Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Local Knowledge In Climate Change Research, Ryan E. Mccoy

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

This dissertation addresses the growing need within climate research for improvements in regional and local climate information. I argue that knowledge gaps in regional climate information constitute a form of climate injustice in which harm largely falls on regions most vulnerable to climate change. Moreover, I show that our current methods for garnering regional climate information fail to provide information on place-specific factors, such as local culture, socio-economic systems, and ecology, which mediate climate change impacts. In order to address these knowledge gaps, as well as provide information necessary for effective mitigation and adaptation, I argue for the inclusion of …

Consumers’ Preferences And Willingness To Pay For Value-Added Dairy Products In Kentucky - Considering Price, Provenance, And Environmental Product Attributes, Favour E. Esene

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Many medium and smaller dairies are shifting to various kinds of value-added products that may expand in demand nationally aside from fluid milk. This study uses a latent class logit model to investigate the heterogeneity of consumer preferences and willingness to pay for dairy value-added products across four latent classes considering different local and environmental sustainability labels. The dairy products examined for this research are butter, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. This research revealed that younger consumers, especially those that reside in rural areas, always pay attention to product attributes when they shop for dairy products, mostly the local state …

The Pet’S ‘Perfect Bowl’: Environmental And Welfare Discourse In Alternative Pet Food Movements, Carly Baker

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Marketing ‘sustainable and humane’ super-premium dog kibble has emerged alongside alternative food movements (AFM). Unfortunately, super-premium pet-food comprised of ‘high-quality’ protein is at odds with sustainability and affect for particular animals. This study analyzed social and geographical (mis)representations of nonhumans in the pet-food commodity chain by tracing how knowledge and value is produced, and mapping the geography of Open Farm dog food. I assess these geographies and discourses and I identify the following: (1) sustainability claims focus on transportation and packaging, ignoring the significant environmental and social impacts of animal agriculture. (2) Images of farmed animals on packaging often do …

"It's About More Than Just Animals": Environmental Politics Of Zoo-Adjacent Conservation(Ists) In The U.S., Dayton D. Starnes Ii

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This research explores the influences of diverse environmental politics in shaping zoo-adjacent conservation activities in the United States. Based upon 13 months of multi-sited ethnographic research, conducted with conservation actors across six states, the researcher investigates and documents how conservation professionals—operating in contexts adjacent to zoological institutions—experience and respond to the socio-environmental implications associated with the cascading effects of global environmental change. In the face of current challenges and uncertain environmental futures—shaped by habitat alterations, ecological transitions, and species declines/extinctions—conservationists are undergoing their own processes of reassessment and reconfiguration of their underpinning philosophies and body of practices that inform their …

Three Essays On Trade, Environment, And Health, Sookti Chaudhary

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

My dissertation consists of three essays on trade, environment and health. The first essay empirically evaluates domestic facilities' environmental response to Chinese import competition in the United States (US) manufacturing sector from 2000 to 2010. Using facility-level data on chemical emissions and employing an instrumental variables approach, the paper finds that industry/regional exposure to increased import competition had very little impact on the environmental decisions of domestic facilities.

The second essay empirically explores a possible link between the environmental justice efforts during the Obama administration and the change in environmental inequity by examining the change in US facilities' underlying environmental …

Diet Of A Recently Reintroduced River Otter (Lontra Canadensis) Population In Taos County, New Mexico, Gabriela Alexandra Wolf-Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

North American river otters (Lontra canadensis), native to every U.S. state and Canada, experienced extensive population decreases and range reduction until the mid-20th century as a result of overexploitation and habitat loss during European colonization. The last known river otter in New Mexico was killed on the Gila River in 1953, although unverified reports continued thru 2008. After a nearly 60-year absence from New Mexico, 33 adult river otters were reintroduced to the Rio Pueblo de Taos in the northern part of the state between 2008-2010; however, they were not subsequently monitored or studied. I characterized diet of …

Middle To Late Holocene (7200-2900 Cal. Bp) Archaeological Site Formation Processes At Crumps Sink And The Origins Of Anthropogenic Environments In Central Kentucky, Usa, Justin Nels Carlson

