The first case study reviewed involves dam construction and management along the Zambezi River. Recent developments of dams and hydroelectricity facilities have caused problems for residents of the region that are exacerbated by changes in climate. The two large dams that were most recently constructed have been the source of false comfort by local residents as they have moved into regions that are susceptible to periodic floods. The goal of the dams was to harness the power of hydroelectricity by using river water to power the facilities. An unintended consequence of the construction includes a lowering of the levels of the floodplains. This leads to two types of problems for the region. First, elimination of the floodplains means less area for fisheries, wildlife, and agriculture. The second consequence is that residents have migrated closer to the rivers as a result of a perceived lower risk of flooding. Instead of relying on larger dams that are likely to fail in extreme weather, local officials propose reinforcing smaller existing dams to use water for hydroelectricity projects and provide better flood management.

The second of the case studies involves transportation avenues and issues related to traffic under conditions of rising water in Mobile, Alabama. The main concerns in Mobile involve an increased flow of traffic, aging infrastructure, and effects brought about by current and future changes in climate. To address these concerns, the local operations and management departments of the state government have commissioned studies intended to gauge the risks to the transportation infrastructure and steps that can be taken to alleviate the effects of a variety of stressors. Among the plans to solve the issue are initiatives to repair roadways and traffic signals to operate better in times of heavy traffic and extreme weather. These initiatives involve evaluating planned and on-demand circumstances affecting conditions on the transportation routes. Planned circumstances are routine and include preventative measures while on-demand circumstances involve reactive or corrective steps that can be taken.

The two cases relate to my hometown (Pittsburgh, PA) because of our continuing concerns about water levels, traffic, and use of waterways at the confluence of the three rivers (Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers). The three rivers of Pittsburgh provide transportation routes for cargo and passengers, are the sources of drinking water for Western Pennsylvania residents and others, and pose a risk to homes, businesses, and roadways along the rivers. Dams and locks along the rivers have provided a measure of security for residents who seek riverfront living and places to locate their businesses, but as is the case in Mozambique, those various structures have shown over the years to be insufficient to safeguard from the damage severe weather can inflict. Similarly, the erosion of land at or near the river banks is an on-going concern as higher water levels can compromise the integrity of the land nearest to the river; putting structures and roadways at risk of damage or making transportation routes impassable during a severe weather event.

I picked the case study Mobility As Driver for Economic Development featured Dar es Salaam because in quite interesting. Dar es Salaam is one of the fastest growing cities in Sub-Saharan African 3.7 million (in 2007) population at 4.3% growth rate. The economy and the industrial market is growing rapidly as well, hence placing pressure on the existing transportation system that cannot keep up with the demand for mobility. Hence it is resulting into longer journey times, serious congestion, increased vehicle related accidents, pollution and reduced mobility opportunities for the disadvantaged. This study is a thorough review on the mobility needs of Dar es Salaam and examined different solutions. Given the importance of mobility to Dar es Salaam and Tanzania’s neighboring countries it is necessary to implement road management through proper maintenance of the current roads and construction of new roads, improve city planning, strengthen law enforcement and an efficient mass transit system, decentralizing key services and activities into satellite areas. This case study of Dar es Salaam mobility as a proponent of economic development is an example of several cities in the developing world. From this case study sustainable mobility and development is a need plus its improvement will have a major impact on surrounding countries and their economies.

http://wbcsdpublications.org/mobility-as-a-driver-of-economic-development-india-tanzania-brazil-and-china/

For the second section of the assignment I selected the case study ’Air pollution in Delhi: Its Magnitude and Effects on Health’ by SA Rizwan, Baridalyne Nongkynrih, and Sanjeev Kumar Gupta. This paper is focused on the human health issues and the air pollution in Delhi. Studies reported in 2011 that the air in Delhi exceeds maximum particulate matter PM10 by ten times. Results from monitoring the air in Delhi indicates that the two main contributing factors to the air contamination are vehicular emissions and industrial activities. Furthermore two thirds of the air pollution is caused by vehicles, which grows as the economy increases every year. Hence the deterioration of air quality in large cities are burdens of economic development. Also as the air pollution increases so does the respiratory health issues rise. These respiratory illness are asthma, dry cough, wheezing, chest discomfort plus other non-respiratory ailments like skin irritation, eye irritation and chronic headache were recorded. This depiction of this case study is a clear representation of what is happening in large cities today, particularly in the developing world. To increase the air quality in Delhi the government shutdown several toxic industries, established policies on vehicles and industries. Since implementation of these government policies there have a reduction of respiratory illness and a gain in disability-adjusted life-years.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612296/

I currently live in Joppa Maryland approximately thirty minutes outside of Baltimore City. From my observation regarding mobility, there is a need of improvement in the mass transit system. Since I lived in a big city before (Washington DC), Joppa’s mass transit system and alternative sustainable transportation is minimal to non-existent. There are some patterns of sustainable development that could be improved. The development downsides like air pollution as discussed above are prevalent in my neighborhood. There are several semis passing through one of the main roads not too far from our house, major air pollution culprits. In addition through observation, quite a large percentage of the community have pickup trucks and / or SUVs. As the population grows, so will vehicle ownership. The forecast for air quality in Joppa will deteriorate if the county government and the community don’t take action to implement sustainable solutions. The developed world and the developing are at different stages of growth, nonetheless there are some similarities in their current states like problems from economic development.

This case study describes the development of Indonesia through Colby- Sustainable Development under the topic of agriculture and using the specific study found at http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/ag-ind.html.  The goals of this development were based off of their concern of their food self sufficiency in rice.  This goal was once reached before however it “came at the expense of the sustainable agricultural development”.  In the past in order to increase the rice output a lot of money was spent on products such as fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation.  The use of all three of those things increased dramatically and by 1986 the cost of the input subsidies reached 725 billion dollars.  As said early on in the module, often a place having a lot of money (or spending a lot of money) means better health.  Later on, years after the constant and inappropriate use of pesticides lead to development downsides.  The downsides from the pesticide included pesticide resistant pests and the “elimination of natural predators that help control pests”.

This case study describes the fertilizer that helps Peruvian Coffee growers improve livelihoods through a global coalition for sustainable agricultural development called Farming First found at http://www.farmingfirst.org/2011/01/credit-for-fertilizer-helps-peruvian-coffee-growers-improve-livelihoods/.  The goals of this development was to benefit the families of coffee growers with the higher income but the development of this program that “provides credit for purchasing fertilizer” lead to even greater developments.  Of course the increase of money often means better health as stated in the first case study however the amount of income was not the only thing that benefitted from this program.  Some of the environmental benefits includes the better habitat for the surrounding trees from the recycling of the pulp residue of the fruit and promote biodiversity.

I have grown up and lived in a central New Jersey town for most of my life and throughout those years I have lived in the same house in South Brunswick next to a corn farm.  Most of my observations of this farm were because the mass amount of corn stalks that would blow over to my yard around the fall season I do remember a significant development that occurred over my time living in the house next door.  There are a lot of deer in New Jersey that cause many problems among farmers and planters.  Although deer do not exactly have an appetite for corn they trample over the beginning stages of it growing. The farmers decided it was a good idea to put a pesticide down on the field.  In their favor, although it costed more to buy the pesticide, in the end it made them more money by being able to sell more corn in the end.  Unlike the pesticide in the first case and very much alike to the second case the pesticide worked in the farmers favor.

In Detroit Michigan there is a major environmental issue that is connected to the multiple incinerators in the area. Referred to as the toxic triangle of incineration the residents have long grown weary of the toxic black clouds billowing from the smoke stack at the incinerators and the implications on their health and the local environment respectably. Despite the fact that not all incinerators are currently in operation the land sites still pose a threat. The area surrounding the location is a poverty stricken area and the house hold incomes barely reach over $15,000 annually.  The case study aims to improve the conditions and to regulate the restrictions on facilities to comply with the strict emmissions to prevent the same devastating effects elsewhere.

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/henryford.htm

The incinerators in Flint Michigan have poisoned the water in the town as well as wreaked havoc on the environment and lives of many. The toxic air pollution and toxic waste expelled from this incinerator has caused many health problems and still does today. Only recently has it been realized that lead had been leaking into the water supply because of old pipes for decades. The town used media exposure to try to get the facility to comply and take active measures to restore this precious resource.

1) This first case study I found is about the agriculture in Zambia (here is the link http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/ag-zam.html). The agriculture production only accounts for about 14 percent of the country’s total gross domestic product (on average over the last 20 years). Compared to that number, the industrial and manufacturing production has accounted for about 83 percent on average over the last 20 years. Zambia is currently looking at ways to increase its agricultural production, noting that after the 1970’s they tried different tricks to increase farming output like pesticides and fertilizers. However, a flaw in the research was discovered after they realized the test fields were not the same conditions as the real farm fields. This led to a focus on granting the Zambian farmers simple their simple needs for a better farming condition. The agriculture of Zambia could not keep sustaining the way they were heading before.

2) My second case study is about a shrinking population in a former working town in Germany (here is the link http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/world/europe/germany-fights-population-drop.html?_r=0). The town of Sonneberg is a former thriving manufacturing town where kids toys were made. The study notes that many of the large homes built during the manufacturing boom are now empty and the mayor does not believe that many will ever be sold. Overgrown yards, boarded up windows and sewage problems are a few of the side effects of the falling fertility rates in Germany, and the rates are projected to be twice as bad by 2060. Demographers think that a way to make more citizens want to have more kids would be the erase the stigma in Germany of Mothers having careers and make more daycares so kids can be cared for and mothers can have a career of their choosing.

3) Like some other students in this course, I am also from Pottstown, PA. These studies relate to my area in two separate ways. In comparison to the farming in Zambia, the rural suburbs of Pottstown are focusing less on agriculture. Compared to 15 years ago when there were farms everywhere, today all that farm land is now housing developments and the number of farms is a lot less that it was. I do worry what that will cause in the future because farming was what we were known for back in the day. Now it is all homes.

In comparison to the German town losing residents, Pottstown had a similar fall from its former industrial history. We had a name brand pie factory, and several mills that have now closed and the city of Pottstown continues to descend into nothingness. Pottstown recently made the top 10 list of worst Philadelphia suburbs and that is worrisome. Because of Pottstown becoming more and more poor, families can’t afford to have many more kids and even if families did, the town couldn’t support it because of the lack of resources.

1. My first case study was found on the Colby – Sustainable Development website and the link is: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/Famplan.htm. This case study is about improving the huge population size in India. The Indian government has set forth many policies and acts in order to decrease the size of the population. They have tried controlling the sizes of the families by contraception and sterilization. These new developments are to hopefully lower the population to a more sustainable and maintainable size. This case study relates to ideas learned in the module because since India’s population is so large, the country is becoming less sustainable for its people. More and more resources are becoming scarce, so people in India are living in terrible living conditions. Throughout history, India has struggled with trying to sterilize people and have them use contraception in order to limit the amount of people in the country. These means of contraception and sterilization were dangerous and forced, which is why people did not want to participate.
2. My second case study was found on the website: http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2014/mar/27/japan-solution-providing-care-ageing-population. This case study is about dealing with the large population of older people in Japan. The Japanese government has introduced several policies and systems in order to manage this large portion of older people. The problem with all of these older people is that they are unable to be part of the working population anymore. So the amount of people working in Japan is decreasing at an alarming rate. Also, the younger generation is having to pick up for their lack of work. Japan introduced a new insurance plan for this older generation. It also is attempting to bring more foreigners into the country to even out the generation problem. This case study relates to ideas learned in the module because Japan is becoming less sustainable because there aren’t enough people in the working force. With less people working, it is difficult to get more things made and accomplished which is a problem in an efficient country like Japan.
3. I am from the town of Pottstown in Pennsylvania. Both of these case studies and problems relate to the area that I am from. Both of these case studies have to do with population problems. But my hometown relates more to the first case study about overpopulation, instead of the second case study because the majority of our population here is not elderly people. We have more of an influx of people coming into our town. Also, recently the majority of our population is younger people because of these people moving into our town and having children. Because of all these people moving here, parts of our farmlands are turning into residential living areas. So now that there is more people, there is less farmland, producing less food, even though we need more food for more people. It is a difficult balance to maintain sustainability and a growing population and an efficient economy.

