Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Environmental Studies Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2015

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 481 - 510 of 538

Full-Text Articles in Environmental Studies

Roots Versus Wells: Grassroots Activism Against Fracking In New York And California, Shannon J. Leap Jan 2015

Roots Versus Wells: Grassroots Activism Against Fracking In New York And California, Shannon J. Leap

Pitzer Senior Theses

The reliance upon and depletion of fossil fuels as an energy source puts pressure on individuals, communities, energy companies, and policy-makers. Hydraulic fracturing – known colloquially as fracking – as a method of drilling for oil and natural gas temporarily alleviates this pressure since it allows for the extraction previously inaccessible fossil fuels in shale rock deposits deep beneath the Earth’s surface. This has resulted in a nationwide “fracking boom,” which has come with its share of economic benefits. However, the process of fracking can be detrimental to human and environmental health. In reaction to the increasing development of this …

Go to article

Insights Into Perspectives On Environmental Sustainability, Amber R. Shobe Jan 2015

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 …

Go to article

The Use Of Improved Technology And Market-Based Incentives To Increase Forest Resource And Biodiversity Conservation In Rwanda, Kelly M. Rayens Jan 2015

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 …

Go to article

Significance Evaluation Of The Forgotten Creek Site, Joy D. Ferry Jan 2015

Significance Evaluation Of The Forgotten Creek Site, Joy D. Ferry

All Master's Theses

Archaeological research has recognized the importance of montane environments in the subsistence and settlement strategies of pre-contact peoples. Yet little is understood about variation in the manner in which pre-contact peoples were using upland environments. In order to ascertain whether there is functional and/or technological variation between montane sites in comparable environmental settings, four lithic assemblages (45PI406, 45PI408, 45PI429, and 45PI438) from sites in the upper maritime forest and subalpine zone of Mount Rainier were compared. An evolutionary archaeology model was applied to define and measure variables relevant to stone tool manufacture and use. Statistically significant non-random associations were contextualized …

Go to article

Letter From The Dean, Michael Vayda Jan 2015

Letter From The Dean, Michael Vayda

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Go to article

The Effect Of Corruption On Carbon Dioxide Emissions In The Mena Region, Hoda Hassaballa Jan 2015

The Effect Of Corruption On Carbon Dioxide Emissions In The Mena Region, Hoda Hassaballa

Economics

Corruption has always been accused of having adverse effects on growth. This is because it decreases productivity, leads to accumulation of additional costs and discourages investment. Recently, high concerns are raised about the impact of corruption on the environment. Corruption plays a substantial role in increasing pollution emissions level. In spite of this, empirical investigation of such an issue is still incomplete. For that, this research work represents a step forward in understanding the relationship between corruption and the environment in general and in filling the gap present in the literature in analyzing this relationship in the Middle East and …

Go to article

A Call For Bioregional Governance In Cascadia: Shaping An Ecological Identity In The Land Of Falling Waters, Molly D. Freed Jan 2015

A Call For Bioregional Governance In Cascadia: Shaping An Ecological Identity In The Land Of Falling Waters, Molly D. Freed

Scripps Senior Theses

In recent years, as globalization has taken a toll on North Americans’ “sense of place,” there has been a swelling interest in the identification of bioregions: spaces delineated by their natural borders and shaped by the cultures that arise within them. Bioregionalism, the movement that arose from this scalar shift, emphasizes the “reinhabitation” of bioregions through a deep understanding and attachment between residents and their watershed and habitat. This thesis argues for a shift to bioregional-scale environmental governance in the Cascadian bioregion (the Pacific Northwest) via an interstate compact. Using the Great Lakes bioregion as a comparable case …

Go to article

Performance And Resilience: Performance, Storytelling, And Resilience Building In Post-Katrina New Orleans, Sophia Colette Becker Jan 2015

Performance And Resilience: Performance, Storytelling, And Resilience Building In Post-Katrina New Orleans, Sophia Colette Becker

Honors Papers

"Performance and Resilience: Performance, Storytelling, and Resilience Building in Post-Katrina New Orleans" uses a mixed method approach to investigate the role of digital storytelling and contemporary performing arts in building community and environmental resilience. Through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and scholarship from the fields of performance studies and environmental studies, this piece focuses on post-disaster landscapes, particularly post-Katrina New Orleans, to investigate the impact of storytelling platforms and performance spaces in retaining social and cultural memory.

