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The Ecological Underpinnings Of Famine: Irish Agriculture And Land Use Under British Colonialism, 1534-1852, Wyatt Bandy-Page Jan 2024

The Ecological Underpinnings Of Famine: Irish Agriculture And Land Use Under British Colonialism, 1534-1852, Wyatt Bandy-Page

Pitzer Senior Theses

Ireland’s Great Hunger (1845-52) cannot be reduced to merely potatoes and blight. This thesis approaches the Great Hunger in the context of agricultural and land use changes under British colonialism (1534-1852). Across seven centuries, successive waves of settlers seized the most productive lands, eventually giving rise to a series of plantation schemes designed to maximize the extraction of Irish human and natural capital. Land use transformations under colonial rule severely restricted Gaelic foodways and kept the Irish laboring classes at bare subsistence levels, while the produce of Irish plantations fueled English economic development. Following the onset of blight in 1845, …


From The Ground Up: A Complex Systems Approach To Climate Change Adaptation In Agriculture, Karen Buchsbaum Jan 2024

From The Ground Up: A Complex Systems Approach To Climate Change Adaptation In Agriculture, Karen Buchsbaum

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Climate change presents an unprecedented challenge to global agriculture and food security. Small farms are especially vulnerable to the local impacts of large-scale drivers of change. Effective adaptation in agriculture requires working across scales, and geographic, political, and disciplinary boundaries to address barriers. I use elements of case study, agent-based modeling and serious games, to design a model of farmer decision-making using the sociocognitive framework of climate change adaptation. I examine how adaptation functions as a process, how complex dynamics influence farmer behavior, and how individual decisions influence collective behavior in response to climate change. This novel approach to adaptation …


Analyzing Stakeholder Perceptions On Biogas Production Incentives Under California’S Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Emily Read Jan 2024

Analyzing Stakeholder Perceptions On Biogas Production Incentives Under California’S Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Emily Read

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Accounting for more than half of California’s methane emissions, the dairy and livestock sector has become a central focus for the state’s emission reduction efforts. As a leader in climate policy, California’s approach to addressing agricultural methane emissions has the potential to shape the future of livestock agriculture on a national and global scale. The state has prioritized anaerobic digesters as the primary strategy for addressing livestock methane, a decision that has been both widely contested and strongly supported by stakeholders. This thesis investigates stakeholder perceptions on livestock biogas under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) using interview and survey …


Exploring Women`S Perceptions Of Climate Change Impact On Agriculture, Health & Food Security In Upper Hunza, Gilgit Baltistan, Ambreen, Elina Nizar Ali, Taiba Yar Baig, Fozia Parveen Jan 2024

Exploring Women`S Perceptions Of Climate Change Impact On Agriculture, Health & Food Security In Upper Hunza, Gilgit Baltistan, Ambreen, Elina Nizar Ali, Taiba Yar Baig, Fozia Parveen

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, renowned for its towering mountains and major river basins, sustains nearly 1.4 billion people worldwide and is pivotal to global food production. Glacial melt from the HKH region nourishes agriculture, livestock, and horticulture, supporting the livelihoods of mountain communities. However, climate change is accelerating the melting of glaciers, and shifts in wet seasons significantly impact food security in these communities. Sectors such as water resources, agricultural land, and human health, particularly women’s health, are significantly affected by these changes. For centuries, agriculture has been the backbone of Gilgit-Baltistan’s economy, with over 70% of livelihoods …


Conceptualizing Sustainability And Resilience In Value Chains In Times Of Multiple Crises—Notes On Agri-Food Chains, Alexander Follmann, Peter Dannenberg, Nina Baur, Boris Braun, Grit Walther, Amelie Bernzen, Jan Börner, Michael Brüntrup, Martin Franz, Emmanuel Sulle Jan 2024

Conceptualizing Sustainability And Resilience In Value Chains In Times Of Multiple Crises—Notes On Agri-Food Chains, Alexander Follmann, Peter Dannenberg, Nina Baur, Boris Braun, Grit Walther, Amelie Bernzen, Jan Börner, Michael Brüntrup, Martin Franz, Emmanuel Sulle

Arusha Climate and Environmental Research Centre

Global and regional agri-food value chains feed societies and are an income source for hundreds of millions of farmers around the world. They are also target areas for action to achieve a global sustainability transformation. Agri-food chains are highly vulnerable in the context of multiple crises, including the global environmental crisis, geopolitical fragmentation, armed conflicts and wars, and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Measures to increase chain resilience are widely discussed; however, some such measures contradict sustainability measures. While there has been considerable research on the sustainability and resilience of agri-food chains, few studies have integrated both perspectives or …