This is a broad study of 344 plots throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This is from allAfrica division of UN News service. The article I am referencing is Africa: Bees Can Help Boost Food Security of Two Billion Small Farmers At No Cost retrieved from http://allafrica.com/stories/201602220806.html. This article details how important bees are for the pollination of crops. Pollination is a fundamental part of the growing process for crops and the significant majority of it is done by bees. This means for a successful food production and more importantly successful development of countries, bees must be protected and possibly production of honey could be coupled with farming large acreage of crops. Some effects of climate change have negative impacts on bee colonies as well so any actions to slow climate change would be beneficial for bees.

This study has to do with a range of citizens in Costa Rica. It is from the World Health Organization on government funded healthcare’s relation to life expectancy and the struggle for the government to continue funding. This is simply Case Study: Costa Rica, a link to the pdf is http://www.who.int/chp/knowledge/publications/case_study_costarica.pdf. In relation to this week’s subject, the study states that although the country is only 69^Th in GDP per capita, it is on the list of the top, “35 countries with the highest Human Development Index.” Funding is a significant problem with the design of this health service because of the large percent that falls on employers and employees with little help from taxes on controversial products.

In the rural area I grew up, there was always talk on how farmers would occasionally loss hives, honey bees are kept by some farmers to harvest honey. The talk was always regarding the cost or replacing bees seemed to increase but if protected hives are dying, how are the wild bees fairing? I hope that the dangerous to bee does not start harming the produce production of small farms in my area. For the second article it made me remember talking with my aunt who is a nurse in Maine. With the border to Canada being so close, many people go to Canada for healthcare which cuts the need for funding in the areas. There are only a few major hospitals in the whole state. Also, she remarked that even a few of her fellow employees live in Canada because it is cheaper to live in Canada and commute to work because of the healthcare available and better to work in healthcare in the United States because the pay is better here. I do agree that the service provided by healthcare workers is important and it is a shame that wages have to be lower just so healthcare can be provided, affordably to everyone.

For the first case study I chose to look in to, I found an interesting article about an eco-tax that was implemented in Sweden. It can be found on the Colby College Sustainable Development page at http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/eco-taxation.htm

This case study observed the implementation and outcome of an eco-tax implemented by the Swedish government that heavily taxed the sale of fossil fuels in order to reduce greenhouse emissions. As described in this module, a downside of highly developed countries like Sweden is that they have heavy environmental impacts like greenhouse gas emissions. This article effectively showed how the reduction of pollution is a very complicated and difficult task due to many political and logistical roadblocks. The main problem that arose was the fact that a tax like this increases production costs of firms, which causes a loss of competition and can even damage the economy. Their solution was to reduce the tax for industry while keeping it high for consumers, who were more accepting of the tax. Although this tax plan was not entirely successful, it was a great step towards Sweden becoming more developed environmentally, showing that they are one of the leaders in working to become a highly developed country that is also sustainable.

The second case study I read was from McGraw-Hill at http://www.mhhe.com/Enviro-Sci/CaseStudyLibrary/International/CaseStudy_Int_EnvironmentProtect.pdf It addressed the many issues China faces in becoming more environmentally friendly.

This case study showed the many reasons why China is having such a difficult time becoming more environmentally friendly. The author describes three main reasons: Chinese priorities are focused on economy more than environment, Chinese people are not very environmentally conscious, and there are not enough laws for environmental protection. These topics tie in very closely with this module because China is considered by many as a developed country based on its GDP, yet it has many components that are very behind in development, such as social structure and technology. Because of this, it makes it a very complex issue for a nation with this high of a population to reduce its impact on the environment.

Both of the case studies I read are from very different places than where I live. The first one, in Sweden, is fairly similar to where I live in Pennsylvania, yet I think the main difference is the attitudes of the people here compared to there. In Sweden, high taxation for a cause like environmental protection is much more acceptable by the people than it would be in America. I don’t believe a fuel tax anything like what they implemented would have a chance of being approved of here, where people highly oppose higher taxes. Here, I think people must learn from Sweden that sacrifices must be made if we want to become more sustainable. In the second case study in China, they have a very different lifestyle than people in America. In many aspects besides the economy, America is far more develop, and has a much smaller population. This should make it much easier for the American government to help further protect the environment, since we do not have as many challenges as China to overcome.

1. http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/swm-germ.html

In Germany, there was an effort to reduce solid waste by recycling packaging. This was done by requiring manufacturers to reuse or recycle their packaging, as well as facilitating them to comply with the ordinance. This led to the creation of the “Dual System.” This effort contributes to sustainability by combating resource depletion. However, it is not complete because the oversupply of recyclable waste. To make further progress, the recyclable waste needs to be used more frequently for production of goods.

1. The Price Of Salmon

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/aqua-or.html

The first case study that I read about was done in Oregon and was about aquaculture, salmon farms, and how prices of fish are affected by the process. Farmers and ranchers are major players in this process and they are both tied to the market demand. Economic return is based on the physical return of the salmon. Most of the salmon’s life is spent out of control of the rancher so the ranchers’ most important consideration is the long term regulation of his stock with the short – term price conditions. Then the fish are released until they return to spawn, creating growth in the population of the salmon. This is one way to regulate salmon population in an environment.

2. Acid Rain In Asia

http://www.kwanga.net/chemnotes/case-study-3.pdf

The second case study that I read about was done in Japan. The topic was about air pollution and acid rain in Japan. Acid rain has threatened the world’s environment for years, especially in industrialized countries. It kills trees, corrodes buildings, and kills lake ecosystems. Regulations and laws have been enforced to take on this problem. Asian countries have been most at fault, with China being worse than Japan. They emit toxic gases into the atmosphere, threatening forests, air, and water in the Asian continent. Motor vehicles and coal burning power stations are the two major sources of the formation of acid rain. Although there are laws that are enforced, there is still little effort being made to act upon these rules and it is affecting the global atmosphere.

3. Comparison In Greenwich, CT

When looking at both case studies, I find that they remind me of a fish hatchery where I live, in Greenwich, CT. In our marine biology class in high school, we took a field trip there and the employee told us about how the populations of fish were decreasing due to overfishing in the area because we are near the water. The man explained how this is a problem that has arisen recently but not much is being done about it because the market is so high for the fish. He said that without the hatcheries, certain fish populations would be depleted from the area. This reminded me of the first case study because it talks about the price conditions of fish and the growth in the population of the salmon through the aquaculture process. It also reminded me of the second article because little is being done to solve the problem in Asian countries, which affects the rest of the world, and that is similar to this problem here.

My first case study is about the water stresses that are occuring in South Africa, and how they can be addressed. The article details how much like the rest of the world, South Africa is experiencing many issues to its ongoing water crisis and how the implications of this can affect its national security. Many of the problems are caused by climate change. By developing new strategies and technologies, these problems can be solved in the future. In a forecast, the water demand in South Africa will have significantly outpaced its demand by the year 2035. In order to combat this, new implementations are being put in place that include groundwater extraction, waste water treatment, and new water conservation methods so that there is not a future where water is an issue. A link to the article can be found here: http://allafrica.com/stories/201602251643.html

The second I have chosen comes from Australia, where the country is experiencing the worst drought that has occurred in over one thousand years. In order to help resolve this situation, the country has taken steps in its conservation method in order to preserve the water. These have put a restriction on the water being used and has raised the price to 70 cents per kiloliter of water. In addition to this, the government is putting into place new construction of dams and other irrigation systems in order to keep the supply of water up. The regulation, however, had little success in one of their areas in that all owners of water were able to use their own demand as well as sell their water to make a profit. It did have success in preventing large scale extractions that would have otherwise caused large environmental effects. A link to the article can be found here:

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/Gorman.htm

I picked these two articles because they relate to the area where I lived, Northern Cambria, PA last year when there was a drought in May of 2015. I come from a rural area and many farmers were concerned about the yield of their crops for that year due to this drought. One of the actions of this declaration called for a 5% decrease in water usage in order to preserve water. This connected to the Australian article in that they called for a restriction on their water usage whenever a drought has occurred. In addition to this, new methods were being used in order to conserve water for farming purposes that included reducing the evaporation from the soil where mulch would be left by plants as well as shading areas where soil is exposed. This also relates to the Australia article because new irrigation techniques were being adopted for water conservation. A difference between my hometown and the South African crisis is that they are looking for long term solutions to their problems, where my county and hometown only called for temporary solutions. There is a similar solution that South Africa is taking that would make it very similar to my hometown is that they are looking into adopting groundwater. My hometown sole water source is from groundwater.

Source:

http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-berks/drought-in-pa-leaves-farmers-concerned/33278534

My first case study was found on IRIN News – Environment and is linked here: http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/kendziuk.html. The article is about Native Americans being exposed to low-level doses of radiation. The exposure is not limited to just one source; Uranium mining, milling, conversion, and enrichment are all frequented as the United States is rich with uranium deposits. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) was passed in 1978 which was intended to safely dispose of nuclear waste. One of the locations allotted was Yucca Mountain, where tribes are concerned of the health effects of the waste. The National Environmental Coalition of Native Americans, formed in 1993, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are two major actors at play. There is a lack of sustainable development when the health of the community is threatened.

My second case study is linked here: http://earthjustice.org/features/the-case-of-the-vanishing-honey-bee#. The topic is interesting to me as I have a friend that studies various environmental activities and is highly interested in this vanishing honey bee ‘phenomenon’ of sorts. The article highlights the massive hit the honey bee population has taken suddenly. Many colonies lost 30% and some lost as much as 80%, as extreme as these statistics sound, they are claimed to be underestimations of the current problem bee colonies are facing. This is an issue that is massively underreported and should be a concern to everyone on Earth. Bees are extremely useful in cultivating crops due to their pollination. The decrease in bees can effect crops which can effect humans due to our reliance on crops for food and production.

In my hometown of Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania I may not be directly affected by the first case study, Native American radiation exposure in Yucca Mountain, but I am strongly affected by the results of the second case study, a huge drop off in honey bee population. This result affects the development where I live as the bee’s pollination affects crops and the crops affect food consumption and production. These all contribute themselves to life expectancy, nourishment, and production of materials. The threat to honey bees strongly affects agricultural development negatively.

The first case I chose was from the Colby database under Agriculture. The focal question asked by this case is: Does farmer behavior matter in determining the supply of environmental benefits? Shortly after World War 2, European countries were having serious problems with farmers unable to accumulate sufficient income, stifling agricultural growth. The CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) implemented a price floor to let farmers sell their crops for higher-than-market prices, which ultimately ended disastrously with a huge surplus of crops and low global prices for these products. While CAP reformed their policies, they realized the need to protect the environment from the heavy-use of farming in the area. They realized this wasn’t a form of sustainable development, and to fix this they implemented incentives for farmers to implement eco-friendly processes. The success of these programs were determined entirely by the amount of participation from farmers, even when the government promised to pay for any income lost from the practice. Older farmers (who were set in their ways) were less likely to implement the practice than younger farmers were.

