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The Urban Heat Island Effect In Malta And The Adequacy Of Green Roofs In Its Mitigation, Jonathan Scicluna

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Urbanisation is a reality of every major western society. The growth of cities, however, often results in major environmental impacts that not only effect the natural world but also humanity as well. One of these impacts is the Urban Heat Island (UHI) a phenomenon that influences the temperature inside built-up areas, often resulting in uncomfortably hot air temperature, especially in summer. However, as global climate change predictions keep forecasting warmer periods for regions such as Malta, UHI has the potential to transform from a nuisance to a deadly reality more often than in the present.

This work strives to get …

Bolsa Nuevo & Moro Cojo - Diseños, Glo No. 245, Apn 125, Apn 127, Apn 129, Apn 131, Apn 133 Monterey County, And Associated Historical Documents.

Individual Ranchos in Monterey and SLO Counties

Diseños - Hand-drawn Spanish-Mexican map demonstrating the physical boundaries of land granted to Mexican citizens by the Spanish or Mexican.

Expediente – Hand-written Spanish-Mexican land grant document issued to Mexican citizens in Alta California for land in Alta-California.

Work Progress Administration Abstract (WPA Abstract) – A summary document prepared in 1938 under the Work Progress Administration program detailing the history of a rancho beginning with the Spanish-American land through the U.S. patenting process.

Hoffman Notes -- Summary of information concerning claims made for the Rancho lands from the Appendix listing Table of Land Claims in the Reports of Land Cases …

Research And Creative Achievement Conference, Merrimack College

Merrimack College Publications

Conference booklet listing event details, and student participants with project details. First annual conference, in collaboration with Merrimack College's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Celebration Of Learning 2016: Full Program, Augustana College, Rock Island Illinois

Celebration of Learning

Full program of the 2016 Celebration of Learning at Augustana College.

Plastic Pollution And The Global Throwaway Culture: Environmental Injustices Of Single-Use Plastic, Kristin L. Mcdermott

ENV 434 Environmental Justice

The global throwaway culture has created a cross-ecosystem plastic pollution injustice. The first to suffer this injustice will be the most vulnerable. Our oceans have become our dumpsters. The throwaway culture has created a disrespect of material goods that has turned the earth’s resources into rubbish after a single use. Eighty percent of the yearly 8 million tons of plastic that enter the ocean is single use plastic, such as plastic bottles, plastic shopping bags, or cigarette lighters.[1] Plastic has destroyed ecosystems, robbing impoverished communities of natural resources and of a healthy and safe living environment. First to suffer …

The Lumberjack, May 4, 2016, The Lumberjack Staff

2016

The student newspaper of Humboldt State University

Arroyo Seco (Torre) - Diseños, Glo No. 297, Apn 109, Apn 111, Monterey County, And Associated Historical Documents.

Individual Ranchos in Monterey and SLO Counties

Diseños -- Hand-drawn Spanish-Mexican map demonstrating the physical boundaries of land granted to Mexican citizens by the Spanish or Mexican.

Work Progress Administration Abstract (WPA Abstract) – A summary document prepared in 1938 under the Work Progress Administration program detailing the history of a rancho beginning with the Spanish-American land through the U.S. patenting process.

Hornbeck Rancho Detail Sheet (AKA Detail Sheet) – A summary sheet generated from a land patent database that details the history of a rancho, along with the various state and federal agency record numbers relating to the rancho.

Bancroft Notes – Document detailing information and …

Comparative Use Of A Caribbean Mesophotic Coral Ecosystem And Association With Fish Spawning Aggregations By Three Species Of Shark, Alexandra E. Pickard, Jeremy Vaudo, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Richard S. Nemeth, Jeremiah Blondeau, Elizabeth Kadison, Mahmood S. Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Understanding of species interactions within mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; ~ 30–150 m) lags well behind that for shallow coral reefs. MCEs are often sites of fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) for a variety of species, including many groupers. Such reproductive fish aggregations represent temporal concentrations of potential prey that may be drivers of habitat use by predatory species, including sharks. We investigated movements of three species of sharks within a MCE and in relation to FSAs located on the shelf edge south of St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. Movements of 17 tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), seven lemon (Negaprion …

