Digital Commons Network^™

Christianity And The Development Of Eco-Justice, Emily C. Hill

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the role Christian communities in the United States play in eco-justice work. Eco-justice is the recognition that human rights and environmental rights are indivisible. Christianity had a deep impact on Western culture in Europe during the Medieval, Renaissance, and Enlightenment periods. Evangelizing and carrying out God’s will were used repeatedly as justification for the colonial escapades of European powers. The notion of a Covenant with God permeated American culture and influenced the identity of the nation and of American environmentalism. However, Christian communities were also active in resisting the exploitation of people and the Earth. Today, Christian …

Increasing Energy Efficiency In Existing Residential Buildings: A Case Study Of The Community Home Energy Retrofit Project (Cherp), Jenna Perelman

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis uses a case study of the Community Home Energy Retrofit Project (CHERP) and it analyzes the larger statewide effort in California to increase energy efficiency in existing residential buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. CHERP’s primary strategy is to embed itself into a community, educate residents on the multiple benefits of energy efficiency, and inspire them to take energy-saving actions in their own homes. It then builds its own community by connecting like-minded individuals together and provides an opportunity for them to exercise their political agency. This thesis analyzes CHERP’s effort in the context of the political, social, …

Disasters Are Not, They Become: An Understanding Of Social Vulnerability In The United States Gulf Coast With Respect To Hurricanes, Katherine Franklin

Scripps Senior Theses

Scientific literature is concerned with the impact that climate change will have on natural disasters in the near future. These events disrupt our daily lives and can cause damage that may never be repaired. Merging science and social science, the study of vulnerability looks at how human systems will be impacted by these natural disasters. In the United States, hurricanes in the Gulf Coast are projected to increase in intensity as well as have an increased capacity for damage with a rise in sea level. Therefore, it is important to understand who is systematically vulnerable to these impacts of natural …

Dismantling Structural Inequality In The Inland Empire: Rebuilding Community From The Ground Up At Huerta Del Valle Garden, Jennifer E. Reyff

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis provides an analytical case study of Huerta del Valle Community Garden as a successful model of redefining social capital through not only providing healthy, affordable, high quality produce to a community subjected to the disproportionate consequences of systemic inequality, but also in incorporating a food justice education framework to underlie all development at the garden. Located in the city of Ontario, Southern California – the heart of the Inland Empire, known for its prominence within the nation’s goods movement industry and its landscape of sprawling warehouses – local residents face high rates of poverty, obesity, and a lack …

Implementing (Environmental) Justice: Equity And Performance In California's S.B. 535, Meagan Tokunaga

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis evaluates the equity performance of a recent state environmental justice policy, California’s Senate Bill 535 (S.B. 535). “Environmental justice” refers to the disproportionate environmental harm imposed on low-income and minority communities. S.B. 535 uses competitive grants to provide funding to these communities. The research is centered around two questions: (1) to what extent has S.B. 535 experienced successful implementation in its first year of operation, and (2) how can policy actors improve implementation while balancing performance and equity goals? In regards to the first question, I utilize a case study of the policy’s implementation within 17 local governments …

The Political Economy Of Environmental Justice: A Comparative Study Of New Delhi And Los Angeles, Ratik Asokan

CMC Senior Theses

Though mainstream environmentalism, both in the U.S. and India, was initially rooted in social justice, it has, over time, moved away from this focus. The Environmental Justice Movement consequently arose to reunite social and environmental activism. In this thesis, I trace the historical relationship between the mainstream environmentalism, the Environmental Justice Movement, and marginalized communities. After providing this general overview, I examine two case studies – in Los Angeles and New Delhi respectively – where marginalized communities have been involved in Environmental Justice activities. My analysis reveals that marginalized communities often act in an ‘environmentalist’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ manner, without …

Untold Narratives: Refugee Experiences From Laos To Richmond, California, Laiseng Saechao