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/Nasim.htm

My second case comes from the University of Michigan, an environmental justice article about hogs in North Carolina. North Carolina has more hogs today than ever, all pent up in farms made to contain and breed them for food. The waste from these hogs is abundant. It is stored in large “lagoons” which can be up to 10 acres of surface area and as a deep as 12 feet. These lagoons are claimed to be leak-proof, the sludge from the waste would sink to the bottom of the lagoon and seal it shut. Even the Division of Environmental Management claims they are perfectly safe, yet a N.C. State study says they are insufficient and pollute waterways. It claims that sandy areas especially are easily permeable for the lagoons to leak out into essential water ways and underground wells. These lagoons are rich in nitrogen and when they leak into nearby rivers or other waterways, algae can grow and explode in number, which eat the oxygen in the water and kill wildlife around it. This is an environmental justice issue that current policies don’t effectively cover. There needs to be some policy in place to incentivize these hogs farmers to push them to add these protections to the environment.

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/statter.html

I have lived my whole life in Southern New Jersey, a place where farms are very abundant. Whenever there is human development, there are often conflicts with the health of the environment. Agricultural growth in New Jersey isn’t defined by large development, but instead compact development. The impact of New Jersey farmers on the environment can be related both to the hog farmers of North Carolina and the farmers in France. The idea of compact development can interfere with local suburbs and bring up health risks concerning the proximity to pesticides and other wastes. The use of too many farms all within proximity to each other can cause damage to the natural ecosystems by developing over them and draining soil nutrition in the surrounding areas. Both are related to the two case studies, the Hog farming and French farmers respectively. We can learn from these two cases that we need policies that incentivize sustainable developmetn and environemtnal justice through an economic means. Farmers in New Jersey to farmers in France to farmers of hogs in North Carolina all work for an income. Policies that give farmers a chance to protect the environment without hurting their income will always be the favorable option.

I chose the development study case about Indonesia from Colby : http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/ag-ind.html

Indonesia which is located Southeast Asia had agricultural policy since 1967. Indonesia wanted to cultivate significant amount of rice. To develop the agriculture, government supported farmers by providing fertilizer, pesticides and water that need to growing rice. Government even moved people to city so that more land can be used as a rice paddy. However, because of government’s economic support, farmers started to overused fertilizer, pesticides and water and it results environmental problems. There were pesticide resistant pests and eliminated natural predators that help control pests. Indonesia actually failed to balance economic development and environmental development which led to unsustainable outcome. The government only focused on economic aspect. In recent years, Indonesia realized the importance of sustainable development, they are trying to fulfill sustainable agricultural development.

According to the Human Development Index (HDI) 2011, Rwanda had been selected as one of low HDI countries. Those low HDI countries like Nepal, Haiti, or Congo, have been suffering from inequality and low wages that make almost impossible to make living. Despite of the fact that they are in serious situation, Rwanda has been making progress for the nation. There are lots of constructions going on and development sector runs pretty busy to improve the nation. Therefore, demanding of real estates has been going up. In addition, there are the matters of importing the construction materials to the country. It is pretty complex situation that one side wants to develop in the sense of constructing buildings; however, the other side speaks out that governments in the East African bloc should provide incentives for manufacturers in order to produce finishing materials like flooring or ceilings.  The thing that the country is eager to grow and have better situation allows people to keep moving forward.

http://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/east-africa/2016/02/09/growing-rwanda-construction-sector/

I live in state college right now, but my home country is South Korea. These two case studies have some similarity and difference at the same time. South Korea also eat rice as a staple as Indonesia, as a Indonesia our government also control the agricultural industry but not like Indonesia. We don’t provide pesticides or land to farmer and suggest sustainable development. Rice paddy is reducing in Korea these days. It is because of development of building and construction. As I stated in second paragraph, Rwanda also developing the construction but the difference between two countries is Rwanda is a developing country so they are starting to construct new buildings and they have more available space than South Korea. Because of concentration on city, people trying to construct building in limited space resulting land scraper. I learned that development is not always good thing. Because I’m from small town I always wanted to live in big city with various facilities, but there are benefits from rural area. The most important thing is balance between development, sustainability and environment.

1) The first case study I chose to write about comes from a paper reviewed by Colby College on the topic of air and water pollution in Indonesia. Over the past twenty years, the Indonesian economy has been one of the fastest growing economies throughout all of Asia. Although still considered a developing country, more jobs have become available, income has doubled, and poverty has fallen over the past couple of decades. While this is great for the country to have had huge strides in development, many factories are not up to the environmental code. Attempts have been made as early as the 1980s to improve conditions through the use of agencies like BAPEDAL (established 1989) to lead many of the environmental stability programs combating factory pollution. It wasn’t until 1993 when BEPEDAL’s Program for Pollution Control, Evaluation and Rating, (PROPER) issued a color coded system to evaluate where certain facilities’ pollution levels; black (no effort), red (some effort), blue (satisfying the requirements), green (above the requirements), and gold (exceptionally good) that change started to occur. These ratings were made public and since then pollution levels have declined.

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/air-ind.html

2) This next case study I am going to discuss comes from United Nations Environment Program being studied in China; specifically about the pollution of the Huangpu River that flows through the heart of Shanghai. Around the 1980s the Haungpu River started having major problems with pollution from industrial zones and domestic sewage. This became a major problem for the 13 million people that the river supplied water for. Eventually the Shanghai Environment
Project Office devised a plan to construct a pipe that ran underneath the river to carry the waste-water to the other side the Pudong Area for pre-treatment with screening. The project costed around $200 million which was mostly supplied for by the World Bank. It was completed in 1993 and has proven to be a success. It recovered the ecological systems of the Huangpu River, improved drinking water quality, and eliminated the unsanitary conditions in the river.

Click to access wpccasestudy2.pdf

3)  I am from Pennsylvania and over the years, fracking has become an increasingly problematic issue. Fracking has been found to contaminate ground water with methane, ethane, and chlorides. These toxic chemicals make it dangerous for anyone living in an area affected by Fracking who own wells. Like the previous two case studies I’ve looked at, this is another issue of environmental pollution. There have been governmental policies put in place in the interest of Fracking but many of the processes of developing these policies come from looking at global development and how these types of issues have been solved throughout the world. I think it’s important to see how the quality of living overall has improved once these regulations and policies have been put in place in order to expedite the process in our own country. We can see how important the environment is and what it means for us to set up a sustainable future by looking at what it has done for other parts of the world.

My first case study can be found at http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/aqua-ecua.html.

Ecuador is one of the largest producers of shrimp. In the 1980’s shrimp production in Ecuador rose by 600%. The high demand caused mariculturists to clear more and more of mangrove forests to create ponds to hold the shrimp. The extreme increase in the number of ponds solved the current high demand problem, but cannot be considered sustainable development. Sustainable development would meet the needs of the present without compromising the future, but this is not true for this case study. Creating so many new ponds also meant clearing a substantial amount of mangrove trees. Mangrove trees are an important necessity to the shrimp as well as other marine life. They produce a nutrient rich environment and offer protection from predators. The decrease in mangrove forests has greatly decreased the supply of shrimp in today’s generation. Only ½ of the ponds are being utilized in today. Due to this unsustainable development, Ecuadorean mariculturists are now paying a high price for the diminished shrimp supply.

My second case study can be found at http://www.pbs.org/emptyoceans/fts/salmon/casestudy.html

Although there is no specific location, it refers to farm raising salmon in places such as British Columbia and Chile. The majority of salmon products sold in stores and restaurants in the U.S. come from farm-raised salmon. Farming salmon is a cheap way to produce a substantial amount of fish in quick time to meet high demands. Salmon farming uses open, net-cages, where high densities of salmon are stocked to maximize profit.. Most salmon farms are located in areas where wild salmon also live. Because of this, many problems have occurred that are harming the wild salmon population. Large numbers of farmed fish are often escaping their net cages and out-competing the native salmon for survival. Another major issue is disease. Due to the high densities of fish in the net cages, ill conditions are created where contagious diseases, infestations, and parasites are able to be spread to native salmon. Again, this is another example of unsustainable development where an apparent productive creation is in actuality inhibiting future generations of wild salmon populations.

Both of these cases relate to each other in the sense they both deal with aquaculture. I had the opportunity to spend a few months living in Charleston, South Carolina two years ago. Although both of these cases refer to places other than South Carolina they can definitely relate. South Carolina has a large aquaculture industry. While there is aquaculture for shrimp there is not specifically for salmon, but other types of fish which have similar trends. I feel as though aquaculture is always developing to become more efficient and to make more profit. Both of these cases can be looked at as guide to achieve sustainable development. Both case studies show how disrupting the environment can negatively impact the future. Creating more ponds temporarily fixed the high demand for shrimp, but ultimately damaged the population. Fish farming has now been seen to be damaging to native populations of fish. By looking at these case studies we can better understand how easily environmental disruptions can have a negative effect on the future in such a short amount of time. In short terms these case studies show “what not to do” and better shape how places high in aquaculture can reach sustainable development rather than unsustainable.

1. I chose my case study from IRIN News found at http://www.irinnews.org/node/255769. This study examines the potential environmental and human health issues brought on by a melting glacier in combination with mine tailing ponds. Located in Kyrgyzstan is the biggest open pit mine in Central Asia. The majority of the mine belongs to Canada’s Centerra Gold which has unfortunately ignored the warning signs of the melting glaciers nearby. While this glacier continues to melt, the water levels rise, which could potentially wipe out a majority of the mine’s tailings pond. If this occurs there will be chemicals such as cyanide mixed into the Kumtor River. This water is frequently used by millions of people for everyday tasks and contamination could be detrimental. This aspect of development demonstrates the negative affects that development can have on surrounding communities, which was discussed in Module 5. This shows how “developed” countries are taking advantage of the people and environment in “undeveloped” countries.

2. For my second case study I chose a piece from GOV.UK found at https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/a-community-built-from-within. This study follows a mother named Conny showing how she is bettering the future for her children through environmental work and receiving money to do so. Located in South Africa many men and women are creating a sustainable and self-sufficient community one day at a time. The UKaid has funded a Community Works Program to help the people of South Africa out of poverty while also creating a more sustainable environment for the future. Conny is currently working on a community project to create a leisure space for children which has given her an increased income to buy food and clothes for her own children. In Module 5 we also learned about sustainable development which is perfectly represented in this case study. We can clearly see an effort to create a sustainable future while also aiding “undeveloped” countries with issues such as poverty.

3. When I lived in Shanghai, China I saw many similarities between the affects of development on Kyrgyzstan. Due to increased pollution brought on by increased population, Shanghai suffered from high water contamination. This contamination rendered the water unusable for human consumption, which is a high possibility for Kyrgyzstan. The community of Shanghai also differed greatly from those in South Africa in their effort for sustainable development. The population of Shanghai seems to show no desire for sustainability and continues to use resources without thought of the future. We learned that it is important to be aware of your environmental surroundings because development can hurt the environment thus hurting human survival. We also learned that sustainable development is both simple and very achievable just as in the case of Conny. Both lessons could potentially help advance development in Shanghai.

Prepared by undergraduate students at Colby College in Maine is a case asking about the causes of deforestation in Brazil and solutions for it; it brings up consequences like biodiversity loss and global warming. In Brazil, tax incentives and rules of land allocation increase demand for farm and ranch land. For example, 80% of income can be non-taxable, which drives up prices, making it hard for the poor to become farmers. Rather, corporations claim ownership and new roads are built to reach these lands. Furthermore, taxes are higher for land that is unused, further encouraging deforestation. This relates to the environmental possibilism we learned about in the chapter. The environment has its constraints, but social conditions determine the culture. It’s the government policies and initiatives that create a divide between the rich and poor, not the environmental conditions; the emphasis is on the freedom of humans to structure the environment.

