1. 
2. For my diagram I tried to show the flow of how things occurred in order for support to be gained for the Copenhagen Accord. I began at the beginning, the problem, fossil fuels. As we all know burning of fossil fuels create greenhouse gases that result in climate change. That was the first thing I decided to list in my diagram. I put the fossil fuels in a sun to symbolize burning, there was no flame shape other than that. I put the climate change in a circle to symbolize the globe. Next I went on to mention the result of climate change, the Copenhagen Summit in which the Copenhagen Accord was created. A lot of countries initially weren’t in favor of the Accord, however the US was. It would greatly benefit the US if the Accord was accepted so the worked to gain allies and supporters. The US did this in several ways; cables, threats, and financial aid. Countries that were most severely affected by climate change not caused by themselves were promised money if they supported the Accord. Maldives is a small island country that was in need of money so they agreed. Bolivia also agreed, though they did not want to support the Accord, they needed money. Threats came, like that to Ethiopia, that communications with them would end if they did not support the Accord and the threats worked. Ethiopia agreed to support it. Finally cable were sent out that resulted in Wikileaks tapping the cables and leaking information on the aid, threats, and cable spying US was doing in order to gain support for their cause. In the end the efforts of the US and our allies allowed for support of the accord from 140 out of 193 countries involved in the climate change initiative. I illustrated that by having my flow chart end with the results of the US efforts.
3. I don’t like how the US conducted some of its negotiations. By spying and threatening countries I believe they crossed some ethical boundaries. I don’t think it’s right the spy on people or make threats because you aren’t getting your way. However at the same time, thinking about action ethics and if the end justifies the means, what the US did may be ok. There needs to be a plan in place to attack climate change, one where everyone on board is doing their part and working towards a better future. The US was able to make a large jump in that direction by getting so many countries to jump on board. Maybe there was a better way to accomplish this than the methods the US implemented, but in the end 140 of 193 countries are not following the accord, so maybe the means of getting to the end are justified, I don’t know who is entitled to be the judge of that. We will have to see how it works. The bullying and secretive ways of the US in this instance may, short-term, result in a group effort, but long-term we may see countries backing out, doing the bare minimum to say they are following the according, or just pretending to do so. I think I is up to the individual person and country to decide to do something, in order for any progress to actually be achieve.

1. My town, Souderton Pa, is situated in zone zero for earthquakes. If and earthquake occurs it will be MM  V or below. It does not appear to be in a region that’s green, so little to no fear of hurricanes. Pa is close to the increases in heavy rain icon on the map (pg 3) but it’s hard to tell exactly where the borders of Pa, and for that matter Souderton. No fear of volcanic eruptions either. Looking at pg 4, Souderton appears to be in zone 3 for hailstorms, zone 1 for extratropical storms (81-120 km/hr peak wind speeds), zone 2-3 for tornados, so that’s a bit high and something to be prepared for, and zone 1 for wild fires. Page 5 of the Nathan World Map indicates that Souderton is between fewer storms and warmer weather area for el nino, it’s in more storms for la nina, about 0.1-0.3 mean temperature, and 0-15 for precipitation. The Nathan Map was not well suited for determining natural hazards. It was good for a quick overview but hard to distinguish where my area of focus was, especially on page 5, under the mess of colors and drawings on top of the world map. It was not very specific.
2. I clicked on an extreme weather alert in Gatwick, England. My hometown can experience extreme weather, with high winds, rainfall, thunderstorms, tornados, and hail. Extreme weather does not hit too often but it can. I think that the event is relatively similar to an event that could occur in my hometown. It’s in relatively the same area horizontally on the map. Hasn’t caused in injures, deaths, or serious problems. Gatwick appears to be a small town in England like Souderton is a small town in Pa. Some of the poorer people in my town may have more weather damage than others, there house may have more leaks. If winds are bad their siding my come off if their house is in good shape. Siding could come off from families with more money depending on how the wind hits their house and how protected it is. If trees fall, due to wind and rain that could be an issue. My towns vulernability could be reduced by having a weather alerts sent out and put on the local new channels preparing people. A system in place to help repair leaks in ceiling for those who may not have the money to afford to due so otherwise. An emergency line to call if a tree looks like it’s shaking/close to falling so possibly team could go out and secure the tree to avoid it from crashing into someone’s house or car.
3. I googled natural hazard risks for Souderton Pa and found a sight that give more specific information that the Nathan Map did for my hometown. Souderton has the same average risk for experiencing an earthquake as any other point in Pa. Souderton’s earthquake index is 0.26 while Pa is 0.17 and the US as a whole is 1.81. Souderton has a higher risk of tornado (148.81) than the Pa average (109.77) and US as a whole at (136.45). The risk of volcanic eruption is 0.0 for Souderton and Pa and 0.0023 for the US. The site was very helpful with giving numerical data about the risks for my hometown. It also had tables for recorded data on earthquakes, tornados, thunderstorms, floods, droughts, etc. in and near a couple miles of Souderton. (USA.com)

