Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Non-Conventional Vehicles As A Way Towards Carbon Neutrality In Iceland, Julia Sokolowska

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Paris Agreement’s chief objective is to protect the Earth and its inhabitants from a point of no return, when the effects of climate change will be so intense that they will shift the equilibrium of ecosystems. The distinctiveness of this international environmental treaty is that it does not impose climate change mitigation measures, but rather allows nation states to create their own set of measures, the NDCs, to reach the global warming of ‘well below 2oC’ by the end of the century. Thus, Iceland has submitted its own NDC, the Climate Action Plan 2018-2030, which has an ambitious goal of …

On Environmental, Climate Change & National Security Law, Mark P. Nevitt

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article offers a new way to think about climate change. Two new climate change assessments — the 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA) and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel’s Special Report on Climate Change — prominently highlight climate change’s multifaceted national security risks. Indeed, not only is climate change a “super wicked” environmental problem, it also accelerates existing national security threats, acting as both a “threat accelerant” and “catalyst for conflict.” Further, climate change increases the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events while threatening nations’ territorial integrity and sovereignty through rising sea levels. It causes both internal displacement …

Energy Demand And Economic Growth: Public Opinion And Mutual Exclusivity, Nicholas L. Silvis

Student Publications

The world is currently undergoing an energy transition from primarily fossil fuels to cleaner energy. The developing world is becoming more advanced, spawning relentless economic growth and an increase in energy consumption. Energy demand and economic growth are inextricably linked which poses a paradoxical question about future economic growth during a period of energy transition. Unfortunately, the transition requires large upfront costs with no guaranteed net benefit. A multitude of studies depict the impact of education, party identification, and age on how individuals perceive alternative energy. This study shows that views on governmental spending and party membership have a paradoxical …

Environmental Soft Law As A Governance Strategy, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

Soft law governance relies on nongovernmental institutions that establish and implement voluntary standards. Compared with traditional hard law solutions to societal and economic problems, soft law alternatives promise to be more politically feasible to establish and then easier to adapt in the face of changing circumstances. They may also seem more likely to be flexible in what they demand of targeted businesses and other entities. But can soft law actually work to solve major problems? This Article considers the value of soft law governance through the lens of three major voluntary, nongovernmental initiatives that address environmental concerns: (1) ISO 14001 …

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Paleontological Resources Management Plan (Public Version), Scott Kottkamp, Vincent L. Santucci, Justin S. Tweet, Jessica De Smet, Ellen Stark

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Since Agate Springs Ranch was founded by James H. Cook in 1887, exquisite examples of transitional Miocene mammalian fauna have been found along this stretch of the Niobrara River valley. Collectively these paleontological discoveries, along with the existing archeological and historical Native American collection, were the basis for establishing Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) as a unit of the National Park System (NPS). The fossil remains from the Harrison and Anderson Ranch formations span a short, but important, time period within the Miocene Epoch. AGFO has provided science with an intimate look into North American mammalian evolution …

Analysis Of The Benefits Of Green Streets, Christopher E. Ferrell, John M. Eells, Richard W. Lee, Reyhane Hosseinzade

Mineta Transportation Institute

Green streets offer many potential benefits that include improving water quality, absorbing carbon (sequestration), and reducing urban heat island effects. This report summarizes: (1) the research team’s analysis of 14 tools calculating green streets benefits; and (2) the results of applying the most promising calculators to a select group of green streets case studies. The researchers are affiliated with the Mineta Transportation Institute, which serves the California Department of Transportation (“Caltrans”). The report presents the results of the case study analyses, with an emphasis on carbon sequestration benefits and improvements to pedestrian levels of service (PLOS).

