Environmental Studies Commons^™

Assessing The Impacts Of Gold Mining Deforestation On The Giant Otter (Pteronura Brasiliensis) In Madre De Dios, Peru, Erica Carcelen

Sustainability and Social Justice

Gold mining activity is highly prevalent in the Madre de Dios region, Peru. This activity poses large environmental impacts including deforestation, sedimentation of rivers, and pollution from mercury used during extraction. Mining activity is a major threat to the endangered giant otter as it destroys its preferred riverine habitat. Moreover, mercury used during gold extraction bio-accumulates in fish, which constitutes the entirety of their diet. In order to conserve the giant otter, it is necessary to identify conservation priority areas. In a reactive conservation planning approach, the objective of this work was to prioritize areas suitable as giant otter habitat …

Overcoming Recurring Crisis Through Resilience: An Analysis Of Usaid’S Definition Of Resilience, Leta Branham

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper analyzes resilience policy employed by the United States’ Agency for International Development (USAID). First, by situating USAID’s resilience policy within a historical context of the 2011 Horn of Africa Famine, and by drawing on existing literature, I show that USAID’s understanding of resilience, and thus its resilience-based policies, are inherently flawed by focusing solely on recurrent crisis. While recurrent crises pose a potential threat to resilience, communities that are exposed to chronic shocks have resilience mechanisms in place against those shocks. Rather, stochastic, or unplanned crises, are larger risks to livelihoods that USAID’s resilience policies do not address. …

Coastal Plastics Abatement On Aquidneck Island, Rhode Island: Stakeholder Perspectives And Lessons Learned, Paige Myatt

Sustainability and Social Justice

This practitioner research focuses on the stakeholder perspectives and lessons learned about mitigating plastic pollution in the marine environment of Aquidneck Island, Rhode Island. It uses a mixed method approach of surveys, interviews, focus groups, and active participation in mitigation strategies to answer four main research questions. These questions aim to gather perspectives on the problem from multiple stakeholders in the community, including the general public, the restaurant industry, and local and state governments. This research also investigates what factors make this community a leader in igniting social change and reducing plastic pollution. The active involvement of the researcher via …

The Transformational Haze: Crisis, Shadow Economies, And Global Civil War On The Venezuela-Colombia Border, Sam Kirsch

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper presents a counter-narrative to the current migration ‘crisis’ on the Venezuela-Colombia border. Its purpose is to highlight the geopolitical complexities of this event that are de-emphasized by media and neoliberal discourse. The frameworks of crisis narrative, shadow economies, and “global civil war” grants us the analytical lens that will allow us to peer further into the processes that have led to the Venezuelan migration. Through this lens, I will illuminate intricacies in the relationship between Colombia, Venezuela, and the West in a way that justifies the exploration of alternative interpretations to mainstream claims of socialism, tyranny, and intervention.

Webster Square Neighborhood Plan, Conor Mccormack

Sustainability and Social Justice

In this study, Webster Square is examined as a neighborhood and commercial node within the City of Worcester, MA. Using a variety of data sources and analyses, the study looks at the characteristics of the area to define the condition and context of Webster Square as it currently exists.Guided by current planning theory, contemporary practice, and key informant interviews, this study then suggests different directions for future development and growth in Webster Square. These visions for the future look to address key issues to help make the neighborhood a more vibrant, cohesive, and walkable community. More broadly, this study highlights …

Climate Services Can Support African Farmers' Context-Specific Adaptation Needs At Scale, James Hansen, Catherine Vaughan, Desire Kagabo, Tufa Dinku, Edward Carr, Jana Körner, Robert Zougmoré

Sustainability and Social Justice

We consider the question of what is needed for climate services to support sub-Saharan African farmers' adaptation needs at the scale of the climate challenge. Consistent with an earlier assessment that mutually reinforcing supply-side and demand-side capacity constraints impede the development of effective climate services in Africa, our discussion of strategies for scaling up practices that meet farmers' needs, and opportunities to address long-standing obstacles, is organized around: (a) meeting farmers' climate information needs; (b) supporting access, understanding and use; and (c) co-production of services. A widespread gap between available information and farmers' needs is associated with entrenched seasonal forecast …

