Sustainability Commons^™

Agronomic Or Contentious Land Change? A Longitudinal Analysis From The Eastern Brazilian Amazon, Stephen Aldrich, Cynthia S. Simmons, Eugenio Arima, Robert T. Walker, Fernando Michelotti, Edna Castro

Department of Earth and Environmental Systems

Since 1984, nearly 1,000 people have been killed in the Brazilian Amazon due to land conflicts stemming from unequal distribution of land, land tenure insecurity, and lawlessness. During this same period, the region experienced almost complete deforestation (< 8% forest cover by 2010). Land conflict exacts a human toll, but it also affects agents’ decisions about land use, the subject of this article. Using a property-level panel dataset covering the period of redemocratization in Brazil (1984) until the privatization of long-term leases in the eastern Amazon (2010), we show that deforestation is affected by land conflict, particularly in cases of expropriation of property for agrarian reform settlement formation. Deforestation on these settlements is much greater when soils are poor for agriculture and when the land has been the object of past conflict. Deforestation and conflict are episodic, and both agronomic drivers and contentious drivers of land change are active in the region. Ultimately, the outcome of these processes of contentious and agronomic land change is substantial deforestation, regardless of who was in possession and control of the land.

Green Strategic Planning Approach For International Shipping Activities, Xiaofang Wu, Luoping Zhang, Huan Feng

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Sustainability is a long-term and ultimate goal for international shipping, although it is slowly making progress. The shipping perspective that moves away from “port-to-port” operations to “door-to-door” services also requires international shipping to take a long-term and holistic view instead of fragmented efforts. How to achieve the long-term sustainability goal becomes a key issue for door-to-door international shipping. Hence, green strategic planning for door-to-door international shipping was proposed with green development that puts forward the eco-centric point of view as its basic theory for sustainability. This study used a strategic decision-making approach, a so-called multi-dimensional decision-making (MDDM), coupled with the …

On The Frontlines - The Fishermen Of Ibrahim Hyderi, Muhammad Haris Aslam Khan

MSJ Capstone Projects

Climate change has become a matter of recent debate for much of the world. According to a report published by a German watch, a non-governmental organization, in 2019, Pakistan among the five countries at severe risk of climate change disasters.

During the last two decades, Pakistan saw more than 141 extreme climatic catastrophes. Only in 2016, more than 566 people died due to these conditions.

A report published by Asian Development Bank in 2017 indicates Pakistan’s climate change profile. It states that more than 1,600 people have lost their lives in the super flood of 2010 alone. A loss of …

Small Ruminant Health Intervention Calendar In Ethiopia, Mesfin Mekonnen, Ayalew Assefa, Tesfalem Nane, Firdawok Ayele, Asrat Arke, Belay Elias, Barbara Wieland

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Contents

1 Background................................................................................................... 3
2 Developing the health intervention calendar............................................................ 4
The treatment calendar ......................................................... 4 Applying the calendar..................................................................... 5 4 References................................................................... 8

Cost Effectiveness Of Greenhouse Gas Reductions Through Afforestation Of Agricultural Land In The Arkansas Delta, Karli A. Moore

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sequestration of atmospheric carbon in forested lands offsets carbon emissions from other industries. Conversion of private lands, particularly agricultural tracts in marginal areas, to forests can bolster carbon abatement. The United States government agencies administer some voluntary, incentive-based programs to encourage landowners to adopt production practices with positive environmental outcomes. This policy stream can be used to increase transition of marginal agricultural land to forests, thereby creating new carbon sinks. We analyze an eleven-county study area in the Arkansas Delta to determine feasibility for a subsidy focused on carbon abatement through afforestation. This study area is significant for two reasons: …

Effect Of Foliar Spray Application Of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles On Quantitative, Nutritional, And Physiological Parameters Of Foxtail Millet (Setaria Italica L.) Under Field Conditions, Marek Kolenčík, Dávid Ernst, Matej Komár, Martin Šebesta, Martin Urík, Edmund Dobročka, Ivan Černý, Ramakanth Illa, Raghavendra Kanike, Qian Yu, Huan Feng, Denisa Orlová, Gabriela Kratošová

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

It has been shown that the foliar application of inorganic nano-materials on cereal plants during their growth cycle enhances the rate of plant productivity by providing a micro-nutrient source. We therefore studied the effects of foliarly applied ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) on Setaria italica L. foxtail millet’s quantitative, nutritional, and physiological parameters. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the ZnO NPs have an average particle size under 20 nm and dominant spherically shaped morphology. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry then confirmed ZnO NP homogeneity, and X-ray diffraction verified their high crystalline and wurtzite-structure symmetry. Although plant height, thousand grain weight, and grain …

Art And The Environment, Ellen Dexter, Lydia Dexter

Honors Program: Expanded Learning Clubs

After school club that teaches the importance of sustainable practices and conversation activities through art projects and imagination.

