Sustainability Commons^™

Incentives For Coastal Persistence, Porter Hoagland

Sustainability Seminar Series

Inundation, erosion, and property damages and losses are being observed at increasing rates in coastal areas. It is now well-recognized that rising sea levels, increases in storm intensities, and inadequate structural protections are contributing to the significant physical destruction of and economic losses to coastal properties. Scientists, coastal zone managers, and the general public have begun to call for implementing policies of resilience and adaptation to these losses, including retreating from the coast, yet humans continue to live—and even increase their presence—along the nation’s shorelines. What causes such persistence? It has become commonplace to identify lower-than-actuarially-fair premiums for participation in …

Novel Materials Can Radically Improve Whole-System Environmental Impacts Of Additive Manufacturing, Jeremy Faludi, Cory M. Van Sice, Yuan Shi, Justin Bower, Owen M.K Brooks

Dartmouth Scholarship

Additive manufacturing often has higher environmental impacts per part than traditional manufacturing at scale, but new materials can enable more sustainable 3D printing. This study developed and tested novel materials for paste extrusion printing, and tested materials invented by others. Testing compared their whole-system environmental impacts to standard ABS extrusion, measured by life cycle assessment (LCA); testing also assessed material strength, printability, and cost. Materials were chosen for low print energy (chemical bonding, not melting), low toxicity, and circular life cycle (biodegradable, ideally sourced from waste biomaterial). Printing energy was reduced 75% (from 160 to 40 Wh/part), and embodied impacts …

Energy Demand And Water Footprint Study Of An Agricultural Machinery Industry, Mantoam E,J., Mesfin Mekonnen, T.L. Romanelli

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The intensification of agricultural production systems demands power, supplied by agricultural machinery, besides more agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and seeds. Agricultural mechanization provides increase in the global production of food, fiber and bioenergy; and it brought economic benefits to producers, but causing larger energy consumption. Energy embodiment in agricultural machinery has been done in earlier studies, but data usually are from car industry. This study aimed to determine the energy demand and water footprint in a plant that assembles five types of agricultural machinery from a multinational manufacturer located in Piracicaba municipality in Sao Paulo state, Brazil. That …

University At Albany Stars Report, University At Albany, State University Of New York

STARS reports

Gold Rating: STARS Version 2.1

The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS®) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to gauge relative progress toward sustainability. STARS was developed by AASHE with broad participation from the higher education community.

STARS is designed to:

• Provide a framework for understanding sustainability in all sectors of higher education.

• Enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community.

• Create incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability.

• Facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices and …

Umphlett Qci Dec 2018, Natalie A. Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies

Mountain Snowpack

Water Resources and Drought

Agriculture

Temperature

Precipitation

The Effects Of Multilingualism Of Executive Function, Isabella Catalano

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In today's world, monolingualism is in the minority (Alonso et al., 2017); however, there is still a lack of understanding about the potential effects of being bi- or multilingual, and whether there is an effect of bilingualism in executive function is debated, given multiple contradictory studies (Paap et al., 2015). This study aims to more closely examine whether the number of languages spoken is related to executive function. In this study, sixty-three participants (mean age = 19.9 years, males = 10) completed the Stroop and flanker tasks, measures of inhibitory control, as well as the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire, …

A Trail Plan For The Prairie Corridor, Michaela Daugherty

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

South of Lincoln, Nebraska a conservation project is underway to create a passage between Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center and Pioneers Park Nature Center. The passage way between the two parks will be restored to its natural state of tallgrass prairie. Eventually, a walking and bike path will be constructed through the corridor to join the parks. The passage has the potential to educate the surrounding community about their natural history and to connect them to their environment and their cultural heritage. Through this thesis and a systematic literature review, we examine different modes of outdoor education, interpretations, guided and …

Trash Talk: The Effects Of Plastic Pollution On Seabirds In Narragansett Bay, Erin A. O'Neill

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Plastic pollution in the ocean is a global concern with more than 8 million tons of plastic dumped into our oceans every year. This policy paper assesses plastic pollution in Narragansett Bay and the negative implications it holds on local seabird populations. Also, essential background information on plastic production and throwaway culture is provided. Moreover, the biological significance of seabirds is described, highlighting the vital role such populations play in local ecosystems such as Narragansett Bay. This paper contributes research to the global issue of plastic pollution by observing declining native wildlife life populations, such as seabirds, on a local …

5th Annual Sustainability Report, Saint Mary's College Of California

Sustainability Report

No abstract provided.