Go to article

Cultivating Opportunity: Land Transfer Tools To Support Land Access For Beginning Farmers, Samuel E. Plotkin Jan 2015

Cultivating Opportunity: Land Transfer Tools To Support Land Access For Beginning Farmers, Samuel E. Plotkin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This is an exciting, but precarious, time for the generational transfer of agricultural land in the US as established farmers are aging and transitioning out of farm ownership. Beginning farmers, however, the next generation of agrarians, face numerous obstacles to land access – finding and purchasing property. Two of the greatest barriers include the high price farm property commands today and the steady loss of agricultural land. Conservation easements are vital tools in the effort to protect agricultural land, and land transfer tools that enhance conservation easements stand to be crucial instruments for supporting beginning farmers’ access to land. There …

Go to article

Raising Grain In Next Year Country: Dryland Farming, Drought, And Adaptation In The Golden Triangle, Montana, Caroline M. Stephens Jan 2015

Raising Grain In Next Year Country: Dryland Farming, Drought, And Adaptation In The Golden Triangle, Montana, Caroline M. Stephens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change has already and will likely continue to impact agriculture in the Western United States, threatening water supplies for both irrigated and rainfed agriculture (Calzadilla et al. 2010; Chambers and Pellant 2008; MacDonald et al. 2010; Pedersen et al. 2009). In the Golden Triangle, a region in north central Montana, known for its dryland grain production, the same is true. There is a need for in-depth, fine-grained, place-based, and qualitative research about the process of climate change adaptation in agriculture (Miller et al. 2013). Drought challenges farmers in the Triangle, which is semiarid and receives 10-15 inches of annual …

Go to article

A Gis Assessment Of Ecoregion Representation In Chile's Existing And Proposed Integrated Network Of Protected Areas, Jessica Schutz Jan 2015

A Gis Assessment Of Ecoregion Representation In Chile's Existing And Proposed Integrated Network Of Protected Areas, Jessica Schutz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Chile's state designated protected areas are reported to show representation bias and to be unable to meet conservation goals. Private protected areas are considered an important tool to resolve these issues, which has led to support for increasing the role of private protected areas in Chile and creating an integrated public-private protected area network. But the validity of the capacity of private protected areas to fix Chile's state protected area network bias, and the advantage of creating an integrated protected area network, have not been assessed. This study uses the most recent data on Chile's state, private, and international protected …

Go to article

The Economic Impacts Of Forest Pathogens In Washington State: A Hedonic Approach, Logan Blair Jan 2015

The Economic Impacts Of Forest Pathogens In Washington State: A Hedonic Approach, Logan Blair

All Master's Theses

An increase in the incidence of forest pathogens in the Western US has created new resource management issues. In this research I employ a dataset of 170,141 housing transactions in twelve Western Washington counties to quantify the impacts of parasitic forest damage on the proxy real estate market. Specifically, I estimate a set of hedonic fixed effects models to control for omitted variable bias and spatial autocorrelation. Results show statistically significant impacts on property values in the presence of species specific and aggregate defoliation, suggesting new information for forestry management and policy.

Go to article

Behavioral Response Of Pacific Lamprey (Entosphenus Tridentatus) To Predator Odors, Laurie L. Porter Jan 2015

Behavioral Response Of Pacific Lamprey (Entosphenus Tridentatus) To Predator Odors, Laurie L. Porter

All Master's Theses

Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus), a species facing serious threats to their existence, experience a number of challenges in reaching their desired spawning grounds during the adult migratory phase, and predators are suspected to be one of these challenges. Understanding if Pacific lamprey respond to predator odorants may provide a management tool for use in conjunction with attractants in guiding lamprey to suitable spawning habitat and deterring them from poor habitat. Previous research has failed to explore Pacific lamprey response to predator odorants, although much research exists on attractant odorants. In our study, we tested Pacific lamprey response to …

