Digital Commons Network^™

Disproportionate Exposure To Air Pollution For Low-Income Communities In The United States, Elisabeth Currit

Ballard Brief

While air pollution is a major problem in much of the United States, individuals of low socioeconomic status are disproportionately exposed to air pollution compared to wealthier individuals.1 Contributing factors to the problem of disproportionate exposure to air pollution for low-income communities in the United States include lack of emissions regulations and enforcement, disproportionate placement of pollution sources nearby low-income neighborhoods, and the excessive political power of large emitters. The negative consequences that low-income individuals suffer because of this include both physical and mental health as well as impaired cognitive function. NGOs and other organizations are creating programs to help …

Social Science Research To Help Advance Regional Coordination And Collaboration Of Sea Level Rise Planning And Adaptation On Humboldt Bay, Kristen Orth-Gordinier

Student Projects

Humboldt Bay is experiencing the fastest rate of relative sea level rise in California and is likely to experience severe sea level rise (SLR) flooding within the next two decades. The Humboldt Bay shoreline is owned and governed by a patchwork of entities with different missions and jurisdictions so coordination of SLR planning will be critical because flooding of hydrologic areas from tidal waters can cross political boundaries. The goal of this project was to conduct social science research that can inform and advance the development of regional coordination and collaboration related to SLR in Humboldt Bay. To do this, …

The Clean Energy Dilemma: How The Push For Clean Energy Could Threaten Indigenous Communities And An Exploration Of Potential Alternatives, Laura Berglan, Blaine Miller-Mcfeeley, Andrea Folds, Earthjustice

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Bridge Newsletter Spring 2022, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

The Bridge Newsletter

-CArEE faculty awarded Kummer Ignition Grants
-Geldert-Murphey poised to become ASCE’s 2023 president-elect
-Nine new members inducted during Academy of Civil Engineers 50^th anniversary celebration
-Steel Bridge Team wins fourth consecutive regional competition, will compete at nationals

Intersections Between Social Work And Public Administration: A Case Study Of Urban Water Poverty, Katherine M. Lindsey

Social Work Theses - Archive

Despite infrastructure advances, water testing, and environmental policies, there are still areas in the United States that lack clean water. Some communities are negatively impacted by policies, location, socioeconomic status, water obtainment methods, and racial, ethnic, or cultural differences. Social workers desiring to intervene may not know where to begin. To identify potential interventions, this case study examines how the community of Green Tree Estates gained access to clean water through advocacy efforts and community organizing. This community, located within a large city in Texas, is a previously annexed, small mobile home community consisting of a Hispanic, Spanish speaking population …

Black-Owned Beef: Should Black Beef Producers Stake Space In Food Justice?, Shirah Dedman

Journal of Food Law & Policy

While there is growing interest in Black cowboys, the narrative is largely tethered to parades and urban and suburban saddle clubs, much like the fictional movie on Netflix, Concrete Cowboy. Missing from the narrative are today’s real Black cowboys: rural ranchers and farmers raising cattle for beef production and consumption.

May 2022 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Power To The People: Distributing The Benefits Of A Clean Energy Transition Through Equitable Policy, Legislation, And Energy Justice Initiatives, Alexandria E. Dolezal

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

The transition to renewable energy may be accelerating, but the path to a clean energy future is still littered with potential inequities. This reality has become increasingly evident in the early 2020s as the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated injustices within the existing energy system, leaving many low-income and minority communities struggling to pay for essential utilities. Moreover, marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by the negative externalities of the energy sector, such as air pollution and climate- change-induced natural disasters. Recent events, like the Texas power crisis and unprecedented heatwaves in 2021, have brought these issues into sharper focus, while equally …

National Coral Reef Management Fellows Newsletter Volume 4 | Issue 1, National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) Coral Reef Conservation Program

National Coral Reef Management Fellowship Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Climate Change In Nepa Reviews: Recommendations For Reform, Michael Burger, Romany M. Webb, Jessica A. Wentz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) requires federal agencies to conduct an environmental review prior to moving ahead with any major federal project, plan, or program that could significantly affect the environment. As part of the environmental review, agencies must share information with, and solicit feedback from, the public. The goal is to improve federal decision-making by ensuring that agencies take a hard look at the environmental effects of their actions and fully inform the public about those effects.

