1. explore your hometown and find any threats to biodiversity.

2. create a diagram of the HIPPO acronym

3. Give examples of how the HIPPO is all interconnected.

     Biodiversity is an important detail for much of the world. In my hometown of Greencastle, I have thought of things that damage the biodiversity of our area using the HIPPO acronym. In my area I can see how human pollution can hurt the biodiversity in my hometown. There are several farms in my area that may pollute the water. I live near a creek that has had a lot of manure seemed to be run off in it. I feel as though this hurts the creek when it comes to the cleanliness of it. This may increase the amount of bacteria which may hurt the environment in the creek. Also, there is an invasive species of plant that happens in nearby streams. The plant has become so invasive it spreads downstream using the stream to disperse its seeds. This may stop growth of others plants as well as perhaps muddy up the streams as well. It is important to keep in mind the several different factors that may affect our biodiversity so we can live in a more sustainable environment.

Biodiversity is an extremely important topic when talking about sustainability. It is important to realize that all the organisms relate a lot. If in any way one species is affected, it affects the whole biome in turn. As we learned in the module, when bacteria get polluted, it may not affect whales. However, if the whale it’s the fish that eat the plankton on bacteria they will in turn be damaged. Invasive species also hurt all the species because they do not have any natural predators and they eat the same foods as other animals that cannot predate the invasive species. As we can see, with every threat to biodiversity it is true that it does not only affect one species but truly does affect the whole environment.

2. My diagram focused on the main events in the article to improve the climate. Such as climate change, the negotiating climate treaty, the United States paying for allies, and the result of the       166 countries associating with the accord. Greenhouse gases which cases global warming, is gas compounds in the atmosphere that absorbs infrared energy. The United States then wanted to re-engineer the global economy. In result of climate change a negotiation climate change treaty was created between the United States and allies. This was then called the Copenhagen Accord. The Accord assured thirty billion dollars to the poverty nations in aid to the global warming that they had not caused. This aid helped that United States gain support and allies from other countries. However, another concern was if they U.S.’s aid would be in cash. Also, another issue with finance is that countries will keep their word with improving climate change. However, the U.S. threatened Zenawi. They stated that they sign the accord or the discussion ended. Zenawi responded back that Ethiopia was in support, but there was concern that the assurance of the aid was not being respected. Currently, 116 countries are associated with the accord and twenty-six countries intend to have association with the accord.

3.I think that we have the right to see these documents. However, it tends to make the United States look bad. The reason is because they are trying to do the right thing but in the wrong manner. I think that it is important for the public to see this for many reasons. The government should be ran by the people, so it is important for the public to see the cables in order to gage whether it is right or not. If there is an outcry then the government should cease that way of doing things. It is very important for the United States to attack global warming because it is a leader country. If the Unites States can use diplomatic strategies in order to combat global warming. Global warming is not something that is caused by one single nation but rather several developed nations, which is why you need several countries to participate. I think that the Unites States should go about things differently to those countries that oppose the fight for a greener planet. The United Sates should combine with other nations in developing ways like machinery, business plans and other things that require greener actions. The countries that do not want to hop on bored will be forced to conform to the global warming fight or it will hurt their economy if they do not.

1. My hometown, Greencastle, is located in the south-central area of Pennsylvania. According to the map that indicates hailstorms, my area has a low frequency and intensity of hailstorms. I do not remember getting many hailstorms, but one in a while we get hit with a hail storm. The next map is extratropical storms which are winter storms. My hometown is in zone 1 which indicates that we get peak wind speeds of 81-120 kilometers. The next map is tornados. In my area, we are in zone 2. Within the past couple of years, my area hasn’t had any tornados but tend to get the storms and high winds that come with the tornados that are in neighboring states. In most of the maps, my hometown is on the low hazardous category. You don’t need to worry about hailstorm, wildfires, or tornados; which seems like a good area to live.
2. The event that I choose is a volcano eruption in Alaska. My hometown can no experience this disaster because my area does not have a volcano in the area. In my area, the environment is not suitable for a volcano either. The volcano is called Pavlof Volcano. The environment that the volcano is located is much different than my hometowns. The environment includes snow and glaciers. The elevations of my town and Pavlof are also different. The elevation of Pavlof is 8,251 feet and my hometown is 587 feet. This is a difference of 7,664 feet. If my hometown did have a volcano near it, the town could be affected very much. There isn’t much you can do to reduce a disaster like an erupting volcano, except for evacuating the area. However, to make sure people are evacuated in time, scientist need to evaluate the volcano at all times.
3. From my experience of living in south-central Pennsylvania, and the information in parts one and two, the only natural hazard that I experienced was tornado threats in my area. The tornados never were close enough to damage a building. There were high winds that broke branches off of trees and a large amount of rain that flooded streams that expanded over roads. Because of drainage in the streets in Greencastle, our town in recent years hasn’t flooded a great deal. This past winter my area had been hit with a category 4 blizzard. In my hometown, we had about three feet of snow. The blizzard effected about 102.8 million people. From my own experience, I was stuck at home all weekend, not able to go anywhere. The snow was up to my hips and could barely walk through the snow. Although I couldn’t go anywhere for a couple of days, it was a fun experience. I know can say that I survived the 2016 category 4 blizzard.