A Systems Perspective Of Changes Within Pastoralist Populations In And Around Sibiloi National Park, Kenya, Cody Willnerd

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In recent years, pastoralist settlement around Sibiloi National Park in Kenya has increased illegal grazing within the park’s boundaries. This issue stems from a myriad of causes, such as; food aid, sedentism, better access to healthcare, lack of grazing land, increase in number of droughts and increase in number of livestock head. The region has a significant lack of research on the topic and a systems perspective will be constructed in this research paper. The systems perspective will be constructed with the use of past literature and interviews answered by those who live in the East Turkana region. Findings have …

Keeping Pace With Relative Sea Level Rise: Marsh Platform Monitoring Shows Minimal Sediment Deficit Along The Louisiana Coast, Kelly Marie Sanks

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent reports estimate that the marshes of the Mississippi Delta receive just 30% of the sediment necessary to sustain current land area1. An extensive monitoring campaign by the USGS and LCPRA provides direct measurements of sediment accumulation, subsidence rates, and deposit characteristics along the coast over the past 10 years2, allowing us to directly evaluate this sediment balance. By interpolating bulk density, organic fraction, and vertical accretion rates from 273 sites, a direct measurement of organic and inorganic sediment accumulation can be made. Results show that a total of 82 MT/year of sediment is delivered to the coast. Using a …

Environmental Fate And Microbial Effects Of Monensin, Lincomycin, And Sulfamethazine Residues In Soil, Matteo D'Alessio, Lisa M. Durso, Daniel N. Miller, Brian Woodbury, Chittaranjan Ray, Daniel D. Snow

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

The impact of commonly-used livestock antibiotics on soil nitrogen transformations under varying redox conditions is largely unknown. Soil column incubations were conducted using three livestock antibiotics (monensin, lincomycin and sulfamethazine) to better understand the fate of the antibiotics, their effect on nitrogen transformation, and their impact on soil microbial communities under aerobic, anoxic, and denitrifying conditions. While monensin was not recovered in the effluent, lincomycin and sulfamethazine concentrations decreased slightly during transport through the columns. Sorption, and to a limited extent degradation, are likely to be the primary processes leading to antibiotic attenuation during leaching. Antibiotics also affected microbial respiration …

Energy And Water Assessment And Plausibility Of Reuse Of Spent Caustic Solution In A Midwest Fluid Milk Processing Plant, Carly Rain Adams

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Food Energy and Water Nexus (FEW Nexus) is the inseparable connection linking these resources. The concept of the FEW Nexus within the food industry addresses the connection of water and energy as key members of food production. The steady increase in population and the increase in food demand are directly related, therefore, the need for water and energy. Immediately taking on this critical challenge will lead to tangible impacts on the water and energy crisis facing the food system. To reduce the distance between process productivity and resource efficiency it must first be determined, within food processing, where water …

How Do Polar Ice Sheets And Sea Level Behave Under A Changing Climate?, Sandra Passchier

Sustainability Seminar Series

Nearly 3 billion people live within 100 km of the coastline, many in large urban centers. In predictions of sea level rise, the future role of polar ice sheets is one of the most critical uncertainties under the present extreme rise in greenhouse forcing of the climate system. This talk will show how geoscientists address the Earth system processes involved in melting ice sheets under warmer climates, and introduce the objectives of an upcoming deepsea drilling expedition to the area with greatest ice loss in West Antarctica.

Using The Theory Of Planned Behavior To Understand University Students Recycling Behavior, Vanessa Sonnenfeld

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Improving recycling behavior is an important means to reducing the ever-increasing amount of waste sent to landfills. When discussing sustainable behaviors, such as recycling, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) can be used to explain why people make the decisions they do. The Theory of Planned Behavior utilizes attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control to be the predictors of behavioral intention. Once we can better explain why students decide to recycle or not to recycle we can utilize this data to increase recycling rates. The Theory of Planned Behavior was used as a basis for this study in order …

