Environmental Studies Commons^™

Cultural Resources Investigations For The Proposed Espada Road Widening Project City Of San Antonio Bexar County, Texas, Michael Smith, Melanie Nichols, Brandy Harris, Kelley Russell

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

Between February 2014 and October 2015, Atkins North America, Inc. (Atkins), conducted cultural resources investigations for the City of San Antonio’s (COSA’s) proposed Espada Road Widening Project. The project area extends from Southeast Interstate Loop 410 to approximately 137 meters (450 feet) west of the intersection of East Ashley Road and Espada Road, a distance of approximately 1.6 kilometers (1.0 mile), comprising 7.99 acres (3.2 hectares). The project area was subjected to an intensive pedestrian survey, which was supplemented by mechanical trenching. In total, 27 shovel tests and 9 backhoe trenches were placed in locations across the Area of Potential …

Enmu La3324-25313 3d Puzzle, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

Three-dimensional (3D) model of a Clovis point (ENMU LA3324-25313) from Blackwater Draw NHS, curated at Eastern New Mexico University.

The Greening Of Faith: God, The Environment, And The Good Life (20th Anniversary Edition), John E. Carroll, Paul Brockelman, Mary Westfall

University of New Hampshire Press: Open Access Books

The recent release of Pope Francis’s much-discussed encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, has reinforced environmental issues as also moral and spiritual issues. This anthology, twenty years ahead of the encyclical but very much in line with its agenda, offers essays by fifteen philosophers, theologians, and environmentalists who argue for a response to ecology that recognizes the tools of science but includes a more spiritual approach—one with a more humanistic, holistic view based on inherent reverence toward the natural world. Writers whose orientations range from Buddhism to evangelical Christianity to Catholicism to Native American …

"Discursion And Excursion:" Poetry Of Bodies, Place, And Landscape In The Ecocritical Movement, Haley N. Littleton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My thesis project focuses on the current literary field of Ecocriticism, its historical transmutations, and the correlation of the pastoral genre, as one begins to understand current human understandings of "nature." By applying a deeper understanding of the Deep Ecology movement, along with shifting understandings of the human and the non-human, specifically in our usage and attention to landscape and wilderness, I hope to explore the role that the aesthetic, and the function of the poem, can play a crucial role in the environmental movement. By building a foundational understanding of our cultural context and critical theories of Environmental criticism, …

Digital Refuse: Canadian Garbage, Commercial Content Moderation And The Global Circulation Of Social Media’S Waste, Sarah T. Roberts

Media Studies Publications

The story of a rogue Canadian garbage barge attempting to offload illegal garbage in the Philippines opens this article on techno-trash, in order to underline both the relationships between countries of the Global North with countries of the Global South in matters of waste, as well as to reframe discussions of techno-trash as one fundamentally tied to material things. The definition of techno-trash is then expanded, to cover digital detritus created through an entirely digital set of practices I term “Commercial Content Moderation.” The attempt to offload mounds of e-waste and the similar ways in which a great deal of …

Turning On The Lights: Transcending Energy Poverty Through The Power Of Women Entrepreneurs, Leslie C. Gray, Alaina Boyle, Victoria Yu

Miller Center Fellowship

Solar lanterns offer affordable, high-quality lighting in developing countries. A number of organizations, including social enterprises, make solar lanterns available to rural households as an alternative to candles or kerosene lamps. One of the most successful of these organizations is Solar Sister.

Solar Sister, a social enterprise operating in Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria, is dedicated to eradicating energy poverty through the economic empowerment of women. In addition to economically empowering its women entrepreneurs, the business model of Solar Sister also cultivates sales networks built on trust in last-mile distribution methods.

