Digital Commons Network^™

Losing Louisiana: Race, Techno-Science, And The Disappearing Geographies Of The Lower Mississippi River Delta, Monica Patrice Barra

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Based on eighteen months of ethnographic and historical research in southeast coastal Louisiana (USA), this dissertation explores the racial histories, engineering and scientific practices, and geophysical processes that have shaped land loss and coastal restoration in the lower Mississippi River Delta. Rather than treating land loss simply as a natural process or matter of environmental restoration, this ethnography examines its cultural, material, and political dimensions, especially for communities of color that have already experienced long histories of loss — of property, livelihood, and political rights. A focus on the geophysical transformations of the river - dictating land growth, sinking, and …

Examining The Social Aspect Of Climate Change Through Mathematics, Debasmita Basu, Nicole Panorkou, Michelle Zhu

Department of Computer Science Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We designed an instructional module that seamlessly integrates mathematics, environmental science, and technology to help students think critically about climate change. The results from a design experiment in a sixth-grade classroom show that our tasks not only enhanced students' covariational reasoning in mathematics but also helped students identify the different traits of climate change they encounter every day in the news media.

Half A Century Of Supreme Court Clean Air Act Interpretation: Purposivism, Textualism, Dynamism, And Activism, David M. Driesen, Thomas M. Keck, Brandon T. Metroka

Washington and Lee Law Review

This Article addresses the history of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Clean Air Act, which now goes back almost half a century. Many scholars have argued that the Court has shifted from an approach to statutory interpretation that relied heavily on purposivism—the custom of giving statutory goals weight in interpreting statutes—toward one that relies more heavily on textualism during this period. At the same time, proponents of dynamic statutory interpretation have argued that courts, in many cases, do not so much excavate a statute’s meaning as adapt a statute to contemporary circumstances.

2019 Lecture Series Program, Winona Laduke

Vernon L. Pack Distinguished Lecture Series

Winona LaDuke is a Native American activist, environmentalist, and former Green Party vice presidential candidate. She works nationally and internationally on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice alongside indigenous communities. She made news with her activism against an oil pipeline at Standing Rock and through Honor the Earth, an organization she co-founded with the Indigo Girls.

The Climate Crisis Is A Human Security, Not A National Security, Issue, Maryam Jamshidi

UF Law Faculty Publications

Climate change is one of the first times, in recent memory, where public debate about treating an issue as a matter of “national security” has occurred. Many, including members of the grassroots climate change movement, have called for climate change to be treated as a national security issue. While there are a host of good reasons for treating the climate crisis as a security concern, there are equally good reasons to worry about applying the national security label to climate change, which have largely been absent from public debate. For the first time in the legal literature, this Article articulates …

In The Eye Of The Storm: Houston After Hurricane Harvey, Brandon Tolentino-Serrano

Pomona Senior Theses

Situated in one of the wettest climates in America, Houston, TX has had a long history of heavy rains and unprecedented floods. Unfortunately, floods have become more common over the last few decades as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of hurricanes around the globe. To complicate matters further, Houston has quickly sprawled to accommodate over 2.5 billion people. Rapid urbanization has rendered the landscape even more susceptible to floods through excess concretization and watershed disturbance. This thesis traces the history of the Bayou City in relation to the damages caused by Hurricane Harvey. By mapping out the original …

From Paris To Projects: Clarifying The Implications Of Canada’S Climate Change Mitigation Commitments For The Planning And Assessment Of Projects And Strategic Undertakings (Full Report), Robert B. Gibson, Karine Peloffy, Daniel Horen Greenford, Meinhard Doelle, H Damon Matthews, Christian Holz, Kiri Staples, Bradley Wiseman, Frédérique Grenier

Reports & Public Policy Documents

Canada has signed the Paris Agreement and made other international commitments to doing our fair share of what is needed to keep overall global warming to the Paris Agreement limit of well below 2ºC, and to aim for 1.5ºC, to avoid devastating climate change. However, we have not yet progressed far in translating these commitments into implications for decision making on proposed undertakings with significant implications for meeting those commitments.