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/defor-brazil.html

Stimson created a case study exploring Karachi’s water troubles (Karachi is located in Pakistan). A large population of the city does not have access to clean water. Therefore, they have to buy water from private companies for much higher prices than what the municipals charge. This situation is not expected to improve either since “52.8 million people in Pakistan will lack access to safe drinking water by 2015 without significant action.” The case declares that the future of the drinking supply depends on the governance at the sub-district level. This case relates to the developed versus developing nations that we learned about in class. Pakistan is one of the developing countries in the world and suffers from a lack of resources like water and electricity.

Click to access Karachi_Case_Study.pdf

I currently live in eastern Pennsylvania, a state named after its supply of trees. Therefore, it deals with deforestation similar to the Brazil case. Pennsylvania also has pipelines for gas, and these are now being built deep in forests. Both Brazil and Pennsylvania encourage deforestation for “beneficial” reasons. Brazil’s benefit is farms (food, economy), and Pennsylvania’s benefit is gas (energy, economy). On the other hand, while Karachi is suffering from low water supply, Pennsylvania citizens have plenty of access to clean water (springs, Lehigh River) as I learned in a previous chapter activity. Most of my community drinks straight from the tap. When it’s unsafe, we are warned not to drink tap water until the issue is taken care of. It is important to be aware of the time and place; although the state is woody, the decline in trees over time should be noticeable. Also, we should compare the water safety now and predict any future threats with global warming and excessive human demand of resources.

How does Mendoza’s water system fare with external market factors?

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/wat-arg.html

This case is from Colby, and takes place in Mendoza, Argentina. The goals for development are centered on resolving the poor irrigation system in Argentina and Latin America. During the Spanish colonization of Latin America in the 1500’s, they implemented their own water system, destroying the existing system of the indigenous people. The Spanish had systems that worked well for the terrain and climate, but not for Latin America. Rainfall in the area depends on the season, and poor irrigation systems are the reason for draught and inconsistent water flow. The poor economy of Argentina is another factor that makes finding a solution difficult. A factor of development in the module was the importance of agriculture in the development of a nation. Latin America was one of the civilizations where agriculture originated, and water is one of the most important elements there. If water cannot be properly dispersed to the country, there will be low harvests, famine, and death. This will ultimately hurt the country’s economic and social development, also discussed in the module.

Reducing Child Mortality Through Vitamin A in Nepal

http://www.cgdev.org/page/case-4-reducing-child-mortality-through-vitamin-nepal

This case is from the CGDEV (center for global development), and takes place in Nepal. The goals for development are reducing child mortality by administering doses of Vitamin A to improve their immune systems. Almost 21% of children in developing nations under the age of 5 suffer form Vitamin A deficiency, and in 1993 the government of Nepal initiated this program. Biannual doses were given to the study candidates, and it was found to decrease the risk of death by 50%. As discussed in Module 5, the development of nation is dependent of the health and development of it’s citizens. Improving mortality rates is the most important factor for a developing nation, as there is a need for a growing middle class and workforce. As mortality rate decrease and the middle class grows, the GPD, another factor of development will rise. This will help Nepal to grow and become an international trade partner, and global power.

My home- Hershey, PA

Water Management in Argentina: While there are not generally water management issues in my hometown, I can only imagine what it would be like if there were. Agriculture and farming are huge industries in Hershey, PA, and extremely water dependent. Inefficient water supply would cripple the local economy, and hurt our economic development. From this case, we can learn about the importance of efficient water management, and sustainable use of water in agriculture industries.

Child Mortality in Nepal: Child mortality is not an issue in Hershey, or anywhere in the United States. This is a common trait of developing nations, but the effects are often felt in neighboring countries where it is an issue. We are fortunate to have developed neighboring countries, although there have been issue with Mexico, and their labor force affecting the US labor market. The place- a developing nation, and the time- the early stages of social development are very important in this case to understand how nations develop, and what can be done to improve them.

Both case studies I examined come from the Colby database. The first is located here and concerns aquaculture. That is, it concerns the farming and fishing of salmon to create a long-run equilibrium between fishermen and ranchers supply of fish as it relates to the price of fish. The goal of farm-raising salmon is to create a population surplus that both fishermen and rancher may draw from with the end use of regulation of the price of fish. What I found ingenious is ranchers using the natural instinct of salmon to their advantage. The salmon that are farm-raised spend little of their lives in control of the rancher. They are released and then return to spawn, leaving the rancher with exponential salmon population growth and the possibility for surplus. This development and regulation of salmon population is an environmental and economic good.

The second case study can be found here and examines the actions taken by the state of California in response to the 1987-1992 California Drought. A ‘shortage’ of water in this case means less water per capita than average, so everyone still has access to it, but because there is less, the price of water goes up. The action of the state was to create emergency water institutions (reserves) and a committee that would prioritize water use in a drought. The environmental good in this revolves around an anthropocentric perspective, allowing for human water consumption to be top priority should the need arise. In the past three years (2012-2015) California has experienced a similar, even more dire drought, with most of their freshwater reserves, some of which were established in the case study, drying up gradually from year to year.

There are three main sources for freshwater for any geographic region: rainfall/snowmelt, surface water, and ground water. In Southern California (where I used to live) especially, the climate and geography differs from central Pennsylvania (where I currently live) in that the mountain range does not receive enough snowfall to provide a refresher to the water supply each year. In Central Pennsylvania there is little concern for the amount of water being enough to sustain both the environment and humanity within the region. Also, I tend to avoid eating fish far from the coast because I am unsure of the means by which the eatery acquired the fish and moreso if the condition of the fish farm that fish was raised in. Of course there are rivers in central PA that breed fish, but with aquacultured fish farms, the quality of fish would improve and lower the price in restaurants, I believe.

1. My first post is from the WBCSD – business solutions for a sustainable world (http://www.wbcsd.org/Pages/EDocument/EDocumentDetails.aspx?ID=15688&NoSearchContextKey=true).  The study I chose is about solutions landscape for Kobe, Japan.  Kobe is the fifth-largest city in Japan and it faces economic, environmental and social challenges.  However, it is trying to achieve a sustainable community development and to preserve their natural environment.  This case ties in with this module with the idea of sustainable development.  From my understanding, Kobe is trying to become more eco-friendly by reducing emissions, promoting improvements in energy efficiency, expanding the use of renewable energy, and local energy management systems.  This ties into the fact that sustainable development is defined that is is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.  Kobe’s objective is to help the currently aging population, and hopefully a better place for future generations.
2. My second post is from SATREPS – for the earth, for the next generation (http://www.jst.go.jp/global/english/case/environment_energy_5.html).  The study I chose is about developing scenarios for low-carbon societies.  This study is using Malaysia as a model.  Malaysia is currently undergoing rapid economic development.  They are trying to come up with a plan to help achieve both a low-carbon society and economic development country, while managing the rising climate change issues.  I believe this also ties into the concept of sustainable development because this study is trying to make a better place for future generations.  Trying to create a low-carbon society would mean that they are likely to attempt reduce emissions.  This then in turn leads to more use for renewable energy.
3. The two cases above is similar to what the US is trying to accomplish now.  We are trying to find ways to make renewable energy better or more useful.  They are also similar because we are all trying to manage the effects of climate change.  By trying to find ways to reduce emissions the two cases and the US are trying to develop plans to help better the lives of future generations.  Some differences is that even though we are targeting the same issue, we are also at the same time not.  For instance, in Kobe, their focus is also at the current generation and in Malaysia they want to help reduce the greenhouse gas emission and avoid the risk of various natural disasters.  I believe it is important to examine place and time because by studying how the effects are affecting us now and in the past we can start predicting how elements will effect the future and we can think of ways to mediate it.

Hi guys,

My first case study is one concerning Ethiopia. This case study is about the current drought in Ethiopia. This drought is the worst drought Ethiopia has experienced in 50 years. Ethiopia is currently the second most populous country in Africa. They have lost 50-90% of their crop production due to the El Nino causing them to get dry wind from the Sahara Desert. Ethiopia is not going to get any rain until the El Nino disturbance in normal wind flow stops. The El Nino is projected to last at least until the beginning of the summer (though this particular El Nino is stronger than any on record). Despite the need for help, Ethiopia’s aid deadline is about to run out and Ethiopian government officials are asking for more monetary donations to provide food for their citizens. Ethiopia is a quickly developing country (if we were watching the Ted Talks by Hans Rosling, we would see it moving toward higher life expectancy very rapidly), but its development is almost entirely agricultural based. With the El Nino, Ethiopia has lost most of its progress and now can only support a small margin of its population without help. To overcome this issue, Ethiopia is investing all available resources to help with sustaining what little agriculture is left and prepare to help accelerate agriculture after the El Nino is over and this growing season starts. They simply need some help to sustain them until they are able to start in the next growing season. Read more at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201602101046.html. I found even more information at: http://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/fao-ethiopia-el-ni-o-response-plan-2016.

AIDS have been a problem for many years in parts of Africa, but it has also been a growing problem in Thailand. This case study describes the new conditions of AIDS in Thailand, and how they are dealing with it. Many statistics on AIDS in Africa show how problematic this virus can be. They estimate the life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa would rise 15 years if AIDS did not plague this area. In Thailand, a 1989-1991 study has found the proportion of (male) prostitutes with AIDS in Thailand had gone from 2.5% to 21.6% in the two years of this study. The proportion of men tested for AIDS during conscription went from .5% to 3% in this same time period. I believe this problem is caused by a correlation that was not well highlighted the health disparities reading assignment in this chapter: the correlation between education and disease. I do not know much about the education in Thailand in the 70s and 90s, but disease and sickness tends to be more easily prevented with higher education about sickness and disease. This is wrapped up in the intervention of the Thai government: the Thai government began educating the public on STIs, providing more public tests for STIs, and providing free condoms. The police began going to sex establishment owners of men that were being treated for AIDS to educate them about AIDS. Read more at: http://www.cgdev.org/page/case-2-preventing-hiv-and-sexually-transmitted-infections-thailand.

The first case is very similar to the Dust Bowl in the ‘30s. The United States used to be a primarily agricultural country. Much of our development was based on agriculture at this time. The weather (and our poor farming practices) caused a large setback in our development and a large hit to our population’s food security. Two main differences between these two situations are that we still had usable land in our country to rely on where Ethiopians do not, and to a large degree, Ethiopia has been able to avoid deaths through proper allocation of resources and receiving help from other countries and organizations. The second case study reminds me of growing up in Hagerstown, Maryland. Hagerstown used to have an enormous underage sex problem causing rapid spread of STIs. This inspired a push towards education to prevent these things. Some years later, when I was in primary school, I had to take a sex ed. Class every year to learn about sexually transmitted diseases and such topics. This has had large impacts on our city. The primary difference between these two developments is that Hagerstown relied on a long-term method where Thailand officials were more aggressive with short-term methods (going directly to the people in charge of prostitution, and giving out free condoms to everyone).

 – Ralph Diaz

The first case study I chose was the air quality control that the United States first implemented in 1970 through enacting the Clean Air Act (CAA). I retrieved this case study through the Colby – Sustainable Development link that was provided on the course site, and the topic can be found here: http://bit.ly/1Q9JKWS. This case studies essentially focuses on the improvement of air quality across the contiguous United States, of which it was a major problem until the CAA was initiated. Through a few amendments of the act, the most prominent amendment in 1990, the reduction of hazardous air quality increased ten fold. For example, vehicles used to use gasoline that was lead based, which was extremely dangerous for human health. The underlying issue of this act was the overall cost; however, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that the cost of controlling air quality will far outweigh the result of the improvement of human health, such as the reduction for risk of cardiopulmonary symptoms among population.