While Solar Sister has previously conducted research regarding its many …

The Upper Peninsula As It Was: What The Europeans Encountered, Robert Archibald

Upper Country: A Journal of the Lake Superior Region

This essay establishes a baseline for measuring environmental change caused by the influx of Europeans beginning in the seventeenth century. In it the author describes the natural forces including volcanism, sedimentation, geologic metamorphism, and glaciation as natural forces that shaped the landscape of the Upper Peninsula and created deposits of minerals. He uses survey notes, travel accounts and journals to describe flora and fauna prior to large-scale commercial exploitation

Energy And Economy: Recognizing High-Energy Modernity As A Historical Period, Thomas Love, Cindy Isenhour

Faculty Publications

This introduction to Economic Anthropology’s special issue on “Energy and Economy” argues that we might find inspiration for a much more engaged and public anthropology in an unlikely place—19th century evolutionist thought. In addition to studying the particularities of energy transitions, which anthropology does so well, a more engaged anthropology might also broaden its temporal horizons to consider the nature of the future “stage” into which humanity is hurtling in an era of resource depletion and climate change. Net energy (EROEI), or the energy “surplus” on which we build and maintain our complex societal arrangements, is a key tool …

Mobile People, Mobile God: Mobile Societies, Monotheism, And The Effects Of Ecological Landscapes On The Development Of Ancient Religions, Edward Surman

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Despite the wealth of scholarship concerning the origins of religious beliefs, practices, and cultures, there has been little consideration of the impact of ecological landscapes on the development of ancient religions. Although the influence of the natural environment is considered among the variables in explaining the development of various economic, political, and other social systems throughout history, there is a specific gap concerning its impact on the origins of religious systems. The argument which is taken up in this writing is the correlation between agriculturally marginal landscape and the development of monotheism. Specifically that the religions of the ancient Iranians …

The Ethics Of Environmentalism For The Individual Consumer, Molly Collins

Honors Theses

Climate change harms the well-being of humans. It is the poor choices of individual consumers that contribute to climate change. I argue that it is immoral to cause harm to others, thus climate change is an ethical dilemma for individual consumers. I begin with a pluralistic discussion of harm, before discussing the duties of individuals to make choices that will mitigate the current harms of climate change and the wrong moral assumptions that individuals make regarding their contribution to climate change. I discuss the principles of ethical consumerism, specifically in housing, food, and transportation. Lastly, I argue that climate change …

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 …

Entering Into Dialogue With Pope Francis' Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home, Sarah Jeanne Shimer

Honors Theses

Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home brings together the spheres of science and religion. In this document, Francis puts forth a call for action towards religious and non-religious communities alike to address climate change. The strength of the document lies in the way Francis expresses his call. By drawing on scientific and religious tradition, he situates the encyclical in a broader conversation about the moral obligation for humans to care for the environment. This thesis explores the reception of Laudato Si by religious and environmental communities through political cartoons, written critiques, and personal interviews. …

Little Rebecca, Rebecca Collins

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Santiago de Compostela, a city in Galicia, Spain, has been said since the 8th century to hold the remains of St. James, an apostle and the patron saint of Spain. Old walking routes, still in use, fork all throughout the European continent toward this singular destination, with the collective label of the “Way of St. James,” (the Camino de Santiago in Spanish, Le Chemin du St. Jacques in French). For nine months of this past year, the Camino de Santiago and the study of pilgrimage was my singular destination as well. I studied the history of pilgrimage, European pilgrimage literature, …

What A Waste: Segregation And Sanitation In Brooklyn, New York In The Post-Wwii Era, Amanda T. Chang

Pitzer Senior Theses

Through studying the intersections of sanitation and segregation in Brooklyn, New York in the post-WWII era, this thesis reveals a web of willful white negligence that constructed a narrative that supports continued environmental injustices towards black Americans. As a result of housing discrimination, the lack of sanitation, and the political and social climate of the 1950s, black neighborhoods in Brooklyn became dirtier with abandoned garbage. Institutional anti-black racism not only permitted and supported the degradation of black neighborhoods, but also created an association between black Americans and trash. In the present day, this narrative not only leads to the increased …

3d Tool Evaluation And Workflow For An Ecological Approach To Visualizing Ancient Socio-Environmental Landscapes: A Case Study From Copan, Honduras, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Shona Sanford-Long, Jack Kerby-Miller

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Architectural reconstructions are the centerpieces of ancient landscape visualization. When present, vegetation is relegated to the background, resulting in underutilized plant data—an integral data source for archaeological interpretation—thus limiting the capacity to take advantage of 3D visualization for studying ancient socio-environmental dynamics. Our long-term objective is to develop methods of 3D landscape visualization that have value for examining changes in land use and settlement patterns. To begin to work toward this objective, we have (1) identified 3D tools and techniques for vegetation modeling and landscape visualization, (2) evaluated the pros and cons of these tools, (3) investigated biological and ecological …

