1. Use the website (http://www.cepf.net/resources/hotspots/Pages/default.aspx or http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/150569/) to find one of the 35 biodiversity hotspots on our planet. First, give a general definition of what you read on the Geog 30 website or another site about what a biodiversity hotspot is. Next, use the website to choose one of the hotspots and explain the losses that the area has experienced over time. Use this website and other sources to explain possible reasons why this area has become so endangered and was placed in the category of a biodiversity hotspot. Use the acronym H.I.P.P.O to determine which (if any) of the major threats is a possible reason for the hotspot. (This section should be around 150-250 words.)
2. Next, use module 10 and any other resources to determine whether there are any threats to biodiversity in your hometown. If you cannot find any threats to your hometown, use another area near you or in your state. Determine the threat, consequences (feedback loop), and ethics of the biodiversity issue. Tell about the future problems that could occur to humankind, other species, and the environment if this threat were to continue. Then describe a way that your hometown could reduce or reverse this threat. (This section should be around 250-350 words.)

• A biodiversity hotspot is defined as an area with a high variation and richness of living organisms that is heavily influenced negatively by human activity. Out of the 35 hotspots, I chose to write about the Cerrado savanna region of Brazil because it is the most extensive woodland savannah in South America. This area makes up about 21% of the entire country and it is mostly a tropical grassland savanna. This area has lost around 20% of its vegetation with 44% of its plant species, 20% of its birds, and 14% of its animals all being endemic. The reason why the Cerrado is considered a hotspot is due to habitat loss such as agriculture and industrial activities. In the late 1900s, the Brazilian government has been actively using the land to incorporate it into the national economy by using the resources found here. There are crops, such as soy beans, and industries, such as the charcoal production for steel, using the natural resources of the land at a large scale rate. Less than 2% of the savannah is protected by conservation projects. Now, there are some initiatives in place in order to have sustainable farming, improve soil and water, and increase profitability.
• I live in Northeast Philadelphia and couldn’t find any biodiversity issues in my specific area. But, there is an issue in the whole state of Pennsylvania that causes a threat. Population growth, the letter “P” in the H.I.P.P.O. acronym, has become a pressing issue as the number of people per area increases at a steady rate over the years. Just in Philadelphia, the population has rose around 100,000 people in just 9 years. People use the resources from the land around them which leads to pollution and habitat destruction. The more people will lead to the more space needed, more food needed, and more resources needed. This leads to a negative feedback loop where there are more people than the resources can provide for, which will make the species and organisms endemic. Humans should be ecocentric when thinking about how much of the resources we use rather than how much we should conserve. In the future, this will lead to loss of plants and animals and eventually humans after all of the resources are depleted. I don’t personally think it is possible to control population by monitoring the amount of children each person has, but I do think we could be more aware of what we are using, where it is coming from, and how this decision will affect other species. Pennsylvania has already tried to fix the biodiversity problem by creating a biodiversity conservation plan, which implements strategies in order to make the environment better, and a wild resource conservation plan, which provides knowledge to citizens about other wild life issues and plans. Overall, I think these are good ways to reduce the cause and effects of the biodiversity in the whole state. I think once people actually see that resources don’t last forever, they will understand the importance of conservation projects like these.

Resources

http://ecologia.ib.usp.br/ecovegetal/leituras/Cerrado%20charac%20and%20threats%20Ratter%20et%20al%201987.pdf

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/southamerica/brazil/placesweprotect/cerrado.xml

