Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Katrina Vs. Ida: A Comparative Analysis Of Fema Housing Recovery Efforts With Regard To Vulnerable Populations, Alyssa Harrynanan

Honors Theses

When Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in 2005, it revealed disparities in the way that recovery efforts are handled after storms. For example, it demonstrated flaws in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s attempt to provide housing for disaster survivors. The agency failed to adequately accommodate vulnerable populations, including communities of color, low-income individuals, the elderly, and people with disabilities, in its housing recovery process. Since then, efforts have been made to reform the agency and ensure that all individuals, regardless of race, income, education or disability level, are accommodated by FEMA. However, when Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana exactly 16 years later …

Heavy Metal Contamination In Drinking Water And Its Connection To Superfund Site Related Environmental Injustice, Emily Caruso

Honors Theses

Equal access to clean, potable drinking water is crucial for our society’s health and advancement. In 2014, the infamous water crisis in Flint, Michigan, shed light on the widespread water quality issues impacting numerous communities in America. In response to the Flint water crisis, Union College established the Union College Water Initiative, providing free drinking water analyses to the public. This initiative aims to raise awareness and educate people by analyzing heavy metals commonly found in drinking water—specifically lead, copper, and zinc.

As a part of this initiative, I collected over 300 cold drinking water samples from residences, schools, and …

Cómo La Sostenibilidad Y El Ecoturismo Pueden Ayudar A Salvar Destinos Turísticos Populares En Puerto Rico, Joshua Paneto

Honors Theses

Puerto Rico is a popular tourist destination with a multitude of valuable ecosystems that both directly and indirectly contribute to the economic output of the island. Two of these ecosystems are the bioluminescent bays of Laguna Grande and Mosquito Bay, located on the island in Fajardo and Vieques respectively. More generally speaking, Vieques is also a popular tourist destination, due to the existence of the bay, in addition to various beaches and wildlife reserves. In the past decade however, the bioluminescent bays have blacked out on multiple occasions, creating a great deal of concern amongst policymakers, as well as the …

Using Difference-In-Differences Analysis And The Kocyk Geometric Lag Model To Estimate Aspects Of Carbon Tax Effectiveness In Nordic Countries, Kyle Riley

Honors Theses

This paper generally looks at the connections between carbon taxes and carbon emission levels in Nordic countries over a period from the 1960s to the early 2010s. Most of the existing literature on this topic looks at and finds that carbon taxes do have a significant impact upon carbon emissions levels in some countries while not in others. In many countries which have this policy there is not a significant impact that can be seen and there is a discussion as to why this might be the case and what needs to be done to fix these potential issues to …

Evaluation Of United States Federal Oil Spill Policies: Deepwater Horizon Vs. Bouchard B120, Quinn Relihan

Honors Theses

ABSTRACT

RELIHAN, QUINN An Evaluation of United States Federal Oil Spill Regulations:

Deepwater Horizon vs. Bouchard B120. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Engineering, June 2020.

Advisor: ILENE KAPLAN

The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the background, impacts and treatment of two major oil spills and investigate the appropriateness of existing environmental policies and any need for new and/or different policies. The study traces the growth of relevant policy development and looks at historic and contemporary policy changes and applies this to the in-depth examination of the Bouchard B120 and the Deepwater Horizon spills.

Policy recommendations …

Female Forest Rangers In New York State, Anna Gagion

Honors Theses

For my environmental policy thesis, I investigated female forest rangers in the New York state department of environmental conservation (DEC). I looked at how their introduction into the forest service has evolved since the first female forest ranger in New York state, Patti Rudge, who took the job in 1988. I looked at common trends between retired and current female forest rangers as well as comparing their experiences to studies done about park rangers in the national park service. I found many similarities between their experiences, however there are key differences between federal and state level agencies.