My second case study that I looked up was/is the air pollution crisis ongoing in China, particularly in Beijing, China. I found the study from a well written article by the New York Times, and it can be found here: http://nyti.ms/1Nv4BRY. On an annual basis, the fatality rates from dangerous air quality in China is a staggering 1.6 million deaths. Given the lack of air quality standards in China, nearly one half of the Chinese population experiences air quality that is in the unhealthy range in the U.S. (Air Quality Index: http://bit.ly/1T2gqFk). Scientific research analyzed that Beijing was not the centroid of the pollution; rather, areas hundreds of miles away where energy production occurs, such as coal, results in the poor air quality. Measures are being taken to clean the air, and the Chinese government is now releasing the data to the public in efforts to clean the air. General public involvement will aid in the short term and long term improvements of air quality in China.

Living in State College, our air is very clean. Given our geospatial location between the I-95 corridor from Washington D.C. to Philadelphia to our east, and Pittsburgh to our west, very seldom do we have air quality above the moderate range. Upwind transport of air from various geographic locations is usually always clean, and the State College area is not a hub for releasing pollutants into the troposphere. Think about it. Our public transportation system uses buses that operate off natural gas, a cleaner source than unleaded gasoline or diesel fuel. And, the university has heavy involvement in environmental care and improvement. Back in 1948, Donora, Pennsylvania, had a catastrophic air quality disaster due to a stagnant air pattern that caused pollution from steel to set into the valley. Since the CAA, and more recently since 2010, the area has not had an unhealthy air quality day since. Air quality regulation in the U.S. has had significant impacts on making the air cleaner, particularly areas such as State College that are encased around mountain ranges.

First Case Study: http://www.irinnews.org/node/255779

My first case study takes place in Sri Lanka where the cycle of floods and droughts has been worsening. They are planning a $675 million project which would enable the use of heavy rainfall for irrigation during dry periods and generating electricity. This includes constructing two new reservoirs and 260 kilometers of canals across Sri Lanka’s “dry zone” with some of these canals funneling water into hydropower dams to generate electricity. The Asian Development Bank is financing this project with $453 million while the rest is being funded by the Sri Lankan government and other donors. Construction began this February and the goal is to complete the project by 2024. This project enables the area to retain more of the rainfall rather than it being washed out to sea and it will use this water to irrigate 350,000 acres of new agricultural land. The reason this is important is because in the past 50 years rainfall in this area has fallen by 7 percent while the average temperature has been increasing by 0.2 degrees Celsius every decade. The reservoirs overflow causing floods and do not hold enough water to make up for the droughts. Therefore, updating the reservoir system will help the people adapt to the changing weather. This relates to the concept of sustainable development and agriculture being a starting point for development. Sri Lanka is trying to improve agricultural conditions and is doing so in a sustainable way by using heavy rainfall through irrigation systems and conserving the water for future droughts.

Second Case Study: http://www.lafarge.com/en/greece-a-partnership-reuse-waste-water-our-industrial-process

My second case study takes place in Greece where Lafarge, a french industrial company that specializes in cement, construction aggregates, and concrete, runs a Volos cement plant. Lafarge has set up a partnership with a local drinks company in order to reduce the use of groundwater for their cooling operations. The plant uses the drink company’s wastewater through a pipe directly into their conditioning tower which has provided the plant around 30,000 m³ of water every year. This solution has also prevented the wastewater from being disposed into the sea creating an environmentally friendly alternative. This relates to sustainable development because the wastewater is being used to help run another business that helps with infrastructure while not polluting the sea which improves the quality of sea life.

I live in the Los Angeles area which definitely has issues surrounding water. Although we do not get much rain like Sri Lanka, the rain we get causes mudslides on the hills and mountains. I believe we can learn from Sri Lanka’s project to prevent mudslides and conserve the little rainfall we get to help during our drought. If we update and add new canals in the appropriate areas according to the structure of the mountains and hills I believe we could prevent homes from being ruined and conserve more water. Although this might be an expensive project for such little rainfall, it would be beneficial in the long run. Much like the case study in Greece, Los Angeles also has a water recycling program in the Sanitation Districts and it is one of the largest wastewater recycling programs in the world. Both Greece and California are bordered by the sea so both have an interest in recycling wastewater to keep as much as they can out of the sea.

Article 1: Regulation on transportation in central London city proves to be effective in reducing traffic congestion. This case study on sustainable traffic improvement in central area of London, United Kingdom is drawn from ‘Colby – Sustainable Development’ by Caroline Allison from Colby College. The city government levies a license system for private cars travelling in and out of central London. The price for the license is charged on daily basis and the results for this action is a 33% decrease in trips of private vehicles and an increase on usage of public transportation. Though the primary goal for this development is to decrease the level of traffic congestion in central London, other benign effects were also achieved. More people got out of their own cars and shift to public transportation, as well as shaping a better image of London for tourists. The idea of ‘end use’ is best explained here. London is seen here to have a higher end use, as there is positive government revenue generated and better city image.

Source: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/Allison.htm

Article 2: Transmilenio project improved transportation condition in Bogota, Columbia. This case study talks about the successful development on public transportation in Bogota, Columbia. It is written by Guy, Crawford from IDS. (Institute for Development Studies) The Transmilenio project is mainly powered by a Bus Rapid Transit program as well as improvement in related public transportation infrastructures. The project proves to be affordable and affective in achieving its goals, which is reducing the travel time in, through and out of the city and emission. What’s more, the number of traffic accidents and related fatalities has decreased by 94% along the main roads. With a single ticket system poorer commuters who live in further suburban communities were also able to ride with a uniform fare. This also provides an incentive for people to move out of central city. Though poor people are more likely to live in a less developed location (Development’s downside), the Transmilenio helps them to better commute and have better connection with other parts of city.

Source: https://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/LHcasestudy05-BogotaBRT.pdf

Paragraph 3: London’s and Bogota’s approach in sustainable development in transportation both prove to be effective. These two approaches are based on two different sector of transportation. One is regulation on private car use within central city while the other is about improving the public transportation facilities. From two different approaches they achieved a similar outcome, which is shift people to mass transit, reducing the congestion and emission and shaping a better city image. I used to live in Beijing, China, which has a different approach in reducing traffic congestion. This approach is consists of three actions, exceptionally low public transportation fares, plate-end-number regulation on road (license plate with certain last digit were unable to use the roads once a week) and restriction on number of car registrations. Beijing is now largely expanding its metro service coverage as the capability of roads is reaching its limits. In general, all of these approaches prove to be very effective in terms of traffic reduction. An integration of these approaches would help building a better transportation system in urban areas.

The first case study that I chose was based out of Singapore. I found this case study through the Colby-Sustainable Development link provided. This study focuses on trying to reduce traffic congestion which was causes reduced speeds and environmental problems. The government implemented a few tactics in attempts to alleviate this issue. They first increased taxes on buying cars along with anything that needed to be purchased to use the car. They then improved public transportation to try and encourage people to utilize it more. The roads in Singapore were also improved to be able to better accommodate the traffic. The final method that was implemented was to control the amount of people on the roads during certain times. People could not drive on certain roads during the times of 7:30-9:30 unless they paid a monthly or yearly fee to obtain a certain license to do so. This case study shows how too much development is negatively impacting Singapore and new development needs to be implemented to fix what has been done.

Here’s a link to the first case study: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/air-sing.html 

The second case study that I chose was based out of Mexico City, Mexico. I found this case study on IDRC, the International Development Research Centre. This case study focuses on the ever increasing air pollution problem that is facing the city. The rapid increase in population and individual transportation is causing a surge in an already extremely polluted area. The pollutants in the air are causing the people of Mexico many different health problems that are causing respiratory issues and shorter lifespans. Air quality improvement projects are being implemented all over Mexico City. They are heavily relying on community involvement, they want to have the people of the communities be better informed on what they can do to positively impact the environment instead of blindly continuing to destroy it. This connects to the module because it is showing that development in Mexico is reducing health and quality of life.

Here’s a link to the second case study: http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Resources/Publications/Pages/ArticleDetails.aspx?PublicationID=567

I live in State College, we have free public transportation for students around campus and cheap public transportation for around state college. Having transportation readily available, decreases the needs for students to have a car at school. Although many people have their own cars here, they are not used as much if they are going to places around campus. Another system that is used for controlling traffic congestion that could be implemented in Singapore is the dot system that is on the roads as markers to show drivers how far apart they should be behind the car in front of them while they drive. I think that by implementing a system like this in Singapore, they would have less accidents and traffic would flow more smoothly. A major difference between where I live and the places that I read the case studies on was that pollution is not a major problem here like it is in Singapore and Mexico City.   Time matters because depending on when development is happening, population can make an enormous impact.

1. The location of this case study takes place within Ireland and it focuses on solid waste management with plastic bags.  The link to this website is http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/litter.htm.  The goal contained in this development was to help keep the ‘green image’ of Ireland.  The problem that they faced was that too many plastic bags were being left within the environment as litter. To try and solve this, the government made retailers pay for plastic bags which made them charge the customers for them.  With doing this, the customers began to buy and reuse cloth bags each time which lead to a decrease in the litter of plastic bags by about 95%.  This relates to the module in that it is a good solution towards obtaining sustainable development.  The governments reaction in Ireland not only reduced plastic bag litter by 95%, but made the people more involved to change their ways not only in a short-term, but in a long-term manner.
2. The location of this case study takes place within Japan and neighboring Asia countries.  It focuses on air pollution and acid rain.  The link to this website is http://www.kwanga.net/chemnotes/case-study-3.pdf.  This study focuses on how acid rain negatively affects the world’s environment.  There are laws putting regulations on emissions of hazardous gases from factories and automobiles but the problem is that these laws aren’t being enforced.  Asian countries are big producers of toxins as they use coal burning machines.  These toxins threaten forests, air, water, and people’s health.  Japan has been financing projects for China as well to set up systems to collect data to fix environmental problems across East Asia.  In reading this study, it reminded me of the video within Module 5 that pertained to “how the west dump electronic waste in Africa and India”.  When burning the items, toxins are released just like a coal burning machine.  Yes, the electronic waste is more hazardous, but they both ruin the environment and people’s health.
3. The location for my comparison is Barnesville, PA, as this is where I live.  I travel the same roads daily and see many plastic bags among the litter on the sides of the road.  Some stores have bins that you can return the plastic bags for recycling while others offer reusable bags for a small fee.  I recently shopped in a store where there were no bags.  These solutions help somewhat with the plastic bag problem but not to the extent of a 95% improvement.  I think the charge for plastic bags would be a great solution in my area.  The second case study showed how coal burning machines affect the environment negatively in contributing to acid rain.  I found this study interesting as I live in the coal region.  I never realized how the toxins released from coal burning had such an adverse reaction.  It is important to examine geographic place and time as different areas are subjected to different situations that affect the environment.  Knowing what influences your area can make you more knowledgeable in your decisions so you can preserve your environment for future generations.

