1. 

2. My diagram provides a visual representation of the cause and effect relationship of how WikiLeaks cables revealed the manipulation of climate accord by the United States. This climate accord pertains specifically to the Copenhagen accord, which the United States sought to eliminate opposition of through scandal and unethical means. Their approach had an end goal of wanting to make major improvements regarding climate change and the environment. With a mission to mitigate climate change, an unofficial document, the “Copenhagen accord” was created in 2009 as a result of the Copenhagen climate change summit. One of its goals was to decrease greenhouse emissions. The United States wanted support from other countries for this accord, and so they sought dirt on nations opposed to it. Other countries were persuaded to agree with this document through money and several unethical ways. Today, 116 countries have agreed to this accord, and since 26 have said that they would also like to associate with it, then the total comes to 140 countries. There are several issues that are associated with negotiations regarding climate change. One is finances, and the other is trust that countries will keep their word. Several of these points were not included in my diagram, but they are definitely important and key to the entire issue regarding the Copenhagen accord. I chose to include the most important aspects of the situation.

3. This issue is definitely relevant to today’s society because climate change and the environmental standing of our world is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed. As explained in Module 9, a huge factor into why we have this dire need to fight climate change is due to the use of fossil fuels that is creating this problem. The use of fossil fuels is unsustainable, because when we burn fossil fuels for industry, not only is energy released, but matter released ends up in the atmosphere. Some of this matter is known as greenhouse gases, which were a main topic of the Copenhagen accord. Because this issue faces difficult consequences for the environment and for many forms of life, it has become an important topic of discussion. So, although it was unethical for the United States to use improper ways to promote the accord, it may have been overall beneficial for our world in that it increased awareness of climate change and the actions we can take to improve the problem. I believe that there could have been better ways to get support for the accord, including room for negotiations. It seems as if the United States was a bit pushy with their method of gaining support and eliminating opposition, so they could have considered making negotiations with others. 

1. By observing and analyzing the Nathan World Map of Hazards, I was able to locate some natural hazards that may affect the area around Philadelphia. One icon shows that an increase in heavy rain is one climate impact, though it is difficult to tell whether it will affect my town or right above it. The map shows that earthquakes are not a hazard to my area, however since it is relatively close to a coast in which peak wind speeds may reach high numbers, tropical cyclones may be a threat, though it is likely that a cyclone would die by the time it reaches Philadelphia. While this information does make sense pertaining to the knowledge I have of the history of weather in my town, the map is not quite effective in determining the hazards of a specific town. On the other hand, it is very helpful in seeing the hazards that a particular country or continent may face. 

2. The disaster I have chosen is a preliminary earthquake report submitted on March 29, 2016 at 7:06 PM, located in Caruthersville, North America, USA. It had a magnitude of 2.1 and ranked a 1 on the Mercalli scale. The report stated that the impact did not have enough potential to cause people to feel any Earth movement. Although this is not extremely close to my hometown of Philadelphia, a small-scale earthquake like this is possible in my hometown. While very unlikely, it can happen, as it did a couple of years ago. Because this disaster was so small and harmless, it did not affect many people, or cause negative effects on their health or well-being.

3. From personal experience, I believe that one of the natural hazards that my town faces is hurricanes. Over the years, there have been several destructive hurricanes that have affected my town. The biggest ones that I can recall from memory are Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy, being the most recent one, caused a lot of environmental destruction in my town, as it knocked down many trees and power lines. Our town had power outages that lasted from a week to 10 days at most.

4. A very important way to reduce vulnerability to natural hazards is pre-event preparedness, which is described in Module 8. This action, and the Post-event Recovery and Reconstruction technique also mentioned, both pertain to the particular event I described before: Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy hit the Jersey shores very hard, causing a lot of flooding and destruction. My family owns a house in Long Beach Island, NJ, which was hit heavily by the storm. Luckily, because our house was raised coincidentally a year before the storm, it survived the storm without substantial flooding. However, many houses on my block and throughout the island were destroyed by the flooding from Hurricane Sandy. Both an post-event recovery response and pre-event preparedness response due to this event is that many people are now getting their houses raised. This is a response to what happened during Sandy, and also a preparation in case another storm hits.

My town is Huntingdon Valley, located in Pennsylvania, about a twenty minute car ride into the city of Philadelphia. It is mainly an automobile suburb, however there tends to be a good amount of pedestrians in both the residential zones and commercial area where the stores are located. About 21,400 people, as of 2014, live in Huntingdon Valley. The metropolitan area of my town would be considered to be Philadelphia, because it is the closest city. Its population is about 1.6 million, as of 2013. I grew up in Huntingdon Valley, so I have been accustomed my entire life to an automobile suburb, and the logistics of having to drive places. However, my grandma lives right in Philadelphia, so by spending time with her there, I have experienced how life in the city differs in that it is more convenient to walk or bike everywhere.