Landfill Communities Within The Land Of Eternal Spring, Blanca Vaneza Guzmán

ENV 434 Environmental Justice

This paper examines the placement and impact of landfills within Guatemala City, Guatemala. By examining the municipal cite and its accessibility to policy taken on towards proper waste management, the recurring theme of lack of information will be obvious. It specifically looks at the lack of information provided and describes the landfill communities by looking at the minimal scholarship and media attention offered. This paper will also interrelate the importance of all beings, living and non-living with its surroundings and highlight ideas of ecological thinking. An emphasis on environmental racism will be stressed, particularly with the enormous impact it has …

The Solar Power Difference: How Solar Energy Can Boost Economies And Nicaragua's Rural Communities, Matthew R. Feuer

Student Theses 2015-Present

Abstract

In our present age there is a dire and growing need for energy. Nations that are modernizing continue to require more for their expanding populations. The old way of creating energy through non-sustainable methods such as, gas extraction, coal burning, and oil drilling is becoming ever more environmentally hazardous on a global scale. There are alternatives already being implemented today and one promising industry that will help move our dependence off of non-sustainable resources to sustainable is solar energy. However, while solar energy is completely sustainable and up to the task of mass consumption, how will it grow economically …

Stop Factory Farming For The Sake Of Humanity!, Alexander V. Dimauro

ENV 434 Environmental Justice

Abstract: The world is being destroyed. We do not care about the mistreatment of animals in factory farms because of our consumeristic taste buds, but this gluttony is even more problematic than we think. It is blinding us from an even larger factor at stake. Our factory farming methods are a leading contributor in the causes of global warming. What this means for us is that our consumption has a direct impact on our destruction. We need to think big, and act. The only way to combat this issue is through taking courses of action that will force people to …

Unearthed: Advocating Against Fracking And Breaking The Bond Of The Imagined World Order, Colleen E. Cloonan

ENV 434 Environmental Justice

While discussing the imagined world order, it is evident that the world is not perfect. Over the course of the centuries, the earth has been maimed by humans, whether it be during the agricultural age or throughout the process of industrialization into the modern era. Humans must realize that sooner, rather than later, we must address the environmental destruction we are causing. A specific case, with that such as hydraulic fracturing of shale, otherwise known as fracking, provides as an example of one of the environmental justice issues that is plaguing the earth. However, there are complications. In the consumer …

Hydroelectric Dams: The Lao Government's Luxury Trap, M.K. Laurel

ENV 434 Environmental Justice

The research of the Lao government, its hydroelectric dams, and its responses to its project was done through an environmental justice lens. It is an interdisciplinary research that explores the political corruption, the role of media, and the environment in order to frame the Lao government and the reasoning behind their unjust activities.

A Case Of Environmental Justice In Los Angeles, California, Cleora Ohar

ENV 434 Environmental Justice

Abstract: Environmental Racism has been around for a long time. Looking at its history of key movements like the Civil Rights Movement can help provide a framework for why it has become what it is today and could potentially look like in the future. The way in which people have presented it has changed as culture has changed. Not only does environmental racism involve issues of the environment, but it also includes issues of race. Hence, the name of this subcategory of environmental justice. In fact, studies have been conducted showing that those who live in underdeveloped or poor …

The Impacts Of Elephant Grazing On Plant Succession In Tropical Forests Of Africa, Nadia Swit

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

Succession occurs in an ecosystem when there is a change in the species structure and diversity in an ecological community over time. While this can allow for greater biodiversity, occasionally diversity can be stunted based on the level of disturbance and the invasiveness of the first pioneering species. As in the case of arrested succession, continual disturbance prohibits changes in the environment and suppresses species establishment. The effects of this continued disturbance are seen in the tropical forests in national parks in Uganda and Tanzania in Eastern Africa with African elephants (Loxodonta africana). The continuous browsing on trees …

Estimated Effects Of Climate Change On The Reproductive Fitness Of The Northern Spotted Owl, Strix Occidentalis Caurina, Nadia Swit