1. Extreme Hunger in South Sudan

http://www.irinnews.org/node/256047

This case study is on the famine situation in South Sudan. This article states that, “South Sudan is in total free-fall and the world doesn’t care because South Sudanese refugees are not washing up on the shores of Europe.” According to the map of countries color-coded there is data for GDP and life expectancy but none for whether South Sudan is under-nourished or not. This is what the article is talking about – no one knows there is extreme hunger in South Sudan because it does not affect them. The goals of the development is to spread awareness of this hunger so there can be something done about it. There are studies showing the 40,000 people in a catastrophic state as well as an additional 2.79 million people in a crisis or emergency state. Through my learning during this module, I suggest this may be because South Sudan is currently in civil war, causing negative health effects to its people since they are living in a state where their natural resources are being depleted for the war rather than used resourcefully for living.

2. Reducing Child Mortality Through Vitamin A in Nepal

http://www.cgdev.org/page/case-4-reducing-child-mortality-through-vitamin-nepal

This case study looks at the child mortality rate in Nepal. Vitamin A deficiency affects 21% of developing world’s preschool-aged children and also leads to the death of over 800,000 women and children every year. It is responsible for measles, diarrhea, and malaria for ¼ of child mortality. In order to combat this, Nepal initiated the National Vitamin A Program, which allowed for children to receive yearly supplements of vitamin A capsules. The goal was to combat child mortality caused by vitamin A deficiency. This relates to the development area of life expectancy. Other developing countries can take into account the actions of Nepal and look towards raising their life expectancy by providing vitamin A capsules. Rosling shows that countries like Turkey, Poland, Russia, and Pakistan have higher child mortality rates than countries expected to have a high mortality rate. Perhaps these countries could take example of Nepal in order to combat part of their child mortality rate, which is likely to be caused by Vitamin A deficiency.

3. Vietnam vs Case Studies

When looking at both studies, relationships that can be made to a place I used to temporarily live in the summer, Vietnam. Like Nepal, Vietnam is also located in Asia and can have a climate relatable to South Sudan. In Vietnam, vitamin deficiencies are high and are the reasons 1/3 of young children are stunted. Vietnam has a food safety crisis, but would not be considered a hungry country like Sudan. However, during my time in Vietnam, it was very different from America because in the capital, there were literally homeless people grabbing at your legs begging for food or money. They were starved to the bone and visibly malnourished. From the case studies, Vietnam could also implement a program to provide vitamins to their children so there is a healthier lifestyle and growth for them. Though Vietnam has had great economic development recently, many do not consider it a developing country due to this, but from my own experience, there is a lot can be done to fix the homeless and hungry situation there, such as spreading awareness that this is something happening nearly everywhere in Vietnam.

I chose the case study: Union Carbide Gas Release in Bhopal, India (http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/lopatin.html) . A company called Union Carbide set up a manufacturing plant in Bhopal, India where they produced the chemical methyl isocyanate. Large amounts of water reacted with the chemical, which was subsequently released as a gas into the atmosphere and killed/injured many people in the city. The citizens were not able to receive adequate compensation from the settlement between the company and the government and the company’s stocks were not impacted. In this case, the goals of the development were probably to increase the revenue of the company, which in turn had major negative implications on the people that lived in the city of Bhopal. This case study demonstrates the negative impacts that improperly applied development might have on the developing nations of the world. I believe that in a developed country, this issue would have never happened due to the regulations that would have been imposed on the company, and the manipulation of the company in court would not have occurred.

The second case study I chose was the article “Chernobyl: Could It Happen Here?” (http://www.mhhe.com/Enviro-Sci/CaseStudyLibrary/Topic-Based/CaseStudy_Chernobyl.pdf).  This case study outlines the 1986 nuclear meltdown that occurred in the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine. The meltdown was the result of unchecked hazardous experimentation that destabilized the reactor and resulted in a huge explosion that spread massive amounts of radioactive material over large areas of the former USSR and Europe. Many people died due to acute toxicity due to radiation, and many people experienced long term suffering and death due to the radioactive particulate. Still to this day Chernobyl is unable to be occupied due to the large amounts of radiation, and will not be able to be occupied for many years. This is due to the improper implementation of technologies that were used in the development of the USSR. The initial goals of the nuclear reactor were to bring sustainable power to the areas and the country, but the unregulated use of the power plant resulted in catastrophic failure for the plant and had widespread deleterious effects for the inhabitants of the city, and for millions of people in Europe.

I live in Rockland County, New York, which is located approximately 30 miles from New York City. These case studies which I have presented remind me of the waste treatment plant that is located in West Harlem which begins at the top of Manhattan and can be smelled when traveling down the West Side Highway. For many miles around the plant, you can smell the noxious fumes that come from the plant. I believe that these case studies relate to this issue because, likewise in the 2 case studies, this waste treatment facility was built to develop the area and provide a clean environment for the entire city. However, the improper implementation of this technology has created the problem for the residents surrounding the facility and needs to be taken care of to prevent harmful effects on the residents. What we can learn from these case studies is that implementation of these technologies for development needs to be scrutinized severely and constantly to prevent major damage that could happen to the surrounding communities.

The first case study I examined was published on the University of Michigan’s website in the Environmental Justice Case Studies section. It can be found here: http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/parker.html. It focused on land belonging to two Native American tribes being threatened by a local mining company. The case study investigates the history of the tribes and their ownership of the reservation land, as well as the lawfulness of the mining company encroaching. The mining company mining in their land could threaten the local water supply, which would have bad effects on quality of life and agricultural/livestock output.

The second case study I examined was published in the Development Progress report from the Overseas Development Institute. It can be found here: http://www.developmentprogress.org/publication/thailands-progress-agriculture-transition-and-sustained-productivity-growth.This case study focused on the agricultural development of Thailand and the subsequent effects the success of specialized farming has had on its economy and population. The increased production of a variety of specialized crops has increased the nations GDP, and farmers are directly benefitting from it. As well as financial gain, the population now has access to an abundance of healthy food, increasing their quality of life. The increase in farming and its rewards have done great things for the development of the country of Thailand.

Compared to my situation, the issue that the Indian tribes face is unfamiliar to me. While there are a couple of quarries in some towns close to mine, I have never felt affected by them or heard anything about contamination of our water supply. As for the Thailand case study, a comparison is a little more feasible. Since my hometown is in an area of Pennsylvania renowned for its soils fertility, I am well aware of the perks of agriculture. My area has long been a strong producer of crops and I can often buy locally grown fresh organic fruit and vegetables. This increases my quality of life and consuming the fresh food prolongs my life expectancy. Additionally, the income earned from farming is more than enough to keep the local economy sustained.

First case study: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/defor-costa.html

Costa Rica has one of the highest deforestation rates in the Americas due to loss of cultural diversity, biodiversity, and carbon storage capacity. 89% of the country is not a National Park, so it is unprotected. Therefore, it was said that by 2010, all of the rainforests or at least 89% of them would be gone. Wood is definitely of high value and is used in so many different ways, so this natural resource would not be good and would cause so many other problems for the environment. It causes issues with animals and their habitats, the landscape, and the air quality. The quality of life basically goes down because of deforestation and it just happens to be happening quicker in Costa Rica.

Second case study: http://www.irinnews.org/report/83508/afghanistan-deforestation-marches

Nangarhar, a province in Afghanistan, has lost 90% of its forests since 1989. Because of this deforestation, the ecosystem has been severely damaged because of it. In 2006, the president banned tree-felling, but yet, deforestation still occurs, illegally. Also due to deforestation, it has created landslides, flash floods, and even droughts. Afghanistan is one of the least developed countries in the world, and does not have the sufficient resources or institutional means to ensure that deforestation won’t occur or that forests will be better managed. This relates to the module, as well as the previous paragraph because it is an example of how development in different countries has negative impacts on the environment.

Where my hometown is, King of Prussia, there have been so many new stores built, and so many trees cut down. Through the development of all of these new stores, we have lost so much land. Just like in Costa Rica and Afghanistan, the chopping of trees happens for numerous reasons but effects the environment we live in. My hometown is super busy now, and there aren’t really a lot of parks, only Valley Forge National Park. That is protected unlike the ones that get cut down. It is so hard, especially in this time period where everyone wants new things and to be more advanced, but then it negatively effects the environment. Unfortunately, no one can really control it because there are no laws that state that people can’t cut down trees.

The first case study I chose was done in Indonesia. The source of the information comes from “Cash Crops, Foods Crops, and Sustainability: The Case of Indonesia. This case study focuses on how Indonesia’s desire for food sufficiency in rice compromised its ability to address the issue of sustainable agriculture. Agriculture in Indonesia has been primarily concerned with self-sufficiency. Unfortunately, this goal came at a cost of unsustainable agriculture development. This program in achieving self-sufficiency had significant external environmental costs such as the depletion of natural resources. This case study relate to the module because it’s an example of how sustainable development can be hard to reach. For sustainable development you need to meet the needs of the present without compromising for the future, which Indonesia failed to do. This article also relates to the development downsides part of the module. Development can increase health and quality while it can also decrease health in quality, which can be seen in this case study. Indonesia achieve self-sufficiency, but failed to consider the environmental impacts.

The second case study I read took place in India. The case study was trying to implement a plan to lessen India’s environmental impact. Current environmental issues they were dealing with were deforestation, soil erosion, and overgrazing. These problems were due to over development of certain parts of India. They called this plan “Empowering People for Sustainable Development”. The main goals of this plan were to set environmental standards, and conserve natural resources. This relates to the module because once again it’s a plan for sustainable development. It’s taking into consideration the needs of the future. It also relates to the module because it’s an example of how there is continuum of development around the world, with no gap in the middle. Another key point in the article that relates to the module is environmental determination. The article talks about how the development in India is focused in certain spots due to the environmental factors. This article talked about how India failed in sustainable development at one time, and what they did to change it.

I live in Pittsburgh where development can be seen every day. An example of unsustainable development happen in my back yard. They were putting in office buildings, but didn’t take into effect the environmental damage they were causing. After these offices were built soil erosion increased drastically. It actually became such a problem that they had to go back and fix. This relates to my case studies because the development was aimed to be a good thing such as Indonesia’s rice development. However, just as in the first case study it appear to have some sustainability kinks. Although, once they realized this would be a problem the developers went back and created a plan to fix the erosion. This relates to the second case study where India knew they had a problem and implemented a plan to fix it. From these case studies we can learn that sustainable development can be hard to achieve, but there’s always improvements. It’s important to examine geography because you don’t want to create an unsustainable development and harm future needs.

Case study 1 http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/ag-ind.html

Case study 2 http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2004/measure_sdsip_india.pdf

My first case study is from IRIN News (http://www.irinnews.org/node/255779) and it discusses how Sri Lanka planning a $675 million dollar project on floods. The project involves capturing rainfall to be used as irrigation as well as generating electricity. Reservoirs will be built across Sri Lanka’s dry zone which is in the northern part of the country and the extra water from those reservoirs will be funneled into hydroelectric dams to produce electricity. Currently, Sri Lanka does not have any infrastructure that allows the country to use rainfall effectively. This project is important because it will help irrigate 350,000 acres and 70 percent of the population in that region is involved in agriculture. It is also important because it will help the country adapt to climate change and help save food and water sources. This type of development is much different than development in a first world country because first world countries normally do not have to worry about their food and water supplies.

My second case study is from Gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/dr-congo-at-50-rebuilding-roads) and it discusses rebuilding roads in DR Congo. The DR Congo has a large main road called Route Nationale 1 that connects its capital Kinshasa with Lubumbashi and a large city, Mbuji Mayi. This road is supposed to connect the country but in reality it is in poor condition and journeys along it take much longer than they should. Lorries will slide off of the road and end up in ravines. It is one of many roads that have deteriorated and need to be rebuilt. The consequences of this is literally a matter of life and death because poor roads force people to take longer or more hazards routes. One woman talks about how the only source of water is a two hour walk down a mountain that is infested with worms. Her brother became sick from this but could not get to a hospital because no ambulance could get there due to the roads and he passed away. A scenario like this is something you would only see in a developing country as developed countries have the means to prevent situations like this.

