Learning Activity:

1) Create a system diagram that shows the importance of biodiversity and its vital relationship with the food chain.

2) Explain in brief some advantages of biodiversity and the major factors that are a threat to Biodiversity (H.I.P.P.O).

3) Coming to a more local scope, throw some light on the biodiversity in any area that you have lived in for at least 2 years. You may want to include some species and the how the importance of biodiversity is significant even at a local level.

Biodiversity is really important for every being in the ecosystem. Just as it is explained, each species is like a Jenga block in the tower (food chain). Every species is dependent on other species and this is one major reason why biodiversity is very important. Examples include the colony collapse disorder. Biodiversity is the basis of every ecosystem  where all components rely and depend on the concept of biodiversity. Coral reefs which are “hotspots” in the oceans are classic examples of how biodiversity matters but it is not seen directly. Regarding the threats to biodiversity, H.I.P.P.O. refers to Habitat loss, Invasive species, Pollution, human Population, and Overharvesting. These are the broad areas of threat that are associated to biodiversity. Habitat loss is caused by activities such as climate change, human interventions such as mining, deforestation, etc. Invasive species are those species that disturb the food chain of an ecosystem by affecting a particular species so as to disrupt the whole food chain. The third area, which is pollution, affects the environment of a particular place, which in turn affects the well-being of different species in the area and this again causes disruptions in biodiversity. Human population is a very indirect cause. This is because the rising of human population causes the rise in demand of resources and land. This is done at the expense of other species. Thus, this also causes loss of biodiversity. Finally, overharvesting refers to the over usage of land and resources which declines their productivity causing a permanent loss of the area which was productive along with the loss of biodiversity. This was an introduction to biodiversity and the threats associated with biodiversity.

The place I choose to write about is Libya, where I come from. I have lived there for about 20 years. Coming to main content, biodiversity is very rich in Libya. Libya has been a famous spot for tourists and one of the reasons is biodiversity. Libya has many forests and several animals that live only in that region such as the Barbary lion and Dama gazelle. Agriculture in Libya is also diverse. Libya produces wheat, barley, pulses, vegetables, fruits and olive oil. Libya’s self-sufficiency for vegetables and fruits is more than 92% which attests for the large variety of plants it has. Being a part of the Sahara desert, Libya is also famous for palm trees and dates. Libya has about 393 varieties of date palm trees. Libya is therefore a very rich country in its biodiversity and once again, the importance of biodiversity comes into focus as all the members in a food chain are dependent on other species. Thus, biodiversity even matters on a local scale.

Sources:

Click to access LIBYA.pdf

Section 1:

Section 2:

I started my diagram with the main cause of climate change which is technological advancements (industrial revolution) and how it leads to increase in emissions in the process. Apart from this, lack of awareness and not taking the issue seriously in the beginning led to a higher degree deterioration in the environment. This was how climate change came into the whole picture. Now that it has become dangerous, a solution is required. Many concepts say that a solution should be more or less at the same scale as the problem. This brings the “global” concept in my diagram. This brings on the Kyoto protocol and its basis of setup. The Kyoto protocol restricted the rate of emissions of industrial giants at a global level. Coming to main topic, the Copenhagen accord was another approach to the problem, which majorly focuses on the concept of countries forming their own restrictions for the rate of emissions. This highly contradicts the Kyoto protocol. United States strongly agrees with the Copenhagen accord and it requires the support of the Copenhagen accord to maintain its development, for diplomatic reasons and not cross the limits of emissions. The Copenhagen accord was opposed by less developed countries as they did not have a strong economical field to support such an accord. This led the US to spy, threaten, and promise money to such countries, etc. to have the Copenhagen accord pass. The WikiLeaks cables exposed the acts of the US. As of now 116 countries are in support of the Copenhagen Accord and 26 countries are intend to support making it a 75% support of all the UN participants.