In guidance issued in 2016, the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”)—the federal body charged with implementing NEPA—identified climate change as a …

Helping New Jersey State Agencies And Departments Align Their Actions With Ghg Reduction Mandates And Environmental Justice Principles, Jennifer Danis, Zoe Makoul

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This white paper analyzes New Jersey’s implementation gap in both the climate and justice space. Its findings are potentially applicable to the many other states who have set climate and justice goals, without robustly embedding them into their existing legal and administrative landscapes. New Jersey already has GHG reduction targets, a plan, and mapped pathways. While more aggressive tactics and targets may be required to meet evolving scientific knowledge, and cost-effective technology and markets will evolve over time, New Jersey’s climate-alignment tools and pathways are clear. The EMP, the 2020 GWRA 80x50 Report, and EO-274, among other strong state initiatives, …

Examining How Current Higher Education Outdoor Experiential Education Program Structure Impacts Inclusion Of African American Students, Albert Mitugo

Education Policy and Leadership Theses and Dissertations

Outdoor Experiential Education (OEE) in higher education is a common and important method of student learning and engagement in the curricular and co-curricular arenas. Because of its importance, many institutions have an OEE program, usually housed in campus recreation for co-curricular student engagement or in academic units for credit-bearing OEE undertakings. The importance of OEE in higher education is widely documented for its impact on college students’ change in environmental attitudes, interpersonal development, resilience, risk management, self-efficacy, self-esteem, sense of belonging, and transition in college. Little has been studied about African American students’ engagement in higher education OEE programming and …

Visions And Seeds Of Change : Pathways To Defining And Seeking Liberation, Ramon Kentrell Lee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

From July 2015 to May 2018, the sociopolitical terrain and atmosphere of Albany, New York underwent significant shifts as the levels and types of activism and liberation discourse increased. The shifts were related to national occurrences, such as the development of the Black Lives Matter movement, the state of police brutality and state-sanctioned violence, the campaign and election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United State, and the emergence of the Me Too movement. During this period of change, activists engaged in a series of political struggles for situated identification and empowerment, the emergence of a …

Feminist Critiques Of Ecofascist, Nativist Appropriations Of Indigeneity Since 2016, Breana Lynch

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies M.A. Final Projects

This project explores recent manifestations of ecofascism within right-wing movements that deploy environmental concerns and rhetoric. Immigrants in the United States and in Europe and other global North countries have long been targeted by xenophobic policy and rhetoric guised as environmental protection. Although investigations by critical scholars including feminists on right-wing environmentalism unveiled the nativism and hate behind green agendas that are inherently anti-immigrant, I analyze recent ecofascist rhetoric and visual discourse for their harm to Indigenous communities, which is equally insidious, if less overt. This project engages with manifestos of extremists, right-wing political websites, and on-the-ground footage of alt-right …

The Albany Answers Plant Incinerator : Environmental Justice And Slow Violence At The New York State Capital, Matthew D. Saddlemire

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The ANSWERS plant and its impact on the residents of Sheridan Hollow has recently been accepted by many as a case of environmental injustice. Simply looking at the benefits and burdens of environmental processes shows clearly that the primarily black community faced most of the health burdens that came from waste in the capital region, while white residential areas who sent their trash to ANSWERS faced minimal risk. The state benefitted from energy production, which was used to heat and cool the Empire State Plaza, the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building, the state Education Building and New York State …

Dikos Nitsaa’Igii-19 (“The Big Cough”): Coal, Covid-19, And The Navajo Nation, Warigia M. Bowman

UC Law Journal

Both in an absolute sense, and in a comparative sense, COVID-19 is infecting and killing people inside of Navajo Nation at a higher rate than in nearby states. This Article investigates how U.S. energy or mineral extraction policy—particularly regarding coal and uranium— weakened Navajo health and may have contributed to the COVID-19 infection crisis on Navajo. The relationship between U.S. mineral extraction and the health vulnerabilities currently being exposed on the Nation raise issues of administrative law, Indian law, and finally, Tribal and federal governance. This Article also contributes to the literature in environmental justice, natural resources law, and energy …

