Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Future Of Maine's Forests Under Alternative Socioeconomic, Climate And Conservation Pathways, Jianheng Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maine is a historically important timber supply region in North America and understanding the potential change in forestlands and their product industries affected by climate change and various socio-economic conditions can better improve the forest healthy and sustain a sustainable product industry. A statistical harvest choice model for the state of Maine was developed in chapter 1. It was estimated using a multinomial logit model of two products, under varying management intensities, and ownership classifications across varying market conditions. Results indicate that stumpage prices have a significant effect on forest landowners' harvest decisions and that the expansion of conservation land …

The “Green Patent Paradox” And Fair Use: The Intellectual Property Solution To Fight Climate Change, Samuel Cayton

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

As the climate crisis consistently worsens, the United States’ response to the crisis has proven inconsistent. Even with the United States likely to recommit to the Paris Climate Agreement, political tensions will likely further delay a climate response. The polarized characterization of the Green New Deal, the inaction of scientifically misguided conservatives, and the incessant proposal for middle ground approaches lacking the urgency needed to change course all contribute to this delay. While swift action from the federal government is needed, looking to the private sector to transition to sustainability is equally important. Specifically, patent protection is a strong intellectual …

A Crisis Of Kelp, Rachel L. Sherman

Capstones

Along with insects and lab-grown meat, for years seaweed has been lauded as a sustainable “food of the future” by the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. As the world increasingly turns to alternative foods in pursuit of a healthier Earth, seaweed has all the makings of an ecological savior. It’s plentiful — seaweeds and ocean algae make up roughly nine tenths of all the plant life on Earth — it’s cheap to harvest and get to market, packed with nutrition, and keeps oceans clean, absorbing more carbon dioxide and releasing more oxygen than the world’s rainforests.

But outside of Japanese …

Bibliometric Survey On Effect Of Climate Factors On Spread Of Coronavirus (Covid-19), Seema Patil, Jay Makwana, Manish Attri

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The new SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 has spread quickly around the globe since it was first reported in Wuhan city of China, in December 2019 subsequent to being contracted from a zoonotic source. The main focus of this bibliometric survey is to recognize the few studies which have upheld the epidemiological hypothesis that the effect of climatic factors is playing a crucial role in the spreading of COVID-19. The analysis is done on the basis of 412 documents such as journals, articles, editorials, short surveys and some review papers. The United States contributes to the maximum number of publications followed by the …

Oil, Climate Change, And Human Rights: A Case Study Of Norway With Comparative Analysis, Kate Sjovold

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

The Arctic region is simultaneously facing profound, negative ecological impacts of climate change and is also subject to expanding oil and gas exploration and extraction. Facing a critical decision involving Arctic oil expansion, Norway is contending with its position as a global leader in the environmental movement and its historic and continued economic reliance on the oil and gas industry. This research contextualizes Norway within the Arctic region, discusses Norway as a petroleum exporting country, and addresses how value and identity play a role in environmental policy creation. Recent human rights-based climate change litigation in Norway, People v. Arctic Oil, …

National Security And Climate Change, Madison Moran

Physics Capstone Projects

Certain scientific subjects are often divisive or technical, which makes those topics difficult to discuss with audiences outside the scientific sphere. One way of getting around this obstacle is to cater scientific communication to different target audiences to cut through any audience biases. In order to accomplish that, a communicator needs to understand the relationship between audiences’ worldviews, and what they know, feel, and do regarding the subject at hand, and then how that relationship influences the types of media audiences trust and to which they respond positively. The following study investigates the worldviews of a military audience with respect …

Bibliometric Survey On Effects Of Climate Change On Incidences Of Infectious Diseases, Seema Harshad Patil, Yatharth Jain, Vedant Marathe