   Reference:
   “Souderton, PA Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes.” – USA.com™. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. <http://www.usa.com/souderton-pa-natural-disasters-extremes.htm>.

4. Contacting the local city counsel and government to discuss natural hazard and education along with programs and aid services to help the area would reduce the vulnerability of souderton. I can contact my old journalism teacher who has contact information and would be able to help me organize a platform and who to talk to in order to get programs and information out to the town. She would also have one of there current journalism students write and article on what I was trying to do which would also help get information out about natural hazards that affect our area. The best people to perform these actions would be city/town officials, parents, kids, and anyone willing to lend a hand and help out because they care. Volunteers are always a welcome and much needed resource in getting things achieved.

I have two home towns; the one I was born in and the one I grew up in. I was born in Madison, Wisconsin and lived there 5yrs before moving to Pennsylvania. Madison was a city filled with automobiles and subway systems, but tons of people walked around too. I don’t remember too much about Madison. After we moved we got a house and I spent the rest of my pre-college years in Souderton, Pennsylvania. Souderton is pretty small, it’s an automobile town, but has plenty of sidewalks and little parks and schools to go for a run at or spend a few minutes strolling around on a Sunday. Based on the 2013 census it has a population of 6,644 people. I enjoyed growing up there, there were lots of opportunities to get involved in the community and play sports. We had a Boys and Girls club right up the street from my house that I worked at during my high school years. The schools were great and lead me to many great memories like being Editor-in-cheif of our award winning student run newspaper and starting an annual Zumba fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald Camp Adopt-a-Camper Program that raises money to send kids 7-18yrs old battling cancer to camp in the Poconos for a week in the summer where they get to play and have fun and not have to worry about there struggles. They also are able to form lasting friendships with children who understand what they are going through.

The first city I’d like to talk about is Boston, Massachusetts. I believe Boston is similar to Souderton because it was designed for encourage people to walk. It has place for people to work, eat, shop, be entertained. Souderton also has a lot of these aspects, however over the years it has become run down. The movie theater has been under construction for so many years I’ve lost count, but they’ve started a petition to help get the job finished. during summer there are concerts in the park on Sunday nights encouraging people to come out and enjoy the weather and community. There are sidewalks everywhere so people are able to walk. The downtown has been a slow process with trying to renovate it and make it look better, more appealing and inviting for people to stroll around. I believe that if Souderton could finish it’s make over/upgrade then it will be a more walking oriented town.

The second city I’m going to talk about is Copenhagen. Bikes are a common mode of transportation in Copenhagen. This reduces the fossil fuel usage and pollution. I think it would be beneficial for Souderton to have it’s members become more biker friendly eliminating the need to use cars so often. Most of the grocery stores and shopping centers do require a person to travel quite a bit of distance, unless you want to stop at a convince store or eat out, so walking isn’t a reasonable alternative to automobiles. However biking allows someone to get to the place they need to go quicker and requires less exertion, while still promoting a healthier lifestyle. I think it would be an improvement if Souderton started advocating for biking over driving.

