Physical and Environmental Geography Commons^™

A Tale Of Two Working Landscapes, Sage C. Sutcliffe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Smallholder Farmer Resilience As A Pillar Of Climate-Smart Agriculture: A Review, Michael B. Madin Mr, Daniel Kweku B. Inkoom Professor, Charles A. Bamfo Jr

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

This systematic review synthesizes and assesses scientific literature publications (n=42), to identify and depict the focus of climate change adaptations and resilience research on smallholder farmers in the savannah ecological zone (SAZ). We found substantive studies providing evidence of climate impacts, with adverse consequences on both human and environmental systems. Adaptive actions are being employed to manage the changing conditions as response to climate impacts. Notably, most research efforts are currently restricted to impacts on adaptation, food security, and vulnerability, with a very rare focus on climate resilience and the effects of adaptive actions. Hence, the possible maladaptation outcomes, which …

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works, Caitlyn Aldersea, Justin Bravo, Sam Allen, Anna Block, Connor Block, Emma Buechler, Maria De Los Angeles Bustillos, Arianna Carlson, William Christensen, Olivia Kachulis, Noah Craver, Kate Dillon, Muskan Fatima, Angel Fernandes, Emma Finch, Colleen Cassidy, Amy Fishman, Andrea Francis, Stacia Fritz, Simran Gill, Emma Gries, Rylie Hansen, Shannon Powers, Jacqueline Martinez, Zachary Harker, Ashley Hasty, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Kathleen Hopps, Adelaide Kerenick, Colin Kleckner, Ci Koehring, Elijah Kruger, Braden Krumholz, Maddie Leake, Lyneé Alves, Seraphina Loukas, Yatzari Lozano Vazquez, Haley Maki, Emily Martinez, Sierra Mckinney, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Audrey Mitchell, Kipling Newman, Audrey Ng, Megan Lucyshyn, Andrew Nguyen, Stevie Ostman, Casandra Pearson, Alexandra Penney, Julia Gielczynski, Tyler Ball, Anna Rini, Christina Rorres, Simon Ruland, Helayna Schafer, Emma Sellers, Sarah Schuller, Claire Shaver, Kevin Summers, Isabella Shaw, Madison Sinar, Claudia Pena, Apshara Siwakoti, Carter Sorensen, Madi Sousa, Anna Sparling, Alexandra Revier, Brandon Thierry, Dylan Tyree, Maggie Williams, Lauren Wols

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

DU Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Works

Minimizing Surface Run-Off, Improving Underground Water Recharging, And On-Site Rain Harvesting In The Kathmandu Valley, Ambika P. Adhikari, Keshav Bhattarai

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Nepal's political institutions and administrative units were thoroughly restructured in 2015 with the promulgation of the new Constitution. Several rural areas were combined to meet the definition of urban threshold criteria to classify rural areas into urban categories. Accordingly, over 3,900 local political and administrative units were amalgamated into 753 units, of which, 293 units are classified as urban. Within these newly defined urban areas, many natural environments have been converted into impervious surfaces such as paved roads, sidewalks, and building roofs. These impervious surfaces have drastically increased the amount of surface run-offs-often termed as "urban floods"--under increasing precipitation caused …

Quantifying Spatial Heterogeneity Of Wild Blueberries And Crop Water Stress Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Technologies, Kallol Barai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The wild blueberry is one of the major crops of Maine, with significant economic value and potential health benefits. Due to global climate change, drought impacts have been increasing significantly in recent years in the northeast region of the USA, causing significant economic losses in the agricultural sectors. It has been predicted to increase further in the future. Changing patterns of the elevated atmospheric temperatures, increased rainfall variabilities, and more frequent drought events have made the wild blueberry industry of Maine vulnerable, suggesting the adoption of novel approaches to mitigate the negative impacts of global climate changes. Also, wild blueberry …

Blue Growth: A Transitions Approach To Developing Sustainable Pathways, Christina Kelly, Ben Mcateer, Frances Fahy, Liam Carr, Daniel Norton, Desiree Farrell, Rebecca Corless, Stephen Hynes, Zacharoula Kyriazi, Agnès Marhadour, Regis Kalaydjian, Wesley Flannery

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

The sustainable management of Blue Growth is an urgent issue for coastal states. Marine industries have rapidly expanded over the last two decades and this is projected to continue with the European Green Deal and post-COVID economic recovery policies. The intensification of Blue Growth could have adverse socio-ecological implications and must, therefore, be managed in terms of sustainability, natural resource boundaries, and coastal community well-being. Managing Blue Growth in a sustainable manner however, is challenging due to the longstanding inefficiencies and inertia of existing marine governance regimes. Adopting a transitions approach has been advanced as a way of steering regime …

Applying The Food-Energy-Water Nexus Approach To Urban Agriculture: From Few To Fewp (Food-Energy- Water-People), Silvio Caputo, Victoria Schoen, Kathrin Spect, Baptiste Grard, Chris Blythe, Nevin Cohen, Runrid Fox-Kämper, Jason Hawes, Joshua Newell, Lidia Poniży

