Digital Commons Network^™

Comprehensive Planning For The Promotion Of Sustainable Development In Georgetown County., Michael Meagher

Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents (V. 47, No. 3)

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Foreword To International Environmentalism: A Global Approach To Global Challenges, Cameron Krause

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

As the effects of climate change progress, people and governments in every country are left grappling with how to combat the consequences. Recognizing that such global challenges necessitate an international approach, this Symposium was convened to critically examine the domestic application of international law, the role of non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”), transnational ecological harms, and international environmental agreements. Articles and contributions from panelists in the Symposium contemplated the best paths forward in the face of an ever-changing international landscape.

This abstract has been taken from the author's opening paragraphs.

Litigation To Protect The Marine Environment: Parallels And Synergies With Climate Litigation, Randall S. Abate, Nadine Nadow, Hayley-Bo Dorrian-Bak

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The world’s oceans are in crisis. Climate change impacts, biodiversity loss, plastic pollution, fisheries collapse, impacts to marine mammals, and vessel-based pollution are among the many threats the marine environment faces today. Fish biomass is predicted to drop by 3% to 25% by the end of the century due to climate change. Worse still, the amount of plastic in the world’s aquatic ecosystems is on track to hit 23 to 37 million tons per year by 2040.

[...]

This Article reviews recent successes and obstacles in using litigation as a tool to address these concerns across several contexts in the …

The Importance Of Accessible Government Data In Advancing Environmental Justice, Frank D. Lomonte, Daniel Delgado

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Part I of this Article sets forth the history and animating principles of the environmental justice movement in the United States during the 1970s, which developed as an adjunct to the larger civil rights movement. Part II then turns to the role of documents and data in exposing where toxins present a risk to public health and where documentation habitually falls short. It discusses how freedom of information laws can unlock access to the documents and data that quantify environmental hazards but also how those laws fail to produce reliable results because of the influence of regulated industries. Part III …

Nautilus Rov Robot Manipulator, Dana Stefanides, Jenny Huynh, Andrew Stewart, Steven Reimer, Andrew Nguyen, Rebecca Walters, Matt Hayes

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Global warming and climate change are prevalent issues in today’s society. As a result, research in the ocean, our world’s biggest ecosystem, is imperative in efforts to protect the environment. Santa Clara University’s Robotic Systems Lab contributes to this field through work and developments on remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). An existing ROV system called Nautilus consists of a robot arm, end effector, and storage system in order to collect various types of sediments at a depth of 300 feet. However, the previous system does not meet that requirement. In direct collaboration with researchers within the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, …

Digitized Statecraft In Multilateral Treaty Participation: Global Quasi-Legislative Behavior Of 193 Sovereign States. By Takashi Inoguchi And Lien Thi Quynh Le. Singapore: Springer Nature, 2021., Melisa Perut, Etel Solingen, Ph.D.

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Creating Safe And Welcoming Spaces On Public Lands: An Anti-Oppression Toolkit For Public Lands Interpreters, Amber Brooks

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Public lands interpreters have a set of unique research and communication skills they use to facilitate emotional and intellectual connections to natural, historical, and cultural resources. The anti-oppression toolkit designed for this project focuses on providing interpreters with opportunities to educate themselves through a framework of anti-oppression education and action on the topics of identity and systemic oppression to better establish safe and welcoming spaces on public lands for members of oppressed communities. Rooted in the study of anti-oppression, with particular focus on ableism and racism, this toolkit was inspired by professionals in the field of diversity and inclusion on …

Understanding Rural Communities: Crafting Local Inquiries As Praxis For Pre-Service Ela Students In Teaching Composition, Cathie English

The Rural Educator

This study focused upon a sequence of three inquiry assignments with pre-service teachers (PSTs) in English language arts in an advanced composition and theory methods course. Place conscious and critical literacy scholars argue for a deeper understanding of rural lifeways and note the deficit or lesser than assumptions associated with rural communities and the need to develop a critical rural literacy to address the specific needs of rural educators as well as address the long-standing stereotypes. This study’s purpose was to determine if these inquiry tools can be used to teach PSTs a critical literacy that can be applied in …

