Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Barriers To Student Engagement With Waste Diversion: Recycling And Composting Practices On The University Of Denver Campus, Izzy Beltran, Madeline Bonner, Dan Oxendine, Jason Tipler, Jules Mello, Tommy Dainko

Anthropology: Undergraduate Student Scholarship

This project sought to investigate barriers, facilitators, and behavioral patterns related to waste diversion on the University of Denver (DU) campus. In general, waste diversion can be defined as the methods of disposing of waste that prevent it from being deposited in a landfill. At the University of Denver, waste diversion is achieved primarily through recycling and composting. It is these two methods that our report will focus on.

Making Forests, Making Communities: An Ethnography Of Reforestation In Monteverde, Costa Rica, Megan Brown

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

Reforestation is not just planting trees in the ground. More than net increase in forest cover, reforestation is a complex political endeavor undertaken by both humans and non-humans and a popular climate change mitigation tactic. However, little research has examined the dynamics between selection of specific reforestation strategies, health, and community resilience, particularly with attention to entanglements between the lives of both human and non-human forest dwellers. This ethnographic work, based on six months of in-person fieldwork and six months of digital ethnography, examines reforestation and forest relations in Costa Rica’s Monte Verde zone, a region which experienced widespread deforestation, …

Constructing The Eastern Coyote: A Temporal Analysis Of The Scientific And Social Production Of A Controversial Northeastern Canid, Kayleigh Moses

Senior Theses and Projects

Eastern coyotes (Canis latrans var) have confounded the scientific and social boundaries established by postcolonial United States. The first eastern coyote specimen on record comes from Otis, Massachusetts in 1957. At the time, this unknown and unnamed wolf-like creature sparked fear amongst human residents of the Northeastern United States. Threatened by the presence of this predator, Northeasterners launched coyote killing efforts similar to the eradication campaigns that had previously failed in the Western United States. Today, Massachusetts officials estimate that 11,500 eastern coyotes occupy the state, living amongst people and pets in every county. This abundance of eastern …

Save Water Drink Wine: Challenges Of Implementing The Ethnography Of The Temecula Valley Wine Industry Into Food-Energy-Water Nexus Decision-Making, Zaida E. Darley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study demonstrates the interrelationships of people, food, energy, and water associated with Temecula Valley’s wine industry and reveals contradictions and biases in how people view these resources, which ultimately shape management and policies. The FEW (Food, Energy, and Water) Nexus is an approach increasingly used by policy- and decision-makers to understand the interrelationship of several resources. However, a FEW Nexus approach often lacks in social aspects that influence environmentally and economically sustainable outcomes, especially in the wine and wine tourism industry. When quantitative and qualitative data are available, the other challenge is which assessment to use. Two assessments often …

Kitchen Chronicles And Crude Expectations: Understanding Everyday Life In The Upper Ecuadorian Amazon, Emily A. Babb

Senior Theses

My thesis examines the everyday life of my Ecuadorian, Kichwa host family in an attempt to better understand how, if at all, they interact with and think about oil companies on a regular basis. In this way, I attempted to supplement the current literature, which tends to focus on the large, contentious interactions between indigenous people and the petroleum industry. It was my hope to expand the understanding of their identities both within and outside the context of oil and to show the complexity of their relationship with petroleum companies.

Culture And Conservation: Beyond Anthropocentrism, Nathan Poirier

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

No abstract provided.

Using Particle Size Analysis To Separate The Deposition Of A Bonebed And Artifact At The Wenas Creek Mammoth Site, Genevieve Brown

All Master's Theses

The 2005 discovery of a 17,000 year old mammoth bonebed in close proximity to a possible artifact at the Wenas Creek Mammoth Site (WCMS) brought with it the question of whether the bones and artifact were actually deposited together. If the two are associated, the WCMS would qualify as a Pre-Clovis site, a title given to just a handful of proven archaeological sites in North America, though claimed for numerous more. A close interval particle size analysis was performed on 2 column samples from the WCMS with the intention of identifying microstratification that would separate the bonebed from the artifact. …

Resisting For The River: Local Struggle Against The Proposed Saptakoshi River Dam, Janika Oza

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

On the Saptakoshi River in Nepal, the proposed construction of a hydropower dam may represent progress for parts of the country but loss for local communities. This paper draws on the experiences of people living in villages by the river who will be affected if the proposed high dam is built. By using qualitative information generated from interviews with villagers, the paper is an ethnographic account of the experiences and perspectives of the local populations that will be most directly affected by the dam. It was found that most subjects interviewed believe that the high dam would cause extreme environmental, …

Building Sustainable Societies: Exploring Sustainability Policy And Practice In The Age Of High Consumption, Cindy Isenhour

Cindy Isenhour

This dissertation is an attempt to examine how humans in wealthy, post-industrial urban contexts understand sustainability and respond to their concerns given their sphere of influence. I focus specifically on sustainable consumption policy and practice in Sweden, where concerns for sustainability and consumer-based responses are strong. This case raises interesting questions about the relative strength of sustainability movements in different cultural and geo-political contexts as well as the specific factors that have motivated the movement toward sustainable living in Sweden.

The data presented here supports the need for multigenic theories of sustainable consumerism. Rather than relying on dominant theories of …

The Consciousness Of Water: Narrative Flows, Environmental Change, And The Voice Of Yemen, Tricia Nellessen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Icebergs are melting in the Arctic. The Gulf of Mexico is warming and producing hurricanes such as Katrina. The delta of the southern United States is drying. And, Yemen will be the first country in modern history to experience a lack of accessible ground water, as soon as 2017 possibly. Yemen's situation has been tracked by scholars and governments since the 1960s. Despite this fact, cities have expanded in Yemen and the population has increased its use of water while little has been invested in desalination or infrastructure to offset growth. Climate change has affected humans for thousands of years; …

How Are The Torres Strait Islander's Traditional Hunting Practices Affected By The Current Rate Of Decline In Dugong And Sea Turtle Populations And The Australian Government's Co-Management Policies On Marine Preservation?, Katilyn Price

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

This paper will attempt to identify the extent to which the Torres Strait Islanders traditional hunting practices have been disrupted by the overall decline in dugong and sea turtle populations, which has directly correlated to an increase in hunting restrictions put in place by the Australian Government. The traditional hunting of dugongs and sea turtles provides not only a food source, but brings prestige to the men who catch them and serves as an educational platform to teach the younger generations about their culture. There are many environmental threats that impact the populations of sea turtles and dugongs though the …

Building Sustainable Societies: Exploring Sustainability Policy And Practice In The Age Of High Consumption, Cindy Isenhour

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is an attempt to examine how humans in wealthy, post-industrial urban contexts understand sustainability and respond to their concerns given their sphere of influence. I focus specifically on sustainable consumption policy and practice in Sweden, where concerns for sustainability and consumer-based responses are strong. This case raises interesting questions about the relative strength of sustainability movements in different cultural and geo-political contexts as well as the specific factors that have motivated the movement toward sustainable living in Sweden.

The data presented here supports the need for multigenic theories of sustainable consumerism. Rather than relying on dominant theories of …

Destroying (By Not Integrating) Culture And Environment: The Legal Implications Of The Common Property Movement [Abstract], John D. Wiener

Allocating and Managing Water for a Sustainable Future: Lessons from Around the World (Summer Conference, June 11-14)

2 pages.