Discuss what biodiversity you have and how residents in your hometown affect the biodiversity?

My hometown is Doylestown, PA, which is a suburban area in Bucks County. Doylestown the surrounding areas are known for acres of land filled with species of all types. We have many species of plants, birds, and animals. We have a wide diversity of wildlife, which consists of deer, red foxes and wild turkeys. One of the ways that residents/humans in the area has impacted biodiversity is through development and lost of habitat for animals. Just in the past 10 years, our area has been build up with new shopping strip malls, chain restaurants and housing developments. My house is not in a housing development; it is situated on a large acreage of land. About 10 years ago a new development was build right beside my house. Prior to that new development, we would see deer and fox all the time, however in the past few years I can count on two hands how many times I have actually seen a fox near my house. We also use to have lots of owls in the area. I cannot remember the last time I saw an owl near my home. The long eared owl is an owl that is now a state threatened species because of their loss of trees and grasslands in the area for development.

System Diagram- Choose 1 biodiversity specific threat in your home town and develop a system diagram to demonstrate how human activity effects biodiversity? I’m doing my diagram on the example of the Long Eared Owl in my town

What are some ways to improve biodiversity in your hometown for the future?

As I mentioned above I live in a very suburban area. There are still a lot of acres and some farms that are not developed, which does give hope to the existence of our biodiversity. One way we can improve or prevent destruction of our biodiversity is to stop or reduce the development in our area. I know they say you can never stop progress, however I know one way my township has done this is through setting aside land as conservation areas. In addition our township is using local funds to purchases farms. But instead of buying the farms to develop, they are buying them to be preserved. They allow the farmers to farm the land however the county purchases the land and the land can never be developed. Another way is to be active in the community and be involved in knowing what development is being proposed in the area and join activist groups to stop development. I know a few years back there was one area where a new shopping strip mall was being proposed and one of the activist groups actually had fundraisers, and sponsors that contributed funds and they were able to purchase the land and prevent the development of the shopping center.

My diagram starts with fossil fuels and deforestation, which is causing global warming and climate change. Because of the climate change we are in need of a global cooperation and agreement that climate change is an issue and impacts all countries. The flow chart then points to The Copenhagen Accord with is an adaptation of the Kyoto Protocol, which was a treaty to reduce effects greenhouse gas emission impacts on climate warming. The Copenhagen Accord was developed to help reduce deforestation and emissions, as well as assist developing countries to adapt to cleaner technology and do their part in the reduction of global warming. With anything, it comes down to it, politics and money are generally the main drivers for countries to adapt policies, and this was no different. The Accord did help countries more than others, thus in the flow we have supporters and opposition to the plan. With the U.S. being a huge supporter of the Copenhagen Accord, and needed more supporters to the plan. As indicated in the flow chart, the U.S. would take any measure to find ways to get opposing countries on board. To gain more support the U.S. sent cables to try to dig up dirt on other countries using spying techniques to threaten countries, bribing countries and making promise to countries. In this day in age everything can be tracked and traced, a journalism from the Guardian helped Wikileaks with the cable leak. Even after Wikileaks revealed how the US manipulated the Accord, a majority of the countries did sign, if fact in total there will be 140 countries that adopt the accord. Those 140 countries contribute 80% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. With so many countries associated with the Accord, did the U.S. even need to do any of their shenanigans? Did the U.S. impact either side of the results, make some countries not agree because of the U.S. deception and we could have had an higher adoption rate, or is the adaption rate so high because of what the U.S. did?

I have mixed reviews on whether or not the State Department Cables should have been made public because I think it really puts the U.S. in a terrible and non-trusting light. Being a U.S. Citizen I think having this information public could impact world relationships as a whole. On the other hand, having some transparency can be good to really know that the U.S. government can be manipulative. I guess being a little naive; I had no idea that we would play so dirty. I do not condone the actions taken by the United States to persuade other countries. I understand the importance of a global focus on Climate Change, because I do feel that it is real issue in our world today. The areas that the Accord focuses on are emissions, deforestation and encouraging countries using clean technology, which area important and a global collective action is what it is going to take to make it work, but taking such drastic actions such as bribery and spying is bullying the world. The United States should not be conducting diplomacy in this self-interested manner. Every country is looking out for their her own countries WIFM’s (what’s in it for me) to any policy, rather than taking a negative approach, the U.S. should try to sell it to the world in how it benefits everyone. What should be done? For those country’s that are not going benefit as much as others, changes should be made to the agreement for countries to adapt the proposal. There will probably never be total agreement among countries on any plan or proposal, but coming up with a solution that benefits at least 80-90% of the countries should be considered. The UN should revisit the topic of a Global Climate Change, but not allow the US to drive the policy, but rather have an open forum where the policy is developed collaboratively.