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

Though some researchers have argued that the Big Barrens grasslands of Kentucky were the product of anthropogenic land clearing practices by Native Americans, heretofore, this hypothesis had not been tested archaeologically. More work was needed to refine chronologies of fire activity in the region, determine the extent to which humans played a role in the process, and integrate these findings with the paleoenvironmental and archaeological record. With these goals in mind, I conducted archaeological and geoarchaeological investigations at Crumps Sink in the Sinkhole Plain of Kentucky. The archaeological record and site formation history of Crumps Sink were compared with environmental …

The Decision To Decentralize Good Provision In The United States: A Study In Clean Energy Policy, Whitney Michelle Davis

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Normative economic theory provides justification for at least partially centralized renewable energy provision due to the large, positive externalities associated with renewable energy production. However, the United States is one of the few countries without centralized renewable energy policy. Instead, the federal government actively chooses decentralized renewable energy provision by using fiscal transfers to support subnational renewable energy development. This dissertation explores why U.S. legislators choose decentralized renewable energy provision by asking two primary questions. First, what is the motivation for using federal fiscal transfers for decentralized renewable energy output considering what we know about positive spillovers and market failure …

Capitalization Of Green Space And Water Quality Into Residential Housing Values, Willie B. Bedell

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This thesis investigates how proximity to parks, historic district designations, and water quality are valued at residential housing prices. The first essay argues that the negative influences of parks and historic districts, if not noticed, could promote negative externalities and unincentivized investments. I find a negative impact on housing values for a close proximity to a park, suggesting disamenities in park features. When the boundary discontinuity and park amenities are considered, I find a positive valuation for a park. Overall, these results imply a mixed influence of parks on homeowners. From the historic district standpoint, I find a positive valuation …

Comparing Two-Year Colleges Under A Common Sustainable Development Framework: Personal Egocentric Networks And Perspectives, Bobby Ann Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

The study purpose is to advance implementation of sustainable development at colleges, and to contribute to organizational change research using social network analysis. The researcher conducted document analysis using 2012-2016 sustainability reports of 16 purposefully selected two-year colleges under a common framework. Interpreting and coding resulted in ranking sustainable development activities as well as grouping colleges using cluster analysis. A survey and interviews were employed by the researcher to determine major themes as challenges to sustainability implementation, and personal network themes using social network analysis measures and sociograms. Challenges to sustainability implementation identified as study themes were: (1) college leadership …

Wild Abandon: Postwar Literature Between Ecology And Authenticity, Alexander F. Menrisky

Theses and Dissertations--English

Wild Abandon traces a literary and cultural history of late twentieth-century appeals to dissolution, the moment at which a text seems to erase its subject’s sense of selfhood in natural environs. I argue that such appeals arose in response to a prominent yet overlooked interaction between discourses of ecology and authenticity following the rise and fall of the American New Left in the 1960s and 70s. This conjunction inspired certain intellectuals and activists to celebrate the ecological concept of interconnectivity as the most authentic basis of subjectivity in political, philosophical, spiritual, and literary writings. As I argue, dissolution represents a …

Essays On Environmental Economics And Policy, Mehdi Nemati

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Environmental goals such as urban water conservation and pollution control regulations are typically achieved through price and non-price methods. This dissertation offers an analysis of the non-price approaches, including the rationing of water for particular users, installation of particular technologies, and adoption of particular certifications to achieve environmental goals. To begin, an analysis of California’s 2015 urban water conservation mandate was performed. Results indicate that the average welfare loss of the mandate is $6,107 per acre-foot of restriction in Northern California and $2,757 per acre-foot of restriction in Southern California. In terms of monthly household-level willingness-to-pay (WTP) to avoid the …

Identifying Perceived Risks To Environmental Pollutants And Needs For Risk Communication In A Rural Appalachian Community, Elizabeth H. Travis

