Digital Commons Network^™

Full Issue, Kritika Kultura

Kritika Kultura

No abstract provided.

Tracking Trauma: German Genocides At Home And Abroad, Daniel Bendix, Hangula Werner

Kritika Kultura

This graphic story is set on a farm in Southern Namibia in the present. The white owner of the farm, Jacobs, treats the Nama farm worker Frederick badly – to the disapproval of the latter’s teenage daughter Katrina. The farm owner’s daughter Frida returns home from a study trip to Cape Town, where she found out that her great-grandmother was Jewish and had escaped the Shoah. She speaks to Frederick about this, and he shares with her that his own great-grandmother, who had worked as a servant for Frida’s great-grandmother, was a survivor of the German genocide committed against the …

The Posthuman Evolution Of A Hazardous Transcorporeality: Tracy K. Smith’S Poetics Of Water From “Thirst” To Wade In The Water, Bahareh Azad

Kritika Kultura

This study analyzes Tracy K. Smith’s poetry through the lens of ecological materialism and Stacy Alaimo’s concept of transcorporeality, which emphasizes the fluidity and vitality of bodies and their interconnectedness. Tracing the evolution of Smith’s ethicopolitical concerns, I explore the elemental and transcorporeal forces in her work that create a poetics of fluidity. Additionally, I argue that Smith’s poetic trajectory marks a significant shift away from humanist frameworks, advancing toward a politically charged conception of Black marginality. By examining Smith’s poem “Watershed” in relation to Muriel Rukeyser’s The Book of the Dead, this study investigates the development of a posthuman …

Faculty Authors 2025: College Of Arts And Sciences, Erin Sheffner

Faculty Authors and Sponsored Grant Recipients Reception Bibliographies

An annotated bibliography compiled by the University Library of the publications featured by the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty at the annual Faculty Authors and Creators Reception at Governors State University.

When Business Meets Badge: Corporate America's Hand In The Crackdown Against Dissent In Cop City, Ariana Crepeau

Expo Student Presentations

2025 Spring Expo Poster Presentation

• Social & Behavioral Sciences

Turning Farm Waste Into Energy: Pragmatic Approaches For Cleaner Midwestern American Communities, Rebecca Gaisie

Selected or Submitted Student Research Papers/Projects

Mismanagement of farm waste in the Midwest of the United States has resulted in significant methane emissions, water contamination, and public health concerns. The present manure management rules are still inconsistent, underfunded, and insufficient to motivate individuals to behave in a way that benefits the environment, despite increasing concerns about the environment. This policy study investigates anaerobic digestion as a potential means to convert waste into energy that could support rural and environmental development. Some of the problems with the federal and state legislation examined in this study under an EPI framework are a lack of incentives, inadequate technical support, …

Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Jobs, And Governance In The Age Of Ai, Todd Bruns

Bruns 2024

No abstract provided.

Examining The Effect Of Climate Change Denialism In American Christianity On International Climate Policy, Hope Mcbride

Selected Honors Theses

While 53% of Americans say anthropogenic climate change is happening, only 32% of American evangelical Protestants share that belief (Alper). Key reasons for this gap include the values and political affiliations held by religious Americans. Historically, there have been dissenting opinions on the role of Christianity in global warming, but ultimately data have demonstrated that the opinions of American Christians can influence major global political decisions, such as President Trump’s executive order pulling the United States out of the keystone Paris Agreement.

