Digital Commons Network^™

Methodological Variations In Environmental Justice Screening Tools And Their Impact On Disadvantaged Community Designations, Thomas Robbins, Qingran Li, Stephen Bird

Faculty Publications

Government agencies in the United States have developed environmental justice screening tools (EJSTs) and designations to promote equitable distribution of benefits from environmental policies to disadvantaged communities (DACs). However, the methodological choices embedded in these tools, including the selection, weighting, and aggregation of environmental justice indicators, vary across EJSTs, and their implications for DAC designation outcomes are poorly understood. Here we systematically compare four EJSTs at the federal and state levels and show that these tools produce substantial variation in the DAC census tracts, with some tools emphasizing socioeconomic burdens while others prioritize environmental risks. Using quantitative regression models, we …

Environmental Repair In The Energy Transition, Martin Lockman

Faculty Publications

For nearly a century, American laws have required mines, oil and gas companies, and other potentially hazardous industries to restore land affected by their activities to a safe condition when they are done with it. These laws represent a grand bargain—they allow operators to make profitable but damaging use of land today in exchange for the promise of expensive remediation tomorrow. However, this bargain has proven hard to enforce. Dozens of “zombie” mines scar mountains in Kentucky. Unrecorded “orphaned” wells poison groundwater in Texas. Over the past century, these laws have become the center of a legal arms race. Fossil …

When Disasters Trigger Cyber Vulnerabilities: Mapping Physical-Digital Interdependencies In Critical Infrastructure Systems, Dikshya Panta, Sicheng Wang, Aditya Sapkota, Prakash Ranganathan

Faculty Publications

Critical infrastructure (CI) systems such as power, water, communications, and emergency services are increasingly exposed to compound risks in which natural disasters and cyber incidents interact and amplify one another. Traditional risk assessments often isolate physical and digital threats, overlooking the cascading dependencies that emerge when operational stress, emergency reconfiguration, and adversarial exploitation coincide. This study conducts a 2019–2025 scoping review and introduces a Geographic Information System (GIS) driven six-stage disaster cyber compounding framework that characterizes, maps, and operationalizes compound risk across interdependent CI sectors. The framework integrates a common operating picture, analytic situational understanding, exposure mapping, threat-fingerprint encoding, detection …

Shedding Light On Inequities Of Power Outages Through Data Transparency, Kelly A. Stevens, Sanam K. Aksha, Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman, Elizabeth Trader, Herbert Longenecker, Rebecca Entress, Thomas Wahl, Christopher Emrich, Kristopher O. Davis

Faculty Publications

In a changing climate, the electricity grid is increasingly exposed to more extreme weather that results in significant power outages. Further, lower income and racial-ethnic minority households are more likely to experience a higher frequency and duration of power outages compared to less socially vulnerable groups. The literature on the unequal impacts of power outages is a new, growing area of research that has been stymied in part due to the difficulty acquiring high spatial resolution, historical power outage data from utilities. In this Perspectives article, we review the availability of power outage data, and what can be learned from …

Shedding Light On Inequities Of Power Outages Through Data Transparency, Kelly A. Stevens, Sanam K. Aksha, Mohammed Siddiqur Rahman, Elizabeth Trader, Herbert Longenecker, Rebecca Entress

Faculty Publications

In a changing climate, the electricity grid is increasingly exposed to more extreme weather that results in significant power outages. Further, lower income and racial-ethnic minority households are more likely to experience a higher frequency and duration of power outages compared to less socially vulnerable groups. The literature on the unequal impacts of power outages is a new, growing area of research that has been stymied in part due to the difficulty acquiring high spatial resolution, historical power outage data from utilities. In this Perspectives article, we review the availability of power outage data, and what can be learned from …

Teaching Archival Silences With The New Hampshire Maps Collection, Kai H. Uchida

Faculty Publications

This conference presentation was given at the Annual Spring 2025 Meeting for New England Archivists.

For the past two years, the University Archivist at Milne Special Collections and Archives at the University of New Hampshire has partnered with an instructor in the Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Department to teach about its historic map collections. This presentation will discuss the planning, execution, and lessons learned from using a historic state maps collection to educate students on the concept of "archival silence," and to advocate for the use of historical map collections to develop critical archival and data literacies.

