Digital Commons Network^™

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: An Exploration Of Wastewater Issues And Possible Solutions In And Out Of Montana, Keely I. Larson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Larson, Keely, M.A., Spring 2023

Major:Environmental and Natural Resources Journalism

Out of sight, out of mind: An exploration of wastewater issues and possible solutions in and out of Montana

Chairperson: Dennis Swibold

Co-Chairpersons: Nadia White, Sarah Halvorson

This is a master’s project, featuring three stories, linked in theme. The first starts with a nationally scoped story about septic systems in resort towns and what happens when too many people want to visit areas like Cape Cod, the Florida Keys or, more locally, Seeley Lake, and overwhelm waste disposal methods. Often in these areas that are more remote, septic systems …

From The Green Room: Notes On A Saltwater Girlhood In The Borderlands, Izabela Garcia-Arce

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this debut book, Bela García-Arce explores what it means to reconnect with saltwater roots in tiny coastal towns across Baja California through a collection of personal essays. She starts by telling the story of her foundation—about growing up in San Diego and falling in love with the ocean, about what it was like to be a young Mexican girl with a family with no interest in the water. She leans heavily on humor to deliver playful jabs at the toxic masculine beach culture while also revealing how she played a role in combatting it. Between exploration of toxic sludge …

Individual And Population Responses To Hydrologic Variability In A Headwater Stream Salamander, Madaline Cochrane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding how organisms respond to environmental variability is a central goal in ecology – a goal made even more pressing by the herculean challenge global climate change presents to all organisms. Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of floods and droughts, which will likely have disproportionate effects on freshwater organisms. Many stream-associated species have multi-stage life histories. However, we lack an empirical understanding of life history and movement responses of these organisms to hydrologic disturbances, and how these responses may influence demographic rates. In my dissertation, I used a combination of growth, developmental, movement, and demographic data to …

Diy Beef: Why Some Montana Ranchers Are Gambling On Direct Marketing, Izaak John Opatz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ranchers in Montana direct market their cattle for several reasons, but many have done so to relieve their dependence on the national beef market, which critics claim is unfairly controlled by a consolidated packing industry. Pandemic-related disruptions to the U.S. meat supply chain created uncertainty and exposed vulnerabilities for producers and consumers that drove a renewed interest in direct-marketed beef. Casey Buffington ranches near Chester, MT, and began direct marketing his cattle in 2019 to assert more control over his market and create more profit for his ranch. In telling Buffington’s story, this narrative explores how beneficial direct marketing can …

We Are Larger Than Ourselves, Mark Spero

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Between Tradition And Transformation: A Feminist Investigation Of The Role Of Pastoral Women Within Tanzania's Integrated Environment And Development Landscape, Kelli Erin Rogers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Pastoral women hold pivotal social and environmental roles within their communities. Equally and actively engaging pastoral women in processes to conserve and sustainably use rangeland resources has therefore become an important focus for integrated environment and development intervention. In northern Tanzania, pastoral women find themselves at the center of gender equality efforts, which attempt to translate gender and environment theory into conservation action that elevates pastoral women’s historically unheard voices. Along the way, particular global narratives have positioned pastoral women alternately as passive beneficiaries or as powerful allies in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. Although the importance of integrating …

"Our Loons": Participant Attachments And Motivations Within A Community-Based Monitoring Program, Taylor Tewksbury

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Organizations can benefit from understanding person-place relationships and volunteer motivations as they recruit and sustain involvement in their community-based monitoring (CBM) programs. Place attachment, or the bond between people and their meaningful environments, is one lens through which to explore these relationships. Past studies have associated place attachment with environmentally responsible behaviors (ERB), such as CBM involvement. However, few studies have explored the relationship between place attachment and CBM in the context of volunteers’ attachment to the species of study.