Assessment Of Spatial Distribution Patterns And Infestation Risk Over Time Of Spotted Lanterfly (Lycorma Delicatula) In New York State, Alanna Richman Jan 2024

Assessment Of Spatial Distribution Patterns And Infestation Risk Over Time Of Spotted Lanterfly (Lycorma Delicatula) In New York State, Alanna Richman

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is an invasive treehopper native to Asia. It was first introduced to Pennsylvania in 2014, and as of 2020 it has expanded to New York state. Their preferred host tree is the invasive tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), but they will feed on over 173 different plants worldwide. Preferred host species in New York state include agricultural vegetation such as grape vines and fruit trees. Positive Spotted Lanternfly site data collected by the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets and iMapInvasives were analyzed using ArcGIS Pro to assess spatial distribution patterns. …


Living Among Wildlife: Elevating Human-Wildlife Interactions And Coexistence, Bridget Rebecca Murphy Dec 2023

Living Among Wildlife: Elevating Human-Wildlife Interactions And Coexistence, Bridget Rebecca Murphy

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

After a semester of learning, both in class and in nature, my writing honed in further on this human-nature divide. To me, I see humans as part of nature – as we are mammals, animals, part of the food chain, biological beings no higher than others on our planet. We have simply constructed this false narrative around us within our societies, minds and media that embeds this division between us and nature, between us and wildlife. Humans have been managing, stewarding, living off and within landscapes for thousands of years. As time and technology evolved, a lot of people began …


The Status And Prospects Of Phytoremediation Of Heavy Metals, Aniruddha Acharya, Enrique Perez, Miller Maddox-Mandolini, Hania De La Fuente Dec 2023

The Status And Prospects Of Phytoremediation Of Heavy Metals, Aniruddha Acharya, Enrique Perez, Miller Maddox-Mandolini, Hania De La Fuente

Faculty Publications - Biological Sciences

The release of heavy metals into the agricultural soil and waterbodies has been accelerated due to anthropogenic activities. They are not usually required for biological functions thus, their accumulation in biological system poses serious threat to health and environment globally. Phytoremediation offers a safe, inexpensive, and ecologically sustainable technique to clean habitats contaminated with heavy metals. Though several plants have been identified and used as a potential candidate for such phytoremediation, the technique is still at its formative stage and has been mostly confined to laboratory and greenhouses. However, recently several field studies have shown promising results that can propel …


Breaking The Loop: Strategies For Fighting Climate Change On U.S. Farms, Ashley Barry Nov 2023

Breaking The Loop: Strategies For Fighting Climate Change On U.S. Farms, Ashley Barry

Honors Capstones

Climate change is an increasingly urgent area of research due to the hardships it causes for lands and communities across the globe. Specifically in regard to the United States (U.S.), climate change has many concerning implications on our agricultural system. Increased weather hazards, decreased crop production, and drought are just a few of the hardships American farmers are facing in their fight to keep their farms alive and feed their communities, despite a rapidly changing climate. This study investigates how farmers can fight and prevent climate change through the use of specific mitigation and adaptation strategies on their farms. Semi- …


Patrimonio Cultural, Arqueología, Medio Ambiente Y Economía: ¿Cómo Ha Afectado La Construcción Del Aeropuerto Internacional De Chinchero-Cusco A Las Comunidades Y La Tierra De Chinchero?, Sydney Berenson Oct 2023

Patrimonio Cultural, Arqueología, Medio Ambiente Y Economía: ¿Cómo Ha Afectado La Construcción Del Aeropuerto Internacional De Chinchero-Cusco A Las Comunidades Y La Tierra De Chinchero?, Sydney Berenson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La urbanización gubernamental ha sido un problema para las poblaciones indígenas, el medio ambiente y la protección del patrimonio cultural durante numerosos años en todo el Perú. Más recientemente, en la pequeña ciudad de Chinchero, ubicada a unos 30 kilómetros al noroeste de Cusco, se está construyendo un nuevo aeropuerto internacional, Aeropuerto Internacional de Chinchero-Cusco (AICC), para reemplazar el actual aeropuerto nacional de Cusco. Chinchero es un importante centro urbano que está conformado por 13 comunidades campesinas que participan en la industria agrícola de la región, además consta con una importante comunidad artesanal, ruinas arqueológicas precolombinas y una gran biodiversidad. …


Exploring Expansion Of Biogas Energy Production On Homesteads, Small-Scale, And Large-Scale Farms, Morgan Powell Sep 2023

Exploring Expansion Of Biogas Energy Production On Homesteads, Small-Scale, And Large-Scale Farms, Morgan Powell

Student Project Reports

No abstract provided.