Care For The Land: Restoration As Interspecies Care Labor And Emergent Activism At The Hawaiian Fishpond-Scape, Cynthia Ruimin Shi , '23

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

In the last two decades, environmental NGOs on the islands of Hawai’I have been leading efforts to restore traditional land practices and foodways, among them fishpond, or loko i’a, which are traditional aquaculture infrastructures that ensure a stable production of fish protein. This ethnographic study of loko i’a restoration projects is informed by four months of fieldwork grounded in participant observation at Paepae O He’eia, a non-profit organization on the windward side of O’ahu heading the restorative effort at He’eia fishpond.

My thesis addresses the ethics of care, labor, and Indigenous worldmaking emerging from ecological and cultural restoration of fishponds …

Urban Water Quality: Socio-Economic Distribution Of Stream Degradation, And The Influence Of Climate On Bmp Performance, Isabelle Horvath

Dissertations (1934 -)

Urban water quality impairments have long burdened urban aquatic ecosystems in a phenomenon termed “urban stream syndrome”. The symptoms of this “syndrome” include physical changes in stream morphology and water level, biologically stressed environments, and perturbations in ecosystem processes. Despite years of research and costly investments in restoration and rehabilitation, urban waterways are still plagued by degradation. Improvement in urban water quality will require multi-faceted efforts, including progress on 2 key fronts 1) increased understanding of current impairments, and 2) increased knowledge about urban stormwater infrastructure like best management practices (BMPs). Towards both topics, engineers have quantified the influence of …

Rural America As A Commons, Ann M. Eisenberg

University of Richmond Law Review

With many ready to dismiss non-urban life as a relic of history, rural America’s place in the future is in question. The rural role in the American past is understandably more apparent. As the story of urbanization goes in the United States and elsewhere, the majority of the population used to live in rural places, including small towns and sparsely populated counties. A substantial proportion of those people worked in agriculture, manufacturing, or extractive industries. But trends associated with modernity—mechanization, automation, globalization, and environmental conservation, for instance—have reduced the perceived need for a rural workforce. Roughly since the industrial revolution …

Spatial Dimensions Of Water Quality Value In New England River Networks, Robert J. Johnston, Klaus Moeltner, Seth Peery, Tom Ndebele, Zhenyu Yao, Stefano Crema, Wilfred M. Wollheim, Elena Besedin

Economics

Households’ willingness to pay (WTP) for water quality improvements—representing their economic value—depends on where improvements occur. Households often hold higher values for improvements close to their homes or iconic areas. Are there other areas where improvements might hold high value to individual households, do effects on WTP vary by type of improvement, and can these areas be identified even if they are not anticipated by researchers? To answer these questions, we integrated a water quality model and map-based, interactive choice experiment to estimate households’ WTP for water quality improvements throughout a river network covering six New England states. The choice …

At The Foothills Of The Highest Hill In The Swamp: A Policy Brief For East Little York, Major Eason , '23

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

Strategies For Combatting The Climate Crisis: Policy, Organizing, And Community Resilience, Shannon F. James

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This portfolio synthesizes work I have done throughout graduate school through research and experience. I have had the opportunity to focus the majority of my work on the climate crisis and be involved in work to address this wicked problem. Though detrimental impacts are already being felt, the IPCC reports that humans can still prevent the worst effects of climate change. This is a problem that needs to be addressed on a variety of fronts. My portfolio discusses combating climate change at a federal, state, and community level. It highlights different strategies that will need to be utilized, including policy …

Assessing The Total Economic Value Of Parks In Kalamazoo County, Samuel Herman Ayivi