Clarifying those implications and determining how best to incorporate them in deliberations and decision making is overdue and now imperative. The federal government’s new Impact Assessment Act, which is now …

California's Coast And Ocean Summary Report, Part Of California's Fourth Climate Change Assessment, Leila Sievanen, Jennifer Phillips, Charles Colgan, Gary Griggs, Juliette Finzi Hart, Eric Hartge, Raphael Kudela, Nathan Mantua, Karina Nielsen, Liz Whiteman

Working Papers

This report synthesizes current scientific understanding about the impacts of climate change on California’s coast and ocean and presents a forward-looking summary of challenges and opportunities for the future. It is one component of California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment (Fourth Assessment). To prepare this report, the state called upon the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) and California Ocean Science Trust (OST) to convene an Ocean Protection Council Science Advisory Team (OPC-SAT) working group composed of science and policy leaders. Similar to other components of the Fourth Assessment, the 12-member working group was guided by an Advisory Group of end users …

A Green Opportunity: Why American Conservatives Will Benefit By Fighting Climate Change, Byrne W. Cronin

Student Theses 2015-Present

For much of the twenty-first century, there has been a debate in America over the existence of anthropogenic climate change. This debate is unnecessary and polarizing, as liberals often advocate for climate-change-mitigation policy while conservatives often declare anthropogenic climate change false or unimportant. Along with this, debate over climate change largely prevents effective policy from being passed in the US, which is a problem because as one of the most populous, polluting and powerful countries, we have a significant impact on how the fight to mitigate climate change proceeds.

The goal of this thesis is to work towards ending that …

Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2018: 16th Annual (Abstracts), Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium Of Portland/Vancouver

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

The UERC is a consortium of people from various universities and colleges, state and federal agencies, local governments, non-profit organizations and independent professionals interested in supporting urban ecosystem research and creating an information-sharing network of people that collect and use ecological data in the Portland/Vancouver area.

UERC Mission Statement:

To advance the state of the science of urban ecosystems and improve our understanding of them, with a focus on the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan region, by fostering communication and collaboration among researchers, managers and citizens at academic institutions, public agencies, local governments, non-profit organizations, and other interested groups.

The principal organizers span …

Disproportionate Realities: The Climate Justice Implications Of Mitigation Policies Across Scales, Tinuviel Carlson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Global climate change will have disproportionate effects on low-income and minority communities around the world producing important justice challenges. As national governments increasingly rely on local governments, civil society, and private transnational actors to establish and implement climate actions policies, it is important to assess whether and how these newly emergent actors can address these justice challenges. First this thesis examines concepts of justice in relation to climate change across different scales in order to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework of climate justice. This conceptual framework expands the scale of the international climate justice movement address local concerns. Further, the …

A Just Transition: Why Transitioning Workers Into A New Clean Energy Economy Should Be At The Center Of Climate Change Policies, J. Mijin Cha

Fordham Environmental Law Review

With a hostile federal administration, states must take up the fight against climate change. Shortly after the United States withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord, governors from several states announced efforts to meet the targets. This article argues that state level climate actions must consider the economic consequences of climate policy. A shift away from fossil fuels is a fundamentally necessary step in the fight against climate change. However, the economic impact of this shift will be felt most acutely by fossil fuel workers and communities, many of which are already facing economic hardships. Attention and resources must be focused …

Grid Modernization And Energy Poverty, Shelley Welton

Faculty Publications

Grid modernization holds the alluring promise of rationalizing electricity pricing, saving consumers money, and improving environmental quality all at the same time. Yet, we have seen only limited and patchwork regulatory initiatives towards significant grid modernization in the United States. Outside of a few leading states, state energy regulators appear loath to embrace fullthroated versions of the project. This article argues that the underdiscussed problem of energy poverty in the United States is a critical contributing factor in the gap between grid modernization’s possibilities and our regulatory reality. Only by explicitly understanding how the issues of grid modernization and energy …

A Literature Review Of Climate Change And Urban Sustainability, Julia L. Sanabria

Research Papers

Cities are vulnerable to climate change, but they are also uniquely positioned to lead the way in both mitigating and adapting to it. While there is no single solution to climate change, cities have a responsibility to transition toward a more sustainable future. This paper examines current literature in climate change and sustainability in urban areas through a discussion of the urban heat island effect, human health, natural hazards, urbanization trends, socioeconomic factors, urban energy, water and wastewater, public transportation, waste management, green infrastructure and governance. The paper has three key goals: (1) to examine how climate change is affecting …

Environmental Justice And The Clean Power Plan: The Case Of Energy Efficiency, Cecilia Martinez

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Symposium On Baltimore’S Port Covington Redevelopment Project, Suraj Vyas, Gillian Rathbone-Webber, Patrick Terranova, Lawrence Brown Phd, Thomas Prevas, Alexandra Athans, Christopher K. Croft

University of Baltimore Journal of Land and Development

No abstract provided.