The first city I will discuss from this module is Rochester, New York. There are a variety of types of neighborhoods in Rochester, however I have chosen to focus on an automobile suburb as shown on the module, because it relates to my neighborhood. As I discussed in the question before, people in a neighborhood like mine rely heavily on cars to transport to places like work, school, and stores. As discussed in the section concerning Urban Design and Transport, one problem with this type of community is resident health, because those driving cars do not walk or bike as much as those in cities because they need to depend on their cars to get places. An important aspect of sustainability would be to promote resident health by the incorporation of more trails and parks in suburbs, which is definitely happening and already reaping benefits in my hometown.

The next city I have chosen to focus on is Bogota, Colombia, one that I can compare to Philadelphia, PA. A huge project in sustainable development that Bogota, Colombia has taken up is weekly car-free events, which they call Ciclovias. During these events, cars are restricted, and even forbidden, to drive on the streets. This encourages walking, biking, and other forms of exercise for transportation. The benefits of this are substantial: people get exercise, it lifts the spirits of many people, and most significantly, it is wonderful for the environment because of the reduction in harmful car emissions. Apparently, this type of event is spreading across the world, but Bogota holds the largest one. Because this city is so similar to Philadelphia regarding the amount of people and traffic, I would be curious to see how an event like this would go over in Philadelphia. It would definitely benefit both the people and especially the environment, but logistically it might hinder a lot of people in their travels.

A social norm of every kid growing up is to have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch at school. For most kids, it was procedure to have one of your parents pack you a bagged lunch of a sandwich and some snacks and a drink, normally a juice box. The sandwich has been a staple of ones childhood for many generations for several reasons.  It is simple and easy to make, due to the fact that it uses the two, readily available ingredients of bread and peanut butter. In addition, it is not too messy for kids to eat, and can be eaten with your fingers. The peanut butter contains protein, and therefore important nutritional value for children. For these reasons and because of the social norm associated with it, I too also made this delicious sandwich my personal food choice for my school lunches throughout the year. A food item as simple as a peanut butter sandwich can show how influential a social norm can be, and what an impact it has on the choices others can make.

This social norm of a peanut butter sandwich relates most directly to school lunch systems of school districts, and the changes that they have made over the past few years. Due to several factors, such as child obesity, health, and even awareness of allergies like a peanut butter allergy, schools have chosen to put more of an emphasis on the lunches they serve themselves. Many schools have even chosen to implement a rule that bans bringing your own packed lunch, and instead incorporate the costs of a school lunch into tuition. This is to ensure healthy, safe eating, and to prevent those with allergies of having to worry about what others are eating around them. This, in turn, can also relate to food waste, because every kid is obviously not going to like every lunch that is served, and as a result, will end up wasting it when they do not eat it. This new rule benefits those with allergies greatly, but does the food waste have others wishing back the days of the classic packed peanut butter sandwich?

After looking through many of the case studies offered, I chose one in Africa, involving the construction and effects of the building of a dam. The source of the information is from a site called “All Africa,” and the link to it is: http://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00040610.html. This case study in Africa is the joint effort of the three countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to make advances on the energy efficiency and environmental status of their area. This case study is an ongoing process that started many years ago, and has been progressing. The main component of the study is the impact of Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam. After much preparation, research, and conflicting discussions, the dam is scheduled to be completed in 2017. Being able to hold 74 billion cubic meters of water, it will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa. This is definitely a key aspect of world development, as the effects of this dam will be huge. In addition, this development is sustainable in that a project this large will obviously need to be able to sustain itself for many years to come.

Another case study I decided to focus my time and interest on was one located in the United States, in Alaska. This case study was done by the oil company, BP, a company that has a heavy impact in sustainability, energy, and positive change in the world. Here is the link to the study: http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/sustainability/bp-and-sustainability/case-studies-library/oil-spill-preparedness-and-remediation-in-alaska.html/. The case study I chose was titled “Oil spill preparedness and remediation in Alaska.” It describes BP’s response to oil spills in Alaska, and provided detailed plans as to how they were to go about their solution. They focused on different steps of solving the oil problem, including emergency responses, long-term responses, recovery, remediation, and restoration. It definitely connected to sustainable development and even global development, in that fixing the problem here in Alaska could prove to be an example or template for how other countries may fix the same problem they are also facing.

Most case studies can impact and be applied to many places around the world. That is a key aspect of global development because an advance or change in one place can impact many locations throughout the world. I can connect these two cases, in Africa and in Alaska, to where I live, which is in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, right near the city of Philadelphia. First off, the energy case study in Alaska involving the dam ripples over to my hometown because we can also make advances to be more efficient and sustainable with our energy sources. In addition, oil is used all around the world, so to hear that BP is making important advances regarding oil in Alaska will impact us as well on the other side of the country. By preventing oil spills, there will be a larger amount available, which on a personal level means lower prices for oil.

1a) The water supply chain for my hometown is a service called Aqua PA, which is the largest service area in population and number of service connections. Water is withdrawn from the Schuykill River and Perkiomen Creek, which is local to my area. I acquired this information by contacting my local township office, who of which were to gladly tell me about how the water is pumped from its source of the Schuykill River and then distributed throughout the numerous areas around Philadelphia.