Reflections On The Importance Of Critical Theory To Teaching Environmental Law, Sean Kammer

Faculty Publications

The freedom of students to learn about critical approaches to understanding their world is under sustained political attack. In this time of increasing environmental peril and political dysfunction, Professor Sean M. Kammer reflects upon the importance of critical theory (including Critical Race Theory) to understanding—and ultimately redressing—the related problems of resource scarcity and environmental degradation. While these problems can surely be described in terms of “economic inefficiencies” or “ecological disturbances,” as they most often are, they must also be understood (and taught) as problems of colonial exploitation and violence. For example, one cannot understand Justice John Marshall’s discovery doctrine or …

A Review Of Flood Mitigation Benefit-Cost Analyses’ Inclusiveness Of Environmental Watershed Effects And Environmental Vulnerability: Gaps In Progress Towards More Resilient Flood Hazard Decision-Making, Fahmida Akhter, Sapana Bastola, Jerrod Penn, Thomas Douthat

Faculty Publications

US and EU flood mitigation policy both incorporate considerations of costs and benefits, and in recent years have taken steps to encourage accounting for positive and negative effects on vulnerable populations, broader non-market environmental impacts, and downstream effects beyond the target area of projects of flood mitigation projects. This work highlights the extent to which previous academic flood mitigation Benefit-Cost Analyses (BCA) papers have comprehensively considered such project effects. We do so through a systematic, PRISMA-style, review of BCA literature in the broader field of flood hazard mitigation and resilience decision-making. Our results suggest 1) most projects focus on monetizing …

Bioagricorridors: Uban Ecosystem Networks To Enhance Biological Diversity, Ecosystem Services And Food Production In Barcelona, Spain, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro, Filippo Vegezzi

Faculty Publications

Urbanisation and environmental degradation pose significant challenges to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and food pro- duction. The Bioagricorridors strategy addresses this by inte- grating agroecology in the urban environment, emphasising the continuity principle to connect diverse ecosystems through green infrastructure. Employing a mapping strategy, bioagricorridors bridge theory and space, using maps as communication tools and deep mapping to explore multi-layered, digital cartographic representations. This approach aids in addressing pressing urban conditions, enhancing genetic diversity, and improving soil and water quality. The exploration uses Barcelona as a case study, a city marked by historical urban planning shifts and landscape fragmentation. Taking into …

Plastics, Carbon, Politics, And Experimentation In Environmental Governance, Donald T. Hornstein

Faculty Publications

This Article analyzes two major international environmental negotiations that concluded in late 2024 and uses them to explore emerging directions in plastics policy, carbon markets, and experimental forms of environmental governance. It examines the redesign of global carbon offset markets following the adoption of Article 6 mechanisms at COP 29, highlighting how new international standards and domestic U.S. initiatives seek to address longstanding concerns about offset quality while insulating climate policy from drastic federal political swings. The Article then evaluates the failed Busan negotiations toward a global plastics treaty, explaining how disagreements over production caps, consensus procedures, and the complexity …

Libraries On The Front Lines: The Imperative For Disaster-Ready Information Professionals, Feili Tu-Keefner Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Libraries, particularly local public libraries, have evolved into hubs for community-first services, extending beyond traditional roles. Library personnel are now expected to act as first responders and crisis leaders during times such as natural disasters. This report documents the critical crisis leadership qualifications required for library personnel, identified through comprehensive research from 2015 to 2023. Findings from these situation-specific case studies call attention to the community’s needs for library services during emergencies, underscoring the requirement for LIS education to include disaster management. Continuing education (CE) is also critical in preparing information professionals for these essential roles.

