Digital Commons Network^™

Commencement Program [Spring 2023], Clark University

Commencement Programs

Annual Commencement Program for graduation ceremonies at Clark University, held on May 21st, 2023.

Connecting Eastern And Western Massachusetts With High Speed Rail, Mary Piecewicz, An Pham

School of Professional Studies

No abstract provided.

Spatial Dimensions Of Water Quality Value In New England River Networks, Robert J. Johnston, Klaus Moeltner, Seth Peery, Tom Ndebele, Zhenyu Yao, Stefano Crema, Wilfred M. Wollheim, Elena Besedin

Economics

Households’ willingness to pay (WTP) for water quality improvements—representing their economic value—depends on where improvements occur. Households often hold higher values for improvements close to their homes or iconic areas. Are there other areas where improvements might hold high value to individual households, do effects on WTP vary by type of improvement, and can these areas be identified even if they are not anticipated by researchers? To answer these questions, we integrated a water quality model and map-based, interactive choice experiment to estimate households’ WTP for water quality improvements throughout a river network covering six New England states. The choice …

Rhythms Of The Earth—Editorial Introduction, Karim-Aly S. Kassam, Morgan Ruelle, Christopher P. Dunn, Raj Pandya, Felice Wyndham

Sustainability and Social Justice

This special issue of GeoHealth, entitled Rhythms of the Earth: Ecological Calendars and Anticipating the Anthropogenic Climate Crisis, is a transdisciplinary articulation of a methodology of hope to confront the multiple injustices of the Anthropocene. One of the greatest challenges of the climate crisis is the lack of predictability at the scale of communities where impacts are most immediate. Indigenous and rural societies face an ever shifting “new normal” through increasing inconsistency in the seasonality of temperature and precipitation, as well as greater frequency of extreme weather events. With global food systems dependent on local and small producers, climatic variability …

Unsettling Participation By Foregrounding More-Than-Human Relations In Digital Forests, Michelle Westerlaken, Jennifer Gabrys, Danilo Urzedo, Max Ritts

Geography

The question of who participates in making forest environments usually refers to human stakeholders. Yet forests are constituted through the participation of many other entities. At the same time, digital technologies are increasingly used in participatory projects to measure and monitor forest environments globally. However, such participatory initiatives are often limited to human involvement and overlook how more-than-human entities and relations shape digital and forest processes. To disrupt conventional anthropocentric understandings of participation, this text travels through three different processes of "unsettling"to show how more-than-human entities and relations disrupt, rework, and transform digital participation in and with forests. First, forest …

Report Summary: Analysis Of Environmental Justice, Harambee House, Inc., Mildred Mcclain

Harambee House, Inc.

This is a scientific review of the impact of the receipt of Foreign Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) and Plutonium Disposition programs at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken Country, South Carolina and its impact on surrounding communities.

This research was completed money allocated during Round 1 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu

Final Report: Analysis Of Environmental Justice, Harambee House, Inc., Michael M. Ashby

Harambee House, Inc.

This is a scientific and technical review of the Department of Energy's Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Proposed Nuclear Weapons Nonproliferation Policy Concerning Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel (FRR-SNF). The receipt of FRR-SNF adds an additional and important component to DOE's programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) activities. This review also looks at the EIS processes associated with the revised Surplus Plutonium Disposition initiatives. This analysis evaluates the EIS procedures associated with these two programs for consideration of NEPA requirements with particular emphasis on Environmental Justive. This review has identified deficiencies in DOE's EIS procedures and evaluates some of …

Communication And Participation: Why, How, When, And With Whom In A Snf/Hlw Transportation System To Address Social And Economic Impacts, Clark University, Seth Tuler

Clark University

Presentation on transportation systems and their ability to cause disproportionate social and economics impact to vulnerable communities.

The available pdf file consists of presentation slides.

This research was completed money allocated during Round 5 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu

Executive Summary: Analysis Of Environmental Justice, Harambee House, Inc., Mildred Mcclain Dr.

Harambee House, Inc.

This is a scientific and technical review of the Department of Energy's Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Proposed Nuclear Weapons Nonproliferation Policy Concerning Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel (FRR-SNF). The receipt of FRR-SNF adds an additional and important component to DOE's programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) activities. This review also looks at the EIS processes associated with the revised Surplus Plutonium Disposition initiatives. The purpose of this review is to analyze the adequacy of the environmental impact assessment and public participation approaches taken by DOE as part of its decision-making process on spent fuel and surplus plutonium, particularly, …

Current Practice And Recommendations For Advancing How Human Variability And Susceptibility Are Considered In Chemical Risk Assessment, Julia R. Varshavsky, Swati D.G. Rayasam, Jennifer B. Sass, Daniel A. Axelrad, Carl F. Cranor, Dale Hattis, Russ Hauser, Patricia D. Koman, Emily C. Marquez, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Catherine Oksas, Sharyle Patton, Joshua F. Robinson, Sheela Sathyanarayana, Peggy M. Shepard, Tracey Woodruff

Sustainability and Social Justice

A key element of risk assessment is accounting for the full range of variability in response to environmental exposures. Default dose-response methods typically assume a 10-fold difference in response to chemical exposures between average (healthy) and susceptible humans, despite evidence of wider variability. Experts and authoritative bodies support using advanced techniques to better account for human variability due to factors such as in utero or early life exposure and exposure to multiple environmental, social, and economic stressors. This review describes: 1) sources of human variability and susceptibility in dose-response assessment, 2) existing US frameworks for addressing response variability in risk …

A Science-Based Agenda For Health-Protective Chemical Assessments And Decisions: Overview And Consensus Statement, Tracey J. Woodruff, Swati D.G. Rayasam, Daniel A. Axelrad, Patricia D. Koman, Nicholas Chartres, Deborah H. Bennett, Linda S. Birnbaum, Phil Brown, Courtney C. Carignan, Courtney Cooper, Carl F. Cranor, Miriam L. Diamond, Shari Franjevic, Eve C. Gartner, Dale Hattis, Russ Hauser, Wendy Heiger-Bernyas, Rashmi Joglekar, Juleen Lam, Jonathan I. Levy, Patrick M. Macroy, Maricel V. Maffini, Emily C. Marquez, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Keeve E. Nachman, Greylin H. Nielsen, Catherine Oksas, Dimitri Panagopoulos Abrahamsson, Heather B. Patisaul, Sharyle Patton, Joshua F. Robinson, Kathryn M. Rodgers, Mark S. Rossi, Ruthann A. Rudel, Jennifer B. Sass, Sheela Sathyanarayana, Ted Schettler, Rachel M. Shaffer, Bhavna Shamasunder, Peggy Shepard, Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Gina M. Solomon, Wilma A. Subra, Laura N. Vandenberg, Julia R. Varshavsky, Roberta F. White, Ken Zarker, Lauren Zeise

Sustainability and Social Justice

The manufacture and production of industrial chemicals continues to increase, with hundreds of thousands of chemicals and chemical mixtures used worldwide, leading to widespread population exposures and resultant health impacts. Low-wealth communities and communities of color often bear disproportionate burdens of exposure and impact; all compounded by regulatory delays to the detriment of public health. Multiple authoritative bodies and scientific consensus groups have called for actions to prevent harmful exposures via improved policy approaches. We worked across multiple disciplines to develop consensus recommendations for health-protective, scientific approaches to reduce harmful chemical exposures, which can be applied to current US policies …