Digital Commons Network^™

Examining An Intersection Of Environmental Justice And Covid-19 Risk Assessment: A Review, Ashley Ellis

Honors Theses

This study views the risks associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as an environmental injustice issue due to the connection between existing environmental disparities and the disproportional negative impacts brought upon by the virus. The social and health determinants attributed to those environmental disparities have traditionally been evaluated as individual risk factors, an approach that fails to gauge the complexity of an environmental injustice issue. This study employs the emerging theory of intersectionality, a belief that phenomena cannot be linked to one principal cause but instead an interconnected web of influences, in order to synthesize the multitude of factors believed …

Environmental Law, Disrupted By Covid-19, Rebecca Bratspies, Vanessa Casado-Pérez, Robin Kundis Craig, Lissa Griffin, Keith Hirokawa, Sarah Krakoff, Katrina Kuh, Jessica Owley, Melissa Powers, Shannon Roesler, Jonathan Rosenbloom, J.B. Ruhl, Erin Ryan, David Takacs

Faculty Scholarship

As we were in the final phases of editing a book on disruption in environmental law, a pandemic swept across the world disrupting daily life and the functioning of society to an extent unprecedented in living memory. The novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 was identified in China in late 2019 and by late February 2020, it had spread to every continent except Antarctica; as of April, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that over 148 million people had been infected worldwide with over 3 million deaths. Scientists and public health experts have raced to understand the virus—how is it …

Opportunity In The Complexity: Recommendations For Equitable Climate Resilience In East Boston, Patricio Belloy, Antonio Raciti, Katsyris Rivera-Kientz, Rebecca Herst

Sustainable Solutions Lab

East Boston is a diverse, working-class, coastal neighborhood of the City of Boston that is currently undergoing rapid gentrification. At the same time, local environmental problems – such as air and noise pollution from the operation of the nearby Logan International Airport – continue to harm residents, particularly the most marginalized communities. In addition to housing pressures and the pollution from Logan Airport, technical and scientific assessments warn that a large part of the neighborhood is at risk of being severely affected by climate change impacts such as sea-level rise, storm surges, and heatwaves. City-led planning efforts and climate resilience …

Moving Beyond Scientific Fact-Only Environmental Education In The United States, Erica Meier

All Theses

There is debate regarding whether environmental education (EE) programs should focus exclusively on teaching science or on teaching and encouraging pro-environmental behaviors through civic engagement, advocacy, and action/behavior change (CEAA) techniques. To assess which CEAA techniques EE providers feel are appropriate to utilize in EE programming for youth and the extent to which they utilize them, we designed and distributed a survey to members of several North American EE organizations. Based on the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guidelines for Excellence (2019) and input from professionals and practitioners, the survey included a list of 32 CEAA techniques. Respondents (N …

Developing Implementable Policies Targeting Sustainable Building Construction Through International Policy Diffusion, Melisa Ciara Hancock

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The buildings and construction sector is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to vast list of negative impacts humans have on the environment through material production, natural resource usage, and waste. While many organizations like the United Nations (UN), OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), and Architecture 2030 have been advocating for a shift to sustainability within the sector for decades, there is still a major disconnect between countries that have and haven’t implemented sustainability into all practices. This research focuses on analyzing the content of national building codes for their level of sustainability …

Consequences Of Seeking Environmental Justice: The Lawyer Who Took On Chevron And Paid The Price, Simran Kaur

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice (ERSJ) Blog

In February 2011, the environmental and human rights lawyer, Steven Donziger, won a landmark judgment against Chevron Corporation, on behalf of 30,000 Indigenous people residing in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. Chevron was found liable for causing toxic oil pollution that destroyed Indigenous lands and rivers. The said pollution destroyed rivers and streams used by the Indigenous people of Lago Agrio to drink water. The water contamination by Chevron contained illegal levels of metals that are known to damage the immune and reproductive systems in humans, thereby leaving some of the world’s poorest people with generations of birth defects and …