Barriers And Opportunities To Electric Vehicle Development In Nepal, Allyson Krupa

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As the global carbon dioxide level reaches its highest point in human history (407.4 parts per million), energy systems must transition from fossil fuel to renewable-powered sources. Since the transportation sector contributes nearly one-third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, electric mobility offers a significant opportunity to reduce GHG emissions. Globally, there has been a rise in demand for electric vehicles. In Nepal, a clean energy transition within the context of rising urbanization and air pollution is imperative for quality of life, socio-economic development, and broadly climate change mitigation/adaptation. Furthermore, Nepal’s vast hydropower potential may increase energy independence and provide …

Stakeholders’ Perceptions Of Geographical Criteria For Loblolly Pine Management For Bioenergy Production In Virginia, Meghann Smith, Gia Nguyen, Taylor Wieczerak, Bernabas Wolde, Pankaj Lal, John Munsell

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study analyzed the perceptions of four stakeholder groups (forest landowners, private forest consultants, forest management researchers or educators, and federal or state agency foresters), regarding their management practices and preferred geographic growing conditions of loblolly pine in Virginia by combining AHP (analytical hierarchy process) and regression modeling. By ranking the importance of different geographical conditions for managing loblolly pine, we aimed to identify ways to support loblolly growth as a potential feedstock for biofuel generation. We achieved this through collecting survey responses from 43 stakeholders during the 2019 Virginia Forestry Summit. The results showed that the landowner, researcher/educator, and …

Microgrid Technology And The Arctic: Green Renewable Technology Does Relate To The Land, Gerry Dell

Head and Heart Posters 2019

Microgrids can take power from other energy sources and share their loads meaning there is a less reliance on diesel power generation. Wind mill power generators, solar power (for the summer) and battery storage are fantastic elements for providing consistent power in the Arctic. These power systems have been tried and proven, in all conditions, over many years. Geothermal is another green efficient way to heat homes and businesses in the Arctic. When I worked for Dome Petroleum in McKinley Bay NWT, I was fortunate to work in the most extreme winter weather the Arctic can produce. With global warming …

Microgrid Technology And The Arctic: Green Renewable Technology Does Relate To The Land, Gerry Dell

Learning with your Head & Heart

Microgrids can take power from other energy sources and share their loads meaning there is a less reliance on diesel power generation. Wind mill power generators, solar power (for the summer) and battery storage are fantastic elements for providing consistent power in the Arctic. These power systems have been tried and proven, in all conditions, over many years. Geothermal is another green efficient way to heat homes and businesses in the Arctic. When I worked for Dome Petroleum in McKinley Bay NWT, I was fortunate to work in the most extreme winter weather the Arctic can produce. With global warming …

Microgrid Technology And The Arctic: Green Renewable Technology Does Relate To The Land, Gerry Dell

2019 Cohort

Microgrids can take power from other energy sources and share their loads meaning there is a less reliance on diesel power generation. Wind mill power generators, solar power (for the summer) and battery storage are fantastic elements for providing consistent power in the Arctic. These power systems have been tried and proven, in all conditions, over many years. Geothermal is another green efficient way to heat homes and businesses in the Arctic. When I worked for Dome Petroleum in McKinley Bay NWT, I was fortunate to work in the most extreme winter weather the Arctic can produce. With global warming …

Modeling Irrigation Behavior In Groundwater Systems, Timothy Foster, Nicholas Brozovic, Adrian P. Butler

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Integrated hydro-economic models have been widely applied to water management problems in regions of intensive groundwater-fed irrigation. However, policy interpretations may be limited as most existing models do not explicitly consider two important aspects of observed irrigation decision making, namely the limits on instantaneous irrigation rates imposed by well yield and the intraseasonal structure of irrigation planning. We develop a new modeling approach for determining irrigation demand that is based on observed farmer behavior and captures the impacts on production and water use of both well yield and climate. Through a case study of irrigated corn production in the Texas …