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

In this paper, the trends for current and future climate change were utilized to evaluate the potential reproductive success of the Spotted Owl, particularly the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) subspecies. As breeding season would exert additional stressors on the animal, a time period of five months, from January to June, was selected for the spring breeding season in which to evaluate temperature change. Previous research performed by Weathers and colleagues (2001) concerning the California Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) formulated a thermodynamic equation that was utilized to compare the metabolic rate of the owl at …

The Ecological Impacts Of Non-Native Species On River Otter Populations, Nadia Swit

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

Most nonindigenous species invasions can have negative consequences on an environment. Trophic systems may become altered as prey sources are depleted, which can have further implications on community and habitat structure. However, some species invasions can be positive as it can provide another food source for key stone species. The effects of invasive species are reviewed in the following paper for the North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) and the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra). In the case of the North American river, the introduction of the lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) has negatively impacted otter …

The Statesman, V. 59, I. 27, Stony Brook University

Stony Brook Statesman-Sucolian

v. 59;i. 27

Limestone Flora Of The Simonton Corner Quarry Preserve, Rockport, Maine, Usa, Margaret Stern, Ian D. Medeiros, Luka Negoita, N. Rajakaruna

Biological Sciences

Limestone is a distinctive substrate that has significant effects on soils and plants. The present study characterizes the diversity of vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens at the Simonton Corner Quarry Preserve, an abandoned limestone quarry in Rockport, Maine, USA, which was in operation in the late 1800s. We document vascular plant diversity and associated edaphic features (i.e., soil pH and elemental chemistry) using 30 535 meter plots spread throughout the site. For vascular plants, 114 species in 96 genera and 50 families were observed; few of these species are known to prefer calcareous environments, and 38% are nonnative. Conversely, the …

Impacts Of Environmental Quality On The Demographics Of Three Nations, Emily Hummel

Honors Projects

This study will examine how the correlation between air and water quality and the population demographics of India, South Africa, and the United States. India is a country with a growing population, increasing income inequality, and gender roles that reflect its status as a developing nation. South Africa is much smaller in area and the population is beginning to level off, but South Africa’s income inequality is growing much faster than India’s and gender inequality is less of an issue in South Africa. The population of the United States is decreasing and gender roles are fairly equal, despite income inequality …

Comparative Analysis Of Factors Associated With First‐Year Survival In Two Species Of Migratory Songbirds, Noah G. Perlut, Allan M. Strong

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Our understanding of the full life cycle of most migratory birds remains limited. Estimates of survival rates, particularly for first‐year birds are notably lacking. This knowledge gap results in imprecise parameters in population models and limits our ability to fully understand life history trade‐offs. We used eleven years of field data to estimate first‐year apparent survival (φ_1st) for two species of migratory grassland songbirds that breed in the same managed habitats but have substantially different migration distances. We used a suite of life‐history, habitat and individually‐based covariates to explore causes of variation in φ_1st. The interaction …

Mandala Spring/Summer 2016, Center For Southeast Asian Studies

Mandala

No abstract provided.

Changes In Floristic Composition In The State Forests In Worcester County (Massachusetts) Over 34 Years, Flor A. Monroe

Sustainability and Social Justice

ABSTRACT

CHANGES IN FOREST DIVERSITY OF STATE FOREST IN WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, OVER 34 YEARS PERIOD

The forest in Massachusetts has changed since the earliest colonial settlement and today the floristic composition is more homogeneous. This study investigates the potential change in the floristic composition over thirty years in Worcester County State Forests. Shannon, richness and evenness indices for two periods were compared, and Jaccard index was used to analyze similarity in composition between the periods. The possible influence of severe weather events was also analyzed.

