Digital Commons Network^™

Reflections: Indigenous Artists On Socio-Ecological Issues, Yanela Cortes-Orozco

Art 525/Art History 5290 Papers

No abstract provided.

The Oval, 2023

The Oval

This issue includes creative work from undergraduate students at the University of Montana.

Southern Adventist University Commencement Program May 2023, Southern Adventist University

Commencement Programs

Program for Southern Adventist University Spring 2023 graduation. The commencement service took place on May 7, 2023 at 9 am and 1 pm in Iles Physical Education Center.

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet May 2023, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The May 1, 2023 Monthly packet includes the May agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held April 3, 2023.

Charlie's, Walter Medcraft

The Oval

No abstract provided.

Justice, Resilience, And Disruptive Histories: A South Florida Case Study, Craig (Tony) Anthony Arnold, Frank Bencomo-Suarez, Pierce Stevenson, Elijah Beau Eisert

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Achieving Climate Justice Through Land Back: An Overview Of Tribal Dispossession, Land Return Efforts, And Practical Mechanisms For #Landback, Vanessa Racehorse, Anna Hohag

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Boomtowns - Mirage Of Paradise: An Investigation Of Urban Typologies In The U.S.’ Largest Energy Corridor, Tabitha L. Kelly

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Boomtowns have historically been a vernacular urban typology found in resource-extracting territories across the globe. The Permian Basin in West Texas is a territory with numerous petrochemical clusters extracting, refining, and transporting fossil fuels as part of a dense extraction and distribution network. This work aims to (1) locate boomtown territories, and (2) identify the urban elements of boomtowns to classify this typology based on site-specific studies in the era of anthropogenic climate change. Methodologically, a series of geospatial analysis tools are applied to study the morphology of four West Texas cities. The identified elements of boomtowns serve as a …

Leveraging Housing Programs: Ensuring That Food Access Investments Do Not Displace People, Heather Latino

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In September 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration convened a White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health (“conference”). Among the specific strategies outlined by the Administration is a directive that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) “increase access to neighborhood markets, grocery stores, farmers’ markets, urban gardens, food incubators, and/or the conversion of vacant buildings into food hubs. . . .” While some may celebrate the Administration’s commitment to investing in low-income and underserved communities, others fear that these forms of intervention and reinvestment may worsen current disparities. Incentives for renovating or constructing local grocery stores have been criticized …

The Landscape Does Not Care It Is A Landscape: A Utopian Pessimist Journey In Kentucky., Shachaf Polakow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

These thesis and exhibition, invite the viewers to travel through different places in Central and Eastern Kentucky. The region’s landscape, like many other American landscapes, is often known to the public through the settler colonial lens—a lens that ignores Indigenous peoples’ history in the region. The work in the exhibition is a response to landscape art's history and its complicity with American settler colonialism- art that was recruited to create a new identity for the settlers and for the country from the beginning of the American Colonial Project. Landscape art was a crucial part of this effort, presenting the land …

Connecting Eastern And Western Massachusetts With High Speed Rail, Mary Piecewicz, An Pham

School of Professional Studies

No abstract provided.

Threading Memory: Performing Animacy In Text, Memorial, And Travel, Alex Keith Davenport

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the process of creating and touring a community-sourced memorial quilt for the anti-mountaintop removal activist Julia “Judy” Bonds, who died in 2011. As a practice, the project positions memorialization as a possible framework for social movements to utilize when faced with loss that allows for actions that honor members of the movement while still engaging in consciousness raising and organizing efforts. From a theoretical standpoint, the practice of memorialization—especially when it is intentionally designed to align with the practices/legacy of the person(s) being remembered—is also considered through an object oriented ontology perspective, providing insight into the affective …

Environmental Injustice In Fayetteville, Arkansas: Investigating Unjust And Racist Conditions In Fayetteville's Industrial Park, Chloe Devecsery

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Environmental racism refers to how minority neighborhoods are burdened with a disproportionate number of environmental hazards and pollution that lower the quality of life and create health disparities. Despite the growing awareness of the national and global problem, environmental injustice and racism can be found in nearly every place. There is little being done regarding policy, public awareness, and government action. The fight for environmental justice is still needed across America, in Arkansas, and in our community. This disciplinary-oriented capstone gives a brief overview of the environmental justice movement and uses publicly available maps and statistics from government and academic …

Analyzing The Effect Of Guided Nature Walks On Human Behavior, Jake Duffy

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Several studies have identified a gap in the understanding of what guided nature walks does for the individual person, and the extent to which guided nature walks and interpretive signs improves individual pro-environmental behavior and attitudes. This study surveyed over 300 people on their reactions to certain types of signs and the influence that those signs had on the individuals’ desire to return outdoors. Our results showed an overwhelmingly positive reaction to signs with ecological or systems-based information that could be utilized on their walk, while signs that taught an environmental or historical feature of that area were not appreciated …

Rails To Trails Program: Neighborhood Dynamics In Lincoln, Nebraska, Emma Mccormick