Trees absorb carbon dioxide …

Statement Of World Aquatic Scientific Societies On The Need To Take Urgent Action Against Human-Caused Climate Change, Based On Scientific Evidence [Dear Colleague Letter], Scott A. Bonar, Brian R. Murphy, Leanne H. Roulson, Jesse T. Trushenski, Douglas J. Austen, Michael Edward Douglas

United States Fish and Wildlife: Staff Publications

Dear Colleague Letter from the American Fisheries Society to fellow scientific societies, July 25, 2020, about the urgent need for responsive collective action to mitigate impending radical climate change. Includes the Statement of World Aquatic Scientific Societies on the Need to Take Urgent Action Against Human-Caused Climate Change, Based on Scientific Evidence, emphasizing the importance of aquatic ecosystems. Includes extensive citations and notes.

"Water is the most important natural resource on Earth as it is vital for life. Aquatic ecosystems, freshwater or marine, provide multiple benefits to human society, such as provisioning of oxygen, food, drinking water, genetic resources; regulation …

Rfia: An R Package For Estimation Of Forest Attributes With The Us Forest Inventory And Analysis Database, Hunter Stanke, Andrew O. Finley, Aaron S. Weed, Brian F. Walters, Grant M. Domke

United States National Park Service: Publications

Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) is a US Department of Agriculture Forest Service program that aims to monitor changes in forests across the US. FIA hosts one of the largest ecological datasets in the world, though its complexity limits access for many potential users. rFIA is an R package designed to simplify the estimation of forest attributes using data collected by the FIA Program. Specifically, rFIA improves access to the spatiotemporal estimation capacity of the FIA Database via space–time indexed summaries of forest variables within user-defined population boundaries (e.g., geographic, temporal, biophysical). The package implements multiple design-based estimators, and has …

There Must Be Something In The Water: A Comparative Study Of Ground Water Contamination In The U.S.A. And Canada, Kathleen Spooner

Honors Theses

The regions of Nova Scotia and New Hampshire are naturally susceptible to arsenic water contamination due to their geological makeup. These locations are relatively rural, with many of their citizens reporting low incomes and lacking education, the majority of which are unaware of the risk of arsenic poisoning. There is also a high dependency on private wells which are not regulated in terms of water quality under federal law in both countries. Arsenic water pollution is undetectable as it is both odorless and tasteless and potentially very dangerous, and therefore water testing must be performed on wells, which is currently …

Singapore's Climate Action: It Is Time To Be More Ambitious, Winston T. L. Chow

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Some nations have declared net-zero carbon emission targets by 2050. Businesses and the people here know Singapore can punch above its weight. The government should lend its support.

Cal Poly Pier Master Plan, Troy A. Lawson

Master's Theses

The Cal Poly Pier (Pier) Master/Facility Plan (FP) document provides the vision of the future for the Pier, a marine science research facility. The Plan facilitates project development and management of the Pier while meeting university and department research goals. Specifically, the FP document establishes goals and strategies to direct long-term development of the Pier, streamlines agency approval and permit requirements, provides context for pier management, and assists the permitting process for future development as it relates to regulatory permits and programmatic growth on the Cal Poly Pier to help meet goals of the Center for Coastal Marine Sciences (CCMS). …

Collaboration And Evaluation In Urban Sustainability And Resilience Transformations: The Keys To A Just Transition?, Liliana Elizabeth Caughman

Dissertations and Theses

Climate has changed and will continue changing; city populations are swelling as urbanization continues to accelerate; extreme environmental events like heat waves and floods are becoming more severe and more common; and the climate justice movement is rapidly gaining momentum. It in this context that municipal governments find themselves urgently seeking solutions to transition cities from extractive, vulnerable, and unjust to sustainable, resilient, and equitable. The task is complex and will require systemic transformations across interconnected social, environmental, and economic infrastructures. Emerging theories regarding how to govern such massive changes suggest Transition Management strategies and the values of a just …

Deploying Machine Learning For A Sustainable Future, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

To meet the environmental challenges of a warming planet and an increasingly complex, high tech economy, government must become smarter about how it makes policies and deploys its limited resources. It specifically needs to build a robust capacity to analyze large volumes of environmental and economic data by using machine-learning algorithms to improve regulatory oversight, monitoring, and decision-making. Three challenges can be expected to drive the need for algorithmic environmental governance: more problems, less funding, and growing public demands. This paper explains why algorithmic governance will prove pivotal in meeting these challenges, but it also presents four likely obstacles that …

