Digital Commons Network^™

Missing Middle Housing: Accelerating America’S Transition From Single-Family Zoning, Lena Zeebuyth, Mallory Moore

Natural Resources Journal

As housing unaffordability and climate change impose increasingly greater costs on American cities and towns, there is a growing sense that single-family residential zoning ordinances are partly to blame for these challenges. Many Americans remain unwilling to address these difficulties by welcoming large apartment buildings into their neighborhoods. Fortunately, policies designed to promote “middle housing” development––visually attractive duplexes and townhome projects––tend to be more politically feasible than policies that drive apartment development. Further, such policies do much to improve the affordability and environmental sustainability of residential neighborhoods. This Article describes how promoting greater middle housing development in the United States …

Symposium On New Mexico's Just Transition, Melanie Coffing, Logan Stokes

Natural Resources Journal

A Just Transition aims to develop capacity for a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy while maximizing benefits and minimizing hardships for working communities. The ideation and implementation of such a sweeping, intersectional policy framework requires thoughtful conversation, collaborative action, and years of dedication from community members and policy makers alike. On November 3, 2023, the Natural Resources Journal, through the University of New Mexico School of Law, and the New Mexico Speaker of the House, Javier Martínez, hosted the Symposium on New Mexico’s Just Transition. Students from the law school and the Natural Resources Journal had the opportunity to collaborate with community …

A Half-Century Of Pacific Salmon Saving Efforts: A Primer On Law, Policy, And Biology, Michael C. Blumm, Daniel J. Rohlf, Adam Eno

Natural Resources Journal

Pacific salmon, the signature species of the Pacific Northwest, have declined across their range for well over a century, due to a myriad of human-caused effects on their habitat and the fish themselves. Restoration efforts—some successful, some halting—began in earnest in the late 20th century, with considerable attention focused on the Columbia Basin, where historically salmon runs were crippled by a large interconnected hydroelectric system of federal and non-federal dams. In the 1980 Northwest Power Act, Congress created an interstate agency, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, with access to a substantial amount of ratepayer dollars; the agency has chosen …

Climate Change Will Make The Final Call In New Mexico's Groundwater Appropriation, Lauren Hewitt

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

The Great Displacement: Climate Change And The Next American Migration By Jake Bittle, Luisa Sanchez-Carrera

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Concepts In Climate Change & Public Health Preparedness Ipep 305/Ipep 505, Heidi H. Rogers, Alexis Ellsworth-Kopkowski, Mary Pat Couig, Megan Tucker

InterProfessional Education Faculty Resources

No abstract provided.

Climate Litigation: The Future Is Now, Hon. Manuel I. Arrieta

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths To Save Our Forests And Climate, Brenda Macías López

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Achieving Climate Justice Through Land Back: An Overview Of Tribal Dispossession, Land Return Efforts, And Practical Mechanisms For #Landback, Vanessa Racehorse

Faculty Scholarship

Due to the increasing pressures of the climate change crisis, federal and state governments are beginning to acknowledge that Indigenous-led stewardship and control over Tribal aboriginal homelands is a crucial component of addressing climate change. In the United States, Tribal nations have a long history of responsible land stewardship, with environmental conservation and respect for the world's biodiversity being an inextricable piece of Tribal customs, traditions, and knowledge. This Article strives to pay due respect to traditional land stewardship and its important role in the past, present, and future.

Part I of this Article starts with an overview of the …

Un-Earthing Popular Climate Narratives: Maintenance And Prophecy In Settler World, Hannah Oxford

Communication ETDs

Climate change is fundamentally rooted in facts such as rising global temperatures, carbon emissions, losses in biodiversity, etc. However new information about our changing world is translated and incorporated within the narratives we live by and give form to our personal and collective worlds. While climate change is scientific, our mitigation efforts are entirely storied. This thesis looks at popular climate narratives that frames climate change as an issue of Earthly mechanics fixable through innovative technology. The goal of this thesis is to understand the ways in which settler colonialism, as a communicable mechanism of cultural production, organizes this particular …

Bringing Technological Transparency To Tenebrous Markets: The Case For Using Blockchain To Validate Carbon Credit Trading Markets, Gary E. Marchant, Zachary Cooper, Philip Gough-Stone

Natural Resources Journal

Carbon reductions have become a priority as companies and other entities emitting greenhouse gases seek to comply with regulatory requirements and commit to voluntary goals that are consistent with their sustainability pledges. These carbon reductions are accounted for by carbon credits, which are tradeable units of carbon reduction that can be used to comply with regulatory or voluntary carbon reduction credits. Many companies are making such carbon reduction promises, and are frequently relying on credits generated by non-traditional mitigation sources such as agriculture or forestry to achieve those reductions and credits. However, the credibility and reliance on such carbon credit …

