Digital Commons Network^™

Carrots And Sticks, From President Obama’S Solyndra And Beyond, Paul Boudreaux

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

No abstract provided.

Diversified Farming Systems: An Agroecological, Systems-Based Alternative To Modern Industrial Agriculture, Claire Kremen, Alastair Iles, Christopher M. Bacon

Environmental Studies and Sciences

This Special Issue on Diversified Farming Systems is motivated by a desire to understand how agriculture designed according to whole systems, agroecological principles can contribute to creating a more sustainable, socially just, and secure global food system. We first define Diversified Farming Systems (DFS) as farming practices and landscapes that intentionally include functional biodiversity at multiple spatial and/or temporal scales in order to maintain ecosystem services that provide critical inputs to agriculture, such as soil fertility, pest and disease control, water use efficiency, and pollination. We explore to what extent DFS overlap or are differentiated from existing concepts such as …

The Gettysburg Economic Review, Volume 6, Spring 2012

Gettysburg Economic Review

No abstract provided.

The Gullah People, Justice, And The Land On Hilton Head Island: A Historical Perspective, Dominique T. Hazzard

Honors Thesis Collection

The Sea Islands off the coast South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, also known as the Lowcountry, have been home to the Gullah-Geechee community for the past three centuries. The Gullah-Geechee people are African Americans who are descended from the enslaved people who worked the rice and cotton plantations in the Low Country region of Georgia and South Carolina, and who continue to live on the mainland and regions ’Sea Islands to this day. These people have a rich culture; more than any other African Americans, the Gullah-Geechee have been able to retain many aspects of West African culture, from language, …

Integrating Community Knowledge Into Environmental And Natural Resource Decision-Making: Notes From Alaska And Around The World, Elizabeth Barrett Ristroph

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

Community knowledge (including traditional, local, and indigenous knowledge) has a role to play in government agency decisions regarding the environment and natural resources. This article considers the benefits of using community knowledge, as well as obstacles to collecting this knowledge and integrating it with Western science. The article further discusses how federal agencies in Alaska use community knowledge and laws that potentially affect this use (including the Data Quality Act). Finally, the article provides recommendations for agencies to consider in collecting and using community knowledge.

Causes Of Environmental Risk Inequality In The Americas, Leda Barnett

Verbum Incarnatum: An Academic Journal of Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Saga Continues – Trying To Find A Balance In Cercla's Prp Liability Suits, Scott P. Brand

North Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Navigating The High Seas: Why The U.S. Should Ratify The Law Of The Sea Treaty, Rebecca Bratspies

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Senate Bill 2: The Safe, Clean, And Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act Of 2012, Claire Calvert, Adam Yakira

California Initiative Review (CIR)

No abstract provided.

Implicating Bitzer's Rhetorical Situation In Comparative And Non-Violent Rhetoric: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Three Ecofeminist Movements From East To West, Shahreen Mat Nayan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the study of social movement rhetoric, scholars often focus on movements based in Western nations, foregoing study of social change in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and other parts of the world. Similarly, the focus on non-violent rhetoric has also been lacking, despite its use by great leaders such as Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King. This dissertation contributes to the study of social change in a globalized world, by taking a comparative approach to non-violent rhetoric in three diverse case studies. As sub-areas, both comparative rhetoric and non-violent rhetoric require further deliberation due to the numerous debates concerning …

Remember The Fillmore: The Lingering History Of Urban Renewal In Black San Francisco, Christina Jackson, Nikki Jones

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

In the summer of 2008, I moved to San Francisco, California. I lived in the city for three months. As a researcher, my objective was to learn more about Mayor Gavin Newsome’s African-American Out-Migration Task Force. The Task Force convened in 2007 and met eight times from August to December. In 2009, the Mayor's office released a final report on the Redevelopment Agency's website that summarized the history of blacks in the city and outlined several recommendations for reversing their flight. The final report found that the political, economic, and social conditions of African-Americans are disproportionately more dire than any …

Human Rights And Environmental Regulation, Rebecca Bratspies

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Faust’S Mountains: An Ecocritical Reading Of Goethe’S Tragedy And Science, Heather I. Sullivan

Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research

Ecocriticism's environmental perspective views human beings, bodies, and culture as participants in ecological interactions and exchanges with the rest of the energetic and material world, including both biotic and abiotic forms. This ecocritical essay assesses how Goethe portrays Faust's mountain experiences in both part I and part II (1808, 1832) of the tragedy as engagements with physical matter rather than with spiritual inspiration. Indeed, by using ecocriticism to study Goethe's science as the context for the play, we see that Faust's many mountains are more than a setting; they actively destabilize his — and our — assumptions about “passive matter” …

Annual Report - 2012, Nctr

U.S. DOT Reporting

No abstract provided.

A New Creation: Reimagining The Beginning, The End And Everything In Between Toward An Evangelical Environmental Ethos, Russell Jerrold Pierson

Doctor of Ministry

No abstract provided.