Go to article

Provisioning And Its Effects On The Social Interactions Of Tibetan Macaques (Macaca Thibetana) At Mt. Huangshan, China, Brianna I. Schnepel Jan 2015

Provisioning And Its Effects On The Social Interactions Of Tibetan Macaques (Macaca Thibetana) At Mt. Huangshan, China, Brianna I. Schnepel

All Master's Theses

The dispersal patterns of food resources has a significant effect on the composition of primate groups and social interactions within those groups. Humans often alter the dispersal of food. Non-humans often use affiliative behaviors to elicit tolerance or support from other group members. I investigated whether provisioned food resources alter the social interactions and group dynamics of Macaca thibetana. All-occurrence sampling and scan sampling were used for data recorded by camera traps. Trail-cameras were placed at six locations that contain natural and human food resources and recorded 60-second videos. Social behavior and proximity of the monkeys were recorded. I …

Go to article

An Appraisal Of Experiences Of Climate Change And Adaptive Response To Heat Stress By Farmers In Rural Ghana, Kwasi Frimpong Jan 2015

An Appraisal Of Experiences Of Climate Change And Adaptive Response To Heat Stress By Farmers In Rural Ghana, Kwasi Frimpong

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

With the increase in average global temperatures, heat-related illnesses and deaths have unfolded as occupational and health issues. Periods of high to extreme temperatures are becoming more common and are a leading cause of weather-related deaths in many countries. In agricultural settings of African countries, heat stress is a major concern as many smallholder farmers work outdoors with limited access to cooling systems even in their resting and living environments. This study, conducted in the Bawku East part of Northern-East Ghana in 2013, examines, in the context of climate change, the trends and impacts of heat stress on smallholder farmers, …

Go to article

Carbon Storage And Preservation In Seagrass Meadows, Mohammad Rozaimi Jamaludin Jan 2015

Carbon Storage And Preservation In Seagrass Meadows, Mohammad Rozaimi Jamaludin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Seagrass meadows are important ‘Blue Carbon’ sinks but many questions remain unaddressed in regards to the organic carbon (OC) sequestration capacity and processes leading to retention and persistence of OC in seagrass sediments. The research summarised in this dissertation examined 37 sediment cores from twelve Australian seagrass meadows (Posidonia australis and Halophila ovalis) in order to improve our understanding of OC storage and preservation in seagrass sediments. The research: quantified the OC storage in seagrass meadows and the reduction in stores after ecosystem degradation; the rates of OC accumulation; the roles of species composition and the depositional nature …

Go to article

A Basic Guide For Empirical Environmental Social Science, Michael Cox Jan 2015

A Basic Guide For Empirical Environmental Social Science, Michael Cox

Dartmouth Scholarship

In this paper, I address a gap in the literature on environmental social science by providing a basic rubric for the conduct of empirical research in this interdisciplinary field. Current literature displays a healthy diversity of methods and techniques, but this has also been accompanied by a lack of consistency in the way in which research in this area is done. In part this can be seen as resulting from a lack in supporting texts that would provide a basis for this consistency. Although relevant methods texts do exist, these are not written with this type of research explicitly in …

Go to article

Unearthing Connections In A Storied Landscape: The Flathead River Honoring And Place-Based Education In The Flathead Valley, Melissa Wardlow Jan 2015

Unearthing Connections In A Storied Landscape: The Flathead River Honoring And Place-Based Education In The Flathead Valley, Melissa Wardlow

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Public-Private Water Conservation: An Assessment Of Attitudes In The Deer Lodge Valley, Montana, Elizabeth K. Rial Jan 2015

Public-Private Water Conservation: An Assessment Of Attitudes In The Deer Lodge Valley, Montana, Elizabeth K. Rial

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Eco-Design Integration Into New Product Development Processes: Comparison Between Lca Software And Cad-Integrated Tools, Maria I. Hernandez Dalmau Jan 2015

Eco-Design Integration Into New Product Development Processes: Comparison Between Lca Software And Cad-Integrated Tools, Maria I. Hernandez Dalmau