Utilizing Extractive Transportation Infrastructures For Subsistence Livelihoods: Experience Of Evenki Communities In Eastern Siberia, Vera Kuklina, Viktoriya Filippova, Natalia Krasnoshtanova, Antonina Savvinova, Viktor Bogdanov, Mariia Kuklina

Faculty Publications

The availability of natural resources drives the exploration and transformation of remote regions in the Arctic and beyond. Extractive infrastructure is one of the major sources of industrial development and environmental impact on landscapes. For Indigenous people, these landscapes are homely environments full of sentient beings, and for other local communities, they provide a wide variety of subsistence and hunting resources. While extractive infrastructure violence is the evident issue for many Indigenous communities, there are more complicated situations where extractive infrastructure is adopted and utilized for the subsistence and support of other human and more-than-human relations in local and Indigenous …

Research Gaps And Priorities For Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (Qmra), Kerry A. Hamilton, Joanna Ciol Harrison, Jade Mitchell, Mark Weir, Marc Verhougstraete, Charles N. Haas, A. Pouyan Nejadhashemi, Julie Libarkin, Tiong Gim Aw, Kyle Bibby, Aaron Bivins, Joe Brown, Kara Dean, Gwyneth Dunbar, Joseph N.S. Eisenberg, Monica Emelko, Daniel Gerrity, Patrick L. Gurian, Emma Hartnett, Michael Jahne, Rachael M. Jones, Timothy R. Julian, Hongwan Li, Yanbin Li, Jacqueline Mac Donald Gibson, Gertjan Medema, J. Scott Meschke, Alexis Mraz, Heather Murphy, David Oryang, Emmanuel De Graft Johnson Owusu-Ansah, Emily Pasek, Abani K. Pradhan

Faculty Publications

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic highlighted the need for more rapid and routine application of modeling approaches such as quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) for protecting public health. QMRA is a transdisciplinary science dedicated to understanding, predicting, and mitigating infectious disease risks. To better equip QMRA researchers to inform policy and public health management, an Advances in Research for QMRA workshop was held to synthesize a path forward for QMRA research. We summarize insights from 41 QMRA researchers and experts to clarify the role of QMRA in risk analysis by (1) identifying key research needs, (2) highlighting emerging applications of …

Beyond Covid: Towards A Transdisciplinary Synthesis For Understanding Responses And Developing Pandemic Preparedness In Alaska, Taylor P. Van Doren, Ryan A. Brown, Guangqing Chi, Patricia Cochran, Katie Cueva, Laura Eichelberger, Ruby Fried, Stacey Fritz, Micah B. Hahn, Ron Heintz, Davin Holen, Andrey N. Petrov

Faculty Publications

Pandemics are regularly occurring events, and there are foundational principles of pandemic preparation upon which communities, regions, states, and nations may draw upon for elevated preparedness against an inevitable future infectious disease threat. Many disciplines within the social sciences can provide crucial insight and transdisciplinary thinking for the development of preparedness measures. In 2023, the National Science Foundation funded a conference of circumpolar researchers and Indigenous partners to reflect on COVID-19-related research. In this article, we synthesise our diverse social science perspectives to: (1) identify potential areas of future pandemic-related research in Alaska, and (2) pose new research questions that …

Prevailing Issues And Actions In Urban Best Practices Across Latin America And The Caribbean, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro

Faculty Publications

This research examines urban best practices (BPs) across Latin America and the Caribbean to illuminate the prevalent issues and actions associated with these locally implemented initiatives. An analysis of 45 BPs from the UN-Habitat repository was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods, organized into three phases. The first phase focused on collecting data such as BP sources, countries of origin, and years of implementation. The second phase identified common problems and actions within the BPs. The third phase involved a cross-sectional analysis to identify significant patterns and trends. The study found that many BPs originated from the Dubai International …

Conceptualizing Space Environmental Sustainability, Weiwei Mo, Brad L. Kinsey, John Vickers, Henry Helvajian, Ioana Cozmuta, Marissa Herron, Ajay Malshe

Faculty Publications

Recent advancements have significantly enhanced the capabilities for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM), to develop infrastructure in orbit and on the surface of celestial bodies. This progress is a departure from the traditional sustainability paradigm focused solely on Earth, highlighting the urgent need to define and operationalize the concept of “space sustainability” along with the development of an evaluation framework. The expansion of human activity into space, particularly in low-earth orbit, cis-lunar space, and beyond, underscores the critical importance of considering sustainability implications. Leveraging space resources offers economic growth and sustainable development opportunities, while reducing pressure on Earth’s ecosystems. …

Conceptualizing Space Environmental Sustainability, Weiwei Mo, Brad L. Kinsey, John Vickers, Henry Helvajian, Ioana Cozmuta, Marissa Herron, Ajay Malshe

