There are many core ideas behind the systems diagram I created based on the article, WikiLeaks Cables Reveal How US Manipulated Climate Accord. To start out, my systems diagram shows that the main issue of greenhouse gas emissions begins the entire cycle of what happens. The increase of greenhouse gas emissions leads to a huge environmental problem of climate change, also known as global warming. Because of the escalation in climate change, the US negotiated a climate treaty with other countries, which caused the flow of billions of dollars to be redirected since the global economy was trying to be re-engineered into a low-carbon model. The climate treaty is called the Copenhagen accord plan; this accord is an unofficial document that emerged from the Copenhagen climate change summit in 2009. From this accord, the US sought out allying countries to agree to the accord; getting as many countries as possible to associate themselves with the accord would strongly boost the likelihood of it getting officially adopted. However, negotiating with the accord meant that that country needed to follow specific actions that would cut the levels of greenhouse gas emissions. While some countries negotiated with the accord with little persuading, there were still opposing countries. In order to try and get the opposing countries to support the accord, the US used money, spying, threats, and promises of aid. After using these tactics through cables of communication to get the opposing countries to negotiate, a total of 116 countries associated themselves with it, with 26 countries saying they intend too.

Since the boom in the Industrial Revolution began, humanity has been burning fossil fuels and changed the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The changes in the greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere are drastically causing changes to the global climate. Avoiding climate change is very difficult because there are many aspects that need to be put into this issue to make it eventually stop. Because of the massive scale of climate change, it is a very demanding collective action problem and it involves everyone in every country around the world. This is why the US developed the Copenhagen accord. In order to get this accord officially adopted, the US needed support from other countries. However, I believe that the US used immoral strategies to get countries to negotiate with the accord. Though, I do believe that it was a good thing these cables were leaked and made public so that citizens can see what is taking place. The US is a democracy and I believe each individual should have a say in how to get other countries to negotiate, instead of leaving it to the government to be sneaky. Also, since the accord was leaked, almost all citizens now have the knowledge of what is happening to our atmosphere and can help stop climate change. Taking responsible and ethical actions to halt greenhouse gas emissions in the US can show other countries it is possible, and will allow them to negotiate with the accord without being spied on or threatened. The longer greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere, the longer climate change will persist and worsen.

My hometown is in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Doylestown is a City and the county seat of Bucks County. It is located 27 miles north of Philadelphia and 80 miles south of New York City. Within this town, it is fully dependent on automobiles, thus is it an automobile suburb. However, in the Doylestown Borough, the heart of Doylestown, it is a mixture of pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods. Here, people can park their cars and walk all around the town where there are many shops and restaurants very close together. For a given estimate, there are around 9,000 people living in this area. A majority of these people use cars to transport to work and for shopping. Although the Borough has shops, there are also bigger shopping centers and malls that are designed to use cars since everything is relatively close to each other, although most places are car dependent!

The first city from the module that I am picking is Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts. Beacon Hill is a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood, allowing its entire people the ability to easily walk from place to place. Their urban density tends to be high meaning that there are lower environmental impacts. Since Beacon Hill is a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood, they also are very mixed-use. This means that all of their stores are very close by to each other and reduces the use of transportation. Unlike Beacon Hill, Doylestown is the complete opposite. My hometown neighborhood is very dependent on automobiles; however, the Borough follows some of the same patterns as Beacon Hill. Doylestown as a whole should focus on becoming more pedestrian-oriented which will lower the health risks for its individuals since they would be able to walk every where and exercise more instead of driving everywhere. Also, if Doylestown became more like Beacon Hill, their lower urban density would rise to a high density, lowering its environmental impacts. The same thing does for its mixture. Doylestown currently is a single-use, creating higher environmental impacts, but becoming less reliant on cars, and more reliant on walking will lower the environmental impacts.

