Sustainability Commons^™

Public Housing In The United States: Using Sustainable Urbanism To Combat Social Exclusion, Jasmine L. Edo

Scripps Senior Theses

The United States government has taken steps to assure underprivileged citizens housing in the form of public housing through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as various humanitarian programs in the form of homeless shelters. Yet, all housing is not equal. Our freedom to choose where we live and what type of house we live in is one revered aspect of life as a United States citizen. We can express our individuality, creativity, and personality through the architectural style of our homes. In this sense it is hard to ask for equal housing. I am suggesting that …

Academic Libraries: Sustainability In Action, Marianne A. Buehler

Library Faculty Presentations

Faculty and Librarian Collaborations:
- Sustainability Across the Curriculum
- Sustainability Research
- Sustainable Activity
- Opportunities

Center For Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters, Adenrele Awotona, Center For Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters (CRSCAD) cultivates alliances with local, national, and international agencies, government and academic institutions, NGOs, and for-profit and not-for-profit bodies which share common interests in the area of post-disaster reconstruction globally.

Nantucket Shellfish Management Plan, Kristin Uiterwyk, Steve Bliven, Dan Leavitt, Jack Wiggin, Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Nantucket’s shellfish resources are an important part of the Island’s history, culture, and economy. Nantucket waters support one of the country’s last wild-caught bay scallop fisheries. Elsewhere along the Atlantic coast, fishing pressure, habitat loss, and disease have severely depleted bay scallop populations. Although Nantucketers continue to make a living harvesting shellfish from the Island’s waters, many do so with concern for the future of the resources and the habitats that support them. Urban Harbors Institute (UHI) provided technical assistance to the community to develop a Shellfish Management Plan (SMP) that addresses issues of water quality, habitat loss, climate change, …

Green Boston Harbor Project (Gbh), Community Environmental Stewardship: Applied Research, Education And Outreach, Anamarija Frankić

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The GBH methodology is derived from a 1500 year old Native Hawaiian Ahupua’a approach. This approach defines sustainable relationships among land, water and humans from the tops of islands to the coral reefs and open ocean. GBH seeks a similar interconnection between the City of Boston and Boston Harbor: from watersheds to the harbor and its coastal habitats and islands.

The Hospitality Industry’S Response To Climate Change: Is The Response Sufficient?, Paul Michael Carlson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to explore the serious consequences that global warming and climate change pose for the planet and its inhabitants, and to shed light on the hospitality industry’s contribution to the problem. The study further sought to examine whether the hospitality industry is doing their part in implementing “green” programs to combat its negative contribution to climate change.

The Effects Of Organizational Structure On Sustainability Report Compliance, Kurt E. Mink

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

The purpose of this qualitative research was to determine the organizational characteristics that contribute to developing sustainability reports with GRI A+ application levels. Judgment sampling was used to select organizations that received an A+ GRI application level in 2010. These organizations were then surveyed using a fifteen-question survey, which emulated the semi-structured interview questions utilized by Farneti and Guthrie (2007). The survey was disseminated to 107 organizations and the responses were collated and analyzed to determine important themes relevant to this research study. The results of this research study suggest a relationship between an organization’s genuine commitment to sustainability by …

Running Head: Sustainability Framework Applied To Integrated Resort 1 International Standard Of Sustainability Framework Applied To Integrated Resorts, Jong Hwa Jeon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which Las Vegas integrated resorts apply measurement framework for sustainability. It will scrutinize and explore the existing sustainability strategies and practices, and look into several plausible ways to improve the sustainability movement that the companies in hospitality industry currently have. The paper will also look into the tracking and measuring system in consuming resources and the equivalent common actions taken by the management of the hospitality companies. From there, the paper will discuss the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guideline and establish if the companies have aligned their efforts …

The Solutions Generation, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The Arab Spring, and more recently the Occupy movement, are both indications of growing dissatisfaction with the world?s current plight, especially among the younger generation, who see diminished hope for the future. Anger and protests can be an effective way of bringing the current system into question, and even toppling the existing regime, but they do little by themselves to lead the way to a better future. For that, we need a compelling shared vision and a focus on real solutions.

Agenda: Drawing The Blueprint For A Sustainable Natural Gas Future, University Of Colorado At Denver. Wirth Chair In Environmental And Community Development Policy, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center. Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project

Drawing the Blueprint for a Sustainable Natural Gas Future (January 18)

A stakeholder-led forum discussing the key topics affecting natural gas as a safe and sustainable energy resource. Participants learned about the current research and related resources at Colorado’s three research universities and participated in designing future research needs.

