Biodiversity

  1. Draw a system diagram that shows the connections between biodiversity and its cause and effects as discussed in the module.

Biodiversity Map

  1. In 100-150 words, explain your module: the ideas and layout rationale behind it.

Beginning with the factors that influence biodiversity, I included climate, topography, and disturbances as affecting stability. Climate includes global warming and other climate changes occurring over time; disturbances consist of both natural disasters and human actions. Changes in either can affect population, habitats, food source (which also affects population), and as a result, affect stability. Instability can cause extinctions, human or other species, decreasing biodiversity.

Biodiversity has multiple benefits: anthropocentric (human-centered values) and ecocentric (nature-centered values). From the former perspective, biodiversity can provide a variety of food sources, and scientific information which leads to discovering more medicine. From the ecocentric point of view, nature assists in purifying water and air, balancing heat in atmosphere, pollinating crops, cycling nutrients, thanks to various organisms and their functions. Not only do healthier air, water, and food profit nature, but these can be considered ecosystem services, services provided by the nature to the humans.

  1. In 100-150 words, relate biodiversity and the ecosystem services noticeable by you in your daily life.

First of all, the module shares a ecosystem service that people directly experience. Seemingly trivial, enjoying aesthetic benefits that come with conservation goals can be a big part of human life. For example, national parks are cultural ecosystem services. In fact, I hope to visit Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon this summer, and many more in the future.

Also, having moved from Pakistan to America, I can understand the value of clean air, which is more abundant here. Plants play a big part in that, like trees helping against global warming by balancing heat in the atmosphere. Some areas suffer from others’ use of nonrenewable resources that produce harmful contents into the air. The same goes for water, which is an expensive commodity in my home country- simply water supply as well as clean water. Therefore, I can value the importance of biodiversity and its effects on ecosystem services.

Climate Change

 

Climate Change

Due to the use of fossil fuels, there has been a large production of carbon in the atmosphere, causing climate change. As global warming becomes a bigger issue, governments around the world have tried to resolve this by working together and setting limitations. Both the Kyoto Protocol and Copenhagen Accord are examples of this effort, as their aim was to lower carbon. The first option, though, places a binding obligation on rich nations. Developed nations, like the United States of America, dislike this and favor the latter agreement, which allows nations to set reasonable but lower targets for future carbon emissions. Yet, this strategy does not guarantee avoiding dangerous global warming, whereas the other option is more likely to do so. Unfortunately, developed nations, once again like the United States of America, tend to have a larger carbon footprint, while the developing nations are often largely impacted by their actions. Thus, they not like the Copenhagen Accord, especially since they do not have ample financial support to follow through with it. As a result, developed nations offered financial aid to developing nations as a way to bribe them into supporting the Copenhagen Accord.

These main points of the article are shown in exactly this order throughout the diagram. For example, the fossil fuels creating carbon causing climate change is the beginning. This moves onto show that countries working together worked on a political movement, which included the Accord and Protocol, both aiming to lower carbon- a core factor of global warming. The chart shows the difference in how the two methods try to achieve this similar goal and the varying effects of each. Next, it shows how developed nations favor one and the developing nations favor the other because of the gap in the unfair allocation of responsibility for carbon footprints. Lastly, the flow ends with developed nations attempting to convince developing nations otherwise.

As the module explains, climate change threatens crossing the planetary boundary and making the Earth unstable. Therefore, it as a global effort is an important issue. Therefore, the cables should have been publicized because transparency is necessary for global effort; it is important for everyone to work together, as tacky as that sounds. It is hard to claim whether the United States should have been conducting climate change diplomacy in the way that they were. Ethically, I suppose it’s wrong, even if just for their effort to make it a secret. Logically, it seems the most effective unfortunately. It is extremely difficult to have a nation (not only the U.S.) revert from its norm; the country heavily depends on coal, oil, and other polluting sources for energy. Module 9 admits that the increase in our use of fossil fuels during the Industrial Revolution improved our health and wealth. A sudden strict limitation would be hard and may not even work, possibly causing motivation for more secrecy. Also, convincing developing nations to support the Accord seems to have another advantage: aid in finance, which may be beneficial. Ethically, U.S. and others should take full responsibility for their actions and stop further harm, especially since it has had harmful temperature and water shifts. Logically, it will be more possible and effective to attempt to improve their methods and prevent further harm. This logical step would be an attempt to adapt and as the module explains, that could “reduce the amount of harm caused.”

