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Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson Jan 2023

Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson

Scripps Senior Theses

We are experiencing a climate crisis that must be confronted with strategic mitigation. Pomona College contributes to the climate crisis through its emissions for which there is a baseline record. However there is no baseline record of the climate mitigation currently performed by the trees on Pomona’s campus through carbon storage. This study seeks to determine a current baseline quantity of carbon stored and sequestrated by Pomona’s trees as well as possible courses of climate mitigation for Pomona College to take. Initial information gathering was conducted through interviews with several stakeholders. This study was conducted using data collected prior to …


Grieving Climate Change: A Psychological And Personal Exploration Of Emotionally Processing The Climate Crisis, Hava Chishti Jan 2023

Grieving Climate Change: A Psychological And Personal Exploration Of Emotionally Processing The Climate Crisis, Hava Chishti

Pitzer Senior Theses

The psychological concept of grief, although not typically associated with climate change, has strong applications to the emotional processing of climate change for human beings. Grief can be related to climate change in many ways, including the grief that individuals may feel over the anticipated loss of their future, losses that may be experienced due to climate-related disasters, and grief for the overall implications of anthropogenic climate change. A mixture of traditional literature analysis and creative nonfiction essays, which focus on personal narratives from interviews and the author’s experience, are used to outline the ways in which the psychology of …


Climate Trailblazer Or Corporate Giveaway: An Economic And Political Evaluation Of Cap-And-Trade In California, Benjamin Reicher Jan 2022

Climate Trailblazer Or Corporate Giveaway: An Economic And Political Evaluation Of Cap-And-Trade In California, Benjamin Reicher

Pomona Senior Theses

In this thesis, I conduct an economic and political analysis of California’s cap-and-trade program, the leading national (and international) example of a market-based strategy to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions. I evaluate the program on several economic and political measures of success, especially as contrasted with the performance of various regulatory policies that California also relies on to meet its emissions reduction targets. These regulations exemplify a command and control approach to emissions mitigation as opposed to a market-based approach, and indeed tend to be favored by grassroots activists who may be skeptical about market-friendly policies; my thesis seeks to …


Climate Change In Fiction: The Evolution And Challenges Of Environmental Apocalyptic Literature, Lauren Gode Jan 2021

Climate Change In Fiction: The Evolution And Challenges Of Environmental Apocalyptic Literature, Lauren Gode

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the several aspects and variations of environmental apocalyptic literature, and its potential ability to mobilize action against the imminent threat of global climate change. It delves into the intersection between climate research and fiction, as well as the rhetorical techniques used in works such as The Death of Grass by John Christopher, The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and covers the complementarity between climate fiction and works of non-fiction such as The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh. Finally, this thesis will assess the effectiveness of …


Towards A Resilient Future: Federal Policies For Adapting The U.S. Coasts To Climate Change, Samuel Horowitz Jan 2020

Towards A Resilient Future: Federal Policies For Adapting The U.S. Coasts To Climate Change, Samuel Horowitz

Pitzer Senior Theses

Climate change is projected to have a devastating impact on the American coast, yet coastal communities and states have largely failed to prepare for projected impacts. This is in large part due to a lack of resources. This thesis analyzes innovative federal policy mechanisms that will address the current gap between actions and forecasted impacts, and will make U.S. coastal communities more resilient in the face of climate change.


Pedal To The Metal: Accelerating The Transition To Electric Vehicles, Nicole Larson Jan 2019

Pedal To The Metal: Accelerating The Transition To Electric Vehicles, Nicole Larson

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis explores barriers to widespread adoption of electric vehicles and proposes possible policy solutions. It analyzes main barriers including awareness, upfront cost, and range anxiety, as well as existing policy solutions, and a detailed case study examining policy differences in high adopting versus low adopting states. Awareness and eduction surrounding electric vehicles and their capabilities, financial incentives and market mechanisms for reducing costs, and charging infrastructure and efficiency improvements are examined. Conclusions were formed through interviews with various experts as a method of data collection. It was found that many existing state and local level policies could be scaled …


Leveraging Trade Agreements To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions In Accordance With The Paris Agreement, Sam Becker Jan 2019

Leveraging Trade Agreements To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions In Accordance With The Paris Agreement, Sam Becker

CMC Senior Theses

Climate change is the most obvious and pressing impairment of the biological, physical, and chemical systems. To help mitigate this unprecedented problem, I present heads of state, policymakers, and members of civil society with a set of new provisions that they can include in their trade agreements to drive emissions reduction from countries inside and outside of their trade agreements, maintain their ability to compete in an increasingly globalized world, and comply with international trading rules. Ultimately, I seek to demonstrate the untapped potential for leveraging trade agreements to reduce emissions in the midst of an international system that lacks …


A Comparative Analysis To Understand The Subnational Motivations For Renewable Energy Development In India, William Cullen Jan 2019

A Comparative Analysis To Understand The Subnational Motivations For Renewable Energy Development In India, William Cullen

