My diagram displays the connection between the Wiki Leaks Cables and climate change. The diagram begins with the Copenhagen Accord and the need for support to mitigate climate change. The Copenhagen Accord is a plan drafted by World leaders to handle climate change through mitigation and sustainable development. The need for support led to world powers seeking support through unconventional means in which cables were eventually leaked. For example China unsuccessfully attempted to use spear phishing to hack the US Climate Change Office. The United State of America used the Central Intelligence Agency to spy on other countries in search of information that could be used to gain support and political backing. The information placed in the cables was used by the United States to bribe and threaten countries into supporting the Copenhagen Accord and the United States stance on climate change. The Dutch rejected and did not support the Copenhagen Accord, stating disapproval of financial leverage for climate change negotiations. However, Saudi Arabia chose to support the Copenhagen Accord with the promise that the United States would help to diversify the country’s economy. The Saudi Arabia economy is centered around petroleum. In the cables, Saudi Arabia requested economic diversification in exchange for supporting the Copenhagen Accord. The United States threatened Ethiopia until Zenawi announced support for the Copenhagen Accord. Between the threats and bribery, the United States was able to gain backing and support for the Copenhagen Accord. This ultimately led to 140 nations supporting the accord, which comprised of 75% of the countries. These countries represented 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions.

Meetings like the Copenhagen Accord are vital for mitigation of climate change and sustainable development. Climate change is a worldwide issue that effects the poorest and the richest nations. Climate change affects everyone in the world, as well as future generations. I believe that any meetings or correspondence regarding climate change should be a public matter. I think that it is a good thing that Wiki Leaks Cables were made public and in the future should be available to the public. However, I disagree with the way in which the United State of America has conducted climate change diplomatic issues. I feel that the United States should act in a more ethical manor and set an example as a world leader. I believe that the support for the meeting should not be gained through political bribery and threats. In the case of Saudi Arabia and Zenawi, bribes and threats were used, respectively, to gain political backing in the Copenhagen Accord. Instead, I believe the meetings should focus on the countries on an individual scale and the countries should have a strong desire to help the global climate situation. I believe the results would be more beneficial if the countries are participating for the correct reasons, not because they are threatened or bribed. It has been seen that some poor nations do not support the Copenhagen Accord. I do not think that an overarching plan can be applied to all countries. Every country requires specific climate change mitigation plans that are plausible in each situation. I believe a proper plan that fits every countries situation, along with each countries desire to change, is the only solution to the global climate change.

I am from a town in the south hills of Pittsburgh called Peters Township. I spent my whole life in Peters Township until I moved to State College for school. Peters Township is approximately forty-five minutes outside of Pittsburgh and is in a different county than Pittsburgh. Peters Township is a typical suburb with neighborhoods and shopping centers as well as public parks and local farms. The township population is approximately forty-six thousand people. Peters Township is located far enough away from the city so that there is no public transportation in the town; everyone travels by car. The public and private schools utilize buses but that is the only other means of transportation with in the town. Many professionals that live in Peters Township commute into Pittsburgh every day.

As was mentioned in the module, Bogota, Colombia has implemented Ciclovia every Sunday and holiday during which the streets are closed for cars and opened to pedestrians. The citizens come to walk, dance, workout, cycle, skate, and more. This event promotes regular physical activity within the community and decreases pollution from cars.   In Peters Township, one day each summer, we celebrate community day. On this day the Peters Township residents have a mini Ciclovia. I think Peters Township should learn from Bogota and have more regular park events that promote exercise and health as well as decrease pollution from cars.   Throughout Peters Township there is a public trail on which people ride bikes, skate, and walk. While the trail is a nice feature, I believe a public event would be more successful at increasing physical activity and improving public health.

In the module we also learned about Curitiba’s bus system and its success as a public transit system. Curitiba implemented a bus system because it would have proven difficult to build an affordable subway system. I think Curitibia is a perfect example of a community determining the most sustainable improvement for public transportation and then acting upon it. As I mentioned previously, many residents of Peters Township commute into Pittsburgh on a daily basis via automobiles. I believe Peters Township could learn from Curitiba’s success and begin moving towards a more sustainable mode of transportation for the daily commute into Pittsburgh. In the bordering townships there are public transit trolleys that travel from the south hills into Pittsburgh. Peters Township could investigate extending the trolley tracks into a location within the township and provide incentives for residents to use the public transit rather than using their automobiles.