Environmental Racism In South Africa: A Sustainable Green Solution, Danielle Darmofal

Student Theses 2001-2013

Environmental racism and environmental justice are relatively new terms used to describe inequalities that have existed for centuries. Environmental racism is a pervasive problem that can be identified in many countries, even the world’s leading nations. The acknowledgement of the prejudice began with the Civil Rights Movement. Greater attention to equality caused citizens and policy makers to consider the relationship between human rights and environmental rights. The Environmental Protection Agency formulated a definition of environmental justice that states, “no group of people should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, governmental and commercial operations or …

Factors That Influence Food Access In The United States: A Snapshot Of Food Access In Ohio And Kentucky, Maimouna Falls

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

Background: The United States is one the richest countries in the world with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of $48,442, yet many communities lack access to affordable nutritious food. Access to food impacts health outcomes such as obesity and diabetes. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between food access and rates of obesity and diabetes in the states of Ohio and Kentucky.

Methods: County level food access data from 120 counties in Kentucky and 88 counties in Ohio were obtained from the USDA website. The dataset included demographic variables and poverty rates. Food access …

Strengthening The Relationship Between Undergraduate Professional Preparation Programs In Parks, Recreation, And Tourism And Graduate Leisure Studies, Daniel Dustin, Laurie Browne, Kelly Bricker, Keri Schwab

Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration

This article stems from a conversation among academic leaders of graduate-oriented departments of parks, recreation, and tourism across North America who participated in an administrator summit at Zion Ponderosa Resort in southern Utah September 23-26, 2010. The University of Utah’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism hosted the summit, and among the many topics discussed was the need to strengthen the relationship between undergraduate professional preparation programs in parks, recreation, and tourism and graduate leisure studies. In many respects, the tension between undergraduate and graduate programs reflects the tension between research universities and the world of professional practice. We examine …

The Future Of Leisure Studies In Research Universities: Administrators' Perspectives, Daniel Dustin, Rachel Collins, Jeremy Schultz, Laurie Browne, Keri Schwab, Jeff Rose, Danielle Timmerman, Ben Altschuler, Jeremy Jostad, Callie Spencer, Jackie Newman, Kelly Bricker

Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration

This article summarizes the content of a three-day administrative summit held at Zion Ponderosa Resort in southern Utah in late September 2010. Department chairs, heads, and deans representing 13 universities across North America offering leisure studies doctoral degrees, master's degrees, and undergraduate professional preparation degrees gathered to entertain eight multifaceted questions pertaining to their future. The questions were generated by a Delphi Process, and responses to the questions were recorded and analyzed following the summit by a team of doctoral students and professors from the University of Utah. The article concludes with a brief discussion of an administrator's responsibility in …

Fostering Critical Thinking About Climate Change: Applying Community Psychology To An Environmental Education Project With Youth, Livia D. Dittmer, Manuel Riemer

Centre for Community Research Learning and Action

This article argues for the participation of community psychology in issues of global climate change. The knowledge accumulated and experience gained in the discipline of community psychology have great relevance to many topics related to the environment. Practitioners of community psychology could therefore make significant contributions to climate change mitigation. To illustrate this assertion, we describe an education project conducted with youth engaged in a community-based environmental organization. This initiative was motivated by the idea that engaged and critically aware youth often become change agents for social movements. Towards this purpose, rather than using mass marketing strategies to motivate small …

The Social Dimensions Of Sustainability And Change In Diversified Farming Systems, Christopher M. Bacon, Christy Getz, Sibella Kraus, Maywa Montenegro, Kaelin Holland

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Agricultural systems are embedded in wider social-ecological processes that must be considered in any complete discussion of sustainable agriculture. Just as climatic profiles will influence the future viability of crops, institutions, i.e., governance agreements, rural household and community norms, local associations, markets, and agricultural ministries, to name but a few, create the conditions that foster sustainable food systems. Because discussions of agricultural sustainability often overlook the full range of social dimensions, we propose a dual focus on a broad set of criteria, i.e., human health, labor, democratic participation, resiliency, biological and cultural diversity, equity, and ethics, to assess social outcomes, …

Kings Canyon To Alger Pass Pipeline Project, Project No. Utu-82322, United States Department Of The Interior, Bureau Of Land Management

Environmental Assessments (UT)

XTO has requested their existing Temporary Use Permit (UTU-82322-01), which authorizes an existing 8 inch, surface, steel, and natural gas pipeline be converted to a permanent right-of-way grant. In addition, XTO proposes to remove a portion of the existing pipeline and to install an additional 15,075 feet of 12 inch, buried, natural gas pipe line to re-direct the flow of gas. XTO has constructed a natural gas compressor plant (Wild Horse Bench Compressor Site) on Ute Tribal land and would like to redirect the flow of gas from the Kings Canyon Area to this facility which involves the removal of …