http://www.cepf.net/resources/hotspots/South-America/Pages/Cerrado.aspx

http://www.iconservepa.org/whyconserve/resourcesindanger/biodiversity/index.htm

The leaked cables play a large part in the actions against climate change. At first, there was a need for change about climate change and our involvement in it. This lead to the Copenhagen Accord, which was trying to get countries to agree to each do their own part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One issue with this accord and also the leaked cables was trust. It is hard for superpowers to keep their deals and negotiations to what they have promised. This is what posed a threat after the cables were leaked. But, the US was willing to support the accord because it would benefit them especially if other nations joined. The US sent out cables to other countries negotiating financial support and benefits along with some blackmail to other countries. Their financial reimbursements negotiated with underdeveloped countries gained them some new supporters. Once they got a few supporters and the cables were leaked, other countries were able to rethink and decide whether they would support the accord or not. If these were not leaked, I do not think other countries would have backed the accord. Many countries were able to see how hard the US, a large superpower, was working towards finding supporters for the accord. This resulted in other superpowers to reconsider and eventually follow the US. Around 75% of the countries that are part of the UN climate change convention have backed the accord now. This is also a big step for climate change and emission reduction because these 140 countries count for 80% of all greenhouse gas emissions. With them on board, there may actually be a chance that each country will stick to their word and work towards effective programs in emission reduction.
I think that the US meant well by convincing other countries to join the accord, but they went about it in a wrong way. Being such a large and influential country, it is important that the US makes beneficial decisions to themselves as well as to others. With the cables being leaked, it definitely showed the world a bad side in our country’s politics. We were proven to be dishonest, untrustworthy, and sneaky. While we are a large influence on many countries and we have many allies, it is hard to gain respect when all the other countries think you’re sneaky and questionable to work with. Our country had good intentions by wanting others to join the accord and wanting others to be in the movement or a greener earth. But, their ultieror motives proved to be altruistic and selfish because they were looking for politic support by bribing other countries. They were caught in a scandelous way of getting what they want. I think the leaked cables being made public was a good way for other countries to gauge what is happening and give them an idea of why it would be beneficial to back the accord. But, I don’t think it portrays our country in the right light. So, depending on who has seen the leaked cables depends on whether or not they it was okay for them to be leaked to the public. The United States should work harder on efforts towards climate change. We are a huge industrial country. There is no doubt that we are one of the world’s largest polluters. I think we could make a little more of an effort to try to get all of the people in the US to be aware and to be active in the role of decreasing our input in polluting the environment

From the Nathan World Map, I found out that Philadelphia is around zone 3 for tornados, which is very high. Philadelphia is also in zone 4 for hailstorms and zone 2 for winter storms. I was surprised to see that Philadelphia was so low on the winter storm map considering the harsh winters over the past few years. I was not that surprised about our tornado rating being so high because during storms, Philadelphia and surrounding counties are usually put in tornado warnings and lose power. The map was a little hard to read considering I was looking for one city on a whole world map. But, I think the map was pretty accurate in averaging the natural hazards over history.

I chose a biological hazard occurring in February in Luanda (the capital city), Angola in Africa. They have an outbreak of yellow fever, which is still going on and spreading to this date. This disease is viral and transmitted by mosquitos. It is unlikely for this outbreak to occur in Philadelphia. This is because we are not in a tropical or subtropical area. We also have ways of preventing viruses like this such as vaccines, insect repellents, protective clothing and housing. We also have better healthcare than towns like these in Africa. We are able to provide medical help and contain this virus if it were to be in our area. In Luanda, there are around 1200 infected. With a population of around 2.7 million people, that is 1 in every 2,250 people. Considering Philadelphia has only 1.5 million people, this would have a larger effect on my city compared to Luanda. This disease would be affecting 1 in every 1,250 people. It still wouldn’t be too widespread, but it would be more people than in Luanda if we didn’t have more ways of prevention than we do. There are many different social classes in Northeast Philadelphia where I live, which means there is a lot of vulnerability to disease. If yellow fever were to spread in my city, people in more urban settings would be affected. They have less money to afford proper protective housing and health benefits. Like a place in north Philly, the houses are packed with large families that do not have the economic status to afford proper housing. Yellow fever would spread in this area because of the close proximity of the houses and the people inside them. A lot of people also use public transit like trains, buses, and subways so it would spread more quickly. It would also affect them because it would be harder for them to afford the proper hospitalization and medicine to prevent the spread of this disease. Because of financial reasons, there are also a lot of uneducated people in this area. This means this specific population would have trouble with educating themselves and others on the disease. To reduce vulnerability, I think the city would have to work together to provide free or low cost care at clinics to the infected people. We would also have to implement educational programs to make the locals aware of the risks of disease. They could also just place flyers or posters in public places like bus stops, subway systems and popular places in town. This way, the infected would be able to get proper health care while the uninfected are becoming more aware of the risks and preventions of diseases.

