Physical and Environmental Geography Commons^™

California Groundwater Management, Science-Policy Interfaces, And The Legacies Of Artificial Legal Distinctions, David Owen, Alida Cantor, Nell Green Nylen, Thomas Harter, Michael Kiparsky

Nell Green Nylen

California water law has traditionally treated groundwater and surface water as separate resources. The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) broke with this tradition by requiring groundwater managers to avoid significant and unreasonable adverse impacts to beneficial uses of surface water. This paper considers the trajectory of this partial integration of science, law, and resource management policy. Drawing on legal analysis and participatory workshops with subject area experts, we describe the challenges of reconciling the separate legal systems that grew out of an artificial legal distinction between different aspects of the same resource.

Our analysis offers two main contributions. First, …

Reanalysis Data Underestimate Significant Changes In Growing Season Weather In Kazakhstan, C. K. Wright, K. M. De Beurs, Z. K. Akhmadiyeva, P. Y. Groisman, G. M. Henebry

Geoffrey Henebry

We present time series analyses of recently compiled climate station data which allowed us to assess contemporary trends in growing season weather across Kazakhstan as drivers of a significant decline in growing season normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) recently observed by satellite remote sensing across much of Central Asia. We used a robust nonparametric time series analysis method, the seasonal Kendall trend test to analyze georeferenced time series of accumulated growing season precipitation (APPT) and accumulated growing degree-days (AGDD). Over the period 2000–2006 we found geographically extensive, statistically significant (p < 0.05) decreasing trends in APPT and increasing trends in AGDD. The temperature trends were especially apparent during the warm season and coincided with precipitation decreases in northwest Kazakhstan, indicating that pervasive drought conditions and higher temperature excursions were the likely drivers of NDVI declines observed in Kazakhstan over the same period. We also compared the APPT and AGDD trends at individual stations with results from trend analysis of gridded monthly precipitation data from the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) Full Data Reanalysis v4 and gridded daily near surface air temperature from the National Centers for Climate Prediction Reanalysis v2 (NCEP R2). We found substantial deviation between the station and the reanalysis trends, suggesting that GPCC and NCEP data substantially underestimate the geographic extent of recent drought in Kazakhstan. Although gridded climate products offer many advantages in ease of use and complete coverage, our findings for Kazakhstan should serve as a caveat against uncritical use of GPCC and NCEP reanalysis data and demonstrate the importance of compiling and standardizing daily climate data from data-sparse regions like Central Asia.

Remote Sensing-Based Time Series Models For Malaria Early Warning In The Highlands Of Ethiopia, A. Midekisa, G. Senay, G. M. Henebry, P. Semuniguse, M. C. Wimberly

Geoffrey Henebry

Background

Malaria is one of the leading public health problems in most of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Ethiopia. Almost all demographic groups are at risk of malaria because of seasonal and unstable transmission of the disease. Therefore, there is a need to develop malaria early-warning systems to enhance public health decision making for control and prevention of malaria epidemics. Data from orbiting earth-observing sensors can monitor environmental risk factors that trigger malaria epidemics. Remotely sensed environmental indicators were used to examine the influences of climatic and environmental variability on temporal patterns of malaria cases in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. …

Assessing The Impacts Of Climate And Land Use And Land Cover Change On The Freshwater Availability In The Brahmaputra River Basin, M. S. Pervez, G. M. Henebry

Geoffrey Henebry

Study Region: Brahmaputra River basin in South Asia.

Study Focus: The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to evaluate sensitivities and patterns in freshwater availability due to projected climate and land use changes in the Brahmaputra basin. The daily observed discharge at Bahadurabad station in Bangladesh was used to calibrate and validate the model and analyze uncertainties with a sequential uncertainty fitting algorithm. The sensitivities and impacts of projected climate and land use changes on basin hydrological components were simulated for the A1B and A2 scenarios and analyzed relative to a baseline scenario of 1988–2004.