For my first case study I found an article from the Colby college based on Agriculture in Indonesia (http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/ag-ind.html). The focal question for this case study was “How has Indonesia’s desire for food self sufficiency in rice compromised it’s ability to address the issues of sustainable agricultural development?” The goals of the Indonesian government were to increase their rice production so they could be self sufficient in food. In which case they would be free to focus on other aspects of life and work on science and technology which has been seen to be the basis for developing and developed worlds; starting in agriculture and moving to science and technology when obtaining/cultivating food is no longer a concern. However they compromised their agricultural sustainability in the process to become self sufficient. This lead to many problems in health, economy, and pollution similar to those discussed throughout the module. Having learned from this, however, Indonesia has since implement more effective pest management programs (IPM) and agricultural policies to ensure their food is sustainable and reduce the harmful effects production causes on the environment.

My second case study was on sustainable agriculture in Thailand, focusing on the village Talad and specifically a single family/farmer there in. The goal of the study was to show how other farmer around the world are implementing sustainable agriculture and how they are achieving it. I found the article at http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod15.html?panel=3#top under the Thailand link. The study describes how the farmer, Thongdee Nantha, set up his farm in order to use integrated farming methods, like using ducks, fish, pigs, plants, rice, etc to create a nutrient replenishing circle allowing his farm to be self sufficient. The article discusses how the farming style was taken up by other farmers in the village and how it is not sustainable for “absentee landlord[s]” or “industrial farmer[s]”. However it does give an insight into how farming is done in other areas of the world. It shows how important Nantha’s attention to the details of the farm and the day to day chores, decisions, etc. are and how consuming it is. He has no time for other focuses, no time to work on other things because he must be paying attention to his farm and his source of food, which ties into the development throughout history concept and why Thailand, which is fertile, is not as developed as other countries.

These cases are slightly similar to where I live and different at the same time as well. I live in State College current (Souderton, PA when I’m at my parents, both are very similar areas though). The idea of sustainable agriculture with an integrated farming and pest management program discussed in both studies with how they relate to where I live now. The farms here focus on crop rotation, biological and chemical pest control, nutrient replenishment, etc. which is what the farmers in the case studies were also trying to do and accomplish. They are different however because here there is a much more established and highly developed system that allows us to spend time on other areas of interest than the farms in the two studies. It is important to examine the ideas, concepts, failures, and successes of other countries so that we can avoid making the same mistakes (like the health and environmental issues in Indonesia) and so we can become better at establishing a sustainable food system (similar to the small farm in Thailand) so we can be better at taking care of ourselves, our neighbors, and our planet. It will also allow us to help out other countries if we know they are struggling and lost so they too can improve their standard of living, development, etc.

1a: My hometown is Souderton, PA. When I went to find out about the water system/route I reached out to my municipal building for help. However the receptionist was not sure about the details and said she would call me back in a day or so with the answer. I waited to hear back but have not. I tired calling when I got home from work and class today but they had already left. So I plan on tracking down the answer and uploading a post for this part/section tomorrow.

For now my best guess for how the water runs through my town is that we obtain in from a watershed, pump it into one of the water storage tanks that has the township name on it. From there it is released into pipes that run underground to the different pipes that lead to houses and from houses to sewage systems.

1b:

Face wash (2x)
Hand wash (20x)
Teeth brush (2x)
Water glasses (4x)
Shower (1x 20min)
Dishwashing (6x)

Total gallons used: 212.24gallons

That’s a scary number. I picked a day when I was working at Noodles and Co. to keep track of my water usage. It’s scary how much water I use.

1c: If I had to live on only 2gallons of water a day, I would make it work because it would be what I was used to. However since I don’t, it was quite an adjustment and I ended up failing this experiment. I’m not used to keeping track of my water usage and was surprised how quickly I ran out without even realizing it. I decided to skip brush my teeth and showering to save water to wash my hands and face because I can’t stand going through the day with a gross oily face. I tried to stay under 4 glasses of water but was unsuccessful because my throat was dry and I kept coughing. I had to go into work and ended up washing my hands and doing the dishes several times for 2hrs so that placed me over the 2gallon limit quite quickly, along with using water to wipe down the tables after customers were finished eating and to clean the counters. I also needed to use the restroom so that caused me to go over my 2gallons.