21st Century Political Agronomy: Between Collapse And Apocalypse In The Capitalist World System, Harrison Raskin May 2023

21st Century Political Agronomy: Between Collapse And Apocalypse In The Capitalist World System, Harrison Raskin

Honors Scholar Theses

Examinations of the causal chain between ecological impacts and food shortages reveal significant impending global disturbances. This paper draws a causal link between ecological impacts and low food productivity which will lead to food insecurity and economic crises in the near term. Further, this paper argues that food insecurity may lead to the collapse of the capitalist world system. This threat is contrasted with “business as usual” climate models which, rather than depicting the collapse of the capitalist world system, depict its persistence throughout the collapse of the world ecology.


State Run Dry: How California Manages Inevitable Drought Due To Climate Change, Rachelle Yang May 2023

State Run Dry: How California Manages Inevitable Drought Due To Climate Change, Rachelle Yang

Student Theses 2015-Present

This thesis paper addresses the severe drought brought on by climate change that California is currently experiencing and examines methods to counter the drought in order to minimize water usage and increase water levels. Historically, California has experienced several periods of drought which are increasingly becoming more detrimental to the environment. It is crucial to mitigate the drought as California has already been feeling its major effects from it. As temperatures rise and the atmosphere becomes drier, the water supply in California could be diminished by 10% by 2040. Chapter 1 uses several studies and reports on the California drought …


The Potential Of Digestate As A Fertilizer, Helena Karlstrom Apr 2023

The Potential Of Digestate As A Fertilizer, Helena Karlstrom

Student Research and Creative Activity Expo

This project will review the use of digestate byproducts from anaerobic digestion as fertilizer for agricultural use.


Decolonial Foodurisms: From Plantations To Agricultural Spaces Of Intersectional Healing, Dominic Arzadon Jan 2023

Decolonial Foodurisms: From Plantations To Agricultural Spaces Of Intersectional Healing, Dominic Arzadon

Pitzer Senior Theses

Considering the complex colonial histories and relationalities associated with agricultural food production, a reimagined future beyond the violent legacy of plantations is presented. Exploring land as the site for intersectional healing to take place, the symbiotic relationship between humans and food production is increasingly becoming a reality—a theoretical framework I propose called decolonial foodurisms (pronounced food-yoor-isms). Combining “food” and “futurism” to emphasize that our collective futures are predicated on food security and food justice for all and especially for marginalized and racialized communities with ancestral ties to agricultural violence, decolonial foodurisms aims to capture how intersectional healing can come into …


Manure, Methane, And Money: The Anaerobic Digester Disaster In California, Pegga Mosavi Jan 2023

Manure, Methane, And Money: The Anaerobic Digester Disaster In California, Pegga Mosavi

Animal Law Review

The small, idyllic family farms that come to mind at the first mention of farming are all but gone, replaced by enormous factories that churn out animals at record speed, with little regard for their health and welfare. These factory farms produce a host of issues, including pervasive water and air pollution, particularly in vulnerable agricultural communities like those of the San Joaquin Valley in California. While the detriments of the factory farm model are numerous, contribution to climate change in particular has garnered significant attention. Animal agriculture in the U.S. produces 36% of the country’s methane, a greenhouse gas …


Understanding The Barriers To Carbon Farming On Private Lands, Harrison Naftel Dec 2022

Understanding The Barriers To Carbon Farming On Private Lands, Harrison Naftel

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

Climate change caused by manmade greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most important challenges facing society today. Through effective management for carbon sequestration private agricultural lands could become an important part of the solution to this problem. This paper explores the many different methods that farmers, ranchers, and landowners could use to implement sequestration on their land and examines the barriers to further participation in these projects by reviewing the challenges in the world’s current carbon offset markets and offering possible solutions.


Assessing Virtual Free-Choice Agricultural Learning: A Mixed Methods Approach, Richard John Kennedy Aug 2022

Assessing Virtual Free-Choice Agricultural Learning: A Mixed Methods Approach, Richard John Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

Since the mid-19th century, agricultural museums and living history sites, first in Scandinavia and then in the United States and Canada, have provided historical, cultural, and, sometimes, scientific information about farming to visitors. Many of these visitors have been school children on field trips. Assessment of this learning, however, has been scant, particularly within the free-choice style inherent in these types of educational venues. At the same time, assessment of free-choice learning, often analyzed through the Contextual Model of Learning (Falk & Dierking 2000), has taken place at educational sites like zoos, natural history museums, and science centers. This study, …


Does Soil Carbon Support Climate Resilient Agricultural Systems? Searching For Evidence And Developing New Measurement Tools, Daniel Kane Apr 2022