An Analysis Of United States Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning Policy And The Public Participation Process, Alexis Stabulas

Sustainability and Social Justice

As the number of nuclear power plants slated for decommissioning increases, reflecting on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) decommissioning regulations in relation to public participation becomes increasingly important. When plants close, communities lose security in economics, employment, and environmental and human health. The NRC’s regulations on public involvement are very limited and generally stakeholders do not feel supported in the decommissioning process. Local and tribal governments, citizen groups, the general public, and those directly affected have all found the NRC’s public involvement inadequate, ineffective, and infrequent. The case studies of two completely decommissioned plants, Maine Yankee and Big Rock …

Sacrifices For Development Or Thirst For Capital Accumulation? Case Study On The “El Diquís Hydroelectric Dam” In Costa Rica., Marco Mora

Sustainability and Social Justice

Costa Rica’s state-led model of energy generation based on large-scale investments in hydropower has given the country autonomy in generating its own energy as well as sovereignty over its natural resources. Successive governments have used nationalist and ecological discourses to support the continued expansion of hydropower as the path to economic development. In more recent decades however, a number of factors have been eroding the dominance of the state-led hydropower development model. Some of those elements are the national and international pressures to liberalize and privatize the energy sector, an increasing body of scientific evidence indicating that large-scale hydropower in …

Ngos As Innovators In Extractive Industry Governance. Insights From The Eiti Process In Colombia And Peru, Elisa Arond, Anthony J. Bebbington, Juan Luis Dammert

Geography

This paper explores NGO participation within the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a multi-stakeholder governance arrangement focused on generating greater transparency in the governance of extractive industries, and in particular in fiscal arrangements around mining, oil and gas operations. Using the cases of Peru and Colombia, we examine what motivates NGO participation in EITI, how NGOs have pursued innovations within EITI, the extent to which they have succeeded in achieving their goals, and the factors limiting or shaping their achievements. We draw on interviews conducted between 2013 and 2018, participation in global EITI meetings, and secondary material. The paper examines …

Assessment Of Drinking Water/Aquifer Vulnerability To Contamination By Natural Manganese And Anthropogenic Chemicals In The U.S., Ryan Kelly

Sustainability and Social Justice

Aquifers in the U.S. store groundwater used by many Americans every day for drinking eating, bathing and cleaning. These underground sources of water are vital to life and may be subject to contamination from both natural and anthropogenic pollution, including manganese (Mn) – especially shallow aquifers (<100 feet to bedrock). Natural sources of Mn are found in soils, surficial deposits, and bedrock, while anthropogenic contamination derives from landfills, waste facilities, or industries that use toxic materials. Pollutants like Mn raise concern because there is no policy in place to enforce regulation of Mn levels in water supplies based on limited information about health effects. Yet studies have shown elevated levels of Mn intake can lead to adverse human health effects. This study uses ArcMap to identify potential sources of Mn and/or toxics contamination in shallow U.S. aquifers based on geologic characteristics of a given aquifer source and proximity to waste sites. The results show approximately 2 million Americans may be at risk of consuming water with natural Mn contamination, and of those 2 million, close to 1.7 million are also vulnerable to additional toxics from anthropogenic waste. …

Foreclosures For Sale: Revisiting Stories Of Worcester's Mortgage Crisis, A Radio Documentary, Hallie Blashfield, Beatrice Misher

Sustainability and Social Justice

This radio documentary uses the personal stories of homeowners fighting to keep their homes in Worcester Massachusetts to explore the state of Foreclosure in Worcester ten years after the Great Recession. It follows the Worcester Anti-Foreclosure Team (WAFT) and its members in their fight against illegal foreclosures and their battles in Worcester Housing Court. Grounded in personal narratives, the documentary highlights systemic issues with the banking and legal system.