The Grass Ain’T Greener: Lessons On Accessibility For Country Bumpkins And City Slickers, Molly E. Thompson

Publications and Research

This fictional work tells the story of two disabled young adults—long-distance best friends Savannah and Heather—as they navigate the accessibility challenges of their respective environments. Savannah, the daughter of rural farmers who is frustrated with the inaccessibility and isolation of her hometown, moves to study in the city. Meanwhile, Heather, a city dweller, moves to a rural area to pursue their dream of being a park ranger. While they both hope to escape the barriers of their home regions, both friends find new barriers in their travels, such as city construction, lack of rural resources, and attitudinal barriers. Soon, Savannah …

Fordham Lawyer, No. 24 - Spring 2025, Fordham Law Alumni Association, Fordham Law School

Fordham Lawyer

Fordham Lawyer magazine was first published in 1988 and continued through 2004. It returned in 2011 under Dean Michael M. Martin. The magazine shines a spotlight on faculty research, the Law School community, and the accomplishments of our alumni. No issues were published between 2004 and 2011.

Justicia Ambiental Y Extractivismo: Un Análisis Del Conflicto Petrolero Offshore En Mar Del Plata, Lily Hui

Argentina: Social Movements and Human Rights

No abstract provided.

New York's Constitutional Guarantee Of Environmental Rights, Katrina Fischer Kuh, Nicholas A. Robinson, Scott Fein

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

New York is embarking on the interpretation and implementation of potentially transformative constitutional reform, the addition of Article I, § 19 to New York’s Bill of Rights, which provides that “Each person shall have the right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” To ensure the fulsome and effective implementation of Article I, § 19, and give effect to the intent of the legislators and voters who adopted it, it will be important to provide substantive guidance to courts, government actors, and litigants in the interpretation and application of the new constitutional text. In Pennsylvania and other states, …

Act Tdm-Cp (Transportation Demand Management-Certified Professional) Exam Study Guide Domain I For Preparing Tdm-Cp Exam Candidates, Sara J. Hendricks

Research Reports

Reducing traffic congestion while improving mobility and access will require a combination of coordinated initiatives that include the use of transportation demand management strategies. TDM is a growing transportation specialization that needs more practitioners with education and training in the development, planning, application, and evaluation of TDM programs. TDM is the set of strategies that influences travelers’ decisions to travel by choice of travel mode, trip timing, travel frequency, as well as route, facility, and destination selection. The Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT), the premier international professional organization for TDM professionals, established the TDM-CP professional certification in 2020, to elevate …

From Trend To Trash: Unraveling The Waste Issue In Fast Fashion And Its Impact On Ghana, Rowan Kilbridge

Student Theses 2015-Present

Fast fashion, with its rapid production cycles and low-cost clothing, is significantly worsening the global waste crisis by driving overconsumption and excessive garment disposal. This thesis examines how fast fashion's business model contributes to the escalating problems of textile waste, microplastics, and chemical pollution, with a specific focus on Ghana. Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive overview of the industry's impact on Ghana’s ecosystem services, supported by both quantitative and qualitative data. Chapter 2 offers a historical analysis of fast fashion, highlighting the evolution of consumer culture and the increasing emphasis on overconsumption driven by marketing strategies and the constant demand …

Feeding The Fire: The Feedback Loop Created By Mass Incarceration And Climate Change And Why Abolition Is The Only Way To A Stable Climate, Mandy Mericle

North Carolina Civil Rights Law Review

No abstract provided.

Old Gills Breathe New Life: A Recent Fish Protection Case Constitutionalized North Carolina Citizens’ Environmental Rights, Julia Rhine

North Carolina Civil Rights Law Review

No abstract provided.

Caught In The Middle: The Geopolitics Of The Visegrad Group’S Just Transition, Jack Helms

Switzerland: International Studies and Multilateral Diplomacy

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the former satellite states of Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary, together known as the Visegrad group, have found themselves at a geopolitical crossroads. After gaining independence, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia quickly ascended to pan-European alliances such as the European Union (EU) North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), dealing a geopolitical blow to Russia and setting the region up for integration with greater European geoeconomic grand strategy. Recent political movements in all four countries questioning Western leadership have imperiled one of the European Union’s signature long-term geoeconomic programs: reducing the continent’s reliance on fossil fuels. …