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

As cities increasingly move towards creating sustainable, equitable, climate-forward communities, city planners, advocates, and policymakers have begun to focus increasingly on improving access to greenspaces. Studies around the globe have documented the importance of greenspace for multiple individual, group, and community level outcomes. Simultaneously, extant research suggests that access to greenspaces frequently reflects social inequality in urban spaces, stratifying such access by race and socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods. However, few research projects have examined potential unintended consequences, such as contemporary housing issues like gentrification, that greenspaces can create for community infrastructure here in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Disability Justice In Higher Education: The Lived Experiences Of Disabled White Women Disability Services Directors, Emily Gaspar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Eight disabled white women disability services directors shared their experiences working in disability services in higher education. The ten principles of disability justice provided the framework for this interpretative phenomenological analysis. Individual interviews were used to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of the participants with specific focus on disability identity of the professionals working in disability services and how their identities inform their campus experiences, along with how their intersectional identities inform their disability identity. Participants were found to experience ableism and oppression, a broad spectrum of relationships, disability solidarity, disability disclosure, identity hierarchy, disability management and coping …

Opposition To Renewable Energy Facilities In The United States: May 2023 Edition, Matthew Eisenson

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Achieving lower carbon emissions in the United States will require developing a very large number of wind, solar, and other renewable energy facilities, as well as associated storage, distribution, and transmission, at an unprecedented scale and pace. Although host community members are often enthusiastic about the economic and environmental benefits of renewable energy facilities, local opposition often arises. This report updates and considerably expands two previous Sabin Center reports, published in September 2021 and March 2022, and documents local and state restrictions against, and opposition to, siting renewable energy projects for the period from 1995 to May 2023. Importantly, the …

Stakeholder Perceptions About Incorporating Externalities And Vulnerability Into Benefit–Cost Analysis Tools For Watershed Flood Risk Mitigation, Thomas H. Douthat, Fahmida Akhter, Rachelle Sanderson, Jerrod Penn

Faculty Publications

Multi-scalar climate hazards in watersheds and growing consideration regarding equity call for innovation in how agencies evaluate and prioritize mitigation and adaptation projects. Benefit–Cost Analysis (BCA) is one approach that is increasingly being applied to decision-making (i.e., FEMA BCA toolkit), but that has not been applied to watershed and equity-based flood management initiatives. This paper addresses this topic and presents a case study evaluating projects for watershed flood and climate mitigation projects by the Louisiana Watershed Initiative (Louisiana, USA). Through semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and practitioners, we found that BCA tool design must be embedded in the program and policy …

Building Community Resiliency Against Disasters, Zachary L. Doering

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Disasters impact people in many different places around the world. The impact to communities by disasters is shaped by their constructed vulnerability. The goal of this research project was to better understand how the vulnerability and resiliency of different communities was shaped at six different sites across the U.S. and to construct a collection of best practices to raise the resiliency of populations and locations in the face of many different forms of possible disasters in the future. These concepts and conclusions were drawn from internet research of the chosen sites. Phase 1 of the research determined noteworthy sites and …

An Ecofeminist Investigation Of How Research Experiences For Science Teachers Influence Their Conceptualization Of The Nature Of Science And Their Construction Of Storied Science Identities, Suzanne Poole Patzelt

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study investigated how the figured world of the RET, and other figured worlds of science that teacher’s experience, impacted their conceptions around the nature of science and their identities in science and as science teachers. The main premise behind RET programs is that by partnering science teachers with scientists as mentors, science teachers will glean insight about science they can bring back into their classrooms. Although there is a large body of literature around the impacts of RETs as sites of PD for science teachers, there are several gaps this study aimed to address, such as the use of …

Editorial Introduction: Punctuated Equilibrium, Multiple Streams, Environmental Governance, And Many More, Geoboo Song, Michael D. Jones, Holly L. Peterson, Aaron Smith-Walter, Melissa K. Merry, Gwen Arnold, Creed Tumlison, Rachael M. Moyer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Storm Surge Risk Assessment In Coastal Communities In The Rio Grande Valley: An Application Of Gis-Based Spatial Multicriteria Decision Analysis With Analytical Hierarchy Process, Dean Kyne

Sociology Faculty Publications

Cameron County, which is located in the Rio Grande Valley, maintains records of storm surges associated with noticeable property damage, fatalities, and injuries. This study investigates storm surge inundation risk in Cameron County using storm surge hazard datasets from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with American Community Survey 2019 block group datasets. Using a GIS-based spatial multicriteria decision analysis with an analytical hierarchy process method, the study estimates that storm surge water levels could be above 6.1 m (20 ft) in category 4 and 5 hurricane events, whereas about 37% of the county’s population (159,659 people) could be …

Investigating Consistency Of Landscape-Scale Green Infrastructure In Local Government Policy, Anna Wilson