Positive Pollutions And Cultural Toxins, John Blair Gamber

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

In this innovative study, Positive Pollutions and Cultural Toxins, John Blair Gamber examines urbanity and the results of urban living—traffic, garbage, sewage, waste, and pollution—arguing for a new recognition of all forms of human detritus as part of the natural world and thus for a broadening of our understanding of environmental literature. While much of the discourse surrounding the United States’ idealistic and nostalgic views of itself privileges “clean” living (primarily in rural, small-town, and suburban settings), representations of rurality and urbanity by Chicanas/Chicanos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans, on the other hand, complicate such generalization. Gamber …

Using Single-Case Participatory Action Research As A Methodology To Explore Appalachian Summer Camp Communities, Barry A. Garst, Nancy K. Franz, Brian Peters, Chris Smith, Sarah Baughman

Publications

Community educators have long known the value of direct experience in the learning process. Participatory action research extends this philosophy to the realm of research. This article examines the value of involving front line camp staff, members of the camp community in Appalachia as practitioner researchers with university scientists in studying the type and conditions of transformative learning in young adult camp staff. A young adult who was a camp community member assisted the researchers with methodology, data analysis, data interpretation, and dissemination of findings. This resulted in a more accurate, richer, and thicker description of the camp community member’s …

Cooperative Federalism And Hydraulic Fracturing: A Human Right To A Clean Environment, Elizabeth Burleson

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

This Article argues that filling the energy governance gaps regarding unconventional natural gas can best be accomplished through collaborative governance that is genuinely adaptive and cooperative. Through cooperative federalism, combined with procedural rights for inclusive, innovative decision-making, state and non-state actors should design and implement the requisite safeguards before further natural gas development advances. Hydraulic fracturing provisions are strikingly fragmented and have sparked a fierce debate about chemical disclosure, radioactive wastewater disposal, and greenhouse gas emissions. United States natural gas production may stunt the direction and intensity of renewable energy by up to two decades and will not provide a …

Nature And Nurture: Revisiting The Infant Adoption Process, Barbara L. Atwell

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Adopted children constitute approximately two percent of the United States' childhood population, but are disproportionately represented in mental health settings, where they make up an estimated four to fifteen percent of the population. Science suggests that for those adopted at birth, this discrepancy may be due in part to their abrupt removal from the biological parents. We are now beginning to understand the importance of the bonding that takes place in utero and the infant's awareness at birth. This article suggests three changes to the infant adoption process to align it with scientific knowledge. First, all adults involved in the …

Developing Justice-Oriented Teachers: Reciprocal Mentoring In Marginalized Communities, Joan Armon, Elizabeth Grassi

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Community contexts stimulate pre-service teachers’ cultural and environmental awareness of local injustices while building their knowledge and skills as future teachers of diverse students. In Study “Abroad” in the Neighborhood, pre-service teachers visit local families who teach our students the Spanish language and culture. A second initiative is Environmental Regeneration through Permaculture Food Gardens focused on pre-service teachers’ and children’s construction of school gardens linked to curriculum, food cultures, and health. Pre-service teachers who understand why and how to appropriate a justice-orientation to education may become teacher-activists who honor perspectives and assets of diverse people in classrooms, schoolyards, and communities.

Business As Usual Greenpeace In A Changing World, Mara Feinberg

Theses & ETDs

The history of Greenpeace creates an iconic image of the organization in the environmental movement. However, that image dates back to the late 1970s and it remains to be seen whether over the last forty years Greenpeace is still impacting change on the environment. It is difficult to define how environmental non-governmental organizations such as Greenpeace are effective in politics. The main goal of this thesis is to understand how Greenpeace has evolved in global environmental politics, addressing how Greenpeace operates in different environmental issue areas over time. This thesis examines the following: literature on NGO existence in environmental politics; …

Eco3 Can A Tri-Force Of Sustainability Reforms $Ave The Four Winds Cafe, Johannah Birney

Theses & ETDs

Anthropogenic climate change is threatening the survival of the global ecological community and reforms must be implemented to reduce the global carbon footprint to sustain all forms of life. This is an enormous task; however, it must be done. Restaurants, as the largest commercial energy consumer, are a hotspot for sustainability reforms on a local, national, and global level. The Green Restaurant Association (GRA) is at the forefront of the restaurant reform movement, providing quantitative analysis criteria to certify sustainable restaurants. Not only does their method reduce carbon emissions, but it also saves money, while taking advantage of a strong …

Ethnographic Cinema In The 21st Century, Jacqlyn Bender

Theses & ETDs

Visual anthropology has been in practice for over a hundred years, but has been seriously considered as a subdiscipline only in the past few decades. In this thesis, I examine the changing academic and social contexts of ethnographic filmmaking through several strands of inquiry, based on my experience attending the Royal Anthropological Institute's 12th International Festival of Ethnographic Film in London, 2011, and the Society for Visual Anthropology's Visual Research Conference at the 2011 American Anthropological Association meetings in Montreal. I explore notions of ethics for visual anthropology in the "digital age" and the broader discussion surrounding a codified ethics …