Digital Commons Network^™

Gis-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis For Marine Energy Site Selection: A Case Study Comparison Between Puerto Rico And Hawaii, Sarah Hall

Environmental Studies Honors Papers

Geospatial information systems (GIS) enable easy visualization of geospatial data representing different criteria important for optimal siting of marine energy projects. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is a geospatial analysis method that facilitates the evaluation of multiple, usually overlapping, site criteria. While GIS-based MCDA has been used extensively for land-based renewable energy projects, limited research exists on its application to marine-based renewable energy projects. Similarly, most literature overlooks the integration of social or environmental justice data. This project applies GIS-based MCDA to conduct site selection analysis for two marine renewable energy (MRE) projects in Puerto Rico and Hawaii. The results for …

Re-Evaluating The Land Use Impacts Of Utility-Scale Solar Energy Development In Virginia, Damian Pitt, Aaron R. Berryhill, Jennifer M. Ciminelli

L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs Publications

Utility-scale solar energy is the fastest-growing source of energy in the United States, and it provides many benefits related to climate change mitigation, pollution reduction, and tax revenue for the impacted localities. However, the rapid expansion of this technology raises some concerns, including the possible loss of farmland, forest land, and sensitive ecosystems, as well as potential environmental justice impacts from concentrating these facilities in low-income and/or minority communities.

In Virginia, 94 utility-scale solar facilities – defined as systems with a generating capacity of 5 megawatts (MW) AC or greater – have been built since December 2016. Hundreds more projects, …

Assessing The Benefits Of Distributed Solar In Virginia: 2024 Update And Status Report, Damian Pitt, Dagny Oakley

Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment Publications and Presentations

Distributed solar energy is growing rapidly in Virginia, and prices are dropping. If these trends continue, the state has the potential to meet a significant percentage of its electricity needs via distributed solar, supporting thousands of jobs and achieving substantial economic benefits in the process. However, reaching these targets will require the continuation of a positive policy and regulatory environment. This includes the removal of several remaining policy barriers, particularly related to shared / community solar, and avoiding some of the negative policy changes that have slowed distributed solar in other states.

This report is an update to a VCU …

Policing Impacts On Racial And Regional Oppression In Appalachia, Grace Simpson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Appalachians continue to face the lasting effects of generations of state violence. Residents are often met with economic, environmental, physical, and mental hardships that are specific to these regions. Namely, the intersection of race with these region-specific hardships creates unique issues for Black Appalachians. Black Appalachians have a distinct history connecting the cultural nuances of the Appalachian region with the overall history of racial inequality in the USA. The following highlights Black Appalachian experiences by exploring the relationship between state violence, policing, and race in the region. Utilizing qualitative interviews with Black individuals in Appalachians, results gain a more detailed …

Is The Juridical Field Of Environmental Law In India Gendered? A Study Of Environmental Justice In Goa Through An Ecofeminist Lens, Shweta Dilip Singh Sinha

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to examine whether the “juridical field,” as defined by Bourdieu, of environmental law in India (Goa), is gendered. As per Bourdieu, the legal field is neither as neutral nor as autonomous as the legal profession asserts it is. It relies heavily on the juridical practices of universalization, appropriation, and naming or categorization in order to constantly reimagine and negotiate its own boundaries. This study examines these juridical practices including acts of symbolic violence committed in the process of ‘naming’ or ‘defining’ within legal terms extra-legal concepts, mainly environmental toponyms, such as, ‘“forest,” “CRZ” (Coastal …

Additional Information - Venessa Hammerick And Arthur Mcquiston Interview, Tennessee State University

Hear from Venessa Hammerick & Arthur McQuiston - Nashvillians Living Outside

No abstract provided.

Household Water Conservation For The Upper Colorado River Basin, Lauren Ott

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Fresh, clean, potable water is the most important natural resource to sustain human life. Concern over the continued, equitable and affordable access to such water is therefore top of mind. Calls for climate change mitigation practices, improved natural resource management, and enhanced attention to water conservation have therefore become increasingly prevalent. These water conservation practices require population-wide political, attitudinal and behavioral shifts and it will be especially impactful for wealthy nations and wealthy people to be mindful of instituting these changes in their own spaces.

In this project, I conduct a literature review to investigate current challenges surrounding water from …

Additional Information - Frederick Cawthon Interview, Urban Green Lab, Tennessee State University

Hear from Frederick Cawthon - Nashvillian in Sustainable Agribusiness

No abstract provided.

