Sustainability Commons^™

Spatial Analysis Of Post-Hurricane Katrina Thermal Pattern And Intensity In Greater New Orleans: Implications For Urban Heat Island Research, Aram P. Lief

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina’s diverse impacts on the Greater New Orleans area included damaged and destroyed trees, and other despoiled vegetation, which also increased the exposure of artificial and bare surfaces, known factors that contribute to the climatic phenomenon known as the urban heat island (UHI). This is an investigation of UHI in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which entails the analysis of pre and post-hurricane Katrina thermal imagery of the study area, including changes to surface heat patterns and vegetative cover. Imagery from Landsat TM was used to show changes to the pattern and intensity of the UHI effect, …

Deep Energy Retrofits Using The Integrative Design Process: Are They Worth The Cost, Daniel S. Bertoldi

Master's Projects and Capstones

The McKinsey Global Initiative identified existing building retrofits as an integral component to achieve a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the United Sates by 2050 (Fluhrer, Maurer, & Deshmukh 2010). However, this will require energy efficiency retrofits for existing buildings to be deployed more frequently and achieve higher energy savings on average. Deep Energy Retrofits using the Integrative Design Process can result in 30-60%+ energy savings in office buildings. Because Deep Energy Retrofits require higher upfront capital costs, in an economy still recovering from the economic downturn, financial decision makers may not be inclined to invest more capital …

An Assessment Of The Potential For Urban Rooftop Agriculture In West Oakland, California, Nicole M. Reese

Master's Projects and Capstones

Throughout the world, all forms of urban agriculture are growing in popularity with the desire to grow and eat locally sourced food. Barriers such as access to vacant land and contaminated soil make it difficult to implement urban agriculture projects on the ground (i.e. at grade). Rooftop farming is a feasible solution to such barriers of forms of urban agriculture at grade.

The small Business Mix Zone in West Oakland, California has over one million square feet of untapped rooftop space available for urban rooftop farming. Revenue of up to $4 million can be earned from the sale of produce …

Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge With Modern Day Ecosystem Management And Restoration Practices, Leialani O. Hufana

Master's Projects and Capstones

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is a fairly new area of research that can supplement science research and modern day ecosystem management practices. Indigenous cultures and local communities have been using and passing on TEK in forestry, agricultural, and aquaculture/marine ecosystem management. Through a review of literature, TEK in Hawaiʻi was compared to TEK in other countries. TEK was also compared to modern day ecosystem management practices to determine if TEK could be integrated. In Hawaiʻi an ahupuaʻa, a land transect that cuts the islands in sections from mountain to sea, was an integrated watershed based management system. TEK in ahupuaʻa …

Harvest Incentives: A Tool For Managing Aquatic Invasive Species, Bob Wiltshire, Nathan Stone, Marshall Meyers, Bill Hyatt, Lori Williams, Jason Goldberg, Susan Pasko, Leah Elwell

National Invasive Species Council

Conclusion

The success of any harvest incentive program to address aquatic invasive species will depend upon numerous biological, socioeconomic, and legal considerations. Programs that encourage harvest may be a successful management tool in targeting small, distinct populations; in high priority areas within a larger invasion; or they may play a supplementary role within larger control programs. Their use, however, will require careful review, planning, and monitoring to ensure success and that they do not unintentionally lead to further spread of invasive species, cause additional harm to native species, or waste valuable resources.

Water Water Everywhere: Analyzing Long Island's Water Issues And Finding Solutions For A Sustainable Future, Anthony T. Becker

2014 Student Theses

Over three million people call Long Island their home. With access to beautiful landscapes, world-renowned beaches, and proximity to New York City, it is no wonder that so many proudly call this geographic stretch of glacial till their home. However, throughout the years our actions do not necessarily reflect this affection we have to our home. Years of sprawl and human infestation across the island have resulted in widespread environmental degradation. Specifically, the water we drink and the beaches we enjoy have become endangered. I plan on studying the urban ecology of how intensified population growth led to the eutrophication …

The Restorative Effects Of Natural Decor, Tobias Burnham

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Humans are continually opting to live in urban environments, furthering us from the innate connection to the natural environment we have evolved with over millennia. These urban settings place several stressors on us in the form of stimuli that requires directed attention (cars, billboards, traffic lights, etc.) in which deplete our attentional resources leading to Direct Attention Fatigue (DAF). Attentional Restoration Theory (ART) is based on the ability of natural environments to have restorative effects on these depleted resources due to the relative ease of experiencing nature through involuntary attention. The focus of this study is to determine how nature-based …

Investment In Technology & Voluntary Simplicity: Exploring Opportunities For Energy-Efficiency In The Us Residential Sector, Elaine Charlebois

Honors Scholar Theses

This work examines alternative approaches for middle-class Americans to make lifestyle changes to promote energy efficiency. The US residential sector poses a significant opportunity for improvement in efficiency which will lead to electricity and carbon savings, further leading to long-term cost savings for each household.