Masters Theses

Urban parks and green spaces have become an important part of the urban ecosystems in recent years, and there is growing evidence on the positive relationship between having green spaces and good health. Indeed, access to urban parks is part of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development goals (Goal 11 target 7). In recent years, these parks and green spaces have become a subject of development pressures because of the inability of planners and researchers to clearly articulate the value of these parks. The Total Economic Value Framework (TEVF) situates resources (Parks and green spaces in this case) in the minds …

Spokane Beat The Heat: Correlations Of Urban Heat With Race And Income In Spokane, Washington, Brian G. Henning, Kaitlan Ducken, Karli Honebein, Corrina Farho, Ben Brown

Climate Center Research (2021-2023)

The Gonzaga Center for Climate, Society, and the Environment led a community effort to better understand how extreme heat affects different neighborhoods and different individuals by constructing maps of urban heat island and connecting them to demographic factors through a correlation analysis. This research reveals that extreme heat events affect not only the unhoused, but also many thousands of people across large segments of the Spokane community. Not all regions or demographics in Spokane are equally affected by extreme heat. Differences in green space and the built environment mean that some people are more likely to be in danger during …

Contemporary Environmental Art: The Multidimensional Relationship Between Black Communities And The American Landscape, Sophia Perkins

Honors Capstones

Contemporary environmental art can be inspired by personal experience and reflections between the artist and their surroundings. Black women have a unique interaction with and relation to their environment. I would like to unpack the relationships between Black women and the environment by exploring a few different artists’ work, and by dissecting the effects race and gender have on one’s view of the natural world. I have studied the work of four artists: Torkwase Dyson, Allison Jane Hamilton, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Calida Garcia Rawles. Environmentally, I have a specific interest in bodies of water / Black waterways because of …

Come Hell And High Water: Examining The Effects Of Natural Disasters On Health Resource Availability For Households In Baton Rouge, Caroline Janecek

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The End Externalities Manifesto: Restatement, Loose Ends, And Unfinished Business, J. B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Don Elliott and Dan Esty were among the chief architects of Environmental Law 2.0-the shift that infused so-called command-and- control regulatory regimes with market-based tools in search of cost- effective solutions. The mix of incentives, trading, banking, reporting, bubbles, and other techniques revolutionized the way we think about how to attack environmental problems like pollution and habitat loss.

In their End Environmental Externalities Manifesto ("Manifesto") they are at it again. This time, however, their proposed revolution goes in a different direction. They argue that the guiding light of economic efficiency, which took environmental law far in improving environmental conditions, is …

A Balanced Prescription For More Effective Environmental Regulations, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Government agencies increasingly base the structure and approval of environmental regulations on a benefit-cost test. For regulations that pass this test, total benefits exceed total costs. Under a benefit-cost framework, the degree of regulatory stringency is set at an economically efficient level whereby the tightness of the regulation is increased up to the point where the incremental benefits equal the incremental costs. Setting regulatory standards to achieve the efficient degree of pollution control does not fully discourage entry into polluting industries, provide compensation to those harmed by pollution, or establish meaningful incentives for effective enforcement. This article proposes that the …

Raise The Sun: A Qtbipoc Zine Workshop, Chris O. Stone , '23

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, And Justice In Water Dialogues: A Review And Conceptualization, Simone A. Williams, Susanna Eden, Sharon B. Megdal, Valerisa Joe-Gaddy

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

In the United States, the lack of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) in water governance and management has been identified as a serious problem that affects the validity of decisions. Because water governance and management institutions, processes, and practices at all scales involve dialogue, it is important to understand DEIJ in water dialogues. This paper reports on the results of a systematic literature survey that was undertaken to guide efforts by The University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center to improve diversity and inclusion in its engagement practices and outreach strategies. Three questions are explored: 1) How is DEIJ …

Overview Of Environmental, Social, And Governance Factors, How They Affect The Stability Of Bank Portfolios, And Mitigating The Risks Of Esg Factors, Sophia Torres