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

^{For understanding the influx of Infectious Diseases, research of climate change and its effects pertaining to the diseases is important. The motive of this bibliometric survey is to understand the research which has been carried out regarding the aforementioned topics. This paper summarizes the research in the 21st Century from 2001 to present. We conducted this analysis using tools such as Gephi, Researchgate, Scopus, ScienceScape, Google Scholar and Mapchart. This Bibliometric Survey on “Effects of Climate Change on Infectious Diseases” showed that maximum publications are articles. These publications are from conferences and journals related to Environmental Science. The United States …}

Transnational Privilege During The Climate Crisis, Joanna Falla

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The idea of man-made climate change has been common knowledge in America for decades, yet there is still a significant number of people who are stead-fast climate deniers, regardless of scientific understanding. Past research has covered possible factors in one’s upbringing to cause climate change denials, such as political parties or religion. We seek to answer the curiosity of climate change denial with a much simpler variable: location. The Earth is covered in a myriad of ecosystems, each with its own regional climate. People live across the globe, so each has different values and principles about the environment based on …

The Spatial And Temporal Impact Of Agricultural Crop Residual Burning On Local Land Surface Temperature In Three Provinces Across China From 2015 To 2017, Wenting Zhang, Mengmeng Yu, Qingqing He, Tianwei Wang, Lu Lin, Kai Cao, Wei Huang, Peihong Fu, Jiaxin Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

China has suffered from severe crop residue burning (CRB) for a long time. As a type of biomass burning, CRB leads to a huge alteration in climate due to the emission of greenhouse gases and particulates in the atmosphere and damages to surface characteristics on land. At present, a growing body of research focuses on the impact of biomass burning (BB) (e.g., forest fire, grass fire, and CRB) on climate change from the aspect of atmospheric process. Meanwhile, a small number of research studies have started to pay attention on the damage caused by BB (e.g. forest fire) on land …

Collaboration And Reflexivity In Wildland Fire Risk Governance In The Western United States, Brett Alan Miller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation presents both quantitative and qualitative analysis on different aspects of wildland fire risk management in the western United States. Each of these chapters is framed by and examines the sociological concept of reflexivity, which describes a process of individual and/or collective reflection. This reflexivity is needed to identify and enact alternative management strategies that contend with the expected increases in the number and severity of wildland fires in the future due to the combined effects of even-aged forest growth after years of timber extraction, a legacy of fire suppression, climate change, and increasing human development in the wildland-urban …

Effects Of Long-Term Variation In Temperature On Reproductive Phenology In A Population Of Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia Sialis), Paul Pleiman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the relationship between multiple temperature variables, to include annual and pre-lay date temperatures with first-egg and mean first-egg lay dates of the eastern bluebird at the Warner Parks in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Data is collected by citizen scientists for the Eastern Bluebird Nesting Box Project while visiting artificial nest boxes throughout the park and recording observations made during the breeding season. Temperature data is retrieved from the Northwest Alliance for Computational Science and Engineering’s Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) Climate Group, based at Oregon State University. The analyses showed no correlation between annual or pre-lay …

Evolution Of Sustainability And Resilience In Military Master Planning: Examining Planners' Perceptions, Rhonda E. Fields

Public Affairs Dissertations

An increasingly globalized world and mounting threats to our economy, environment, and social structures have brought the concepts of sustainability and resilience into sharp focus. These threats include climate change, rapid urbanization, and loss of biodiversity in an increasing volatile, uncertain, ambiguous, and complex world. Sustainability and resilience have emerged as key concepts in understanding and addressing urban dynamics toward a livable urban future. These concepts are important because resilience typically deals with the short-term issues surrounding predicting and responding to immediate threats, while sustainability looks at the long-term, steady state of the built and natural environment. Focusing on resilience …

Climate Change Games As Boundary Objects: Fostering Dialogic Communication Within Stakeholder Engagement, Megan L. Mckittrick