A way to think about energy savings is by considering two radically different approaches: voluntary simplicity or investment in technology. Investments in technology include retrofits for existing homes and building new homes more efficiently, both focusing on aspects such as heating and cooling, insulation, water use and water heating, lighting, and appliances. Voluntary simplicity is …

Soil Health After Intense Ponderosa Pine Forest Fire In North Central Nebraska, Amanda Hefner

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In late July 2012, the Region 24 Complex fire consumed over 76, 000 acres of north central Nebraska. This area consists of ponderosa pine forest with high densities of eastern redcedar, deciduous hardwood forest, and Sandhills prairie. This incredible event provided an occasion to examine the effect of the fire on soil nitrification and soil erosion at The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve. Eighteen 900m² plots were established in regions chosen for their topographic location (footslope, midslope, and ridgetop), forest density, and directional slope (north vs. south facing slope). Each plot was split into nine subplots with 25 erosion …

Economic, Energy And Ghg Emissions Performance Evaluation Of A Whispergen Mk Iv Stirling Engine Μ-Chp Unit In A Domestic Dwelling, Gerry Conroy, Aidan Duffy, Lacour Ayompe

Articles

This paper presents an assessment of the energy, economic and greenhouse gas emissions performances of a WhisperGen Mk IV Stirling engine μ-CHP unit for use in a conventional house in the Republic of Ireland. The energy performance data used in this study was obtained from a field trial carried out in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the period June 2004 - July 2005 by Northern Ireland Electricity and Phoenix Gas working in collaboration with Whispertech UK. A comparative performance analysis between the µ-CHP unit and a condensing gas boiler revealed that the µ-CHP unit resulted in an annual cost saving of …

Dirty Recycling: Auto Salvage And Its Potential Impacts On Marginalized Populations, Ethan B. Dively, Nicholas C. Ferreri, Cole D. Rossiter

Student Publications

The salvage yard represents the final waypoint in the cradle-to-grave cycle of the automobile. Residual amounts of petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and acids used in automobiles can be extremely harmful to human health and the environment if not managed correctly. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which minority populations were exposed to the hazards of the auto salvage industry. Census data for population, income, race/ethnicity, sex, and age were organized using ArcGIS software. Population demographics were analyzed in the areas surrounding 98 auto salvage yards found in Philadelphia and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia County, …

Gis-Based Suitability Modeling And Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis For Utility Scale Solar Plants In Four States In The Southeast Us, Kata Tisza

All Theses

Photovoltaic (PV) development shows significantly smaller growth in the Southeast U.S., than in the Southwest; which is mainly due to the low cost of fossil-fuel based energy production in the region and the lack of solar incentives. However, the Southeast has appropriate insolation conditions (4.0-6.0 KWh/m2/day) for photovoltaic deployment and in the past decade the region has experienced the highest population growth for the entire country. These factors, combined with new renewable energy portfolio policies, could create an opportunity for PV to provide some of the energy that will be required to sustain this growth. The goal of the study …

Spreading The Char: The Importance Of Local Compatibility In The Diffusion Of Biochar Systems To The Smallholder Agriculture Community Context, Laura C. V. Munoz

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis enters the context of smallholder agriculture communities in the developing world. It explores the potentials of biochar and what biochar systems could bring to the smallholder communities while simultaneously bringing environmental benefits. It then acknowledges the challenges of diffusion –the spreading of an unfamiliar innovation. It seeks to answer the question of what will make diffusion of biochar systems more successful in the smallholder context, fixating on the characteristic of compatibility as well as the role local community members can play in making a new biochar system more visible to the rest of the communities.

