Sustainability Commons^™

A Case Study Of A Project Entitled Community Skills For A Complex Situation: Managing Mining In The Brazilian Atlantic Forest, Arash Shane Robinson

Capstone Collection

This paper is a case study of a project entitled Community Skills for a Complex Situation: Managing Mining in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, which is located in the Serra do Brigadeiro Territory of Minas Gerais, Brazil – an area rich in biodiversity that is thought to contain the highly endangered woolly spider monkey (Brachyteles hypoxanthus).

Iracambi, a local non-governmental organization with an international staff, designed and implemented the project. Beginning in 2007, the project is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2011, and is funded by the Inter-American Foundation (IAF). Utilizing mainstream sustainable development, the …

Ethnic Minorities And Food Security In Northern Thailand, Monalisa Diamond

Capstone Collection

The issue of food security is complex. By analyzing the relationship between international, national and local society, one can better contextualize food security issues. Using an embedded research design (with a qualitative leaning) supported by quantitative data, research is conducted via surveys, interviews and focus groups. This research design was chosen to offset limited sample sizes with quantitative data to strengthen findings. Research findings were cross analyzed to identify three emergent themes. The three cross-cutting themes identified and analyzed are: Thai citizenship, employment and chemical pesticide use (chemical pesticide use did not arise among Burmese refugees and is only applicable …

Energy Management And Governance In Vermont: A Case Study, Nicole Davis

Capstone Collection

Environmental management has always been important for global sustainability and has becoming even more critical in the face of climate change, the expansion of the global economy, and explosive population growth. Energy resource management is one of the critical areas that need to be address on the international, national, state and local levels. This paper presents a case study of the state of Vermont’s efforts towards energy management. Special attention is paid to governance of its energy systems and the ensuing results. The research looked at the energy supply and consumption profiles of the state, how those factors influenced policies, …

Guano Exploitation In Madagascar, Christina Buliga

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Agriculture in Madagascar continues to remain largely undeveloped. Out of the eighty percent of Malagasy individuals that live in rural areas an overwhelming sixty five percent practice subsistence agriculture. With respect to the country as a whole this means that out of Madagascar's 58.2 million hectares of available land only 5.2 percent (3 million hectares) are farmed. And out of these 3 million hectares only 67% are cultivated permanently and only 11% are fertilized.

While there are several reasons for why Madagascar’s agriculture has remained largely undeveloped and for why Madagascar continues to rely on imported crops to meet its …

Renewable Energy In Rural Amazônia: A Case Study Of Its Advantages And Limitations In Santo Antônio, Amy Plovnick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Isolated renewable energy projects are a promising alternative to diesel power for providing electricity in rural communities not connected to the conventional electricity transmission grid. However, there have been a limited number of such projects in rural Amazônia, and they often face obstacles that limit their sustainability. The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental, social and economic impact of isolated renewable energy projects through a case study of a small-scale biomass and solar energy electrification project in the community of Santo Antônio, Pará. It will also evaluate the limitations to implementing and sustaining isolated renewable energy projects …

El Movimiento Verde En La Tierra De La Albiceleste: Obstáculos Y Oportunidades Para La Energía Limpia En Argentina, Robert Strickling

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Para combatir el cambio climático, países por todo el mundo están haciendo políticas para incentivar el desarrollo de energía limpia. Cada país tiene sus propias problemas y oportunidades para reemplazar su uso de energía con fuentes limpias como energía eólica y solar. Este estudio miró a la situación en Argentina y usó las opiniones de académicos y con actores. Con sus opiniones y experiencias y con estudios de caso de países con políticas más desarrollados muestra la situación actual y soluciones posibles para el futuro. Los problemas que emergieron incluye el desarrollo de líneas de transmisión, la competitividad de energía …

Los Problemas Energéticos De Chile Y Sus Soluciones: El Rol De Las Energías Renovables No Convencionales, Megha Jain

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación trata sobe la seguridad energética de Chile, un concepto relativamente nuevo que tiene que ver con la capacidad de un país para garantizar un suministro energético, que permita el crecimiento económico y el desarrollo social. Actualmente, Chile se encuentra en una posición energética muy vulnerable. A pesar de su riqueza geográfica repleta de recursos energéticos renovables, carece de las fuentes de energía más importantes hoy día: el petróleo, el carbón y el gas natural. Por eso, para cumplir con una demanda creciente, tiene que importar entre el 70%  y el 80% de su energía, dependiendo de pocos suministradores …

Knowing Your Community: Fostering Biodiversity Awareness In Our Students’ Daily Existence, Tony Cummings Bs, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

There are strong arguments suggesting that developing students’ sensitivity to local biodiversity and conservation issues is as important as emphasizing an understanding of global conservation issues happening in faraway lands (Ehrenfeld, 2009). Many students arrive at a Study Abroad destination, with a good understanding of theory, but with little field experience at home. Environmental educators in Study Abroad are able to use the novelty and grandeur of our exotic destinations to systematically teach students the patterns and processes of ecological and human communities at our sites, while inspiring a sense of place in our students. By immersing students in the …

Environmental Sustainability: Challenges And Opportunities Of Greening Your Study Abroad Program, Sylvia M. Seger Mim, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

World Learning’s mission to “… create a more peaceful and just world” by necessity encompasses environmental dynamics, considering that the root causes of most social justice issues and violent conflicts can be traced to environmental degradation and disproportional access to shrinking natural resources. Thus our mission mandates that we employ an ethic of environmental stewardship in all our pursuits and put in place mechanisms to mitigate our environmental impacts.

“We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations, the important thing is not to achieve but …

Simplicity And The City: Understanding The Voluntary Simplicity Movement In Melbourne, Gershwin Penn

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study was to understand the lifestyle of members of the voluntary simplicity movement in an urban setting. I sought to understand how they practiced simplicity in their day to day lives, how simplicity effected their emotional life, how simplicity influenced their values, how simplicity influenced their interaction with the city, and what their general ethos was. This study was conducted to understand how it is possible for individuals to live ecologically and socially responsible lives in settings that, by in large, reject their values. I conducted fifteen face to face in-depth interviews in Melbourne in April …