English Theses & Dissertations

Rising waters and the increasing devastation of flood events make coastal resilience a significant issue in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, particularly in the city of Norfolk. Enhancing resilience requires ongoing stakeholder engagement designed to invite dialogue while encouraging cross-jurisdictional collaboration and comprehensive problem-solving. Climate change games have been employed to support these endeavors. This dissertation provides a response to the following research questions: 1) What is the origin of the climate change game genre? 2) Why are key stakeholders in coastal resilience using climate change games? And 3) how do these games operate for these key stakeholders? To …

Earth Needs Help, Rhiannon C. Barto

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

Humans destroy earth by polluting the atmosphere and wiping out other living things. Climate change is a human created problem that is increasing the rate at which the damage is occurring. The temperature is increasing at the fastest rate that it has in 10,000 years. With change happening this fast, it is hard for nature and animals, including ourselves, to adapt. Climate change is one of the biggest things causing this change and it is crucial to take action before it is too late. We need to stop deforestation, stop CO2 emissions, and stop the use of fossil fuels. The …

Using Stable Isotope ( 13c) And C/N Ratio To Study The Effects Of Climate Change On Olive Trees, Rezq Basheer-Salimia

Journal of the Arab American University مجلة الجامعة العربية الامريكية للبحوث

In this research, the impact of some climate change effects on the olive tree was studied. Specifically, the research investigated the impact of the lack of water and drought on the physiology of olive trees using stable carbon isotopic (Delta13C) and C/N ratios. Four olive cultivars including Souri, Roomi, Improved-Nabali, and Nasouhi, planted in three geographical areas with different rainfall patterns were used. These locations are Yatta/Hebron area (dry and low rainfall area with less than 300 mm/year), Jab’a/Jerusalem area (semi-dry and medium rainfall zone), in addition to the Kufer Ra’e/Jenin area (area of high rainfall, higher than 550 mm/year). …

Wildfires Force Thousands To Evacuate Near Los Angeles: Here’S How The 2020 Western Fire Season Got So Extreme, Mojtaba Sadegh, Ata Akbari Asanjan, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Two wildfires erupted on the outskirts of cities near Los Angeles, forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate their homes Monday as powerful Santa Ana winds swept the flames through dry grasses and brush. With strong winds and extremely low humidity, large parts of California were under red flag warnings.

High fire risk days have been common this year as the 2020 wildfire season shatters records across the West.

More than 4 million acres have burned in California – 4% of the state’s land area and more than double the previous annual record. Five of the state’s six largest historical …

Raise The Seawalls: Local Governments & Flood Protection, Felix Stetsenko

Undergraduate Economic Review

Rising seas and more frequent and severe storms are increasing the risks and costs of flooding. Using 2009-2018 data for the U.S. state of Florida from FEMA’s Community Rating System program (CRS), which scores participating local governments on their flood risk mitigation activities: I study (1) whether increasing flood risks have led to increases in program participation and score among Florida towns and cities; (2) what risk, fiscal, and demographic factors are driving local governments to invest in CRS-recognized flood risk mitigation measures; and (3) the association between CRS measures and home values.

Spatial And Temporal Dynamics Of Human–Wildlife Conflicts In The Kenya Greater Tsavo Ecosystem, Joseph M. Mukeka, Joseph O. Ogutu, Erustus Kanga, Eivin Røskaft

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Biodiversity conservation in developing countries is faced with many and mounting challenges, including increasing human–wildlife conflicts (HWCs). In Africa and other developing countries, increasing HWCs, particularly those adjacent to protected areas, can adversely affect local stakeholder perceptions and support for conservation. We analyzed HWC reports for multiple wildlife species compiled >23 years (1995–2017) from the Greater Tsavo Ecosystem (GTE) in Kenya to determine HWC trends. The GTE is the largest protected area in Kenya, covering 22,681 km². Overall, 39,022 HWC incidents were reported in 6 GTE regions (i.e., Taveta, Mutomo, Kibwezi, Rombo, Galana, Bachuma). The 5 wildlife species …