Scripps Senior Theses

Untold Narratives: A Refugee Experience from Laos to Richmond, California is focused on the Mien refugee experience from Laos to Richmond, California. This thesis highlights the ways Cold War politics, the Secret War, and heavy industrialization have impacted Mien communities who have been displaced from their homelands into refugee camps, and again through sponsorship into the United States. This thesis looks at political theories that discuss inequalities that exist, particularly through environmental degradation and negative health impacts that Mien refugees are experiencing in their resettlement into Richmond, California. Due to the limited scholarly articles and documented narratives that are available …

Innovation Or Inundation: The Political Economy Of Sea Level Rise In The San Francisco Bay Area, Nicole Quilliam

Pomona Senior Theses

Sea levels are rising around the world due to climate change and the rise in greenhouse gas emissions causing an environmental climate crisis. This thesis paper analyzes how sea level rise is affecting the San Francisco Bay Area. It walks through the geographical factors contribute to more severe impacts of sea level rise, potential adaptation strategies, and discusses the economic impacts and political challenges of protecting communities from sea level rise.

Roots Versus Wells: Grassroots Activism Against Fracking In New York And California, Shannon J. Leap

Pitzer Senior Theses

The reliance upon and depletion of fossil fuels as an energy source puts pressure on individuals, communities, energy companies, and policy-makers. Hydraulic fracturing – known colloquially as fracking – as a method of drilling for oil and natural gas temporarily alleviates this pressure since it allows for the extraction previously inaccessible fossil fuels in shale rock deposits deep beneath the Earth’s surface. This has resulted in a nationwide “fracking boom,” which has come with its share of economic benefits. However, the process of fracking can be detrimental to human and environmental health. In reaction to the increasing development of this …

Bridging The Blue-Green Divide: The Role Of Environmental Ngos In Tackling Environmental Problems In Taiwan, Yttrium Sua

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis attempts to provide a brief historical outline of the environmental movement in Taiwan and the unique political situation that has directly affected how the movement has progressed. Thereafter, it looks at some examples of environmental disputes that have occurred in recent years, paying special attention to the ways the environmental movement has interacted with the government. This provides the background to frame the analysis, which will shed light on the reasons for the current state of distrust and antagonistic interactions between the environmental movement and the government. Finally, the thesis evaluates whether such interactions with the government is …

Reforestation, Renewal, And The Cost Of Coal: Opposing A Manichean Worldview In Central Appalachia, Elizabeth R. Hansen

Pomona Senior Theses

Surface coal mining is a major form of land change and environmental degradation in Central Appalachia. Traditional mine reclamation iresults in unmanaged, unproductive grasslands that fail to mitigate many of the environmental costs of coal mining and are of minimal use to communities. Forestry reclamation is an alternative reclamation tactic that has the potential to address both environmental and socioeconomic concerns in Central Appalachia. A case study of Laurel Fork Mine in Eastern Kentucky is included.

Radical Housewife Activism: Subverting The Toxic Public/Private Binary, Emma Foehringer Merchant

Pomona Senior Theses

Since the 1960s, the modern environmental movement, though generally liberal in nature, has historically excluded a variety of serious and influential groups. This thesis concentrates on the movement of working-class housewives who emerged into popular American consciousness in the seventies and eighties with their increasingly radical campaigns against toxic contamination in their respective communities. These women represent a group who exhibited the convergence of cultural influences where domesticity and environmentalism met in the middle of American society, and the increasing focus on public health in the environmental movement framed the fight undertaken by women who identified as “housewives.” These women, …

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 …

The Separation Of Humans And Nature As It Relates To Environmental Degradation, Vinay Srinivasan

2014 Claremont Colleges Library Undergraduate Research Award

In his Reflective Essay the author described being surprised by the direction his research took and recognized that his holistic approach in this research project made it an enjoyable experience. He concludes, “This is how passions are sparked, questions start flowing, and perhaps the next revelation is reached.” The author’s research focused on the Western view of the divide between people and the environment and the human attitude of domination over nature “from the perspective of three integrated but distinct lenses—the religious, the economic, and the civilizational.”

Public Policy Analysis Curriculum Map 2013-2014, M. Sara Lowe, Char Booth, Dani Brecher, Sean M. Stone, Natalie Tagge

Curriculum Maps

This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with public policy analysis across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website.