According to Pennsylvania’s natural hazard readiness awareness website, one of the state’s main issues is thunderstorms and floods. In my area of Philly, we have a lot of flash flood warnings that come along with thunderstorms. Every time it would thunderstorm, my house’s basement would flood. Not only this, but the streets would have debris on it and puddles would make it dangerous to drive. Wind would take down trees and then the trees would take down powerlines. This would cause a lot of trouble considering it was not only dangerous but Philly’s response teams are not that fast to clean up the messes. Our power companies could take up to a week to come out and fix the power. Severe thunderstorms provide serious issues for the city and the environment.

Resource: https://www.ready.gov/pennsylvania

The biggest issue from this besides accidents would be the damages left behind. (ex. Fallen trees, car crashes, etc.) Our response teams could be a lot faster than they are. Our power companies and also the city should make it their priority to get out quick and help restore the city. Our city could be more prepared before the storm. Before it starts, people should run their errands so when the storm hits, they could stay at a safe place like their home. I think it is up to the city to send workers out to fix the damage done by storms. But in order to make the clean-up process more efficient, each individual resident could clean up their own property and maybe their own street. We need to work as a community in order to restore our community after a disaster.

I live in northeast Philadelphia, which is comprised of a handful of neighborhoods. The population recorded in 2010 was 528,810 people all in just the northeast part of the city of Philadelphia. This area has similarities and differences to downtown, historic Philadelphia. Both areas have buses, cars, sidewalks, trains, and bikers. Since Northeast Philadelphia is a little more suburban than downtown, I would say it could be best described as a streetcar suburb. You can access many stores, schools, and houses in each neighborhood by walking, but if you want to go to another neighborhood, you would need to use a bus or car. We have a bus system set up just like the CATA bus system on campus, and we also have trains and subway systems. Because of the economic situations in these areas, you do not need a car to survive because of the sidewalks, buses, and abundances of stores and resources in each neighborhood. In high school, I would either take a bus or drive because it was in a different neighborhood.  The transportation situation just depends on where you’re trying to go.

What I found that would help my neighborhood be more sustainable was the urban farming in Detroit, Michigan. Since my area has a lot of close homes with small yards, we have limited space for gardens and local produce. Just like in Detroit, we have a large population with little space to grow our own vegetables and food. It would be a good idea citywide to have rooftop gardens, or gardens in parks. The city has so many open lots that with a little work could be transformed into something beautiful and beneficial to the whole community. The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative promotes community involvement, education, and sustainability while also growing and providing a local solution to the food supply. It is also used to close the gap between different socioeconomic groups in the area. This would be good for my neighborhood because of the different financial backgrounds everyone comes from. My neighborhood is also culturally diverse. By creating an urban farming project, we could help unify the community.

Another city that I found interesting was Curitiba, Brazil. I found it interesting that their transportation relies on buses. In Philadelphia as a whole, we have around 1.5 million people. A lot of these people rely on our bus system. But, unlike Curitiba, we have trains as well. While our buses are fast and reliable, our train system is more effective in our city. We have implemented certain 24/7 bus and train routes which help our citizens travel in a quick and reliable matter. We could be more sustainable by not wasting a lot of money and energy on trains and subways and have more buses just like Curitiba. One way we could make buses our main transportation would be if we had more buses, more routes, and more reliable schedules. But, while this is more sustainably effective, it is unlikely in this area. Our population is used to using the trains to travel farther distances with cheaper and shorter rides, so unless our bus system improves, the city will not be as sustainable as the example given for Curitiba, Brazil.

The first case study I chose discusses littering in Ireland, and it can be found here http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/litter.htm. In this case, Ireland’s cost of removing waste is expensive which lead to illegal dumping and littering. This poses a threat to their image, tourism industry, and food industry. In 2002, the Irish government made a levy on plastic grocery bags in order to reduce the 14,000 tons of plastic being put into landfills or thrown on the side of the road. One fundamental question about development asked in this module is, “What is it that we ultimately care about as a society?” In this study, Ireland is worried about their image as a “green” country, which could destroy a majority of their economy that is fueled by tourism. The levy has resulted in a 95% decrease in the use of plastic bags and a 1.1 million dollar revenue to be used for environmental initiatives in the future.