Global Forces Of Change: Implications For Forest-Poverty Dynamics, Priya Shyamsundar, Laura Aileen Sauls, Jennifer Zavaleta Cheek, Kira Sullivan-Wiley, J.T. Erbaugh, P. P. Krishnapriya

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

This article examines global trends likely to influence forests and tree-based systems and considers the poverty implications of these interactions. The trends, identified through a series of expert discussions and review of the literature, include: (i) climatic impacts mediated through changes in forests, (ii) growth in commodity markets, (iii) shifts in private and public forest sector financing, (iv) technological advances and rising interconnectivity, (v) global socio-political movements, and (vi) emerging infectious diseases. These trends bring opportunities and risks to the forest-reliant poor. A review of available evidence suggests that in a business-as-usual scenario, the cumulative risks posed by these global …

Risk Perception And Response Among International Students Of The University Of Southern Mississippi, Elida Lopes Souza Rocha

Master's Theses

Given the exposure of university campuses to hazards, disaster mitigation is a critical element of higher education policy. Although U.S. higher education institutions are leaders in the global education market, emergency warning systems give little consideration to how international students perceive risk, prepare for hazards, or access warning technologies available to them. This poses several questions regarding the suitability of hazards mitigation practices and the welfare of international students.

This thesis investigates the relationship between USM international students and natural hazards. Responses from online surveys and semi-structured interviews data were analyzed through qualitative and quantitative methods to document the extent …

Shopping For A Cause: Social Influencers, Performative Allyship, And The Commodification Of Activism, Emily Mckellar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Since the early 2010s, social media has been a powerful tool for protestors and activists throughout the world. In times of crisis and political uprisings, users have pulled out their phones and taken to platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and, more recently, Instagram, to capture “the revolution” in real time. Although originally intended for networking purposes, social media has provided people with a digital space to share their stories, disseminate resources, and broadcast live, allowing them to share their efforts with millions.

While social media has helped assemble protests, amplify marginalized voices, and educate the public, it has also become a …

Exploring Teacher And Student Experiences In A Nature-Based Mathematical Environment, Brian Holt Tucker

Dissertations

This research study explored the experiences of this teacher-researcher and eight student-participants in a Montessori-inspired, nature-based mathematical environment. I utilized an action research study framework with a critical event narrative analysis to describe mine and my student-participants’ experiences throughout this study, using Uhrmacher et al.’s (2017) instructional arc as a guide. I restoried each participants’ lived and told stories as the curriculum seamlessly moved through the arc: intended to operational to received curriculum. The restoried narratives revolved around the identified critical events each participant experienced throughout the mathematical learning experience. The multiple restoried narratives required data collection that included observations, …

Comparison Of Solutions To Reduce Air Quality Impacts To Environmental Justice Neighborhoods, Rebecca Merrell

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Air quality is a complex problem with as many potential solutions. The objective of this thesis is to identify solutions that will create cleaner air for Environmental Justice Communities in Barstow, California. California is now requiring cities to create plans for air quality improvement and this thesis strives to try to evaluate the effectiveness of options cities may use. There are many solutions that claim they will improve air quality but few comparisons on the feasibility for a town to implement them.

This thesis explores the effectiveness of three types of vegetation solutions, three types of mechanical air filtering solutions, …

Environmental Justice Issues And Sea Level Rise In Frontline Communties Along The Gulf Coast, Karla Michel Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Sea level rise poses a great threat to coastal areas and our way of life. As flooding increases in frequency and intensity across the country, vulnerable populations become a target to its impacts. The U.S. dedicates much research to risk communication and climate change adaptation strategies; however, these coastal areas are home to a large percentage of underserved and underrepresented communities that can be challenging to meaningfully engage. The impacts of short-term sea level rise combined with long-term sea level rise will not only cause flooding, erosion, and intrusion of saltwater into freshwater resources but also increased financial consequences, such …

Transboundary Air Quality Governance: A Case Study Of The Paso Del Norte Air Basin 1940-2000, Laura Margarita Uribarri

