Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Re-Storing The Earth: A Phenomenological Study Of Living Sustainably, Jessica B. Buckley

Faculty Scholarship

Living sustainably evokes ideas of lived, bodily engagement with and perception of the earth. Yet, modern ways of thinking and speaking have slowly alienated the earth from consciousness. Using phenomenological methods, the author examines the experience of living sustainably, exploring her own background and the idea of restoring the earth to consciousness, before examining the lives of two students dedicated to living sustainably. Components of upholding the earth, in-volving humanity, perceiving differences in studying and embodying sustainability, and engaging in choices fill the experience of living sustainably.

Permaculture, Roslynn Brain, Blake Thomas

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Gathering "Wild" Food In The City: Rethinking The Role Of Foraging In Urban Ecosystem Planning And Management, Rebecca J. Mclain, Patrick T. Hurley, Marla R. Emery, Melissa R. Poe

Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Recent “green” planning initiatives envision food production, including urban agriculture and livestock production, as desirable elements of sustainable cities. We use an integrated urban political ecology and human–plant geographies framework to explore how foraging for “wild” foods in cities, a subversive practice that challenges prevailing views about the roles of humans in urban green spaces, has potential to also support sustainability goals. Drawing on research from Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, and Seattle, we show that foraging is a vibrant and ongoing practice among diverse urban residents in the USA. At the same time, as reflected in regulations, planning practices, …

Fearless: Heather Ipsen, Heather Ipsen

SURGE

In celebration of Sustainability Week on campus, we proudly feature Heather Ipsen ’16 who has fearlessly raised awareness for the environmental issues about which she’s passionate and started a group on campus to better facilitate dialogue between sustainability groups. [excerpt]

The Eugene Water And Electric Board’S Mckenzie River Payment For Watershed Services Program: Research Findings On Ratepayers, Landowners, And Local Stakeholders, Max Nielsen-Pincus

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on the following research objectives:

• How much are ratepayers willing to pay and what effects that willingness?
• How much do landowners need to receive and what affects their interest?

Purple Goes Green [Green Guide], College Of The Holy Cross

Physical Plant Published Works

This guide is a resource for all members of the College of the Holy Cross campus community to improve environmental stewardship and consciousness in reducing their own carbon footprints while helping to reduce the College's overall footprint. In 2007, the College signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, agreeing to reduce our carbon emissions over the coming decades and to become carbon neutral by 2040. Through administrative initiatives and simple changes students and employees are making in their daily habits, Holy Cross is striving to become a more sustainable, environmentally conscious college.

School Learning Gardens As Multicultural Hubs For Sustainability: Psu-Pps Food Systems Partnerships In Outer Southeast Portland, Dilafruz R. Williams, Sybil Schantz Kelley, Leslie Blanchard, Brooke Hieserich, Jon Zintel

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on how garden-based learning can have a positive effect on children.

An Investigation Into The Sustainability Of Advanced Materials And Systems As Energy Sources In Commuter Transportation, Austin Alan Albert

Chemistry Publications and Other Works

Modern society depends on cheap and plentiful sources of energy. For most of the 20th century, fossil fuel in the form of coal, natural gas, and petroleum have been this energy source. The majority of petroleum in the U.S. goes in to fueling the light duty transportation fleet. However, we know that coal, natural gas, and crude oil have an expiration date, and we have recently learned that their use has caused and is still causing severe damage to the earth’s atmosphere. With these reasons in mind, new sources of inexpensive and abundant energy must be found, which are renewable …

Moving Toward Sustainable Production Of Charcoal In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Teaching Case Study, Justin Taylor Roop

Chemistry Publications and Other Works

In the developing world, wood fuels play a major role in supplying energy needs. In sub-Saharan Africa, much of this wood fuel is in the form of charcoal used for cooking. As much as 90% of the cooking performed in these countries use charcoal as the energy source. With this massive quantity being produced and sold, the charcoal sector presents a major area in which sustainable development can be implemented with a large positive impact. At present, deforestation, pollution, and inequitable distribution of profits threaten the long-term viability of this industry. This teaching case study presents the background of the …

Modeling And Mapping In Support Of The Regional Conservational Strategy Framework, Theresa Burcsu, Thomas Albo, Joseph Bernert, Jennifer Dimiceli, James S. Kagan, Matthew D. Noone