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Clean Air For All? An Analysis Of Eu Air Pollution Legislation And Health Inequality, Bonnie Nolan

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

Communities around the world face health risks due to air pollution. These health risks can include asthma, cognitive impairment, and even death. But these negative health effects are not equally spread among communities. Studies have established that air pollution affects socially disadvantaged areas more. The correlation between socioeconomic levels and increased risk of environmental harm is referred to as environmental inequality. The World Health Organization has found that environmental health inequality occurs in every European Union (EU) member country. The EU has implemented multiple pieces of legislation to reduce air pollution, including Directive 2008/50/EC, which sets specific air quality that …

Giving The Green Light: Corporate Environmental Crimes, The Treadmill Of Production, And Environmental Justice, Matthew J. Greife

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

In addition to legal considerations, what other factors correlate with and seem to affect fines companies are assessed when they commit an environmental crime? Relying upon the treadmill of crime theoretical framework we hypothesize that companies committing environmental crimes in poor and minority dominated communities will receive lower relative fines because the harms are viewed as less serious by prosecutors and judges, thus resulting in environmental injustice. In addition, from a green criminological framework, a company’s economic situation may be considered in setting fines so as not to slow down the treadmill of production. Using a unique dataset of firms …

Check Out The Library, 2023 Spring Issue, Cal Poly Humboldt Library

Library Publications

Table of Contents

• Favorite Places to Learn
• Digital Herbarium Takes 3D Shape at the Library
• New Staff Join the Cal Poly Humboldt Library Team
• Humboldt Celebrates Campus and Community Authors
• Book Recommendations Wanted!
• Students are Talking: Special Collections Videos
• Voices from Behind the Desk
• Making History Accessible in Special Collections
• Celebrating Environmental Conservation History
• 2023 Digital Publishing Catalog

Access To Nature And Its Economic Implications, Shannon Rogers Ph.D., Cody G. Crytzer, Catherine M. Ashcraft Ph.D.

UNH Cooperative Extension

Access to the natural environment is a critical element of the economic, social, and ecological resilience of communities (Rogers & Garlick, 2021). In New Hampshire, outdoor recreation contributes an estimated $2.5 billion dollars yearly to the economy (BEA, 2019), which at 3.2% rivals the economic impact of the state’s entire food and accommodations sector.

Related resources:

• Access to Nature and Its Economic Implications (webinar): https://scholars.unh.edu/extension/1447/
• Eight Ways Nature Supports New Hampshire’s Economy (brief) https://scholars.unh.edu/extension/1281/
• Nature Supports a Vibrant Downtown Economy (brief) https://scholars.unh.edu/extension/1282/

Towards Data And Solution-Focused Approaches For Homeless Populations On Publictransit, Anne Nordberg, Jaya Davis, Stephen Mattingly, Nithisha Gudipati, Ebonie Kinney, Hadiisha Butts

TREC Final Reports

People experiencing homelessness frequently rely on public transit systems and facilities as more than a mode of transportation to needed services, but also as safe shelters from weather and danger. This is a challenge for many transit agencies and impacts transit employees and passengers. Dallas and the surrounding counties have the largest homeless population in Texas, and they utilize the services of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) that serves 220,000 people per day in Dallas County and 12 surrounding counties. While there is much research focused on people experiencing homelessness, there are gaps in understanding how this population utilizes …

Homelessness, Water Access, And Environmental Justice In An Urban Environment, Alicia Gamble

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Only in recent years has houselessness been viewed as an environmental justice issue, and little is understood about the environmental injustices of water insecurity among unhoused individuals, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to understand the environmental injustices (i.e., distributive, procedural, and recognition) of the water insecurity process using the cause-response-effect theoretical model, unhoused participants living near services were interviewed in Portland, Oregon about their lived experiences gaining access to water, the barriers they encounter when trying to access water, and the impacts that result from these barriers. Results revealed that COVID-19 was a barrier to water access and …