The summer after my sophomore year in college, I studied abroad. I studied photography and architecture in Rome, Italy for six weeks. During the six weeks I spent in Rome, I learned about other cultures and social norms, which became an integral part of my daily life. The most drastic change in my lifestyle during this time was my food intake. Prior to this trip, I consumed meat every night for dinner. The Italian diet mainly consists of pasta, pizza, cheese, and bread. Throughout the six weeks I spent in Italy, I ate meat twice. Meat was available, however, it was not the norm to order meat dishes. Meat options also differed from the United States. In Italy, meat options included cured meats with cheeses or cured meats in pizza or pasta. Meat dishes also double or tripled the price of pasta dishes. I only went to two restaurants where I saw a steak available on the menu. This was a drastic change to my diet that was a direct result of the Italian social norms.

As we learned in this module, meat consumption in the United States is of great concern. Meat consumption draws on a variety of social issues including animal cruelty, unsustainable agriculture, antibiotic resistance, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Meatrix video displayed the reality of factory farms highlighting animal treatment and many other social issues. In Italy, it is socially normal to consume less meat than it is in the United States. When I lived in Italy, I ate less meat than I did previously in the United States. The choice to consume less meat improves the social issues of greenhouse gas emissions and sustainable agriculture. Livestock, specifically cows, consume a large portion of the world’s supply of corn. The depletion of the corn supply is contributing to social famine in third world countries. Cows also produce a significant amount of greenhouse gases, specifically methane. By consuming less meat, the greenhouse gas emission and social famine issues are decreased. I think that the American culture could learn from the Italian social norms and decrease their meat consumption and thereby improve social issues with which we currently struggle.

My hometown is Peters Township, which is a township located in Washington County Pennsylvania. At my house we have two sources of water. Our main source of water is through the municipality. The second source of water is from a private well on my parent’s property. The wells source is the water table. For this project I am going to focus on the municipally supplied water. The Pennsylvania America Water Company supplies the water to Peters Township municipality. The Pennsylvania America Water company reports the sources of water are broken down as follows: 92% surface water, 7% wells, and 1% purchased. They also report that for Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas, the Monongahela River is the only surface water source. The Pennsylvania America Water Company reports that the Monongahela River is able to provide up to 110 million gallons of water per day. After the water is used, it goes into the drainpipes and into a sand mound on my parent’s property. The sand mound filters the wastewater through various layers of filtering materials and ultimately reenters the water table. Solids are left behind in tanks that are pumped out every two years.

Using the water USGS website estimations, I approximated that I used 247 gallons of water on Feb 09^th. I would assume this is fairly accurate and representative of a normal day for me. I work in a research lab and today I washed glassware for 30 minutes. I use tap water and distilled water to clean the glassware so I doubled the USGS estimation from 2gallons/minutes to 4 gallons/minutes for dishwashing by hand.   The main areas of water usage in my life are consumption, hygiene, and work. I value my water usage for hygiene and consumption. If I were to restrict my water usage to 2 gallons of water a day, I would not be able to continue working in a research lab. On a personal level, I need to shorten my shower time, turn off water while it is not necessary, and decrease the frequency of showers. It would also be beneficial to upgrade to a newer toilet that uses less water and has an option for solid vs. liquid waste. Unfortunately, with my current work, the two-gallon a day challenge would fail. In the laboratory we do a minimum for 6 water rinses (3 from the tap and 3 distilled) for each piece of glassware. There is no way to avoid this seeing as this is protocol to avoid emulsions and contamination. If I were only focusing on my personal life, I feel that with a lot of effort I would be able to dramatically decrease my water usage. Geography plays an important role in water availability. Various parts of the world and country have scarce amounts of water. For example, the drought in California has made many Californians more conscious of their water usage than people who live in areas without a water scarcity.