted strongly on the maternal health care compared to South Korea. By comparing the developments, I think South Korea should learn the determination of both Kenya and Sri Lanka and try to focus on the advancement of the vulnerable groups as we have successfully developed over the half century. Place and time are essential components in this case because the longer we wait to implement, the more lives would be suffering from the poor environment they have.

 

Module 4: Water usage

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1A.

The city I am from is Seoul located in South Korea. My city runs its water supply by draining out the river water and is run by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The water we use is named “Arisu” and it used to be the name of Han River, the main river source for water supply, and now stands for Seoul’s brand of tap water. To be more significant, ‘Ari’ means big in Korean traditional language and ‘Su’ means water. Furthermore, as Seoul has four distinct seasons, precipitation gap between the seasons leads to defined differences in the water quality. Also, as Han River became more polluted by the people of Seoul, the city is strictly managing and developing the water quality. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the purification of water work in this order: Intake stations, Pre-chlorination, powdered activated carbon, mixing basins, condensing stations, depositing reservoirs, filtering stations, advanced water purification facility, post-chlorination to discharging stations.

Source:

Click to access Seoul-Tap-Water-Arisu-English.pdf

1B.

Record of water usage on February 5th 2016 (Friday)

Activity Amount of water used (gallons)
Shower (Morning and Night combined) 5 gallons * 10 minutes * 2 times = 100 gallons
Bathroom (Toilet): 8 times 1.6 gallons * 8 = 12.8 gallons
Drinking (water bottle used) ½ gallon
Brushing Teeth (2 times) 1 gallon * 2 = 2 gallons
Face cleansing (2 times) 1 gallon * 2 = 2 gallons
Washing dishes (1 time for dinner) Approximately 27 gallons
Cooking (soup and rice) 1 gallon

Total = 145.3 gallons per day

 

1C.

If I were to live in an area where water usage is restricted to two gallons per day, I think it would be hard for me to live the way I used to and would start to define where I should use water or not. In this case, I think I would prioritize the water consume and my sanitation usage. Human basic needs are food, shelter and clothing. Therefore, I would place my water consumption more than any other needs I have to use. I would drink less than I used to but still put in on the top of my needs. Also, I would definitely shower shorter and shower within three or four days just to help myself to stay clean. Brushing teeth would still be essential for me, therefore I would try to use minimum of water to clean my teeth. For cooking, I would try to cook without water. Moreover, I don’t think I can use water for laundry or washing dishes. In the end, even after the reduction of water usage, I would most definitely fail to live this life. Comparing this life to the daily life I had, there is approximately 143 gallons of water difference. Therefore, I will fail to live this life. As shown in 1B, I place my sanitary on top of my priorities but if I had to live with 2 gallons, I would completely shorten in down so water consumption could be provided. Through this experience, I have learned and realized that geography is essential for water use. If there aren’t water resources around the geographic scale, it is hard to consume and use water in our lives. Not only does the geography matters, sadly socio-economic status matter as well.

Module 3: Ethics

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1.Is it more important to be a good person or to perform good acts (virtue ethics vs. action ethics)?

I think this question is one of the hardest questions among all but if I have to answer, I think it is more important to perform good acts rather than to be a good person. We all know that being a good person and performing good acts demonstrates a strong positive correlation. However, how will someone know that you are a good person if you don’t act it out or show it? In my perspective, in order to perform a good act, one needs to hold the characteristics, values and beliefs of what a good person has. A good action occurs from a good person. If we think deeply, there are good people around the world, whose actions aren’t good at all. In our social norm, actions have far more direct impact than rather being who you are. That’s one reason why in our world, we have laws and punishments. Moreover, for example, one of my friend back in high school believed she was a good person. However, her actions did not help her to be viewed as a good person. If one does not reflect who they are, it is hard to view them as who they are. For all these reasons, I believe it is more crucial to perform good acts than to be a good person.

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

Speciesism which is the view that some species are more ethically important that others as explained in the module, is a concept that grabs my full attention. As a animal lover and an owner of a pet, I do believe the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matters. However, I can’t say their feelings matter as much as us, the humans, because of my diet. I was very confused how to answer this question but since I do love eating meats, drinking milk, eating bacon and all, I couldn’t say they matter as much as us, because it does not reflect who I am. However, that does not and will never mean that we are allowed to hurt them except for our survival. The food chain goes around in circle. The predator will eat their food source no matter what happens and that wouldn’t change. With that being said, I disagree that we are allowed to harm animals unless it directly leads to human survival.

 

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

I think this was the hardest question among all 6 questions because it holds the matter of life. I wouldn’t want to answer this but if I do, I think my own life is worth the same as anyone else, no more or no less. In my religious (Christian) belief, I think we are all created equally to others. No people could be more important than others because of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, intelligence, or other factors. We all are unique human being, holding different perspective and beliefs. No one can judge or decide who are better than anyone else. However even if I do believe we are all important and worthy, we will encounter certain circumstances that will change my mind. For example, if there is a situation to save a serial killer and normal citizen, I would hold the hand of the normal citizen without a doubt. These people who destroy someone else’s lives or act upon a negative thoughts, must be punished for what they have done.

Module 2: Biogas in India

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The system diagram I created illustrates the chain of effects the biogas generator has on India. As described in the video, people in India have been experiencing problems by using the traditional wood burning stove. It would create a smoke that affects on health to women or people around, wrecks the environment, and prevents children to focus more on their education. However, the creation of biogas can resolve all the problems. Biogas generators allow better and improved living conditions which leads to better health, prevents deforestation, allows children to focus more on their education and even creates new job opportunity to women. The core idea behind my diagram is that the social and ecosystem are helping each other to create a better living for both the human and environment. To add on, that the creation of biogas generator has improved in a positive way. Moreover, when comparing my diagram to Gerry Marten’s, there are several similarities and difference we used. Both Marten and I separated the social system and ecosystem to allow more clearances. However, Marten’s diagram has focused more diversely than mine and created a better, constructed diagram. For example, he has more sub-categories in both the social system and ecosystem and clearly labeled there effects. On the other hand, my diagram simply connects each effects together. By comparing the two diagrams, I think I learned to focus more broadly in one subject and try to minimize the connection further apart.

Biogas_ehl5050

Module 1: Getting to know you

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Hi everyone! My name is Eunice Hae Jin Lee, a sophomore here at Penn State University Park. Quick interesting fact about me is that I lived in 6 different countries all my life. I was born in Athens, Ohio but was raised mostly in the Middle East because of my dad’s job as a civil engineer. I lived here in the States, South Korea, Kuwait, U.A.E , Sri Lanka and Qatar. I am studying PK-4 education and would love to graduate with master’s degree. I would like to teach abroad. Maybe in the Middle East in a American School and help students who were raised like me (raised in the different country and culture). To be honest, I don’t know a lot about geography and I am really hoping I learn something from this course to help my future career as a teacher. Another fact about me is that I have friends all around the world. My 5 best friends are all from different countries and study around the world.

Above all, I am really interested in the climate change around the world. One major reason is that since I have lived in the middle east and have experienced how the climate has been changing for few years, it scares me how different it might be in the future. For example, since the Middle East has low chance of raining, most countries don’t have a perfect draining system but since 2010, most of the Middle Eastern countries have had rains that continuous caused serious flooding. Also, living in Sri-Lanka where a natural disasters tsunami has occurred in 2004 and looking at the how it affected human impacts, it questioned me how we could stop or prevent such disasters if we can. We have to know that climate change is a serious matter in our lives and to our world. Just as how humans can impact the environment, environment can impact on us.