Section 3:

I think that the State Department cables should have been made public. After all the public has the right to know what is happening between countries. The things that the US did were not ethical. They shouldn’t have conducted the climate change diplomacy in such an incorrect manner. The US has to be more honest. She has to regain the trust of other countries. Being a developed country, the US should think of not only itself but also of all other countries including underdeveloped countries. The issue of climate change is at a global level and therefore the necessary steps required should involve the betterment of the world as a whole and not only a part of it. I think it is time that all countries unite and establish a healthy way to fight against the environmental degradation and climate change. In my opinion, this could be carried out through the Kyoto protocol because it will bind a large set of nations to reduce emissions. After all, climate change is a collective action problem on the scale of nations, so they have to sit together and agree on policies that would solve this problem. I understand that reducing emissions is closely related to industrial activity which is why most developed nations prefer to avoid it. However, we aren’t putting the lives of future generations into perspective. We are supposed to be solving problems and not creating more problems. Continuing at this rate, resources are being depleted and the same time the climate is getting worse.

Section 1:

I live in Tripoli, Libya. It is a coastal city located in North Africa overlooking the Mediterranean sea. According to the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards, Tripoli is classified into zone 1 in earthquakes and has a Modified Mercalli scale intensity of VI which means if an earthquake happens it will likely be strong and felt by everyone but the damage will be slight. Also, the map shows that Tripoli isn’t affected by tropical cyclones, volcanoes, and tsunamis. I think the map gives a good high-level view of natural hazards on a global scale, i.e. continent-level, but lacks enough precision and accuracy on the country-level or city-level. Thus, I think Nathan map is not well-suited for identifying natural hazards at the city-level.

Section 2:

From the RSOE EDIS map, I chose to focus on an earthquake of magnitude 2.2 that occurred in Kolympari, Greece on 03/30/16. Even though it was classified as a micro earthquake, I think it’s a significant event because Greece is geographically close to Libya with the Mediterranean sea in between which increases the risk of earthquakes happening in Tripoli. I haven’t felt an earthquake in Tripoli for the period of 20 years that I have lived there, so severe earthquakes are uncommon. However, for this reason Tripoli is not well-prepared to handle such natural hazards. The majority of people live in one story buildings which are more vulnerable to earthquakes than apartment buildings.

Section 3:

Throughout the 20 years that I have lived in Tripoli, I would say the most natural hazard that affects Tripoli is heavy rain. Because of the poor infrastructure and drainage systems, heavy rain leads to floods and road blockage. People usually get stuck in their houses not able to get outside. Coastal regions in Libya including Tripoli have had earthquakes but very sparse over the past century [1]. Also, because Libya contains a large portion of the Sahara desert, Tripoli is famous for Ghibli wind, which is hot, dry, and dust laden desert wind that occurs in spring and early summer [2]. Ghibli can last for days and prevent people from getting outside.

[1]: Suleiman, Abdunnur S., Paola Albini, and Paola Migliavacca. “A short introduction to historical earthquakes in Libya.” ANNALS OF GEOPHYSICS 47.2/3 (2004).

[2]: http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wind/The-Ghibli.htm

Section 4:
Regarding flooding, improving current drainage systems as a pre-event preparedness measure would be one way to reduce water clogging. Also, improving flood warning systems would increase the ability to respond properly to emergencies such as preparing street evacuation plans. Such tasks could be carried out by the municipality of Tripoli. Since severe earthquakes are uncommon it wouldn’t make sense to take too much precaution, however, having open areas around buildings would be a good idea. Also, educating people about what actions to make in case of such unexpected emergencies can avoid much casualties. I can work on building resilience by increasing my awareness about handling natural hazards and share what I learn with the people around me.

Me and my family live in Tripoli which is the capital city and largest city of Libya. Tripoli is located in the northwestern part of Libya. We live 1.5 km away from downtown Tripoli. The city combines pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods and automobile suburbs. Pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods are more common towards the center of the city such as The Old City suburb. Automobile suburbs get more common as we move further from downtown Tripoli. The city has a population of about 1.1 million people [1]. The main transportation mode in Tripoli is driving and I think this is partly because the gas prices are very cheap, 1 Liter of gasoline is cheaper than 1 Liter of water. 290 out of 1000 Libyans have cars and this is the highest rate in Africa [2]. Consequently, traffic congestion is a daily common problem. We have a bus system but the service it provides is not that good. The routes of the bus system are sparse and the frequency is not high which makes people choose cars to transport in.

