Digital Commons Network^™

This Land Is Your Land: Democratizing Landscape Architecture, Adrienne Emmerich

Masters Theses

The main question posed by this thesis is: How can landscape architects give individuals and communities creative agency over their own landscapes?

This question is framed by three key concepts. First, there is the fact that throughout US history, land management and design decisions have been used to marginalize communities of color. The second concept framing this thesis is that communities of color continue to be negatively affected by decisions about their land. For example, new toxic waste sites are disproportionately placed in communities of color (Mohai and Saha 2015). The third concept framing this thesis is that landscape architects …

Ocean State Food Stories, Charlotte Clement

Masters Theses

Many Rhode Islanders lack access to local food system education. They struggle to connect with local food outlets as well as understand why supporting a resilient local food community matters. Local food producers face great challenges within the system such as finding stable ways to produce, distribute, and sell their merchandise. In addition, the RI government’s agricultural marketing efforts are not innovative and local food-centric nonprofits are swamped with work resulting in the outsourcing of creative marketing jobs that have yielded questionable results. In order to engage with a wider audience, both the government and the non-profit sector need to …

Flowing Garments: Textile Waste Reutilization In Landscape Design, Fengjiao Ge

Masters Theses

This thesis has focused on creating a localized response to a global problem related to globalization and fast fashion. Both our amount of post-production waste and the carbon footprint left by the garment industry’s response to a global desire for novelty and affordability, and their dependence on cheap labor, loose environmental regulations, distributed raw materials and production, and markets far from places of manufacturing has created an unethical and unsustainable supply chain model.

The strategy proposed here began with one of the places that receives much of the world’s garment waste. As a country that both produces these garments and …

Collaboration And Evaluation In Urban Sustainability And Resilience Transformations: The Keys To A Just Transition?, Liliana Elizabeth Caughman

Dissertations and Theses

Climate has changed and will continue changing; city populations are swelling as urbanization continues to accelerate; extreme environmental events like heat waves and floods are becoming more severe and more common; and the climate justice movement is rapidly gaining momentum. It in this context that municipal governments find themselves urgently seeking solutions to transition cities from extractive, vulnerable, and unjust to sustainable, resilient, and equitable. The task is complex and will require systemic transformations across interconnected social, environmental, and economic infrastructures. Emerging theories regarding how to govern such massive changes suggest Transition Management strategies and the values of a just …

Sw5900: Social Welfare And American Indians/Alaska Natives Course Syllabus, Deirdre Lanesskog

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This syllabus is the prototype for SW5900, a new specialized topics course on the Social Welfare and American Indians/Alaska Natives. Portions of the course content were piloted in the quarter system. The semester format and the service learning components of the course were developed for the semester system and the process of development involved all faculty.

The Ignatian Leader As Global Citizen, Jennifer Tilghman-Havens

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

This article highlights the various elements of the Ignatian worldview, as outlined by Superior General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach in his 1989 address. Drawing upon contemporary social science theorists, it illustrates the relevance of his remarks for today’s Jesuit institutions of higher education, especially as they undertake a critical consideration of race, gender and class in shaping Ignatian leaders for a more just, humane and sustainable world.

Civil Justice And The (Green) New Deal, Zachary D. Clopton

DePaul Law Review

No abstract provided.

Macro Social Work (Sw 6061) Syllabus, Laurie Smith

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This syllabus is the prototype for SW 6061 a revitalized generalist macro social work course that will first be taught in the semester system. The format is a departure from the quarter system format and the process of development involved all faculty.

Involving Anthroponomy In The Anthropocene: On Decoloniality, Jeremy Bendik-Keymer

Faculty Scholarship

This book introduces the idea of anthroponomy – the organization of humankind to support autonomous life – as a response to the problems of today’s purported "Anthropocene" age. It argues for a specific form of accountability for the redressing of planetary-scaled environmental problems. The concept of anthroponomy helps confront geopolitical history shaped by the social processes of capitalism, colonialism, and industrialism, which have resulted in our planetary situation. Involving Anthroponomy in the Anthropocene: On Decoloniality explores how mobilizing our engagement with the politics of our planetary situation can come from moral relations. This book focuses on the anti-imperial work of …

Women, Climate Change And Eco-Theology, Mary (Joy) Philip

Consensus

The impact of climate change is not proportionate to the ones that contribute to it. It is the world’s poorest and those in vulnerable situations, especially women and children, who bear the brunt of environmental, economic and social shocks. This paper highlights the fact that women are disproportionately affected by climate change, when they are primarily the ones that have been caring for and preserving the earth. This paper also argues for the need for eco-consciousness and the increased participation of women in climate initiatives, as women have a theology and spirituality undergirded by eco-consciousness.

