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Nitrate In Private Wells:Knowledge, Oppinions,And Perceptions Of Stakeholders, Augustus D. Jaja

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine data describing nitrate concentration and cases of congenital cardiac defects. Residents with private wells and other stakeholders need data to make informed environmental decisions about the adverse health implications of nitrate contamination of private well water. Researchers have examined the exposure of nitrate in contaminated groundwater, but they have not examined nitrate levels in unregulated water systems. This gap in the literature highlighted the need to provide nitrate data for future research and private well users. Guided by the social ecological model, a quantitative, cross-sectional, nonexperimental design was used to survey …

University Of North Florida Environmental Center Annual Report 2015, Caitlin Kengle, James W. Taylor

Annual Reports

2015 Annual Report of the Environmental Center at the University of North Florida

Washington's Fish Consumption Rate And Water Quality Standards: Fostering Allies To Keep Our Seafood Clean, Tiffany J. Waters

All Master's Theses

Washington State’s current fish consumption rate and water quality standards update has been a highly contentious public policy debate between Washington State tribes, the State of Washington’s Department of Ecology, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, and many prominent Washington State industries. Environmental groups and Washington tribes have partnered in the Keep Our Seafood Clean Coalition to educate the public on the need for increasing water quality standards to protect tribal and public health. My research includes analyzing Washington's tribal/State agency co-management relationships, the water quality standards history and current criteria, and the narratives of the public debate; and conducting interviews …

Rural Year-Round Growing To Ameliorate A Possible Negative Effect From Climate Change, Kimberlie A. Brussa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggested that, as the world population grows, food and water shortages will become even more serious issues (IPPC's 2014 predictions about the future effects of climate change (CC), Year-round growing (YRG) may provide a way for communities to extend growing seasons, expand local farm systems, and provide food year round. This case study included a detailed analysis of responses from representatives of all sectors of rural Mesa County, Colorado, regarding YRG and a local food and farm plan due to CC. The case was bounded by time (6 months of data collection) which …

Brazilian Women Entrepreneurs: Exploring Strategies For Building Sustainable Business Organizations, Maria Ana Church

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Brazilians create an average of 1.2 million new registered enterprises annually, but some struggle to keep their business in operation. Thirty percent of the new ventures are unable to survive the first year, and 58% go out of business after the first 5 years. The goal of this phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions of Brazilian women entrepreneurs concerning the strategies needed to build sustainable business organizations in Brazil. The individual concepts of sustainable development, sustainability, business strategies, and business models served as the theoretical foundations for the study. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 20 women entrepreneurs …

Urban Garden Survival, Phoebe Ferguson, Rachel Martin

Biology Presentations

Urban gardens are community led plots designated for agricultural purposes in residential and urban areas. Greenville County has seen a recent growth in urban gardens with the assistance of non-profit groups like Gardening for Good. The current total in Greenville County stands at 79 with new gardens added every year. While the growth is encouraging, some gardens have failed. This study uses GIS to explore the social and ecological factors that correlate with urban garden survival in an effort to provide garden managers with information that will help them develop gardens that thrive and persist.

Why Environmental Laws Fail, Jan G. Laitos, Lauren Joseph Wolongevicz

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Although governments have deployed an array of environmental protection laws, our planet continues to experience unprecedented environmental “crises,” including climate change, resource depletion, species extinction, ecosystem damage, and toxic air-water-land pollution. Despite universal acknowledgment and recognition of these serious environmental issues, and despite a growing list of laws designed to address these issues, the reality is that these adverse Earth-based environmental changes continue, and may even be worsening. Environmental protection laws have often failed because they usually include certain problematic characteristics: they are anthropocentric, in that their goal is to protect and benefit humans, not the environment in which humans …

Predicted Performance Of A Skytherm North, A Highly Insulated Building Envelope System And A Frost Protected Shallow Foundation, Kitrina Ann Stratton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

How do you design a durable, sustainable, and financeable Net Zero Energy house for a cold weather climate using little or no external energy that is also affordable? Reviewing all of the factors that would influence the design and materials selection of an appropriate response to the issues, the perfect system for housing people, whether it is in response to affordability, durability, comfort, cultural sensitivity, appearance or being locally appropriate, is using some kind of straw bale construction system with an integrated frost protected shallow foundation and a SkyTherm North design.