[1]:“MAJOR URBAN AREAS – POPULATION”. CIA World Factbook.

[2]:Bank Data: Motor vehicles (per 1,000 people)”. The World Bank. Retrieved 2014-02-09. Archived.

My hometown, Tripoli, could benefit significantly from the experience of Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen’s “Calming the traffic” approach to solve traffic congestion problems has been highly successful. I think the way this approach was implemented was really effective where they targeted the city’s main street and made it pedestrian-oriented. This not only reduced traffic but also benefited economy and made people enjoy the outdoors more often. It has made Copenhagen a people oriented city rather than a traffic congested city. I think Tripoli should aspire to achieve such a goal. In Tripoli, we have many streets with lots of shops, restaurants, and entertainment but are mainly accessed with cars which causes lots of traffic congestion. Copenhagen’s approach gives us good insight into how such traffic could be gradually reduced. Besides traffic, this also helps increase public life and affect the social norms in a positive way.

In Tripoli we don’t have a good bus system that encourages people to reduce their car usage. To solve this problem, I think Curitiba, Brazil is a perfect example because it has the best bus system in the world, as mentioned in the module. According to Streetfilms, 75% of people in Curitiba commute to work by bus, so we could say it’s the main transportation mode. Interestingly, even though it’s a bus system it’s equivalent to a subway in efficiency defined in terms of the number of passengers per space. This is achieved by using dedicated lanes for the buses, buying tickets in advance, and boarding at the same level. I think the main reason this bus system has been successful is its accessibility in terms of space and time. This helps people answer the collective action problem of choosing between car vs. bus. I think these technical ideas would really help Tripoli implement a good bus system.

In Libya, where I come from, lamb is a favorite meat and it’s a main ingredient in many dishes such as Shorba (Libyan Soup) and Couscous. Lamb meat is used in preparing the sauce of the Libyan version of Couscous for its rich flavor. People from Libya enjoy eating lamb meat because it is juicy and tastes good. Enjoyment of foods that taste good is a component of the food-agriculture system and that seems to be of emphasis in the Libyan social norms. For example, Couscous with lamb meat is served at most Libyan weddings and in Eid-Al-Adha, a religious festival, Libyans grill meat with their families and enjoy eating it outdoors. As a result, sheep livestock play an important role in the animal agriculture in Libya where it’s a major income source for farmers.

Given that Libyans consume large amounts of lamb meat, this leads to a diet that is high in saturated fat. High amounts of saturated fat can cause several health issues such as increasing the risk of heart disease and increasing blood cholesterol levels. Lamb meat is also high in calories and thus frequent consumption can lead to weight gain and obesity. In Libya, I think that food enjoyment is weighted more than nutrition as an end use of food. In my opinion, the social norm towards eating food in Libya should shift to focus more on nutrition as an end use of food. This could be achieved primarily by eating less meats and eating more vegetables as the Healthy Eating Pyramid suggests. That doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t eat food that tastes good rather prioritize having diets that provide the most nutritional value from food.

Case Study 1:

Topic: Population Control

Geographical Area: China

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

Source: Carol A. Scotese and Ping Wang, “Can Government Enforcement Permanently Alter Fertility? The Case of China”, Economic Inquiry, October 1995, p 552-569.

This case study analyzes China’s population control policy and its impacts. China has the highest population in the world which creates serious economic and social challenges. Overpopulation can increase the consumption rate to a level such that the available resources can’t meet the demand which means exceeding the carrying capacity. To prevent such thing, China has applied several population control policies. In 1970, the government encouraged people to marry late, allow long time spacing between births, and have fewer children. In 1979, China started the “one child per family policy” which limited households to only one child. The government offered special benefits to households that agreed to have one child. Households who didn’t abide by the policy faced paying fines. The article claims that these policies resulted in a fertility rate decrease only on the short run while changes in preferences towards fertility resulted in a long-term decrease.

Case Study 2:

Topic: Population Control

Geographical Area: India

Link: http://acaneretuedutr.weebly.com/uploads/9/0/1/5/9015786/todaro_case_study_6.pdf

Source: Todaro, M. P., & Smith, S. C. (2009). Economic development. Boston: Pearson Addison Wesley.