In another case study, found at http://www.sandeeonline.org/uploads/documents/publication/961_PUB_PB_60_Kanupriya.pdf, discusses the ineffective ban of plastic bags in Dehli, India and other ways to reduce their plastic waste. Due to poor waste management, plastic products, like shopping bags, are polluting the environment in developing countries. The government banned plastic bags, but with no effective enforcement, the ban did not work. Law makers then decided to try three different tactics; spreading the information about the cause, giving a cash-back incentive, and selling reusable bags. The cash-back incentive for not using plastic bags worked the best by 5.5%. While the decrease in plastic bag usage in Dehli was not as high as the decrease in Ireland, Dehli still saw a difference of about 23% decline. This study found that multiple tactics, not just one specific strategy, worked the best in order to make a change to fix a problem in their environment.

I’m from Northeast Philadelphia and the last thing police officers are looking for is littering. That being said, we have trash pretty much everywhere. I don’t think a plastic bag ban would work effectively where I live because people don’t care about the environment or where their trash goes after they throw it in the street. I think we would see a change if we used some of the strategies that were used in India. People would rather carry their groceries or bring their own bags to the store if it meant that they would get a percentage off their total cost. Different areas have different economics. I think for this reason, poorer areas would benefit from the cash-back scheme as opposed to Ireland’s plan to just ban the plastic bag completely. Each area has a different reason as to why plastic is or isn’t bad for their own environment. It just depends on the status of the area to decide whether the environment is a problem or if there are other pressing issues that need to be solved first.

1A- Living in northeast Philadelphia, I was lucky enough to find an abundant amount of information on my city’s water right from the city’s website. Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) strives to make the water surpass the minimums required by the state of Pennsylvania. The main characteristics of Philadelphia’s tap water include chloride, hardness, pH, corrosion inhibitor, and fluoride. Our water comes from the Delaware or Schuykill River and is placed in basins to settle. Then chlorine is added to disinfect the water. The amount of chlorine is based on the area in which you live as well as the weather outside. Chemicals are added in order for the water to coagulate, flocculate, and then settle and be removed. The water goes through filtration stations to purify it more. Finally, fluoride, zinc, and ammonia are added in order to prevent tooth decay, piping erosion, and to reduce chlorine taste. After we use this water in our homes through multiple appliances, where does it go? Depending on where in the city you live, you can either have a combined sewer system or a separate sewer system. It is up to the PWD to filter the waste water and return it back to the rivers. 98% of waste water is returned to the rivers through pumping, screening, removal, settling, and disinfection. The other 2% of water is overflow and returned through CSO or combined sewer overflow.

1B-

1C- After the experiment, I realized I use a lot of water in the bathroom. Drinking and cooking was not that much of an issue, but I see how different it is to fill up a glass of water compared to having an 8 minute shower. To cut back, I would definitely have to spend less time cleaning myself and other things. I wouldn’t be able to brush my teeth, shower, or wash dishes. I wouldn’t be able to flush the toilet at all considering it uses 3-5 gallons a flush (depending on the sources online). I decided that I would spend my two gallons on one face/hand wash and my average drinking/cooking water. I would not be able to do this considering I have to use the bathroom in order to be accepted in our society. Personal hygiene would have to be ignored if I only had 2 gallons of water a day. That’s how other people in 3^rd world countries live and I would definitely not be able to do that. Our water sources depend on our economy and resources and how much money we can actually allot to water resources. I live in a city, I am able to use a lot of water because we don’t have a shortage. People in high drought areas or 3^rd world countries do not have this privilege.

http://www.phila.gov/water/wu/drinkingwater/treatment/Pages/default.aspx http://www.phila.gov/water/wu/drinkingwater/FAQ/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.phillywatersheds.org/watershed_issues/stormwater_management/faq

http://www.phila.gov/water/PublishingImages/WaterDiagramPoster.jpg

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

Like a lot of my other classmates, I think it is more important to be a good person. You can be a good person and do good things. But, a lot of the time you can do good things and not be a good person. For example, if you’re a volunteer at a soup kitchen, you are doing something good. But, the reason you are volunteering is because you need a certain amount of volunteer hours as part of your probation sentence. You most likely aren’t a good person if you’re committing crimes. A good person would volunteer for the sake of helping others. Or you could be volunteering just for the recognition, like how celebrities give to charities to get more fame. The difference is that an action is completed once, while a virtue is in your personality/mentality for life. A good person (virtue) has the natural capacity to do good things (action). There are specific cases where you can do both, but in general, that isn’t true.