Environmental Health And Policy At The Tijuana-San Diego Border, Imma Honkanen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, walls and security, and drug trafficking, are among the most deliberated policy issues in the U.S.’s political climate. As a result, policies and international cooperation concerning environmental health impacts at the border are often overlooked, particularly in the Tijuana-San Diego border region. These impacts include contamination and overuse of water by maquiladoras, air pollution from concentrated border transit and power plants, and the heightening threat of global warming. However, as climate change worsens and immigration problems grow, this wide range of environmental hazards demand ambitious policy considerations, especially in the Tijuana-San Diego border region. In …

Desert In The Deluge: Using Data To Drive Racial Equity, Elizabeth J. Kennedy

Catholic University Law Review

Corporations, governments, and research institutions have learned to harness the power of data to make strategic and operational decisions that drive profitability, efficiency, and efficacy. Making meaningful use of an unprecedented and expanding volume of high velocity, complex and variable data sets—so called “big data—has also been heralded to help solve social problems like human trafficking, homelessness and climate change. Despite this data deluge, those engaged in the advancement of racial equity in workforce development operate in a data desert. Structural barriers to workplace opportunity and advancement perpetuate racialized gaps in wages and household wealth and result in poorer outcomes …

Wildlife Connectivity Modeling For The Northern Red-Legged Frog In The Portland Metropolitan Area, Oregon, Amanda Hilary Temple

Dissertations and Theses

Effective habitat connectivity tools that use GIS data perform well in remote areas but may not be as dependable in urban environments. The goal was to study uses and limitations of a conservation management tool in development, the Metro Regional Habitat Connectivity Toolkit, which evaluates connectivity for and permeability of wildlife movement. Habitat quality scores are generated from GIS-derived and field collected data such as connectivity patch/matrix characteristics, water source, vegetation, other structural components, wildlife observations, and human disturbance at survey sites. I compared GIS and field generated habitat quality scores for the Northern Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora) …

Osgoode Environmental Justice And Sustainability Clinic Partners With Okt Llp For New Summer Fellowship, Osgoode Hall Law School Of York University, Environmental Justice And Sustainability Clinic

Ovations

The Environmental Justice and Sustainability Clinic (EJSC) is excited to announce a new partnership with leading Aboriginal law firm Olthuis, Kleer, Townshend LLP (OKT) for a pilot summer student fellowship.

Supermarket Redlining And Food Deserts: Potential Policies And Alternative Food Market Solutions With Applications To The Hartford Food System, Alexis Meehan

Honors Scholar Theses

Food deserts are neighborhoods that are typically socioeconomically disadvantaged and have high levels of low-income populations who face barriers to accessing healthy, nutritious food. These barriers which include, but are not limited to, the increased distance these food insecure populations are located from large food retailers that supply fresh produce. Many of these inequalities stem from institutionalized racism which allowed for practices such as supermarket redlining and, in part, led to the creation of food deserts in places like Hartford, Connecticut. In using the historical context that shaped the Hartford food system and comparing the identified alternative food market solutions …

An Examination Of Garden-Based Education Impacts On Title 1 Elementary School Students’ Environmental Literacy In San José, California, Alexandra Dahl

Master's Theses

The objective of this research was to assess garden-based pedagogy as an effective strategy to increase environmental literacy in elementary-aged students. With severe environmental issues facing children today and into the future, environmental literacy is a desired outcome of environmental education programs. Such interventions create environmentally responsible citizens who understand how humans impact the natural environment and thereby act sustainably. Currently, little research exists on garden education’s influence on students’ environmental literacy, especially in underrepresented communities. Using a nonequivalent control group study design, this project investigated the impact of a garden education program in Central San José, CA in an …

Noise Pollution, Environmental Justice, And Urban Green Space Accessibility: A Case Study In San José, California, Lauryn Duoto

Master's Theses

Noise pollution is an environmental stressor associated with a number of poor health outcomes. Promisingly, recent studies have identified urban green spaces such as public parks and community gardens as-built environments that can minimize noise pollution in the urban context. The objective of this project was to identify low-income communities of color that lack urban green space accessibility within the city of San José, California, to determine if sound level could be an indicator of urban green space usage and to evaluate whether urban green space can mitigate noise. Neighborhood demographics based on census tract data, including ethnicity and socioeconomic …

Kitkut Ukua Siļaliñiġmiut? Grassroots Land, Air, And Water Coalition-Building On Alaska's Arctic Slope, Sara K. Thomas

Rural Development

Arctic communities are experiencing dramatic effects of climate change and bioaccumulation of contamination and are also on the front line of expansion via the fossil fuel extraction industry. The Inupiaq culture provides a strong and clear example of harmonious living with one’s surroundings on Alaska’s Arctic Slope (hereafter referred to as Arctic Slope), yet recent community efforts to reduce waste or pollution or come together to address our role in this time of climate change have been short-lived. This applied community development project addresses the need for grassroots organizing within the Arctic Slope to address and react to issues of …

Healing Through The Photographic Murals Of James "Chip" "Jetsonorama" Thomas, Mandolen Sanchez

Art & Art History ETDs

James “Chip” “Jetsonorama” Thomas is an Indian Health Services physician who moved to the Navajo Nation in 1987. Although he is not culturally Native American, Thomas depicts Navajo in large-scale black and white photographic murals. His work has been discussed in online articles and books about street art in terms of their relationship to street art, specifically the art of JR, as well as their role as activist art on the Navajo Nation. There has been a lack of substantial research, though, into the way in which his photographic murals respond to or engage with nineteenth and twentieth-century photographs of …

Mapping Ecological Futures: Toward A Cartography Of Climate Justice, Timothy C. Lau

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of climate justice importantly reveals the uneven impacts of climate change. However, existing attempts at mapping climate justice are dominated by nation-state-based approaches, which fail to capture the sociospatial complexity of climate injustice. To address that gap, this thesis explores climate justice through the lens of critical cartography.

