Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Open Access Articles

On The Travel Emissions Of Sustainability Science Research, Timothy M. Waring, Mario F. Teisl, Eva Manandhar, Mark Anderson

Publications

This paper presents data on carbon emissions generated by travel undertaken for a major sustainability science research effort. Previous research has estimated CO2 emissions generated by individual scientists, by entire academic institutions, or by international climate conferences. Here, we sought to investigate the size, distribution and factors affecting the carbon emissions of travel for sustainability research in particular. Reported airline and automobile travel of participants in Maine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative were used to calculate the carbon dioxide emissions attributable to research-related travel over a three-year period. Carbon emissions varied substantially by researcher and by purpose of travel. Travel for the …

Go to article

Coastal And Ocean Economic Summaries Of The Coastal States 2014, Pat Johnston

Publications

The following summaries of the ocean and coastal economies were prepared by the National Ocean Economics Program as a companion the State of the U.S. Ocean and Coastal Economies 2014. The U.S. report, its appendices, and these state summary reports are available on the NOEP website at www.OceanEconomics.org/download.

Go to article

Cooperation Across Organizational Boundaries: Experimental Evidence From A Major Sustainability Science Project, Timothy M. Waring, Sandra Goff, Julia B. Mcguire, Dylan Moore, Abigail Sullivan

Publications

Engaged research emphasizes researcher–stakeholder collaborations as means of improving the relevance of research outcomes and the chances for science-based decision-making. Sustainability science, as a form of engaged research, depends on the collaborative abilities and cooperative tendencies of researchers. We use an economic experiment to measure cooperation between university faculty, local citizens, and faculty engaged in a large sustainability science project to test a set of hypotheses: (1) faculty on the sustainability project will cooperate more with local residents than non-affiliated faculty, (2) sustainability faculty will have the highest level of internal cooperation of any group, and (3) that cooperation may …

Go to article

The 6th Mode Of Transportation, Robert O. Walton

Publications

The five modes of freight transportation are normally characterized as motor carriers, railroads, airlines, water carriers, and pipelines. This paper will attempt to position the Internet as the sixth mode of transportation. This paper compares the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional five modes of transportation against the proposed 6th mode of the Internet. Without including the Internet as a mode of transportation, and tracking the economic value that it adds to the economy, the economic impact of the Internet as a mode is not considered. The recommendation of this study is that the Internet should be added to the …

Go to article

The Grand Thaw: Our Vanishing Cryosphere, Richard Snow, Mary Snow

Publications

Records reveal that beginning in the 1950s there has been an accelerated reduction in ice and snow across most mountain glaciers and ice caps. The glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan Mountains are the main source of water for the Ganges and the Indus Rivers. During the summer higher temperatures are causing these glaciers to melt at an increasing rate while during the winter the warmer temperature are yielding a dearth of snowfall, which in turn leads to drought. Along the equator in Africa, glaciers are faced with a similar same situation. In Uganda, 80 percent of the …

Go to article

Climate Change: The Proof And The Process, Richard Snow, Mary Snow

Publications

Since what we call civilization began some 12,000 years ago, the mean temperature of Earth has not varied more than 1°C from the average. The forecast change in temperature of from 1.5 to 4°C (2.7 to 7°F) by 2100 has no equal in the recent history of the planet. Changes in the energy output of the sun, changes in the relative position of the sun and Earth, shifting locations of the continents, mountain building, volcanic eruptions, and changes in atmospheric composition all combine to cause our climate to change. Most of the changes in climate of the past can be …

Go to article

Strengthening Knowledge Co-Production Capacity: Examining Interest In Community-University Partnerships., Karen Hutchins, Laura Lindenfeld, Jessica Leahy, Linda Silka

Publications

Building successful, enduring research partnerships is essential for improving links between knowledge and action to address sustainability challenges. Communication research can play a critical role in fostering more effective research partnerships, especially those concerned with knowledge co-production processes. This article focuses on community-university research partnerships and factors that influence participation in the co-production process. We identify specific pathways for improving partnership development through a prospective analytical approach that examines community officials’ interest in partnering with university researchers. Using survey responses from a statewide sample of Maine municipal officials, we conduct a statistical analysis of community-university partnership potential to test a …

Go to article

Addressing The Complexities Of Boundary Work In Sustainability Science Through Communication, Bridie Mcgreavy, Karen Hutchins, Hollie Smith, Laura Lindenfeld, Linda Silka

Publications

Sustainability science seeks to identify and implement workable solutions to complex problems. This transdisciplinary approach advances a commitment to work across boundaries that occur among individuals, disciplines, and institutions to build capacities for informed and innovative decision making in the face of uncertainty and change. The concept of boundary work and related discussions of boundary objects and organizations are important, expanding focal areas within sustainability science. While communication is described as central to boundary work, insights from the field of communication have largely yet to inform theorizing about boundaries within sustainability science. In this paper, we highlight three communication perspectives, …

Go to article

Fisheries Management In A Changing Climate: Lessons From The 2012 Ocean Heat Wave In The Northwest Atlantic., Katherine E. Mills, Andrew Pershing, Curtis J. Brown, Yong Chen, Fu-Sung Chiang, Daniel S. Holland, Sigrid Lehuta, Janet A. Nye, Jenny C. Sun, Andrew C. Thomas, Richard A. Wahle