I’m connecting both of these studies to my hometown of Blue Bell, Pa which is outside Philadelphia. With the case of Sri Lanka, the region of the United States I live in does not have dry zones but could be prone to flooding. Sri Lanka is taking active measures to control flooding and harvest the water and energy from it. Although we have measures to control flooding now, we don’t have anything that could be strong enough to protect us from climate change. Since Blue Bell is fairly close to the Delaware River and the Atlantic ocean, if sea levels were to rise, there is nothing to protect from that. With the case of DR Congo, our roads are maintained but they are constantly under construction. This construction creates traffic jams and prevents us from going about our day to day lives quicker. It could potentially prevent emergency services from reaching a person in need.

Solid Waste Management: Ireland

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/litter.htm

This case study focuses on Ireland’s solid waste management, primarily about the use of plastic bags. This case study talks about the success Ireland has had by creating a levy that limited the use of plastic bags in supermarkets across all of Ireland. The goals Ireland wanted to achieve with this initiative were to decrease around 50% of the use of plastic bags. Within one year they skyrocketed past that 50% and decreased the use of plastic bags up to 95%! This initiative was very successful and other countries like Britain and Australia are interested in creating an initiative just like this one. This levy can relate to this module because now Ireland can save money and use that money for more environmental initiatives or other ways that can help the country further its development. Now that they have decreased the number of bags and the amount of litter in the country Ireland still sustains its tourism factor which in turn will help the country make more money.

Using high quality alternative fuel: Egypt

http://www.lafarge.com/en/egypt-refuse-derived-fuel-feed-our-cement-kilns

This case study if from Egypt where they use municipal waste as an alternative fuel. The goals of this case study are to use the 150,000 tons of waste as an alternative fuel for the cement manufacturing process. This can help Egypt as a whole develop more by using other sources of fuel to progress and do more within the country. While creating this initiative Egypt created over 140 new jobs within the Zabblaleen community and reduce its consumption of fossil fuels. These advances and will help Egypt even more because fossil fuels aren’t going to last forever so the less they use, the longer they can use fossil fuels when needed.

In Long Island, New York (where I live) we have many initiatives just like the rest of the country. One that is similar to one of these case studies is the one with reducing the use of plastic bags. In every supermarket you walk in on Long Island, you have the option to use woven bags over plastic bags. These bags are placed at the entrances of the store so there are visible to the customers to buy and use instead of plastic bags. What New York can learn from this study is that if we promote it even more and make it not worth it money wise to use plastic bags, then maybe the initiative will be more of a success. The initiative in Egypt is different from where I live because I’ve never heard of New York trying to find alternative fuel. Maybe if New York or America as a whole can learn from Egypt and use this study to save fossil fuels and create more jobs.

The case study that I chose was Long Term Sustainable Policies: Sustainable Cities. The city this focused on was Santa Monica, California. Here is a link to the case study: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/sc-ca.html The goals of this development focused on the sustainable development of the city and reworked eleven citywide policies focusing on environmental issues and cost effectiveness of each plan. The overall goal being sustainability, lead the city to identify eleven environmentally damaging targets for policy change, some of these being, storm water, wastewater, education, and energy. The city worked towards long-term goals to completely switch to renewable resources. They worked with energy companies to reduce energy consumption by 16%. The city has adapted three projects to work towards their long-term goal of reducing energy consumption. They are, ENVEST, ICLEI, and EPA’s Green Light Program. These focus on the ability to install energy efficient equipment throughout the buildings in the city. The case study also expresses the need to change education and install programs that work to educate students on the importance of gardening and recycling to prepare for the future.

The second case study I chose was Sustainable City Singapore. The information is from Green Growth Best Practice. It address the need for a country wide sustainable development program. Here is a link to the case study: http://www.ggbp.org/case-studies/singapore/sustainable-city-singapore Recently, Singapore has rapidly commercialized and economically prospered advancing them to become a first world country. Their goal is to pursue a competitive economy while focusing on environmental sustainability. To reach their goals, they launched the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint that sets goals until 2030. Within this blueprint they address policy issues regarding land use, transportation, and many other regulations. One of their initiatives is to also address climate change. So far, Singapore has met their past goals of the Green plan in 2005. They also have met transportation goals by introducing a mass public transit system in an attempt to turn away from private cars. These goals that have been met has made Singapore Asia’s greenest metropolis.

At Penn State University Park, sustainability is a large initiative. The Sustainability Strategic Plan sounds similar to the goals behind the sustainable cities in Santa Monica and Singapore. Penn State has three goals: recognize the need for change, put knowledge to work, and inspire others in the common pursuit. Throughout the campus, initiatives have been put in place, like the intensive recycling projects, conservation efforts, and environmental research. Unlike the sustainable cities, one area that has not been touched on is the importance to decrease personal cars and to stress the importance of limiting energy consumption on a citywide scale. However, on a small scale Penn State does work to limit their energy consumption by composting and having volunteers turn lights off on campus. Living on a campus where environmental possibilism is so evident, it’s important that we have these initiatives in place. With the students being so focused on the need to innovate and to become technologically advanced, we still need to recognize that the environment in which we live needs to be protected despite our human advances.

1. The case study I read was about Ivory trade and Elephant Preservation. Here is the link: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/end-bots.html.  In 1979, the elephant population was about 1.2 million and dropped to 600,000 currently.  This is an example of development’s downsides because it impacted the elephant environment in a negative way.  Even though hunters could make a lot of money selling the ivory and skin, they were killing them off to the point of extinction.  Hunters are illegally poaching these animals because they can make $3,600 for on elephant because of the ivory and skin.  There was a ban on hunting in many African nations, like Zimbabwe and Botswana so they didn’t go extinct.  The amount of elephants killed per year dropped from 3,500 to 50 in just under 15 years!  This helped the development of these elephants because they are now able to reproduce and not decline as quickly.
2. The second case study is about the lobster population decline in Maine. Here’s the link: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/6001/20140423/baby-lobster-population-declining-in-maine-at-alarming-rate-may-prompt-menu-price-hike.htm.  The population of lobsters has declined by 50% since 2007.  This can make the cost of lobsters extremely expensive because they are becoming rare, which goes back to developmental downsides.  This is an environmental injustice because the lobsters are being caught for food and the population is suffering because of us.  However, it does relate back to sustainable development because the lobsters are used for food.  As the article says, with warmer ocean temperatures and catching them for food, the decline is going to just increase more if we don’t do something.  Since 1980, the University of Maine has been tracking the lobster population and has made it public about the sharp decrease.
3. These two cases connect to my hometown of Southampton, PA because we have made preservations for animal population. We have had a decline in the deer, fish, and duck population because so many people were hunting them.  This relates back to both the elephant and lobster case studies because they are all becoming extinct because humans are catching and killing them faster than they can reproduce.  In conclusion, I think we can learn from both articles that there needs to be more restrictions on animal hunting and catching because people are taking advantage and not thinking about the consequences.  Since the United States population is so high, we have such a problem not only in my hometown but all around of decreases in animal population.

1) First topic on development is transportation and location is LA, Southern California area. Here is he web link at Colby University in Maine, from which the study is drawn upon; http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/trans-cal.html. The study relates to the traffic and congestion problems in the LA area. Private developers were granted access to develop a new 2 lane toll lane highway along side the CA. 91 state highway in a private sector attempt for profit, and to reduce traffic apparently in the name of profit. This is seemingly development for profit and people who can only afford such development. In my opinion it is in part unfair to the majority of the populous. The goal here was to lessen traffic and the commute times for commuting motorists. Might they have done better with a multi passenger ans high occupancy (buses) lanes instead?

2) Second topic on development is regarding Vibrant Rural Communities: Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Here is the link for the study done by NADO.org; http://www.nado.org/vibrant-rural-communities-lewistown-pennsylvania/. Local, state, federal and private investors concerned with the communities well being and growth invested strategized and planned a rehabilitation and revitalization for the town which had previously seen better days. They have successfully revitalized the downtown region of the community renovating vacant structures redeveloping former industrial sites transforming a new prosperous downtown. This has benefited the people of the town by way of jobs, tax base and new industry and activity to the region. In my estimation some 50 million dollars have been spent in efforts to redevelop and preserve the town for the people and prosperity.” The study is part of the NADO Research Foundation’s Vibrant Rural Communities SERIES OF CASE STUDIES which describes how rural regions and small towns across the country are growing local and regional economies and creating stronger communities”. This is all relevant and inclusive of this weeks topic(s) of development.” http://www.nado.org/vibrant-rural-communities-lewistown-pennsylvania/

3) Where I currently live in Asheville North Carolina, both subjects above are most relevant and applicable in the areas of Development. As of recently (in the last 10 years) and more increasingly the Asheville area has seen quite a bit of this type of renewal activity on a larger scale however than Lewistion, Penna. has undergone. Many millions of dollars have been spent and plan to be spent on revitalizing the area. Projects include rehabilitation of structures new building, new hotels among others. This relating to all areas of more development and prosperous community. Also in the very near future the community will undoubtedly have to consider widening and expanding certain roadways that are now already under served and outdated. A great deal has been done in Asheville and there is a long way to go. Conservatives in the state will still undoubtedly try to block sending tax dollars to the area for progress and expansion of the area. This is a huge problem for lack of development in the south and south eastern states. Asheville however has and will continue its expansion with or with out certain portions of what would otherwise e more available tax money blocked by right wing conservatives.

1. The first case study is from the IRIN News from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. This study is about a drought in Somalia and the effects it has on food, money, and migration of people. The drought is forcing livestock to move outward to find food and water to live but there are too many animals eating off of the land. This is resulting in less food for the animals and when they die there is less livestock for people to eat in return. Livestock is one of the few goods in Somalia that is sold for shillings and not dollars. The value of the shilling has decreased in terms of the US dollar so livestock is being sold for way less than it should be resulting in little profit for selling their livestock. Due to food shortages people are being forced to move into towns to try and find food there. This development relates to the idea of environmental possibilism because the environment is affecting the way these people live and the people are changing the environment (exhausting the land) due to these changes.  http://www.irinnews.org/node/255998
2. The second case study I looked at is from the news source Reuters and it is about El Nino creating a drought in the Asian Pacific. It is destroying crops as well as killing their livestock which is very similar to what is going on in my first case study. A concept throughout this study that relates to class is that even though this is in a poor part of the world, humanitarian agencies are stepping in the aid the people. For example, UNICEF is working to help child affected by this especially with their nutrition, health, water, and sanitation. Since there are less crops for people to harvest and eat, another effect of the drought is that less children are going to school because they aren’t being properly fed and able to go to school. Children are greatly impacted by this drought because they are severely malnourished and need immediate attention. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-asiapac-elnino-drought-idUSKCN0V41KE
3. I am from Bucks County, PA which is located in southeastern PA near Philadelphia. The two case studies both deal with a drought somewhere in the world. My hometown and county are currently not in a drought and it doesn’t seem likely that they will be in the near future. I live across the street from a farm that is always thriving and it has never had an issue about having enough crops to harvest and sell. They also have some farm animals but not located to where I can see them and as far as I know they aren’t dying due to lack of food or water. My area is very different compared to Somalia and the Asian Pacific not only because we aren’t in a drought now but also because my town doesn’t rely on selling livestock for a living. However, if something like this were to happen in my hometown I think that it is important to get humanitarian agencies involved in order to resolve the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible.