The Philosophy Of Ecology In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath, Stephanie A. Steinbrecher

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the possibilities for ecocritical study in fiction through John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath. Major ecocritical interpretation has yet to gain much traction in novels; by focusing on human nature, this form’s “anthropocentric” posture seems itself to be antithetical to ecocritical efforts, which aim to unseat humans as the center of the moral universe. However, by analyzing The Grapes of Wrath’s formal, narratorial, and thematic valences, I argue that principles of social justice concurrently imply environmental justice in the philosophical currents of the text. Tenets of deep ecology and Aldo Leopold’s “land ethic” …

Extra Studies In Rio Grande Valley History, Milo Kearney, Anthony K. Knopp, Antonio Zavaleta, Thomas Daniel Knight

Studies in Rio Grande Valley Regional History Series

Vaqueros del Valle, a poem / Manuel Medrano -- Matamoros and the Tejanos of Victoria and Goliad in the Texas Revolution: conflicting loyalties and ‘Assiduous Collaborators’ / Craig H. Roell -- Antonio Canales Rosillo / James Mills -- The origins of Salome Balli McAllen / Thomas Daniel Knight -- Sally Skull: the legend / Sondra Shands -- The Kawahata Family comes to the Valley / Randall Sakai – The Battle of Reynosa / Jesus Ramos -- Los días siguientes a la toma de Matamoros por los Constitucionalistas / Andres Cuellar -- H-E-B: an American and Valley success story / Norman …

Food Rebellion: Contemporary Food Movements As A Reflection Of Our Agrarian Past, James Gordon

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis considers the influence of agrarian thought on contemporary food movements.

The Power Of The Tower: Contesting History At Bear Lodge/Devils Tower National Monument, Anna Marie Kramer

Pomona Senior Theses

Bear Lodge/Devils Tower National Monument, a spectacular rock formation in northeastern Wyoming, has a multiplicity of meanings, not all of which were fully acknowledged until the 1990s. It is widely known as a geologic wonder, the first national monument, a marker of local and pioneer heritage, and a premier rock climbing area. In the 1980s and ‘90s, however, the National Park Service began to acknowledge that the Tower also holds cultural and historical meaning for the Northern Plains tribes, dating back long before the colonization of the American West. Some of the tribes expressed to the Park Service that they …

What’S The Common Sense Of Just Some Improvement Of Some Welfare For Some Animals?, Liv Baker

Animal Sentience

The goal of Animal Welfare Science to reduce animal suffering is commendable but too modest: Suffering animals need and deserve far more.

Embera Drua: The Impact Of Tourism On Indigenous Village Life In Panama, Amy Lethbridge

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This case study examines the experience of residents of the Indigenous village of Embera Drua, Panama with 20 years of tourism. It addresses the lack of Indigenous voices in tourism literature by telling the story of Embera Drua through the lens of the villagers themselves. The study uses a mix of ethnographic observation and narrative inquiry and finds that the experience of Embera Drua mirrors the experience of other Indigenous villages offering tourism around the globe, particularly the impact of lack of community capacity on management and growth of such tourism initiatives. Findings of this study are relevant to the …

Keeping Sabbath During The Week, Michael E. Cafferky

Faculty Works

Would Sabbath-keeping be less meaningful if, on the other six days, our work disrupted human well-being or otherwise failed to honor the Sabbath Giver? This article is an abridged version of the longer peer-reviewed article "Sabbath: The Theological Roots of Sustainable Development" published in the Journal of Biblical Integration in Business available at http://cbfa-jbib.org/index.php/jbib/article/view/108/108 .

Centerville Slough Project, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

An extensive cultural resources document for the Eel River Estuary Preserve was prepared in 2014 to identify resources within the initial project area. With new project proposals and an expanded Area of Potential Effect (APE), several additional structures were surveyed. This addendum looked at three barns and a house, none of which will be affected by proposed projects. They were surveyed because they fall within the expanded APE.

Some of the research conducted for the 2014 historic resources document was applicable to the addendum, including land ownerships and newspaper references. For the present report, additional research was conducted in the …

Wiyot, Wiki And Batawat People, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

In June 1900, Stewart Culin (1858-1929), self-educated anthropologist/ethnographer, traveled to northwestern California on a colleting trip. He was then Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Paleontology, and the purpose of his trip to was to secure “a number of Indian curios and relics,” which he did, spending about $150 in Hoopa. He also secured curios from the Mad River Indians near Blue Lake (Blue Lake Advocate 23 June 1900).