This case study examines the relationship between population control and economic growth in India. India’s population is expected to surpass China’s population by 200 million in 2050. This raises concerns about the ability to sustain such growth. In 1949, India tackled this challenge by introducing family planning programs nationwide. However, that wasn’t effective enough which led to government-enforced sterilization in some cases. Despite this, Kerala, a state in India, has focused on poverty reduction and human development which in turn led to reduced fertility rates even less than that of China. The case study suggests that India’s increased economic growth might be correlated with lower fertility rates. At the same time, it claims that in Kerala’s case it was more because of changes in norms of behavior and values that emphasize women’s empowerment.

Comparison to Libya:

Compared to China and India, Libya has a population size of roughly 0.006% of the population size of India and China. In terms of population density, Libya has 4 people per sq. km, India has 436 people per sq. km, and China has 145 people per sq. km [1]. Libya’s population growth rate is one of the highest in North Africa, with the majority of the population being younger than 30 years old [2]. So, I think at some point in the future Libya might face similar population control challenges. It is critical to handle such a challenge early on, because Libya’s agriculture is restricted by the environment where only 1% of the land is utilized [2]. So it might be difficult to sustain high levels of population in terms of food availability. From China’s and India’s experience, we can learn that population control can be achieved most efficiently through education, poverty reduction, and women empowerment. This would help change social norms and values to ensure a brighter future.

[1] http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST

[2] http://www.britannica.com/place/Libya#toc46548

Part 1-a:

I live in Tripoli which is the capital city of Libya. Our water supply chain starts from the Libyan desert which forms the northern and eastern part of the Sahara desert. The desert has aquifers of meteoric origin derived mainly from rain. This underground water is extracted and delivered to sets of huge reservoirs scattered across Libya through the Great Man-Made River (1). A network of pipes supplies water to the houses in Tripoli from a set of reservoirs located south of Tripoli. Moreover, each house in Tripoli usually has its own well where the delivered water will be stored. Then, water will just flow from this local well to the tap. The used water will flow from the drain and gets collected at local wells. Then it is transferred to wastewater treatment plants where it is recycled. The recycled water is then reused for agriculture irrigation and meeting industrial needs.

(1): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River

Part 1-b:

Keeping track of my daily activities in which I use water really surprised me with the amount of water I use. Here’s a list of my activities with estimated amount used (according to USGS):

Part 1-c:

In my attempt to reduce my daily water consumption I tried to decrease the amount of time spent on each activity or decrease its frequency. I prioritized drinking water, teeth brushing, and showering. I decreased the time I spend showering from 15 minutes to 8 minutes which reduced the showering consumption from 75 gallons to 40 gallons. Also, I used the toilet and washed my hands 4 times. I turned the faucet off when brushing my teeth and when dishwashing by hand. However, I drank the same amount of water. Overall this amounted to an estimate of  65.5 gallons. Even though I have reduced my activities in part 1-b  to nearly half the duration or frequency, the experiment clearly failed by a large margin. This failure taught me that I shouldn’t take water for granted and that I need to be more efficient in my water consumption. Geography matters to water use because it can determine how much rain a region will get in addition to the difficulty of extracting underground water. For example, Latin America has high freshwater availability but has low water use rate (according to Figure 4.2, 4.3) which is partly due to the geographical challenges of extracting water.

Question 1:

I think it depends on the perspective. If the question is on a population-level basis, performing good acts is more important. If the question is on an individual-level basis, being a good person is more important. In general, I think being a good person and performing good acts are two integrated concepts. In other words, I think most of the time it would be difficult to prefer one over the other. This is because being a good person is beneficial the most to the self and performing good acts is beneficial the most to the surroundings of the self (society, environment, etc). For example, being a good person helps the person be more pure and calm such he/she can withstand the hardships of life in a better way. Moreover, performing good acts will help society live in more tranquility, for example there will be no robberies. Imagine a situation where a person is motivated to perform a good act not because of the intrinsic property that this act is good but to impress another person or a whole group of people. In this case, even though the outcome of this situation is positive on the surroundings that were affected by this good act, I think the person’s self didn’t benefit from this good act because the interior motive wasn’t pure. I think in a way this is like hypocrisy, where a person does something good caring only about what others think of him/her. My point is, it is not enough to perform good acts, our intentions need to be pure. At the same time, a good person that doesn’t perform good acts is not reaping the full rewards and not benefiting his/her surroundings.

