Digital Commons Network^™

Building A Just Transition: Creating A Community Engagement Strategy For Building Electrification Policy In The City Of Riverside, Emma Barker

Pitzer Senior Theses

This project sought to promote a just transition to building electrification in the city of Riverside, CA through a community engagement process that prioritized equity. Policy that reduces greenhouse gas emissions in a way that corrects environmental injustice rather than contributing to it further is crucial as the disastrous impacts of climate change continue to increase in intensity and frequency. In Riverside, challenges in creating opportunities for meaningful engagement included the Covid-19 pandemic, an absence of trust between community organizations and the local government, and the limited timeline and budget of the project. However, by cultivating relationships with local organizations, …

Disrupted Identities And Forced Nomads: A Post-Disaster Legacy Of Neocolonialism In The Island Of Barbuda, Lesser Antilles, Sophia Perdikaris, Rebecca Boger, Edith Gonzalez, Emira Ibrahimpašić, Jennifer D. Adams

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

In the aftermath of the forced evacuation of the island of Barbuda due to Hurricane Irma, the Barbudan people have experienced an exile and return to a ‘new’ geographical, political, and economic context, albeit on the same island. With the specter of climate change and the potential impacts on island communities and nations, we use Barbuda, sister island of Antigua in the Lesser Antilles, to examine the trajectory of nomadic identities as they navigate changes that threaten contemporary land relationships and culture. Since its first permanent settlement in the 17th Century, the island geography of Barbuda has been fundamental to …

Food Justice In Appalachia Main Exhibit Panels, Wvu Libraries

Food Justice in Appalachia

No abstract provided.

Working Towards Land Return In Goukdi’N: A History Of Genocide And A Future Of Healing, Carrie Tully

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Since 2009, the city of Arcata, R. H. Emmerson & Sons, and Humboldt State University have collaborated on the transfer of an 884-acre tract of land in Goukdi’n (known locally as Jacoby Creek Forest). The main goals of this project are to prevent fragmentation of the land, protect wildlife, and to support and enhance student research opportunities. In the ten years that it took for this land to be transferred to the California State University and in the care of Humboldt State University the Wiyot Tribe was not consulted regarding the parcels, their purchase, or their being given to HSU. …

Divide And Slaughter: Bridging The Gap Between Animal Rights And Racial Justice Through An Analysis Of The Link Between Slaughterhouses And Domestic Violence, Kailey Mcneal

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis concerns the injustices present in industrial animal agriculture in the United States, domestic violence, and their disproportionate impact on marginalized communities. Despite the work of social movements centered around domestic violence and the slaughterhouse, the state of both continues to worsen, particularly for communities of color. My research seeks to uncover what factors preclude the efficacy of these movements. A qualitative analysis of the labor advocacy and animal rights movements in the slaughterhouse and the domestic violence advocacy movement suggests that the current disparate framings of these injustices and a lack of attention to race contribute to the …

Supporting Shrinkage: Planning And Decision Making For Legacy Cities, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander, Eliza Whiteman Kinsey, George Chichirau, Charla Burnett

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

Supporting Shrinkage describes a new approach to citizen-engaged, community-focused planning methods and technologies for cities and regions facing decline, disinvestment, shrinkage, and social and physical distress. The volume evaluates the benefits and costs of a wide range of analytic approaches for designing policy and planning interventions for shrinking cities and distressed communities. These include collaborative planning, social media, civic technology, game design, analytics, decision modeling and decision support, and spatial analysis. The authors present case studies of three US cities addressing shrinkage and decline, with a focus on issues of social justice, democratization of knowledge, and local empowerment. Proposed as …

Integrating Diverse Perspectives For Managing Neighborhood Trees And Urban Ecosystem Services In Portland, Or (Us), Lorena Nascimento, Vivek Shandas

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Municipalities worldwide are increasingly recognizing the importance of urban green spaces to mitigate climate change’s extreme effects and improve residents’ quality of life. Even with extensive earlier research examining the distribution of tree canopy in cities, we know little about human perceptions of urban forestry and related ecosystem services. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the variations in socioeconomic indicators and public perceptions by asking how neighborhood trees and socioeconomic indicators mediate public perceptions of ecosystem services availability. Using Portland, Oregon (USA) as our case study, we assessed socioeconomic indicators, land cover data, and survey responses about …

The Socioeconomic Impact And Allocative Discrepancies Of Fema Disaster Declarations And Aid, Emma Ranheim

CMC Senior Theses

In my thesis I examine the impact of natural disaster declarations on socioeconomic outcomes. I use counties that requested, but did not receive, a natural disaster declaration as controls for treatment counties that received the requested declaration. I construct a county-by-year panel dataset covering 2005 to 2016. I estimate a difference-in-differences model to estimate socioeconomic outcomes resulting from the disaster declaration decision. I find that receiving a declaration was associated with a 0.8 percentage point poverty reduction in 2010, but no other years or changes in socioeconomic outcomes were causally and significantly established by my model.