Climate Change, Smart Growth, Racial Oppression, And White Privilege, Laura Stivers

Collected Faculty Scholarship

In this paper I will examine how people of differing environmental perspectives—namely anti-growth preservationists and environmental justice advocates—frame their responses to smart growth, using Marin County in the San Francisco Bay Area as a case study. Then I will offer a race analysis of these frameworks based on the thesis that to address climate change through smart growth we need to challenge the ways certain groups try to retain their white privilege. As foundation for this thesis I will develop the norms of reparations and restoration to argue for an equitable smart growth approach that entails structural transformation to address …

Positive Organizational Leadership And Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Phenomenon Of Institutional Fossil Fuel Divestment, Abigail Abrash Walton

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Climate change is one of the most significant dynamics of our time.The predominant contributor to climate change is combustion of fossil fuels by humans.This study deepened understanding of organizational leaders’ role in enacting one approach to addressing climate change:institutional fossil fuel divestment.The study used a qualitative research design to explore U.S.-based foundation leaders’ readiness to pursue fossil fuel divestment by their institutions.The study examined leaders’ motivations and actions in pursuing divestment, while simultaneously exercising their fiduciary duty to steward institutional assets.Research questions focused on the divestment behavior change process and the outcomes of divestment on leaders and their organizations.Data collection …

The Role Of The State, Multinational Oil Companies, International Law & The International Community: Intersection Of Human Rights & Environmental Degradation Climate Change In The 21st Century Caused By Traditional Extractive Practices, The Amazon Rainforest, Indigenous People And Universal Jurisdiction To Resolve The Accountability Issue, Marcela Cabrera Luna

Master's Theses

Local, national and international conventions that protect indigenous sovereignty and their territories, where many of the resources are extracted from by multinational corporations (MNCs) particularly oil, the number one commodity of the world and cause of climate change, continue to be jeopardized because of the lack of a clear international legal framework that can protect them and potentially hold multinationals accountable for their actions. These practices are causing not only environmental issues to the indigenous and surrounding communities, but climate change is in fact, the real human rights issue of the 21^st century and it affects everyone. By using …

Environmental Justice Reimagined Through Human Security And Post-Modern Ecological Feminism: A Neglected Perspective On Climate Change, Linda A. Malone

Fordham International Law Journal

The modern feminist and environmental movements were given birth in the same decade, and both reached a critical developmental stage in the 1980s. The full extent of their relevance to each other was briefly explored in the 1990s in very limited legal literature, consisting primarily of three articles that began to explore the concept of ecological feminism, or “ecofeminism.” Since the mid-1990s, however, ecofeminism has largely been left to examination and study by sociologists with virtually no contribution from legal academics or environmental professionals. The point of this study is to demonstrate that it would be a missed opportunity not …

Civil Society Contributions To Inclusive Climate Cooperation, Elizabeth Burleson

Fordham International Law Journal

Engagement among States and decentralized, creative problem solvers can enhance the requisite cooperation to pick up the pace of solution implementation to match the rate of climate change. Global organizing capability, information sharing and innovation have enmeshed governments and civil society into new governance relationships. Technology has facilitated this process for many, but the hardware and software that has led to social networking is only a fraction of the story of dynamic, inclusive cooperation. Citizen sector actors hold both destructive and constructive capacity exceeding that of any previous era. While many remain overwhelmed by the scope of climate instability, members …

Filling The Gaps In Canada's Climate Change Strategy: "All Litigation, All The Time…"?, Cameron Jefferies

Fordham International Law Journal

This Article is organized into five parts. Part I situates Canada’s climate change experience. In Part II, Canada’s regulatory response to climate change and its gaps are positioned within a troubling ongoing federal retreat from the environmental arena that seems to favor resource extraction and export. Parts III to V discuss the possibility for increased human rights-based climate litigation in the Canadian context—even in light of past failures—and consider an emerging public law approach. The Article concludes by commenting on the prospect of the climate change problem playing out in Canadian courts.

