Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Widely Available 3-D Visualization Tools In Support Of Public Participation, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Jennifer L. Weeks, Tim Case

Publications and Research

There is a persistent need for improved tools and techniques to facilitate public involvement in transportation decision making. Despite continuous improvements in increasing public involvement at all phases of transportation decision making, transportation agencies are still seeking more affordable, accessible, and effective means of communicating with a wide range of stakeholders. The report documents a survey of a wide variety of transportation agencies on their use of interactive 3-D visualization for public involvement using an electronic survey. Supplemental qualitative data was generated through telephone interviews with selected survey participants. It concludes with three case studies illustrating applications of interactive 3-D …

Is New Always Better? The Case For License Renewal In The Next Generation, Tamar J. Cerafici

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Culturally-Relevant Information Literacy: A Case Study, Rob Morrison

Dissertations

Information Literacy is a process for finding, using, evaluating and incorporating information into an individuals’ knowledge base. This process has been formalized into the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. The concept of Information Literacy as articulated in the ACRL Standards is based on Western knowledge and ways of knowing that resides in academic disciplines. This knowledge is privileged and regarded as universal, rational, and superior to other forms of knowledge and does not incorporate or reflect non-Western epistemologies. This study questioned the universality of this process as reflective of being grounded in Western culture and knowledge.

The …

The Influence Of Incentives Offered By Local Governments To Private Developers Or Land Owners On The Rate Of Brownfield Redevelopment, Erik Benjamin Simon

Master's Theses

Redevelopment of brownfield sites has become increasingly popular since the inception of voluntary cleanup programs in the early to mid 1990’s. Local governments have begun to offer incentives to private developers or land owners to offset costs associated with contamination and encourage the redevelopment of properties that are typically underutilized. Incentives may take several forms including, but not limited to, fast-tracked project approval, risk based cleanup standards, liability relief, tax breaks, and direct funding assistance.

This study investigates how incentives that are offered by local governments to private developers or land owners influence the rate of redevelopment in their sphere …

Attorneys' Fees In Environmental Citizen Suits And The Economically Benefited Plaintiff: When Are Attorneys' Fees And Costs Appropriate?, Michel Lee

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Globalization Of Environmental Law , Robert V. Percival

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of The Missouri Master Naturalist Program And Implications For Program Expansion, Caroline N. Broun, Charles H. Nilon, Robert A. Pierce Ii

Journal of Extension

The study reported here evaluated outcomes of the Missouri Master Naturalist Program. We developed a pre-test/post-test/follow-up format to determine if, after the program training, volunteers increased knowledge of key ecological, natural resources, and conservation concepts and issues. We also identified volunteers' motivations for participation in the program and compared their motivation scores with changes in their knowledge scores. Volunteers' knowledge scores increased (P ≤ 0.05) following the training and were maintained 6 months after training. Volunteers ranked values/altruism as important motivations for participating. There was no relationship between volunteers' motivation scores and changes in knowledge scores.

Bringing The Environment Into The English-As-A-Second-Language Classroom, Sabrina Drill, Rachel Surls, Paola Aliaga, Fanshen Cox Digiovanni

Journal of Extension

Environment and Community: Caring for Our Natural Resources is a curriculum developed by UC Cooperative Extension to teach adult immigrants about the environment in English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classrooms. It was developed with participation from ESL instructors and students. Surveys were conducted to determine knowledge of and interest in the environment among ESL students and to assess changes after participation in the program. Results indicate a high level of interest in the environment. After using the Environment and Community curriculum, students experienced a significant gain in knowledge about the environment, and 63% indicated that they had implemented pro-environment behaviors.

Green Local Governments In Florida: An Analysis Of Sustainability And Green Building Policies, Naimish S. Upadhyay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sustainable development is increasingly being integrated within local government planning across United States. Many communities are attempting to translate this general principle into specific and measurable terms. The urban sustainability planning literature has mostly focused on descriptive case studies of pioneering cities that have been characterized as true innovators in their sustainability efforts. Noticeably absent from the literature, however, has been an examination of the sustainable development claims made by local governments undergoing 'green' certifications. This study evaluates the commitment and efforts of municipalities and counties of Florida within the framework of Florida Green Building Coalition's 'Green …

Measuring Accessibility And Explaining Trends In Commute Mode Choice In Washington, D.C. From 1970 - 2000, Jonathan Ryder

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to find a correlation between commuting modes in Washington DC and characteristics of the city and the people that they serve. It investigates why some census tracts have experienced increases in the commuting share of alternative transportation, such as public transit, walking, and bicycling, while others haven't. Findings demonstrate that demographic variables such as percent Hispanic and foreign born were the strongest predictors of change in commute mode share followed by distance to train station. Land use variables demonstrated weak correlations with variations in mode share due most likely to a lack of density gradient within the …

Editor's Note

Macalester Civic Forum

No abstract provided.

Morals On Stilts: Assessing The Value Of Intergenerational Environmental Ethics, Trevor Updegraff

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

On The Green Vol. 38 No. 7 May 1, 2009, Gallaudet University

2001-2010

On the Green is an internal publication of Gallaudet College, which later became Gallaudet University. It notified employees of updates around the campus and in the broader community, including new construction and the establishment of new academic programs. Running until 2010, it was supplanted by various forms of online mass communications across multiple audiences.

Ethics-A Bridge For Communities And Scientists: A Curriculum For Community Outreach And Education, Ann Freeman Cook, Helena Hoas

Psychology Faculty Publications

The Ethics - A Bridge for Communities and Scientists (E-ABCs) project was conducted in the community of Libby, Montana where it examined the ethical, legal, and social implications of asbestos contamination. The project was designed to explore how an awareness of ethics can support and enrich community dialogue and inform decision-making.