This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.

Asian-American Studies Curriculum Map 2013-2014, Natalie Tagge, Char Booth, Dani Brecher, M. Sara Lowe, Sean M. Stone

Curriculum Maps

This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with Asian-American Studies across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website.

This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.

Cultural Studies Curriculum Map 2013-2014, Kimberly Franklin, Char Booth, Dani Brecher, M. Sara Lowe, Sean M. Stone, Natalie Tagge

Curriculum Maps

This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with cultural studies across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website.

This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.

International Relations Curriculum Map 2013-2014, Mary Martin, Char Booth, Dani Brecher, M. Sara Lowe, Sean M. Stone, Natalie Tagge

Curriculum Maps

This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with international relations across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website.

This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.

Pitzer College Outback Preserve Restoration Project, Paul Faulstich

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

A question we keep asking ourselves in environmental analysis at Pitzer College is whether it’s possible to create modern socionatural systems that are truly sustaining; that is, that avoid the features of contemporary systems in which the human factor dominates to the detriment of the environment. Any genuinely sustainable society must honor diversity— cultural and biological—and, at Pitzer, we’re committed to forging innovative directions for a healthy future. Toward this end, students, along with faculty and staff, have initiated a program of ecological restoration in the Pitzer College Outback Preserve.

Let's Not Eat Alone: A Search For Food Security Justice, Emma Shorr

Pitzer Senior Theses

The food justice movement has taken off in recent years. Despite its call for justice in the food system, it has been critiqued as being inaccessible to people who need food the most. The food system marginalizes women, minorities, and low-income people, making these groups the most at risk for food insecurity. Solutions to food insecurity come from both government and non-governmental avenues. This thesis calls for a merger of solutions to food insecurity and food justice in food security justice, and assesses the ability of solutions to food insecurity to confront issues of injustice. Community-based solutions currently have the …

Missing Voices, Hidden Fields: The Gendered Struggles Of Female Farmworkers, Keiko A. Budech

Pitzer Senior Theses

Known for its fertile soil and ideal climate, California has been one of the most agriculturally productive areas in the world. Often left out of this picture are the farmworkers who make it possible. Within this farmworker community, females are a sub-class that has been even more marginalized. This thesis investigates the gendered aspects of fieldwork and exposes female leadership working towards changing these specific struggles, such as sexual harassment in the fields, domestic abuse, pesticide exposure, and the perpetuation of submissive gender roles in the household and workplace. An in-depth case study of Lideres Campesinas, a community- based grassroots …

Fossil Fuel Divestment: The Power And Promise Of A Student Movement For Climate Justice, Jessica Grady-Benson

Pitzer Senior Theses

In the face of dire threats posed by anthropogenic climate change, a growing international Movement for Fossil Fuel Divestment has emerged to challenge the political and economic power of the fossil fuel industry. Building off a history of college and university divestment campaigns, students are spearheading the movement to rid their institutions’ endowments of investments in the top 200 companies with the largest reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas. Highlighting perspectives from within the movement and drawing from literature in social movement theory and Climate Justice, I explore three crucial components of the student Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement: Climate …

An Intersectional Approach To Environmental Political Theory: A Case Study On Modern Andean Bolivian Indigenous Forms Of Resistance And Communal Democracy In Relation To Water Rights, Julia E. Seward

Scripps Senior Theses

Considers Bolivian Andean indigenous forms of democracy and resistance to neoliberal water privatization in Cochabamba. Incorporates environmental identity into the intersectional theoretical framework with principles rooted in Indigenous grass roots theory, Marxist critiques on capitalism, Latin American Neomarxist scholars, and Environmental Justice. Focuses on intersections of ethnicity, gender and class identities with environmental identity to understand the extent to which environmental injustices cannot be addressed in isolation from other sources of inequality.