I think geography is important when it comes to water use because when you are used to having an endless supply of water you abuse it and it is very hard to wrangle it in to an appropriate usage amount. However in countries, like those in the middle east it is easier for them to maintain a decent water usage because their water is rationed so they don’t have a choice. They have to savor the amount they have and use it wisely.

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

It is my belief that it is more important to be a good person than to perform good acts. However I know that not all people have the ability, the empathy, the compassion, the want to be good people. Humans are selfish so it is more realistic that people perform good acts. How much those acts are truly worth though I believe are dependent upon the reasons. I think there is more worth to person when they are good and that their deeds hold more value because they are done for the right reasons. It is worth more for a good person to volunteer because they want to give back and help out than it is for a person to volunteer because they need to fulfill a class or probation requirement. The person who is doing the good deed because they are a good person will put more heart and feeling into it than the person who is there to just log hours. They’ll go the extra mile, while the parolee will goof off, lounge around, talk back, be lazy, text, grimace, etc.

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

The pleasure and pain of non-human animals does matter as much as the pleasure and pain of humans. Just because we are a superior species does not mean that our feelings are above others. Just because we have the power to inflict pain and pleasure, the power to speak up when we feel things does not mean non-human emotions matter less. Getting stabbed hurts just as much to them as it does to us. Losing someone we care for is as sad for them as it is for us. In fact it may even be worse, some animals like orcas have an extra part of there brain than humans have that processes emotions and feelings on a much stronger and deeper level than we do. I acknowledge that there is a pecking order and a need for food. I don’t think that because we choose to eat meat, like our bodies are designed to do, that means that we value non-human animal emotions less. I still acknowledge they have feelings and don’t like that they have to go through pain so that we can eat. Which is why I’m a firm believer in ensuring that animals are not treated cruelly during the slaughter process. And that they use the least painful methods to carry it out so that the animals feel the least amount of pain and fear.

Is my own life worth more than the lives of others, the same, or less (selfishness vs. altruism)?

I think this is a hard question because I think that the answer can be circumstantial. I would like to say that I find my live equal to others, but then I think there are situations where I may find when my life is on the line that it is more or less than the life of others. When it comes to my family, my loved ones, when I think about if I were to have kids, I believe I would place the value of my life below theirs. If there was a gunman, I would tell them to shoot me in place of the ones I loved. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I saved my life over theirs. It is my personality to be a protector and I do that with those I care for and for the random people I meet and see. I can’t say that my life is worth more than another persons. I don’t think I’m worth more than anyone else. But I also know that when my life is on the line and I’m not around people I love, I can’t speak on what my instincts and reactions would be, I’d like to say that I would find myself worth the same as the next person and not worth more, but I can’t say that I might not try to save myself over someone else if given the choice. I may be too weak and scared to sacrifice my life for a complete stranger and in that instance my life to me would be worth more than someone else’s.

Above is a biogas diagram based on the 5minute video discussing biogas in India. The diagram displays how the introduction of biogas to India effected the social and ecological systems present there. The systems overlap each other, with similar causes which produce different effects. Some of the effects within one system result in benefits for the other system (better animals and food for the social system to cook and eat). Overall there is a symbiotic relationship between the two and as a whole the introduction of biogas has had a positive effect. The effects of the social and ecosystems involve health benefits (identified in the diagram), along with agricultural improvements (soil, crops, animal, and decreased pollution/deforestation), and educational/social growth (less time spent gathering wood, kids not late for class). There is a kind of relationship in which A impacts B and B impacts A in an ever evolving circle. Improvement in the social system leads to better education and increased environmental protection and ideas, which causes improvement in crops, soil, pollution rates, etc. This outcome allows for more health benefits, resources, and better quality food for the social system to use. Gerald G. Marten created a biogas diagram of his own in his book What is Human Ecology? When comparing Marten’s diagram to my own it can be seen that he is focusing more on the “big picture” issues like (human population, demand for fuel, biogas generators-how they would get into villages) whereas my diagram is more specific and not as over reaching. Marten shows the idea of systems passing energy, material, and information between each other. My diagram focuses more on the connection between social and ecosystem and not the broader view/idea Marten chose. The two are most likely different because we are different people with different ideas on how to organize and interpret the information given to us. Both address the connection between systems and the effects biogas has on the community.