Freedom To Flourish: Housing As A Social Good, Laura Stivers

Social Justice | Faculty Scholarship

One cause of gentrification and displacement of multi-generational communities of color has been the increase of private equity firms buying affordable homes, upgrading them, raising rents, and evicting tenants. This paper focuses on housing financialization and the increasing shift from the use value of housing as a place to live to the exchange value of housing as a commodity and investment for corporate profit. After identifying the problem of gentrification and housing speculation in Oakland, California, the paper draws on ecowomanist/mujerista/feminist sources to offer a theological foundation in support of housing as a social good for the freedom of households …

Additional Information - Elois Freeman Interview, Tennessee State University

Hear from Elois Freeman - Native Nashvillian Who Came Home

No abstract provided.

Environmental Metrics In Action: Exploring U.S. Superfund Sites Affiliated With The Fashion Industry, Nidia K. Trejo

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Little is known of Superfund sites, long-term clean up sites, affiliated with the apparel and footwear supply chain in the United States. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) manages the clean up of contaminated sites that pose a significant risk to human health and the environment under the Superfund program. A site can become contaminated if hazardous waste from industrial operations are mismanaged or dumped into the environment, in an uncontrolled manner. In this study, a proposed Superfund site (Mohawk Tannery in Nashua, New Hampshire), an active Superfund site (Ciba-Geigy Corp. in Toms River, New Jersery), and a …

Examining The Impact Of Electric Vehicle Adoption On Health, Socioeconomic Disparities, And Policy, Arham Limoochi

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Transportation is a crucial source of air pollution in the United States, accounting for nearly 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions. This considerable contribution to environmental degradation has led many scholars to advocate for a shift towards Electric Vehicles (EVs) as an effective strategy to combat climate change and its adverse effects. EVs, known for their innovative design and reliance on alternative energy sources, differ significantly from traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines. This transition is more than a technological advancement; it symbolizes a significant move towards sustainable transportation, impacting environmental sustainability, public health, and socio-economic equity. My dissertation explores …

Amazonia In Motion: Changing Politics, Development Strategies, Peoples, Landscapes And Livelihoods, Susanna Hecht, Marianne Schmink, Rebecca Neaera Abers, Eduardo Assad, Denise Bebbington, Eduardo Brodizio, Francisco De Assis Costa, Ana María Calisto Durán, Philip Fearnside, Rachael Garrett, Sebastian Heilpern, David Mcgrath, Gustavo Oliveira, Henrique Pereira, Miguel Pinedo-Vazquez

Geography

We review the often-invisible powerful processes that drive social and ecological change in Amazonia, and the diverse peoples who inhabit its landscapes. It explores large-scale development ideologies of modernization, and the policy tools that were deployed to carry them out. Outlining general periods of macro policy shifts, we show the evolution of the framework for today’s complex interactions between large-scale agroindustry, mining, and hydrocarbons, and diverse small-scale livelihoods, as well as the clandestine and illicit economies of land grabbing, gold, coca and timber, and their operation in globalized and regional economies. While Pan-Amazonian governments have oscillated between authoritarian and democratic …

Bridging And Breaking Silos: Transformational Governance Of The Migration–Sustainability Nexus, Caroline Zickgraf, Dominique Jolivet, Claudia Fry, Emily Boyd, Anita Fabos

Sustainability and Social Justice

Sustainability and migration are typically treated as discrete policy spheres in inter-national, national, and local fora, separated in governance structures and institutions. This results in policy incoherence that hinders just transitions toward more sustainable societies cognizant of mobile realities. This explorative effort identifies the (dis)connec-tions between policy domains using data collected on how the sustainability–migration nexus is governed in four countries with a special emphasis on urban areas: Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. Results of 73 interviews show that migration and sustainability actors find it challenging to see how they could be working together and that migrants …

Considerations For Enhancing Participation And Data Accuracy In Geospatial Research In Rural Areas: Experiences With Pgis In Northern Malawi, Daniel Kpienbaareh, Isaac Luginaah, Rachel Bezner Kerr

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Rural environments are experiencing rapid changes that must be explored to understand, enhance, and facilitate positive changes and adapt to detrimental changes. However, the information researchers can obtain about the environment to identify effective management strategies for rural resources is hindered by several factors. Participatory geospatial research presents an approach that integrates local voices to map the facts and values of rural people and represent environmental changes. Here, we draw on more than six years of participatory geospatial research in rural northern Malawi to identify and present various considerations that participatory geospatial researchers and planners should be mindful of when …

Suburbanization Of California's Deserts, Mike Kohout

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Multimodal Accessibility Equity And Spatio-Temporal Relationships Between Transit, Job Density And Modal Split, Seyedsoheil Sharifiasl