Easton’s Natural Hazards

My hometown of Easton, Pennsylvania does not seem to face too many natural hazards, according to my experience. Even the maps show that it is a Zone 0 for earthquakes. The same applies for tropical storms, for which wind speeds fall into Zone 0 and into Zone 1. Another natural hazard that the map does not show as a common issue in the city is wildfires- Zone 1 (Low). Interestingly though, the ocean closely to the right of the city is around Zone 2 and 3 and it is a Zone 2 to 3 for hailstorms as well. Easton is also more likely to get tornadoes as it lies in Zone 3 on the map showing frequency and intensity of tornadoes. The Nathan map is effective in determining relevant storms. Easton area indeed rarely experiences earthquakes, wildfires, and extremely fast winds; it does experience hailstorms and tornadoes though.

On April 1, there was a wildfire in Cherokee National Forest, possibly started by humans. A risk is that the fire may be small, but can spread fast and far. This fire spread to 150 acres, which can be difficult to manage. In Easton, an area known for its woody lands, the fire would easily spread. Since the area is not prone to wildfires, the wildlife has not evolved yet. Often, trees will adapt through serotinous cones, triangular shape, and so on, but Easton trees have not adopted these traits. This means it would be harder for Easton to recover from the incident. Another issue is the close population throughout the city with houses built closely together, near forests and stores. If the fire spread, it would spread throughout a civilization area, unlike the Cherokee Forest which is not as inhabited by humans. It would harm many people who would not be prepared for such an event because of the lack of experience with this natural hazard. Without the experience and preparations, the fire would not be as easily managed. The Cherokee event resulted in 0 casualties, but this would not be the case for Easton. The vulnerability in Easton would be a human starting a fire; preventing that can keep the area in a low zone of wildfires.

Many large storms that Easton faces is often winter storms or floods (caused by winter storms or rain in the summer). We get feet of snow some winter days, when roads become icy and slippery. Later, the melted snow adds to the rising water levels. Recently, we have had more tornadoes and tornado warnings closer to home, which is still rare despite what Nathan’s map says. Two of the most surprising events were the small earthquake (one of the first in a long time) and Hurricane Sandy. The latter resulted in flooding and power outages; the power outages were an issue since it was cold at the time. USA.com includes thunderstorm winds as a common weather extreme with a count of 2,275 events from 1950 to 2010.

Preparedness and post-event recovery reduce vulnerability to natural hazards (Module 8). Many storms common in Easton can be predicted beforehand; hailstorms are projected way ahead, but tornadoes may be projected with less time to prepare. This allows citizens to buy emergency items like food, water, first aid kit. Since tornadoes are common, stocking these items at all times is a good idea to manage with less projection time. My experience shows that storms happen close to each other, timeline wise. That’s why we should be fast in post-event recovery. Thus, value time to repair basements and roofs to provide in times of tornadoes and winter storms; underground powerlines are helpful according to my experience during Hurricane Sandy. Maybe even optimize safety in non-disaster times. It is best to take action yourself to assure your safety; it’s each individual’s responsibility to evaluate a house and preparation for natural hazards.

Urban City of Easton, PA

Although I was born in Pakistan, I consider Easton, Pennsylvania to be my hometown, having lived there for a majority of my life. It is located in southeast Pennsylvania, adjacent to Phillipsburg, New Jersey. It has a lot of variety in terms of neighborhoods. I live in an automobile suburb area, where most people own and utilize their vehicles. Nearby though, downtown Easton consists of more pedestrians, but cars are no less popular there especially since people commute from Pennsylvania to New Jersey often. The population overall is 27,073. My favorite part about this city is its diversity of people, neighborhoods, and opportunities. This Lehigh Valley area (where Easton is located) is known for having the most colleges in the area. Easton is also easily accessible for any good or service, whether it is food, stores, jobs, and even a route to New Jersey and New York if someone is looking to explore.