Flooding Schools: School Mental Health Providers And The Climate Crisis, Erik J. Reinbergs, Sarah Fefer

International Journal of School Social Work

This study provides an example of using a problem-solving model to explore the impact of the climate crisis on schools. Using publicly available climate change and flooding prediction data, we estimate that by 2100, assuming a “medium” climate change scenario, more than 1677 schools in the coastal United States are expected to flood every year and more than 2262 schools are expected to flood every 10 years. Within the data, “medium” is defined as warming levels that will lead to an estimated five feet of sea level rise by the year 2100. Limitations in the data suggest these numbers are …

Non-Conventional Vehicles As A Way Towards Carbon Neutrality In Iceland, Julia Sokolowska

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Paris Agreement’s chief objective is to protect the Earth and its inhabitants from a point of no return, when the effects of climate change will be so intense that they will shift the equilibrium of ecosystems. The distinctiveness of this international environmental treaty is that it does not impose climate change mitigation measures, but rather allows nation states to create their own set of measures, the NDCs, to reach the global warming of ‘well below 2oC’ by the end of the century. Thus, Iceland has submitted its own NDC, the Climate Action Plan 2018-2030, which has an ambitious goal of …

Covid-19 And The Case For Global Development, Johan A. Oldekop, Rory Horner, David Hulme, Roshan Adhikari, Bina Agarwal, Matthew Alford, Oliver Bakewell, Nicola Banks, Stephanie Barrientos, Tanja Bastia, Anthony J. Bebbington, Upasak Das, Ralitza Dimova, Richard Duncombe, Charis Enns, David Fielding, Christopher Foster, Timothy Foster, Tomas Frederiksen, Ping Gao, Tom Gillespie, Richard Heeks, Sam Hickey, Martin Hess, Nicholas Jepson, Ambarish Karamchedu, Uma Kothari, Aarti Krishnan, Tom Lavers, Aminu Mamman, Diana Mitlin, Negar Monazam Tabrizi

Geography

COVID-19 accentuates the case for a global, rather than an international, development paradigm. The novel disease is a prime example of a development challenge for all countries, through the failure of public health as a global public good. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the falsity of any assumption that the global North has all the expertise and solutions to tackle global challenges, and has further highlighted the need for multi-directional learning and transformation in all countries towards a more sustainable and equitable world. We illustrate our argument for a global development paradigm by examining the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic …

On Environmental, Climate Change & National Security Law, Mark P. Nevitt

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article offers a new way to think about climate change. Two new climate change assessments — the 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA) and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel’s Special Report on Climate Change — prominently highlight climate change’s multifaceted national security risks. Indeed, not only is climate change a “super wicked” environmental problem, it also accelerates existing national security threats, acting as both a “threat accelerant” and “catalyst for conflict.” Further, climate change increases the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events while threatening nations’ territorial integrity and sovereignty through rising sea levels. It causes both internal displacement …

Oil At Risk: Political Violence And Accelerated Carbon Extraction In The Middle East And North Africa, Ryan Knowles Merrill, Anthony W. Orlando

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

What effect does the threat of expropriation have on resource extraction? Much of the economic literature suggests that uncertainty reduces investment, but the theory of risk-induced extraction suggests the opposite. In this paper, we test this theory in the context of political violence, which poses a real threat of state destabilization and violent expropriation of property rights. Facing this uncertainty, we find that oil producers in the Middle East and North Africa increase oil production in response to political violence. This finding has important negative consequences for the world in terms of climate change and demonstrates a previously untested mechanism …

Ground Warming Leads To Changes In Carbon Cycling In Northern Fen Peatlands: Implications For Carbon Storage, Ericka James