CMC Senior Theses

Providing energy security and diversifying the energy production in India align with the country’s rising power ambitions and policy goals to industrialize. Renewable energy provides a useful tool for the state to meet these policy goals without producing more air pollution and additional environmental degradation. The Central Government has international ambitions of with becoming a rising responsible power; these aspirations have created new resources, incentives, and policy ideas for the subnational states in India. The purpose of this thesis is to map out the motivations, interests, and incentives of subnational elites in devising policies to promote renewable energy development in …


Using Cleaved Amplified Polymorphic Sequence (Caps) Genetic Markers To Determine The Extent Of Hybridization Between Castilleja Affinis And Castilleja Mollis As A Mechanism For Adapting To Climate Change On Santa Rosa Island, Elizabeth Medford Jan 2016

Using Cleaved Amplified Polymorphic Sequence (Caps) Genetic Markers To Determine The Extent Of Hybridization Between Castilleja Affinis And Castilleja Mollis As A Mechanism For Adapting To Climate Change On Santa Rosa Island, Elizabeth Medford

Scripps Senior Theses

Hybridization, the process of interbreeding between individuals of different species, is one method by which plants and animals adapt to a changing environment. One example of such adaptation through hybridization may be occurring on the California Channel Islands with two species of Castilleja. While United State Geological Survey (USGS) researchers have been studying the populations of Castilleja affinis and Castilleja mollis to determine if hybridization is occurring on Santa Rosa Island since the early 1990s, up until this point primarily overt phenotypic characteristics have been used to differentiate between the two species. Genetic methods of differentiation were adopted to …


Water Markets And Climate Change Adaptation: Assessing The Water Trading Experiences Of Chile, Australia, And The U.S. With Respect To Climate Pressures On Water Resources, Johanna M. Rayl Jan 2016

Water Markets And Climate Change Adaptation: Assessing The Water Trading Experiences Of Chile, Australia, And The U.S. With Respect To Climate Pressures On Water Resources, Johanna M. Rayl

Pomona Senior Theses

Water trading and water markets have been listed by leading climate change organizations as a possible tool for climate change adaptation. Experience with water trading exists in many places in the world, and three of the most well-known and widely-studied markets for water rights are found in the Western United States, Chile, and Australia's Murray-Darling Basin. While the body of literature on the performance of these markets is extensive, few papers relate the experiences of these three countries to adaptation as of yet. This thesis seeks to report on the outcomes of water markets in three cases with special attention …


Faith In A Changing Planet: The Role Of Religious Leaders In The Fight For A Livable Climate, Morissa Zuckerman Jan 2016

Faith In A Changing Planet: The Role Of Religious Leaders In The Fight For A Livable Climate, Morissa Zuckerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

Progressive religious leaders are playing an increasingly important role in the effort to combat climate change. Through a combination of unstructured in-depth interviews and primary source analysis, this thesis highlights nine U.S. religious leaders from various denominations of Christianity, Judaism and Islam who are actively involved in working on climate issues. Drawing on literature in social movement theory, I explore how clergy are uniquely influential in climate issues because of the organizational advantage and moral authority they hold through their positions as religious leaders, granting them the ability to highlight social justice implications of climate change with distinctive legitimacy. Clergy …


Would You Like It Hot Or Cold? An Analysis Of U.S.-China Climate Policy, Alice Chang Jan 2015

Would You Like It Hot Or Cold? An Analysis Of U.S.-China Climate Policy, Alice Chang

CMC Senior Theses

As the world’s largest emitters and economies, the United States and China play a critical role in global climate mitigation. Using Putnam’s two-level game showcases how the domestic political context of each country impacts their international policies. However, Putnam’s framework does not differentiate between bilateral and multilateral circumstances. The clarity and concentration of perceived costs and benefits for the United States and China from climate policies lead to differing outcomes on the multilateral and bilateral stage. Fear of the free-rider effect makes players assume payoffs that resemble the Prisoner’s Dilemma during multilateral climate negotiations, whereas bilateral negotiations usually result in …


Agency Decision-Making For Climate Change: Cost-Benefit Analysis, The Precautionary Principle, And The Bounds Of Rationality, Laura Carr May 2013

Agency Decision-Making For Climate Change: Cost-Benefit Analysis, The Precautionary Principle, And The Bounds Of Rationality, Laura Carr

Pomona Senior Theses

Climate change tests the limits of human understanding of complexity and uncertainty. It challenges assumptions about our presumed power of control over this planet. This paper examines the theory of how governmental executive branch agencies make regulation decisions about climate change using the decision-making methodologies of cost-benefit analysis and the precautionary principle, and as influenced by perceptions of the bounds of human rationality and ability to deal with risk and uncertainty.


Electric Municipalization In The City Of Boulder: Successful Greening Or Path To Bankruptcy?, Kathryn C. Browning Jan 2013

Electric Municipalization In The City Of Boulder: Successful Greening Or Path To Bankruptcy?, Kathryn C. Browning

CMC Senior Theses

Climate change will result in variable – but undeniably severe – changes to our natural world. These changes will lead to extreme human and ecosystem consequences if climate change is not mitigated effectively, efficiently, and rapidly. Increasing the use of renewable energies around the world is seen as one of the most effective and promising mitigation strategies. Several communities around the United States have recently denounced publicly their electrical utilities for their failure to offer the choice to increase the percentage of energy that comes from renewable sources. A growing number are taking action to work with – or sometimes …