NOAA Ranks January 2016 Blizzard Category 4 on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 28 Jan. 2016. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.

4. For Greencastle to be less vulnerable to natural hazards, the town and towns around could keep documents of vibrations (earthquake), sand bags (flooding), improve water drainage (flooding), and cut back on water usage to prevent a drought. The best people to perform these actions are firemen, police officers, scientist, the National Guard, and even the whole community. What I can do for my community in case of a natural hazard is make sure families have emergency kits and a communication plan, so that each family member knows what to do during a natural disaster. I could also help with a community shelter if there is a hurricane or a tornado. I love the community that I live and I hope that other people would get involved to help everyone be safe during a national disaster.

I live in Greencaslte, Pennsylvania, its South Central Pennsylvania. The types of neighborhoods that are about Greencaslte is automobile suburb. The population that live in Greencaslte is 4,040 and the last recording was in 2013. I have always lived here and I cannot compare it to another town, but I love the feel of small towns and the connection they have on people. There are a lot of people that want to leave Greencasltle because it is so small but they leave and end up coming back. However, not everyone likes small towns and actually do end up leaving and going to a city or a bigger town.

The first city from the module that I will discuss is Chicago. Chicago is a big city with several streets and suburban areas. Even though this is true, they still are able to have some sustainability in some interesting ways. Chicago is good at doing urban agriculture. There are small plants that are used for agriculture purposes all over the city. Whether it be on the top of an apartment building or in a courtyard, they seem to do a good job at urban agriculture. This is relevant to my home town because there is a lot of farming around my area but despite that my town has several urban agricultural areas. You will see tomatoes growing on the side of sidewalks a lot. I think my city could become more sustainable if we had a local farmers market where the whole town could bring their own garden products.

The second place I will talk about is Copenhagen. Copenhagen is great in the fact that they reduce traffic by prohibiting cars in certain streets and allowing bikers to go on them. This makes it more convenient to ride a bike which reduces gas admissions tremendously. This is good because they make it easier to become a bike rider, and as a result it has made Copenhagen an amazing place in the sight of many people. The reason I believe this relates to my town, is because we have a lot of teenage bike riders, but there are no lanes or parking stations for the bikes. I think it would be awesome if my town would encourage more biking in the community. The irony of it all, is we had a local business that only sold bicycles which went out of business due to lack of customers. I feel as though we should implement the same things Copenhagen did in order to be more sustainable.

Choosing food is sometimes not a matter of what is practical or cheapest but rather what is normal of society. When I go to chipotle with my friends, I prefer to get steak in my burrito bowl. I order beef almost all the time when I go to chipotle. I feel like it is part of our social norm to eat out at small restaurants like chipotle rather than make food and eat at home. It is a social norm to go out to eat with friends rather than stay at home and make something. Even more so, eating is more important in society than socialize somewhere without eating. All of this goes to say that I eat at chipotle or somewhere else that has some good beef or steak because it seems to be the thing to do with my friends and family.
Choosing to eat out, specifically regarding chipotle can lead to some societal issues. Chipotle has good quality food but the amount of food they produce is growing even more. The more customers they receive the more beef or chicken the slaughter. This is not a bad thing until we take into account the video on gas emissions from earlier in the module as well as the E-coli outbreak. Since people constantly eat out with friends, the companies need to keep up with the demand which increases the amount of cattle therefore increasing methane production. The second issue is E-coli, which can be much easier spread when coming from a large food chain that receives many customers. It is not a terrible thing to go to a nice restaurant, but always doing so when you are with friends may increase your chances of getting one another sick as well as increasing methane production. My final point is the notion that perhaps eating at home would be a better social norm. If people ate at homes, they would be able to perhaps save energy in making the food as well as making a smaller amount because they do not have somebody making it for them. Lastly, it isolates them from society if there is a sickness going around.

Case 1: This case comes from Colby College, and analyzes how the government enforcement of fertility control promotes sustainability in China. China is considered a developing country. In 1970, the government of china issued three regulations regarding, late marriage, ling spaced between child births, and fewer children allowed in households. In this study they use financial theory and econometrics to figure out the measurement of fertility fluctuation in China. The fertility rate is affected by household preferences and production technology. Within the households a representative will figure out the amount of children within each home. If a household violates one of the regulations, then the household will have to pay a costly fee. This study recognizes many shocks , such as government enforcement power, technological shock to agricultural output, and a fertility preference shock. The study finds that lower fertility rate has an outcome of a conflicting shock to agricultural output and a preference shift away from fertility. In result, this study suggested that population control is not needed to an economic development or even sustainability without lasting changes in the population.