Design Of A High Temperature Subsurface Thermal Energy Storage System, Qi Zheng

All Theses

Solar thermal energy is taking up increasing proportions of future power generation worldwide. Thermal energy storage technology is a key method for compensating for the inherent intermittency of solar resources and solving the time mismatch between solar energy supply and electricity demand. However, there is currently no cost-effective high-capacity compact storage technology available (Bakker et al., 2008). The goal of this work is to propose a high temperature subsurface thermal energy storage (HSTES) technology and demonstrate its potential energy storage capability by developing a solar-HSTES-electricity generation system. In this work, main elements of the proposed system and their related state-of-art …

The Impact Of World Bank’S Conditionality-Ownership Hybrid On Forest Management In Cameroon: Policy Hybridity In International Dependence Development, Asongayi Venard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many developing countries depend on the World Bank for development assistance, which the Bank often provides with policy reform conditions. Resistance to World Bank’s conditionality caused the Bank to posit “ownership” as a country’s real assent to its development policies. The combination of ownership and conditionality invalidates the neocolonial, false-paradigm and dualism theses in explaining the international dependence development model. This study explains this model by investigating how the relationship between conditionality and ownership in the context of this model impacts forest management in Cameroon.

Integrating theoretical and methodological insights mainly from political science, economics, geosciences, and sociology, the study …

Recovering The Moca River: An Exploration Through Sustainable Strategies For Developing Countries, Marleny Santana Diaz

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Natural watercourses are being negatively affected by growing urbanization in different cities of the world. Within these circumstances the concept of river restoration has gained relevance, becoming a worldwide priority in water management. In developing countries, river restoration plans, conditioned by social and economic limitations, are mainly focused on a single approach, typically relying on short-term, low technology strategies.

In the long term, these strategies tend to fail because they usually avoid integral solutions that address the interconnected factors contributing to river degradation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a framework of river restoration planning for developing …

Renewable Energy Activities: Choices For Tomorrow, Ap Environmental Science, Terry A. Ferguson, Kendra Whitney, Logan Ress

Arthur Vining Davis High Impact Fellows Projects

This AVD High Impact Fellows Program Team Project developed high school level learning modules on renewable energy. The learning modules focus on the collection, analysis and graphing of real-world data and the making of assessments and projections of the use of renewable energy at the school location. The project focuses primarily on solar energy but all other major alternative energy sources are also briefly addressed. The modules focus on solar energy because it is the only feasible alternative energy source for the region. The ultimate goal of the project is to produce a presentation for the school principal making recommendations …

Tapping The Apocalypse & Healing With Intention, Julianne E. Henderson Ms.

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

When crisis strikes, practical skills and strategies are critical to one's survival. However, one's positive mentality, relationship with and knowledge of his or her environment, and capacity for compassion when faced with an apocalyptic landscape are just as likely to boost their morale. Maintaining an optimistic consciousness assists human beings with survival, regardless of what level of adversity we face. This research project combines an important skill, which is knowing how to heal oneself naturally with what Nature provides, with the power of our consciousness to determine our success, strength, and overall capacity for withstanding the hurricanes of change.

Elce - Sustainable Serving, Kevin Curwick, Allison Fischbach

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

Describes the Sustainability Student Worker Network (SSWN) and the connections between ELCE (Experiential Learning & Community Engagement) and sustainability at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.

Urban Foraging And The Relational Ecologies Of Belonging, Melissa R. Poe, Joyce Lecompte, Rebecca J. Mclain, Patrick T. Hurley

Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Through a discussion of urban foraging in Seattle, Washington, USA, we examine how people's plant and mushroom harvesting practices in cities are linked to relationships with species, spaces, and ecologies. Bringing a relational approach to political ecology, we discuss the ways that these particular nature–society relationships are formed, legitimated, and mobilized in discursive and material ways in urban ecosystems. Engaging closely with and as foragers, we develop an ethnographically grounded ‘relational ecologies of belonging’ framework to conceptualize and examine three constituent themes: cultural belonging and identity, belonging and place, and belonging and more-than-human agency. Through this case study, we show …

1st Annual Sustainability Report, Saint Mary's College Of California

Sustainability Report

No abstract provided.

Extending Sustainable Irrigation Opportunities To Socially And Historically Disadvantaged Farmers In The Alabama Black Belt To Support Commercial-Level Production, Raymon Shange, Richard Martin, Victor Khan, Kwesi Daniels, George X. Hunter, Gwendolyn J. Johnson, Steve Musser, William Puckett, Walter A. Hill

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

This paper focuses on providing sustainable irrigation opportunities to socially and historically disadvantaged farmers (SHDFs). The ability to provide steady production capacity through the use of renewable energy sources and microirrigation is innovative, in that it demonstrated how to develop and utilize a sustainable irrigation system in both energy and water conservation. This venture is also innovative in that it sought to provide SHDFs with irrigation in a state in which irrigation in agriculture is minimal, while at the same time, offsetting the energy costs that normally accompany irrigation. Several farmers are profiled in their participation in the irrigation program. …

Increasing Sustainability By Going Paperless: A Wmu Case Study, James Amos, James Kison

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

This is a study analyzing the use of digital signatures to reduce paper consumption at WMU. The poster demonstrates ways in which technology promotes sustainability by saving time, fuel and paper.

