Describe a city in the state of Georgia that has DECLINED in population. Make sure you name the city, describe it location in the state, and explain why its population has declined. Cite your (3) references in MLA or APA format.
Now examine Atlanta whose population continues to grow and presents problems environmentally based upon its growth. Present a solution for the traffic congestion in Atlanta.
Critique the solution presented by at least TWO of your peers with whom you disagree and explain why to disagree with them in their post.
Compare and contrast the 2 cities (the one in which population is declining to Atlanta). Specifically address how areas in the same state (and probably not that far from one another) can be so dramatically different, as well as what primarily contributes to these differences.
1. After doing some research, I found out that Albany, Ga has seen over a 6% change in population since 2010. Albany is a town in southwest Georgia that is located on the Flint River. Over the past decade, Albany has been subject to many natural disasters that have displaced residents.
I believe that one way to decrease the traffic congestion in Atlanta is to create a public subway or transportation system that is more appealing and convenient than the bus. By adding additional means of low-cost transportation, residents are more likely to not take their personal vehicle everywhere they go.
Bibliography:
“Albany, Georgia.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany,_Georgia.
Kueppers, Courtney. “As Atlanta Grows, Some Georgia Cities Continue to Shrink, Data Shows.” Ajc, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 21 Oct. 2019, www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-grows-some-georgia-cities-continue-shrink-data-shows/DXXFoNCk4pKSZ26Wqiz67M/.
Sotra, Maria. “7 Smart City Solutions to Reduce Traffic Congestion.” Geotab Blog, 14 June 2019, www.geotab.com/blog/reduce-traffic-congestion/.
2. I chose the city of Reidsville, GA. According to the website, localistica, Reidsville’s population has decreased by 3,005 since the 2010 Census and growth is -222.90%. (localistica, n.d.) Reidsville is located in Tattnall county which is approximately 67 miles Northwest of Savannah in Southeast Georgia. Reidsville is home to Georgia State prison. It is a very beautiful town. The only reason I believe the decline has happened is that there is not much industry and people moving to bigger cities to have access to more things.
When we think of Atlanta, they are thinking of metro Atlanta, which is made up of 28 Counties, has a population of over 5 million people. (Jurney, 2014) When in reality the city of Atlanta has only 939,286, a 4% growth. People call any city near Atlanta when in reality, they’re a lot of cities surrounding Atlanta.
What should happen, is that MARTA should expand to more areas. As of right now, there only two of the twenty-eight counties that have MARTA tracks. The problem with getting more is that you have to work with so many different county and city governments. This a daunting task. The state needs to step in and help decide what to do. Maybe impose some kind of tax that will help fund increasing MARTA’s outreach.
(n.d.). Retrieved from localistica: http://localistica.com/usa/ga/reidsville/
Jurney, R. (2014, October 5). How can Atlanta’s traffic problems be solved? Retrieved from Quora: https://www.quora.com/How-can-Atlantas-traffic-problems-be-solved
One paragraph for discussion and 4 sentence for peer response
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Student responses
3 sentences each
1.1. Were you surprised at the current size of the human population or at its changes since your year of birth?
The year I was born, the population of the world was 5,905,050,000. From 1996, the population has increased to 7,713,470,000 which means it has multiplied by 1.31. The increase in population since I was born surprised me the most. I am only 22 years old and the population has increased by 1.31 and is continuing to increase as we speak.
2. How many people do you believe the Earth can support without dire environmental damage?
Some experts believe the Earth can support from 9 to 10 billion people, but even these experts cannot come up with a definite number because there are so many variables that come into play. So since I am not even close to being an environmental expert or scientist of any sort, I can only take the word of those experts and wait and see what happens.
3. Should developed countries help slow the population growth of developing countries? If so, what sorts of methods should be employed to do this?
No, because we are not God and we should not control the development of human life. God, being the ultimate creator, will determine how much life this planet can sustain, no matter what kind of plans “experts” make. However, it does not give us the right to be wasteful in our resources. We need to use the expertise of developed countries to come up with ways to teach developing countries on how to sustain agriculture, and water sources and not to exploit the resources they have. We should take care of the planet just as God directed Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis (Genesis 1:26).
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A26&version=NIV
2.In Valdosta and the surrounding area, recycling is done through curbside pick up. The garbage companies provide a 19 quart recycling bin with a list of items that they will accept. It is up to each household to decide whether they want to recycle or not. The city of Valdosta average 45-50 tons of recycled material per week. The vast majority being plastic, paper, and glass products. Each ton recycled is one less ton placed in the landfill. This in turn extends the life of the county landfill. Of all the properties in Valdosta, only 30% recycle. I would definitely like to see that number double or even triple. The vast majority of peer products recycled could be turned into more paper thus reducing the numbers of trees being harvested. I believe that the recycling in my area is worth it. It is keeping tons of garbage out of the landfill, and its so easy with roadside pickup.
3.I live in Suwanee, Georgia and mostly everything is recyclable except any type of hazardous waste, yard waste, wooden or cloth furniture, appliances containing Freon, and construction waste. In my town, we have curbside recycling (which I think is really convenient and easy) so, we have two different colored trash cans, one for trash and the other for recycle. The recycling truck comes through my neighborhood two to three times a week because not everyone recycles and people tend to have more trash than recyclables. My family has been recycling since I was a child and still religiously recycles up to this day. We have two different trashcans inside our house in the kitchen, one for trash and one for recycling. One material I would choose are plastic bags that we carry home our groceries in. Mostly every single grocery and retail store uses plastic bags but when recycled, they can be reused and turned into plastic lumber, which then is used to make park benches, backyard fences, and even some playground equipment! Plastic bags can also be recycled into new plastic bags as well. There are a bunch of neighborhoods in Suwanee, which usually means a lot of families and a lot of grocery and retail shopping and plastic bags. Recycling plastic bags in my area would be really beneficial for the community and could turn into more benches and fences built from the plastic bags.
Works Cited:
“Convenience Centers.” Forsyth County Georgia, www.forsythco.com/Departments-Offices/Recycling-Solid-Waste/Convenience-Centers.
“What Plastics Can Become.” Recycle Your Plastics, www.recycleandrecoverplastics.org/consumers/kids-recycling/plastics-can-become/.
4. feed back and respond to discussion questions on one of the slides in the ice caps powerpoint that i will upload
5. feed back and respond to discussion questions on one of the slides in the human overpopulation in china powerpoint that i will upload