Peak Wokeness In Legal Scholarship: An Empirical Analysis Of Recent Trends In Progressive Topics, Michael Conklin

California Western Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Public Utility Regulation Of Dollar General, Olivia R. Sokos

West Virginia Law Review

As food insecurity persists across the country, few solutions have been proposed to address the lack of access to healthy food in rural regions. This Note explores whether public utilities regulation is a theoretical avenue for addressing rural food deserts. The contribution of this Note is to encourage the recognition of healthy food as a critical public good through a modern public utility lens and build solutions to inadequate food access in rural regions by considering the qualities unique to rural populations. One solution proposed herein is to apply a modern public utility framework to dollar stores, ensuring reliable and …

Traditions And Transitions: Intergenerational Family Relationships And Gender Roles In Appalachian Families, Abigail L. Belcher

Honors Theses

For hundreds of years the people of the Appalachian Mountains have come under scrutiny for their “backwards” and “outdated” customs. Often seen as inferior by the wider world, much nuance of Appalachian culture is overlooked and reduced to harmful stereotypes. Terms such as “hillbilly” or “redneck” serve to single out and label the people of Appalachia as “other.” Recent scholarship has taken to try and work around such stereotypes yet often fails to observe Appalachia through the eyes of its people, not generalized statistics. The practice of conducting and collecting Oral History serves to situate a select group of people’s …

Streamlining Wildlife Regulation, Robert L. Fischman

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

A recent burst of revisions in the bedrock regulations governing projects that may adversely affect wildlife represents a generational shift in policy. Streamlining federal decision -making drove much of this reform. Streamlining offers a path to address climate change without abandoning a longstanding commitment to wildlife conservation. The conservation community recognizes the need to build new infrastructure to reduce the rate of climate change through air emissions. The most urgent priority is decarbonizing the electrical ~rid through renewable energy generation and a better transmission network. Adaptation to the "new abnormal" of climate-driven environmental disruption demands federal approvals for a host …

Revitalizing Passenger Rail: A Sustainable Solution To Environmental And Public Health Challenges In South Carolina, Benjamin Cochran

Theses and Dissertations

South Carolina, a historic leader in passenger rail, has become a heavily vehicle-dependent state. As the population rapidly grows, so does the number of vehicles, vehicle miles traveled, and vehicle emissions, including the greenhouse gas pollutants carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and particulate matter (PM2.5), significantly contributing to air pollution and deteriorating health and environmental outcomes. Despite this, mass transit is nonexistent for the three largest cities in South Carolina, Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville, forcing residents and travelers to drive. This study evaluates the feasibility and the environmental, public health, environmental justice, and economic implications of a passenger rail …

Contributors

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

No abstract provided.

Quantitative Comparisons Of Three Colocated Air Samplers With Simultaneous Pm2.5 [Particulate Matter] Measurements, Emma G. Bollech, Abraham Orozco, Christopher Iceman

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

The quality of the air that we breathe has tremendous impacts on our health; bad air quality can lead to short-term eye, nose, and throat irritation, and long-term chronic respiratory conditions. It is important to monitor air quality and understand what metrics indicate potential hazards, in attempts to better measure the healthiness of communities and indirectly its’ individuals. Not all air sensors are calibrated to measure metrics the same, and this study will compare values across air sensors via the PM2.5 air quality standard. In this study we focus on measuring particulate matter – which can come from dust kicked …

Labor And Environment Entwined: A Radical Green New Deal And Just Transition In Appalachia, Anne Marie Lofaso, Nicholas F. Stump

West Virginia Law Review

In this Article, Professor Lofaso and Professor Stump propose a genuinely transformative Green New Deal and Just Transition in Appalachia. The Article opens by tracing the long history of the Appalachian labor and environmental movements. Next, the Article interrogates the common contention that the Appalachian environmental and labor movements are opposed. While this contention has substantial truth, more complex forces have been at work in the region. Fossil fuel industry elites, for instance, have wielded exaggerated “jobs versus environment” rhetoric to maximize profits and quash emergent solidarities among local workers, residents, and activists. This Article contends that a key solution …