The purpose of this research study was to explore the place-based relationships and motivations among volunteers of the Loon Preservation …

Irrigation In The Western United States: Occurrence, Impacts, And Sustainability, David Granger Ketchum

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Irrigation represents our greatest intervention in the hydrological cycle, accounting for over 80% of extracted freshwater in the Western U.S. Despite its economic and ecological importance, irrigation’s spatial and temporal occurrence, magnitude, impacts on streamflow, and response during water shortages has not been characterized in our region. The major objective of this dissertation was to systematically assess irrigation over the Western US to answer the following questions: 1) Where and when does irrigation occur within the study region? 2) How has the intensity, area, and distribution of irrigation changed over the course of the past 35 years? 3) What impact …

In The Weeds, Bianca J. Jensen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

University And College Profiles Available On Indian Research Information Network System (Irins): A Comparative Study, Prabhat Ranjan, Bhupendra Kumar Singh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Indian Research Information Network System (IRINS) is a research information management system that provides details of publications and citations by researchers in academic and research institutes in India. It is an undisputed fact that the productivity of researchers is not uniform within and beyond institutions. A quantitative study was formulated to compare the productivity of researchers within and between categories of central university, state university, deemed university, private university, and college. The coefficient of variation (C.V.) and coefficient of range (C.R.) was measured to know about dispersions among data of publications, patents, Scopus citations, and Crossref citations. It was found …

Occurrence And Characteristics Of Fibreglass-Reinforced Plastics And Microplastics On A Beach Impacted By Abandoned Fishing Boats: A Case Study From Chellanam, India, N. Manju Lekshmi, Sreejith S. Kumar, P. Muhamed Ashraf, S. P. Nehala, Leela Edwin, Andrew Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Plastics and microplastics have been quantified and characterised at disposal sites of abandoned fishing boats and along the high-water line (HWL) of a fish landing centre in Chellanam, India. Fibreglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) made a greater contribution to the plastic pool at the disposal sites (~ 4.5 n m−2 and 18 g m−2) than the HWL (~ 0.25 n m−2 and < 1 g m−2) and was an abundant component of the microplastic pool at the former. Infrared analysis of micro-sized FRPs revealed various resins (e.g., alkyd, polyester, epoxy), while X-ray fluorescence analysis of the painted surfaces of meso-sized FRPs returned variable concentrations of copper and lead. Concentrations of Pb were high enough to contaminate sand up to ~400 mg kg−1. The relatively high density of FRP and its association with glass fibres and metal-bearing paints results in particles with potentially very different fates and toxicities to more “conventional” (non-composite) thermoplastics.

Seeking To Be 'Like Water': Plastic Regulation In The People's Republic Of China, Dr. Gerry Nagtzaam, Dr. Elena Karataeva

Natural Resources Journal

China is one of the biggest producers of both virgin plastic and plastic waste. In order to tackle its growing plastic pollution crisis, China has recently made a number of significant legislative reforms directed at minimizing the use of disposable plastics, increasing the production of degradable plastic items and cutting off its reliance on imported plastic waste for recycling feedstock to boost its own recycling efforts. However, relying on recycling and degradable plastics as solutions to the plastic waste crisis may not be sufficient. China’s approach highlights an inherent contradiction in minimizing plastic pollution whilst simultaneously increasing plastic production.

Book Review: Up To Heaven And Down To Hell: Fracking, Freedom, And Community In An American Town Written By Colin Jerolmack, Abigail Lutz

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Pathways To Sustainability: Industry, Development, Business, Agriculture, Economy, And Politics, Andreas Hernandez, Pablo Arias-Benavides, Dayana C.M. Machada, Ousmane Pame, Alice Main, Per Moller

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

In this chapter we examine six compelling on-the-ground experiences, which are demonstrating pathways to sustainability, resilience and regeneration. Each case opens a pathway to sustainability in a key sphere of human activity: industry, development, business, agriculture, economy and politics. These experiences are creating new social imaginaries embodied in the practical forms of new politics and economics aimed at profound democratizations of human life, and towards a creative realignment of humans with the rest of the web of life. These social imaginaries are both open and encompassing. They are open in the sense that they can be filled with new possibilities …

Spatial And Temporal Characteristics Of Historical Surface Climate Over The Northwest Territories, Canada, Bhaleka D. Persaud

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Climate change is putting many of the Northwest Territories (NWT) ecosystems, its people and animal populations at risk due to accelerated warming, permafrost thaw, and changing precipitation regimes. As the NWT continues to warm, at disproportionately higher rates when compared to the rest of Canada, threats to the stability of NWT’s ecosystems are expected to increase. Consequently, understanding how climate warming has changed historically and its implications on natural ecosystems requires point-to-region-specific, long-term climatic data to elucidate important drivers of observed changes relevant to decision makers at community, Indigenous, Territorial and Federal government levels. However, in situ climate data are …

The Vital Role Of Dehcho Dene Knowledges In Climate Change & Permafrost Thaw Adaptation In Jean Marie River First Nation Nwt, Mackenzie Bell

