PDS AP Environmental Science 5th Period 2010-11

AP Environmental Science classes this past Thursday were able to have the privileged opportunity to listen to guest speaker, Garet Johnson of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department, about our Charlotte community. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Department’s mission is to provide integrated planning services that promote substantial growth to improve our community’s way of life with the cooperation of its citizens and being as environmentally friendly as well.

Credit: Mr. Willard

The Centers, Corridors and Wedges Growth Framework that Charlotte newly adopted in 2010 broadens the original transportation oriented focus to include other aspects of planning and development, such as public facility needs and environmental concerns.  The update also provides more specific definitions and guidance for Centers and Corridors and expands the concept to provide recommendations for Wedges, as well.

The Centers, Corridors and Wedges Growth Framework will be used:

• As the basis for development of more detailed policies, plans and regulations
• To give broad guidance for infrastructure investment
• As a tool to evaluate Charlotte’s success in addressing growth issues
• It is a long-term growth strategy
• Focuses on five primary transportation and development corridors
• It also encourages redevelopment and reuse

The Five Primary Corridors

Credit: http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/planning/AreaPlanning/CentersCorridorsWedges/Pages/Home.aspx

Another notable factor in Charlotte’s growth is mass transportation, mainly the newly introduced Light Rail Transit. Along with the Light Rail Transit, there are also plans for Bus Rapid Transit (Curitiba), Streetcar/ Trolley, and Commuter Rail (DMU) in the future.

Light Rail Transit

Credit: www.charlottecommunitiesonline.com

Growth Impact: With all growth and development, there are both positive and negative impacts. The most concerning impacts are to the air quality, water quality, and scarcity of land (open space, trees)

Group Activity: For our group activity, we were placed in groups of four and given two sites that we were the urban planners for to accommodate the greatest growth. We needed to take into consideration many factors for our decision making such as residential areas, environmentally friendly, close-by transit stations and industries, and so on. The objective was to maintain the greatest growth while using as much of the icons (Institutional, Parks/Open Space, Employment, Retail and Residential stickers) given to you at the start of the activity.

Credit: Mr. Willard

The Future: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department has created a sustainable land use planning checklist to hopefully benefit Charlotte in the future.

The list:

• Use land efficiently
• Balance and integrate land uses
• Provide transportation choices
• Provide infrastructure to support development
• Respect the natural and social environment
• Design for quality
• Plan for the long term

Slides of the presentation can be found here.

Does the natural selection process vary between macroevolution and between populations? In my notes I have them both being triggered by geographic isolation then branching apart from one another, but I don’t know what happends to them next besides different species emerging.

I know that GPP and NPP are used to power the organisms own metabolism through cellular respiration and photosynthesis, but is the only differences between the two is that GPP is the energy resulting from autotrophs powering their own metabolism and NPP is the energy and biomass remaining after autotrophs power their own metabolism?

Hey guys. I am still having a lot of trouble with telling the difference between evenness and richness. The definitions from the Background on Biodiversity aren’t helping either. Does anyone have an easier way of telling the difference?

Hey guys, I missed Friday when we did the Tragedy of the Commons exercise, but I still don’t believe that I am understanding the concept well enough. I am confused about the part on when the villagers take the fish, but it is ok since it’s a sustainable resource, but wouldn’t the high rate of each villager taking the fish make the fish an almost unsustainable resource? And what does the mint have to do with anything?

The biggest problem that the world is dealing with today I believe is pollution. Pollution has caused health problems to not only humans, but all living organisms. From the air we breathe to the land we live on, pollution has effected us all. For example, our atmosphere is a gaseous system that is a necessity for supporting all life, but air pollution is causing the ozone to deplete making it a threat to all organisms.