Name Callie Broaddus_____________________UVA Email: gcb5g@virginia.edu___________
Course Instructor_B. Sherman________ TA (If applicable)_Ben Hartigan______
Please mark the appropriate sentence that describes your experience with the UVA Bay
Game.
__X__
I have played the UVA Bay Game before. Number of times_1____________
________ I have NOT played the UVA Bay Game before.
Please respond to the following questions as completely as your current knowledge of the
subject allows.
1. List the variables and concepts that you think are part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed
system (You can list as many as you would like. Use additional space if needed).
-
Farm water runoff
Water usage in the area
Industry/industrial waste
Transportation (namely paving roads and increasing the amount of impermeable
surface on the ground)
Construction (namely the removal of vegetation, replaced by an entity that uses
energy, uses water, puts waste into the ground, and most probably has an
impermeable rooftop)
Local and National laws
Civilian education regarding the fragility of the watershed
Population and population growth
Shifting ecosystems (due to fishing, hunting, pollution, etc.)
Economy
2. Describe the relationship and interaction between these variables. Be specific. For
example, if you state that A influences B, indicate the direction and nature of the influence
(i.e., A transforms B in this way, A increases/decreases B, etc.).
The population and growth of population is reinforced by new construction, and
new construction is reinforced by population growth due to real estate speculation.
With a greater population comes a need for jobs, and causes industry to travel to the
area. The greater the number of people with jobs means a greater number of cars on
the road, which causes a need for wider roads. Roads (particularly asphalt roads),
when rained on, cause the rainwater to pick up the oily toxins that rest on the top
layer of asphalt, and this “storm water runoff” reaches the watershed. Some of the
toxins will be filtered out of the water by vegetation (especially the runoff from
roads further from the bay itself), but some of the toxins will reach the water in the
Chesapeake Bay. These toxins change the water environment in which fish, crabs,
and other aquatic resources live. The fishing economy depends on the resources in
this ecosystem, and thus the more polluted the water becomes, the more the fishing
economy is weakened. The fishing economy is kept in check by the government so
the water is not over-fished and the fish/crabs have an opportunity to repopulate at
a rate that can sustain the fishing practices. If the population is educated about the
influence each person has over the water quality in the watershed, people can
change their behavior to be more environmentally responsible. As many of the
actions that need to be changed in order to save the watershed carry a high
monetary cost, the economy has a massive influence on the speed at which people
are able to change their behavior. To close the loop, the larger the population
becomes, the more tax dollars flow into the government, and the more money can
be earmarked towards watershed cleanup, road buffers, civilian education, etc.
3. On a separate piece of paper, diagram (either free-hand or with a software program) the
variables you described above demonstrating the relationships and interactions that
influence the watershed. Whether you choose to draw your diagram free-hand or with the
aid of a software program, a hardcopy of this diagram should be turned in to your
instructor by Friday September 1, 2010.