Imagining Across Disciplines For A Sustainable Future, Emily James

Writing Center Analysis Papers

At present, the words sustainable and sustainability tend to be associated with environmental issues. Yet, the word sustain comes from the Old French sostenier meaning, “hold up, bear; suffer, endure” and Latin’s sustinere that adds, “hold upright; furnish with means of support; undergo.” Latin’s sustinere can further be broken down into the elements sub and tenere, the root of which, ten, means, “to stretch” (Harper). This paper reflects upon the ways in which the concept of sustainability affects my role as a writing tutor and composition instructor as I seek to help students stretch their abilities to develop ideas …

Can The Desiccation Of Great Salt Lake Be Stopped?, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Craig Miller, Sarah E. Null, R. Justin Derose, Peter Wilcock

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Great Salt Lake is a terminal lake, with its watershed in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains of Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. Like all terminal lakes, the water inflows are balanced only by evaporative loss from its surface—when inflows decrease the lake shrinks until evaporation matches that inflow.

Evaluation Of The Weak Constraint Data Assimilation Approach For Estimating Turbulent Heat Fluxes At Six Sites, Xinlei He, Tongren Xu, Sayed M. Bateni, C.M.U. Neale, Thomas Auligne, Shaomin Liu, Kaicun Wang, Kebiao Mao, Yunjun Yao

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

A number of studies have estimated turbulent heat fluxes by assimilating sequences of land surface temperature (LST) observations into the strong constraint-variational data assimilation (SC-VDA) approaches. The SC-VDA approaches do not account for the structural model errors and uncertainties in the micrometeorological variables. In contrast to the SC-VDA approaches, the WC-VDA approach (the so-called weak constraint-VDA) accounts for the effects of structural and model errors by adding a model error term. In this study, the WC-VDA approach is tested at six study sites with different climatic and vegetative conditions. Its performance is also compared with that of SC-VDA at the …

Climate Futures 1| Climate Futures, Design And The Just Transition, Schedule, Liberal Arts Division, Ncss Graduate Program

Climate Futures Symposia

Schedule of events distributed at the Symposium.

Tracking Soil Signatures Of The 16 Mile Fire, Delaware State Forest, Pa, Jennifer Callanan

Sustainability Seminar Series

The high intensity 16 Mile Fire that burned in the Delaware State Forest, PA was not typical in forests of this region. This study tracks the chemical signature in the soil as a result of the combustion of biomass and associated ash inputs. Chemical signatures related directly to the fire impacted soils were observed, with some remaining after one year’s time. These lasting signatures may influence the future structure of the forest. The results of this study begin to address implications of high intensity fire in forests of the northeast as changing climatic conditions may begin to influence their fire …

The Challenges Of Geotechnical Exploration In Bangladesh For Sustainable Urban Development And Risk Reductions In Engineering Geology, Mir Fazul Karim, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Muhammad Qumrul Hasson, A.T.M. Shakhawat Hossain

Publications and Research

Bangladesh is a unique example of rapid urbanization where the urban population increased from 5 to 58 million in last four decades. Due to complex geology and active tectonic setting, the urban ground is impacted by fluvio-deltaic processes and regional seismicity. The densely populated cities of the country are facing risks from many natural hazards like floods, tidal surge, riverbank and coastal erosion, scour, landslides, soil collapse and foundation failures. Geologists anticipate severe seismic threats from yet-undefined tectonic structures and seek to determine their consequential geo-structural responses and conformance to the national building code. With rapid growth, demands on infrastructure …

Recruiting And Retaining K9–16 Students Through Field- And Laboratory - Based Geoscience Experiences, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Stanley Schleifer, Arif M. Sikder, Krishna Mahabir, Ality Aghedo, Charren Cabaroy, Mildred M. Selby, Gugu Ginindza, Leonardo Sanchez

Publications and Research

Since 2004, we have been directly involved with the GSA to provide access and opportunities for K9-16 students, particularly those interested in the broader aspects of geoscience-related topics, to present their field-and- laboratory based research outcomes at professional conferences and to learn from each other. So far, well-over 400 students from the U. S. and abroad have taken advantage of this opportunity and participated our topical sessions. It is quite gratifying to report that many of these students, as a result of their attendance at the GSA conference, felt a continuing need for exposure to high-level professional venues with effective …

Lithologic Constraints On The Hydrological Parameters Of Regional Aquifers In The Ibb Province, West-Central Region Of Yemen (Middle East), Malek Shami, Zarine Ali, Wedad Abdurabu, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Stanley Schleifer