Water Productivity In Meat And Milk Production In The Us From 1960 To 2016, Mesfin Mekonnen, C.M.U. Neale, Chittaranjan Ray, Galen E. Erickson, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Global demand for livestock products is rising, resulting in a growing demand for feed and potentially burdening freshwater resources to produce this feed. To offset this increased pressure on water resources, the environmental performance of livestock sector should continue to improve. Over the last few decades, product output per animal and feedstuff yields in the US have improved, but before now it was unclear to what extent these improvements influenced the water productivity (WP) of the livestock products. In this research, we estimate changes in WP of animal products from 1960 to 2016. We consider feed conversion ratios (dry matter …

Apartment Residents' Understanding Of And Satisfaction With Water Savings Devices, David Farmer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the human population increases, the way we use and manage our supply of drinking water becomes even more important. The purpose of this study was to determine residents’ satisfaction level of and performance rating of new water savings devices installed in their apartments. Specifically the investigation focused on ratings of shower heads, kitchen faucet aerators, bath faucet aerators, and fill valve and flapper systems.

This quantitative survey included residents at 4 apartment complexes in Tennessee using a paper questionnaire (N = 626). The participants were grouped by age, ethnicity, gender, and whether or not they had experienced both nonrestrictive …

Smoller And King: California Should Have Its Own Solar Decathlon, Fred Smoller, Richard King

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"While the Federal Government has pulled back on the reins, California is vigorously going green. California’s legislature has passed ambitious climate change legislation while governors of both parties have made tackling climate change a priority. Last month, the City of Los Angeles released its own ambitious Green New Deal.

To increase its impact, the California competition could be expanded to include a sustainability exposition which would include professional development and consumer workshops, as well as K-12 education events. Sustainability vendors would display and explain their products, services and new technologies. As many as 100,000 visitors per day could visit the …

Development Of A Karst Tourism Management Index To Assess Tourism-Driven Degradation Of Protected Karst Sites, Keith R. Semler

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The intent of this research was to create and evaluate a karst tourism management index (KTMI). This index is intended to be a new management tool designed to quantify environmental disturbances caused specifically by tourism activities in karst regions, particularly show caves and springs. In an effort to assess the effectiveness of the index as a management tool in karst terrains, after development, the index was applied to six case study sites. A review of the management policies at each study site was conducted with the use of standard policy critique methods and semistructured interviews with managers at the study …

Droughtscape, Fall 2019, Cory Matteson

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

From the Director

Quarterly drought summary

Quarterly drought impacts

Ranchers delayed response to drought

Drought Monitor celebrates 20 years

Drought Monitor state impact tables

Directorcontributesto U.N.droughtproject

Updated Drought Risk Atlas

New fact sheet lists recovery resources

Droughtscape, Summer 2019, Cory Matteson

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

From the Director

Quarterly drought summary

Quarterly drought impacts

NDMC welcomes African visitors

Ready for Drought game debuts

U.S. Virgin Islands added to USDM

Australian programmer visits NDMC

Upcoming events

Partnerships with NDMC extended

Seamless Lidar Surveys Reveal Rates And Patterns Of Subsidence In The Mississippi River Delta, Celeste E. Woock

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) data are used to report the temporal and spatial patterns of subsidence as well as the potential contributors to subsidence within the Barataria and Terrebonne Bays. In recent decades, subsidence in southeast Louisiana has become a topic of substantial and growing concern to the scientific community, the local residents, and all those invested in the region. Lidar data were acquired from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the LSU Center for Geoinformatics. The data has been manipulated to map the differenced Lidar, complete an instantaneous slope analysis, and determine the thickness of the Holocene …

Teacher Perceptions Of Environmental Science In Rural Northwestern New Mexico Public Schools, Marie Quiahuitl Julienne

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

In this study, I explored what teachers perceive as the factors that impact their teaching of environmental science in rural secondary level schools in northwestern New Mexico. I adapted Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) ecological systems model, based on four environmental subsystem levels (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem), as the conceptual framework to address the major research question of this study, and developed 18 interview questions to explore teachers’ perceptions of factors that influence their teaching of environmental science. I investigated the perspectives science teachers have about environmental science topics and the influences they perceive that affect how they teach environmental science, and …

Journey Throughout South Africa And Beyond, Rachel Fracasso

Library Research Scholars Program 2018-2019

By studying abroad in Cape Town, I discovered a new part of the world that I had yet to experience. My goal throughout this project was to document and organize these discoveries in an engaging way and share what I learned about South Africa and beyond in an interactive, visually appealing, educational, and engaging way. My project is photography based, and a collection of my photographs will be displayed in the Creative Studios in the Richter Library. These pictures are a representation of the most meaningful, special, surprising, and challenging parts of my study abroad experience from the Spring 2019 …

Resource Assessment Report Western Rock Lobster Resource Of Western Australia. Addendum 1, Simon De Lestang, Jason How, Nick Caputi

WA Marine Stewardship Council report series

The West Coast Rock Lobster Fishery was certified under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard in 2000, and was the first fishery in the world to be MSC certified. Since then it has successfully been re-accredited in 2006, 2012 and 2017. This document provides an update on changes to the fishery for annual audits by the MSC certification body and the annual stock assessment update for quota setting of the western rock lobster resource.