Another city from the module is Detroit, Michigan. Detroit made a case study about urban farming. In the video, American Revealed, it shows that the person Will grows his food in the inner city of Detroit, Michigan. Detroit is a food desert meaning it’s very hard to find produce, especially fresh groceries. Urban farmers transformed abandoned land into alternative agriculture. Different from Detroit is Doylestown. In Doylestown, nobody usually grows their own produce, but rather drives to the local supermarket. Doylestown should adopt the action of urban farming, which can greatly lessen environmental impacts. With every individual driving to the grocery store to get produce, they emit tons of pollution into the air from their car emissions, affecting everyone who breathes air in. Adopting urban farming can grow a greener future for Doylestown because it requires less transportation, which lessens air pollution and therefore reduces its ecological footprint!

When entering high school, I was forced to choose a book to read in the summer that came from the 10^th grade summer reading book list. Some of my older friends, as well as my librarian, recommended I read Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer. While reading this book, I was scarred from the graphic descriptions and horrible facts about factory farming, assembly-line slaughter, but more intensely, my empathy for animals that were suffering. After finishing it, I undoubtedly changed the way I eat food, specifically meat tremendously. Not only did I change my habits of eating, but everyone who read the book was changing theirs as well. My librarian was so passionate about this book; he was encouraging every one in my high school to read it, even if it wasn’t required off the summer book list. One book was written so clearly, almost everyone was changing the way they ate meat. This social norm was turning some students into vegetarians and others into vegans. I never knew a single book could have such a large impact on a whole community.

Drawing on content from this module, there are similar connections between my food choice and societal issues. Nutrition is one key societal issue that is connected to the way I changed my eating habits into vegetarianism. From the information, the Healthy Eating Pyramid shows/says that animal based food such as meat, dairy, and eggs should, in general, be eaten less frequently than plant-based foods. Being a vegetarian, I follow this healthy eating pyramid perfectly. From the Healthy Eating Plate, the largest portion is vegetables. Luckily, my diet consists of a lot of vegetables and fruits that I put in my salads. I get my healthy protein, which is the second largest portion by eating beans as well as nuts and some cheese. Based on my standards of eating, I personally believe the social norm should be vegetarianism, or at least cutting back on a remarkable portion of meat consumed. Animals are people too and should not suffer through abuse and slaughter. There are a variety of different food options to eat rather than meat.

CASE STUDY 1: http://allafrica.com/stories/201602101046.html

The source AllAfrica is an aggregator of news from all across the African Continent. From the article I picked, it talks about how Ethiopia is on the verge of running out of their food aid unless donors step in. In Ethiopia, the El Nino weather phenomenon has caused drought and flooding across Africa, potentially causing a great catastrophic escalation in severe acute malnutrition (SAM), especially amongst children. The goals of development are to try and bring in $245 million dollars in emergency food aid to help prevent malnutrition from occurring. In our reading, it talked about how agriculture is not equal amongst different parts in our country. This is true because Ethiopia does not have key factors for the regions growing conditions such as good temperature, precipitation, or soils. Their environment is very dry and destroys the growing areas. Another topic that the article relates to is end uses. Unfortunately, Ethiopia does not have good end uses. Because Ethiopia does not have successful agriculture, their end uses do not include proper nutrition, and obviously not tasty meals because they need a substantial amount of food.

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/our-projects-and-initiatives/crisis_in_haiti.html

CASE STUDY 2: From the United Nations Development Programme, it talks about Haiti’s recovery from its devastating earthquake to sustainable development. Since 2010, Haiti has successfully pulled through the humanitarian recovery phase and seen significant socio-economic gains. Their goals of development are focused on long-term support to help build a structurally sound, resilient, and sustainable Haiti by reducing their disaster risk and bettering their environmental protection. However, like our reading, Haiti faces environmental determinism. Their lack of forests and the degradation of ecosystems increase Haiti’s vulnerability to natural disasters. Our reading discusses how humanity impacted Haiti’s environment; however, the disastrous earthquake cleared a large majority of it. Haiti also connects to environmental possibilism by their recovery methods. For example, what seemed impossible in 2010 happened over the course of years. The country has steadily boosted the net enrollment rate in primary education and achieved equal participation of boys and girls. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS has stabilized, and nearly 70 percent of households now have access to an improved source of water.