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

For thousands of years, the Paso del Norte region which today includes Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, El Paso, Texas, and Sunland Park, New Mexico, has been a strategic location by virtue of its geographic positioning at the lowest and easiest passage across the continental divide. During the 19th and 20th centuries as railroad networks connected the region to the far reaches of the U.S. and the interior of Mexico, it became a nexus for natural resource and labor extraction. Mining and smelting industries were later joined by agriculture and manufacturing to benefit from the transportation network and the abundance of labor. …

Urbanization And Climate Change Impacts: A Comparative Analysis Of Adaptability Of Us Coastal Cities, Olaniyi David Olaleye

Dissertations (2016-Present)

The quest to address human and societal developmental requirements has caused urban cities to grow and expand (Zhao, Gao, & Cuo, 2016). Urbanization is a term associated with the physical development of metropolitan cities. The word relates closely to the developmental approach utilized in the formation of urban societies (Fishman, 2017). According to researchers, urbanization contributes to the impacts of climate change and associated natural disasters. Climate change is closely related to societal and environmental carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emissions (Brody, Zahran, Maghelal, Grover, & Highfield, 2007). Development activities and growth of municipal settings have substantial impacts on the …

Modeling The Spatial Distribution Of The Current And Future Ecosystem Services Of Urban Tree Planting In Chicopee And Fall River, Massachusetts, R. Moody, N. Geron, M. Healy, J. Rogan, Deborah Martin

Geography

Mature urban tree canopy cover disrupts the local effects of urban heat islands and provides important ecosystem services such as energy savings through evaporation and shading, pollution removal, storm runoff control, and carbon sequestration. Sustainable urban tree canopy relies on the planting of juvenile trees. Typically, tree planting programs are only evaluated by the number of trees planted and there is a lack of analysis of juvenile trees post-planting. This study examines the value and distribution of energy savings provided by juvenile trees and how that value changes considering predicted tree growth and mortality by 2050. Using i-Tree Eco software, …

Health Reform Reconstruction, Lindsay F. Wiley, Elizabeth Mccuskey, Matthew B. Lawrence, Erin C. Fuse Brown

Faculty Scholarship

This Article connects the failed, inequitable U.S. coronavirus pandemic response to conceptual and structural constraints that have held back U.S health reform for decades and calls for reconstruction. For more than a half-century, a cramped "iron triangle" ethos has constrained health reform conceptually. Reforms aimed to balance individual interests in cost, quality, and access to health care, while marginalizing equity, solidarity, and public health. In the iron triangle era, reforms unquestioningly accommodated four legally and logistically entrenched fixtures - individualism, fiscal fragmentation, privatization, and federalism - that distort and diffuse any reach toward social justice. The profound racial disparities and …

Exercise Routine Change Is Associated With Prenatal Depression Scores During The Covid-19 Pandemic Among Pregnant Women Across The United States, Theresa E. Gildner, Elise J. Laugier, Zaneta M. Thayer

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected physical and mental health worldwide. Pregnant women already exhibit an elevated risk for depression compared to the general public, a pattern expected to be exacerbated by the pandemic. Certain lifestyle factors, including moderate exercise, may help support mental health during pregnancy, but it is unclear how the pandemic may impact these associations across different locations. Here, we test whether: (i) reported exercise routine alterations during the pandemic are associated with depression scores; and, (ii) the likelihood of reporting pandemic-related exercise changes varies between women living in metro areas and those in non-metro areas. …

Empowering Teacher Candidates To Create Social Justice Curriculum Through Civic Engagement Projects, Gayle Y. Thieman

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this research is to examine how participating in a Civic Engagement Project (CEP) led teacher candidates (TCs) to develop and publish race and social justice curriculum. This article describes the CEP, a graduate level social studies methods course assignment for TCs who research community issues, select a class project, collaborate, create and publish resources for educators. This mixed-methods study examines the challenges, benefits and process of the CEP. TCs' reflections, digital curriculum and resources they created, surveys and interviews with TCs after graduation were analyzed through six criteria of anti-racist curriculum, based on Racial Pedagogical Content Knowledge …

A New Chapter For The Mission Priority Examen, Stephanie Russell

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

No abstract provided.