Examining The Northern Shrimp Fishery In A Changing Gulf Of Maine, Ashley N. Charleson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Northern Shrimp (Pandalus borealis) once supported a key commercial fishery in the State of Maine. Since its closure in 2013, the stock has remained in a particularly vulnerable state following recruitment failure, overfishing, and rising water temperatures. Furthermore, without this source of supplemental income, local fishermen have also experienced financial stress following unstable fishing conditions in other fisheries. The collective goal of this research project was to assess factors impacting the feasibility of reopening and maintaining this vulnerable winter fishery. These goals are addressed over 4 chapters. Chapter two offers insight regarding what is most often omitted from the regulatory …

Development Of A Modified Floristic Quality Index As A Rapid Habitat Assessment Method In The Northern Everglades, Rebakah E. Gibble, Donatto D. Surratt

United States National Park Service: Publications

Floristic quality assessments (FQA) using floristic quality indices (FQIs) are useful tools for assessing and comparing vegetation communities and related habitat condition. However, intensive vegetation surveys requiring significant time and technical expertise are necessary, which limits the use of FQIs in environmental monitoring programs. This study modified standard FQI methods to develop a rapid assessment method for characterizing and modeling change in wetland habitat condition in the northern Everglades. Method modifications include limiting vegetation surveys to a subset of taxa selected as indicators of impact and eliminating richness and/or abundance factors from the equation. These modifications reduce the amount of …

Shifting Public Perception: Climate Change Means Living With Fire And Smoke, Robert Froembling

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

The urgency to prepare for the climate crisis has never been greater. We are currently living in the sixth mass extinction and the effects are only going to accelerate. We will inherit more wildfires, larger wildfires, and more frequent wildfires.

This piece is not meant to stoke fear in its readers or be depressing, but to shift public perception on what our future holds by evaluating the laws and science presented to us. This piece will look at regional and federal regulations and assess the increased rate of forest fires and the grave public health concerns from stagnant smoke specifically …

Fire Monitoring Handbook

United States National Park Service: Publications

Fire is a powerful and enduring force that has had, and will continue to have, a profound influence on National Park Service (NPS) lands. Fire management decisions within the National Park Service require information on fire behavior and on the effects of fire on park resources. With good reason, the public is holding park management increasingly accountable, especially in the area of fire management. Federal and state agencies are instituting progressively more stringent guidelines for burning, monitoring, and evaluation. The impetus behind these guidelines and the purpose of this handbook are to ensure that management objectives are being met, to …

The Impact Of Extreme Heat On Environmental Justice Communities In California: Assessing Equity In Climate Action Plans, Karishma S. Becha

Master's Projects and Capstones

Climate change projections suggest extreme heat events will be more frequent over the next few decades. Extreme heat has both negative environmental and social impacts as it affects energy security, public health by increasing the risk of heat-related illnesses and stresses food and crop supply through prolonged droughts. The impacts of extreme heat will also disproportionately affect communities of low economic status. Because of this, there is a need for better climate action plans that can adapt to and mitigate the impacts brought upon by extreme heat that does not disproportionately impact vulnerable communities. This research analyzed local government Climate …

Protecting Water Quality In Virginia: Recommendations To Combat Sea Level Rise And Increased Storm Events, Madhavi Kulkarni

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

Impairment of Virginia waters is tied to coastal storm hazards and sea level rise because excess floodwaters are contaminated by flood-exposed industrial and residential facilities, and these toxic floodwaters flow into the state’s water bodies. In Virginia, thousands of industrial facilities can potentially be subjected to the effects of stormwater flooding, hurricane storm surge, and sea level rise, in turn affecting water quality. Failing or unmaintained septic systems also pose a major threat to the quality of Virginia waters that increases with recurrent inundation by flood waters. A combination of changes to law and policy and investment in infrastructure are …

The Effectiveness Of The European Union’S Environmental Policies, Wendolyn Borkoski