Environmental Justice Reimagined Through Human Security And Post-Modern Ecological Feminism: A Neglected Perspective On Climate Change, Linda A. Malone

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Changing Climates, Fading Cultures: A Study Of Place Annihilation As A Result Of Climate Change, Brooks A. Bolsinger

Honors Projects

Abstract

Research has established the phenomenon of cultural annihilation: the notion that the members of cultures can perceive a sense of loss when the geography upon which their culture is built undergoes a dramatic destructive change. This review examines prevailing literature to uncover existing and expected ways that climate change will impact cultures, specifically damaging the shared history that is infused into the geographic traits that make up a culture’s homeland. It examines three case studies - Native American tribes in Alaska, the island nation of the Maldives, and the country of the Netherlands – to highlight vulnerabilities that these …

Damage Control: Adapting Transportation To A Changing Climate, Trip Pollard

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Sea level rise, extreme weather events, and other problems caused or exacerbated by a changing climate present the most serious long-term threats to transportation worldwide. Recent disasters have carried a hefty price tag, and forecasts call for more frequent and more costly damage to infrastructure and disruptions of services that are central to trade, jobs, food access, national security, health, and personal mobility. It is essential to reduce greenhouse gas pollution to lessen future damage to transportation; however, even if emissions are cut drastically at this point, the impacts of a changing climate will continue for decades. As a result, …

Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2015: 13th Annual (Abstracts), Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium Of Portland/Vancouver

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

The UERC is a consortium of people from various universities and colleges, state and federal agencies, local governments, non-profit organizations and independent professionals interested in supporting urban ecosystem research and creating an information-sharing network of people that collect and use ecological data in the Portland/Vancouver area.

UERC Mission Statement:

To advance the state of the science of urban ecosystems and improve our understanding of them, with a focus on the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan region, by fostering communication and collaboration among researchers, managers and citizens at academic institutions, public agencies, local governments, non-profit organizations, and other interested groups.

The principal organizers span …

Implementing (Environmental) Justice: Equity And Performance In California's S.B. 535, Meagan Tokunaga

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis evaluates the equity performance of a recent state environmental justice policy, California’s Senate Bill 535 (S.B. 535). “Environmental justice” refers to the disproportionate environmental harm imposed on low-income and minority communities. S.B. 535 uses competitive grants to provide funding to these communities. The research is centered around two questions: (1) to what extent has S.B. 535 experienced successful implementation in its first year of operation, and (2) how can policy actors improve implementation while balancing performance and equity goals? In regards to the first question, I utilize a case study of the policy’s implementation within 17 local governments …

Environmental Governance In The Carbon Economy: Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions In California's Cap-And-Trade Program, Patrick M. Bigger

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Since 2006 California has been pursuing the most ambitious climate change policy in the United States, implementing a suite of greenhouse gas reduction measures ranging from automobile refrigerant disposal rules to clean energy standards for electric power utilities. The most significant of these measures is the creation of a cap‐and‐trade program. Through this program, regulators seek to create a knowable price‐signal to incentivize emissions reductions among polluters. Using a suite of ethnographic methods, this dissertation looks at the people, ideas, and institutions that have been mobilized in the creation of California’s cap‐and‐ trade program.

Substantively, the dissertation engages with three …

Innovation Or Inundation: The Political Economy Of Sea Level Rise In The San Francisco Bay Area, Nicole Quilliam

Pomona Senior Theses

Sea levels are rising around the world due to climate change and the rise in greenhouse gas emissions causing an environmental climate crisis. This thesis paper analyzes how sea level rise is affecting the San Francisco Bay Area. It walks through the geographical factors contribute to more severe impacts of sea level rise, potential adaptation strategies, and discusses the economic impacts and political challenges of protecting communities from sea level rise.

Ridazz, Wrenches, And Wonks: A Revolution On Two Wheels Rolls Into Los Angeles, Donald Parker Strauss

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

How can we make cities more livable? Los Angeles, in particular, is a notably challenging place to live. For many, it is hard to see Los Angeles—city or county—as anything other than a huge, sprawling, and some would say placeless place. Los Angeles is known by many as the place that tore up more than 1,000 miles of streetcar lines to make way for millions of cars and hundreds of miles of freeways. Because of this, Los Angeles is also known for its poor air quality and jammed freeways. Those who live in Los Angeles know that it can be …