Faculty Publications

Recent advancements have significantly enhanced the capabilities for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM), to develop infrastructure in orbit and on the surface of celestial bodies. This progress is a departure from the traditional sustainability paradigm focused solely on Earth, highlighting the urgent need to define and operationalize the concept of “space sustainability” along with the development of an evaluation framework. The expansion of human activity into space, particularly in low-earth orbit, cis-lunar space, and beyond, underscores the critical importance of considering sustainability implications. Leveraging space resources offers economic growth and sustainable development opportunities, while reducing pressure on Earth’s ecosystems. …

Editorial Introduction: Unveiling New Dimensions In Policy Process Theory Research, Geoboo Song, Saba Siddiki, Melissa K. Merry, Davor Mondom, Ben Galloway, Gwen Arnold, Aaron Smith-Walter, Holly L. Peterson, Creed Tumlison, Briana Huett, Heasun Choi, Nataliia Borozdina

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fighting Erasure And Dispossession In The San Francisco Bay Area: Putting Archaeology To Work For The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, Lee M. Panich, Monica V. Arellano, Michael Wilcox, Gustavo Flores

Faculty Publications

The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe has long been involved in the archaeology and stewardship of their ancestral homelands, both through their own cultural resource management (CRM) firm and though collaborations with academic and CRM archaeologists. In this article, we build on the past 40 years of archaeological collaborations in the southern San Francisco Bay region and offer examples of how archaeologists can support tribal heritage and environmental stewardship by using the traditional purview of material culture in combination with a broader array of evidence and concerns. As presented in our brief case studies, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and scholars are working …

Querida Promotora, Cristina Faiver-Serna

Faculty Publications

This open letter to the promotoras de salud (community health workers) of Long Beach, California explores the multifaceted demands placed on low-wage, highly skilled health educators within the nonprofit industrial complex, and exposes the geographies of Latinx health precarity from the perspective of urban health care feminized labor. The letter also shares and celebrates the deep commitment to justice that promotoras struggle toward through their care work.

Querida Promotora, Cristina Faiver-Serna

Faculty Publications

This open letter to the promotoras de salud (community health workers) of Long Beach, California explores the multifaceted demands placed on low-wage, highly skilled health educators within the nonprofit industrial complex, and exposes the geographies of Latinx health precarity from the perspective of urban health care feminized labor. The letter also shares and celebrates the deep commitment to justice that promotoras struggle toward through their care work.

Spatial Justice: Deductions, Demonstrations, And Derivations, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Inequitable Infrastructure: An Empirical Assessment Of Federalism, Climate Change, And Environmental Racism, Lev E. Breydo

Faculty Publications

This Article explains a critical, yet unexplored issue: How are some communities like Jackson—the 80% Black capital of Mississippi—often left without water or electricity, while their mostly white neighbors are not? The Article maps uncharted territory by interrogating the underlying causes of this disparity, untangling how three seemingly unrelated factors interplay with the accelerating effects of climate change to perpetuate systemic inequities.

First, and somewhat uniquely, the U.S. federalist construct allocates infrastructure responsibility to the states, which, under the guise of autonomy, subdelegate to often under-resourced local authorities. Second, this capital mismatch requires governmental units to borrow using complex municipal …

Identifying Multilevel Predictors Of Behavioral Outcomes Like Park Use: A Comparison Of Conditional And Marginal Modeling Approaches, Marilyn E. Wende, S. Morgan Hughey, Alexander C. Mclain, Shirelle Hallum, J. Aaron Hipp, Jasper Schipperijn, Ellen W. Stowe, Andrew T. Kaczynski Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This study compared marginal and conditional modeling approaches for identifying individual, park and neighborhood park use predictors. Data were derived from the ParkIndex study, which occurred in 128 block groups in Brooklyn (New York), Seattle (Washington), Raleigh (North Carolina), and Greenville (South Carolina). Survey respondents (n = 320) indicated parks within one half-mile of their block group used within the past month. Parks (n = 263) were audited using the Community Park Audit Tool. Measures were collected at the individual (park visitation, physical activity, sociodemographic characteristics), park (distance, quality, size), and block group (park count, population density, age structure, racial …