First, I want to talk about Copenhagen where traffic calming is a norm. Their attempt to ensure that cars don’t interfere with people relates to Easton. It is rare in this city, but it could be a good way to attain more sustainability. Often, in Downtown, streets are closed down to cars for the sake of historical or social events. People choose to leave their cars and actually walk around instead, which lowers cars emissions but increases social interaction. It would probably be difficult to make the area completely pedestrian-oriented due to the passage of heavy traffic from and to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This does not mean that other areas in Easton cannot follow this idea, like near schools. For example, Easton Area High School is next to a sledding hill and many restaurants for students to visit during lunch breaks; this should be an incentive to reduce traffic.

The other city I choose is Rochester, New York. I found it very interesting that it was an example of automobile suburbs, and one of the signs of that was that there aren’t many sidewalks because people choose to use automobiles for transport. This made me realize that although Easton would be considered an automobile suburb, it has sidewalks, and other forms of transportation. In other words, it is not simply promoting a single type of commute. This is a good reminder for Easton though that it should indulge more in sidewalks, bike paths, and other transportation modes to access stores, schools, and jobs more easily. Still, I’m proud to say that Easton already has plenty of sidewalks and bike paths, but of course, it can always improve. It would actually be pretty easy too since many areas (like where I live) already have stores and such close by. As another way of lowering emissions, it can improve air quality and as a result, peoples’ health.

Social Norms and Societal Issues

I would be a good example of someone whose food choice is explicitly affected by social norms. Islam does not permit consuming pork at all. Also, I was born in Pakistan, which is a Muslim country. Therefore, pork is not sold there and everyone supplies and demands halal (kosher) meat. As a Muslim, I have never eaten pig products, and I also only eat kosher meat. Kosher involves being careful about resource inputs, which would be the food for the cows, goats, chicken; for example, it’s not permissible to feed them chemicals and hormones for economic purposes. They should be treated well without any abuse. In addition, drinking is prohibited in my religion. Since in Pakistan, only halal food is served, no food products can have wine or any other hard drinks. This is an example of social norms affecting my- and millions of other Muslims’- food choice.

Speciesism is a major issue in the economy, as people have tried to lower their costs and maximize their profits when it comes to agriculture and food supply. As I mentioned before, Muslims are required to not only treat their animals with respect, but also only eat food that comes from well-treated, non-abused animals. By providing chemicals and hormones to animals, they are able to maximize the amount of meat that can be sold for a cheaper price. The animals become fatter, cows provide more milk, and chickens provide more eggs, and so on. Unfortunately, this is a not a natural process, which is unethical as well as harmful for the animals. People have boycotted the mistreatment of animals, and some have even became vegetarian or vegan for that exact purpose. An issue is the reliability of Muslim meat providers, and assuring that they follow the ethical practices.

Speciesism hjk5078

Brazil and Pakistan Case Studies

Prepared by undergraduate students at Colby College in Maine is a case asking about the causes of deforestation in Brazil and solutions for it; it brings up consequences like biodiversity loss and global warming. In Brazil, tax incentives and rules of land allocation increase demand for farm and ranch land. For example, 80% of income can be non-taxable, which drives up prices, making it hard for the poor to become farmers. Rather, corporations claim ownership and new roads are built to reach these lands. Furthermore, taxes are higher for land that is unused, further encouraging deforestation. This relates to the environmental possibilism we learned about in the chapter. The environment has its constraints, but social conditions determine the culture. It’s the government policies and initiatives that create a divide between the rich and poor, not the environmental conditions; the emphasis is on the freedom of humans to structure the environment.

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/defor-brazil.html

Stimson created a case study exploring Karachi’s water troubles (Karachi is located in Pakistan). A large population of the city does not have access to clean water. Therefore, they have to buy water from private companies for much higher prices than what the municipals charge. This situation is not expected to improve either since “52.8 million people in Pakistan will lack access to safe drinking water by 2015 without significant action.” The case declares that the future of the drinking supply depends on the governance at the sub-district level. This case relates to the developed versus developing nations that we learned about in class. Pakistan is one of the developing countries in the world and suffers from a lack of resources like water and electricity.