1. My hometown is Doylestown, Pennsylvania, which does not experience many national hazards. Looking at the Nathan World Map of National Hazards, even though the scale is pretty large, and hard to map my town exactly, I can estimate the approximate location. My town is in zone 2 for hailstorms, zone 1 for winter storms, zone 2 for tornados, zone 2 for wildfires, and zone 0 for earth quakes. We are about 1 hour and a half from the Coast of New Jersey, which according to the map we would have some exposure to Tropical Cyclones, which would be in Zone 4. Again I was not able to zoom on the map to see my town exactly, but it the map seems pretty accurate.

2. The disaster I choose is a biological hazard in Beijing China. It has been reported that people have been infected with Yellow Fever. The time that the first person confirmed with the virus was reported with March 13th, with a recent update on March 20^th, which indicate that there have been a total of 3 people been confirmed with Yellow Fever. Luckily there have been no reported deaths from the virus. Generally the virus spreads mostly through mosquitos, a virus such as Yellow Fever could defiantly impact my home town. People in the United States travel to cities across the world and can bring back a virus. If you look at scale of the event, Beijing China is a highly populated area, which if the virus is not caught early, it could spread quickly. However, when you look at 3 people infected out of over the 11 million people in Beijing, it is not a huge impact. My town is not nearly as populated, if we did have such a virus, although it could spread and impact the area, it would not spread as quickly because our population is lower. But if you looked at a comparable scale, 3 people infected out of 18,000 in my town, if it did spread further than that it could have an impact on the overall population of Doylestown. If we did have the Yellow Virus in my hometown, the human population that could be most vulnerable would be people who our outside a lot, especially in the evening when Mosquitos come out. Also those people who live near water such as lakes, ponds or streams since mosquitos lay their eggs in water, those areas have a tendency to have more mosquitos. Ways to reduce the vulnerably would be educate residents on how the virus is spread and how to prevent exposure. There are also vaccinations that can be given to prevent the virus. However, not everyone has healthcare or even afford to go to the doctor and get vaccinations so socioeconomics can lead to disproportionate impact to people in the community. Because such a virus could impact the entire community, we could have the local business and community sponsor a health fair and provide free shots to those could not afford to get it at the doctors.

3. As you can tell from my analysis of the Nathan World Map of National Hazards, my town is not subjected to many national hazards. Being close to New Jersey when that area is impacted by hurricanes, we can be somewhat impacted with rain, thunderstorms and winds. However, in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy hit the North East, Doylestown did get hit pretty hard. Although it was nothing compared to the Jersey Shore area, we still had major damage in the area. Trees, large branches and power lines were down everywhere. Many homes, including ours were without power for four or more days. The storm impacted schools, business and public transportation. According to the New York Times over a half of million electric customers in Pennsylvania were without power for days. People close to low-lying areas were asked to go to shelters. I remember our finished basement was severely flooded during the storm, but again we were lucky that the water did not rise high enough to impact our main floor.

Citation

Preston, Jennifer, Sona Patel, and Maira Garcia. “State-by-State Guide to Hurricane Sandy.” New York Times. October 29, 2012. Accessed April 01, 2016. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/state-by-state-guide-to-hurricane-sandy/?_r=0.

4. Since Doylestown can be impacted by Hurricanes educating residents in my town could be taken to reduce vulnerability. I know at times the news will indicate that if you live in a low lying area, to seek shelter, however people may not really realize if they live in such areas. Our county has a website for disaster preparedness, but I am sure many residents are not aware of it. The county could get the awareness out there by distributing flyers or even adding a link to a social media website (such as Facebook). In addition, people can ensure that they take down rotted trees and keep trees trimmed to reduce trees falling on homes and power lines during high winds. I can take action by educating myself on our county disaster plan, ensuring our trees are properly taken care or, as well as sharing and educate my friends, family and neighbors.