The Association Of Dietary Antioxidants And The Inflammatory Potential Of The Diet With Poor Physical Function And Disability In Older Australian Men: The Concord Health And Ageing In Men Project, Daniela Wizgier, Ying Meng, Arpita Das, Vasi Naganathan, Fiona Blyth, David G. Le Couteur, David J. Handelsman, Louise M. Waite, Rosilene V. Ribeiro, Nitin Shivappa, James Hébert Scd, Vasant Hirani

Faculty Publications

Our objective was to evaluate the association of antioxidant intake and the inflammatory potential of the diet with functional decline in older men. A diet history questionnaire was used to collect dietary intake data from men aged ≥ 75 years (n 794) participating in the Concord Health and Aging in Men Project cohort study. Intake of vitamins A, C, E and Zn were compared with the Australian Nutrient Reference Values to determine adequacy. The Energy-adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (E-DIITM) was used to assess the inflammatory potential of the diet. Physical performance data were collected via handgrip strength and walking speed …

“The Times They Are A Changin’”: Generational Comparisons Of The Civil Rights Movement With The Current-Day Climate Movement, Robin Boyle-Laisure

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Bob Dylan’s famous song lyric, capturing the spirit of the 1960s, is just as apropos today: “The times they are a changin’” (1964). The civil rights movement changed history by securing legislation and court decisions advancing the constitutional rights of black people (Dalton 2008, 7). The movement took flight at a time when the Baby Boomer generation was politically active and seeking social change. As outlined in the introduction to this book, the generations and their birth years are as follows: Silents (1925–45); Baby Boomers (1946–64); Gen X (1965–80); Millennials (1981–95); and Gen Z (1996–2013). Baby Boomers “experienced the …

The Private Litigation Impact Of New York's Green Amendment, Evan Bianchi, Sean Di Luccio, Martin Lockman, Vincent Nolette

Faculty Publications

The increasing urgency of climate change, combined with federal environmental inaction under the Trump Administration, inspired a wave of environmental action at the state and local level. Building on the environmental movement of the 1970s, activists have pushed to amend more than a dozen state constitutions to include “green amendments”—self-executing individual rights to a clean environment. In 2022, New York activists succeeded, and New York’s Green Amendment (the NYGA) now provides that “Each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.”

However, the power of the NYGA and similar green amendments turns on judicial …

From Social To Collective Capital: Factors Behind The Success Of A Covid-19 Task Force, Lauren Mckeague, Sophie G. Wenzel, Robin H. Lemaire

Faculty Publications

Social capital offers an important framework for understanding community disaster preparedness and resiliency at both the individual and community levels. Social capital also offers a lens for understanding interorganizational collaboration, particularly for public health disasters. Yet missing from the literature is an exploration of how social capital at the individual level may develop into collective capital at the group level, to then be leveraged for community public health disaster management. We conducted a mixed-methods case study of an emergent rural task force that formed to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Using social network and qualitative analysis, we find that pre-existing relationships, …

Stakeholder Perceptions About Incorporating Externalities And Vulnerability Into Benefit–Cost Analysis Tools For Watershed Flood Risk Mitigation, Thomas H. Douthat, Fahmida Akhter, Rachelle Sanderson, Jerrod Penn

Faculty Publications

Multi-scalar climate hazards in watersheds and growing consideration regarding equity call for innovation in how agencies evaluate and prioritize mitigation and adaptation projects. Benefit–Cost Analysis (BCA) is one approach that is increasingly being applied to decision-making (i.e., FEMA BCA toolkit), but that has not been applied to watershed and equity-based flood management initiatives. This paper addresses this topic and presents a case study evaluating projects for watershed flood and climate mitigation projects by the Louisiana Watershed Initiative (Louisiana, USA). Through semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and practitioners, we found that BCA tool design must be embedded in the program and policy …

Editorial Introduction: Punctuated Equilibrium, Multiple Streams, Environmental Governance, And Many More, Geoboo Song, Michael D. Jones, Holly L. Peterson, Aaron Smith-Walter, Melissa K. Merry, Gwen Arnold, Creed Tumlison, Rachael M. Moyer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.