Question 2:

In my opinion, the ends don’t justify the means. At least, not always. Imagine a situation where a person would like to donate money to charity but the person doesn’t own any money. As a result, the person steals money or starts gaining money in some illegal way like selling drugs. Then, the person donates the illegally gained money to charity. In this case, even though the person had good intentions of helping needy people, the actions caused harm to another group of people, those who were rubbed or sold drugs. That’s why I think the ends don’t justify the means. However, the example provided in the module about cutting down trees to enable the growth of more trees, makes me think twice. In such a circumstance, I think the ends do justify the means. In a sense, it seems to me like a sacrifice for the greater good. In my opinion, whenever we are faced with an ends ethics vs. means ethics dilemma, it would be good to ask: Is there a better mean to reach the same end? If the answer is yes, then we can choose the better mean. Otherwise, we could try and quantify the benefits of reaching such an end versus the cost that we need to pay, i.e. the cons of the mean.

Question 6:

I would say my life is worth the same as the lives of others. Part of the reason why I think so is that it seems intractable to quantify how much is a life worth. Is it based on what we could contribute to this world? but how can we determine a person’s potential? Furthermore, If we could reform the question to: Do you deserve to live more than others? My answer would still be the same, but this reveals more about the question. For example, consider a life and death situation where two people are endangered and only one of them can live, assume that they are of the same age group so that age isn’t a factor in determining who deserves to live. In such a situation, I think both people deserve to live equally, because even if one of them is a bad person and the other is a good person, they both should get the same opportunity to redeem themselves.

In my diagram, I visualized the different components of the village social system and ecosystem and how they interact with each other. Since the village represents a coupled human-environment system, studying it from a systems perspective would lead to a better understanding of the challenges facing it. One of the main ideas that can be inferred from my diagram is that the introduction of biogas generators can help bring a demographic transition to the village. Initially, the population would transition from  high death rates to low death rates as biogas generators reduce smoke and improve population health. Then, the population would transition from high birth rates to low birth rates as biogas generators supply cooking fuel without using wood which reduces the requirement of children to collect wood.
My diagram is similar to Figure 1.5 in “What is Human Ecology?” in some ways. For example, they both portray the general feedback loop of how human population demands cooking fuel which leads to the use of biogas generators and then how biogas generators supply cooking fuel for the population. At the same time, they are different in other ways. For example, Figure 1.5 shows how trees on hills provide farm fields with irrigation water. Also, my figure shows how biogas generators reduce smoke and improve population health. I think these similarities and differences stem from the fact that different scales were used in both diagrams. In other words, my diagram focused on a village near Bangalore, India while Figure 1.5 focused on deforestation in India as a whole. As a result, I think looking at the problem with different scales can help us understand it more thoroughly.

Hello, everyone! My name is Omar Montasser. I am an international student from Libya. I grew up in Tripoli, Libya and I currently live at State College, PA. I speak both Arabic and English. I am currently a senior studying Computer Engineering. I like solving algorithmic problems which is why I would like to pursue a career that involves lots of problem solving. There are still lots of unsolved problems in theoretical Computer Science and ultimately I would like to contribute to a solution to one of these problems. I am taking this class not only to satisfy a degree requirement but also to learn more about the effects of geography on us, humans. Moreover, I am interested in learning more about how we can optimize our use of natural resources while minimizing the negative effects on the environment around us. Besides that, I enjoy trying food from different cuisines, I especially like Italian and Middle-Eastern foods.

One issue that is of particular interest to me is using geography to understand spatial patterns. For example, we could study the correlation of geography and demographics. More specifically, how geography affects demographics. I think visualizing demographics on maps can help us detect how location characteristics affect demographics. Furthermore, such an issue could be investigated at different scales. We could investigate how demographics change on a continent-level, country-level within a continent, city-level within a country, etc. Understanding how geography affects demographics is important because it can help us identify factors that contribute to certain geographic locations having poor demographics such as high poverty rates.