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Apathy And Concern Over The Future Habitability Of Earth: An Introductory College Assignment Of Forecasting Co2 In The Earth’S Atmosphere, Benjamin J. Burger

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Non-science, first year regional undergraduate students from rural Utah communities participated in an online introductory geology course and were asked to forecast the rise of CO₂ in the Earth’s atmosphere. The majority of students predicted catastrophic rise to 5,000-ppm sometime over the next 3,100 years, resulting in an atmosphere nearly uninhabitable to human life. However, the level of concern the students exhibited in their answers was not directly proportional with their timing in their forecasted rise of CO₂. This study showcases the importance of presenting students with actual data and using data to develop student forecasted models. …

The Effect Of Warming On Wind Speed And Potential Wind Power In Iceland, Alexei Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Climate change is causing a shift in the temperature and pressure gradient between the Arctic and the Equator, with the Arctic warming at a faster rate than the Equator. This shift has the potential to alter the seasonal wind speeds in the Northern Hemisphere, which could in turn affect the wind power density potential. In this study, a wind model was created to predict future wind speeds and wind power density for 6 weather stations in Iceland. According to the model, winter wind speeds and wind power density potential will either stay the same or increase slightly (0 – 4%), …

Parasite Biodiversity Faces Extinction And Redistribution In A Changing Climate, Colin J. Carlson, Kevin R. Burgio, Eric R. Dougherty, Anna J. Phillips, Veronica M. Bueno, Christopher F. Clements, Giovanni Castaldo, Tad Dallas, Carrie A. Cizauskas, Graeme S. Cumming, Jorge Doña, Nyeema C. Harris, Roger Jovani, Sergey Mironov, Oliver C. Muellerklein, Heather C. Proctor, Wayne M. Getz

Faculty Publications

Climate change is a well-documented driver of both wildlife extinction and disease emergence, but the negative impacts of climate change on parasite diversity are undocumented. We compiled the most comprehensive spatially explicit data set available for parasites, projected range shifts in a changing climate, and estimated extinction rates for eight major parasite clades. On the basis of 53,133 occurrences capturing the geographic ranges of 457 parasite species, conservative model projections suggest that 5 to 10% of these species are committed to extinction by 2070 from climate-driven habitat loss alone. We find no evidence that parasites with zoonotic potential have a …

Water, Water, Nowhere: Adapting Water Rights For A Changing Climate, Caleb Hall

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Global Scenarios Of Urban Density And Its Impacts On Building Energy Use Through 2050, Michail Fragkias

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although the scale of impending urbanization is well-acknowledged, we have a limited understanding of how urban forms will change and what their impact will be on building energy use. Using both top-down and bottom-up approaches and scenarios,we examine building energy use for heating and cooling. Globally, the energy use for heating and cooling by the middle of the century will be between 45 and 59 exajoules per year (corresponding to an increase of 7–40% since 2010). Most of this variability is due to the uncertainty in future urban densities of rapidly growing cities in Asia and particularly China. Dense urban …

How Governmental Greenhouse Gas Science Has Been Weathered Through Time And Why It Matters, Christopher Apple

STAR Program Research Presentations

Global consumption of materials and energy is accelerating. The rate of plant and animal species extinction is accelerating. On a finite Earth with a growing population, current consumption cannot continue sustainably. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) tell us an important part of this story. The Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network, managed by scientists at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, is the largest greenhouse gas analysis network in the world. It has been shaped by scientific questions, stagnant funding despite rises in research costs, and the task of understanding how the Earth system will respond to a changing climate. The Network began by …

Taking Climate Action, Lydia Marcus

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And Health: Risk Awareness Can Improve Patient Care, Julia Sanabria, Leslie A. Duram

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Disappearing Wetland Act: Climate Change, Development, And Protection, Jessica P. Doughty

Student Theses 2015-Present

Wetlands are the providers of ecosystem services and important local and national economic resources. Despite the services provided by these ecosystems, the importance of wetlands are often overlooked and they are filled in to make way for development, polluted, and degraded. These habitats are further damaged by the effects of climate change. This thesis focuses on wetlands in the Northeastern United States, using the Long Island Sound as a case study to explore the devastating effects of development and climate change on wetlands. In this thesis, I use environmental history, economics, and government policy to explore the importance of wetland …

Reduced Phytoplankton And Zooplankton Diversity Associated With Increased Cyanobacteria In Lake Champlain, Usa, Katelyn A. Bockwoldt, Emily R. Nodine, Timothy B. Mihuc, Angela D. Shambaugh, Jason D. Stockwell