During the six year funding cycle for this project, a number of efforts were undertaken in order to provide resources for Libby residents who have diverse and changing needs and interests. The lessons learned from these efforts are reflected throughout the website and are summarized in the manual entitled, …

Journal Of Food Law & Policy - Spring 2009, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Whole Foods: Renewable Energy Credits, Green Business, And Capitalist Approaches To Climate Change, Samantha Kanofsky

Pomona Senior Theses

Dedication. Acknowledgements. Preface. Chapter 1: Introduction. Chapter 2: Green Business and Carbon Offsetting. Chapter 3A: Case Study. Chapter 3B: Interview. Chapter 4: Case Study. Chapter 5: Conclusion. Bibliography.

A Place Like This: An Environmental Justice History Of The Owens Valley - Water In Indigenous, Colonial, And Manzanar Stories, Monica Embrey

Pomona Senior Theses

This text provides an environmental justice analysis of the stories of the people who lived in the Owens Valley, who watered its land and cultivated its crops—pine trees, apple trees, and kabocha alike. Telling the personal stories of challenge and resistance that manifested alongside the oppressive forces of military and state domination provides the opportunity to align forcibly relocated, exploited and incarcerated people’s struggles throughout time. This text starts with The Nü’ma Peoples who were the first humans to live in the Owens Valley and continues with the struggle for empire between rival colonial empires of agriculture and distant urban …

Food Justice As Crime Prevention, Avi Brisman

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In December 2008, Governor David Paterson (D-NY) proposed an 18 percent tax on nondiet sodas and fruit drinks containing less than 70 percent natural fruit juice. While the tax was part of a broader budget proposal designed to address New York State's fiscal crisis - a plan that that included new taxes and tax hikes on 137 items and services' - state officials promoted the "obesity tax," as the soft drink levy came to be called, as a public health measure.

Confronting Environmental And Social Crises: Octavia E. Butler’S Critique Of The Spiritual Roots Of Environmental Injustice In Her Parable Novels, Melissa Vargas

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

We are living in the midst of environmental and social crises. This fact was not lost on late African-American science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler, whose 1993 Parable of the Sower and 1998 Nebula Award-winning Parable of the Talents depict and critique the current environmental and social crises in the United States. Speaking of Sower in an interview with Essence magazine, Butler says that all she “did was look around at the problems we’re neglecting now and give them about 30 years to grow into full-fledged disasters” (“Brave New Worlds” 164). In another interview with Randall Kenan, Butler describes environmental …

Air Toxics And Equity: A Geographic Analysis Of Environmental Health Risks In Florida, Angela Gilbert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A large number of quantitative studies have examined social inequities in the geographic distribution of air pollution. Although previous research has made strides towards understanding the nature and extent of inequities, they have been limited methodologically in three ways. First, the presence of pollutants have been rarely linked to their adverse health effects, with many studies using proximity to sources as a proxy for risk. Second, there has been a tendency to study a single pollution source instead of assessing multiple types of sources. Finally, conventional statistical methods such as multivariate regression have been limited by their inability to discern …

College Voice Vol. 33 No. 20, Connecticut College

2008-2009

No abstract provided.

Nitrate Contaminated Groundwater In Albuquerque's South Valley: Is Monitored Natural Attenuation An Appropriate Strategy?, Christina L. Keleher

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Nitrate-contaminated groundwater in the South Valley of Albuquerque has been documented since the early 1960s. Over the past four decades, nitrate concentrations have declined, but are still significantly greater than the groundwater standard of 10 mg/L. In 1980, a case of methemoglobinemia in an infant prompted the city to extend city water lines into the residential areas of Mountain View, where residents were previously dependent upon private domestic wells for drinking water. Although the nitrate-contaminated water no longer presents a human health threat to the residents of Mountain View, all groundwater in New Mexico that contains less than 10,000 mg/L …

Justice Above Profit, Sustainability Above Growth, Humanity Above Economy: Vandana Shiva And The Alternative Development Movement, Julia Magon Braker

Pomona Senior Theses

Multiple activists challenge the established development paradigm, prioritizing issues such as human rights, economic justice and environmental sustainability, as opposed to neoliberal development’s focus on macroeconomics and corporations. These activists include Dr. Vandana Shiva. Well-renowned activists, academics and politicians criticize the stances that Shiva takes on globalization and development issues, claiming that they are uninformed, too radical or misguided. These thoughts provoke the core question of this thesis—do Vandana Shiva’s theories and practices promote just, sustainable development?

Spectator 2009-04-22, Editors Of The Spectator

The Spectator

No abstract provided.

Flyer News, Vol. 56, No. 40 (April 21, 2009), University Of Dayton

Flyer News

Student-run newspaper of the University of Dayton.

We Speak For Ourselves: Grassroots Movements In The Struggle For Environmental Justice, Christopher O'Brien

Global Studies Student Scholarship

This literature review and thesis examine two main issues, one on grassroots and community organizing and the other discussing the implications of environmental racism. The paper examines the nature of why low income and minority communities experience a disproportionate amount of environmental injustices, and what can be done at the grassroots level to combat this. Through a review of literature on both community/grassroots organizing and the prevalence of environmental racism within the United States, along with experiential findings through a community partnership, the issues of remedying environmental racism and the effectiveness of the remedies are explored. Environmental racism is a …

April 20, 2009, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Green Week Activities Include Variety Of Events To Educate And Motivate Participants, Admin

University of Mississippi News

No abstract provided.

College Voice Vol. 33 No. 18, Connecticut College

2008-2009

No abstract provided.

Vista: April 2, 2009, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.