New hydrological insights for …

Bringing Football Back To Los Angeles, Gabriel Leiner

Gabriel Leiner

Identifying a suitable parcel for a large scale professional football stadium in the greater Los Angeles, CA area, which does not conflict with current uses, environmental protection codes, or airspace rights, and also has adequate transportation access and nearby populated neighborhoods.

Empowering Young Children: Multi-Method Exploration Of Young Children’S Preference For Natural Or Manufactured Elements In Outdoor Preschool Settings, Zahra Zamani

Zahra Zamani

When designing play environments for children, it is critical to understand children’s accounts of their experiences rather than making inferences based on observations or parental report. However, limited data is available on the views of young children. Further, few studies have focused on understanding young children’s perspective on enjoyable cognitive play opportunities via different elements in outdoor settings. Emphasizing on the value of hearing children’s voices, this study combined drawings, photo preferences, and interview methods to understand the perspectives of 22 four- to five-year-old children. These children were enrolled in a preschool with a manufactured, mixed, and natural outdoor play …

Roosevelt Lodge: Essence Of The Old West, Tamsen Hert, Karl Byrand, William Wyckoff, Lee Whittlesey, Langdon Smith, Diane Papineau, Yolonda Youngs

Tamsen Hert

This collection of essays explores the changing cultural landscapes and built environments of Yellowstone National Park.

Progress Made With Early Warning Systems In Australia Since 2005, Neil Dufty

Neil Dufty

No abstract provided.

The Retention, Revival, And Subjugation Of Indigenous Fire Knowledge Through Agency Fire Fighting In Eastern Australia And California, Christine Eriksen, Don Hankins

Christine Eriksen

This article explores the potential impact of training and employment with wildfire management agencies on the retention of Indigenous fire knowledge. It focuses on the comparative knowledge and experiences of Indigenous Elders, cultural practitioners, and land stewards in connection with “modern” political constructs of fire in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, and California in the United States of America. This article emphasises the close link between cross-cultural acceptance, integration of Indigenous and agency fire cultures, and the ways in which knowledge types are shared or withheld. While agency fire fighting provides an opportunity for Indigenous people to connect and …

Sebkhet Karkura: An Example Of A Semi-Arid Mediterranean Climate Wetland Rich In Biotic Sediments;, Mansour M. Elbabour, Esam O. Abdulsamad

Mansour M Elbabour

Habitat wetlands in Libya may be grouped into several distinct varieties, according to climate, water supply, soils, and biotic diversity. They include coastal Sabkhas (salt marshes), karst lakes, Wadi estuaries, below sea-level desert lakes, and balat flats (playas) where the soil is saturated part of some rainy seasons forming a kind of ephemeral, shallow lakes in pre-desert areas. The most prominent, however, are the extensive coastal salt marshes. These have either organic or inorganic soils, or both, depending on their location and climate conditions. Soils common to most coastal wetlands are composed largely of inorganic material in the form of …

Nature And The City, Robert Rotenberg

Robert Rotenberg

No abstract provided.

Paradoxes Of Democratisation: Environmental Politics In East Asia, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

This chapter examines environmental politics in four polities that run the full spectrum of political regimes: mainland China (authoritarian), South Korea and Taiwan (newly democratic), and Japan (mature democracy). The chapter argues that variation in environmental politics in each place resulted primarily from the timing of their environmental movements, with subsequent movements learning from predecessors and gaining increasing access to global NGO networks. Paradoxically, when environmental movements became linked to democratization movements (in South Korea and Taiwan), they also became linked to political parties, which hindered access to government policymaking when non-allied parties were in power.

Environmental Justice And The Duwamish River--Updated October 2013, Jonathan Betz-Zall

Jonathan Betz-Zall

No abstract provided.

Disaster Law And Policy, Daniel Farber, Jim Chen, Robert Verchick, Lisa Grow Sun

Daniel A Farber

Unnatural Disasters: Rethinking The Distinction Between Natural And Man-Made Catastrophe, Michael D. Cooper, Esq.

Michael D. Cooper, Esq.