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Across the globe climate change has become an issue of growing concern for both Indigenous and non – Indigenous peoples alike. In Northern Canada this narrative is no different. For Indigenous groups such as the Jean Marie River First Nation (JMRFN) anthropogenic climate change is not only a reality but is visible through their daily interactions with the environment around them. Additional insight pertaining to these climatic changes and their impacts can be found through analyzing the traditional knowledge systems of the JMRFN and how these before mentioned interactions have changed over time. This two-year participatory research project has investigated …

The Dynamic Relationship Between Permafrost And Landcover In Northwestern Canada’S Discontinuous Permafrost Zone, Olivia Carpino

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northwestern Canada’s subarctic is among the most impacted regions in the world as it is experiencing rapid climatic and environmental change. As a result, northwestern Canada has been experiencing region-wide permafrost thaw and disappearance, both of which are also occurring at unprecedented rates. Permafrost temperatures in the Taiga Plains have been warming steadily over the last several decades, which has been particularly detrimental across its lower latitudes of the discontinuous permafrost zone where the permafrost is already relatively thin and warm. These factors indicate that permafrost in the southern Taiga Plains may be in a state of disequilibrium with the …

Nitrogen: Both A Potential Stimulator And Suppressor Of Cyanobacterial Blooms In Temperate Lakes, Catherine Goltz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Cyanobacterial blooms are complex phenomenon that are impacted and controlled by various factors such as lake depth, air temperature, wind, and nutrient loading. Nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen and iron all have very differing effects on cyanobacterial blooms. While phosphorus and iron are known to drive cyanobacterial biomass, nitrogen has been observed to have a direct impact on toxin synthesis. Nitrogen exists in the environment in many different forms such as atmospheric N₂, in inorganic forms such as nitrate and ammonium as well as in organic forms such as urea which can all affect cyanobacterial bloom development differently. …

"War In Ukraine: Religious, Geopolitical And Cultural Dimensions Of Value-Worldview Clashes At The Beginning Of The 21st Century": International Theological Conference, Vladyslav Fulmes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

On June 15, 2023 Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy (Lutsk, Ukraine) held an international theological conference “WAR in UKRAINE: Religious, Geopolitical and Cultural Dimensions of Value-worldview Clashes at the Beginning of the 21st century”. Brief information about this international scientific conference is given.

Environmental Evidence, Seema Kakade

University of Colorado Law Review

The voices of impacted people are some of the most important when trying to make improvements to social justice in a variety of contexts, including criminal policing, housing, and health care. After all, the people with on-the-ground experience know what is likely to truly effectuate change in their community, and what is not. Yet, such lived experience is also often significantly lacking and undermined in law and policy. People with lived experience tend to be seen as both community experts with valuable knowledge, as well as nonexperts with little valuable knowledge. This Article explores the lived experience with pollution as …

Perception Of Housing Quality By Households In Peri-Urban Neighbourhoods Of Owerri Municipality, Ikechukwu A. Diugwu, Michael N. Eneje, Haruna D. Musa, Saheed O. Yusuf, John D. Njoku

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

Basic housing infrastructure influences the comfort of several residents. There are, however, indications that the residents in severalurban housing estates in Nigeria are dissatisfied with their housing infrastructures and maintenance. Therefore, this study focuses on evaluating the relationship between the quality of housing infrastructure and the decision of occupants on where to live. Thisstudy involved the application of a quantitative approach with the aid of a structured questionnaire to collect data from residents. The survey was conducted in six selected neighbourhoods of Owerri Municipal area with the occupants as respondents (n=399). Moreover, the chi-square test of independence was applied to …

Integration Of Urban Farming Into City Infrastructure Development, Ayobami Popoola, Bolanle Wahab, Hangwelani Magidimisha Chipungu, Lovemore Chipungu

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

The ability to respond to the need for food is threatened by the scarcity of urban farmers (UF) in the elevation of the urban population. This shows that the availability of food is a cultivated land function, indicating that agriculture is only a mirage when sites are unavailable for farming. Irrespective of these conditions, the sustainability of food production within the city spaces is still the complimentary urban infrastructure enhancing the movement of goods and farmers. Therefore, this study aims to determine the patterns of integrating urban farming into city infrastructure development. In this case, a mixed methods approach was …

Spatial And Seasonal Variation In Polychaete Communities According To Their Trophic Categories In Southwest Tobago, West Indies, Attish Kanhai

