Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Histological Changes In The Target Organs Of Channa Punctatus After Exposure To Anthraquinone Vat Dyes, Rajee Olaganathan, Jamila Patterson

Publications

The present study is an attempt on histopathology of gill, liver, kidney and intestine of Channa punctatus after exposure to sublethal concentrations of anthraquinone vat dyes viz., vat blue 4 and vat green 1. The dyes has been found to produce several damages in the vital organs of C. punctatus leading to various lesions like extensive lamellar hypertrophy with some proliferation at the base of secondary lamellae and hyperplasia of intercellular epithelial cells in the gill; fat accumulation, hepatic necrosis, aggregation of polymorphonuclear leucocytes, hepatocellular degeneration and aggregation of hepatocytes in liver; while in kidney it caused hyperplastic of the …

Does Green Consumerism Increase The Acceptance Of Wind Power?, Caroline L. Noblet, John Thøgersen

Publications

In this paper, we discuss what might be termed an action-based learning approach to promoting important pro-environmental actions, such as support for or acceptance of environmental policy. Such an approach involves promoting simple and easy behaviours as entry points for more radical steps towards sustainability, referred to as “catalytic” or “wedge” behaviours. Despite the obvious need for innovative approaches to promote important pro-environmental behaviour, and sound theoretical backing for such concepts, there is a lack of research testing the key propositions of this approach. In a survey study based on a random sample of residents of the state of Maine, …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Scotts Bluff National Monument, 2012 Annual Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Michael Prowatzke, Stephen K. Wilson

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

the last remnants of native mixed-grass prairie in the region. The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network (NGPN) surveyed 8 long-term monitoring plots in Scotts Bluff National Monument in 2012 as part of an effort to better understand the condition of plant communities in the park. We measured plant diversity and cover, estimated tree and shrub density, looked for the presence of exotic species that are of concern to park management, and evaluated the amount of human and natural disturbance at all plots. This effort was the second year in a multiple-year venture to document the current …

The Ecological Dimension Of Natalia Toledo Paz’S Poetry, Ida Day

Modern Languages Faculty Research

This essay explores the position and contribution of Natalia Toledo Paz, one of the most recognized contemporary poets in the native languages of Mexico, to the field of environmental ethics in local and global contexts. I focus on her bilingual works, written in Spanish and Zapotec, Ca gunaa gubidxa, ca gunaa guiiba’risaca/Mujeres de sol, mujeres de oro (2002) and Guie’yaase’/Olivo negro (2005), which revive the traditions, the poet’s memories, the nature, and the spirituality of her native Juchitán. Her focus on the Juchitec women have extended and deepened the mission of contemporary indigenous writers by incorporating the concerns of Latin …

Beyond Adaptive Capacity Checklists: Examining The Construction Of Capacity In Mexico City And Santiago, Patricia Romero-Lankao, Sara Hughes, Angélica Rosas-Huerta, Roxana Borquéz, Melissa Haeffner

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cities are vulnerable to a range of environmental hazards that are likely to be exacerbated by climate change: floods, droughts, poor air quality, and heat islands are a few examples. Assessments of this vulnerability often include an evaluation of a city’s adaptive capacity, or its potential to respond to changes in the frequency or severity of environmental hazards as well as its ability to take advantage of or mitigate these changes. For example, at the city (e.g., institutional) level, a common metric of adaptive capacity is the availability and effective use of information. In many cases, a city would receive …

Hetch Hetchy Redux: An Effort To Turn Back The Environmental Clock, Nancy Unger

History

If San Francisco voters pass Measure F on November 6, the city will conduct an $8 million study on the feasibility, costs, and benefits of draining the 300-foot deep reservoir created by the O’Shaughnessy Dam in 1923. The measure’s proponents see it as a first step in restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley, sister valley to Yosemite, to its natural state. That the measure is even on the ballot is a significant indication of the shift in attitudes towards the ongoing conflict between nature preservation and traditional notions of progress.

Introduction: Sex, Sexuality, And Gender As Useful Categories In Environmental History, Nancy Unger

History

This book is an effort to explain these kinds of extreme gendered divisions and to offer an enriched understanding of the powerful interplay between environment and sex, sexuality, and gender. The synergy produced by that interplay has been significant throughout American history, but it cannot be adequately understood and appreciated as long as those fields are discussed as discrete entities. The fields of gender and environment are growing, but scholars have seldom joined them together in analysis or heeded historian Carolyn Merchant's call that a gendered perspective be added to conceptual frameworks in environmental history.5 They have not offered a …

Amazonian States Map Threatened Borderlands, David S. Salisbury, A. William Flores De Melo, Jorge Vela Alvarado, Bertha Balbin Ordaya

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Recently, the Regional Initiative to Integrate South America has begun promoting a transboundary road that would bisect the forested borderlands and connect the two largest cities in the region, while the state governments seek to promote a direct ecological railroad alternative. Both transportation initiatives promise to alter forests and rivers and transform economies and cultures, but these projects also lack the base geographic information necessary to understand their potential transboundary impacts and benefits.