Ecosystem Health And Ecological Engineering, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Ecosystem health is a desired endpoint of environmental management and should be a primary design goal for ecological engineering. This paper describes ecosystem health as a comprehensive, multiscale, measure of system vigor, organization and resilience. Ecosystem health is thus closely linked to the idea of sustainability,whichimplies theabilityofthesystemtomaintainits structure(organization)andfunction (vigor) over time in the face of external stress (resilience). To be truly successful, ecological engineering should pursue the broader goal of designing healthy ecosystems, which may be novel assemblages of species that perform desired functions and produce a range of valuable ecosystem services. In this way ecological engineering can achieve its …

Ecological Literacy, Nutrition Knowledge, And Dietary Practices Among Students At University At Albany, Elaine Hills

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

University students (N=1,924) at a large public university were surveyed to measure their nutrition knowledge, dietary practices, and ecological literacy. A quantitative measure of ecological literacy was developed for this purpose, reflecting familiarity with nature, awareness of one's personal impact on local and global ecologies, and personal lifestyle choices that demonstrate civic responsibility for the natural environment. The association between nutrition knowledge and dietary practices was compared to the association between ecological literacy and dietary practices. The results showed that: (1) many students were not familiar with public health eating recommendations and did not eat recommended amounts of foods, particularly …

Needed: The Solutions Generation, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The author argues on the need for a shared vision and focus in solving fundamental problems facing the U.S. He suggests that people should design new political and economic systems that can create shared prosperity without increasing their demands on a finite environment. The author comments that people should vision a refocus on the goal of sustainable human well-being instead of maximizing conventional economic production and consumption.

Opening Remarks, Jay Cox

Syracuse University Magazine

No abstract provided.

An Integral Theory Perspective On The Firm, Nancy E. Landrum, Carolyn L. Gardner

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

We propose that Ken Wilber’s (2000) integral theory can serve as a new paradigm by which to view the organization and present a broader view of the roles and responsibilities of business. Through an integral theory of the firm, we see individual desires, capabilities and limitations, economic profit and humanitarian interest working in synergy to maximize firm performance. This holistic approach is innovative and is presented as a way to redefine the existence, boundaries, and organization of the firm and to show how organizations can become more ecologically sustainable, socially responsible, and economically competitive. An integral theory of the firm …

A Fair Share Of The Information Commons, Ida Kubiszewski, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

In this chapter we discuss the special characteristics of information as a type of commons that needs special institutions to manage its production and use effectively and create greater overall economic efficiency, social justice and ecological sustainability. These methods include monetary prizes, publicly funded research from which the produced information is released into the public domain, and status driven incentive structures like those in academia and the open-source community.

Global Csr And Photographic Credibility: Exploring How International Companies Portray Efforts Through Photographs In Csr Reports, Janel Lynn Norton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We are living in the age of the visual. Imagery is an important element in constructing and deriving meaning through symbols, colors, and context. Images may hold persuasive power, be used as evidence, or simply provide a moment of beauty. Organizations rely on photographs to help them convey an image to their stakeholders within annual reports. Telling an organizations' story through photographs has become an intrinsic part of their efforts to convey sustainability. We live in the age of transparency, and organizations that construct an image that is not truthful will face consequences in today's socially connected and conscious world. …

Building A Sustainable And Desirable Economy-In-Society-In-Nature, Robert Costanza, Gar Alperovitz, Herman E. Daly, Joshua C. Farley, Carol Franco, Tim Jackson, Ida Kubiszewski, Juliet Schor, Peter A. Victor

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This report is a synthesis of ideas about what this new economy-in-society-innature could look like and how we might get there. Most of the ideas presented here are not new. The coauthors of this report have published them in various forms over the last several decades, and many others have expressed similar ideas in venues too numerous to mention. What is new is the timing and the situation. The time has come when we must make a transition. We have no choice. Our present path is clearly unsustainable. As Paul Raskin has said, "Contrary to the conventional wisdom, it is …

A Gis Approach For Estimating Optimal Sites For Grid-Connected Photovoltaic (Pv) Cells In Nebraska, Tomotoshi Funabashi

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In the context of rising energy concerns and increased spotlight on solar energy, this study examines and draws attention to the state of mid potential sunlight. The purpose of this study is to estimate the optimal sites for grid-connected photovoltaic cells in Nebraska, which is ranked 13th nationally in terms of insolation potential. Five factors – insolation potential, adjacency to roads, accessibility to grid, topography, and acreage – are examined with the use of Geographic Information System (GIS). Insolation potential was quantitatively analyzed by averaging, plotting, and interpolating the 20 years of datasets recoded at 28 weather stations of High …

The Theory And Practice Of Genetically Engineered Crops And Agricultural Sustainability, David E. Ervin, Leland L. Glenna, Raymond Adelard Jussaume

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The development of genetically engineered (GE) crops has focused predominantly on enhancing conventional pest control approaches. Scientific assessments show that these GE crops generally deliver significant economic and some environmental benefits over their conventional crop alternatives. However, emerging evidence indicates that current GE crops will not foster sustainable cropping systems unless the negative environmental and social feedback effects are properly addressed. Moreover, GE crop innovations that promote more sustainable agricultural systems will receive underinvestment by seed and chemical companies that must understandably focus on private returns for major crops. Opportunities to promote crops that convey multi-faceted benefits for the environment …

Sustainability And Climate Models For The Intermountain West: An Annotated Bibliography, Marianne A. Buehler, William E. Brown Jr.

