Uploaded on 2017-05-31 by Francesca

1. First, identify the most important stocks and flows (at least three) entering, staying in and eventually leaving your area (or city). Food: Imported to New York City regularly (often daily), and leaves in the form of human waste, compost food waste, garbage. Water: Imported to city from reservoir, stored as stock in water tanks or towers in buildings. Leaving the city in the form of waste through drains, toilets, showers. New People who are moving to NYC from other states/the suburbs: constant flow increasing population density in NYC. They leave if they move away or die. 2. Describe your findings based on the concept of stocks and flows by presenting the necessary information or examples. There are very few areas in NYC where food is grown locally. The vast majority of food is imported, sometimes from farms or factories in the state of NY, sometimes from as far away as Mexico or California. The transportation of this food uses a great deal of energy and produces carbon waste as well. Reliance on food from other areas has also made people reliant on stock of nearly all types of food year round, even though so much food is seasonal. This in turn creates a big flow of imported food year round and a more expensive flow in the off season. Luckily, New York City residents can rely on tap water as drinking water—it does not need to be filtered. However, much of the water in the city is pumped in from reservoirs outside of the city, and then stored as stock in water towers or water tanks in individual buildings. Because of the enormous amount of stock of water required for NYC residents, the flow is constant and automatic. Unlike in rural areas where a well might be the source of water and a person might be responsible for creating or stopping flow. The population of NYC is continuously increasing because of people who move here from outside of the city. This means that there is a constant flow of people and also that the density of the city is continuously increasing as well. This constant flow of people dictates that there must be greater flow into the city of things like food and water so that there is enough stock to provide inhabitants with the necessary means to thrive. 3. Imagine and shortly describe how these stocks and flows could change in the future for the benefit of your area. In the future, it would be beneficial if inhabitants of NYC paid more attention to the food they eat and try to eat more locally and seasonally. This will cut down on the cost and energy use required for flow of foods into the city. For example, if people only eat avocados in the summer, or if they only eat meat from a local farm, or only eat bread from the bakery down the block. This can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of individuals and the city as a whole. Recent efforts to compost food waste are extremely helpful in leveraging the flow of food out of the city in a productive way. As people move into the city, they should move to places that are less populated to balance the density of neighborhoods and avoid putting too much strain on specific places. As for water, efforts to conserve water like installing energy efficient dishwashers in family residences, can be taken to reduce the demand for water stock and water flow into the city.