Click to access Karachi_Case_Study.pdf

I currently live in eastern Pennsylvania, a state named after its supply of trees. Therefore, it deals with deforestation similar to the Brazil case. Pennsylvania also has pipelines for gas, and these are now being built deep in forests. Both Brazil and Pennsylvania encourage deforestation for “beneficial” reasons. Brazil’s benefit is farms (food, economy), and Pennsylvania’s benefit is gas (energy, economy). On the other hand, while Karachi is suffering from low water supply, Pennsylvania citizens have plenty of access to clean water (springs, Lehigh River) as I learned in a previous chapter activity. Most of my community drinks straight from the tap. When it’s unsafe, we are warned not to drink tap water until the issue is taken care of. It is important to be aware of the time and place; although the state is woody, the decline in trees over time should be noticeable. Also, we should compare the water safety now and predict any future threats with global warming and excessive human demand of resources.

My Water Usage

In my hometown of Allentown, Pennsylvania, around 18 million gallons per day is sourced from Little Lehigh Creek, Lehigh River, Crystal Spring, and/or Schantz Spring. From there, the water is treated at the LCA Wastewater Treatment Plant. Next, the water is filtered at the LCA Water Filtration Plant. The process so far consists of coagulation (thickening the liquid) and flocculation (separating solid particles from a liquid), settling, filtration, and chemical addition. For example, chlorine is used to kill bacteria while corrosion-control treatment is to assure the control of the pH levels. Another addition is fluoride (0.6 parts per million). The water remains in the same area, but in a different building, the LCA Water Distribution and Sewer Collection Systems. This is where the water leaves to get to our taps, and also comes back to from our taps. This system is controlled by the Lehigh County Authority, more specifically the Allentown Division. In fact, these plants are all located within Allentown.

Water Usage

My use of water is through hygiene and dietary needs. Having to live on two gallons per day, my priorities were cooking, drinking, brushing my teeth. This totals below my maximum, but the experiment failed. This was because, in reality, showering, although not a priority, was a must, which adds 30 gallons alone. Therefore, I’d have to reduce showers to maybe a couple times a week or less, but this wasn’t possible for me. Still, I took a shorter shower, and only used water to rinse my mouth and not before to wet the toothbrush. I used less dishes while cooking and eating. The main trouble, comparing to the chart, was the shower and toilet flush, which I wasn’t able to improve.

Geography matters for water use. For example, a hotter area will require more drinking water. The difficulty in attaining water or available supply can affect water use too. The quality of the water can be a factor as can the ease of living in a certain area (due to weather, landscape). The harder it is to get water, the worse the water pollution, or the less demographics in an area, can mean less water use and vice versa.

 

 

My Ethics

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

It is more important to be a good person than to perform good acts because of the importance of intention. Performing good acts may be simply for show and may not be done with the best effort. On the other hand, a good person will indulge in good acts too, but they will do it because they want to. Even if they do not, in my opinion, a good person is someone who does not perform bad acts, or more importantly does not enjoy or intend to perform bad acts. Therefore, the difference that I see between the two is that performing good acts represents a good action, but a good person represents a good heart. The first step to changing others or the world is to change oneself and become the example. Being good is important to do good because it requires motivation and faith. If a person has a good heart, good acts are bound to follow, so virtue ethics is more important than action ethics because action ethics is a branch of the former.

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

I strongly believe that the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matter just as much as the pleasure and pain of humans. I do not believe that humans have any more right in this world than other species. This does not apply only to humans and animals, but also plants and the earth in general. Animals are often given less priority because humans “need” a certain area that may be a habitat, a certain good that may come from animal skin, and so on. Rather, humans “want” these things, not so much “need” them. For example, poaching, stuffing, logging are not always necessary (the first two definitely are not). There is definitely a strong and easy possibility for humans and animals to coexist. This does not mean that eating meat is wrong. Humans eating meat is just as excusable as animals eating animals is. It is natural and a way of life; it helps against overpopulation and with sustenance. Yet, once again, humans need to consider the pleasure and pain of animals by not hunting too excessively or abusing the animals that are meant to be a source of food.