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

Anthropogenic inputs of nutrients threaten water quality around the world, causing eutrophication and altering phytoplankton communities. In freshwater systems, certain physiochemical conditions, including high TP, low TN:TP, and warm temperatures, can lead to problematic cyanobacteria blooms. Cyanobacteria can decrease phytoplankton diversity and phytoplankton diversity has been positively linked to zooplankton diversity, suggesting that cyanobacteria may have indirect negative effects on zooplankton diversity. Using monitoring data from Lake Champlain, we tested three hypotheses: (1) cyanobacteria density and phytoplankton diversity are inversely related; (2) phytoplankton diversity and zooplankton diversity are positively related; and by extension (3) cyanobacteria density and zooplankton diversity are …

Summer Precipitation Occurrence Effect On Two Passerine Species In Thule, Greenland, Sara E. Baugh

Celebration of Learning

Climate change is occurring at a faster rate in the Arctic than the rest of the globe, causing temperature rises at twice the rate of the global average and increased summer precipitation in the form of rain. These precipitation events are predicted to affect migratory bird species that breed throughout the Arctic. Increased occurrence of heavy rainstorms indirectly affect bird populations by impacting distribution and abundance of food supply, and directly by increasing mortality rates of juveniles. Studies conducted on bird species throughout the low Arctic regions; have shown that it is not the total precipitation of a breeding season …

Financial Assessment Of Agricultural Lands At Risk To Coastal Salt Marsh Migration In Relation To Climate Change Induced Sea Level Rise In Dorchester County, Maryland, Jewell Porter

Sustainability and Social Justice

The increasing rate and effects of sea level rise is a major environmental concern in the Chesapeake Bay. This paper evaluates the impacts of rising sea level on coastal salt marshes and the surrounding agricultural lands at risk in Dorchester County, Maryland to build off existing environmental monitoring work performed by NOAA’s Sentinel Site Program. The results of the spatial analysis were used to estimate monetary benefits to incentivize farmers to protect these marshes by making their land available for marsh migration to occur. Looking at three scenarios of sea level rise and marsh migration, grain crops (corn, soybeans, and …

Water-Based Strategies For Making The Small Beverage Industry In New England More Sustainable And Climate-Change Resilient, Michelle Kozminski

Sustainability and Social Justice

Water is a vital resource to the ecosystem, human life, and the economy. However, it is a limited resource that is threatened by a changing climate. The small beverage industry relies on large amounts of high quality water and is therefore at risk due to the uncertainties of climate change. This paper explores how the small beverage industry in New England approaches water to ensure that the industry is sustainable in the long term. A water threatened brewery in California, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, is used to determine “best practices.” Three small beverage companies in New England are examined to …

Public Opinion On Renewable Energy: The Nexus Of Climate, Politics, And Economy, Shawn K. Olson-Hazboun

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation research examines the factors underlying public opinion toward renewable energy in the United States. U.S. citizens in general support the continued development of renewable energy, yet opposition has been widely observed toward a variety of renewable energy facilities at the local level. Previous research on public responses to renewable energy has focused on one or a small number of communities experiencing renewable energy development. In this research I examine public views more broadly, in communities with and without renewable energy development, and also using nationally representative opinion data. I ask the following questions:

What local experiences influence how …

Scene Of A Changing Climate, Mona Nazeri Dr

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

For the last 500,000 years, the world climate has been in transition from warm to cold and vice versa. However, recent human-caused climate change has increased the rate of change in extreme and average climate conditions. Globally, people are facing higher than average temperatures as well as accelerated rates of drought and flooding. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC,) natural systems around the globe are being affected by regional climate change, mainly temperature increases. They IPCC found that 20-30% of plant and animal species are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if global average temperatures …

Dual Environmentalism: Demand Response Mechanisms In Wholesale And Retail Energy Markets, Sarah M. Main

Pace Environmental Law Review

This note argues that a dual jurisdictional approach to demand response programming is better suited to mitigate environmental harms than an “either-or” regulatory model. Through an exploration of FERC’s authority over wholesale demand response, state authority over retail-level demand response, and implications for electricity and capacity markets arising out of the Court’s decision in FERC v. EPSA, this note will offer effective legal mechanisms for mitigating environmental costs, while fostering environmental benefits. The next section of this note analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of state and federal regulatory approaches to demand response in isolation.