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/pop-chi.html

Case 2: This is a case study on the public housing in New Zealand. It is well known that the less crowded housing and better housing conditions you have, the better your health is overall. The “Social Housing Outcomes Worth” made a study on the overcrowded public housing areas in New Zealand. Over 5% of the population lives in public housing the developed country. However, just because they are “developed” does not mean that they have stopped developing altogether, they are trying to improve the health and mortality rate of those who live in these public housing homes. They found that 100,000 of the 200,000 studied were under the age of 21. Also, they were able to find that 44% were smokers which is 10% higher than the national average. The income of this type of leaving is very low compared to the rest of the country as well. Lastly, it was found that 40% of the tenants were subject to overcrowding of the home, which is 4 times higher than the national average. After finding all this information, New Zealand may try to find better ways in developing homes that are healthier for the population in order to help the health, and the income of the individuals living here.

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=3122bf42-ff7d-4a1f-91c6-64bff7eb2b31%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4201

Part 3:             When looking at both studies I can find many was to link it to my hometown of Greencastle PA in positive and negative ways. My home is very rural which makes agriculture a major part of my county. Many of the farms have a large number of children to help with the output of the farm. When looking at the effects of the china fertility restriction you can see that the agriculture output greatly decreased in the developing country. Not only does it hurt the family dynamic but also, the community as a whole. I am glad we do not have such restrictions so we can have as many children as we want and small farms are not affected. Also, when I see how the poor quality of the public housing affects the health and also not assist in helping the tenants increase income, it has opened my eyes. My family owns 7 tenant houses, and although they are not public housing, some people with lower income live there. We can contribute to the development of our countries mortality rate by increasing the quality of our houses. My family can continue to keep harmful chemicals from getting into the house and hurting the tenants’ health and therefore giving them a longer life. This is not as bad as New York City but for my local area, it is our own little way to help develop my area.

Part 1-a:

In my hometown of Greencastle is supplied by springs and wells. We use 3 wells currently their names are 1, 2, and 4. There was a well 3 but it has been abandoned. Personally I like how we get some of our water from springs. We use Eshelman-Spangler springs as well as a spring called Ebberts Spring. There is also a third spring called Moss Springs but it is at the site of our water treatment plant. If there is any drought or emergency Greencastle does have a reservoir to use. This reservoir also is treated at the water treatment facility in the middle of the whole area. All the water that is used is transported by pipes to the centrally located treatment plant. The reservoir, which is located on a farm, is only transported to the plant when needed, and is not used at all during normal conditions. All in all, I am pretty happy that my town takes water from natural sources and treats it, rather than having to do treatment plans like other major cities.

Part 1-b:

a. Drinking Water: 3 glasses of water x 8 oz. per glass =24 oz.
b. Shower: 2 gallons per minute x 10 mins = 20 gallons
c. Teeth Brushing: 10 oz.
d. Washing Clothes: 28 gallons (newer standard model)
e. Toilet: 5 gallon per flush x 3 flushes = 15 gallons
f. Hands/face washing: 1 gallon
g. Dishwasher: 1 load per day x 15 gallons per load = 15 gallons
Total: approx. 79 gallons 34 oz. per day
http://www.csgnetwork.com/waterusagecalc.html

Part 1-c:

If I lived in an area that has water restriction, I would defiantly try to save as much water as I could when doing daily activities. I would use the two gallons of water I have to cooking food, showering, brushing my teeth, and drinking water. I would use about two cups of water to use for cooking throughout the day. By using two cups I would try to stretch out my food to last for about three days so that I can preserve more water to use for other things. I would then drink about 4-8 ounces of water per day to keep fluids in my system. To brush my teeth I would use about 2 ounces or less of water. Next I would use most of the water I have left to bathe myself with. I would try not to use the rest so that I could keep extra for an unexpected thing that I might need it for. I never really noticed how much water I used before, and if I were to restrict the water that I uses I defiantly would

Hello everyone! My name is Kara Timmons. I live in Greencastle, Pennsylvania and have lived here my whole life. I am hoping to pursue a career in Early Childhood Education. I have three nephews that make me so happy to be around so, I then decided to go to college for teaching younger children. I hope to learn more about the Earth then what I know already. One fact about myself is that I love to travel the country. I have been to Yellowstone, Wyoming, the very bottom of Florida, northeast Maine, and everywhere in between. I hope to travel outside of the country later in life. Another interesting fact about myself is that my family hosts a foreign exchange students from Seoul, South Korea.

I took an earth science course this past semester and I had learned the effects of deforestation, air pollution, and how humans have such an impact on the environment around us. We can observe multiple scales, such as climate change. There could be multiple events that cause climate change which therefore, makes different scales. Also, globalization is an important concept. The more the world gets connected the greater the chance they change economy in order to progress deforestation or other things such as fossil fuels because of trade with a new country. I am sure if the world was not as connected to some middle east countries they would not be so focused on oil and perhaps have other economic benefits but because they are connected to the USA and other countries we drive their actions to use oil.