It was found Changes in the floristic composition, but the magnitude of the changes …

Young Liberian Women In The Diaspora: The Dilemma Of Returning ‘Back Home’, Jedidia Yaa-Sakumah Adusei

Sustainability and Social Justice

Women in Liberia have played an important role in ending the civil war in Liberia. This paper addresses the question of return for young Liberian women living in the diaspora particularly in Rhode Island, and the motivation and dilemma they may face in the process of deciding to go ‘back home’. The division of Liberian citizens; Americo-Liberians and the indigenous Liberians created a series of civil wars, which later created a large number of Liberians to be resettled in the U.S. Rhode Island, is among one of the three states to have the largest population of Liberians in the U.S. …

Natural Disasters Aren't The Problem: Poverty And Environmental Degradation In Rural Coastal Tanzania, Sarah R. Martin

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper examines how two theoretical frameworks, systems and resilience thinking, provide differing understandings of natural disasters, poverty and environmental degradation in rural coastal Tanzania. Both frameworks aim to expand the scope of reductionist thinking, in order to better understand the complex interrelationships between various actors, which may have not otherwise been considered. Although both theories have their individual strengths and weaknesses, neither have been able to catalyze effective solutions to these problems. As a result, I propose a hybrid version of systems and resilience thinking, as a means to best examine poverty and environmental degradation in rural coastal Tanzania. …

The Gaian-Inspired Systems View Of Life: A Systemic Approach To Global Crises A Case Study: How Scientific Worldviews Influence Global Food Systems, Wyatt Lee Graft

Sustainability and Social Justice

This Master's Paper relies on secondary research in addition to theoretical and philosophical arguments to show that humanity's metaphysical worldview significantly underlies its valuing systems, institutions, and behavior. The paper uses the examples of modern industrial food production and emerging organic and local alternatives to provide a comparative analysis between fundamental worldviews and how they influence the way human systems originate and function. It is argued that the change required to address substantial and interconnected global issues will require a re-evaluation and scrutiny of the metaphysical assumptions inherent in the politics and practice of agriculture, food processing, and the very …

Towards A Reduction In Methane Emissions From Natural Gas In California: A Policy Brief On The Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Strategy, Samantha Caputo

Sustainability and Social Justice

To prevent global warming from surpassing 2°C and minimize extreme weather events, action must be taken to combat greenhouse gases (GHGs) that pose a greater short-term threat. Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) have a short lifespan paired with high global warming potentials in the atmosphere. By targeting SLCPs, short-term success in combating climate change will encourage long-term investment. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has been tasked with developing a strategy to combat SLCPs pursuant to Senate Bill 605. The overall objective of this paper is to examine the policies ARB plans to implement to tackle methane emissions in the natural …

The Political Economy Of Wasted Food Policies In The United States And European Union: A Multi-Scale Analysis, Rebecca Miller

Sustainability and Social Justice

Between 33 and 40 percent of food produced is wasted while one quarter of the population of the United States and the European Union is food insecure (Gunders, 2012, p. 4). How is this problem addressed through policy in the United States and the European Union? Although there are non-governmental organizations working to redistribute food and educate consumers, a more comprehensive policy-based approach is needed to fully address this problem. Several cities and states in both the U.S. and E.U. have adopted policies before they were nationally or internationally implemented. These early adopter cases were examined here to determine best …

Environmental Science And Policy Master’S Portfolio, Nathaniel K. Lapides

Sustainability and Social Justice

The following Environmental Science and Policy Master’s Portfolio is a compilation of works completed individually and with peers in order to fulfill requirements for the Master of Science degree. These works demonstrate breadth, depth, and the interdisciplinary nature of the course of study. As an undergraduate student at Clark University I studied Environmental Science with a concentration in Earth Systems Science. I was interested in learning about the natural world and wanted to develop a deeper connection to it. Inevitably, I was exposed to courses that examined the causes and effects of global climate change and this topic became my …

Development Of A Decision Support System For Post Mining Land Use On Abandoned Surface Coal Mines In Appalachia, Matthew Zimmerman

Sustainability and Social Justice

Decision support systems are diverse and have been used to solve multiple problems ranging from the complex to the simple. With the complexity of environmental decisions today, these systems provide a logic based approach to evaluating and choosing environmental solutions. Abandoned mining lands (AML) are an issue for the environment in the Appalachian region. Given this a decision support system was designed using previously created frameworks and indices from other systems created. The system is comprised of two main sections, selecting the ideal post-mining land-use (PMLU), and maximizing the potential of land to be reclaimed under budgetary constraints. This system …