Addressing The Role Of Climate Change In Agriculture And Mexico-Us Immigration, Xiaoxin Liang

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Among the greatest threats of climate change is the significant impact on mass displacement, particularly as it relates to Mexico-US immigration. Low crop yields from worsening climate conditions have been linked to increased migration of Mexican farmers. With a projected 4.2 million additional migrants in the foreseeable future, it poses a contemporary environmental, social, and political dilemma. This policy brief analyzes several provision proposals to be adopted into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), as evaluated under economic cost, equity, environmental impact, and feasibility criteria. My research concludes that the most effective and direct provision proposal is the implementation of adaptive …

Tjlp (2012) Volume 8 Special Edition Issue

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Gentrification, Amie Thurber, Amy Krings

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Gentrification can be understood as the process through which geographical areas become increasingly exclusive, which disproportionately harms people living in poverty and people of color, as well as the elderly, families, and youth. As such, this article argues that macro social work practitioners should view gentrification as a key concern. Thus, to help guide macro interventions, the article begins by first defining gentrification and describing ways to measure it, while emphasizing its difference from revitalization. Second, the article explores causes of gentrification, including its relationship to systemic racism. Third, the article explores the consequences of gentrification on individuals’ and communities’ …

Gentrification, Amie Thurber, Amy Krings

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Gentrification can be understood as the process through which geographical areas become increasingly exclusive, which disproportionately harms people living in poverty and people of color, as well as the elderly, families, and youth. As such, this article argues that macro social work practitioners should view gentrification as a key concern. Thus, to help guide macro interventions, the article begins by first defining gentrification and describing ways to measure it, while emphasizing its difference from revitalization. Second, the article explores causes of gentrification, including its relationship to systemic racism. Third, the article explores the consequences of gentrification on individuals’ and communities’ …

Is Living In A Region With High Groundwater Arsenic Contamination Associated With Adverse Reproductive Health Outcomes? An Analysis Using Nationally Representative Data From India, Jessie Pinchoff, Brent Monseur, Sapna Desai, Katelyn Koons, Ruben Alvero, Michelle J Hindin

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

Background: Exposure to groundwater arsenic via drinking water is common in certain geographies, such as parts of India, and causes a range of negative health effects, potentially including adverse reproductive health outcomes.

Methods: We conducted an ecological analysis of self-reported rates of stillbirth, recurrent pregnancy loss, and infertility in relation to groundwater arsenic levels in India. We used a gridded, modeled dataset of the probability of groundwater arsenic exceeding 10 μg/L (World Health Organization drinking water limit) to calculate mean probabilities at the district level (n = 599 districts). A spatial integration approach was used to merge these estimates with …

Prefatory Matter And Table Of Contents

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Barriers Teaching Environmental Justice Education, Jodi Devonshire

Dissertations

The idea of freedom in education has its roots in the social justice movements of the 1950s and 60s. Civil rights groups coalesced independently of other marginalized groups and movements of its time. While similar in nature, environmentalism and civil rights issues rarely crossed paths. As environmentalism made its way into science education and curriculum, social justice issues were restricted to historical perspectives in education. This research initially sought to create an understanding of purpose driven, social justice conscious, Environmental Education as it is related to marginalized learners and identify the barriers of creating and implementing culturally relevant environmental education …

Response To Comments For 2020 Bpsou Uao Submittal: Revised Final Multi-Pathway Residential Metals Abatement Program Plan (Received January 21, 2021), Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Vol.49 N.18 November 18th 2021, Voice Media Ventures

Black Voice News

No abstract provided.

Fall/Winter 2021: Alumni Profile: Free-Agent Firefighter, St. Norbert College

St. Norbert College Magazine 2019-2023

Emily Owens ’17, an environmental science graduate, has built a career as a free-agent firefighter with the Montana Conservation Corps and Nature Conservancy, using her passion for environmental protection and prescribed fire to safeguard ecosystems across the country.

Integrating Doctrine And Diversity Speaker Series: Making Space, Taking Space 11-16-2021, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.