The distinction between “natural” and “man-made” disaster has grown increasingly difficult to defend. Our current conception conflates extreme natural events with the notion of disaster—an exclusively human construct. We define our cultural perception of “natural” disaster through three “man-made” constructs. First, our values alone characterize the scope and scale of loss. Second, our volition exacerbates otherwise benign natural hazards, exposes us to otherwise avoidable hazards, and, through technology, generates new and otherwise non-existent hazards. Finally, when natural hazards do unleash their destructive powers, pre-existing socio-economic inequalities manifest as vulnerabilities that ultimately determine both absolute and relative social outcomes and impacts. …

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.

Association Of Children's Perceived Access And Sense Of Affinity And Stewardship Towards Nature Within Tehran's Schoolyards., Zahra Zamani

Zahra Zamani

Interacting with natural environments during childhood can impact children’s mental and physical well being. Comprehending children’s environmental orientation is a significant topic as their chance for contact with nature is decreasing. In this research, natural environments are considered as spaces that incorporate a variety of trees and vegetation that are free of human control, or part of human’s manipulation (such as in zoo, park, gardens, etc.). However, urbanized conditions and lifestyles have limited children’s daily contact opportunities with natural environments. This disconnection with nature is defined as “natural deficit disorder” (Louv, 2005), which can impact children’s knowledge, environmental orientation and …

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.

North American Futures: Canadian & U.S. Perspectives, Managing The Arctic, David Caron

David D. Caron

Presentation and discussion of issues relevant to balanced Arctic exploration, multilateral cooperation policy, growth and development and political-economic perspectives.

China In Context: Energy, Water, And Climate Cooperation, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Climate resilient communities can be achieved with the support of global research, development, deployment, and diffusion of environmentally sound low GHG emission technologies and processes. Technology cooperation should lower emissions remaining mindful of biodiversity, ecosystem services and livelihoods. China and the United States need to respond effectively to both economic and climate crises and can do so in part by cooperating on environmentally sound technology that transforms the global use of energy.

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.

Offer Adolescents Suburban Habitat Positive Experiences In Their Neighborhood, Benjamin A. Shirtcliff

Benjamin A Shirtcliff

The adolescent population living in suburban environments is very important. This reality, however, is still too recent to be considered by practitioners of the development, which would explain why the physical environment of teenagers is rarely designed to meet their needs. This article addresses the basic needs of adolescents living in the suburbs and designers suggest ways to improve their quality of life by creating fallback places in their neighborhood. The values ​​and adolescents special needs will be used to assess the quality of suburban open spaces. We mainly interressted in the physical environment, building on the studies in the …

Resource Conflict Among Farmers And Fulani Herdsmen: Implications For Resource Sustainability, Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin, Marietu Tenuche

Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin

This study describes the traditional relationship between farmers and Fulani herdsmen in the incessant resource conflict witnessed in Kogi State, Nigeria and how it affects livelihood security of those involved and resource sustainability for the communities. These conflicts are most responsible for the unsustainable utilization of land and water resources as the trampling by the hooves of herds of cattle compacts the soil of farm land, destroy farm crops by the herdsmen, places restraint on effective utilization of arable farmland among other destruction of available resources. It is understood that these conflicts have their roots in the land tenure system, …

Mount Hope River Watershed - Watershed-Based Plan Of Conservation, Denise Burchsted

Denise Burchsted

This project involved data collection in the Mount Hope River watershed for use in conservation planning in that watershed and in the larger Naubesatuck watershed in northeastern Connecticut. Data collection was comprised of the following: 1) stream assessments, which were GIS-based with ground truthing where possible and needed, and 2) existing plans of conservation and/or development in the watershed.

Rising Temperatures: Rising Tides, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Transboundary environmental problems do not distinguish between political boundaries. Global warming is expected to cause thermal expansion of water and melt glaciers. Both are predicted to lead to a rise in sea level. We must enlarge our paradigms to encompass a global reality and reliance upon global participation.