Watering The Desert: Azraq, Public Opinion, And Environmental Post-Materialism, Wesley A. Gerard

Venture: The University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal

This article focuses on physical, socioeconomic, and political changes in the community of Azraq, Jordan. Azraq, a small town in northeastern Jordan, sits atop a large aquifer that has been heavily pumped by the government for several decades in response to an increasing nationwide demand for water. This has led to large-scale transformations in not only the physical landscape surrounding the aquifer, but also in the daily lives, economic statuses, and political opinions of the people living there. My research thus fits the case of Azraq into larger academic discourse on groundwater governance, resource access, and environmentalism. I use a …

How A Changing Climate Impacts Apple Production In Nebraska, Logan Winters

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Since the industrial revolution, there has been an exponential increase in global fossil fuel use. This excessive use and burning of fossil fuels has caused a significant increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in our atmosphere. These greater concentrations of carbon dioxide have been found to have a correlation to increasing temperatures on earth as a whole as the concentration of carbon dioxide, along with other fossil fuel emissions, continue to also increase. The end result of this cycle is that we have warming on a global scale which leads to a changing climate.

The fact that the climate is changing …

Nitrate Accumulation In The Vadose Zone Of Waverly's Wellhead Protection Area, Cleome Mullison

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Agriculturally intensive areas such as Nebraska are faced with a growing threat: groundwater nitrate pollution caused by years of applying nitrogen based fertilizer. Nitrate pollution can be attributed to several factors such as manure from cattle ranching and wastewater plants, but Nebraska’s main threat is derived from years of leached nitrogen fertilizer. When nitrogen fertilizer is applied it has one of several fates: plant uptake, volatilization, leaching or run-off. When nitrates leach beyond the plant root system, they are unable to be absorbed by the plant and ultimately move slowly towards the regional ground water table. While nitrate accumulation in …

What Are The Prospects For -Omics-Based Molecular Technologies In Cancer Diagnostics And Treatment, Katya Eriksen

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death in the United States, following the heart disease. New technologies are needed to fight and eventually to eradicate cancer. Omic technologies is a new emerging field of cancer research that may offer cancer patients long awaited opportunities to get faster, more precise personalized medical care, while letting doctors do their job more effectively. The rapid development of omic technologies and large datasets promise a new type of health care system when the patients can be treated according to their own individualized molecular characteristics.

Proposal To Build A Green Roof On Top Of Hardin Hall On Unl's East Campus, Abbie Andersen

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

The purpose of this study is to research the feasibility of implementing more green roofs around The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s campuses. To do this investigation a systematic literature review process was used gathering multiple relevant, peer reviewed articles from UNL’s “Encore” search engine. The data was then organized into categories that described the necessary considerations that needed to be made to retrofit green roofs, information on their many benefits, and finally the potential energy cost savings that can be obtained through use of a green roof. From here a proposal for a model green roof on top of UNL’s Hardin …

How Are University's Handling Dining Hall Food Waste: Unl Study, Macrae Zappala

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

One of the biggest challenges with the American food system is that 30-40% of our food is wasted every year (EPA, 2018). There are many reasons why food is being wasted around Universities campuses, and there are many ways to divert that wasted material from the landfill. In 2016, a zero-food waste event was held in Harper dining hall, and they found around 70 pounds a night just from a dinner rush. The main objective is aimed to find out how the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) handles their dining hall food waste. This study will look at what Big …

Seventh Grade Students' Understanding Of A Groundwater Modeling Tool, Holly White

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Water is a core topic in standards for science teaching and learning across the K-12 continuum (NGSS Lead States, 2013; National Research Council [NRC], 1966), though research has shown that the American public may possess relatively underdeveloped ideas about water systems (AMNH, 2005). Those who have a better understanding of groundwater systems tend to recognize the impacts that overuse has and express greater concern about conservation of the resource (Pan and Liu 2018). One way to support students’ learning about groundwater is through the use of groundwater modeling tools. Computer-based models have been shown to be effective in supporting K-12 …