Building A Sense Of Community: A Case Study Of The Fairmount Neighborhood In Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Bethany Yeo

Sustainability and Social Justice

This thesis study examines the relative sense of community by isolating key factors that contribute to a sense of community: social trust, identity, and bridging/social cohesion. It also analyzes the relationship, if any, between these three factors and the built environment. Data was collected from 107 archived community impact measurement surveys from NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley. The results show that residents experienced a lack of sense of community despite the built environment although results were not significant.

Social Justice In Outdoor Experiential Education: A Literature Analysis Of K-12 Outdoor Education Programs In The United States, Digby Kalert

Sustainability and Social Justice

Historically, the field of outdoor experiential education (OEE) has been exclusionary and has primarily served white middle- and upper-middle class male populations. Scholars have called for research on how to address issues of social justice in the field for decades, and leaders are finally making steps toward becoming more inclusive. Through a secondary analysis of empirical studies on OEE, this paper examines how the field has modified its focus towards minority populations in K-12 OEE programs in the United States and provides recommendations for practitioners of OEE. There is evidence of an increase in studies on how OEE is perceived …

The Etm And Alce Testing: Summer Internship In Clark Labs, Wenle Jiang

Sustainability and Social Justice

Abstract

The ETM and ALCE testing: Summer internship in Clark labs

Wenle Jiang

This paper is a description of my internship with Clark Labs in the summer of 2017. I worked as research assistant responsible for testing the Earth Trends Modeler and the American Land Change Explorer. Earth Trends Modeler is a revolutionary earth observation tool that allows for the modeling and analysis of earth trends and ecosystem dynamics. The American Land Change Explorer (ALCE) is a free web application designed to illustrate the potential of predictive land change modeling using a subscription-based service called the American Land Change Modeler …

Creating Web Maps Of Forest Restoration Plots At Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research Center, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Daniel Lassila

Sustainability and Social Justice

The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed account, discussion, and analysis of my internship at Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research Center in Minas Gerais, Brazil during the summer of 2017, where I worked under the direction of GIS Supervisor Mr. Cliff Jones. The central focus of my work dealt with consolidating existing GIS data on the organization’s rainforest restoration effort into a single normalized database - based on the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact, creating a structure for future forest restoration volunteers including enabling offline field collection using Collector for ArcGIS, then creating an ArcGIS Online web map based …

Seabird Distribution And Oil & Gas Potential Along The Northern Sea Route, Russia: An Arctic Marine Conservation Case Study, Meghan Kelly

Sustainability and Social Justice

Seabirds are indicator species for the marine environment. Their populations are simultaneously affected by access to food resources and anthropogenic pressures including direct disturbance and habitat degradation associated with industrial development (Parsons et al. 2007). Therefore, using seabird distribution as a policy-relevant indicator for the Arctic marine environment supports an ecosystem based management approach aimed at protecting sensitive habitats from increased offshore oil and gas development.

This research identifies seabird habitat in the Russian Arctic utilizing in situ seabird observations from the Northern Sea Route to create a species distribution model. The spatial location of these areas will be compared …

Ecological Sustainability Within California's Improved Forest Management Carbon Offsets Program, Cory Hertog

Sustainability and Social Justice

Forest Carbon offsets are being used as a climate change mitigation strategy in multiple programs around the world. But, are programs setup in a way that are ecologically sustainable? This paper reviews concepts pertinent to ecologically sustainable forest management and then examines if Improved Forest Management Carbon offset policies and projects within the California emissions trading scheme are setup in an ecologically sustainable manner. After a review of the Improved Forest Management Protocol and 31 project documents, it is apparent that policies and projects promote aspects of ecologically sustainable management. However, there is room for improvement when managing for natural …

Mapping Energy Access In Rural Tanzania: 2017 Summer Internship With The World Resources Institute, Naramena Mccray

Sustainability and Social Justice

This report details my 2017 summer internship experience; both the report and the internship being requirements of the GIS for Development and Environment Graduate Degree at Clark University. My internship was hosted by the World Resources Institute, an international non-profit organization in Washington D.C. As implied by my position title, “Energy Access-GIS Intern”, I spent the duration of my internship (14 weeks) applying my geospatial expertise to address the topic of energy access which is an issue effecting rural areas of many developing countries. I was given the responsibility of creating an interactive map application of Tanzania accessible by energy …