Publications and Research

Many studies examine the correlation between the use of resources such as water, energy and land, and the production of food. These nexus studies focus predominantly on large scale systems, often considering the social dimensions only in terms of access to resources and participation in the decision- making process, rather than individual attitudes and behaviours with respect to resource use. Such a concept of the nexus is relevant to urban agriculture (UA), but it requires customisation to the particular characteristics of growing food in cities, which is practiced mainly at a small scale and produces not only food but also …

Community Forest In Liberia: The Interface Between Sustainable Charcoal Production And Deforestation, Amavie Clement

Capstone Collection

The available data establishes a direct correlation between charcoal production and forest degradation and deforestation in Liberia. Charcoal is the primary energy source for Liberians, especially in urban areas where the bulk of the population lives. It is expected to be the mainstay energy source for years to come because it is affordable, accessible, and convenient to use compared to other forms of energy (i.e. electricity and petroleum gas). However, the current model of charcoal production, based on indiscriminate felling of trees, poses a danger to the environment as it results in widespread forest degradation and deforestation. Therefore, any successful …

Yardwork: A Biography Of An Urban Place By Daniel Coleman, Vivian M. Hansen

The Goose

Review of Daniel Coleman's Yardwork: A Biography of an Urban Place.

A Naturalist’S Guide To The Great Plains, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

This book documents nearly 500 US and Canadian locations where wildlife refuges, nature preserves, and similar properties protect natural sites that lie within the North American Great Plains, from Canada’s Prairie Provinces to the Texas-Mexico border. Information on site location, size, biological diversity, and the presence of especially rare or interesting flora and fauna are mentioned, as well as driving directions, mailing addresses, and phone numbers or internet addresses, as available. US federal sites include 11 national grasslands, 13 national parks, 16 national monuments, and more than 70 national wildlife refuges. State properties include nearly 100 state parks and wildlife …

Land Insecurity In Gulu, Uganda: A Clash Between Culture And Capitalism, Zachary Slotkin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper presents the causes and consequences of land insecurity in Gulu, Uganda. In order to address this important and often sensitive issue, the paper analyzes the role of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency and the government’s policy of forced encampment during the insurgency in contributing to land insecurity, causing widespread displacement among former internally displaced persons (IDPs). It further explores the importance of land ownership in providing economic productivity to rural landowners, as well as the nature of customary land tenure in Acholi culture and the government’s efforts to privatize communal land, to give a background on the …

The Anthropocene, Overview, Scott W. Schwartz

Open Educational Resources

This presentation offers an overview of the developing concept of The Anthropocene -- a term coined to describe our current geological epoch, in which human impact on the planet will leave a permanent trace.

How Effective Are Biodiversity Conservation Payments In Mexico?, Sebastien Costedoat, Esteve Corbera, Driss Ezzine De Blas, Jordi Honey-Roses, Kathy Baylis, Miguel Angel Catillo-Santiago

Kathy Baylis

Exploring The Preservation Of Pastoralism And The Natural World In Western Mongolia , Josephine Brownell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

At a time when Mongolia is experiencing the intense effects of land degradation, human activity, and climate change, it is crucial that a new land management framework is developed with conservation in mind. Pastoralism’s unique relationship with the land serves as a method of protecting the natural world for the future. This study focuses on a pastoral community in Western Mongolia while considering a main research question: Is a herder’s historically deep connection with the land enough to protect the modern pastoral lifestyle in Mongolia for years to come? In answering this question, a review of related previous studies on …

The Primacy Of Context: An Exploration Into The Causes Of Food Insecurity In Kitere, Kenya., William O. Aludo

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this study was to explore the specific reasons why households in Kitere village, Kenya experience persistent food insecurity every year while the region enjoys the advantage of two planting/harvest seasons in a year. Kitere village lies within the lakeside region of Nyanza Province in Kenya, generally considered to be one of the more agriculturally productive parts of the country. The Participatory Rural Appraisal method was employed to gather qualitative data on the causes of food insecurity in Kitere village. The data sources were focus groups and a self-administered, one-time survey of random and non-random samples of key …

Why I Love Grasshopper Sparrows, Michele Patenaude

UVM Libraries Conference Day

Since 2001, Michele (a library circulation supervisor in her day job) has conducted a summer breeding-bird survey of Grasshopper Sparrows at Camp Johnson in Colchester, VT. Named Grasshopper Sparrows because their breeding call sounds like a grasshopper, this little brown bird is endemic to certain types of scrubby grasslands which are becoming more scarce in the Northeast. The Grasshopper Sparrow is also declining and the species is not on the list of Vermont Endangered Birds. Come to this presentation and learn about the bird, how Michele surveys them, why they are endangered, and why Michele loves these quiet, little brown …

Aridity, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of how aridity in the American West has influenced that region's economic, environmental, and political development and U.S. Government policies in this region.

