In the north eastern United States there is an increase in heavy rains. The increase in heavy rain and storms in the area could be connected to the higher likelihood of hail storms in the area as well. The north eastern part of the united states is less effected by the most devastating naturally hazardous weather. However the coastal weather patterns have an impact on the increase in heavy precipitation.

The march 28th 2016 volcanic eruption in Alaska is something that the people of my home town do not have to be anxious about happening. On the east coast at the foot on the mountains there are no known active or dormant volcanos. Although this is not a threat to my home town a volcanic eruption would devastate the area no matter the scale. Unlike the Alaskan frontier central Pennsylvania is a much more densely populated area. There were no people killed or injured and no known damage in Alaska for this small scale eruption because of the desolate area in which it occurred. My home town would need an evacuation route along with many other foreign procedures to reduce the impact of a natural disaster of this nature on a small scale. At best there would be fewer casualties with procedures in place but on a larger scale this would devastate the population and the landscape.

My home town is a small pedestrian friendly town surrounded my suburbs and farmland. In Marietta Pa the population is barely over 3,000. The town features its own elementary school, fire and police station, post office and a variety of small businesses. The 0.80 square mile town is easy to walk around and has all of the services that would allow one time never have to drive, if they so chose. If you lives a few miles outside of the small town of Marietta you would have to rely on some form of vehicular transportation for virtually every aspect of your needs. Although many people who live in the area still prefer to own cars and drive many places. Even though my hometown is walkable many people do not utilize this characteristic nor value it. Major cities like NYC have every service available within walking distance or through public transportation making owning a vehicle an obsolete notion. If this was more widely available in a larger variety of areas more people would value the idea of a walkable town or city.

In Detroit Michigan there is a major environmental issue that is connected to the multiple incinerators in the area. Referred to as the toxic triangle of incineration the residents have long grown weary of the toxic black clouds billowing from the smoke stack at the incinerators and the implications on their health and the local environment respectably. Despite the fact that not all incinerators are currently in operation the land sites still pose a threat. The area surrounding the location is a poverty stricken area and the house hold incomes barely reach over $15,000 annually.  The case study aims to improve the conditions and to regulate the restrictions on facilities to comply with the strict emmissions to prevent the same devastating effects elsewhere.

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/henryford.htm

The incinerators in Flint Michigan have poisoned the water in the town as well as wreaked havoc on the environment and lives of many. The toxic air pollution and toxic waste expelled from this incinerator has caused many health problems and still does today. Only recently has it been realized that lead had been leaking into the water supply because of old pipes for decades. The town used media exposure to try to get the facility to comply and take active measures to restore this precious resource.

My hometown of Marietta pa gets it water from the Susquehanna River. The town is nestled along the northeast stretch of the Susquehanna River. The water is first pumped out of the river to the water treatment plant where it is sanitized for drinking. Then it is pumped to the local municipality, depending on your water company, the water is ready at the tap in my home. After it drains it is funneled to the sewage treatment plant and dumped back into the Susquehanna River.

During one day at my home I found I used a lot of water. Between brushing teeth showering and flushing the toilet I used about 15 gallons of water. While cooking I used some water for boiling, add that to my drinking water and my dogs drinking water for the day and that was another almost two gallons. When I tried to live off of two gallons of water a day I was puzzled. I didn’t flush the toilet as often, restricted how much water was used for cooking and drinking but it was all to no avail. It is hard to live off of only two gallons of water a day, especially when you use different appliances around the home.

Where I live close to the Susquehanna River in Marietta pa we have an abundance of water. From the River itself to the many streams, lakes and tributaries that rain flows down from the north. There are a plethora of local water sources. However many people in the country, or world are not so lucky. Geography matters greatly on how much water resources you have available. Water runs down mountains and disperses through streams at the foot of those mountains, the people who live there have a plethora of water but the people who live up on the mountains are in constant drought because there is only water available during rains until it flows downward to the foot of the mountains. Geography, climate and other social economic factors all have great effect on water availability.

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

When someone is a good person one can assume they participate in good acts. If an individual was a bad person one may assume they participate in bad acts. If a bad person participated in good acts they would not be as bad of a person in respect to their actions. However if a good person was to participate in bad acts it would make them a worse person in respect to their actions. Therefore I believe it is more important to do good acts then to be a good person. A person can be considered bad and still do good actions to redeem themselves or their character. The acts themselves make a person good or bad so it is better to have good actions then to be a good person. A preacher is a good person and assumed to partake in good actions. However some priests have been convicted of inappropriate incidences with minors. Just because the priest is good doesn’t mean that his actions will be good as well. If the priest partook in good actions then it would matter little if he was good or bad as a persons because he would be judged or seen by his actions as well as changing the perspective in which we view him or his character.