Biodiversity And Global Change In Terrestrial Ecosystems, Timothy J. Ohlert

Biology ETDs

Terrestrial ecosystems are critical to human and ecological processes but many gaps in our knowledge remain regarding how terrestrial plant communities assemble and respond to global change. I used field experiments distributed around the world, including long-term experiments from the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) in New Mexico and deserts of the southwestern U.S., to evaluate the consequences of drought and other abiotic stressors on plant communities. Dominant grasses were particularly important for the productivity and structure of grasslands at SNWR. In general, the structure of desert plant communities had high resistance to extreme drought, though grasses and other perennial …

Climate Change And Community Health: Heat Waves, Yhari Martinez

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

The Critical Issue Of Air Pollution In India, Sarah Criscuolo

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

Adapting To A 4°C World, Clifford Villa

Faculty Scholarship

The Paris Agreement’s goal to hold warming to 1.5°-2°C above pre-industrial levels now appears unrealistic. Profs. Robin Kundis Craig and J.B. Ruhl have recently argued that because a 4°C world may be likely, we must recognize the disruptive consequences of such a world and respond by reimagining governance structures to meet the challenges of adapting to it. In this latest in a biannual series of essays, they and other members of the Environmental Law Collaborative explore what 4°C might mean for a variety of current legal doctrines, planning policies, governance structures, and institutions.

More Than A Rake: Toward A Statutory Solution For Wildfire Threats To Department Of Defense Installations, Steven L. Spencer Ii Major

Natural Resources Journal

Over the past four decades, the average area annually burned in wildfires in the United States has roughly quadrupled. Larger, more powerful wildfires increasingly threaten inhabited areas as well as vital infrastructure, including many installations of the United States Armed Forces. This article first introduces readers to what wildfire is and the unique challenges it creates to the environment, health and, specifically, to the Department of Defense (DoD). Next, it discusses the dominant approaches to addressing the wildfire threat, prescribed fire and mechanical treatment. It then summarizes the primary laws, policies and partners involved in wildfire policy in the United …

Decreasing Water Supply And Community Health In New Mexico: A Reason For Change, Chelsea Whitney

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

Diversity – Independent Factors Predict Elevated Extinction Rates, Dustin Perriguey

Earth and Planetary Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Multiple linear regression was used to determine the relationships between diversity-independent factors (i.e., abiotic, climatic) 2, 5, and 10 Myrs-prior to the most elevated Phanerozoic extinctions. We constructed five abiotic variables from Phanerozoic proxy records1–5 to compare to extinction rates: mean temperature, temperature instability, carbon cycle instability, continental weathering rates, and habitat instability. All three models were statistically significant (P < 0.05) and explained > 70% of the variation in Alroy’s6 three-timer generic extinction rates. However, the 2 Myr-prior model explained the most variance in extinction rates and had the most predictive power, based on adjusted and predictive R2 (~ 72% and 41%, respectively). Carbon …

Diversity – Independent Factors Predict Elevated Extinction Rates, Dustin Perriguey, Corinne Myers, Jason Moore, Louis Scuderi

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Multiple linear regression was used to determine the relationships between diversity-independent factors (i.e., abiotic, climatic) 2, 5, and 10 Myrs-prior to the most elevated Phanerozoic extinctions. We constructed five abiotic variables from Phanerozoic proxy records1–5 to compare to extinction rates: mean temperature, temperature instability, carbon cycle instability, continental weathering rates, and habitat instability. All three models were statistically significant (P < 0.05) and explained > 70% of the variation in Alroy’s6 three-timer generic extinction rates. However, the 2 Myr-prior model explained the most variance in extinction rates and had the most predictive power, based on adjusted and predictive R2 (~ 72% and 41%, respectively). Carbon …

Book Review: Climate Change And The Voiceless: Protecting Future Generations, Wildlife, And Natural Resources, Jacqueline Hoswell

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Drought, Farmers, And Mental Health, Elizabeth Mckitrick

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

Climate Change: Increased Potential For Fire Disaster In Taos, New Mexico, Matthew F. Vigil

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

New Mexico: Land Of The Drought, Brandi Davis

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

Inoculum Potential Of Pinus Edulis-Associated Ectomycorrhizal Fungi Across A Forest Extirpation Chronosequence, Annie M. Montes

Biology ETDs

Few studies have examined inoculum potential of ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) in the absence of plant hosts, yet persistence of these fungi may be paramount to resilience of Pinus edulis and other mycorrhizal plant species. We conducted a study in which seven sites were selected in northwestern New Mexico with known dates of P. edulis extirpation and a lack of regeneration. Age classes included: two sites extirpated 10-20 years ago, two extirpated 55-65 years ago, two extirpated 500+ years ago, and one extirpated 11,000+ years ago. At each site, two plots were paired: an extirpated plot and the nearest live adult …

New Mexico: A Desert Too Hot, Nicialia J. Medeiros

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

Climate Change: Water Shortfalls In New Mexico, Eloise Alton Duncan

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And Community Health, Parasto Baghae Pour

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

Community And Health Impacts Of Diminishing Water Supplies Due To Climate Change In Southern New Mexico, Lilian Igondou

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

Wildfire Risks And Dangers, Brian Sanchez

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.

Job Loss, Gabriella Herrera

Climate Change and Public Health Preparedness

No abstract provided.