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

Prior to November 2010, when The Intertwine Alliance launched the Regional Conservation Strategy (RCS) and Biodiversity Guide (RBG) efforts for the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region, conservation priorities in the metropolitan region were identified at a broad regional scale that generally excluded urban areas (e.g., state conservation strategies and Willamette Synthesis); were regional but based solely on expert opinion (e.g., Natural Features); and consisted of localized priorities that abruptly ended at jurisdiction boundaries. The goal of the RCS was to fill in the gaps between broad and local scales of information related to conservation priorities. RCS members envisioned a data-driven approach that …

Fearless: Painted Turtle Farm, Center For Public Service

SURGE

For the last seven years, the student-run organic farm has provided vegetables that were utilized both at Servo, the Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College, and the food pantry to create meals that are both healthy and locally grown, providing sustainable and environmentally sound alternatives to other sources of herbs and vegetables. [excerpt]

Building Sustainability In Rural Puerto Rico, Sherrod Williams

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Beacon Voyages for Service (BVS) is a program within the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement that coordinates Alternative Break programs. BVS Puerto Rico traveled to Las Marias, Puerto Rico. This group of students partnered with Plenitud Eco-Educational Initiatives to learn about sustainability through organic farming and permaculture practices in rural areas of Puerto Rico.

Center For Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters: Partnerships In Teaching And Research, Adenrele Awotona, Center For Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

CRSCAD assists local, national, and international agencies as well as the victims of disasters to develop practical, sustainable, and long-term solutions to the social, economic, and environmental consequences of disasters.

We also host international conferences and workshops at UMass Boston to provide a space for partners to network, exchange ideas, and share best practices.

Center For Governance And Sustainability: Policy Impact Through Rigorous Analysis, Center For Governance And Sustainability, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Maria Ivanova, Craig Murphy, Michael Denney

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Three main functions define the center:

• Serves as an information hub
• Provides rigorous analysis
• Acts as an honest broker

We collect and manage data on governance and sustainability across scales, apply diverse analytical models grounded in empirics, and create dialogues among scholars, practitioners, and the public.

Quantitative Approaches To Sustainability Seminars, Rachel Levy

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

How can mathematicians contribute to education of about sustainability? Mathematicians study climate change, energy-related technologies, models of energy availability, production and consumption, and even the political and social aspects of sustainable legislation and practices. However, at this point, few courses on sustainability can be found in math department offerings. When we consider problems that our current and future students will face, energy sustainability certainly seems important. But how many of these ideas reach our classrooms?

Rethinking Sustainability To Meet The Climate Change Challenge, Michael Burger, Elizabeth Burleson, Rebecca M. Bratspies, Robin Kundis Craig, Alexandra R. Harrington, David M. Driesen, Keith H. Hirokawa, Sarah Krakoff, Katrina Fischer Kuh, Stephen R. Miller, Jessica Owley, Patrick Parenteau, Melissa Powers, Shannon M. Roesler, Jona M. Roesler

Journal Articles

This article presents a preliminary effort to capture the dialogue at the Environmental Law Collaborative’s inaugural Workshop. Attendees engaged in the re-conceptualization of sustainability in the age of climate change, premised on evidence that climate change is forcing changes in the norms of political, social, economic, and technological standards. As climate change continues to dominate many fields of research, sustainability is at a critical moment that challenges its conceptual coherence. Sustainability has never been free from disputes over its meaning and has long struggled with the difficulties of simultaneously implementing the “triple-bottom line” components of environmental, economic, and social well-being. …

Integrating Emotional Attachment And Sustainability In Electronic Product Design, Alex Lobos, Callie W. Babbitt

Articles

Current models for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products encourage frequent product replacement with newer versions that offer only minor incremental improvements. This pattern, named planned obsolescence, diminishes user experience and shortens product lifespan. This paper presents the conceptual basis for a two-part integrated approach to combating planned obsolescence in ICT devices. First, design for emotional attachment, which creates products that users enjoy, value, and use for longer. Second, technological adaptability, which anticipates product upgrades and repairs as new technologies emerge. A model interdisciplinary design course in industrial design and sustainability, also described herein, trains students to apply this approach …

Water, Climate, And Social Change In A Fragile Landscape, William L. Hargrove, David M. Borrok, Josiah Mc C.C. Heyman, Craig E. Tweedie, Carlos Cabrera Ferregut