Does Soil Carbon Support Climate Resilient Agricultural Systems? Searching For Evidence And Developing New Measurement Tools, Daniel Kane

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

2022Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) is frequently promoted as a “win-win” strategy for agricultural management in the face of a changing climate. This framing is based on the notion that building SOC both reduces yield losses/variability by improving soil water dynamics, and that building SOC can contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing atmospheric carbon. While this framing may be useful, relationships between SOC and such outcomes are often poorly described and not quantitative. That is, it’s unclear how much of an improvement to SOC is needed to reduce yield losses, whether or not that effect translates across soil types …


Taking The Bull By The Horns: Gender Analysis In A Cattle Project In Indonesia, Febrina Prameswari Apr 2022

Taking The Bull By The Horns: Gender Analysis In A Cattle Project In Indonesia, Febrina Prameswari

Sustainability and Social Justice

Women play a crucial role in agriculture, especially in cattle farming. However, gender inequality in livestock production remains a critical issue, as women usually have less engagement with livestock production, less control over finances, and less access to markets. The IndoBeef program in Indonesia was one of the first livestock projects to incorporate gender-specific activities in its implementation. The project used women-only focus groups, utilizing the Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index (WELI) combined with farm production data to address women’s needs in the cattle industry. I conducted a gender analysis of one of IndoBeef’s subsidiary projects, CropCow. The project did …


Conservation And Variation In Agricultural Landscapes: A Survey Of Insect Populations Across Naranjilla Cultivation Methods In The Eastern Andean Cloud Forest, Ian Zakelj Apr 2022

Conservation And Variation In Agricultural Landscapes: A Survey Of Insect Populations Across Naranjilla Cultivation Methods In The Eastern Andean Cloud Forest, Ian Zakelj

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study compared insect biodiversity among five sites in agricultural landscapes and natural forest in the El Placer community in the valley of the Rio Pastaza in the eastern Andean cloud forest. The area is of vital importance to conservation, as it falls in the ecological corridor between the Sangay and Llanganates national parks. The primary crop produced by the residents of El Placer is naranjilla, and it is cultivated in a variety of manners, mostly with intensive chemical use. The goal of the study was to find out which types of practices were the least harmful to the insect …


Rural Development In Papua New Guinea: Mining, Logging, Agriculture, And Alternatives, Tj Askew Jan 2022

Rural Development In Papua New Guinea: Mining, Logging, Agriculture, And Alternatives, Tj Askew

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines multiple approaches to providing rural, indigenous Papuans with improved social services and economic opportunities. Rural Papuans, who make up 80 percent of the population, face below average rates of nutrition, education, disease, crime, and other quality of life indicators. Due to location, land use rights, lack of infrastructure, and minimal access to economic markets, the PNG government has struggled to provide rural communities with basic social services. Historically, the development of resource extraction projects such as mining, logging, and agriculture have been the main strategies used to improve the livelihood of rural Papuans, with limited success. This …


Addressing The Role Of Climate Change In Agriculture And Mexico-Us Immigration, Xiaoxin Liang Nov 2021

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 …


A Biological Assessment Of Water Quality In El Placer, Ecuador: The Effect Of Agriculture On Stream Health And The Quality Of Historical Versus Current Drinking Water Sources, Danielle Kleinberg Oct 2021

A Biological Assessment Of Water Quality In El Placer, Ecuador: The Effect Of Agriculture On Stream Health And The Quality Of Historical Versus Current Drinking Water Sources, Danielle Kleinberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although fresh water is one of Ecuador’s most abundant resources, high quality drinking water for its inhabitants is scarce (Wingfield et al., 2021). The most prevalent sources of water pollution in Ecuador are domestic waste, silver and gold mining, oil production, and agricultural chemicals (Buckalew et al., 1997). El Placer, a village located in Tungurahua, Ecuador, is highly dependent on agriculture as a source of income. The first objective of this study was to determine the effect of agriculture on the El Placer’s Tía Anita Stream through comparing the water quality at three sites with varying agricultural influence. The second …


Plastic In Agricultural Soils And Its Biological Impacts, Olivia Mckay Aug 2021

Plastic In Agricultural Soils And Its Biological Impacts, Olivia Mckay

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

Agricultural plastic mulch reduces weeds, yields higher crop quality and quantity, and increases soil temperature, but it can also become a soil pollutant. The impact of agricultural plastic contamination on soil microbial activity remains poorly documented. To better understand how plastic pollution influences soil microbial decomposers, we sampled three farms in Watsonville, CA. Each site is characterized by large amounts of plastic contamination in the form of polyethylene mulch and polyvinyl chloride dripline. The fields contain marked amounts of macro- (and presumably micro-) plastic fragments primarily derived from PVC dripline and polyethylene mulch. We haphazardly collected 6" deep soil samples …