Learning To Protect And Restore: Interning At The National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration, Sarah Idczak

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

When I started looking for internship opportunities for this past summer, I hoped to find something that was rooted in environmental policy, but that would result in real changes in communities and the environment. I also hoped that my internship would introduce me to a variety of different careers that I could pursue after graduating from Huxley College of the Environment at WWU. I applied for an internship at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration knowing that working there would offer the rewarding and challenging experience I was looking for.

My learning objectives at the beginning of my internship were …

The Economic Contribution Of Instream Flows To The Lower Connecticut River Watershed, New England, Usa, Helen M. Poulos, Clement Loo, James G. Workman, Ann De Boer, Julia Michaels

Environmental Studies Publications

River recreation is a rapidly expanding source of economic productivity. Angler spending has been used as the basis for estimating the regional economic estimates of local income and jobs in several water-limited systems of the western United States and Mexico. However, the contribution of outdoor recreation to the economies of regions that do not experience water scarcity continues to be underappreciated. This paper estimates the economic contribution of angling to the lower Connecticut River Watershed (CRW) economy. The authors draw upon existing angler expenditure, river flow and geographic information system (GIS) data to relate anger use of the lower CRW …

Empowering The Citizen-Consumer: Re-Regulating Consumer Information To Support The Transition To Sustainable And Health Promoting Food Systems In Canada, Rod Macrae, Michelle Szabo, Kalli Anderson, Fiona Louden, Sandi Trillo

Publications and Scholarship

Both health and sustainability are stated public policy objectives in Canada, but food information rules and practices may not be optimal to support their achievement. In the absence of a stated consensus on the purposes of public information about food, the information provided is frequently determined by the marketers of product. No institution or agency has responsibility for determining the overall coherence of consumer food messages relative to these broader social goals of health and sustainability. Individual firms provide information that shows their products to best advantage, which may contradict what is provided about the product by another firm or …

Environmental Justice Discomfort And Disconnect In Ibm's Tainted Birthplace: A Micropolitical Ecology Perspective, Peter C. Little

Faculty Publications

The ‘‘toxic time bomb’’ of the so-called ‘‘green’’ high-tech industry is no longer a secret. Today, ‘‘[h]igh-tech pollution is a fact of life wherever the industry has operated for any length of time, from Malaysia to Massachusetts’’ (Siegel and Markoff 1985, 163), and so is resistance to high-tech toxic disaster. Since at least the late 1970s, electronics workers, academics, and environmental justice and labor rights activists have ‘‘challenged the chip’’ industry (Smith, Sonnenfeld, and Pellow 2006; see also Pellow and Sun-Hee Park 2003). Their struggle exposed not only the toxic externalities of microelectronic modernization, but also the emergence of redgreen …

Taller Transfronterizo Para La Amazonía Peruana Y Brasileña, David S. Salisbury, A. Willian Flores De Melo, Bertha Balbín Ordaya

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Con el fin de establecer alianzas institucionales y gubernamentales, se llevó a cabo el Taller de “Integración de Datos y Desarrollo de Capacidades Técnicas para Mitigar los Desafíos Ambientales en la Amazonía Peruana y Brasileña”, el cual contó con la participación de las instituciones e investigadores de Ucayali y el estado de Acre en Brasil, con el fin de buscar estrategias para desarrollar una base de datos espaciales y elaborar los mapas que sirvan de apoyo a la toma de decisiones en el corto, mediano y largo plazo en las dos regiones fronterizas ya mencionadas.

Peer Influence Of Non-Industrial Private Forest Owners In The Western Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Jillian R. Schubert, Audrey L. Mayer

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Understanding how non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners gain and share information regarding the management of their property is very important to policy makers, yet our knowledge regarding how and to what degree this information flows over privately owned landscapes is limited. The work described here seeks to address this shortfall. Widely administered surveys with close-ended questions may not adequately capture this information flow within NIPF owner communities. This study used open-ended questions in interviews of clusters of NIPF owners to determine whether and to what extent owners influence each other directly (through conversations or referrals to sources of advice) or …

Now It Is Impossible 'Simply To Continue Along Previous Lines': A Partial Design Sketch Of Enactable Social Theorizing, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers on Science in a Changing World

A compilation of 39 notes provides the basis for two shifts: from shaping a better social theory to allowing for social theorizing; and from representing social dynamics to enacting the social theorizing so as to repeatedly define and pursue engagements in the heterogeneous dynamics that intersect in all kinds of society-making. A key move is to bring the multiple strandedness of changing social life into the center by combining, on one hand, the analysis of intersecting processes, which link across scales in the production of any outcome and in their own on-going transformation, and, on the other hand, a participatory …