4. Do ecosystems matter for their own sake, or do they only matter to the extent that they impact humans (ecocentric ethics vs. anthropocentric ethics)?

I think in the culture in America, we say we care about the ecosystem, but really we only care for the sake of our human lives. You hear people talking about the polar ice caps melting and how the east coast is going to be underwater. How will humans survive underwater? You don’t hear about how all the plants, not only in the ocean but on the east coast, will survive. Or talk about how that will affect our resources on the east coast. I think we aim to be ecocentric, but we only do it for ourselves, which is anthropocentric. Another example could be how people say we’re using up all our natural resources. But, are they upset that the resources will be gone or that humans will not be able to sustain life without them? Going back to other points in this module, humans do not allow for distributive justice when it comes to the sake of the ecosystem or humanity. To me, as long as humans stay self-centered like they are now, the ecosystem will not matter just for its own sake.

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

I don’t think the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matter as much as humans’ pain and pleasure. Like the module says, speciesism is already prevalent in our society today. That is why humans make decisions, rule countries, and are basically at the top of the food chain except for freak accidents with animals. Clearly, it is not okay to purposefully abuse animals. But, I think it is okay to kill animals for food. Like most people, when I eat chicken nuggets, I’m not concerned about whether that chicken had a good life or was in pain. Speciesism is in place in our society so that we don’t have people electing dogs as president or worshiping cows. I think it makes sense because we are the dominant race on earth. We care about our pets’ feelings, but not as much as the feelings of our best friends or family. Non-human animals feel pain and pleasure but I think to say their feelings matter as much as humans is hard to back up considering the speciesism in our society today.

My biogas diagram is a system diagram displaying the social system and ecosystem before and after the biogas generator. Sustaining life in India requires women and children to gather firewood and cook in the house. This creates smoke, which is a health risk, and also forces children to do labor instead of schoolwork. Cutting down firewood creates a positive feedback loop. More food allows more people to survive which makes the need for firewood higher. This process was unstable. Introducing the biogas generator allowed for stability in this village. They were able to use manure to power the generator and reduce the smoke in homes for cooking. They also were able to use the slurry to make fertilizer to sell and gain money. This in return allowed farms to be more profitable, reduce the health risks of cooking smoke, and allow the labor to be cut in half for women and children. Now they will continuously have enough waste to power the generator due to the abundant farming because of the fertilizer from the generator’s waste. This provides stability for the village.

Marten’s diagram explains how everything in a social system is connected while everything in the ecosystem is connected. Human activities and ecosystem services allow both systems to become a cycle. By adding the generator in my diagram, the two systems become a cycle connecting the ecosystem to the social system. This is similar in how Marten’s diagram connects the two systems. Before the generator, the social system was greatly affected by the ecosystem which is what makes the two diagrams differ. There are differences because in some places, like India, there isn’t perfect balance between the systems, like Marten’s diagram depicts. I think the relationship between the systems depends upon the specific resources and lifestyles in each particular area being looked at.

Hi, my name is Nicolina DiMascia and I’m at sophomore at UP. While at school, I live downtown at University Gateway. I’m from northeast Philadelphia and have lived there my whole life. I’m working towards an early childhood education pre-k to 4 major and spending an extra year here to get my special education certifications. I’m taking this course as one of the 3 economic geography courses I have to complete. I am taking geography 10 also this semester. I am hoping that these classes go hand in hand with one another and I can learn a lot from both of them. I’m a member of PSU club gymnastics and I also coach gymnastics off campus at Nittany Gymnastics Academy.

I took BiSci 3 which I think will help me to understand this course. What interested me was the page written about scale. It had a lot of information about globalization, which was a big topic in my class last semester. I also find it interesting that climate change can be local or global, but it all gets intertwined in the end. I’m excited to learn more each week in this class. There are many problems with our environment and it is important to become more educated on them.