1.     I’m going to talk about a case study about deforestation in Madagascar. This case study is a perfect example on how development could be good and/or bad. Historically, deforestation began when Madagascar was annexed as a French colony in 1896. The people were not happy with the political agendas going on and the famine that followed so they ran into the woods, where they practiced shifting cultivation for survival. This is where a certain area would be cleared out for crops and used for a short time.  Another example is when citizens were introduced to vaccines which helped significantly raise the population. An area having good health is a sign of good development; however, the resources were being depleting due to the rapid population increase. A way that they’re trying to save some forests is by creating parks and they are using fees generated from tourism to support local villages. http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/defor-mad.html

2.     I found a case study about the nuclear reactors in Chernobyl. In 1986 a nuclear reactor malfunctioned in Chernobyl and residents had to be evacuated. The radioactivity decreased the development due to the large effects it had. People had to be evacuated and were exposed to radiation which caused health effects. It isn’t necessarily proven that the illnesses are results from the radiation, but in children thyroid cancers have increased massively since 1986. More than 70 villages were destroyed along with a lot of farmland. This means that the land can no longer be used for any kind of productive output because it’s contaminated. The reactor was housed in a concrete tomb but the tomb has been deteriorating, causing more radiation to leak out, which would further negatively impact the environment and development. In order to fix this, the U.S., Canada and the European Community are negotiating with Ukraine and Russia to close down all Chernobyl-like reactors to prevent any future potentially accidents like the one in 1986.

http://www.mhhe.com/Enviro-Sci/CaseStudyLibrary/Topic-Based/CaseStudy_Chernobyl.pdf

3.    I live near Scranton Pennsylvania where there are not a lot of woods and I’ve never seen a nuclear reactor. I do not see crops around here so I cannot say there is a similarity between here and the shifting cultivation in Madagascar. However, there are a lot of hospitals and doctors around that have vaccines which helps us stay healthy. As we know, health is one of the tools used to measure development. Another way I see a similarity between us and Madagascar is the use of parks! We have state parks that are used to conserve the forests and we can go hiking, kayaking and exploring in them! These activities also promote good health along with keeping the forests preserved. In contrast to Chernobyl, I do not see any nuclear reactors around this area, which I find a good thing due to the possible detrimental effects. I have seen windmills close by though, which use natural resources without the threat of depletion and also keep us healthy by not using harmful resources.

Location: Chennai, India.                                                                                    Information Source IRIN website at http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2015/12/11. November 2015 Chennai received an unprecedented amount of rainfall. The result was tens of millions stranded, over 1,000 injured and nearly 300 dead. This article correlates with environmental justice, which we learned about in this week’s lesson. The devastation wrought by the flooding is being highly debated by many and the issue of compensation and liability is being raised by the Indian Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar. Minister Javadekar is looking to have the terms ‘compensation’ and liability’ re-entered into COP21 accord dealing with climate change and how it will be dealt with. On the other hand, Sunandan Tiwari, with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives states that while climate change was a factor, other factors such as filling in drainage canals and natural lakes along with bad governance played a role as well. This disaster only adds to the emphasis on the UN-led negotiations, in Paris, regarding an unprecedented climate accord.
Location: Thailand                                                                                              Information Source: The Climate Institute at http://www.climate.org/topics/international-action/thailand.htm                                                                                                        The Thai government has enacted an aggressive plan to reduce greenhouse gasses and lower pollution and dependency on fossil fuels in general. Thailand’s plan comes from multiple environmental disasters and changes over the years. Most notably is the research done showing that Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is sinking by 10 centimeters annually. The Thai government has come up with a plan to reduce fossil fuel dependency by upgrading the transit system and bike lanes to encourage people to leave their vehicles at home. These plans and ideas reflect what we learned about Sustainable Development in this week’s readings. With Thailand being known as the ‘rice bowl of Asia’ it is vital they take these actions to ensure their agricultural heritage can continue for future generations to come.
Location: Anza, Ca                                                                                                Southern California has been in a drought crisis for a few years now. We lived in the high desert and drew our water from an aquifer. I relate the first story to how over the last few years there was fierce debate between the government and farmers who could not grow their crops. The farmers wanted compensation, much like India, but the government didn’t see that as a viable option. Farmers were left to find other viable crop options that required drastically less water. The second story relates because during the drought everyone had to actively participate, they are still participating, to reduce water use as much as possible. From the time we moved into our home until we moved a few years later the difference was drastic, our two acre pond had all but dried up, we had to rely on what little water we got from rainfall (not much!) to keep the fish alive. Most of the trees had died all over the area we were in and most golf courses were dried up. Only those that could afford to pay the stiff penalties were still in operation. Conclusion, you cannot change the effects that were set in motion decades ago. We all need to make changes to live in a more sustainable manner and reduce pollution as much as possible so future generations are able to survive and thrive.

1)     This case study was conducted on Indonesia by Christina Einstein. It shows that a country can be developing in a positive and negative way at the same time. Although Indonesia’s development has improved in regards to their rising economy, do to a surplus of jobs, they are still facing environmental problems with pollution in the water. Part of the development to stop water contamination was by a company called BEPEDAL that created a system that would assign a color to each company’s output of any substance that would enter the water. The colors meant different things such as “meeting the requirements” or “no effort.” With this system communities would see exactly which company was releasing harmful chemicals. With this system companies were also able to improve their overall performance and sustain the quality of the water. Without this achievement the water would’ve became so contaminated that it wouldn’t have been able to be used for any food (fish) or water. http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/air-ind.html

2)     This case study by Benjamin D. Inskeep and Shahzeen Z. Attari looked at water usage in American households. This study focuses on the similar concept of water compared to the first study, but talks about how we must conserve water. It also reflects environmental possibilism as there is only so much water to be taken so humans must change their ways. The end use of water is to have it for environmental needs as well as human hydration, and if each household continues to use an enormous amount of 255 gallons of water a day we will not have any left. As populations are expanding, places are suddenly becoming “water scarce regions.” One of the developmental goals is to educated people on the most effective way to conserve water as many people think the number one thing they can do to conserve is to take shorter showers. There are actually better ways to conserve the water. http://www.environmentmagazine.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/2014/July-August%202014/water_full.html

3)    I’m connecting these two articles to my hometown in WV. Mentioned earlier in another module the main source for water in my town is the Potomac River. The first study relates to this in the way that if the Potomac ever became contaminated the people in my town would not have any water for household usage and this has even happened in the town when I was younger. Unlike Indonesia’s plan to prevent more contamination of the water my town has no ulterior plan of another water source to use. Therefore, the water system in my town is not developing and the town could certainly adopt a similar system to what was used in Indonesia. The second study relates in the same way where my town is taking all the water from the river and we need to conserve it better. Examining different places matters because we can use their ideas. Time matter because my town needs to come up with an ulterior water plan now before it becomes contaminated again.

My first case study was the Union Carbide Gas Release in Bhopal, India. This is from the environmental justice case study: http://www.umich.edu/%7Esnre492/lopatin.html

India is considered a country that has a high GDP because it is a good place to outsource business to. However it has a lower quality of life compared to the U.S. It has a much lower GDP per capita than we do. India now is a pretty developed country but back in 1969 it was not. In 1969 a company called Union Carbide opened a plant in India to produce pesticides.There was a strong market for pesticides in the country and it helped increase agricultural output and also created more industry in the country.The case study focuses on the massive disaster that occurred in 1984. A chemical called MIC leaked from the plant and became soaked in the surrounding land.  Casualties went as high as 2500 people and there were hundreds of thousands of casualties.  This created a massive problem because the country of India settled out of court for a mere 470 million dollars, not even enough to cover the medical costs of the victims. A development that came out of this was increased community organizer action and a push for more stringent regulation and punishment of businesses. There have also been developments to create jobs for those affected by the disaster.

My second case study involves the microloans in Africa described here http://www.thp.org/knowledge-center/poverty/microfinance/

This study involves the idea that sending small credit loans to disenfranchised African women would help ease the burden of hunger there are overall help the people. Obviously Africa is under-developed and a poor area so sending more there is key. In order to make most efficient use of the money, the idea is to send small loans to women who would begin to produce food and other goods. Not only does this improve the economy, it helps solves the hunger problem as well. The idea behind this is that by giving money to those who need on a small personal scale instead of a large government controlled infusion of cash, people will be able to create a stronger economy at the local level. This is important because of the key problems about Africa is the weak financial markets that are unable to get money to those who really need it. Microloans help solve that problem. This connects to the course discussions on GDP and per capita GDP. Developments in this area will not only increase GDP but instead of clustering it in large companies, it will distribute the money to those who are poor and in need of work.

These two case studies connect to my hometown, which is just outside of Philadelphia. They show the disconnect between large business that inflate GDP and provide jobs but often are less than perfect for the environment. Pollution levels and other problems have occurred from large companies and shipyards polluting the rivers in Philadelphia. It connects on another level because oftentimes small businesses are not able to get as much credit as they may need. Our system of financing is very strong however and in this day and age, competent owners will be able to take out loans and improve the economy. Because we are relatively much more developed than Africa and India, the problems of corporations polluting and financing are much better regulated and handled. Being from a place with these strong developments in place really increases the quality of life and opens up many opportunities.

1. The first case study I chose is located in Paris during the Lima Paris Action Agenda thematic session on Buildings. The case study is discussing the desire to reduce global building emissions by 50% by 2030. http://www.wbcsd.org/Pages/EDocument/EDocumentDetails.aspx?ID=16630&NoSearchContextKey=true
   1.  In my case study WBCSD’s low carbon technology partnership initiative (LCTPI) is meeting in Paris, France along with 150+ business and 70+ partners to come up with the development of climate changing technologies. In this article they are discussing how they can reduce the worlds building emissions by 50% by the year 2030. This is a global initiative to eliminate unnecessary energy use in our buildings, which is the largest source of energy consumption in our global economies. One way they will help organizations around the world develop more efficient practices is with their “Energy Efficiency Toolkit for Buildings” this toolkit will provide organizations a variety of methods to be more energy efficient and give them models that will best fit them. This case study relates to the sustainability development section in our module because it is a way that we can achieve desirable development that is also sustainable, which is a major goal for our society.
2. The second case study is a little more specific, as opposed to the first case study. It is located in Reno, Nevada and is titled “Living with Limited Resources”. http://www.patagonia.com/us/contribution/patagonia.go?assetid=1964
   1. This case study was conducted by the outdoor recreation company, Patagonia.  Its purpose is to show how they are making efforts in within their organization to promote more energy efficient buildings and a more energy efficient company. In their quest to have a sustainable business Patagonia is tapping into a variety of methods to develop a sustainable environment. They have technology on the forefront of energy efficiency, such as “Skylights track the sun and translucent roof-mounted smoke vents reflect natural light into the Reno Service Center”. They also have things as simple as motion detectors that turn off lights when no one is in the room. All in all Patagonia is embodying the concept of sustainability and operates with that in mind everyday. They are a small example of how we can achieve our major goal as a society, To develop as we desire but remaining sustainable in the process.
3. This past summer I lived in Denver, Colorado while I was on internship. Both of the case studies that I have discussed relate very much to Denver. Being from  Philadelphia, a place that isn’t quite on the forefront of green initiatives, I realized all the efforts that Denver, and the surrounding communities, are making in pursuit of an energy efficient city. It was commonplace to see rows of houses/office building with solar panels all over them in efforts to harness the suns energy. Also most things in Denver are recycled local products, including building materials, which helps reduce the rate at which we are using our natural resources. From my case studies I think we can learn that energy efficiency isn’t a difficult thing to achieve in our buildings, and it is critical that we do achieve it because buildings are the worlds #1 source of greenhouse emissions.