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

The constant growth of environmental concerns and in order to satisfy the increasing population demands, designers have started to integrate eco-design parameters in early design stages. The technological development that happened in the last decade has started to integrate LCA methods within CAD tools, allowing non-geometric data to be integrated in a typical geometrical model. The main research interest of this thesis is focused on the evaluation of the use of these emerging CAD tools, as tools capable to evaluate the futures environmental impacts of products and processes. This thesis studies through three comparative case studies if SolidWorks Sustainability as …

Go to article

The Effects Of Insecticide Dose And Herbivore Density On Tri-Trophic Effects Of Thiamethoxam In A System Involving Wheat, Aphids, And Ladybeetles, Michael M. Bredeson, R Neil Reese, Jonathan G. Lundgren Jan 2015

The Effects Of Insecticide Dose And Herbivore Density On Tri-Trophic Effects Of Thiamethoxam In A System Involving Wheat, Aphids, And Ladybeetles, Michael M. Bredeson, R Neil Reese, Jonathan G. Lundgren

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

We assess how herbivore density and insecticide dose affects the tri-trophic interactions among thiamethoxam-treated wheat (Triticum sp.), Rhophalosiphum padi and the predatory Coleomegilla maculata DeGeer. In the first experiment 2nd and 4th instar C. maculata were fed aphids reared for 24 h on wheat plants treated with sub-lethal thiamethoxam soil drenches to assess the effect of insecticidal dose on the predator. In the second experiment a constant, sub-lethal thiamethoxam soil drench was used on wheat plants, but the plants were infested with different densities of aphids. Aphids from each density treatment were then fed to C. maculata 2nd instars. Insecticide …

Go to article

May You Walk In Beauty: The Decline Of Navajo Land And Culture, Jocelyn Catterson Jan 2015

May You Walk In Beauty: The Decline Of Navajo Land And Culture, Jocelyn Catterson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The Navajo homeland, Dinetah, is bordered by four mountains that are sacred to the Navajo people: two in Colorado, one in New Mexico, and one in Arizona. Historically, Navajo medicine men have traveled to these mountains to renew prayers and collect medicinal herbs. Today, the mountains, which exist outside of the reservation boundaries, are used for resource extraction and various recreational pursuits. While many Navajo are fighting for the protection of these sacred lands and their traditional culture, others are disinterested. Traditional practices and beliefs are slowly disappearing within the Navajo Nation. The land-use issues associated with these sacred mountains …

Go to article

Crop Swap Missoula: Food Waste And The Sharing Solution, Cathryn Raan Jan 2015

Crop Swap Missoula: Food Waste And The Sharing Solution, Cathryn Raan

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Rachel Botsman coined the term “collaborative consumption” to describe an economic model based on sharing, swapping, trading, or renting products and services, and enabling access rather than ownership1. Also referred to as the sharing economy, the mesh economy, or the peer-to-peer economy, collaborative consumption models offer a more efficient use of unused, or underutilized resources. Whereas previously peer-to-peer exchanges were only practical within small networks of friends, family, and neighbors, the Internet and mobile technology have allowed us to share almost anything at any time. While there are countless examples of community exchange platforms, and more springing up …

Go to article

Understanding Vulnerability In Alaska Fishing Communities: A Validation Methodology For Rapid Assessment Of Well-Being Indices, Conor M. Maguire Jan 2015

Understanding Vulnerability In Alaska Fishing Communities: A Validation Methodology For Rapid Assessment Of Well-Being Indices, Conor M. Maguire

All Master's Theses

Social well-being indices measure how fishing communities are likely to be affected by social-ecological perturbations, and are a significant tool to identify the primary issues influencing communities’ sustained participation in fishing activities. In an attempt to further our understanding of how communities are affected by such perturbations, we have developed a rapid assessment methodology to test the external validity of a set of well-being indices that measure community vulnerability. This methodology informs how well such indices reflect the communities they represent by measuring elements of well-being through field observations, and comparing them to corresponding index components created from secondary data …

Go to article

Gleaning In The Cedar Valley: A Post-Evaluation Study, Dylan Thomas Hillyer Jan 2015

Gleaning In The Cedar Valley: A Post-Evaluation Study, Dylan Thomas Hillyer

Honors Program Theses

Gleaning is a term describing the act of either picking, cleaning or sorting produce that would otherwise be wasted. It is a practice long known to Europe, and in the past thirty years has gained immense popularity among non-profit organizations throughout the United States. The Cedar Valley Gleaning Program (CVGP) had its pilot-year in the fall of 2014. This thesis seeks to improve the efficacy of the CVGP through examining both the pilot year, and a qualitative study of gleaning operations worldwide, to answer the question: How can gleaning become an effective tool for communities in the Cedar Valley.