Urban Agroecology For Food Sovereignty And Biodiversity: Are Urban Community Farms Or Gardens More Effective?, Heidi L. Giancola Jul 2021

Urban Agroecology For Food Sovereignty And Biodiversity: Are Urban Community Farms Or Gardens More Effective?, Heidi L. Giancola

Master's Theses

Industrial agriculture is accurately criticized for eliminating biodiversity and destroying food sovereignty. Urban agroecosystems, usually individual plots in community gardens, are promoted to restore ecological services and equity to food systems. Recently, collectively tended urban community farms have developed, with explicit social justice goals. This study directly contrasts the effectiveness of the urban community farm and garden models. Spatial analysis is used to confirm that community farms enhance geographic access for healthy food priority areas compared to gardens in the San Francisco bay area. An online survey of farm staff and gardeners from Marin to Santa Clara County resulted in …


Seeding Sovereignty: Sensory Politics And Biodiversity In The Karen Diaspora, Terese Virginia Gagnon Jul 2021

Seeding Sovereignty: Sensory Politics And Biodiversity In The Karen Diaspora, Terese Virginia Gagnon

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation traces the sensory and political dimensions of Karen refugees' co-movements with their seeds, plants, and agricultural practices in exile. It also tentatively explores understandings of sovereignty beyond the frame of the Westphalian nation-state through engagements with seed and food sovereignty in three locations that complicate understandings of territorial sovereignty. In this dissertation I explore what I call "agricultural forgetting" and how it occurs for Karen refugees in the context of the camp. Agricultural forgetting, I suggest, is the process by which linkages between people and plants are broken generationally. Such forgetting occurs in especially sudden and forceful ways …


Towards Smallholder Food And Water Security: Climate Variability In The Context Of Multiple Livelihood Hazards In Nicaragua, Christopher M. Bacon, William A. Sundstrom, Iris Stewart-Frey, Edwin P. Maurer, Lisa C. Kelley Jul 2021

Towards Smallholder Food And Water Security: Climate Variability In The Context Of Multiple Livelihood Hazards In Nicaragua, Christopher M. Bacon, William A. Sundstrom, Iris Stewart-Frey, Edwin P. Maurer, Lisa C. Kelley

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Climate variability and change affect both food and water security, as do other hazards, such as shifting food prices, plant pathogens, and political economic changes. Although household food and water insecurity affect billions, most studies analyze them separately. This article develops a relational approach to explaining household access to food and water in a multi-hazard context. We identify pathways linking hazards to livelihood vulnerability and assess the relative importance of climate-related hazards. Analyzing longitudinal data collected from two surveys of the same 311 smallholder households in northern Nicaragua, conducted in 2014 and again in 2017, we find that peak seasons …


Determinants Of The Patronage Of Available Primary Health Care Services By Rural Women In Osun State, Nigeria, Olalekan Odefadehan, Oladoyin Adereti Jun 2021

Determinants Of The Patronage Of Available Primary Health Care Services By Rural Women In Osun State, Nigeria, Olalekan Odefadehan, Oladoyin Adereti

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study examined the determinants of the patronage of available primary health care services by rural women in Osun State, Nigeria. The aim of this study is to provide service delivery authorities with information on the barriers to the patronage of health services. Data for the study were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Descriptive statistics like frequencies, percentage, and mean values were used for analysis. Multiple regression was used to identify determinants, and the double-log functional form had the best fit. 45 health workers and 270 rural women were selected through multi-stage sampling. The study revealed that the …


Water Quality And Amphibian Ecoimmunology Assessment In The Bayou Deview Watershed, Arkansas, Amber Lynn Spence Mar 2021

Water Quality And Amphibian Ecoimmunology Assessment In The Bayou Deview Watershed, Arkansas, Amber Lynn Spence

Student Theses and Dissertations

Freshwater is an important commodity for society and for various flora and fauna that inhabit them. Smaller tributaries and subwatersheds contribute to downstream water quality and are crucial components in impairment remediation. Targeting upstream Mississippi River Alluvial Plain watersheds such as Bayou DeView Watershed, AR, identified as priority watersheds within the Mississippi River Basin Initiative are part of the conservation proposal to reduce sediment and nutrient loads to the Gulf of Mexico. This study found turbidity impairment levels exceeded at four sites in the Bayou DeView and all sites exhibited excess total nitrogen suggesting sites for best management practices. Physiological …