Currently, I live in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, where I am from, there is a surplus amount of food supplied in multiple grocery stores, fast food restaurants, and basically all around. My town differs tremendously from Ethiopia’s catastrophe of lack of food. Malnourishment is a problem that Doylestown rarely faces, unless a family cannot afford the proper foods to eat and feed their children. Also, my environment has very good agriculture to grow crops. Many families grow their own foods in their gardens because of the good temperature, precipitation, as well as soils. However, similarly to Haiti, Doylestown is destroying the environment and forests. Although Doylestown did not face an earthquake like Haiti did, trees are still being knocked down so new houses and developments can be built. Doylestown differs from Haiti because it is not prone to natural disasters. Based on the case studies, Doylestown’s development surpasses both Ethiopia’s and Haiti’s.

1a) Other than living in State College during the school year, my hometown is in Doylestown Pennsylvania. From my area, water is a primary resource that is used mainly all the time. The water in Doylestown follows a supply chain as it moves from place to place. The source of water in Doylestown comes from the Doylestown Borough Water Department, which provides water service to customers in the Borough of Doylestown and a few outlying municipalities such as Buckingham, and other Doylestown townships. Doylestown Township Municipal Authority is the head authority, which serves water to municipalities such as New Britain Borough, Buckingham, Doylestown, New Britain, Plumstead, and Warrington townships. The water from these authorities goes into the homes of the people who live in those municipalities. From the drain those homes, the water travels into the sewer system. The sewer system in Doylestown is owned and administered by the Bucks County Water and Sewer (BCWSA) Company. Every house/ family’s sewer charge is based directly on their water usage.

1b) Calculated Results are shown in gallons

1c) If I were to live in an area where water is a restricted resource and I could only use two gallons of water for one day, I would prioritize how I used my water. In the experiment, I would use my water to drink and cook meals, and also shower. Instead of taking a 15-minute shower, I would limit it to not even 5 minutes using a low-flow showerhead so I could conserve the water for other things that I need. After cooking a meal, I would use the leftover water to drink. That way, I wouldn’t drink all of the water and had some to make a meal. Based on the experiment, I would definitely fail. On a regular basis, I use more than 100 gallons of water a day. If I were limited to only two gallons, I would never be able to get through a day. As you can see in my graph, I use water for more things like laundry, faucets, toilets, instead of in the experiment with only drinking, cooking, and showering. Geography matters to water use because for places such as Haiti and Mozambique, they do not have a great water supplier in which they can’t consistently be given water unlike where I am from. They do not have the resources that I do, which supplies me so that I am able to use 100 + gallons of water everyday.

Is it more important to be a good person or to perform good acts (virtue ethics vs. action ethics)? In my opinion, virtue ethics: to be a good person and action ethics: to perform good acts are both very important characteristics an individual should have. Both virtue and action ethics are not totally separate and go hand in hand with each other. If someone were to be a good person, they most definitely would perform good acts. For example, my cousin is a very good person because she cares about bettering students within poor communities that do not get a lot of opportunities within the education atmosphere as others do. By giving back to these children, she performs action ethics. She takes action out of her own time to care for these children and give them the education that every child deserves. For example, she gives them new school supplies and a curriculum in which they can learn to better their futures. Since she takes these actions, she is performing good acts and is also being a good person/teacher. To me, these ethics are combined in value since a good person also performs good acts, and a person that performs good acts is considered a good person.