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The European Union has some of the highest environmental standards in the world. However, multiple member states fail at reaching the deadlines set by the European Union (EU). This thesis examines the effectiveness of the European Union’s environmental directives on gaining compliance from member states to reach the agreed-upon standards. This is assessed by using three European Union directives from different environmental areas and analyzing their requirements. Each directive represents either a hierarchical policy, negotiated policy, or voluntary policy transfer. This study hypothesizes that the hierarchical policy, represented by EU Directive 2008/98/EC, will be more effective at gaining compliance than …

Examining The Role Of Environmental Nonprofits In Shoreline Management For Coastal Resilience In Virginia, Taiwo Oguntuyo, Ogechukwu Agim, Ren-Neasha Blake, Juita-Elena Wie Yusuf, Marina Saitgalina, Michelle Covi

College of Business (Strome) Posters

Environmental Nonprofits emerged over the years to attend to the environmental needs of communities and individuals, as well as address environmental issues that concern the public. These issues are usually those that have been neglected, given insufficient attention, or cannot be singularly handled by the government. In advocating for coastal resilience, environmental nonprofits have been identified in the literature as actors with critical roles in addressing coastal issues such as sea-level rise, flooding and shoreline management. In recent times, shoreline management has emerged as one of the foremost areas of focus expedient for the achievement of coastal resilience, and the …

Indigenous Communities Versus Oil Companies: Identifying Trends In Tactics And Success Of Indigenous-Led Anti-Petroleum Movements In The Ecuadorian Amazon, Ella V. H. Carlson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In roughly the last 50 years, the Ecuadorian Amazon has become the epicenter of petroleum production in Ecuador. As oil companies attempt to exploit more and more of the rainforest, they have encroached on indigenous lands, leading to violations of indigenous rights through environmental destruction. As their territories have been invaded, indigenous groups throughout the Amazon have formed movements large and small in resistance to petroleum activities. Scholars have studied select campaigns in the past, but the literature lacks a comparative review of the characteristics of those movements. This paper compiles histories of seven campaigns against petroleum in the Ecuadorian …

Impactos En La Salud Pública Y Desigualdades Frente Al Cambio Climático En América Latina: Una Aproximación Hacia Las Consecuencias Diferenciales De Las Inundaciones Y Olas De Calor En La Cuenca Matanza Riachuelo. / Public Health Impacts And Inequalities In The Face Of Climate Change In Latin America: An Approach Towards The Differential Consequences Of Floods And Heat Waves In The Matanza Riachuelo Watershed., Julia Mettler-Grove

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La relación entre el cambio climático y la salud pública es un tema emergente y crítico para estudiar en la escala local, concretamente en lo que refiere a analizar los efectos producidos por las olas de calor y las inundaciones. Si bien existe un campo de investigación creciente sobre el tema, son pocos los trabajos que ahondan en la conexión con la salud pública, un elemento central para pensar en la gestión del cambio climático en las ciudades. Esto es precisamente lo que se propone hacer la presente investigación, tomando como caso de estudio la cuenca más urbanizada e industrializada …

The Lasting Impacts Of Mass Consumerism And The Disposable Culture: A Proposition For The Development Of Plastic Shopping Bag Bans In Texas Law, David Brewster

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article addresses the developing state of plastic bag bans in Texas municipal and state jurisprudence. The Article recites the history of plastic bag bans and their impacts on the environment, the issues pertinent to municipal powers as regulatory devices, and analyzes the most recent case regarding bag bans in Texas, which is the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in City of Laredo v. Laredo Merchants Association. The Article makes suggestions about how to move forward in developing municipal plastic bag bans for the benefit of the environment, and addresses the immediate impacts of bag ban litigation and legislation in …

Una Evaluación De La Evolución Y El Futuro De La Vigilancia De La Pesca Ilegal En Antártida Bajo La Ccrvma, Courtney Jacobs