Through my research …

Environmental Clearinghouse Of Schenectady, Kate Van Patten

Honors Theses

This paper analyses Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady, a local nonprofit environmental organization. The paper investigates the history of the organization as well as the effectiveness of its organizational and funding habits. A literary review was conducted to analyze the success of ECOS mission as well as the positive effects ECOS has on society using elements such as environmental education, the importance of early environmental education, how well the organization connects urban residents with the outdoors and the effectiveness of environmental programs. This research promotes the importance of early environmental education on our future generations health and environmental conditions. Additionally, through …

Solar Energy For The Soul: Solving America’S Fuel Poverty Problem With Solar Panels For The Poor, Samantha St. Marie

Honors Theses

In the United States today, at least 14 million Americans live in fuel poverty. These Americans spend at least ten percent of household income on energy costs ranging from fuel to electricity. The purpose of this thesis is to identify an innovative solution to mitigate the effects of the energy affordability crisis in the United States. After examining national trends and researching localized efforts, I determined that solar panels may be able to support the modern energy needs of the fuel poor. The study uses a least squares regression model with fixed effects to determine factors influencing solar adoption at …

An Empirical Analysis Of Climatic, Geographic, And Cultural Determinants Of International Tourism, Ethan Straus

Honors Theses

Each year, billions of people visit different countries all around the world. For many of those countries, tourism is their primary industry, leading to millions of jobs and dollars in revenue. It is expected that by 2020 total International Tourism Receipts will reach 2 trillion US dollars annually. Currently, tourism employs an estimated 200 million people around the world. With the continued progression of climate change, the tourism industry is facing a newfound threat. Global temperatures and the seal level are both expected to rise significantly by the end of the century. Additionally, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has …

The New York City Watershed: Improving Relations Using Environmental Policy, Colby Richardson

Honors Theses

From 1837 until the early 1970s, New York City constructed a total of 19 reservoirs in the Catskill/Delaware region to meet growing demand for clean drinking water. This historically strained relationship between upstate and New York City officials due to involuntary land acquisition has positively progressed since reservoir construction. However, as New York City has utilized regulations and additional land acquisition to avoid billions of dollars in water filtration expenditures, tensions have again risen. Through interviews with watershed and state officials, this research study has found a more cooperative and trusting relationship can be built with more targeted land acquisition, …

Sight Is A Faculty; Seeing, An Art: George Perkins Marsh, The Classical Environment, And 19th-Century Conservation Policy, Sara Miller Halsey

Honors Theses

This thesis examines George Perkins Marsh, renowned as the father of conservation, his work Man and Nature (1864), and his use of Classics to make the suggestion that America, like the Roman Empire, would decline as a result of human caused environmental degradation. Marsh uses specific authors and passages from antiquity to make his claim more meaningful to his contemporaries, contributing to the significant impact that he had on America's first round of conservation policy. Marsh was raised in Vermont and observed the negative effects of continued land exploitation, which he further confirmed after he spent time in the Mediterranean …

Wind Power In China: Has China Greenwashed The Global Energy Sector?, Harrison Andrew Barker

Honors Theses

Due to years of serving as the world’s manufacturing hub, and appropriately developing a global reputation of being environmentally-unfriendly, China has since sought to rejuvenate its image by becoming an international leader in the realm of wind power. However, if one were to pull back the curtain on China’s wind energy program,they would find that the Chinese Communist Party may be intentionally putting on a facade. By reporting the number of wind turbines constructed nationally, but not the number of turbines actually generating electricity, China has hoodwinked the worldwide energy sector and general public. The idle wind turbines cost China …

Net Co2 Reduction Analysis For A Wind Farm, Darren Del Dotto

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the net CO2 reduction benefit that can be achieved by using wind instead of coal power. Coal power has a significantly higher rate of CO2 emissions than wind generation, but wind power generation has a significant amount of embodied energy. The goal of this study is to determine the net carbon reduction benefit that can be achieved using wind power after accounting for factors such as embodied energy in materials and construction.

The Effects Of Fire And Deer Herbivory On Oak Regeneration In An Eastern Deciduous Forest, Julie La Spina

Honors Theses

In the past, oak was one of the most dominant species groups in the deciduous forests of the northeastern United States. More recently, a variety of factors, including interspecific competition, fire suppression and deer herbivory, have led to the decline of oaks. We studied how oaks regenerate and grow following a major disturbance, and how their growth interacts with deer herbivory. We measured the growth of seedlings of three tree species following the 1,200 hectare Overlook Fire that occurred in Minnewaska State Park, NY in April 2008. At each of three sites, we measured the growth of twenty Quercus prinus, …