Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Under New Direction: Using Theatre To Combat The Climate Crisis, Brian Kirsch

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The Earth is growing unsuitable for human society as we know it at an unprecedented rate. Among the latest in a set of increasingly grim statistics, the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide concentration is now a staggering 150% of its value for most of human history (Stein). This has triggered global warming on track to meet or exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, which comes with extreme and irreversible changes to the planet (Jackson). However, this information fails to both command its merited attention and spark the urgent action needed to preserve our way of life. Less than half of American voters consider climate …

Nexus Between Animal Welfare, Environment, And Sustainable Development: Resource Document, Wellbeing International

Nexus – UNEP – Animal Welfare, Environment, Sustainable Development

This Resource Document has been developed to explore the Nexus (links) between Animal Welfare, the Environment, and Sustainable Development. The document includes relevant citations and reports addressing the topics encompassed by the Nexus. It will be maintained as a “living document” (subject to revision) in the WellBeing International Studies Repository. The original document and subsequent revisions will be kept in the Repository to provide a record of the changes.

S7e8: What Is The Legacy And Future Of The Climate Change Institute?, Ron Lisnet, Paul A. Mayewski, Daniel Sandweiss, Cynthia Isenhour

The Maine Question

The nation’s first multi- and inter-disciplinary research institute to study Earth’s recent and long-term climate variability was founded in 1972 at the University of Maine. That institute, now known as the Climate Change Institute, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, a milestone that honors the many groundbreaking discoveries its scientists have made in the field of climate science.

CCI have scientists first mapped the difference between climate during the Ice Age and today in the 1970s; discovered the importance of marine-based ice sheets in the 1980s; connected acid rain to human causes in the mid-1980s; uncovered the concept of …

Identifying New Invasives In The Face Of Climate Change: A Focus On Sleeper Populations, Ayodelé C. O'Uhuru

Masters Theses

Sleeper populations are established populations of a non-native species whose population growth is limited by one or more abiotic or biotic conditions, such as climate change. While the northeastern US is predicted to be a hotspot for future invasions, identifying potential sleeper populations before they become invasive can inform proactive, climate-smart invasive species management. I focused on 169 introduced species that are established in one or more northeastern states. I used the Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) framework to systematically identify and review the peer-reviewed literature for these candidate species to quantify their negative ecological and socioeconomic impacts. …

Environmental Communication: Changing The Attitude-Behavioral Gap In Science Communication Utilizing Strategic Messaging, Carrie Helgeson Nelms

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

National Polls in the United States consistently find the public’s beliefs and attitudes about climate change and other environmental issues significantly diverge from those held by the science community. A communication gap between the findings on the causes and effects of environmental issues and the public’s inability to interpret or refuse to accept these findings are possible causes of this divergence. This communication gap constitutes a threat to society because of inaction to environmental problems and points to needed changes in scientific messaging that better informs and motivates behavioral change. The present research employed a strategic message design to affect …

S6e9: What Does Maine Need To Expand Electric Vehicle Use?, Ron Lisnet, Jonathan Rubin

The Maine Question

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Maine will require a broader adoption of electric vehicles, according to University of Maine economist Jonathan Rubin. Officials from the Maine Department of Transportation and other state agencies have a role to play in fueling the transition away from gas-powered cars and trucks. To guide them, Rubin, professor of economics and director of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, and his colleagues from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) released a report that outlines strategies for reducing emissions from the transportation sector.

On this week’s episode of “The Maine Question,” Rubin discusses the report …

S6e6: How Do Changing Conditions In The Arctic Affect Maine?, Ron Lisnet, Karl Kreutz, Kristin Schild

The Maine Question

Changes in the Arctic affect Maine, despite them being separated by more than 1,000 miles. Several scientists from the University of Maine study these shifting conditions of the climate and environment in the region and their impacts. In 2018, the UMaine Arctic Initiative was formed to build on their work and enhance collaboration in the campus community and with outside stakeholders.

In this episode of “The Maine Question” podcast, scientists Karl Kreutz and Kristin Schild from UMaine Arctic and the UMaine Climate Change Institute discuss their research, and elaborate on the region and its shifting conditions influence the state.

Institute For Global Health And Development : Issue 2 - March 2022, Institute For Global Health And Development

IGHD Newsletter

• Bulletin
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Sensitivity Of The West Antarctic Ice Sheet To +2 °C (Swais 2c), Molly O. Patterson, Richard H. Levy, Denise K. Kulhanek, Tina Van De Flierdt, Huw Horgan, Gavin B. Dunbar, Timothy R. Naish, Jeanine Ash, Alex Pyne, Darcy Mandeno, J. Paul Winberry

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) presently holds enough ice to raise global sea level by 4.3 m if completely melted. The unknown response of the WAIS to future warming remains a significant challenge for numerical models in quantifying predictions of future sea level rise. Sea level rise is one of the clearest planet-wide signals of human-induced climate change. The Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to a Warming of 2 ^∘C (SWAIS 2C) Project aims to understand past and current drivers and thresholds of WAIS dynamics to improve projections of the rate and size of ice sheet …

S6e1: What Happens If Mount Everest Loses All Of Its Snow And Ice?, Ron Lisnet, Paul A. Mayewski

The Maine Question

No place on earth can escape the effects of climate change, not even Mount Everest. The highest glacier on the world’s tallest mountain — the South Col Glacier — is rapidly disappearing. A new University of Maine-led study found that the glacier is losing several decades of ice and snow accumulation annually due to human-induced climate change.

These findings are the latest from the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition, led by UMaine Climate Change Institute director Paul Mayewski. In this episode of “The Maine Question,” Mayewski and UMaine Ph.D. candidate Mariusz Potocki, both co-authors of the …

Connections Between Atmospheric Blocking, General Circulation, And Weather Extremes In A Hierarchy Of Models And Various Climates, Veeshan Narinesingh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The field of geophysical fluid dynamics (GFD) includes the study of both the motion and thermodynamic aspects of the atmosphere. These properties are of particular importance because they directly influence both local and large-scale weather and climate and are associated with various phenomena. One phenomena that is particularly influential is atmospheric blocking. Atmospheric blocks are persistent, quasi-stationary anticyclones (a.k.a. high-pressure systems) that occur in the atmosphere and disrupt the flow. Blocks are known to induce heat extremes and cold spells, as well as steer storms and cause numerous types of hazards. Yet despite the hazards associated with blocks, our current …

Evolution Of Drought And Low Temperature Responses In Temperate Pooideae Grasses: Timings, Determinants, And Intersections, Aayudh Das

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Anthropogenically-mediated rises in atmospheric CO2 and global average temperatures is leading to increasingly severe drought and extreme weather events, the latter including unseasonal bouts of low and high temperatures. In order for plant breeders and conservation biologists to predict future responses to global warming, they must understand the ecological and evolutionary processes that shaped plant tolerance to stressful environments in the past. This is particularly true for grasses (Poaceae) that dominate approximately one-third of the Earth's vegetative cover, live in some of the world's harshest terrestrial environments, and are tremendously important, both ecologically and economically. One of the largest subfamily …