The focus and intention of this research is to …

The Fierce Green Fire: Vol 5 Issue 7, Wofford College Environmental Studies Program

The Fierce Green Fire

No abstract provided.

Feasibility Of A Mangrove-Based Carbon Business In Makoba Bay, Unguja, Zanzibar, Janice Liang

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mangrove ecosystems, along with other coastal vegetation, have tremendous potential to be abundant carbon sinks. With the prospect of carbon sequestered in coastal ecosystems starting to be explored in carbon credit markets, this study attempts to assess the feasibility of a mangrove-based carbon business in Makoba Bay, Unguja, Zanzibar. An aboveground carbon estimation demonstrates that the mangrove forest of Makoba Bay is a recovering ecosystem, but has the potential to be initiated into a program such as REDD+ in the future. Social surveys in both Makoba Bay and Chwaka Bay also indicate that a number of improvements would have to …

Peak Electric Load Relief In Northern Manhattan: An Exploratory Data Analysis, Hildegaard D. Link, José Pillich, Yehuda L. Klein

Publications and Research

The aphorism “Think globally, act locally,” attributed to René Dubos, reflects the vision that the solution to global environmental problems must begin with efforts within our communities. PlaNYC 2030, the New York City sustainability plan, is the starting point for this study. Results include (a) a case study based on the City College of New York (CCNY) energy audit, in which we model the impacts of green roofs on campus energy demand and (b) a case study of energy use at the neighborhood scale. We find that reducing the urban heat island effect can reduce building cooling requirements, peak electricity …

Prediction And Dissemination Of Bathing Water Quality In England And Wales – A Pilot Study, Juzer F. Dhondia, Deborah Tyrrell, Daniel Twigt, Ian Dunhill

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Water quality at some bathing waters can be adversely affected by heavy rainfall resulting in water running off the land, picking up faecal contaminants from the catchment and discharging this to bathing waters. The Environment Agency of England and Wales analyzed the relationship between water quality and rainfall at each bathing site. This relationship between rainfall and water quality depends on the intensity and duration of the rainfall and considering each bathing sites individual characteristics such as tidal flows, wind, run-off from surrounding catchment. This paper describes a Pilot study for setting up an operational bathing water quality prediction system …

Delivering And Evaluating Multiple Flood Risk Benefits In Blue-Green Cities, Nigel G. Wright, Colin Thorne

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

In the UK a research consortium has been funded to develop new strategies for managing urban flood risk as part of wider, integrated urban planning intended to achieve environmental enhancement and urban renewal in which multiple benefits of Blue-Green Cities are rigorously evaluated and understood. This approach is very much part of the resilience paradigm and seeks to develop the socio-technical tools required to fully evaluate resilience options as part of a wider system. The Consortium’s objectives are to: Put competent authorities, businesses and communities at the centre of the research by establishing feedback pathways between them and the FRM …

Vulnerability Index For Urban Flooding: Understanding Social Vulnerabilities And Risks, Mae Brigitt Bernadel Loyloy Villordon, Philippe Gourbesville

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

According to the World Risk Report released by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security, the Philippines is ranked third globally in terms of disaster risk. One of those disaster risks is flooding which poses a serious challenge to development and the lives of the people. Public health risks and social vulnerability were usually overlooked, undermined and only very little attention is given. Thus, this study focuses on these aspects. This study was an exploratory step towards assessing vulnerability particularly to fluvial flooding, it was a rapid assessment of the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) of the …

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter, August 2014, University Of Northern Iowa. Iowa Waste Reduction Center.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter

Contents:

--- Registration Open for Construction & Demolition Webinar
--- IWRC Receives Grant for Landfill Composting Project
--- Industry News

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter, June 2014, University Of Northern Iowa. Iowa Waste Reduction Center.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter

Contents:

--- Construction and Demolition Resources Available
--- EMS Workshop Scheduled for June 25
--- On the IWRC Blog
--- Industry News