Planning Dissertations - Archive

In North American cities, the land use and transportation systems are associated with low-density, suburban-type urban development, where the built environment contributes to a mobility pattern that is extremely reliant on automobiles. Several studies in the past decades have documented noticeable and concerning patterns of unjust and unsustainable transportation in this context. As a result, for those population groups with limited access to private transportation, this form of urban structure is equivalent to limited access to opportunities, leading to various environmental and social problems. These problems exacerbate inequities in access to transportation, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. From a sustainable development …

The Embeddedness And Reproduction Of Ableism In Social Work And A Call To Centre Disability Justice, Amber P.E. Young, Kathleen C. Sitter

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Predominately focused on a northern Turtle Island (otherwise known as Canada) context, this article focuses on how ableism, colonialism, and white supremacy intersect, and are embodied and reproduced in dominant social work education spaces and practices. We begin by providing a brief contextual background of the development of social work on northern Turtle Island and how certain social workspaces maintain and (re) produce ableism while intersecting with multiple forms of oppression. We then explore/reflect upon how centering a disability justice framework can inform/transform social work research design (including doctoral research design) and pedagogical practices, citing examples to support these claims.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 51, Issue 1&2 (2024)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Looking At The Past To Change The Future: Showcasing Featured Collections, Building Communities, And Co-Creating, Sherry Buchanan

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

Academic libraries have the opportunity and the responsibility to promote and advance content that creates transformative and iterative learning opportunities. To that end, and in an effort to build communities and facilitate co-creation, Portland State University showcases three main Featured Collections in our open access repository, PDXScholar: Climate Justice, COVID-19, and Racial and Gender Equity, with a fourth pilot collection—Student Work: An Open Showcase of Outstanding Student-Created Research & Creative Work—under development. The collections include a broad range of audiovisual materials, such as podcasts and webinar series, as well as sustainability and equity work, student-created content, and numerous future-focused multidisciplinary …

Differential Impacts Of Weather Anomalies On Household Energy Expenditure Shares: A Comparison Of Clustered Panel Analysis Methods, Jordan Champion

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Recent emphasis on environmental justice has highlighted deficiencies in our energy system that produce disparities in accessibility and affordability for the most vulnerable. Meanwhile, the realities of a gradually warming climate and the onset of a global energy crisis (IEA 2022) have coincidently contributed to spikes in both energy prices and demand. These implications threaten to further exacerbate existing disparities for income-constrained and vulnerable populations, enhancing their risk of falling into prolonged insecurity. To ensure our transition to a just, sustainable future, we must first ensure equitable access to affordable and reliable energy for everyone. Combining household-level panel and state-level …

The Relationship Between Offshore Wind Farms And Marine Wildlife In Rhode Island, Hanna Lloyd, Ashley Caputo, Brendan Foley, Catherine Chadwick, Savannah Szamborski

ENV 334 Environmental Justice

Despite political and environmental controversy, research has shown that not only do offshore wind farms have minimal impact on birds, whales, and benthic organisms, but they can actually be beneficial to marine ecosystems. However, many Rhode Island and Massachusetts citizens are concerned that the construction of the Revolution wind farm will decrease the biodiversity of marine ecosystems. Current research refutes these claims on the negative impacts of offshore wind farms, stating that their construction benefits benthic communities, has little to no impact on the health of whales, and only temporarily impacts migrating bird species. New and innovative technology has found …

Flood Resiliency Planning: Historical Analysis And Youth Participation In Monongalia County, Wv, Josephine Q. Kemp-Rye, Jack P. Van Dusen, Kennedy Lawson

Undergraduate Scholarship

Flooding is a prevalent threat to community wellbeing, particularly in West Virginia where the mountainous topography and narrow valleys create perfect conditions for flood water to accumulate. To more deeply understand how hazards, such as flood events, become disastrous, we must consider not only the environmental/physical aspects, but also political, economic, and social dimensions. Thinking holistically about flood vulnerability acknowledges the influence of economic positioning, inadequate policies, industrial legacies, etc. which result in varied vulnerabilities to hazards within communities. The insights, knowledge, and experiences of local individuals and communities remain absent from domain top-down approaches to flood preparation. In an …

Streamlining Public Engagement In Transportation Projects Using Text Analytics, Alireza Shamshiri