The Green Manufacturing Industrial Consortium’S (Gmic) Approach To Zero-Waste-To-Landfill (Zwtl), Nathan J. Christensen, Marylin Glass-Angeles

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Introduction: As organizations continually seek to reduce various forms of waste, some may seek to reduce their landfill impact and improve recycling and material disposal practices. Many organizations interested in reducing their landfill waste have embarked on a zero-waste-to-landfill (ZWTL) journey. This journey involves thoroughly exploring the landfill waste of an organization, reverse tracking the waste to its source, and establishing new practices and procedures for eliminating the source of waste from the landfill stream. The purpose of this poster is to describe the methodology used by the Green Manufacturing Initiative to assist companies on their ZWTL journey.

Urban Harbors Institute: Engaging Communities, Applying Research, Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Stakeholder engagement is a major component of nearly all of the Institute’s work. Community members, those working in ocean and coastal-based industries, and advocates for environmental quality, bring knowledge and perspectives to complement the Institute’s science, policy, and technical analyses. Broad stakeholder participation enriches the process, improves the outcomes, and strengthens the likelihood that management recommendations will be implemented.

Climate Change In Northern New Hampshire: Past, Present And Future, Cameron P. Wake, C. Keeley, Elizabeth A. Burakowski, Peter Wilkinson, Katharine Hayhoe, Anne Stoner, Julie Labrance

The Sustainability Institute Publications

EARTH’S CLIMATE CHANGES. It always has and always will. However, an extensive and growing body of scientific evidence indicates that human activities—including the burning of fossil fuel (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy, clearing of forested lands for agriculture, and raising livestock—are now the primary force driving change in the Earth’s climate system. This report describes how the climate of northern New Hampshire has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region will be affected by a warmer planet due to human activities.

Climate Change In Southern New Hampshire: Past, Present And Future, Cameron P. Wake, Elizabeth A. Burakowski, Peter Wilkinson, Katharine Hayhoe, Anne Stoner, C. Keeley, Julie Labranche

The Sustainability Institute Publications

EARTH’S CLIMATE CHANGES. It always has and always will. However, an extensive and growing body of scientific evidence indicates that human activities—including the burning of fossil fuel (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy, clearing of forested lands for agriculture, and raising livestock—are now the primary force driving change in the Earth’s climate system. This report describes how the climate of southern New Hampshire has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region will be affected by a warmer planet due to human activities.

Determining The Dynamics Of Agricultural Water Use: Cases From Asia And Africa, Lisa-Maria Rebelo, Robyn Johnston, Poolad Karimi, Peter G. Mccornick

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Across Africa and Asia, water resources are being affected by a complex mixture of social, economic, and environmental factors. These include climate change and population growth, food prices, oil prices, financial disruptions, and political fluctuations. The need to produce more food will have one of the largest impacts on water and will continue to reshape the patterns of agricultural water use in major food-growing regions. With this increasing demand on water for agriculture, from large-scale irrigation to intensification of rainfed systems, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that water resources decision-making has access to information that captures the spectrum …

Gamba La Kasa: Using The Sea Turtle As A Flagship For Conservation Through Storytelling And Children's Literature, Eliza Hollister

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study has been to educate the children and adults of Uzi Island on the importance of sea turtle conservation through storytelling and collaborative children's literature. This study's culminating product is a handmade children's book, written in both English and Swahili, entitled Turtle's Shell/Gamba La Kasa. A story from an Uzi elder was integrated into the book, as were illustrations gathered from the children of Uzi. Sea turtle conservation efforts are occurring all over the world through many methods, but this study is different from others because it acknowledges and utilizes the local knowledge and folklore in …

Population, Progeny And Power: Analyzing Population Growth, Family Planning And The Factors That Contribute To High Child Bearing Rates In Kizanda Village, Tanzania, Jade Enright

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The population growth rate is reaching an astounding level in Tanzania and Eastern Africa. It is applying increasing pressure on things like social services, land availability, job opportunities, conservation and localized resources. This study looks at the perceptions of both men and women surrounding social and environmental factors contributing to the high population growth rate. It looks more specifically at factors including childbearing, birth control methods and their effectiveness, and how the birth rate correlates with changing quality of life. This study was conducted in Kizanda Village in the West Usambara Mountains of Northern Tanzania, a region following the trend …