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este documento de investigación evalúa el tema de la pesca ilegal en el Área de la Convención de la Antártida establecida por la Comisión para la Conservación de los Recursos Vivos Marinos Antárticos (CCRVMA). El enfoque general de esta investigación es evaluar la capacidad de la Comisión para abordar la preocupación de la pesca ilegal en el Área de la Convención. Este objetivo se persigue examinando tres subpreguntas: ¿cómo ha evolucionado la pesca ilegal en el Área de la Convención a lo largo del período estudiado, qué medidas ha tomado con éxito la Comisión con respecto al monitoreo y cumplimiento …

Climate Change And Migration In Madagascar: Investigating The Impacts On People, Ecosystems, And Natural Resources, Eloise Parish Mueller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The principle objective of this study was to determine the impacts of migration caused or influenced by climate change on people and ecosystems in Madagascar. The specific objectives were 1.) to investigate the impacts of internal migration in Madagascar, particularly movements of people which are related to climate change, on migrants, established communities and ecosystems in regions they relocate to, and natural resources and 2.) to investigate possible solutions to social and environmental challenges resulting from migration in the country. While researching, I came to more fully appreciate the complexities of the relationships between climate, migration, and environmental and social …

Innovative Protection And Conservation Of Coral Reefs In Madagascar, Meghan Parker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Madagascar is home to approximately 3,450 kilometers of coral reefs, including some of the most biodiverse and valuable marine ecosystems in the Indian Ocean (Webster 2002). This online research project investigates the status of Madagascar’s coral reefs separated by region, threats that are facing the reefs and community-based solutions to protect and conserve the reefs. Conclusions of this online research suggest that most coral reefs in Madagascar are in relatively good health, although looming threats exist from overfishing, increased coastal populations, tourism, and warming waters. Community-based solutions are abundant and have proven effective, and can be implemented nation-wide, personalized to …

Acoustically Advertising Male Harbour Seals In Southeast Alaska Do Not Make Biologically Relevant Acoustic Adjustments In The Presence Of Vessel Noise, Leanna P. Matthews, Michelle E.H. Fournet, Christine Gabriele, Holger Klinck, Susan E. Parks

United States National Park Service: Publications

Aquatically breeding harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) males use underwater vocalizations during the breeding season to establish underwater territories, defend territories against intruder males, and possibly to attract females. Vessel noise overlaps in frequency with these vocalizations and could negatively impact breeding success by limiting communication space. In this study, we investigated whether harbour seals employed anti-masking strategies to maintain communication in the presence of vessel noise in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Harbour seals in this location did not sufficiently adjust source levels or acoustic parameters of vocalizations to compensate for acoustic masking. Instead, for every 1 dB …

Carnivore Population Structure Across An Urbanization Gradient: A Regional Genetic Analysis Of Bobcats In Southern California, Julia G. Smith, Megan K. Jennings, Erin E. Boydston, Kevin R. Crooks, Holly B. Ernest, Seth Riley, Laurel E. K. Serleys, Shaelynn Sleater-Squires, Rebecca L. Lewison

United States National Park Service: Publications

Context In human-dominated landscapes, habitat fragmentation and barriers to movement can interrupt gene flow. While often considered at a local extent, regional analyses are also needed to reveal broader landscape-mediated population processes.

Objectives To explore the relationship between patterns of gene flow and fragmentation resulting from urbanization across southern California, we used the bobcat as an indicator species. We assembled data for a landscape level genetic analysis across southern California from both archived and new samples, including two northern Californian populations for comparison, to identify local and regional areas affected by isolation.

Methods Our regional analyses focused on a dataset …

Asynchronous Carbon Sink Saturation In African And Amazonian Tropical Forests, Wannes Hubau, Simon L. Lewis, Et. Al. Authors

United States National Park Service: Publications

Structurally intact tropical forests sequestered about half of the global terrestrial carbon uptake over the 1990s and early 2000s, removing about 15 percent of 1–3 anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Climate-driven vegetation models 4,5 typically predict that this tropical forest ‘carbon sink’ will continue for decades . Here we assess trends in the carbon sink using 244 structurally intact African tropical forests spanning 11 countries, compare them with 321 published plots from Amazonia and investigate the underlying drivers of the trends. The carbon sink in live aboveground biomass in intact African tropical forests has been stable for the three decades to …