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

The goal of this study is to determine issues rural Appalachian residents consider most important, their perceived environmental health risk, and how community engagement can potentially improve those issues. The University of Kentucky Superfund Research Center held the Appalachian Community Health and Well-being Forum at the Letcher County Cooperative Extension Office in Eastern Kentucky. A four-member panel consisted of two local health officials, a nutrition expert, and a federal scientist; answered questions from community members. The expert panel and audience members shared concerns, success stories, and highlighted efforts to promote health in the region. Community members completed a questionnaire collecting …

Finding The Link Between Social Connectivity And Dietary Intake Among Rural Adolescents In North Carolina And Kentucky, Jordan Elizabeth Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

Social networks play a significant role in adolescent decision making, specifically when it comes to dietary outcomes. This study, granted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), assessed the connectivity of these social networks and the impact they have on fruit and vegetable, added sugar and sugar sweetened beverage consumption. Additionally, the relationship between shopping companionship and dietary choices was studied. Positive and negative associations were found among adolescents who shop with parents or friends. It was also found that those adolescents with greater social network cohesion were found to have more negative dietary outcomes. Divulging further into the …

Politics Below The Surface: A Political Ecology Of Mineral Rights And Land Tenure Struggles In Appalachia And The Andes, Lindsay Shade

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation examines how confusion and lack of access to information about subsurface property rights facilitates the rapid acquisition of mineral rights by mining interests, leaving those who live 'above the surface' to contend with complicated corporate and bureaucratic apparatuses. The research focuses on the first proposed state-run large scale mining project in Ecuador, believed to contain copper ores, and on the natural gas hydrofracking industry in three counties in north central West Virginia. Qualitative and visual methods, including mapping, are employed to determine (i.) how the geography of subsurface ownership patterns is changing, (ii.) links between changes in subsurface …

Essays On Farmer Willingness To Participate In Best Management Practices In The Kentucky River Watershed, Hua Zhong

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation explores the adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the Kentucky River watershed. Through a survey of farmers in the Kentucky River watershed, chapter two investigates farmers’ current BMP adoption and their willingness to engage in additional adoption incentivized through a proposed Water Quality Trading (WQT) program. This chapter includes two parts: the first part is to investigate the factors influencing farmers’ current usage of BMPs; the second part is to estimate farmers’ willingness to implement BMPs given different levels of compensation specified in the survey. Farmers’ experiences about BMPs are more likely to persuade them to adopt …

The Perceptions, Knowledge, Benefits And Barriers Of Hispanics Regarding The Dietary Guidelines For Americans, Luisyana De Amor Gamboa

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

Background: Hispanics are the largest minority group in the U.S. and by the year 2060 the number of Hispanics is projected to double. They are disproportionately affected by obesity and chronic diseases which translate into decreased quality of life, loss of work opportunities and perceptions of injustice for the Hispanic population. The Dietary Guidelines (DG) provide information to help Americans make healthy food and physical activity choices and if followed can be a means of reducing the health disparity gap. However, culturally relevant recommendations specific to Hispanics’ health and nutritional habits are often lacking. The purpose of this study was …

The Use Of Improved Technology And Market-Based Incentives To Increase Forest Resource And Biodiversity Conservation In Rwanda, Kelly M. Rayens

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

This study evaluated the effectiveness of two distinct approaches to ecosystem conservation in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park: cookstove technology adoption and market-based policy instruments. A June 2014 survey of 250 households revealed that use of improved cookstove technology dramatically decreased fuelwood consumption for households in rural Rwanda, but that design, engineering and conflicting policy issues can hamper the widespread use of energy-efficient cooking technology. The second component of this research used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) within a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) framework to explore the options for designing and implementing market-based instruments around the country’s conservation targets, particularly the highly …

Insights Into Perspectives On Environmental Sustainability, Amber R. Shobe

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

As scientists become more aware of the imposing threats associated with climate change, university leaders are encouraged to become familiar with the principles of sustainability. Abundant research already supports the relevance of environmental sustainability in higher education; however, there exists a gap in the literature which investigates an understanding of environmental sustainability and the implementation of its practices. By examining colleges at the University of Kentucky, this study identifies organizational barriers to recognizing a thorough understanding of environmental sustainability at the departmental level. The results indicate that out of the eight colleges selected, two have no existing environmental sustainability programs …