How Can Stakeholders In Food Sovereignty Achieve More Political Power?, Micah Dierks

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Food sovereignty (FSv) is a peasant-driven, transnational movement that emerged in response to land-grabbing and the consolidation of power in food production. It advocates for the rights of people to define their own food practices and systems. To provide targeted feedback for movement reflexivity, 21 ecological conflicts referencing food sovereignty were sampled from the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (the EJAtlas). Involved groups of actors and their forms of mobilization were correlated with interpretations of success from the EJAtlas. I recommend that stakeholders in food sovereignty pursue the acquisition of greater political power through improving messaging, leveraging or disrupting existing …

Arts Integration For Foreign Language Teaching And Learning: A Three Paper Dissertation, Qian Zhang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This three-paper dissertation examines whether arts integration-an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form-helps with foreign language teaching and learning, especially language performance. The first paper conducts a comprehensive literature review of research on arts integration and its use in the context of language classrooms, including both English as a Second Language and Foreign Language classrooms. The second paper is a qualitative case study exploring how a French teacher perceives the role that arts integration plays in her students’ language performance. Specific arts-integrated strategies are discussed, and connections are made to students’ language …

Hiv And The African American Church: Millennial Faith Leader's Perspectives., Kelsey Leann Burton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

African Americans are disproportionately impacted by HIV compared to other racial groups. Stigma surrounding HIV has created challenges for effective HIV prevention and stigma reduction programs. The African American church has been criticized for its slow and stigmatizing response to the HIV epidemic. Despite this, African American faith leaders play significant roles in guiding the perspective of the community. Numerous studies examine African American pastors’, faith leaders’, and ministers’ perspective about HIV and other HIV-related topics. However, there is no research that specifically examines young African American pastors’ perspectives of addressing HIV, stigma, and prevention. The purpose of this dissertation …

Annexation For Good: An Equity Approach For Social And Environmental Justice With Municipal Annexation, Russell H. Stall

All Theses

Municipal annexation is a powerful tool for improving communities. United States cities historically use municipal annexation to increase tax revenues, grow populations, and increase land areas. However, attitudes about annexation are changing, and there is emerging interest in broadening annexation practices to advance a broader range of social and environmental benefits. For example, annexation can be used to improve blighted areas, control overdevelopment, protect environmentally sensitive areas and open spaces, and improve the lives of residents. It is not clear if cities support using annexation in this way, and if so, when those uses are possible.

Despite restrictive laws and …

The Usefulness Of Yoga Towards Interconnected Environmental Liberation, Gayatri Sehgal

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

There are a great number of interpretations of the term Yoga today, often being an elusive term. Yet we must recognize the importance of questioning which interpretation can provide us with a clear lens into its meaning, given the legacy of colonialism which has warped our understanding of it. Yoga has a great deal to offer us, and some of its imperative offerings for us today are its ethical principles, particularly the dissolution between the opposition of self and other. This paper employs the principles of nonviolence, non-stealing, and moderation from the yamas (external ethics) of Patanjali’s eight-fold path, as …

The Price On Our Tap: A Policy And Quantitative Analysis Of County-Level Water Affordability In Alabama, Mayukh Datta

Honors Theses

This thesis examines disparities in water affordability in Alabama by exploring the relationship between water expenditure and other variables based on a quantitative analysis of a four-year water provider-level, panel data set. I utilize ordinary least squares to answer the following research question: "After controlling for income, what variables affect water expenditure in Alabama, and particularly, what impact does race have on water affordability and expenditure in Alabama?" This analysis is motivated by the on-going water and sewer affordability crisis that currently affects nonwhite households in the broader United States. Given that there are very few policies addressing water affordability, …

Indigenous Science Network Bulletin - May 2022

Indigenous Science Network

This issue looks at the various definitions and understandings of the relationship between Indigenous Science and Western Science. One of our network members, A/Professor Michael R. Matthews, has written an article on the issue which takes a contrary position. He has extensive experiences promoting and analysing the nexus of culture and science. The editorial is written by Dr. Jessica Hernandez, an environmentalist and author who is currently receiving wide praise across the globe for her Indigenous science themed book Fresh Banana Leaves. Another highlight of this issue is a story from the North West Territories of Canada: The frontline of …