Publications and Research

The lithology of the Ibb Province Yemen (Middle East) consists of Precambrian gneissic bedrocks with post-tectonic intrusions of granite and granodiorite. The overall topography is dominated by extensive volcanic extrusions that randomly surround Ibb Province with minimal Mesozoic sedimentary outcrops. According to the Yemen Geological Survey and Mineral Resource Board (YGSMRB), the origin and age of such extrusive bodies that manifest on the surface as dikes, lava flows, and small (currently passive) cinder-cone volcanoes are of Cenozoic age associated with the rifting episode of the Arabian Peninsula and subsequent opening of the Red Sea. The overall aerial extension of the …

Challenges Towards Sustainable Port Development In India : The Adverse Effects Of Port Development On Coastal Ecology And Community In Ennore : Case Study, Balaji Balasubramanian

World Maritime University Dissertations

Ports and shipping play a crucial role in the coastal development, however, it possesses numerous potential risks to the marine environment and the coastal community. Sustainable development is a key concept which integrates the triple bottom line: economic, environmental and social elements into all aspects of decision making. This paper explores and analyses the challenges towards the progression of sustainable development of Indian ports, taking the Ennore port in India as a case study. My objectives in this research were to highlight the lack of consensus on the importance of the two pillars, environmental and social in the concept of …

Community-Based Organisations As An Approach To Effective Sustainable Artisan Fishing, Mary Mindi Wabit Epse Ngawana

World Maritime University Dissertations

Fishing in Cameroon is one of the main economic activities and lifeline of the coastal communities in the South West Region of Cameroon, especially the artisanal fishing which is mostly traditional and subsistence. Cameroon fisheries are either fully exploited or are already in the critical state of over-exploitation by foreigners and local communities. However, illegal fishing and aggressive fishing practices in the marine environment has led to over exploitation of the fisheries, mangroves and environmental deterioration. There is an urgent need to develop and introduce effective and efficient sustainable approaches, to the exploitation and management of Cameroon’s fisheries and other …

Forest Collaborative Meeting Agenda, Hanoi, Vietnam, Environment For Development (Efd) Initiative

Forest Collaborative Research

Agenda for the Environment for Development (EfD) Initiative 12th Annual Meeting on November 3, 2018 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Hanoi Westlake, Vietnam.

Challenges Towards Sustainable Port Development In India : The Adverse Effects Of Port Development On Coastal Ecology And Community In Ennore : A Case Study, Balaji Balasubramanian

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (Ebfm) Risk Assessment Of The Western Australian Sea Cucumber Fishery, F J. Webster, Anthony M. Hart

WA Marine Stewardship Council report series

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the commercial Western Australian Sea Cucumber Fishery (SCF) and the outcomes from the 2016 ecological risk assessment for this fishery. Two key species, sandfish (Holothuria scabra) and redfish (Actinopyga echinites), are targeted by the commercial SCF through hand collection by diving and wading primarily in shallow waters of northern WA.

Micro-Credentialing Strategies For 21st Century Food & Agriculture, Ian D. Kanski, Lauren Edgell Ed.D.

Center for Advanced Agriculture and Sustainability (CAA)

This piece was commissioned via grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture through Integrated Agriculture Systems, Inc. The purpose of this project was to establish a working definition and framework for micro-credentialing and proficiency-oriented educational designs capable of addressing growing skills gaps in the important industry sectors of Food, Agriculture, Renewable Resources and Environment. An example application of the micro-credentialing framework and multi-stakeholder engagement methods is focused on the growing industry of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), while the overall model is designed for portability across diverse industry sectors.

Shay Gap Soil Survey: Investigating The Suitability Of Soils And Landforms For Irrigated Agriculture In The Western West Canning Basin, Paul Galloway, Dennis Van Gool, Justin Laycock, Karen Holmes, David Rowe

Resource management technical reports

This report describes the soil and land resources of the Shay Gap study area (SA), which is south of Wallal Downs Station, in unallocated Crown land in the Shire of East Pilbara. It assesses the study area’s capability for three types of irrigated agriculture and examines land resources to ensure any future irrigation developments are sustainable and do not degrade the environment.

The Shay Gap SA lies within the West Canning Basin, an area of about 3500 square kilometres at the western margin of the onshore Canning Basin. The West Canning Basin has a substantial groundwater resource that provides fresh …