Lobbying For Our Lives: A Comprehensive Analysis Of The Impact Of Restrictive Non-Profit Lobbying Rules On The Progression Of Climate Change Legislation, Natalia Akopian

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Lobbying is a powerful tool that allows interest groups to influence lawmakers and shape policy decisions. However, the ability to effectively lobby is not evenly distributed among stakeholders. Generally, private businesses face minimal restrictions on lobbying while tax-exempt organizations, particularly non-profits advocating for environmental policies, operate under strict federal limitations on lobbying activities and expenditures. This structural disparity has created an uneven playing field where corporate interests, such as the fossil fuel industry, wield disproportionate influence over climate policy. As a result, climate-friendly legislation often struggles to gain traction despite the public’s growing concern over environmental issues.

This note examines …

Epigenetics, Preconception Tort Liability, And Public Health, Peter Sie

UC Law Journal

Epigenetics is an emerging science that studies how our behavior and environment can change the function of our genes without changing our genetic code. These changes can pass on to our children and grandchildren, for better or for worse. Epigenetic knowledge could change our understanding of human biology and individual responsibility. However, it is also ripe for misunderstanding. Commercial entities seek to capitalize on the hype to sell snake oil under the “epigenetic” label. In the popular press, reporters dramatize limited studies to create sensational headlines, often blaming parents for causing epigenetic harms to their children.

If this attitude toward …

Policy Pathways To Energy Transition: A Comparative Perspective On Portugal And The Netherlands, Anna Atticks

Portugal: Sustainability and Environmental Justice

This research examines the implementation of European Union (EU) directives—specifically, the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD), the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), and the Renewable Energy Sources Directive (RED)—in Portugal and the Netherlands. While both countries operate under the jurisdiction of the EU, adopting necessary EU climate mandates, Portugal and the Netherlands implement unique national strategies to achieve the relevant targets. Specifically, each country’s strategy is primarily shaped by its geographical location, socioeconomic characteristics, and institutional capacity. Utilizing the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework and two economic theories, including the Pigouvian Taxation Theory and the Porter Hypothesis, this study assesses how fiscal instruments, …

Enhancing Urban Water Drainage In Avenida Da Liberdade: Evaluating Green Spaces And Sustainable Infrastructure In Lisbon’S Master Drainage Plan, Eva Asfahani

Portugal: Sustainability and Environmental Justice

Lisbon’s Plano Geral de Drenagem de Lisboa (PGDL) represents a major step toward modernizing the city’s drainage system in response to growing environmental pressures. This paper explores how sustainable infrastructure, particularly nature-based solutions such as Green-Blue Infrastructure, are incorporated into the PGDL, with a focus on the Avenida da Liberdade area. Through a combination of literature review, fieldwork, and interviews with municipal officials, the research evaluates the environmental, economic, and social benefits of integrating decentralized, sustainable drainage systems alongside traditional gray infrastructure. Findings show that while the PGDL makes important progress in reducing flood risk and improving water quality, spatial …

Sacred Path, Shared Burden: Pilgrim Perspectives On Sustainability And Impact On The Camino De Santiago, Ella S. Hubbard

Portugal: Sustainability and Environmental Justice

An unconventional form of tourism, the Camino de Santiago is a religious pilgrimage that takes tourists through diverse terrains across both rural and urban areas of Spain and Portugal, culminating at the Santiago de Compostela Archcathedral Basilica in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. With growing popularity in recent years, pilgrims’ environmental footprint and their impact on local communities have become more noticeable (Whitaker, 2025). The objective of this paper is to investigate the environmental consciousness of contemporary pilgrims and how they perceive their impact on local communities. The research specifically focuses on the perspectives of pilgrims on the Portuguese Coastal Route …