Case Study: University At Albany Develops A Guide To Examine Commuting Behavior And Patterns, Catherine T. Lawson, Mary Ellen Mallia, Chris Franklin, Benjamin Fischer, David Hogenkamp, Matt Ryan

Publications

The University at Albany conducted an examination of campus commuting patterns and behaviors over an eighteen month period. The components included a review of existing options, the development of GIS maps indicating origin points of commutes, a survey of campus perceptions of barriers to using alternative transportation and on-time tracking of mass transit offerings. The study revealed that the success of alternative transportation is hindered by limitations in bus routes and frequency in scheduling, the need for commuters to make additional trips outside their commute route and a distrust of bus reliability.

Portrayal Of The Proposed Pucallpa-Cruzeiro Do Sol Interconnection In The Media, Christine Cassaro

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Takahashi (2010) argues the evolution of the media environment, the rise of huge media conglomerates and the nature of media outlets to seek profit maximization have come to dominate, limiting the ability of mass media to truly fulfill its role in democratic societies. Whether we recognize it or not, the media plays a crucial role in our knowledge of what is going on in our local and global communities. In the case of environmental issues and concerns such as climate change, the media is crucial in building public perception. Public support is often necessary for the implementation of important policies, …

Road Construction And Amur Tigers (Panthera Tigris Altaica) In The Russian Far East, Elizabeth Cohan

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

The Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), also known as the Siberian tiger, is an endangered species in the Russian Far East that has experienced a sharp population decline during the past century (Tian et al. 2011, 3166). Roads may be one of the primary factors for the dramatic decline of tiger population because the species most sensitive to roads tend to be large carnivores that rely on large movement ranges and have low reproductive rates (Fahrig and Rytwinski 2009, 1 and Tian et al. 2011, 3166). Tigers (Panthera tigris) are an example of such fragile large …

Impacts Of Infrastructure Related To Tourism On Machu Picchu, Brian Carlson

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Each year millions of people from around the world travel to new and exciting destinations. These world travelers go off to every corner of the globe hoping for an experience that will bring adventure, exposure to new and different cultures, and for some people, just the opportunity to escape the monotony of every day life. Whatever the reason for their travel these tourists represent a growing global industry and many countries advertise the variety of opportunities that a trip to their particular country would provide. However, with the growth of the tourism industry comes an increase in impacts that tourists …

Freeway Deconstruction: Impacts And Prospects, Jerry Giordano

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Freeway deconstruction signifies an abrupt shift in urban policy (Switalski 2004). After 50 years of the greatest road-building binge in world history, cities since the 1960’s have more seriously considered the benefits of road removal and have increasingly incorporated it into their urban planning toolkit (Preservation Institute 2007). Each decade since the 1960’s includes more deconstruction proposals and projects. Priorities are shifting away from designing cities to enhance mobility, and toward promoting livability (Switalski 2004). My research question is: Is Richmond is a suitable location for a successful freeway deconstruction project?

Paper prepared for the Environmental Studies Senior Seminar/Geography Capstone.

Ecotourism Along Pucallpa-Cruzeiro Do Sul Corridor: Support For Biodiversity Conservation, Will Gordon

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

The paper addressing the issue of biodiversity conservation along a newly proposed transportation corridor from Pucallpa, Peru and Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil. Current plans for this corridor call for the construction of a highway, but this paper supports a railway as a less intrusive means. In order to support biodiversity conservation along the new highway or railway a hypothetical ecotourism lodge located in the Sierra del Divisor Peruvian National Park is examined. Ecotourism is defined by The International Ecotourism Society as, “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people” (TIES, 1990). Ecotourism …

The Effect Of Land Use Change On Exposure To And Transmission Of Pathogens, Mary Nagle

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

According to WHO, within the last 20 years, at least 30 new diseases have emerged to threaten the health of hundreds of millions of people (McMichael 2004). Most of these emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are zoonotic, as catalogued by the Institute of Medicine (Daszak et al. 2001). Understanding the way in which human interactions with the environment facilitate vector-host interactions may improve preventative measures and public health practices. Human-induced environmental change plays a major role in the emergence of zoonotic diseases (McMichael 2004, Eisenberg et al. 2007), often because these changes increase human-vector interactions (McMichael 2004). Malaria is the world’s …

All Roads Lead To Fragmentation: Exploring Habitat Connectivity And Wildlife Underpasses Through The Florida Panther And The Jaguar, Carroll Courtenay