1. I live in a small town called Doylestown, Pennsylvania. It is located about 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia. The population of Doylestown is about 8,400 in the borough and 17,500 in the township. In the borough (downtown) of Doylestown, it would be considered a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood.  The houses are very close to together, there are shops and sidewalks for people to get to place to place.  There is a train station within walking distance, and city bus route. I live in the suburban (township) part of Doylestown that would be considered an automobile suburb. The houses are not close together, and generally people have an acre or two of land. There are no sidewalks for pedestrians, and to be honest walking along the main roads can be dangerous. We have to use an automobile to go shopping or to a place of work. When it comes to resident healthy, in the borough, where urban density is higher, you see people walking all the time. However in the township, you don’t see many people walking, however we do have about 5 gyms within a few mile radius and generally the gyms are packed. I love my community and I have lived here my entire life, so there is no surprise I have a very strong emotional connection to the area. I have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that live within 20 minutes of me. In addition, we are so close to so many great places to visit because we are 1 hour from Philadelphia, 2 hours from New York City and Baltimore, and only about 1 hour and 30 minutes from the beach.

2.The first city I selected to discuss is Copenhagen, which is the capital of Denmark. Cycling as a way of transportation has become the social norm in Copenhagen. Like my area, it can have snowy times of the year, but despite the weather, bikes have become a popular mode of transportation. They have transitioned areas to encourage biking and walking. They have lowered the speed of neighborhoods. Although, Doylestown is in no way as congested as Copenhagen, we still have some high traffic areas, and we have no bike routes.  We do have one main road that was recently built where the state did put a bike route and pedestrian path along side of it, so we are starting to think differently. Although it would take resources and modifications, we could become a more sustainable community if we encouraged biking as a way of transportation.  It would help not only help with pollution, but also encourage exercise and improve the health of our residents.

3.The second town I selected is Curitiba Brazil, which has one of the world’s best bus systems. As I mentioned above, Doylestown does have a bus system, but nothing compared to Curitiba. Doylestown does have a much smaller population and urban density is much lower, but I have to say we could use a better bus system, and encouragement to use them. Our buses run every 45 minutes, so you have to have a lot of patience, and if you miss the bus, you have to wait another 45 minutes for the next one to come. But honestly, I have never known anyone to even use the buses. In addition, we have very limited bus stops on each route.  I think if we had a bus system that ran more frequently, had more convent stops and the community encouraged it, it would develop a collection action, as more people would use the bus system. Less cars on the road would of course help reduce pollution, but also people walking to bus stops encourages exercise.

Before College I was a pretty healthy eater. Both of my parents like to cook at home. My father has always been into healthy eating and lifting weights. The norm at my house was to eat in and ensure that every dinner has a green vegetable. However, now that I am in college and in an apartment, I find myself eating out a lot. Like most college students I really don’t cook much. Also being in classes all day, and all my homework, I find that I don’t have much time to cook. As a result I am eating more fast food than I have in the past. My friends always want to go out to eat and socialize and I find myself falling into the eating out trap of college life. When I am eating out at restaurants, I can always hear my Dad’s voice in my head about how unhealthy it is. Recently I find myself trying to eat healthier and not eating out as much, as well as working out. I know Obesity is high in the U.S. and Obesity leads to major health issues such as heart conditions. I love it when I go home and my parents have a home cooked meal for me.

Just like myself, our American Culture has become very busy with dual income households, children’s after school activities and helping children with homework. As a result Americans are eating out more than ever and obesity is on the rise. In addition, eating fast food can be cheaper for households. Most fast-food places have dollar menu’s and you can feed a family of 4 for under $20. The fast paced American culture has resulted in a high demand for restaurants. This is demonstrated in the fact that almost every town in America there are restaurants, and most of them service fast food. When you eat out you have no idea what type of ingredients or fats they are using to cook in. Obesity has become a huge issue in our society today. Obesity leads to major healthy issues.

1.The first case study I selected was the Environmental Justice Case Study: Union Carbide Gas Release in Bhopal, India.

http://www.umich.edu/%7Esnre492/lopatin.html

India, which in our reading materials has a high country GDP (Figure 5.1), because it has become a sought after place to send business to but has a relatively lower quality of life compared to the U.S as the GDP per capita (Figure 5.4) is around $2500-$10,000 per year.  India today is considered a developing country, however back in 1969, it was relatively an underdeveloped country when Union Carbide (they make pesticides) opened up a plant in India. Pesticides were needed in India and this plant not only helped towards India’s agriculture growth, but part of their industrialization plan to help develop India. In this case study is about the worlds worst industrial disaster that occurred in 1984, where a chemical called MIC, which is very deadly, leaked into the ground and soil.  It killed about 2500 and injured over 400,000 people. Countries such as India, who are developing, are left vulnerable to being exploited by large corporations.