Neotropical Biodiversity

Bon Accord Lagoon (BAL), Tobago is home to a Thalassia testudinum (K.D. Koenig, 1805) dominated seagrass community and polychaetes usually show an affinity to seagrass beds compared to other environments. The objectives of this study were to investigate the polychaete community associated with the Thalassia beds in BAL, determine seasonal variation, and compare with the neighbouring hard bottom polychaete community in Mt. Irvine Bay (MIB). Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled using a 15 cm diameter corer at a depth of 10 cm. Six stations were sampled during the wet and dry seasons of 2018. Samples were sieved in the field using …

Front Matter, Vol. 14

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Mineralogical And Physicomechanical Characterization Of Kaolinitic Clay From Moshi, Northern Tanzania For Potential Ceramic Utilization, Samwel Paul Mziray, Harieth Hellar-Kihampa, Esther H.J. Lugwisha, Leonard Douglas Akwilapo

Tanzania Journal of Science

Kaolin clay from Moshi, northern Tanzania has been characterized for potential ceramics productions. Clay samples taken from three different levels of the deposit were analysed by XRD and XRF. Firing experiments were carried out on experimental briquettes at a maximum temperature of 1300 °C at the rate of 100 °C/hour. The results revealed dominance of kaolinite and illite in the raw clay. The samples were composed majorly by silica (36.88–41.62%), alumina (30.83–32.40%) and hematite (9.29–12.70%). Granulometric analysis showed that the amount of clay decreased with deposit depth. The physicomechanical properties of the clay fired at the optimal temperature of 1300 …

Front Matter, Vol. 82 No. 4

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Technology Availability For Recycling Low Value Plastic In Indonesia, Prawitya Soemadijo, Faiza Anindita, Dini Trisyanti, Rangga Akib, Mariati Abdulkadir, Noverra M. Nizardo, Rizka Legita Rachmawati

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Plastic has been an essential part of our daily life. However, the increasing plastic consumption has led to an increasing land and water contamination by said plastics. The Indonesian government has set five actions on managing marine plastic debris, one of them is by improving the plastic recycling system. Multilayer plastic was identified as a challenge to the plastic waste recycling. This is because there are differences in properties, such as melting point, which will cause difficulty in mechanical recycling. This study aims to create a mapping of available options to solve problems of low value plastic (LVP) waste in …

Breakfast Consumption And Diet Quality Of Teens In Southwestern Ontario, Nicolas Woods, Jamie A. Seabrook, Jess Haines, Saverio Stranges, Leia M. Minaker, Colleen O'Connor, Sean Doherty, Jason Gilliland

Human Environments Analysis Lab (HEAL)

Background

Breakfast skipping has previously been associated with worse diet quality among adolescents; the latter increases the risk of chronic disease. However, many studies do not consider diet quality as a function of calories, which is problematic as skippers tend to consume less energy than consumers. Additionally, due to the lack of one accepted definition of both breakfast skipping and diet quality, it is unclear how differences found may change when using varying definitions.

Objectives

We aimed to compare the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) scores and nutrient intakes of teen breakfast skippers and consumers in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.

Methods

Cross-sectional, …

The Stockholm Paradigm Explains The Dynamics Of Darwin’S Entangled Bank, Including Emerging Infectious Disease, Salvatore J. Agosta

MANTER: Journal of Parasite Biodiversity

Pathogens and their hosts are embedded within the larger biosphere, what Darwin called the “entangled bank.” Emerging infectious disease occurs when a parasite “switches” to a new host. Understanding the dynamics of emerging disease requires understanding the dynamics of host-switching, which requires a more general understanding of how the biosphere and its constituent members cope when conditions change. The Stockholm paradigm is an integrative evolutionary framework that describes how living systems cope with change by oscillating between exploiting and exploring the geographical and functional dimensions of their environments. It combines organismal capacity, ecological opportunity, and the repeated external perturbations to …

Feeling The Heat: Climate Change Is Becoming A Big Factor In Business Decision-Making, Risk Assessment, Candace Beeke, Sahan Dissanayake, Jennifer Price, Moss Adams

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland Business Journal Publisher and President Candace Beeke spoke recently with PSU’s Sahan Dissanayake and Jennifer Price, with Moss Adams, about the direct and indirect effects of climate change on business, along with the physical impacts and economic hazards. Here are their insights.