Water Reuse As Part Of San Diego's Water Portfolio, Hillary P. Shipps

Scripps Senior Theses

San Diego imports 80 to 90 percent of its water supply, depending on conditions during any particular year. This high level of imports and low diversity of water supply have combined with climate change to generate an urgent need for increased conservation and diversification of San Diego's water supply. Water reuse is one option to mitigate this problem. An attempt was made in the early 1990s to recycle wastewater but the public reacted badly due to a combination of bad public relations, perceived environmental justice issues, and a psychological phenomenon called the yuck factor. With improved public relations and education, …

Cultivating Resistance: Food Justice In The Criminal Justice System, Caitlin M. Watkins

Pitzer Senior Theses

This Senior Thesis in Environmental Analysis seeks to explore the ways in which certain food-oriented programs for incarcerated women and women on parole critically resist the Prison Industrial Complex and the Industrial Food System by securing social and ecological equity through the acquisition of food justice. It focuses on three case studies: the Crossroads’ Meatless Mondays program, Fallen Fruit from Rising Women: A Crossroads Social Enterprise, and Cultivating Dreams Prison Garden Project: An Organic Garden for Women in Prison. Each project utilizes food as a tool to build community, provide valuable skill sets of cooking and gardening, and educate women …

Landscapes To Learnscapes: Exploring Schoolyard-Based Education, Emily I. Palena, Caroline T. Spurgin

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis explores schoolyard-based education as a viable and necessary method for rectifying the shortcomings within the American public school system and the Nature-deficit Disorder epidemic. We argue that schoolyard-based education should be fully integrated into the school system, not in the sole form of popularized school gardens, but as a standard teaching method. We show this using extensive research and a case study of three elementary schools in Claremont, California.

Currents Of Change: An Urban And Environmental History Of The Anacostia River And Near Southeast Waterfront In Washington, D.C., Emily C. Haynes

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes how social and environmental inequalities have interacted throughout Washington, D.C.’s urban and environmental history to shape the Anacostia River and its Near Southeast waterfront into urbanized and industrialized landscapes. Drawing on the principles of environmental justice, urban political ecology, and environmental history, I examine the construction of urban rivers and waterfront space over time. I link the ecological and social decline of the Anacostia River and Near Southeast neighborhood to a broader national pattern of environmental degradation and social inequality along urban rivers that resulted from urban industrialization and federal water management. Finally, I discuss the recent …

Fertile Lands And Bodies: Connecting The Green Revolution, Pesticides, And Women’S Reproductive Health, Sarah M.K. Cycon

Pitzer Senior Theses

Environmentalists, social scientists, and economists have long critiqued the enduring impacts of the Green Revolution’s diffusion of agricultural technologies throughout the Global South. However, largely missing from the myriad analyses is the relationship between those technologies, namely pesticides, and health outcomes. This thesis explores the social and biological mechanisms through which excessive pesticide use culminated into adverse reproductive health outcomes for rural women in the Global South. Drawing together the history of the Green Revolution’s use of DDT, its social and economic impacts, and the biology of pesticide contamination in women’s bodies exposes how the Green Revolution situated women in …

Wasteland To Wonderland:Sustainable Brownfield Redevelopment Projects In Low-Income Areas Of Los Angeles, Rachel L. Warburton

Pitzer Senior Theses

The conversion of industrial waste sites, also known as brownfields, into sustainable green space can impact the surrounding community in a number of ways. This thesis is a compilation of three case studies in low-income areas of Los Angeles which have all experienced a brownfield to green space conversion. All three projects are dictated by various stakeholders and are located at the intersection of economic and environmental issues. I examine how the stakeholders of these projects affect the process and design and in turn how the process and design affects the community surrounding the site. Additionally this thesis sheds light …

Designing Affordable Housing For Adaptability: Principles, Practices, & Application, Micaela R. Danko

Pitzer Senior Theses

While environmental and economic sustainability have been driving factors in the movement towards a more resilient built environment, social sustainability is a factor that has received significantly less attention over the years. Federal support for low-income housing has fallen drastically, and the deficit of available, adequate, affordable homes continues to grow. In this thesis, I explore one way that architects can design affordable housing that is intrinsically sustainable. In the past, subsidized low-income housing has been built as if to provide a short-term solution—as if poverty and lack of affordable housing is a short-term problem. However, I argue that adaptable …