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Infrastructure projects impact a broad range of stakeholders, particularly local communities, whose engagement is critical for successful outcomes. Despite the importance of public engagement in these projects, traditional methods of capturing and analyzing public opinion often fail to fully represent the diverse, genuine perspectives involved. This has led to conflicts between community members and project sponsors. On the other hand, despite advancements in text analytics, including natural language processing (NLP) and its subfields such as topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and neural networks, their functionalities and effectiveness in analyzing public opinion in the domain of infrastructure projects have not been fully …

Climate Change, Policy Paralysis, And A Nuclear Waste Island? Exploring Perceptions Of Risk, Trust, And Community Agency In Navigating Uncertain Futures Facing Humboldt Bay's Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Site, Alexander Brown

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Climate and coastal hazards threaten the long-term viability of indefinite in-situ nuclear waste storage in the U.S., especially at vulnerable “stranded” sites like Humboldt Bay, California. The national policy framework is fundamentally incompatible with emergent climate realities and does not adequately accommodate uncertainty, localized hazard conditions, and the sociocultural and political dynamics that manifest in diverse and contested public arenas. I interviewed 21 community-experts working at the intersection of climate change and nuclear waste, and co-facilitated three scenario planning workshops to gather insights on how to responsibly manage Humboldt Bay’s nuclear waste in a climate-altered world. Qualitative findings indicate variation …

Healing Through The Struggle: Sociopolitical Empowerment As Context For Youth Thriving, Manijeh Fe Mahmoodzadeh Azadi

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Young people from marginalized groups are impacted by structural and societal injustice yet are systematically prevented from participating in processes that disrupt oppressive systems (Camino & Zeldin, 2002). Because social justice requires the inclusion of marginalized groups in sociopolitical processes, programs and initiatives intended to reduce these barriers to civic and social changemaking have become popular (Ginwright, 2018). In order to meaningfully support youth resistance, those who are positioned to collaborate with young people must be informed about youths’ experiences of oppression and the processes and implications of their sociopolitical empowerment. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study used quantitative and qualitative …

“What Planet Are You On” - Making Meaning Of Sustainability Through Storytelling, Nancy T. Ladeinde

Masters Theses

The term “Sustainability” has come to stay as it is deeply integrated into our everyday life, although it seems complex to understand and engage with. The purpose of this thesis is to know how Unilever, a global consumer goods organization, makes meaning of its sustainability efforts. The method used to achieve this is a thematic analysis of Unilever’s campaign “What Planet Are You On?” a brand campaign documenting their sustainability efforts. Building on storytelling as a theoretical framework, it delves into the strategic use of stories as a communication tool for sustainability efforts, emphasizing its impact on brand narrative, stakeholder …

An Exploration Of Affective Influences Of Mediation And Instructional Delivery Styles In The U.S. Adult Media Literacy Learning Context, Joe Huber

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This dissertation explores how varied delivery strategies may influence college student affective learning in a mediated setting. I employed a hybrid-grounded approach to the exploration of student-participant interviews wherein student-participants engaged with one of two online media literacy learning modules. The results of this study illustrate that students at varying points of their epistemological development (Perry, 1968) may face different affective hurdles depending on how media literacy curriculum is presented. We may anticipate that: (1) students who are less epistemologically developed (those featuring dualistic attitudes) may struggle to receive content, especially in the case where a teacher-centric delivery-style is employed; …

Spf 50: Safe And Prosperous Futures Preparing For The Mid-Century Climate Reality, Michele Romolini, Mary Hillemeier, Dustin Herrmann, Miriam Bar-Zemer

Center for Urban Resilience Reports

The Safe and Prosperous Futures Project, SPF 50, is the third and final phase of a multi-year project led by TreePeople entitled Cooler and Healthier: Reducing Heat-Health Risk Using Urban Forestry & Stakeholder Engagement. The overall project aim is to address heat exposure by 1) developing a model analysis and processes to assess heatrelated mortality and morbidity, 2) creating strategies to address heat effects by canopy increase and albedo changes in the built environment, and 3) conducting stakeholder engagement to develop culturally relevant climate adaptation responses. Earlier phases of the project resulted in the publications RX for Hot Cities 2 …

การบังคับใช้กฎหมายไทยตามพันธกรณีภายใต้ความตกลงอาเซียนทางด้านสิ่งแวดล้อม, สุรพล ศรีวิทยา