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

The global transportation system is the “giant now embracing us,” and its omnipresent nature influences ecosystems worldwide (Forman, 1998: iv). The diversity of environmental effects associated with transportation systems challenges researchers to focus on concrete aspects of intertwined ecological systems. Examining habitat fragmentation associated with transportation networks, however, exposes some of the most direct impacts of these networks on fauna populations. As transportation networks expand, road corridors hinder habitat connectivity, which can greatly impact habitat health and genetic diversity in ecosystems (Corlatti et al., 2009; Tewksbury et al., 2002). Animal-vehicle collisions, decreased reproductive success, movement constraints, decreased colonization, and increased …

The Effects Of Sedimentation From Unpaved Roads On Coral Reefs: An Analysis Of St. John, Usvi And Koh Tao, Thailand, Dillon Vassallo

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

As the tourism industry drastically expanded on St. John, US Virgin Islands, developers constructed hundreds of unpaved dirt roads to facilitate the fast-paced population growth on the island. During rain storms, the unpaved roads created runoff from the mountainous terrain of St. John, and sedimentation smothered the coral reefs surrounding the island. Due to the geography of the island, coral reef characteristics, and dirt road network, the biggest threats to coral reefs around the island was considered sedimentation from unpaved roads. Sedimentation drastically threatens the ability for reefs to survive. This study uses existing research on the sedimentation from unpaved …

Chicago’S Transportation History: Informing The Future Of Sustainable Transportation Planning, Asha Phadke

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Throughout Chicago’s history, urbanization has led to an influx of people migrating from the rural to urban environment, due to the increased economic opportunity in the city. With this influx of population, the role and capacity of Chicago to provide sustainable transportation becomes essential. During the mid 1800s Chicago experienced the largest population growth in the world, starting with 4,000 inhabitants and growing to over 90,000 inhabitants by the end of the century. Since then, Chicago has reached a more stable population of 2.6 million people today. The transportation history of Chicago is linked to this population growth and has …

The Geopolitics Of The Brazil’S Amazonian Border, Peter C. Spoehr

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

The days of national security concerns being bound by geographic locality are long gone, replaced by intervention minded multi-lateral organizations, NGOs with influence surpassing some countries and aggressive military force projection strategies. Along with traditional nation states, these institutions must all navigate the complex global dialogue attempting to address global economic and environmental issues. The degradation of the Amazon and its effect on the global environment is a primary subject of this dialogue and Brazil has taken notice. Challenges to the geopolitical control of the Brazilian Amazon by these multi-level actors have only served to increase Brazilian assertion of its …

Iirsa And Energy Connectivity In The Amazon: Can Infrastructure Solve Energy Poverty In The Region?, Keon Monroe

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

About 85 percent (EIA 2010) of Brazil’s electricity comes from hydropower plants. Recent efforts are expanding the use of hydropower throughout the country and across its Amazonian region. Major programs, both private and in the government, are financing expansion of dams, as well as other transportation infrastructure. The largest infrastructure group in South America, the Initiative For the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA), defines its purpose as an aim to strengthen transport, energy, and communications infrastructure under a regional prospective (IIRSA 2011). Thus presumptuously expanded and new infrastructure is essential to providing a better quality of life. …

Existing Knowledge, Understudied Ecosystems, And Rapid Development: The Environmental Impacts Of Roads On The Wetlands Of The Pantanal, South America, Ethan Strickler

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Wetlands are particularly diverse habitats because they are home to both aquatic and terrestrial flora and fauna. Wetlands are important for conservation because they are often home to many rare and endangered species. For example, in the United States alone, over a third or all rare or endangered species reside in wetlands. Wetlands offer many benefits for both humans and wildlife because they are hydrologic modifiers, wildlife centers, and beneficial for both water quality and nutrient cycling (Forman, et al. 2003). As wildlife centers, wetlands are the most botanically productive habitats on earth and support high abundance and diversity of …

Political Ecology: An Analysis Of Peruvian Government Discourses In Support Of Road Projects, Juan Boettner

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

In this paper, I will explore the ways in which the Peruvian government supports road projects through various well-developed arguments. I will look at how authorities present and/or support road projects in different temporal and spatial scales. I will try to answer the following questions:

1) How has the Peruvian government’s arguments for improved connectivity changed over time?
2) What are the implications of such changes?

Answering these questions will help explain the government’s role and biases regarding economic development in Peru. Furthermore, answers to these questions can help us understand past positions and predict what the government’s position may …

Road Construction As A Facilitator For Dengue Fever Transmission, Kate Billups

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

Although I plan to focus on the impact of road construction in tropical and subtropical regions on the spread and contraction of dengue fever, I hope to use this focus as a model that could help to create policies that would mitigate other diseases spread through insect contact. In places that road and railway construction have already become a part of the permanent foundation, medical infrastructure should be put into place to ensure that populations at increased risk to contract dengue fever have access to medical care to diminish rates of dengue hemorrhagic fever.

Paper prepared for the Environmental Studies …