Maple Syrup Value Systems And Value Chains - Considering Aboriginal And Non-Aboriginal Perspectives, Brenda Murphy, Annette Chrétien, Grant Morin

Contemporary Studies

Harvested from both intensive sugar maple stands and diverse mixed forest ecosystems across Ontario, maple syrup is an important rural and Aboriginal non-timber forest product that contributes to social, economic and environmental sustainability. This paper presents our ongoing work to map Ontario’s maple syrup value system from two different perspectives, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. In the economic sense, analyses of value systems are useful for members to identify the opportunities and challenges they are facing to advance industry growth and innovation. In the social and environmental sense, these analyses provide a window into how different worldviews and belief systems can lead …

The Reclamation Of Public Parks: An Analysis Of Environmental Justice In Los Angeles, Allison Rigby

Scripps Senior Theses

People who live in cities are far more likely to suffer the physical and psychological effects of urban environments--high noise levels, automobile emissions, toxic industrial waste, crowded living conditions, and a general scarcity of open space. Combating these issues, public parks do more than provide recreational space. They are fundamental to any efforts focusing on urban revitalization, social justice, and sustainability. In downtown Los Angeles, public parks are rare, especially in low-income communities. Several new public parks have reclaimed abandoned land, unwelcoming spaces, and the City’s brownfields. After years of intense private use and neglect, spent land has been reinvigorated …

An Assessment Of The Potential For Urban Rooftop Agriculture In West Oakland, California, Nicole M. Reese

Master's Projects and Capstones

Throughout the world, all forms of urban agriculture are growing in popularity with the desire to grow and eat locally sourced food. Barriers such as access to vacant land and contaminated soil make it difficult to implement urban agriculture projects on the ground (i.e. at grade). Rooftop farming is a feasible solution to such barriers of forms of urban agriculture at grade.

The small Business Mix Zone in West Oakland, California has over one million square feet of untapped rooftop space available for urban rooftop farming. Revenue of up to $4 million can be earned from the sale of produce …

What Role Can Ceqa Play In Reaching Ghg Emissions Reductions Goals Set Forth In Ab 32 – An Analysis Of Ceqa, Ab 32, And Recommendations For Ceqa Reform, Eleanor Gilbert

Master's Projects and Capstones

The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) intends to reduce the effects of climate change through several mechanisms, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction. AB 32 established a statewide GHG emissions goal, which requires California to decrease its GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is an environmental assessment law adopted in 1970 that requires lead agencies (private developers, public agencies, etc.) to consider and disclose the potential significant environmental impacts of new development projects the lead agency is planning. CEQA has attracted much controversy since adoption and continues to be the …

A Decrepit New York: Synthesizing New York’S Infrastructure Problems, Connor Farrell

2014 Student Theses

Coastal living has become a very popular, often fantasized, way of life. This lifestyle is easy, relaxing, and, above all, it soothes the stress. However, mankind’s innate desire to live near America’s oceans, rivers, and other bodies of water have allowed its population to become vulnerable to super storms. Super storms, such as Hurricane Sandy, have become more prevalent over recent years, and America needs to take into account the massive population whom call the East coast home. Focusing in on the New York area, I will be able to show how our thoughtless designs and locations of towns/cities have …

Spatial Decision Support Systems For Sustainable Urban Redevelopment, Amy V. Johnson-Ferdinand

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

A recent United Nations study concludes that worldwide population will grow from approximately 7 billion today to 9.3 billion in 2050 and 10.1 billion in 2100. Nowhere is this population growth more evident than in the major cities of the world. For the first time in history, a majority of the world’s people lived in cities. In 1950, by comparison, less than 30% of the world’s population dwelled in cities. This rapid growth of population, coupled with an aging infrastructure, and the abandoning of urban manufacturing sites, creates an urgent need for inner city revitalization. There are several urban areas …

Climate Change In Northern New Hampshire: Past, Present And Future, Cameron P. Wake, C. Keeley, Elizabeth A. Burakowski, Peter Wilkinson, Katharine Hayhoe, Anne Stoner, Julie Labrance

The Sustainability Institute Publications

EARTH’S CLIMATE CHANGES. It always has and always will. However, an extensive and growing body of scientific evidence indicates that human activities—including the burning of fossil fuel (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy, clearing of forested lands for agriculture, and raising livestock—are now the primary force driving change in the Earth’s climate system. This report describes how the climate of northern New Hampshire has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region will be affected by a warmer planet due to human activities.