Exploring The Potential Of Environmental Impact Investing For Sustainable Development: The Cases Of Dominion Energy And Tesla Motors, Christopher Dibble

Sustainability and Social Justice

The health of our planet and the existence of our species faces an uncertain future. Climate change is the single largest issue facing society today, as carbon-based fuel and combustion engines have driven development in nearly every industry. Public investment through securities markets have enabled corporations to extract coal and oil, build combustion engines, and distribute fuel commercially for over one hundred and fifty years. However, it is now widely accepted that if business-as-usual continues, carbon emissions will cause irreversible and devastating effects to the environment and humankind. International, national, local governments, companies, and general populations have taken steps to …

United In The Struggle: The Role Of Land Titles For Communities Of Internally Displaced Persons In El Salvador, Corie Welch

Sustainability and Social Justice

Multiple episodes of dispossession and displacement characterize the lives of landless rural and semi-rural families across El Salvador. The residents of 30 de Abril, a semi-rural community in El Salvador formed from displaced families, engaged in a five-year struggle to force the government to make good on its promise of land to the rural poor. Now, with legal titles in hand, residents continue to work together to seek additional services and resources for their community, proving their resilience in the face of displacement. Based upon the experience of 30 de Abril, this paper explores the trajectory of one community‟s struggle …

Degrowth Lessons From Cuba, Claire S. Bayler

Sustainability and Social Justice

Cuba is the global leader in practicing agroecology, but agroecology is just one component of a larger climate-ready socio-economic system. Degrowth economics address the need to constrain our total global metabolism to within biophysical limits, while allowing opportunity and resources for "underdeveloped" countries to rebuild themselves under new terms. Degrowth recognizes the role of overdeveloped countries in surpassing the ecological limits of our planet at the cost of wellbeing for billions of dispossessed people within and between countries. Cuba's circumstances during and following the Special Period exemplify both sides of the degrowth scenario, as well as demonstrating policy and grassroots …

U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service Summer Fellowship: Gis Study Of Threatened And Endangered Species In Colorado, Jeanie Lai

Sustainability and Social Justice

This report provides a detailed account of my fellowship experience with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Region 6 Office in Lakewood, CO during the summer of 2017 made possible by the Student Conservation Association (SCA) sponsored by Directorate Fellows Program. The internship was completed in the Region 6’s Branch of Decision Support in Ecological Services under the direction of Spatial Ecologist John Guinotte. I was a GIS Technician tasked with work responsibilities involving listed threatened and endangered species relevant to the region. Those work responsibilities included refining spatial Area of Influence (AOI) ranges, updating databases, and creating a …

Examining The Effects Of National Monument Establishment On Surrounding Communities, Sarah Maloney

Sustainability and Social Justice

The Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, located in northern Maine just outside the town of Millinocket and created by President Obama in August 2016, has elicited vocal support and opposition. It has been heralded on one hand as a massive victory for conservation in Maine, and on the other hand, as an overreach by the federal government. This controversy was so widespread that it resulted in the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument being included in a Department of the Interior review of twenty-seven National Monuments during the summer of 2017, which was conducted by Secretary of the Interior …

Identifying Gaps In United States Federal Environmental Policy & Practice Through Greening Big Box Infrastructure, Elizabeth Kubacki

Sustainability and Social Justice

The purpose of this report is to identify policy and practice gaps in resource consumption reduction in the United States, and doing so by using big box retailers as the case study industry.