The Impact Of Water Infrastructure Inequality On Marginalized Communities, Indra Khalsa

Honors Theses

America’s current system of water infrastructure poses a threat not only to the environment but also to public health. The water crisis reveals the stark inequalities that exist from both an environmental justice and a social justice perspective. There is a growing concern that without adequate investment from federal resources, the problems related to this issue will only worsen the longer they are neglected. There is little information about how specific environmental and social factors combine with water infrastructure to create long-term infrastructure inequalities. However, this thesis explores the disparities in water infrastructure affordability, vulnerability patterns, and environmental hazards. It …

School Garden Programs, Food Pathways, And Environmental Justice: Modeling Ethical Frameworks To Reclaim The Value Of Care Work Through Education, Charlotte Borland '22

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

Community Choice Aggregators, Biomass Energy, And California's Just Transition: A Case Study Of Ab 843 And Responsible Biomass Procurement Principles, Shalini Swaroop Esq., Alexandrea Mcgee

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Emergency Preparedness: Perceptions Of People With Disabilities, Lidia Adamina Fonseca

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of emergencies and disasters has increased over the past decade which has caused cities, states and countries to routinely develop emergency preparedness and management plans (Turk, 2016). Although these demands have increased, individuals with disabilities have been less represented in the development of the plans (Timmons, 2017; Turk, 2016). According to The World Bank Disaster Risk Management Report (2020), disasters (e.g., infectious disease outbreaks such as COVID-19, hurricanes, earthquakes, industrial accidents.) and post-disaster consequences have increased over recent years.

Although individuals with disabilities have become more aware of emergency preparedness and its importance, researchers have noted that there …

Using A Geospatial Analysis Tool To Visualize Water Impairments And Engage Stakeholders In The San Bernardino National Forest, Jovany Estrada

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

High quality water is an important resource that is integral to supporting environmental and human health. It is essential for economic, social and environmental purposes. Impairments to water resources can be attributed to anthropogenic sources that are associated with terrestrial activities including urban development and agricultural activities. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is an approach that can be used to include community input to improve water management strategies. In the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF) area in southern California, there are disadvantaged communities that can benefit from a CBPR study to increase water quality in the area. A geovisualization tool will …

Assessing The Prepardness And Comfortability Levels Of Graduate Social Work Students Discussing Sex And Sexuality, Sarah Anne Champion Macedo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study utilized surveys to assess the preparedness and comfortability levels of graduate social work students discussing sex and sexuality with future clients using a quantitative exploratory research design. The purpose of the research was to assess graduate social work students' preparedness and comfortability levels discussing sex and sexuality and to determine possible recommendations for graduate social work education and potential policy changes concerning sex education for graduate social work students. The data was collected from sixty-two participants, from a Southern California University, who were sent a survey via their student emails. The data was analyzed using SPSS. The study …

Reconceptualizing Conservation, S. J. Cooke, Sarah Michaels, E. A. Nyboer, L. Schiller, D. B. R. Littlechild, D. E. L. Hanna, C. D. Robichaud, A. Murdoch, D. Roche, P. Soroye, J. C. Vermaire, V. M. Nguyen, University Of Ottawa,, J. F. Provencher, P. A. Smith, G. W. Mitchell, S. Avery-Gomm, C. M. Davy, R. T. Buxton, T. Rytwinski, L. Fahrig, J. R. Bennett, G. Auld

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Early definitions of conservation focused largely on the end goals of protection or restoration of nature, and the various disciplinary domains that contribute to these ends. Conservation science and practice has evolved beyond being focused on just issues of scarcity and biodiversity decline. To better recognize the inherent links between human behaviour and conservation, “success” in conservation is now being defined in terms that include human rights and needs. We also know that who engages in conservation, and how, dictates the likelihood that conservation science will be embraced and applied to yield conservation gains. Here we present ideas for reconceptualizing …