Do the ends justify the means (ends ethics vs. means ethics)? Personally, I believe that this question depends on what the means or consequences are and what ends (actions) are being used to achieve them. If the consequences are noble, and the actions that are also noble, than I believe “the ends do justify the means.” However, I do believe that too many people too often use this expression as an excuse to achieve their goals through any “ends” necessary, no matter how immortal, illegal, or horrid their “means” may be. For example, a lot of people believe that it does not matter how they get what they want, as long as they get it. If their goal is morally important enough, than any method of achieving it is acceptable to them. A real world example would be cheating on a test. If a student takes the “ends” of cheating on a test, their “means” are unacceptable and immoral, but it will help them get a better grade. Their “means” could also be horrifying if a teacher or another student caught them. In most cases however, I do believe that the “ends do not justify the means.”

 Is my own life worth more than the lives of others, the same, or less (selfishness vs. altruism)? My life is equal worth than the lives of others. Growing up, I have always been taught to be altruistic, but there is a limit in how much altruism we should practice. My parents always said, “However much altruism I give to someone is usually how much I will receive back.” Personally, I find it hard to choose how much altruism I should give to a certain person because they never give it back to me. I am always willing to try and help others with anything, but I expect it back as well. However, I do also believe that in specific scenarios, it is okay to be selfish and less willing to help others. For example, if I were in competition against a friend for a job in my dreamed professional career, I would do everything I possibly could to make her look worse and myself look better. To me, others lives are equally as valuable as mine and everyone should be altruistic to others.

Within my diagram, there are core ideas that were learned from reading Module 2. From the Population, Affluence, and Technology tab, also known as the IPAT equation, the famous inventor Kurzweil argues about the point “T” in the IPAT equation. As he believes, some technology can increase environmental impacts while other technology can decrease it. You can see this concept within my India diagram. Under the ecosystem side, you can see that firewood is a concept that increases environment impacts by creating a lot of smoke and causing health problems amongst the citizens of India with dirty air, itchy eyes, and chest infections. However, introducing the biogas generator decreases the environmental impact by reducing health problems since it is clean for the air, as well as producing methane gas, which allows the women of India to use safe and cleaner cooking. The biogas generator also produces high quality, organic compost that women in India cease the opportunity to use, bringing in successful business and more income. Before the biogas generator, India’s environment was relatively unstable because it had a lot of disturbances. However, with the introduction of the biogas generator, India can now be considered relatively stable, due to fewer disturbances from deforestation as well as the firewood’s smoke.

Compared to Figure 1.5 in the Marten reading, “What is Human Ecology?,” my diagram has some similarities as well as differences. Some of the similarities are under the ecosystem side, being that both diagrams have concepts of deforestation, animal dung, and biogas generators. The concepts are very important because they are what is hurting/improving India’s economy and ecosystem. Differences between the two diagrams are the arrows and the short phrases that explain the nature of the interactions. These are differences also because I have different ideas on my social system side than figure 1.5. Between the two comparisons, we learn that there can be many different diagrams created by the way an individual interprets the information. Some diagrams can be very detailed and in depth while other diagrams can be basic with less information.

Hello everybody, my name is Shelby Epstein! Currently, I am living at Penn State University, University Park as a freshman. When applying to Penn State, I was not certain what major I wanted to pursue in, but taking all sorts of classes in the first semester helped me get a baseline of what I wanted to do. I now am taking steps to enter the Smeal College of Business, in hopes of finding a career in Supply Chain Management. My interest in this course is learning the different ways in which humans damage the environment and ways to prevent that from happening. Every single day something is impacting our environment and we as humans need to stop hurting it, or else there is going to be daunting consequences in the future.

While reading through the module 1 content, the issue of human-environment interactions stood out to me. This issue is very important because it involves natural hazards, which are natural events that disrupt human activity. This can be seen in California with the continuing drought that occurred and keeps reoccurring. The drought is a huge problem because it is affecting the people in California and the wildlife by the dryness and wildfire outbreaks. You may ask yourself… what decisions and processes can humans make in order to save the natural environment? This is where the concept of sustainability comes in. Sustainability try’s to understand how human activities can exist without disrupting the ability of natural ecosystems to function; governance can do this. Although constrained by outside forces, humans still make decisions whether they are ethical to their environments or not. We as a community need to stop making irrational decisions and save our environment together!