Based on this assessment, this note …

Is Addressing Climate Change Women's Work? Political Leadership And The Climate, Isabella Soparkar

Environmental Studies Honors Projects

In an era when climate science is politically controversial, recent polling data shows that American women are more concerned about climate change than their male counterparts. This research uses both voting record analysis and qualitative interviews with legislators to examine whether the observed gender gap on climate change persists among elected political leaders. Linear and logistic regression results show no statistically significant climate change gender gap within legislative voting behavior, and interviews suggest that though women may be more willing to collaborate on climate change policy than men, subtle gender differences are often overridden by partisanship. However, findings suggest that …

China: Avoiding Impediments To Successful Climate Change Mitigation, Molly Rose Van Engelenhoven

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This paper uses the Cultural Topography (CTOPs) methodology, an intelligence community standard which is used to avoid ethnocentric analysis and the dangerous practice of mirror imaging--projecting US culture on to another country rather than viewing the costs and benefits they face through their own cultural lens. CTOPs assess a country’s culture by examining four components of culture: identity, values, norms, and perceptual lens of an actor in conjunction with a specific issue of concern. This paper examines the internal culture of China, with the Chinese government as the key actor, to discover how to build effective policy to regulate air …

International Environmental Law And American Leadership, Chelsey Davidson

Student Publications

The purpose of this paper is to detail and explore both the ethical and pragmatic implications of aggressive climate change mitigation on a coordinated international level. Particularly, this paper attempts to assess the extent to which the leadership of the United States influences the relative success and failure of international agreements, and the agreements, structures and mechanisms themselves. A secondary assessment is the extent to which the United States has incurred additional responsibilities to mitigate beyond those shared by the world, from both a harm-based and special responsibilities standpoint. In this paper, I will ultimately argue that the United States …

Danger Below: Socal’S Dams Face Same Risks As Oroville, Char Miller, Frank Connor Lyles '17

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Contemporary And Future Characteristics Of Precipitation Indices In The Kentucky River Basin, Somsubhra Chattopadhyay, Dwayne R. Edwards, Yao Yu

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Climatic variability can lead to large-scale alterations in the hydrologic cycle, some of which can be characterized in terms of indices involving precipitation depth, duration and frequency. This study evaluated the spatiotemporal behavior of precipitation indices over the Kentucky River watershed for both the baseline period of 1986–2015 and late-century time frame of 2070–2099. Historical precipitation data were collected from 16 weather stations in the watershed, while future rainfall time-series were obtained from an ensemble of 10 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) global circulation models under two future emission pathways: Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5. Annual …

Susceptibility Of United States Ski Resorts To The Effects Of Climate Change, Greyson M. Butler

Atlas of Maine

Across large regions of North America, warming global temperatures are expected to detrimentally reduce mountain snowpack accumulation and duration during the winter months. Mountain resorts are reliant on snowpack to generate a significant portion of their income through the ski industry. By 2100, experts have predicted that many alpine ski resorts could lose up to 70% of natural snow cover, leaving many resorts needing to turn to expensive, artificial snowmaking to supplement natural snowfall.

This study attempts to model the potential impact climate change will have on US ski resorts’ abilities to generate snowpack during the winter months in 2070 …

Shifts In Thermal Habitats In The Gulf Of Maine Under Climate Change: A Case Study On American Lobster, Xinyi Zheng

Honors Theses

The rapid ocean warming observed in and predicted for the Gulf of Maine (GoM) raises uncertainties in the future distribution of American lobster (Homarus americanus). The location of lobsters is crucial to the long-term sustainability as well as management of Maine lobster fishery. This study provides a literature review of lobsters’ thermal preferences in the summer lobstering season and analyzes high-resolution sea surface temperature data in Geographic Information System in order to predict the changes in thermal habitats in the GoM under different climate change scenarios. The results show a projected decrease in cooler thermal habitats (11-15 °C) …

Climate Change Crisis: Prescribing Alternative Economic Policy Using An Austrian Framework, Elina N. Mcgill

Honors Program Theses

This paper reviews the literature surrounding climate change adaptation and mitigation to assess the possible contributions and limitations of heterodox economics to climate change policy. Through interdisciplinary research between economics and environmental issues, this paper aims to stress the importance of utilizing heterodox schools of economics to create more pragmatic and dynamic policy. The secondary aim is to use Austrian frameworks to contribute to the construction of feasible, efficient, and equitable climate change policy. This paper used qualitative and textual analysis of the Austrian schools of economics conceptualize possible policy responses to climate change. Research found that the Austrian prescription …

An Analysis Of Long-Term Effects Of Climate Change And Socioeconomic Activities On Grassland Productivity Of Inner Mongolia, Siyu Fan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, researchers have recognized the complexity of the interactions between the ecological system and the economic development of human society. However, the complicated relationships overwhelm traditional statistical procedures and require an innovative approach to investigate their dynamics. We proposed this study to provide a unique perspective in analyzing the long-term causal relationships between the grassland productivity, climate change, and socioeconomic development of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) of China. Our attempt began with acquiring remotely sensed satellite imagery, climatic variations, and aggregated annual reports of the socio-economy of the IMAR in vegetation growing seasons for 15 years. The …

Twenty-First Century Climate Change And Submerged Aquatic Vegetation In A Temperate Estuary: The Case Of Chesapeake Bay, Thomas M. Arnold, Richard C. Zimmerman, Katharina A.M. Engelhardt, J. Court Stevenson

OES Faculty Publications

Introduction: The Chesapeake Bay was once renowned for expansive meadows of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). However, only 10% of the original meadows survive. Future restoration effortswill be complicated by accelerating climate change, including physiological stressors such as a predicted mean temperature increase of 2-6°C and a 50-160% increase in CO2 concentrations.