Climate Change In Southern New Hampshire: Past, Present And Future, Cameron P. Wake, Elizabeth A. Burakowski, Peter Wilkinson, Katharine Hayhoe, Anne Stoner, C. Keeley, Julie Labranche

The Sustainability Institute Publications

EARTH’S CLIMATE CHANGES. It always has and always will. However, an extensive and growing body of scientific evidence indicates that human activities—including the burning of fossil fuel (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy, clearing of forested lands for agriculture, and raising livestock—are now the primary force driving change in the Earth’s climate system. This report describes how the climate of southern New Hampshire has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region will be affected by a warmer planet due to human activities.

Issue Brief: Asset Management For Stormwater, New England Environmental Finance Center, Sustainable Communities Learning Network

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

Asset management is a strategic approach to maintaining and sustaining infrastructure in order to meet the needs of the community at the lowest overall life cycle cost. This approach helps communities know how and where to prioritize limited funds in order to achieve the greatest benefit. Often applied to drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, this method is well suited to managing any assets, including stormwater systems.

This issue brief is intended to introduce local governments to the asset management process and to show how it can be applied in managing stormwater assets. It was adapted from an appendix written by …

Innovations In State-Level Solar Energy Policy : Motivating Community Investment In Resiliency, Sarah Katheryn Gentile

Theses

Community-level resilience in the face of climate change is critical for New Jersey. Through a review of current literature, evidence is provided that a majority of work being done with respect to climate-change planning is taking place at the local level. On the basis of case-study analyses, three community renewable energy projects are examined as well as two policy tools that are helping to facilitate development of local capacity to generate renewable energy. The best elements of these initiatives are extracted and form the basis of a policy discussion intended to encourage local level generation of renewable energy, thereby increasing …

Energy-Efficiency And Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Policy Options: Assisting Chinese Cities In Prioritizing And Choosing Strategies, L Price, N Zhou, D Fridley, H Lu, L Hong, C Fino-Chen, J Ke, Stephanie Ohshita, Hu Min, Yong Zhou

Environmental Science

Myriad energy-efficiency and greenhouse gas mitigation policy options are available for urban communities to reduce energy use and emissions from buildings, transportation systems, industries, utilities, public lighting, water and wastewater, and solid waste disposal. This paper describes a methodology to assist urban community planners and policymakers in China to prioritize and choose strategies to implement for their particular situation. The methodology was developed for use in a dynamic decision-making tool, the Benchmarking and Energy-Saving Tool for Low Carbon Cities (BEST-Cities), which was specifically designed for urban communities in China but which could be used internationally. The methodology builds on concepts …

Ua12/13 2014 Sustainability Report [Western Kentucky University], Wku Office Of Sustainability, Christian Ryan-Downing

Sustainability Publications and Resources

No abstract provided.

From Climate Action To Coalition: Ypsilanti And Emu As Models For Sustainability, Erica Mooney

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Inspired by leading EMU's engagement with Ypsilanti's climate Action Plan in 2011, a journey began to discovering ways to cultivate healthy relationships through sustainability. How have other universities addressed climate change? How have other municipalities work with schools addressing sustainability? I explored national programs as well as a thorough review of Michigan's other public universitites. This thesis is a mix of best practices research and a proposal to both city and school administrators and stakeholders. Reviewing what other campuses and towns have done to address environmental and social justice, and the complex realms of economic and community development, a coalition …

Renewable Energy, Mary Finley-Brook

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Renewable energy installations are expanding around the globe. Although there is excellent potential for achieving sustainability with multiple types of renewable energy, no energy source is a panacea. There are place-specific costs and benefits from every energy type, and the scale of production influences impacts. Industrial-scale renewable energy sources usually merge into existing energy grids and may often be connected to broader economic and political initiatives. Such as regional integration, development of new growth poles to stimulate economic expansion in areas without infrastructure, job creation, or trade expansion. With the exception of desert solar projects or initiatives in remote areas, …