1B) Daily Water Use: Sunday, February 7, 2016

1C) To live on two gallons of water a day:

In order to mock that experience of living on two gallons of water for one day, I attempted to drastically cut back my water use. To do this, I had to completely cut out taking a shower, because a typical shower of mine used a whopping 40 gallons of water. I attempted to use the least amount of water possible when washing my hands and when brushing my teeth and face by not letting the faucet run when I wasn’t using it. It was tough to cut back water when flushing the toilet, because in college, it is necessary to flush the toilet in public restrooms. If I had been in my own house, I could’ve waited to flush the toilet until after a few uses. In order to stay hydrated for physical activities, I did not cut back from the amount of water I usually consume. This experience opened my eyes to how much water I really do consume, which definitely surpassed one gallon in the one day. Geography affects water use because as seen in maps in Module 4, certain areas of the world have a significantly lesser amount of freshwater available to them.

Question 1: I picked this question because I believe the answer lies in both of the choices, yet can be covered in one. I believe that it is important to both be a good person and to perform good acts, but if I had to pick one, I would choose that it is more important to be a good person, therefore choosing virtue ethics over action ethics. This I believe because if someone is a good, kind-hearted person, then they will by default perform good acts out of the good of their heart. On the other hand, a person who just performs good acts may be doing this for selfish reasons other than to benefit whomever the good act is for. For example, someone may choose to do a good act such as helping an elderly neighbor only to uphold their own reputation or maybe because someone told them to. However, a truly good person would go help that neighbor because it would benefit the neighbor first and foremost.

Question 2: No, the ends do not always justify the means. For example, a person may be attempting to do a very kind deed for another person, but if they go about it in an unethical way, then the deed is not justified because the means to achieve that deed were not virtuous. This answer relates back to my answer about being a good person as opposed to only performing good acts. It is like if a person did a very good deed for the community, such as donating to the poor or organizing an event, but only did it to either boost their own reputation for something such as a campaign or maybe for some sort of reward from an outside party. In this case, the end is a moral, ethical cause, but the means to achieve them were not backed up with a good reason that was in the best intent of the subject of their good deed.

Question 6: The topic of a life’s worth is one that is sacred and important and therefore cannot be taken lightly. I believe that my own life worth is the same as the lives of every other person, regardless of their own ethics and moral decisions. Each person was created equally on this Earth, and therefore each person’s life is of utmost importance, and must be taken with the same sincerity. However, what makes this a complicated question is that humans by nature are selfish even though we do not mean to be. It is in our initial instinct to look out for the best interest of both ourselves and those that we love, which we translate into valuing their lives more than others.  So, all in all, our lives are all worth the same, but because of human nature and our ability to grow closer to other people and their ideals, we value some lives over others’.

The core ideas behind my diagram as portrayed in the five minute video explain the effects of the introduction of biogas fuel into a society such as the one shown, a village in India. Seeing the visual of the diagram highlights the amount of benefits that biogas fuel actually does have. It greatly impacts both the social system and ecosystem of India, and it becomes apparent that many of these impacts relate and overlap with each other, as shown through the many arrows to each effect. A core idea portrayed here is the human- environment system. For example, biogas affects the ecosystem because it creates quality fertilizer, which in effect benefits the social system in that farmers gain higher incomes due to their higher implemented prices. The benefits of this fuel is unmatched due to both its stability and resilience.

In regards to Gerry Marten’s diagram, Figure 1.5, there are a few similarities and differences from my personal diagram. Both diagrams break the benefits up into two categories, Social System and Ecosystem, and show the relationships between them using arrows. Marten’s diagram uses more descriptions for his arrows, and makes numerous connections using the same concepts, which is interesting to see how many impacts one concept, like cooking fuel, can make. There are similarities and differences between the two diagrams because the relationships shown in the video can be interpreted in several ways.

My name is Lizzy DeMarshall. I am a freshman from Abington, PA, which is located about 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia. I would like to pursue a career in Civil Engineering, with a large focus on the environmental aspect of the job. That is why this course interests me. I believe that learning about how geography connects with sustainability and environmental systems will benefit me greatly with my future career and provide me with an extensive amount of useful knowledge. I also am very interested to see what this course is about, and curious to learn more about the topics within each chapter. Some other facts about myself include that I like to run, and that I would love to travel to many different places around the world one day.

There are many issues to geography that I am sure will be brought up throughout the duration of this course. While reading and learning about new geographic perspectives and approaches, an example that came to mind was the effect of a place’s location on the Earth with respect to weather. Environmentally, a place’s location on the Earth, whether it be in the Northern hemisphere, at the equator, or even if a place is next to a body of water, holds its own specific weather due to its location. By visualizing these places on a geographic map, as mentioned in Module 1, one can also spot patterns in weather. Location affects weather, which in turn, affects many other things, including humans, creating a human-environment interaction.