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Northern peatlands store one third of the world’s soil carbon (C), as they remove more C from the atmosphere via photosynthesis than they release to the atmosphere through ecosystem respiration and methane (CH₄) production. Climate change threatens this function by stimulating C release from peatland stores as peat temperatures warm and soil moisture is reduced. Ground heating of +4 °C above ambient peat temperatures was initiated in a Sphagnum moss-dominated, nutrient poor fen and a Carex sedge-dominated, intermediate nutrient fen. Over one growing season, Carex fen heated plots had increases in photosynthesis (+23%), ecosystem respiration (+22%), and CH …

Temperature And Human Capital In India, Teevrat Garg, Maulik Jagnani, Vis Taraz

Economics: Faculty Publications

We estimate the effects of temperature on human capital production in India. We show that high temperatures reduce math and reading test scores among school-age children. Agricultural income is one mechanism driving this relationship— hot days during the growing season reduce agricultural yields and test scores with comparatively modest effects of hot days in the nongrowing season. The roll-out of a workfare program, by providing a safety net for the poor, substantially weakens the link between temperature and test scores. Our results imply that absent social protection programs, higher temperatures will have large negative i

The Life And Death Of Great Cities In The Time Of Climate Change And The Covid-19 Pandemic, James Kushner

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Essays On Climate Change-Related Extreme Events, Alvin E. Harris

Dissertations

There are increasing and urgent calls for global economies to join in the fight against the impacts of climate change (World Bank, 2020). With reports such as the World Bank (2020) of climate change costing billions of dollars in losses for economies, the purpose of my dissertation is to examine the effects of climate change-related extreme events and their potential economic effects in three areas: agriculture, migration, and the labor market.

My first essay focuses on the factors that influence farmers’ perception of risk and adaptive strategies against the effects of climate change-related extreme events. I examine whether farmers’ social …

U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emission Bottlenecks: Prioritization Of Targets For Climate Liability, Alexis Pascaris, Joshua M. Pearce

Michigan Tech Publications

Due to market failures that allow uncompensated negative externalities from burning fossil fuels, there has been a growing call for climate change-related litigation targeting polluting companies. To determine the most intensive carbon dioxide (CO₂)-emitting facilities in order prioritize liability for climate lawsuits, and risk mitigation strategies for identified companies as well as their insurers and investors, two methods are compared: (1) the conventional point-source method and (2) the proposed bottleneck method, which considers all emissions that a facility enables rather than only what it emits. Results indicate that the top ten CO₂ emission bottlenecks in the U.S. …

Artisanal Marine Fisheries And Climate Change In The Region Of Lima, Peru, Edelina Coayla

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

This study explores the relationship between climate change and artisanal marine fisheries in the region of Lima, Peru. From the perspective of the economics of climate change and renewable marine resources, the methods of correlations and bivariate regression are employed. A negative relationship is found between the increase in the sea surface temperature (SST) and the marine fishery catches landed at the ports of the Lima region (2004-2017).The higher the SST, the lower fishing effort. It was also found that the SST significantly influences the gross added value of fishing. To reduce the vulnerability of artisanal marine fisheries, the main …

Statement Of World Aquatic Scientific Societies On The Need To Take Urgent Action Against Human-Caused Climate Change, Based On Scientific Evidence [Dear Colleague Letter], Scott A. Bonar, Brian R. Murphy, Leanne H. Roulson, Jesse T. Trushenski, Douglas J. Austen, Michael Edward Douglas

United States Fish and Wildlife: Staff Publications

Dear Colleague Letter from the American Fisheries Society to fellow scientific societies, July 25, 2020, about the urgent need for responsive collective action to mitigate impending radical climate change. Includes the Statement of World Aquatic Scientific Societies on the Need to Take Urgent Action Against Human-Caused Climate Change, Based on Scientific Evidence, emphasizing the importance of aquatic ecosystems. Includes extensive citations and notes.

"Water is the most important natural resource on Earth as it is vital for life. Aquatic ecosystems, freshwater or marine, provide multiple benefits to human society, such as provisioning of oxygen, food, drinking water, genetic resources; regulation …