Go to article

Yet More Studies In Rio Grande Valley History, Milo Kearney, Anthony K. Knopp, Antonio Zavaleta, Thomas Daniel Knight Jan 2015

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

Studies in Rio Grande Valley Regional History Series

Frontera, a poem / Elvira Ardalani -- Strasbourg, Alsace, and Brownsville, Texas : ideal sister cities / Milo Kearney -- La concepción de la identidad fronteriza en Jovita Gonzalez y Adela Sloss de Vento / Laura Garza -- Cuando se fundo Matamoros? / Andres F. Cuellar -- The formation and early development of the Llano Grande / Maria Vallejo -- Doño Rosa Maria Hinojosa de Balli and her family : a lower Rio Grande Valley family in an Atlantic perspective / Thomas Daniel Knight -- Clarksville : a forgotten community on the Rio Grande / Jim Mills -- The last …

Go to article

Intra- And Inter-Seasonal Variability Of Supra-Glacial 1 Streams And Lakes Over The West Greenland Ice Sheet 2 From High-Resolution Satellite Optical Data, Michael Gregory Brown Jan 2015

Intra- And Inter-Seasonal Variability Of Supra-Glacial 1 Streams And Lakes Over The West Greenland Ice Sheet 2 From High-Resolution Satellite Optical Data, Michael Gregory Brown

Dissertations and Theses

The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is one of the largest glacial ice masses on Earth, second only to the Antarctic ice sheet. The surface hydrology of the GrIS plays a crucial role on the surface energy and mass balance budgets of the ice sheet as a whole. Surface water, known as supra-glacial water, is seasonally found in the ablation zone and feeds the en-glacial and sub-glacial hydrological environments of the ice sheet. The spatial distribution of surface streams is poorly understood and their temporal variability is (to our knowledge) unknown. One of the reasons for the lack of knowledge on …

Go to article

The Hazardous Effects Of Ship Scrapping And Recycling On Workers' Rights And The Environment, Maytee Gomez Salgueiro Jan 2015

The Hazardous Effects Of Ship Scrapping And Recycling On Workers' Rights And The Environment, Maytee Gomez Salgueiro

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Coastal Environmental Policies And Water: Environmental Values In Ghana And Senegal, Molly R. Loftus Jan 2015

Coastal Environmental Policies And Water: Environmental Values In Ghana And Senegal, Molly R. Loftus

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of the environmental values present in Ghana’s and Senegal’s coastal regions, and the implications that those have for the surrounding environment. The countries approaches to urban farming, mining and oil and gas extraction, fishing, marine debris and municipal waste management are assessed in order to reach a greater understanding of these environmental issues. In undertaking this thesis, I attempted to draw a correlation between the handling of these issues and how people perceive their environment. Through the comparison of environmental degradation and the level of effort to achieve a more sustainable developmental framework in …

Go to article

The Political Economy Of Environmental Justice: A Comparative Study Of New Delhi And Los Angeles, Ratik Asokan Jan 2015

The Political Economy Of Environmental Justice: A Comparative Study Of New Delhi And Los Angeles, Ratik Asokan

CMC Senior Theses

Though mainstream environmentalism, both in the U.S. and India, was initially rooted in social justice, it has, over time, moved away from this focus. The Environmental Justice Movement consequently arose to reunite social and environmental activism. In this thesis, I trace the historical relationship between the mainstream environmentalism, the Environmental Justice Movement, and marginalized communities. After providing this general overview, I examine two case studies – in Los Angeles and New Delhi respectively – where marginalized communities have been involved in Environmental Justice activities. My analysis reveals that marginalized communities often act in an ‘environmentalist’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ manner, without …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last