Does the process by which decisions are made matter more than the outcomes of these decisions? (procedural justice vs. distributive justice) When making a decision on a large scale it is important that the process by which the decision is made is fair and just otherwise the decision itself does not carry merit among the populations of people in which the decision effects. The decision itself is less important than the process by which it is determined because it must be considered justified and fair by the people it effects. If the process of the decision is not chosen to fit the situation accordingly it will not be upheld by the local populations. If the the people involved don’t feel that the process in which the decision was made was fair they will not support the outcome of the decision no matter what the conclusion was. If there was an election for a new leader and the people whom vote do not feel that the way in which they vote is fair will not vote. There will still be a leader elected but the leader is not actually endorsed by the people in which the leader now has responsibility and control. The people have lost trust in their leader and processes and no longer feel that they are represented by the new leader and now choose to overthrow him or vote him out. There is much unrest with the process of the decision and the people are back at square one. Even if they actually wanted the new leader elected they have to hope in the process that gives them the choice.

Do ecosystems matter for their own sake or do they only matter to the extent that they impact humans? (ecocentric ethics vs. anthropocentric ethics) It is clear that ecosystems matter in relation to human existence. However ecosystems have been present on the earth long before human life. In fact you could argue that ecosystems are the reason why the earth is able to support such a diversity of organisms. Ecosystems play a major role in the earth processes. The earth recycles every chemical through elaborate processes that are connected to the different ecosystems found in the world. Ecosystems are larger than human needs they are earthly needs. If the human population infringed on every ecosystem on the earth to the max for human resource gain it would hurt the earth tremendously. In fact we have already done this with carbon. We have released millions of years of concentrated carbon into the earths atmosphere that would not be there any other way except for mass human extraction and consumption. This carbon threatens the diverse ecosystems of earth and every living organisms future on this planet. Although ecosystems can be reconstructed naturally it takes a long time because of the naturally occurring processes that make this happen, humans are destroying them at a rate that puts out own future existence into question. The deep rooted nature of the earths many ecosystems in the health and balance of the planet itself deems them more important then just the extent on which they effect humans.

My name is Megan Salvatore and I am a second year student here at the PSU world campus. I am working on a letters, arts and sciences bachelor degree. I live in Lancaster Country, PA in a little river town called Marietta. It is along the banks of the Northeast Susquehanna River just south of Harrisburg. I come from a family of hunters and outdoor enthusiast. We spend most of our spring and summer months camping, prepping for the fall hunting season and doing any sort of river recreation you could think of. We love to pole and bow fish well as geocaching, hiking, boating and kayaking. We own a few different properties and our deeply reliant on the health of the different ecosystems found along the river, such as the wetlands and surrounding woods to continue our family’s traditions. We are ethical in our hunting practices and follow the strict regulations that come with it in PA. Although we have done our fair share of traveling to different states to hunt as well. I have always held the natural beauty of my local area as one of the most valuable amenities found there and we are diligent as a family to preserve it’s beauty. We have advocated in the local boroughs government and state government. I would really like to pursue an environmental career in the future but I am not sure exactly what outlet I would like to establish that career in at this time. I was interested in this course because it offers yet another perspective in the relationships between humanity and the environment. I am hoping this helps me gain a more rounded and holistic perspective on the pressing environmental issues that are important to our future.

The field of geography could be valuable when it comes to finding a way to help combat mass deforestation in other countries. The places that suffer the most from deforestation are often areas of forest that are rich in biodiversity as well as recycle carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Some of the areas affected by deforestation are in fact protected but because of the local demand for fire wood as well as demand for hard woods from other countries they are encroached upon and cut down despite the protection because it can not be enforced for various reasons. Some of those reasons being lack of infrastructure, no available way to enforce the protection to the large acreage of forests and local need for fuel wood to help stimulate local economy or individual need. These forests that are targeted are very old and are not easily renewable so once the trees are cleared there is no way to replenish the ecosystem. This causes massive deaths for many different animal species and is of great effect to the local human population as well. Some of the forests effected hold natural cures to human disease that may not have been discovered or harvested for human use yet. I believe it is pretty evident that the local populations are not completely to blame for the issue of their local deforestation because the demand for the wood is not always a local demand. The local need for fuel wood is not enough to explain the volume of forests being harvested, therefore some of the need is from other countries. Geography could help understand the commodity chain and come up with sustainable solutions to the problem of deforestation.