Brookings Mountain West Publications

This resource on climate models and sustainability in the Intermountain West, a region that includes the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, is a collaborative effort between the UNLV Libraries (http://library.unlv.edu/) and Brookings Mountain West (http://brookingsmtnwest.unlv.edu/).

The selected citations include academic, government, and non-profit information that highlight ongoing research on climate models and sustainability efforts in the region. The websites, government studies, independent reports, scholarly articles, and media reports reflect the diversity and complexity of climate change and sustainability issues in a region that contains widely varying ecosystems. The Intermountain West, with its deserts, basins, mountains, …

Senior Internship With River Keepers, Christine Hokkala-Kuhns

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for BSU Honors Program.

Greening Of Ill At Himmelfarb Library, Yvonne Lee, Alek Potrzebowski, Kathe Obrig

Himmelfarb Library Faculty Posters and Presentations

Traditionally, the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Department consumed the largest amount of paper from routine printing of articles/chapters before delivery. In 2010, staff examined existing processes to find ways to print only when necessary and become a greener department. This poster presentation explains the implementation and the outcomes of the "greening" initiative in the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Department of the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library.

Gettysburg College Sustainability Proposal, Joseph W. Boone, Andrea Carson, Sarah F. Hecklau, Erik J. Hughes, Catherine A. Leech, Taylor J. Mcgrath, Nicole L. Moody, Christian I. Neumann, Mary K. Ranii, John D. Ryder, Megan Sherman, Sara W. Tower, Sarah Weinstein

Student Publications

In the fall of 2011, the Environmental Studies capstone class led by Professor Rutherford Platt was asked to write Gettysburg College’s first Sustainability Plan. The goal of the plan was to develop specific sustainable practices for the campus that were related to the three pillars of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental, and how integrating diligent sustainable practices into each of these respected pillars will result in a more conscious campus, community, and future. In 2010, Gettysburg College turned to the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) to quantify the institution’s sustainability efforts, providing a self-check mechanism to encourage sustainability …

Interview With Christian Ettinger, Hopworks, 2011 (Audio), Christian Ettinger

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Christian Ettinger by Scott Demming at Hopworks SE Portland, Oregon on August 10th, 2011.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Jessica Beckett, Free Geek, 2011 (Audio), Jessica Beckett

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Jessica Beckett by Thomas Yarbrough at Free Geek Portland, Oregon on August 10th, 2011.

The interview index is available for download.

Development Of A Sustainable Water Resource Financing Mathematical Model For Donors And End-Users, Sahar Zavareh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Rural villages and underdeveloped communities represent the largest group challenged by poor water supply and sanitation with inequalities in resources to adequately implement potential solutions and even more with their high risk level of financing, funding is particularly challenging for water projects. Innovative financing alone will not eliminate the burdens of rural villages and underdeveloped communities. The purpose of this thesis is to address the lack of sustainable water financing of water projects in rural areas using a novel framework of a mathematical model based on "system dynamics" using optimal feedback control theory to maximize the performance of a water …

Interview With Adam Boesel, Green Micro Gym, 2011 (Audio), Adam Boesel

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Adam Boesel by Teresa Celestine at Green Micro Gym Portland, Oregon on July 29th, 2011.

The interview index is available for download.

Developing A Sustainable Business Plan At The Shopping Center Of Southpointe Mall In Lincoln, Nebraska, Jessica Marie Hanson

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

This project consists of creating sustainable business plans for a group of diverse retail stores at the mall of SouthPointe Pavilions in Lincoln, Nebraska. A series of interviews took place with five managers at the businesses including: Scheels, Old Chicago, Bed Bath and Beyond, Von Maur, and Barnes and Noble. The questions were based around five different topics including: Technological, Environment, Socio-Cultural, Economic, and Public Policy. The Technological area includes processes with the product (or service) that occur before it arrives, during, and after it is sold. The Public Policy area includes if the business has an environmental policy, how …

Unlv Stars Fact Sheet, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Reports (USI)

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, by earning a 2011 Silver Rating in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Ratings System (STARS), is ahead of the curve among public universities – and improving.

STARS is a voluntary, self–reporting framework developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) to help measure sustainability performance over time and among colleges and universities nationwide. The UNLV Sustainability Council oversaw STARS, which by measuring sustainability can help UNLV to reduce energy consumption and waste, improve education, attract research, and generate jobs.

A rating of Silver puts UNLV in great company – with …