Local Food And Agriculture Awareness: The Literacy Of Local Produce And Agriculture In Northwest Arkansas, Kyle Colton Flynn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that adolescents and children, both male and female, are failing to meet the daily fruit and vegetable consumption requirements (Kim et al., 2011; Upton et al., 2012; Harris et al., 2012). Other studies have shown that with increased exposure and availability of produce, students (K-5) tend to consume more fruits and vegetables (Cullen et al., 2009; Evans et al., 2012). The purpose of this study is to identify whether Northwest Arkansas eleventh grade high school students possess experience and knowledge of local produce and agriculture. Out of 1054 students enrolled at …

The Hedonic Method Of Valuing Environmental Policies And Quality, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

Benefit-cost analysts attempt to compare two states of the world, the status quo and a state in which a policy having benefits and costs is being contemplated. For environmental policies, this comparison is greatly complicated by the difficulty in inferring the values that individuals place on an increment to environmental quality. Unlike ordinary private goods, environmental goods are not directly exchanged in markets with observable prices. In this chapter, the hedonic approach to inferring the benefits of an environmental policy is examined.

Arsenic Contamination In Groundwater In Vietnam: An Overview And Analysis Of The Historical, Cultural, Economic, And Political Parameters In The Success Of Various Mitigation Options, Thuy M. Ly

Pomona Senior Theses

Although arsenic is naturally present in the environment, 99% of human exposure to arsenic is through ingestion. Throughout history, arsenic is known as “the king of poisons”; it is mutagenic, carcinogenic, and teratogenic. Even in smaller concentrations, it accumulates in the body and takes decades before any physical symptoms of arsenic poisoning shows. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the safe concentration of arsenic in drinking water is 10 µg/L. However, this limit is often times ignored until it is decades too late and people begin showing symptoms of having been poisoned.

This is the current situation for Vietnam, …

Review Of Hard Grass: Life On The Crazy Woman Bison Ranch. By Mary Zeiss Stange, Linda M. Hasselstrom

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Twenty years ago, Stange and her husband traded a modest New Jersey house for seven square miles of overgrazed prairie and set out to right the wrongs done to a place that had been mismanaged ecologically as well as environmentally. The restoration begins disastrously with llamas before it proceeds to success with bison. Her narration includes her own experiences, but most of her essays are serious, in-depth studies of the broader topics that constitute life in the great grasslands spreading across the interior of the country. She begins with prehistory, analyzing the evolution of both plants and animals in the …

A Literary Analysis And Case Study Evaluation Of The Environmental, Cultural, And Economic Impacts Of Ecotourism, Ashley M. Driver

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Innovation Cooperation: Energy Biosciences And Law, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This Article analyzes the development and dissemination of environmentally sound technologies that can address climate change. Climate change poses catastrophic health and security risks on a global scale. Universities, individual innovators, private firms, civil society, governments, and the United Nations can unite in the common goal to address climate change. This Article recommends means by which legal, scientific, engineering, and a host of other public and private actors can bring environmentally sound innovation into widespread use to achieve sustainable development. In particular, universities can facilitate this collaboration by fostering global innovation and diffusion networks.

Cancun Climate Negotiations, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, held from November 29 to December 11, 2010, in Cancún, Mexico, relaunched the United Nation's multilateral facilitation role.

Tribes As Essential Partners In Achieving Sustainable Governance, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Indigenous peoples have modeled sustainable development around the world. Incentivizing the innovation and instillation of wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources can come in the form of public funding, including renewable portfolio standards, feed in tariffs and green tag programs. This article analyzes ways in which tribal communities are helping to expand cooperative good governance.

Collaborative Community-Based Natural Resource Management, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This article analyzes the importance of increasing civil society actor access to and influence in international legal and policy negotiations, drawing from academic scholarship on governance, conservation and environmental sustainability, natural resource management, observations of civil society actors, and the authors’ experiences as participants in international environmental negotiations.

Emerging Law Addressing Climate Change And Water, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

The World Economic Forum recognizes that while restrictions on energy affect water systems and vice versa, energy and water policy are rarely coordinated. The International Panel on Climate Change predicts that wet places will become wetter and dry places will become dryer. Transboundary water, energy and climate coordination can occur through international consensus building.

An Inventory And Condition Survey Of The Western Australian Part Of The Nullarbor Region, P A. Waddell, A K. Gardner, P Hennig

Technical Bulletins

The inventory and condition survey of the Western Australian part of the Nullarbor region, undertaken by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) between 2005 and 2007, describes and maps the natural resources of the region. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the area's natural resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The Nullarbor region has …

Using Conservative And Biological Tracers To Better Understand The Transport Of Agricultural Contaminants From Soil Water Through The Epikarstic Zone, Brian Ham

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Agriculture contamination is very common in karst systems due to the vulnerability of these aquifers. Animal waste is often spread across crop land to enrich the soil with nitrates and phosphates. Herbicides and pesticides are also applied to the crops. The transport of these pollutants through the soil and epikarst is a difficult process to monitor due to the complex, heterogeneous behavior of the groundwater as it makes its way down to the aquifer below.

An experimental site at Crumps Cave lended a unique opportunity to monitor the vadose zone at a waterfall in the cave below. A previous dye …