Through reviewing the history of U.S. federal resource reduction policies, and standard industry practices for greening big box infrastructure, I explore how regulations on sustainability and consumption agree with the Porter Hypotheses. By using the Porter Hypothesis as a theoretical framework for the regulation of green infrastructure in big box retailers, I will identify gaps in both literature and industry practices that can be filled by following …

Media Analysis Of City-Wide Local News Portrayals Of Youth Criminality: Worcester, Massachusetts, Andrea Boffice

Sustainability and Social Justice

This study consists of a comprehensive media analysis of local news in Worcester, Massachusetts that explores portrayals of youth criminality of an entire city’s local media landscape. It examines how local media portrayal of youth is primarily dominated by coverage of youth crime and youth victimization. As our nation is questioning our trust and reliability in ever-changing news, this study asks whether our local news, with the new platforms that are emerging, have been compromised in providing a fair portrayal of youth. Particularly, whether it fairly portrays Black and Latinx youth in representations of criminality proportional to crime occurring. During …

Agribusiness, Food Insecurity, And Chronic Diet-Related Ailments In Worcester, Ma: Toward A Nuanced Narrative, Adam Wriggins

Sustainability and Social Justice

The following research paper begins with an acknowledgement of the global food crisis and, more specifically, the agribusiness model of food production and distribution in the United States. It then zeroes in on the fundamental issues with many of the United States food movements. It then outlines a narrative with the frame that food security is a human right by elucidating concepts of food justice and food sovereignty. Once this foundation has been laid, the paper examines chronic food-related ailments (diabetes and coronary heart disease) in Worcester, Massachusetts, and how these ailments are related to racial/ethnic minorities (Black and Hispanic/Latino …

Worcester Community Clean Energy Project: A Preliminary Assessment Of Project Aims And Potential, Gabe J. Epstein

Sustainability and Social Justice

E4TheFuture is orchestrating two pilot Community Clean Energy Projects (CCEP) in the state of Massachusetts. This paper is a preliminary analysis of the Worcester CCEP and is commissioned by E4TheFuture. The CCEP incorporates multiple types of renewable energies and a cooperative energy approach to provide clean energy access to any community member regardless of income level or homeowner status. The paper examines the CCEP’s mission statement and project estimates, using data provided by E4TheFuture and academic literature. The analysis seeks to determine the feasibility of the Worcester CCEP, its potential impact on underserved communities, and the potential for project replication.

Really Effective (For 15% Of The Men): Lessons In Understanding And Addressing User Needs In Climate Services From Mali, Edward Carr, Sheila Onzere

Sustainability and Social Justice

The design of effective climate services requires the identification of a problem that might be addressed through the provision of weather and climate information, and the design and delivery of actionable information to a set of appropriate users. The utility of weather and climate information for a given user is shaped not only by exposure to particular weather, climate, and market shocks and stresses, but also the sensitivity of that user’s livelihoods to particular shocks and stresses and whether or not their adaptive capacity includes the ability to use such information. Therefore, effective climate services are very place-, time-, and …

A Summer At Azavea Working With Nonprofit Organizations: The Summer Of Maps Fellowship, Sarah Gates

Sustainability and Social Justice

This report details my experience as a Summer of Maps Fellow at Azavea during June 2017 to August 2017. As a Summer of Maps Fellow I worked with nonprofit organizations, the Fair Tech Collective and the World Resources Institute, on two geospatial analysis projects. For the Fair Tech Collective I analyzed data on refinery flaring pollution, air toxin concentrations, and sensitive receptor populations to produce a series of maps and infographics detailing the impacts of petrochemical pollution in the San Francisco Bay Area. For the World Resources Institute I used data-driven methods to analyze conservation efforts in the Central African …

Greening The Gateway Cities: Summer Internship With The Clark University Human Environment Regional Observatory (Hero) And Massachusetts Department Of Conservation And Recreation (Dcr), Zhiwen Zhu

Sustainability and Social Justice

This report provides a detailed account of my internship experience with the Clark University Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) and Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in the summer of 2017. This internship concerns the urban tree health assessment in three ‘Greening the Gateway’ cities in Massachusetts. During the internship, I conducted tree survey field work, database management, mapping, tree survey data analysis and urban tree plantation benefits microclimate simulation. During the internship I worked with the professors and students at Clark University and University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the staff from Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Worcester Tree …