Just what Culin collected is unclear, other than the baskets, probably all of which were either Hupa or Yurok, and possibly some Karuk. The tribal heritage of …

Art Education In My Backyard: Creative Placemaking On An Urban Farm, Jodi Kushins

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

An art educator describes how she used her knowledge and experience of artistic and educational initiatives that forefront collective activity in real world settings to transform her backyard into an urban farm with the help of friends and neighbors. She combines an autoethnographic account of her experiences, including original photographs, with research on conceptual artists, participatory culture, and creative placemaking to position her work as participatory environmental art education. The paper is organized around the major steps one undertakes in planting a garden – siting, amending, seeding, tending, and harvesting - to draw parallels between the processes of maintaining a …

Discover Joyce's Dublin By Reading And Running, Barry Sheehan

Academic Articles

James Joyce told his friend Frank Budgen. “‘I want’ said Joyce, as we were walking down the Universitätstrasse, ‘to give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city one day suddenly disappeared from the earth it could be reconstructed out of my book.’” (Budgen, 1960, p.67, 68).

This research looks at the relevance of Dublin to Joyce’s writings and to the relevance of Joyce’s writings to Dublin. It is concerned with the virtual Dublin of Joyce’s writings, the physical manifestation of Dublin over time, and the relationships between them.

Numerous scholars read and analyse the writings of Joyce …

Guide To The Dr. Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds Papers, Linfield College Archives

Linfield Archives Finding Aids

This collection reflects the life work of Dr. Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds, a student and professor of Linfield College. A dedicated and scrupulous woman, the majority of the collection consists of her research, teaching materials, and correspondence. The collection also includes research and correspondence by Dr. Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds’s mentor, Dr. James A. Macnab.

Archeological Investigation At Yanaguana Garden In Hemisfair Park, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, Ross C. Fields, Aaron R. Norment, Amy E. Dase

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

This report describes archeological efforts done under six work orders for the development of Yanaguana Garden at HemisFair Park in downtown San Antonio, Texas. All of the projects were done by Prewitt and Associates, Inc. (PAI), for Adams Environmental, Inc. (AEI), and the City of San Antonio, Transportation and Capital Improvements (CoSA-TCI), under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 6846 (issued April 14, 2014). As described below, the Yanaguana Garden project is the first phase of a planned redevelopment of HemisFair Park for mixed-use purposes. Planning for how to deal with cultural resources during this redevelopment began in 2012 when PAI prepared …

Protecting Ecosystems, Culture, And Human Rights In Chile Through Indigenous And Community-Conserved Territories And Areas, William G. Crowley

Capstone Collection

In environmental conservation circles around the world, the contributions of indigenous peoples and local communities to the sustainable maintenance of ecosystems and natural resources are being given increased attention. Whether for cultural, spiritual, economic, or other purposes, the use of traditional and local knowledge of habitat and resource management is slowly making its way into the modern environmental movement, and is being incorporated into the dominant conservation paradigms. These managed areas, known as Indigenous and Community-Conserved Territories and Areas, or ICCAs, are defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as “natural and/or modified ecosystems containing significant biodiversity …

Delta Narratives: Saving The Historical And Cultural Heritage Of The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Steve Boilard, Robert Benedetti, Margit Aramburu, Gregg Camfield, Philip Garone, Jennifer Helzer, Reuben Smith, William Swagerty, Marcia Eymann, Tod Ruhstaller, David Stuart, Leigh Johnsen, Dylan Mcdonald, Michael J. Wurtz, Blake Roberts, Margo Lentz-Meyer

College of the Pacific Faculty Reports

From August 2014 through July 2015, the Delta Narratives project, on contract to the Delta Protection Commission, addressed two questions. First, in what ways does the historical experience of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta contribute to an understanding of key themes in regional and American history? Second, how might Delta stories gain wider appreciation within the region, throughout Northern California, and among people in the rest of California and beyond?

Scholars on the project team documented ways the history of the Delta illustrates trends in land management and reclamation, technological shifts in transportation and agriculture, the impact of ethnicity and labor …