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present here and in the companion papers an analysis of sustainability in the Middle Rio Grande region of the U.S.-Mexico border and propose an interdisciplinary research agenda focused on the coupled human and natural dimensions of water resources sustainability in the face of climate and social change in an international border region. Key threats to water sustainability in the Middle Rio Grande River region include: (1) increasing salinization of surface and ground water, (2) increasing water demand from a growing population in the El Paso/Ciudad Juarez area on top of an already high base demand from irrigated agriculture, (3) …

Umass Amherst Solar Energy Plan, Ezra Small

Sustainability Reports & Plans

The Campus Sustainability Manager has drafted a solar energy plan for the core campus area. The plan looks at multiple types of solar installations such as ground mounted, roof mounted, and parking lot canopies as opportunities for helping the university in increasing it's renewable energy portfolio and meeting state mandates for renewable electricity generation.

Feasibility Study For Siting Anaerobic Digestion Facility At Umass Amherst Campus, Cdm Smith, Massachusetts Department Of Environmental Protection

Sustainability Reports & Plans

Feasibility Study for possible AD facility at UMass Amherst: Includes Assessment of Proposed Site, Potential Organic Materials Quanitities and Characteristics, Conceptual Organics Processing Facilities, Project Pro Forma Financial Analysis and Conclusions.

Fy 2013 Umass Amherst Waste Management Report, Ezra Small

Campus Data

Each year the Office of Waste Management publishes this report which totals recycling and refuse data for the campus.

Fy 2013 Umass Amherst Water & Steam Data By Building, Ezra Small

Campus Data

Each year, UMass Amherst Utilities publishes this spreadsheet which has the monthly and annual building water and steam consumption of each metered building on campus.

Fy13 Scope Iii Emissions Methodology And Data, Mohamad Farzinmoghadam, Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham

Campus Data

UMass Amherst has developed it's own methodology for calculating the Scope III emissions of the University, which includes emissions generated from air travel and employee and student commuting miles to campus. This report explains the methodology and presents the data outcomes for Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13).

Fy 2013 Umass Amherst Electricity Data By Building, Ezra Small

Campus Data

Each year, UMass Amherst Utilities publishes this spreadsheet which has the monthly and annual building energy consumption of each metered building on campus. Cost data and production vs. purchased electricity data are also provided.

Developing Sustainable Business Leaders, Linda Krzykowski

Presentations

Presented at Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Conference.

Concept And Technique: How Traditional Japanese Architecture Can Contribute To Contemporary Sustainable Design Practices, Courtney Angen

Environmental Studies Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Geoscience And Geoscience Education In A Sustainable World, Tim Lutz

Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Big Red, Small Planet, Christian Ryan-Downing , Editor, Leslie North , Editor

Sustainability Publications and Resources

At WKU, “The Spirit Makes the Master”. Our commitment to continuous improvement is clearly reflected in our sustainability efforts. WKU’s commitment to sustainability, whether demonstrated in campus operations or in educational programs, helps to ensure that our graduates are prepared to address the complicated environmental, social and economic issues we face today. They will be able to think critically, solve problems creatively and be engaged citizens. If that’s all we accomplish then we will have achieved great success. But our sustainability commitment pays dividends, as it also leads us to reduce our environmental footprint, practice social responsibility, and conserve natural …

Quality Revolutions, Solidarity Networks, And Sustainability Innovations: Following Fair Trade Coffee From Nicaragua To California, Christopher M. Bacon

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Nicaraguan smallholder cooperative leaders working in partnership with a California-based small-scale roasting company pioneered an alternative approach to confronting the post-1999 coffee crisis. They built coffee tasting laboratories and integrated grassroots organizing efforts to create a national smallholder cooperative association that dramatically improved the quality, consistency, and prices from of the coffee they exported. Cooperative leaders used this development project to gain a more significant share of political economic power in a domestic coffee industry historically dominated by colonial powers, and corporate and domestic elites. This alliance between the artisanal small-scale roasting companies and cooperative leaders also proved that smallholders …

Understanding Place, Bucknell Center For Sustainability And The Environment

Sponsored Events -- Materials

Promotional flyer advertising the Understanding Place Speaker Series presented by the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment under the leadership of Director Brandn Green. Talks were held throughout the academic year 2013-2014 and featured lectures by local and regional faculty. Green's efforts resulted in co-editing a special issue in the Journal for Environmental Studies and Sciences. Green's introduction and articles by Bucknell faculty authors expand on the concepts cultivated throughout the series.