Journal of Social Sciences

การวิจัยครั้งนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาประวัติพัฒนาการแนวคิดและหลักพื้นฐานของพันธกรณีภายใต้ความตกลงอาเซียนทางด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมในประชาคมสังคมและวัฒนธรรมอาเซียนเพื่ออนุวัติการความตกลงอาเซียนดังกล่าว ศึกษามาตรการของการบังคับใช้กฎหมายไทยตามพันธกรณีตามความตกลงอาเซียนทางด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมและพันธกรณีตามความตกลงสิ่งแวดล้อมพหุภาคี (MEAs) วิเคราะห์กลไกบังคับใช้กฎหมายไทยและกลไกระงับกรณีพิพาททางด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมตามพันธกรณีภายใต้ความตกลงอาเซียนทางด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมของประชาคมอาเซียนเปรียบเทียบกับสหภาพยุโรป รวมทั้งเสนอแนะนโยบายและมาตรการเพื่อพัฒนาปรับปรุงกฎหมายไทยในการอนุวัติตามความตกลงอาเซียนทางด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมให้มีการบังคับใช้ได้อย่างมีประสิทธิภาพและสัมฤทธิผลในบริบทของประเทศไทยและประชาคมอาเซียน การวิจัยครั้งนี้เป็นการวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพ โดยใช้ระเบียบวิธีวิจัยเอกสารในการเก็บรวบรวมข้อมูลเอกสารทั้งภาษาไทยและภาษาอังกฤษ กับวิธีการประชุมสนทนากลุ่มย่อยในการรับฟังความคิดเห็นของหน่วยงานและผู้ทรงคุณวุฒิที่เกี่ยวข้อง โดยใช้แบบสัมภาษณ์เชิงลึกเก็บรวบรวมข้อมูลจากผู้ให้ข้อมูลสำคัญ ซึ่งมีการสุ่มกลุ่มตัวอย่างตามวัตถุประสงค์ของการวิจัยจำนวน 27 คน แบ่งเป็น 3 กลุ่ม คือ (1) กลุ่มหน่วยงานภาครัฐ (2) กลุ่มหน่วยงานภาคเอกชน และ (3) กลุ่มผู้ทรงคุณวุฒิภาควิชาการ ทั้งนี้ เพื่อให้เกิดการตรวจสอบแหล่งข้อมูลแบบสามเส้า ในการเก็บรวบรวมจากผู้ให้ข้อมูลสำคัญทั้ง 3 กลุ่มตามระเบียบวิธีวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพแล้วนำมาวิเคราะห์ข้อมูลเชิงเนื้อหา วิเคราะห์เชิงตรรกวิทยา และการวิเคราะห์เปรียบเทียบเกี่ยวกับการบังคับใช้กฎหมายไทยตามพันธกรณีภายใต้ความตกลงอาเซียนทางด้านสิ่งแวดล้อม กลไกบังคับใช้กฎหมาย และกลไกระงับข้อพิพาทสิ่งแวดล้อมให้มีประสิทธิภาพและสัมฤทธิผลในบริบทของประเทศไทยและประชาคมอาเซียน รวมทั้งยังได้จัดการประชุมสัมมนาวิชาการเพื่อรับฟังความคิดเห็นและข้อเสนอแนะจากผู้ทรงคุณวุฒิและหน่วยงานที่เกี่ยวข้องเพื่อปรับปรุงสรุปผลการวิจัยและข้อเสนอแนะให้มีความถูกต้องและสมบูรณ์มากยิ่งขึ้น ผลการวิจัยพบว่า ประเทศไทยได้ดำเนินการปฏิบัติตามพันธกรณีภายใต้ความตกลงอาเซียนทางด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมในระดับภูมิภาค และการปฏิบัติตามพันธกรณีภายใต้ความความร่วมมืออาเซียนทางด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมและความตกลงสิ่งแวดล้อมพหุภาคี (MEAs) หากเกิดปัญหาข้อพิพาทสิ่งแวดล้อมตามพันธกรณีก็ยังมีกลไกบังคับใช้กฎหมายภายในของประเทศไทยและสมาชิกอาเซียนอื่น กฎหมายระหว่างประเทศ รวมทั้งกลไกระงับข้อพิพาททางสิ่งแวดล้อมตามพันธกรณีภายใต้ความตกลงอาเซียนทางด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมทั้งในระดับภูมิภาคอาเซียน คือ กลไกระงับข้อพิพาทภายใต้กฎบัตรอาเซียน ค.ศ. 2008 และพิธีสารว่าด้วยกลไกระงับข้อพิพาทของอาเซียน ค.ศ. 2004 รวมทั้งกลไกระงับข้อพิพาทในระดับโลก เช่น กลไกระงับข้อพิพาทขององค์การการค้าโลก อนุญาโตตุลาการระหว่างประเทศ หรือ ศาลยุติธรรมระหว่างประเทศ