Heat Stress In Urban Environments: A Case Study Of Heat Vulnerability In New Haven, Ct, Logan M. Howard

Library Map Prize

A place-based understanding of heat and its behavior is necessary for appropriately preparing our cities and protecting the most vulnerable populations from this urgent climate and public health threat. This paper aims to identify the areas in New Haven, CT that have the highest autumnal temperature exposure and sensitivity to provide evidence for developing mitigation and adaptation measures. Original temperature data was collected using a bike-mounted Smart T sensor and then compared with data on land cover and water proximity. These heat exposure estimates were analyzed with 2019 Census data on age, income, race, and ethnicity, for 19 census tracts …

Regulatory Agency Capture: How The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Approved The Mountain Valley Pipeline, Aakshi Agarwal

Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award

The FERC’s history of approving nearly 100% of pipelines and divisive pipeline cases like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline have driven landowners’ long-standing claims of regulatory agency capture of the FERC. The present research substantiates the claim of capture with a case study of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and uncovers that the FERC is both culturally and corrosively captured. This research also suggests that the capture of the FERC began at its conception during the natural gas crisis and subsequent natural gas bubble, which caused the FERC to follow the industry’s lead. These findings indicate that the …

A Transdisciplinary Analysis Of Just Transition Pathways To 100% Renewable Electricity, Adewale Aremu Adesanya

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The transition to using clean, affordable, and reliable electrical energy is critical for enhancing human opportunities and capabilities. In the United States, many states and localities are engaging in this transition despite the lack of ambitious federal policy support. This research builds on the theoretical framework of the multilevel perspective (MLP) of sociotechnical transitions as well as the concept of energy justice to investigate potential pathways to 100 percent renewable energy (RE) for electricity provision in the U.S. This research seeks to answer the question: what are the technical, policy, and perceptual pathways, barriers, and opportunities for just transition to …

Gesa Shines At 75th Annual Cgs Conference

Humboldt Geographic

No abstract provided.

Does The Primacy System Work?: State Versus Federal Implementation Of The Clean Water Act, Luke Fowler, Chris Birdsall

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the United States, environmental federalism largely relies on a system for policy implementation that allows the federal government to delegate primary program authority (or primacy) to state agencies. Although it is an ingrained feature of several major federal environmental policies, such as the Clean Water Act (CWA), there is little evidence to indicate what impact delegating authorities has on programs. In order to examine this, the authors use a synthetic control technique to determine how actual CWA program outcomes in five states compare to expected outcomes if EPA retained primary authority. Findings indicate that while there were no significant …

Assessing Barriers And Benefits To A Food Waste Composting Pilot Program In Oberlin, Ohio, Julia Halm

Honors Papers

Food waste represents significant amounts of money, energy, and natural resources throughout its lifecycle from production to disposal. Diverting the quantity of food waste sent to landfills is necessary to address the growing strain on resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study was a collaborative effort between the City of Oberlin and Oberlin College designed to identify challenges and benefits to establishing a pilot municipal composting program. Establishing a citywide composting program will help Oberlin achieve its goal of carbon neutrality. We used food audits, stakeholder interviews, and emissions reduction models to better understand the best approach to municipal …

Green Inequities: Examining The Dimensions Of Socioenvironmental Injustice In Marginalized Communities, Akiebia S. Hicks, Zachary Malone, Megan A. Moore, Roslynn Powell, Austin Thompson, Patricia A. Whitener, Rowan Williams

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

In the realm of socioenvironmental justice, much discourse centers on equal access to green areas and on climate injustice in the United States. Marginalized communities, including Indigenous populations, are being excluded from current narratives surrounding the natural spaces that in many cases are historically tied to under-represented groups. This article aims to explore some of the many dimensions of environmental racism, green inequities, climate injustice, and access. The dimensions include but are not limited to racial gatekeeping, nature deprivation in low-income communities, green gentrification, light pollution, and access to clean water. The recommendations section serves as a guide during decisionmaking …