2. My Second case study is the Environmental Justice Case Study Marcropper in the Phillippines.
http://umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/marcopper.htm

In this case study a company called Marcopper Mining Corporation, has a mining operation in the Philippines.  The Philippines is another developing country with a Low GDP per capita between 2500 and 10,000 (figure 5.4 in our reading materials). The actual place where the mining plant is located, which is the Island of Marinduque is extremely poor. The plant puts off pollution that penetrates into the air and the water. The people on the island depend on fishing and farming as their way of living. However the plant has polluted the water, which in turn kills the fish. The water has gotten into their fields and impacted their agricultural way of life. People in the region are getting cancer due to the pollution caused by the plant.  In addition to impacting their livelihoods, it has contaminated most of their drinking water. The plant employs some 1000 people in the area and also puts millions of dollars into the economy, which has caused the struggle between benefits of the plant and it’s environmental effects on the health and wellbeing of the island’s population. Again this demonstrates the battle between the environment and development.

3. In both of these cases, big business is causing pollution to the population in developing countries. Companies take advantage of the vulnerability of developing nations. However, is not just developing countries that development causes pollution. I live in Bucks County PA, which is a suburban area. Although we do not have the extreme pollution conditions indicated in the cases above nor do I live In a developing country we still have some plants that cause high emissions. Being about 1 hour away from Philadelphia, which has many factories and oil refineries, pollutants from these plants do travel in the air to our area.  In addition we do have some more local plants such as US Steel and the Eureka Quarry that emit emissions. These pollutants also get into the soil and can even seep into the aqua tables and impact drinking water. Fisher and Porter Co, which is a manufacturing company that utilizes a chemical called TCE, was sited by the EPA because wells and soil around the plant were contaminated with TCE. Although it is hard to compare the devastation of pollution to my area and the cases above, the theme is the same, in the fact that development can cause environmental issues and ultimately impact the health of the people who reside in these areas. Yes big business can help an area prosper by brining jobs to an area, but at times it is at a detrimental cost.

Information on Fisher and Porter:
Changes in Groundwater Flow and Volatile Organic Compound Concentrations at the Fischer and Porter Superfund Site, Warminster Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1993-2009
http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5054/

1a. Water Chain in my hometown:

My hometown is Buckingham Pennsylvania, which located about 50 miles north east of Philadelphia PA. Many people in older homes still have their own wells and sewage tanks, but in the new developments they do have city water and sewage. I called my township to get some information on our water supply chain, and was given a wealth of information. Because we are close to the Delaware River we live in water protected area of the Delaware River Basis. The water actually comes directly for aquifers within the township. My township currently has 15 wells producing more than 245,000,000 gallons of water annually for the residents. Once the water is collected from the aquifer, they pump it through a system where they treat the water by filtering it and then it is put through a purification and disinfection process. They also add Fluoride to the water before they put into water towers for storage purposes until it is ready to be piped to residents. The water is then piped through piping system and delivered to homes. Once residents use water (sewage), it goes down the drains and out to another piping system that carries the waste to local sewage plants. Then the sewage plant treats the sewage before it is released.

 1b. My water usage tracking:

1c. My water conserve experiment:

So I decided to pick Sunday as the day I do my experiment to reduce water consumption to 2 gallons. Sunday I can stay home and be able to manage my consumption to attempt to reduce it. Considering up above in my usage, I use on average approximately 74 gallons a day, going to 2 gallons was a real challenge. My areas to focus on was showering, flushing, hand washing, teeth brushing. So my priority for the day was my drinking water, as it is the most important to me. I set aside ½ gallon for that, so I put that in a container. I happen to have 2 pitchers, so I filled them up, and they totaled 1 and ½ gallon of water. Being able to measure out the water was the best way for me to manage and truly measure my usage. I also had a bottle with a pump for my hand sanitizer. My other strategy was not to flush and I put a little sign on the handle to remind me not to flush. Flushing alone can use up to 2 gallons alone. So was I successful? Well the containers did help me manage my water usage for drinking, brushing, and hand washing. And I only flushed once and that was at the end of the day. By the end of the day I did use all my 2 gallons of water, but I also flushed. So I think I ended up using about 3 gallons. I did use less water than my normal usage outlined in 1b above, but it was really hard.

We take for granted the water we have available. Being in the US and specifically Pennsylvania, we get plenty of rain and thus have a large quantity of fresh water available. We have easy access to clean water as we just go to the facets. Geography has a huge impact on availably of water. Areas that do not get a lot of rain and have droughts having fresh water is like gold to them. Take Haiti for example, there is ground water near the mountains and shore areas, but accessing it as a challenge (cost). Also lack of water treatment plants is an issue. Haiti has also been a country that has been heavily deforested, which has caused heavy soil erosion and impacted rivers and streams.