Publications

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Sustainability Science: A Call To Collaborative Action, David D. Hart, Kathleen P. Bell

Publications

Sustainability science is an emerging field directed at advancing sustainable development. Informed by recent scholarship and institutional experiments, we identify key roles for economists and encourage their greater participation in this research. Our call to collaborative action comes from positive experiences with the Sustainability Solutions Initiative based at the University of Maine, where economists collaborate with other experts and diverse stakeholders on real-world problems involving interactions between natural and human systems. We articulate a mutually beneficial setting where economists’ methods, skills, and norms add value to the problem-focused, interdisciplinary research of sustainability science and where resources, opportunities, and challenges from …

Go to article

Demographic Amplification Of Climate Change Experienced By The Contiguous United States Population During The 20th Century, Jason Samson, Dominique Berteaux, Brian Mcgill, Murray Humphries

Publications

Better understanding of the changing relationship between human populations and climate is a global research priority. The 20th century in the contiguous United States offers a particularly well-documented example of human demographic expansion during a period of radical socioeconomic and environmental change. One would expect that as human society has been transformed by technology, we would become increasingly decoupled from climate and more dependent on social infrastructure. Here we use spatially-explicit models to evaluate climatic, socio-economic and biophysical correlates of demographic change in the contiguous United States between 1900 and 2000. Climate-correlated variation in population growth has caused the U.S. …

Go to article

Emergent Behavior In A Coupled Economic And Coastline Model For Beach Nourishment, Eli D. Lazarus, D E. Mcnamara, M D. Smith, S Gopalakrishnan, A B. Murray

Publications

Developed coastal areas often exhibit a strong systemic coupling between shoreline dynamics and economic dynamics. "Beach nourishment", a common erosion-control practice, involves mechanically depositing sediment from outside the local littoral system onto an actively eroding shoreline to alter shoreline morphology. Natural sediment-transport processes quickly rework the newly engineered beach, causing further changes to the shoreline that in turn affect subsequent beach-nourishment decisions. To the limited extent that this landscape/economic coupling has been considered, evidence suggests that towns tend to employ spatially myopic economic strategies under which individual towns make isolated decisions that do not account for their neighbors. What happens …

Go to article

The Engaged University: Providing A Platform For Research That Transforms Society, Ali Whitmer, Laura Ogden, John Lawton, Pam Sturner, Peter M. Groffman, Laura Schneider, David Hart, Benjamin Halpern, William Schlesinger, Steve Raciti, Neil Bettez, Sonia Ortega, Lindsey Rustad, Steward Ta Pickett, Mary Killilea

Publications

Despite a growing recognition that the solutions to current environmental problems will be developed through collaborations between scientists and stakeholders, substantial challenges stifle such cooperation and slow the transfer of knowledge. Challenges occur at several levels, including individual, disciplinary, and institutional. All of these have implications for scholars working at academic and research institutions. Fortunately, creative ideas and tested models exist that provide opportunities for conversation and serious consideration about how such institutions can facilitate the dialogue between scientists and society.

Go to article

Evolution Of The American Ecological Paideia, Mary Snow, Richard K. Snow

Publications

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

On The Travel Emissions Of Sustainability Science Research, Timothy M. Waring, Mario F. Teisl, Eva Manandhar, Mark Anderson

Publications

Coastal And Ocean Economic Summaries Of The Coastal States 2014, Pat Johnston

Publications

Cooperation Across Organizational Boundaries: Experimental Evidence From A Major Sustainability Science Project, Timothy M. Waring, Sandra Goff, Julia B. Mcguire, Dylan Moore, Abigail Sullivan

Publications

The 6th Mode Of Transportation, Robert O. Walton

Publications

The Grand Thaw: Our Vanishing Cryosphere, Richard Snow, Mary Snow

Publications

Climate Change: The Proof And The Process, Richard Snow, Mary Snow

Publications

Strengthening Knowledge Co-Production Capacity: Examining Interest In Community-University Partnerships., Karen Hutchins, Laura Lindenfeld, Jessica Leahy, Linda Silka

Publications

Addressing The Complexities Of Boundary Work In Sustainability Science Through Communication, Bridie Mcgreavy, Karen Hutchins, Hollie Smith, Laura Lindenfeld, Linda Silka

Publications

Fisheries Management In A Changing Climate: Lessons From The 2012 Ocean Heat Wave In The Northwest Atlantic., Katherine E. Mills, Andrew Pershing, Curtis J. Brown, Yong Chen, Fu-Sung Chiang, Daniel S. Holland, Sigrid Lehuta, Janet A. Nye, Jenny C. Sun, Andrew C. Thomas, Richard A. Wahle

Publications

Sustainability Science: A Call To Collaborative Action, David D. Hart, Kathleen P. Bell

Publications

Demographic Amplification Of Climate Change Experienced By The Contiguous United States Population During The 20th Century, Jason Samson, Dominique Berteaux, Brian Mcgill, Murray Humphries

Publications

Emergent Behavior In A Coupled Economic And Coastline Model For Beach Nourishment, Eli D. Lazarus, D E. Mcnamara, M D. Smith, S Gopalakrishnan, A B. Murray

Publications

Publications

Evolution Of The American Ecological Paideia, Mary Snow, Richard K. Snow

Publications