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

It does not seem that this question can have any other answer other than “it depends.” It depends on which point of view this question is being answered. For example, someone who is educated or dedicated and is making a difference in the world may be worth more than a person who is living a life of crime. The first person may be able to touch many other lives and bring more worth to others, which accumulates. Yet, if you ask a mother this question about her child, she may say the child is worth more than the lives of others (especially if it comes to saving a child from a life or death situation). If you ask this question to a government or someone who seeks “the greater good,” the amount of lives may be the only factor that matters. Another completely different perspective is from a religious point of view. Someone who seeks salvation in the afterlife may say his or her own life matters more because in the afterlife, he or she will be accounted for his or her own actions. Now, if you look at this question from the same person’s perspective, but think of it as saving someone by sacrificing his or her self, he or she may say that the other’s life is worth more because saving someone will help them attain heaven. This question is too vague to truly answer, and is easily debatable.

 

 

Biogas System

Biogas Diagram hjk5078

Throughout my diagram and this assignment in general, an important point is the systems perspective; in this case, it represents a more human-environment system. Depending on what the humans use, the effect on the environment will vary. Biogas is environmentally friendlier than burning wood because of the lack of resources and harmful gases. An additional advantage is the better quality and quantity of crops improved by the organic compost produced by the women in India. This was beneficial for women and farmers alike since profits increased, fulfilling needs like education and independence.

The Marten diagram agrees because it connects the ecosystem and social impacts of a biogas generator. Like mine, there is no clear distinction between the two categories; because of certain environmental effects, there were certain social effects too, and vice versa. Both diagrams notice the availability of fertilizer for the farmers and the importance of animal dung as a source of fuel. A key difference is that Marten analyzes the economic perspective by realizing that demographics affects demand, which initiates a development. Although Marten includes number of children and my diagram includes children through education, health, and safety, both note that biogas generators affect the children and the children’s conditions affect the technology. Another difference I missed was the connection between food (crops) and the human population. I realized that using biogas is safer and cleaner, and that better crops meant profit and business, but I did not look at the crops as a source of food.

Getting to Know Me- Humna Khan

Hi, my name is Humna and I am a senior at Penn State University Park. I was born in Pakistan and lived there for eight years; afterwards, I moved to America in 2003 with my family to Easton, Pennsylvania. I have lived there ever since, excluding my time in State College. I intend to graduate this semester as an Accounting major and Economics minor, then pursue my CPA license. I will be working as an audit associate at Grant Thornton in Philadelphia starting in the fall. As a business graduate, I have become very interested in the environment thanks to classes such as: Business Ethics and two Energy classes. I am also concurrently taking Geog010 at the time. Originally, I took the energy classes to fulfill my science credits (and I hate biology, chemistry, and so on), but over time, I have come to truly value the classes. There is such a big connection between humans and the environment, so I hope to gain more knowledge and become aware of our surroundings and our actions through this class.

As I mentioned, I have taken a few environment classes now, and common topics were limit of natural resources, climate change, and so on. As the lesson suggested, a way to mitigate these problems may be governance. The issue and solution that I am most interested in is the business world’s relation to the use of natural resources. Businesses have factories, operations, and certain products that use an excessive amount of these non-renewable resources (admittedly, some of them may be renewable in the long-term), including oil, water, coal, and so on. This affects many people around the world, whether it is because some people have little to no access to clean water while others use it carelessly or because some of these resources output pollution and are a cause of climate change. Although businesses are partially responsible for these incidents, they are also capable of solving these issues. Businesses can improve their processes to become environmentally friendly, or use their profits to conduct research to help with sustainability. The lesson was accurate that ethics is a big part of this. As business ethics continues to grow in importance, my hope is to help the environment through the business world. As Ernst and Young’s website says, “When business works better, the world works better.”