I have to say my experiment did make me think about my own individual actions any my impact on the environment. Even if I can decrease my usage by 10%, I just think about the impact I could have over the course of weeks, months and years. Making sure I don’t run the water when I brush. If I can talk to more people about it, maybe I can get others be mindful about their water usage and conserve water, collectively we could have a positive impact.

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

Yes I believe that the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matter as much as humans. Humans are also animals; we cannot say we are better than other animals. Have you ever had a pet, and something happen to it and it whimpered? When I was younger I had a dog and her paw got caught in a mousetrap, and she barked and shrieked that almost sounded like a human scream. That is when I knew that animals could feel pain the same way that I did when I would get hurt. To me that demonstrated that pain is pain, regardless if is human or non-human. Now pain may be different for everyone or even every species, but suffering no matter what should be treated equally. I have seen videos of how some of the animals are treated very poorly and live in terrible conditions. At one point I became a vegetarian for over a year because of what I had seen. Again suffering is suffering no matter what.

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

I personally think it is more important to perform good acts rather than just being a good person. You can walk through life and be the type of person who does not harm to anyone, or anything good for others. They take care of themselves and their own surroundings, but never give themselves to others. Yes there are good people because they bring no harm others, but in my opinion making no impact on life. For example, take one of my neighbors. He keeps to himself, he takes extra care of his lawn, he drives nice a nice car. One-day my other neighbor who is in her 60’s, she was out shoveling her driveway. He drove by and waved, but never stopped to see if she needed any assistance. During her shoveling, she slipped and broke her arm. Now again he was nice and waved, but never offered to lift a finger to help her out, and she ended up getting hurt. Would this have happened if he offered to help, I say probably not! As the phrase goes “action speaks louder than words”.

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

I feel that my own life worth is equal to others, no more, no less. No matter how much money a person makes, the job a person does, or the place someone lives, ultimately we are all of the same equal species. Power or monetary value does not determine the worth of the person’s life. Once I was with some people and there was a story on TV about a homeless Man getting shot and killed on the streets of Philadelphia. One of the people in the group says, “Well at least it was just a homeless guy that got shot, he was probably glad to not be here anymore and no longer suffering”. I was shocked by the response that someone would feel this way. He was still a human, a soul, an individual who got shot and killed. We may have different backgrounds and have different color skin but we all bleed the same color and can experience pain. His life did matter, no matter what he had in life.

The diagram below displays the interdependencies of the ecosystem and the social system and how the usage of biogas technology has a positive impact on both. My diagram focuses more on the specific details related to the Biogas technology, where Gerry Marten’s diagram focuses more high-level aspects. There are a few similarities, between Gerry’s and mine. First is how the social and economic systems are ultimately interconnected. A change in one can impact the other. In addition, within each system the factors area also connected. Take Gerry’s diagrams for Social systems, he has lines from each impacted area. For example knowledge is connected to each concept, and with mine, I have double arrows from each area pointing back to the system, which is displaying that everything impacts the ecosystem and the ecosystem impacts everything. In addition, I have a two-way arrow in the middle, which demonstrates the connection between the social and the ecosystem, where Gerry’s diagram points out similar connection of how human activates impact the ecosystem, and the ecosystem services ultimately impacts the social system. Comparing them both together we can learn the relationship between the two systems and how they depend on each other. A change or impact whether it be positive or negative ultimately can impact the other.

Hello everyone! My name is Kristin Crockett. I am a 21-year-old senior at Penn State University. I currently live in State College off campus over in Toftrees apartments. I grew up in Doylestown, PA, which is a small suburban town about in hour and a half north east of Philadelphia. I am studying early childhood education and I am currently in my pre student teaching semester with only one more semester to go! Once I graduate in December 2016, I will be certified to teach pre-kindergarten through fourth grade. I hope to become a first or second grade teacher either close to my hometown or down south in either South Carolina or Georgia! In my free time, I love traveling, crafting, doing outdoorsy activities and of course watching Netflix. I am taking this course to meet a Geography requirement that I need to graduate, and I am hoping to expand my knowledge of Geography and learn information that will be able to use when I teach my students!

As I went through Module 1, the issue that stuck out to me the most was the social science perspectives section. As the module states, humans have a very large impact on our environment. We are changing the earth’s surface and atmosphere, diminishing tons of our natural resources, changing the climate, and causing certain species to go extinct. This is where the term we learned “sustainability” comes into play. We must learn to understand how our activities can exist without ruining all of our natural resources; we must come up with alternatives. This topic is interesting to me because I believe it’s extremely important to preserve the environment for my future generations of students. I also would love to use this topic to come up with fun environmental projects that I can use with my students.