All Theses

Planning for Climate Change is multifaceted and requires effort across all scales. Green Infrastructure networks of green spaces, natural lands, reserves, working lands, core habitat, riparian corridors, parks, open spaces, private conservations lands, and other complementary land uses work together to support life on earth and human existence through the ecosystem services provided. Clean air, clean water, carbon sequestration, food production, recreation, pollination, and spiritual and cultural benefits are only a few of the services that natural lands provide society. With climate change occurring due to human actions such as land use, development, and energy use, to name a few, …

Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Plan, Lauren Bruhl, Guinter Vogg, Gabe Hamburg, Shanu Sankara, Rohan Kansagra, Colin Page, Colette Vynerib

Sustainability Exchange Projects

Our team aimed to compile a greenhouse gas inventory for the St. Louis region. Partnered with OneSTL, Ameren, and the USGBC, we determined that St. Louis has a goal to reduce emissions 50% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and become carbon neutral in 2050. After analyzing the Ameren’s Integrated Resource Plan and factors such as the cost and scope of emissions, we researched funding sources to improve energy efficiency and increase renewables in the region. Our top funding sources are the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). From the IRA, we found the following credits most …

Living And Dying In 'Cancer Alley': Using Human Rights Law And Environmental Justice To Create A Litigation Framework For Marginalized Communities, Neeharika Sistu

Honors Scholar Theses

Cancer Alley, Louisiana is a poignant example of the intersection between environmental justice, legal harm, and human rights abuses. This thesis dissects the laws and policies underpinning the creation of Cancer Alley with special attention to how they constitute human rights abuses under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Then, by performing a comprehensive analysis of litigation surrounding environmental justice in Louisiana, this thesis scrutinizes the efficacy of environmental law in creating environmental justice and suggests the integration of international human rights law and environmental …

"A Wild Home For Wild Things": Forest Workers' Co-Creation Of Knowledge, Identity, And Place, Adrienne R. Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

This study addresses the relationship between environmental knowledge and place-based and occupational identities. I conducted fifty-five in-depth interviews with people involved in forest management in northern California. Participants belonged to one of three groups: logger- industrial, governmental-institutional, or organizational. In addition, I completed twenty-seven hours of observational fieldwork at logging sites in the region. From these transcripts, several themes emerge. Participants adopt a variety of ways of knowing and conceptions of care, and these correspond to different forest priorities, as well as attitudes toward global environmental issues. These groups also each construct distinct occupational identities, which sometimes form in response …

Designing For The Dissonance: Community-Engaged Field Experiences For Challenging Curricular Misconceptions Of Place Toward Localizing And Indigenizing Curricula Within Elementary Teacher Education., Elaine Marhefka

Doctoral Dissertations

Harmful oversights remain in elementary social studies curricula which overlook or misrepresent minoritized communities. This dissertation explores designs for teacher education which address these oversights through community collaborations. This multi-manuscript dissertation is an empirical-conceptual inquiry design (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009), as it is not purely empirical or conceptual research. This design allows for an independent discussion of each study, while interpreting phenomena across the three chapters. Acknowledging my positionality as a white female, in a predominantly white, female profession, I look to Indigenous and Black scholars, both locally and broadly, to inform my perspective and project design. Using a phenomenological …

A Case For Re-Commoning: The (De)Commodification Of Food In Lewiston, Maine, Sophie Worsh-Farnum

Standard Theses

The enclosure of land and food production technology that began during Western colonization in what is now called Lewiston was part of a larger global movement towards the commodification of food through Western notions of capital and private ownership. The contention of this paper is that this historical context has produced our current food crisis: a paradox where, despite production of more than enough food to feed the world’s population, hundreds of millions of people do not have access to adequate food. The Lewiston community experiences high rates of food insecurity despite the presence of food organizations battling hunger. Through …

Inclusive, Accessible, And Successful: Is It Possible? ​A Case Study Analysis Of How To Curate An Enduring Justice-Centered Farmers Market In Lewiston, Me​, Annie Cc Conway

Standard Theses

Food Security is the physical and economic access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food at all levels of society to ensure a healthy and happy lifestyle for all people; this theme intersects with other topics such as food justice, food deserts, and food sovereignty. In the United States, 11.4 % of the population receives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Benefits (SNAP) while in Maine, 12.1% do and in Lewiston, this number more than doubles, with 24.4% of the local population receiving SNAP benefits. Thus, Lewiston, Maine provides an interesting locale to understand how the national, regional, and local food system impacts local …

Exploring Tensions Between Two Maine Landscapes: Toxic And Pristine, Caitlyn Elizabeth Hanley

Standard Theses

This thesis juxtaposes a historical account of environmental toxicity in Maine against the popular notion of Maine as a “Vacationland.” Maine is famous globally for its pristine aesthetics, iconic coastline, and vast wilderness. Because of this, tourism is amongst the largest economic sectors for Maine, much different from the complex industrial history that once drove the economy and built a strong foundation for the state. Public discourse advertises Maine as a “Vacationland,” capitalizing on its natural features while ignoring and even marginalizing the toxic history of Maine which is still impacting communities today. This idyllic visage of Maine contradicts the …