Tiny Homes As A Method To Increase Equitable Housing: Tiny Homes Detroit And Kalamazoo, Katie Kozlowski

Honors Theses

This thesis assesses the relative merits of housing programs such as Tiny Homes Detroit for other places where equitable and affordable housing is in short supply such as Kalamazoo, MI. For context, prior to information on Tiny Homes, and Tiny Homes in Detroit, information about the forces that shaped the contemporary housing crisis in both Detroit and Kalamazoo are provided. Topics in these preliminary sections include information on Redlining, Subprime Mortgages, Equitable Development, and Gentrification. For a variety of factors summarized in the thesis, Tiny Home Communities are a possible solution that, on a micro scale, can provide the most …

Roger Williams University School Of Law Commencement, May 15, 2020, Bristol, Rhode Island, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Commencement (1996- )

No abstract provided.

The Slow Creep Of Settler Colonialism: Exploring Water Control In Palestine, Lina Abu Akleh

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the Israeli-Palestinian water issue using a settler colonial framework. It highlights the contributions made to this field under the often used framework of hydro-hegemony to understand water issues in Israel-Palestine. Using a settler colonial framework helps to better describe the issue and highlight the slow creep of settler colonialism over the years. It also helps to see beyond the power dynamics and its relationship to domination and consent to understand the realities that Palestinians face on the ground. In addition, this thesis will help build towards exploring resistance to water control under settler colonialism. Therefore, this thesis …

Recent Case Decisions

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

A Colonial Climate: Climate Change Governance In Puerto Rico, Usa, Justin Grant Pearson

Master's Projects and Capstones

This capstone project examines the relationship between the colonial structures of governance that persist in Puerto Rico and how they affect the island’s resilience to the onslaught of climate change. Within the frameworks of climate change, governance and colonialism, I set out to analyze the means by which Puerto Rico’s status as a colony of the United States has led to its history and present circumstances that have left a gap in terms of effective governance at the federal and other upper levels of government. The conclusion made is that there needs to be a greater level of focus placed …

2020 May 13 - Undergraduate Curriculum Council Minutes, Undergraduate Curriculum Council, East Tennessee State University

Undergraduate Curriculum Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

Culinary Education Programs For Children In Low-Income Households: A Scoping Review, Priscilla P Li, Guisela Mackey, Chishinga Callender, Jayna M Dave, Norma Olvera, Shana Alford, Debbe Thompson

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Child obesity in the United States is at an all-time high, particularly among underserved populations. Home-cooked meals are associated with lower rates of obesity. Helping children develop culinary skills has been associated with improved nutrition. The purpose of this study is to report results from a scoping review of culinary education interventions with children from low-income families. Three databases and hand searches of relevant articles were examined. Retained articles met inclusionary criteria. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed, as appropriate. A data extraction template was developed. Data were independently extracted and verified. Only …

Concerning Catskill: Missed Opportunity, Broken Precedent And The Plight Of American Waters, Chase Corey

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

As society progresses and the population grows, uninhibited and unregulated pollution has become a pressing dilemma for current and future generations. Whether it is plastic on the beaches, oil in the oceans, or smog in the air, modern citizens of the Earth face a daily onslaught of visible consequences from the actions of polluters. But what about the not so visible consequences? Every day there is pollution occurring at a microscopic level, yet many are unaware of its presence. This infinitesimal issue is nutrient pollution, and despite its diminutive cause, it is deeply affecting one of the world’s most vital …

What Does A "Just" Local Food System Look Like? Views From Worcester In A Changing Climate, Marguerite Cawley

Capstone Collection

Food and climate are closely intertwined, with the high-emissions U.S. industrial food system contributing to climate change, while a changing climate produces new food system vulnerabilities, which will particularly impact those of the least means. This research is premised on the need to transform our food system, and to define what this vision looks like at the local level, while centering questions of power, justice and rights. It explores how groups, organizations and individuals engaged in local food system change envision transformation and understand corresponding social justice concerns, in a changing climate. It looks at opportunities for food and climate …

Addressing The Social Vulnerability Of Mississippi Gulf Coast Vietnamese Community Through The Development Of Community Health Advisors, Susan Mayfield-Johnson, Danielle Fastring, Daniel Le, Jane Nguyen

Faculty Publications

Background:Resiliency is the ability to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to stressors from adverse events. Social vulnerabilities (limited access to resources, political power, and representation; lack of social capital; aspects of the built environment; health inequities; and being in certain demographic categories) can impact resiliency. The Vietnamese population living along the Mississippi Gulf Coast is a community that has unique social vulnerabilities that impact their ability to be resilient to adverse events. Objectives: The purpose of this project was to address social vulnerability by implementing and evaluating a volunteer Community Health Advisor (CHA) project to enhance community resiliency in …