Outcomes: As the Chesapeake Bay begins to exhibit characteristics of a subtropical estuary, summer heat waves will become more frequent and severe. Warming alone would eventually eliminate eelgrass (Zostera marina) from the region. It will favor native heat-tolerant species such as widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima) while facilitating colonization by …

Understanding Community Character As A Socio-Ecological Framework To Enhance Local-Scale Adaptation: An Interdisciplinary Case Study From Rural Northwest Connecticut, Joanna Wozniak-Brown

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Around the world, municipalities are facing new challenges, not the least of which is climate change. This is especially true for rural communities that, for a variety of reasons, will be disproportionately affected by the climatic changes and accompanying policies or programs.

This dissertation, written in manuscript-style, integrates climate change and social-ecological scholarship to address the unique character of rural communities, to communicate the complexity of rural identity through the term "rural character"; and to empower rural communities to incorporate adaptation strategies into their daily municipal operations and planning.

Specifically, this dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: What is …

Projections Of Temperature-Related Excess Mortality Under Climate Change Scenarios, Antonio Gasparrini, Yurning Guo, Francesa Sera, Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera, Veronika Huber, Shilu Tong, Micheline De Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho, Paulo Saldiva, Eric Lavigne, Patricia Correa, Nicolas Valdes Ortega, Haidong Kan, Samuel Osorio, Jan Kysely, Ales Urban, Jauni Jaakkola, Niilo Ryti, Mathilde Pascal, Patrick J. Goodman, Ariana Zeka, Paola Michelozzi, Matteo Scortichini, Masahiro Hashizume, Yasushi Honda, Magali Hurtado-Diaz, Julio Cruz, Xerxes Seposo, Ho Kim, Aurelio Tobias, Carmen Iniguez, Bertil Forsberg, Daniel Astrom, Martina Ragettli, Yue Guo, Chang-Fu Wu, Antonella Zaobetti, Joel Schwartz, Michelle Bell, Tran Ngoc Dang, Duong Do Van, Clare Heaviside, Sotiris Vardoulakis, Shakoor Hajat, Andy Haines, Ben Armstrong

Articles

Summary Background Climate change can directly affect human health by varying exposure to non-optimal outdoor temperature. However, evidence on this direct impact at a global scale is limited, mainly due to issues in modelling and projecting complex and highly heterogeneous epidemiological relationships across different populations and climates. Methods We collected observed daily time series of mean temperature and mortality counts for all causes or non-external causes only, in periods ranging from Jan 1, 1984, to Dec 31, 2015, from various locations across the globe through the Multi-Country Multi-City Collaborative Research Network. We estimated temperature–mortality relationships through a two-stage time series …

Limited Evidence For Co2-Related Growth Enhancement In Northern Rocky Mountain Pinus Contorta Populations: Trends In Growth And Intrinsic Water-Use Efficiency Across Climate Gradients, Charlotte C. Reed

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Forests sequester large amounts of carbon annually; however, the degree to which enhanced forest productivity is due to more conducive climate or CO₂ fertilization remains uncertain. Increasing atmospheric CO₂ may enhance photosynthesis and/or decrease stomatal conductance thereby enhancing intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE). While increasing iWUE has been observed in most trees globally, this increase does not necessarily translate into greater growth. This study aims to evaluate whether responses of radial growth and iWUE to increasing CO₂ vary across climatic gradients. To investigate interactions between climate and CO₂ and their impacts on tree physiology and growth, …

The Colorado River Revisited, Jason Anthony Robison

University of Colorado Law Review

Fifty years ago, former Stanford Law School Dean Charles Meyers published The Colorado River, 19 STAN. L. REV. 1 (1966), arguably the most famous piece of legal scholarship ever written on this vital water source and the complex body of laws governing its flows-colloquially, the "Law of the River." That piece and a companion, The Colorado River: The Treaty with Mexico, 19 STAN. L. REV. 367 (1967), offered seminal accounts of the legal histories, doctrinal features, and unresolved perplexities of the Law of the River's international and interstate allocation framework. Five decades later, between thirty-five and forty million U.S. residents …