Air Pollution And Outdoor Recreation On Urban Trails: A Case Study Of The Elizabeth River Trail, Norfolk, James E. Mccann, Chris A.B. Zajchowski, Eddie L. Hill, Xihe Zhu

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

Poor air quality represents a significant health risk for individuals engaging in recreation activities outdoors in urban parks and trails. This study investigated temporal variability in particulate matter (PM) exposure along an urban waterfront trail. We also used recreation choice frameworks to examine the effects of visitors’ perceptions of air quality (AQ) and health benefits on trail use. Average air quality during the collection period was “good” (PM₁₀) to “moderate” (PM_2.5). We found that PM density was significantly higher (p < 0.001), though still in the “moderate” range, at 7–9 a.m., 11 a.m.–1 p.m., and 3–5 p.m., and on weekends. Visitors’ self-reported perceptions of health outcomes, but not air quality, significantly predicted trail use. Results suggest that these experiential factors may affect recreational choices depending on other factors, such as salience. Further research is merited to determine how experiential factors can be integrated with other theories of motivation to understand recreational decision-making.

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 46, 2021, Department Of Geography, Geology, And The Environment

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Anthology Of An Empath, Meriel Melendrez Mees

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

How can we live here together? How can we, human beings (especially those of us not considered as such, historically, presently, or in the future) and more-than-human beings live here together and care for each other? I set out to learn how a pair of permaculture farmers in Southern Humboldt lived and worked with these questions: I attempted a qualitative and quantitative analysis of twenty years of natural history journals that one of them recorded. I was particularly interested in the aesthetics of land tending, affective relationships with more-than-human beings, and disrupting settler colonialism through epistemic reparations to the Sinkyone …

Zoning Out: Urban Agriculture, Sustainability, And Development In Portland, Oregon, Brian Elliott

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper examines the recent history of urban planning policy in and around Portland, Oregon with respect to efforts to enhance local agriculture. Despite recent and ongoing efforts to promote distribution and direct sale of local food products in the city, I argue that the dominant effect of the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) in place since the 1970s has been to push agricultural production further from the most populous areas of the city. Whereas the UGB at present cannot include areas zoned specifically for agricultural use, I argue that it must reformed to allow for "agricultural reserves" within the boundary. …

‘The Environment Is Us’: Settler Cartographies Of Indigeneity And Blackness In Prophecy (1979), Kali Simmons

Indigenous Nations Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines the triangulation of whiteness, Blackness, and Indigeneity in the ‘creature feature’ sf-horror film Prophecy (Frankenheimer US 1979), arguing that the film’s renderings of environmental racism ultimately function to justify white supremacist hetero-patriarchal maintenance and surveillance of Black and Indigenous lands and bodies. A close examination of Prophecy’s representational and ideological shortfalls – in particular its renderings of Black and Indigenous maternity – reveals troubling entanglements between settler-colonial logics of geography, ecology, monstrosity, and subjectivity.

Volunteer Programs & Service Learning Annual Report 2020-2021, Office Of Volunteer Programs & Service Learning

News, Magazines and Reports

It has been an "unprecedented" year for the Office of Volunteer Programs & Service Learning! Although this year looked very different as we navigated safety regulations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the office was still busy with ongoing and new programs. VP&SL was involved in creating the SHU Shares initiative, a student-led program designed to address food insecurity on campus. We also kicked off the first SHU National Summer Service Challenge, engaging students, staff, faculty and alumni in service opportunities in their home communities over the summer months. VP&SL continues to collaborate with numerous offices and departments across campus, including …

Evaluating The Social Impact Of The Roundtable On The Crown Of The Continent, Travis D. Anklam

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

For over a decade the Roundtable on the Crown of the Continent – a landscape-scale collaborative conservation network– has convened and connected people together to enhance conservation, culture, and community in the Crown of the Continent region. After years of conferences, workshops, and projects, participants have expressed a need to take stock of the difference that the network has made. This paper shares the results of an evaluation that used both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the social impacts the Roundtable has generated for active participants. Study results reveal that the Roundtable has generated measurable and meaningful impacts for …

Standing To Sue In Land Use Litigation, Daniel R. Mandelker

Scholarship@WashULaw

Third party standing to sue is essential in land use litigation. Questionable land use decisions will not be taken to court unless a third party can sue, but third party standing is limited. Standing law is fragmented, obstinate, excessively restrictive, and split between judicial and statutory requirements. Reform is necessary so that third parties can have access to court to protect public values. This Article explains why third party standing should be expanded, and it includes a conceptual model that can guide reform. It discusses conflicting third party standing rules in the Supreme Court, including the dominant restrictive rule that …

Should We Stay Or Should We Go: Lessons From The Trump Administration, Kathleen Clark

Scholarship@WashULaw

After the 2016 election, commentators published a flurry of essays with advice on whether lawyers and federal officials should remain in government during the Trump administration. In this article, I review those essays, includ- ing Professor David Luban’s stern advice about the risk of remaining. I also discuss three key concepts from Professor Luban’s article for this symposium: desk perpetrators, desk mitigators, and operational maneuvering room, and explore how they apply to Trump administration officials who engaged in internal

resistance or principled resignation. More than one hundred federal officials

in the administration engaged in principled resignation, many acting in concert …

Debtor Spaces: Austerity, Space, And Dispossession In Michigan’S Emergency Management System, Melissa Heil

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

In recent years, debt has become a major focus of geographic research as debt relations have become increasingly central to today’s financialized capitalist economy. This paper bridges two aspects of the debt literature: (1) the emergent literature on debt spatiality, which argues that space plays an active role in the creation and maintenance of debt relations, and (2) the broader literature examining processes of debt-driven dispossession (e.g., foreclosure, eviction, austerity, etc.). Recent literature in geography, led by Harker’s work on debt spaces, has argued that debt should not only be understood as a temporal relation (a promise of future labor) …

Vcu Monroe Park Campus 'Iconic Green' Pre-Planning And Design Study, Nicholas A. Jancaitis

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The 'Iconic Green' pre-planning study for the Monroe Park Campus of VCU provides the framework and data necessary to support the intended 'nexus' on the proposed site. A review of the existing literature on various subjects included will highlight models and successful measures that have ensured success for previous similar built works. Having an understanding of the underlying factors and implications for the site, a needs assessment using existing literature and design precedents and in comparison with VCU's own desired end state and needs. Focusing on these comparisons within a theoretical framework called the Just Beautiful City, established in this …

Green Alley Network Plan, Dan Motta

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The Green Alley Network Plan seeks to realize the potential of Richmond’s public alleyways as opportunities for biodiverse shared streets acting as active transportation corridors, stormwater management systems, and public spaces that support high quality of life and community health. This project aims to be an expansion on Richmond’s Green Alley program, detailing tools, examples, recommendations, and steps to implementation. It is guided by the city’s visions of High-Quality Places, Equitable Transportation, a Diverse Economy, Inclusive Housing, and a Thriving Environment as expressed in the Richmond 300: A Guide for Growth Master Plan. Additionally, the region’s long-range transportation plan being …

Enhancing Harvester Safety And Traditional Food Access Through Participatory Mapping With The Ka’A’Gee Tu First Nation Of Kakisa, Northwest Territories, Neomi Jayaratne

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northern Canada has struggled with various systemic challenges based on Eurocentric ideologies, policies, and practices. A major challenge Indigenous communities face North of the 60^th parallel is their food security and sovereignty. Inuit, First Nation and Métis populations across the North experience 5 to 6 times higher levels of food insecurity compared to the National average (Food Secure Canada, 2020). These communities face concentrated levels of food system issues, which connect to other factors, such as, health and wellness, the supply chain of market foods, governance, a shift away from traditional foods, and the impacts of climate change. Climate …

Grief, Loss, And Climate Change: Validation Of A Solastalgia Scale, Claire Luce

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change has been identified as a defining issue of this century (United Nations, n.d.). Climate change impacts human wellbeing including mental health. While much research has focused on the way that the effects of climate change cause increases in common mental disorders, mental health is not just the absence of these disorders (World Health Organization, 2014). Non-pathologized mental health responses to climate change, such as the grief and loss that results from climate change impacts, are a growing consideration for researchers. Solastalgia, or the distress experienced in the absence of the solace once provided by the environment in the …

Social Worker Perceptions Of Lgbt Cultural Competent Practice Within Hospitals, Ronald Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social work cultural competence within a hospital setting has gained importance due to the various changes to how health care is delivered within the United States hospital system. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) individuals seeking care have reported negative experiences and discrimination, adversely impacting their treatment in a hospital setting. Those experiences have resulted in decreased use of medical treatment. Researchers have established the need for increased levels of cultural competence from social workers within hospital settings to develop rapport with LGBT individuals when delivering social work services as a part of the hospital treatment team. With cultural humility …