Environmental Studies Commons^™

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 2011-2015 Summary Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Christopher J. Davis

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Program and Fire Effects Program have been monitoring vegetation in Agate Fossil Beds National Monument for over 18 years. While methods have changed slightly, this report summarizes data from over 80 locations from 1998-2015. We use these data to explore status and trends in upland and riparian plant communities, the occurrence of rare plants, and the effects of the Fossil Hills trail installation on the surrounding vegetation. A summary of the current condition (2011-2015) and trends (based on 1998-2015) in plant communities at Agate Fossil Beds NM (AGFO) is found in …

David Vs. Goliat: Políticas Y Prácticas Exitosas De La Decoin (Defensa Y Conservación Ecológica De Intag) Durante La Lucha Contra La Minería En Intag, Ecuador, Ana Teresa Colón García

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este es un análisis cualitativo que se enfoca en la organización DECOIN(Defensa y Conservación Ecológica de Intag) y su influencia en la resistencia, con éxito hasta el presente, contra proyectos de extracción minera que podrían acarrear un grave y muy y negativo impacto ambiental en la zona de Intag, Ecuador. En base a entrevistas con líderes y aliados de la organización y residentes de varias comunidades de la zona de Intag, discuto y analizo estrategias que ha implementado la organización tales como la compra de tierras, creación de alternativas económicas, concientización ambiental y defensa de derechos humanos para lograr desincentivar …

Social Media & Political Engagement: Environmental Organizations, Social Media And Political Engagement, Tyler Cate

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Social media is becoming more important in today’s digital society, but how effective is the use of social media when it comes to political engagement? How do environmental organizations use social media and is it effective in encouraging their “followers” to engage in online and/or offline political activity? I collected Facebook and Twitter data from ten environmental organizations to assess the effectiveness of each posting. I hypothesize that the groups making direct calls for action via social media receive a greater response – beyond “clicktivism” or “slacktivism” – than the groups that do not. The data includes the number of …

Fracking In Pennsylvania: A Spatial Analysis Of Impacts On Land Cover And Land Use, The Viewshed, And The Audioshed, Kelly A. Collins

Student Publications

Hydraulic fracturing is the process of extracting natural gas from layers of shale rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The largest source of natural gas in the US is the Marcellus Shale, largely located in Pennsylvania, and it is believed to hold about 141 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in its shale deposits. My study examined the impacts of well sites on land cover and land use, the viewshed, and the audioshed. To study the effect of wellpads on land use and land cover, we overlaid a layer of wellpads over land cover data as well as a …

La Minería En La Conciencia Urbana: Las Estrategias De Los Yasunidos De Cuenca Contra La Minería En El Azuay, Alexandra Golden

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En la provincia del Azuay, Ecuador, hay dos proyectos mineros a gran escala. Los proyectos Río Blanco y Loma Larga/Quimsacocha consisten en minas subterráneas de oro y plata, y ambos se acercan a la fase de explotación. Los proyectos están ubicados en la Reserva de Biosfera Macizo del Cajas en la zona de amortiguamiento del Parque Nacional el Cajas. La zona es un páramo de alto endemismo e importancia con respecto a la regulación hídrica. Los páramos suministran agua potable a los pueblos campesinos y a los habitantes de la ciudad de Cuenca. La minería consume muchísima agua y energía …

Epigeal Fauna Of Bosque Protector Cerro Candelaria, Justine Albers

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Pitfall traps are commonly used to sample epigeal fauna, and are especially utilized for the collection of ground-dwelling arthropods; however, this sampling method has yet to be employed in Cerro Candelaria, a protected cloud forest reserve in Tungurahua, Ecuador. Pitfall trap systems were established at two different sites in the reserve that differed in elevation and forest type. Although individuals from 4 different phlya, 11 classes and 17 orders were encountered over the duration of the study, pitfalls were most effective at sampling Coleoptera, which comprised 40% of the total catch across both sites. The two communities of beetle …

Long Live The King? A Gis Analysis Of Climate Change’S Impact On The Future Wintering Range And Economy Of The Monarch Butterfly (Danaus Plexippus) In Mexico, Megan E. Zagorski

Student Publications

The annual migration of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a natural phenomenon widely integrated into the popular and social imagination of North America. However, this migratory population has recently declined. I investigated the threat of climate change on the future distribution of suitable monarch habitat, using ArcGIS to create a model of current and future monarch habitat. I also analyzed municipal data for 5 communities in Mexico State in an examination of the social aspects of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve [MBBR]. According to my model, an estimated 38.6% to 69.8% of current monarch habitat may be lost within …

Lens On Habitat Destruction: A Photo Essay In Double Exposure, Bethany Holtz

Student Publications

Human greed and ignorance bulldoze through nature, leaving behind scarred landscapes and broken ecosystems. Within the world’s aquatic environments, human actions have irreversibly fragmented and shattered habitats of countless animals. Voiceless, these displaced animals suffer largely in silence—their stories untold and invisible. Using my lens to expose their cries, my photography uncovers the narrative of habitat destruction.

In this photo essay, I juxtapose the pristine and degraded habitats of five threatened aquatic species using double exposure techniques, a method where two disconnected images are merged to create one unified work. By balancing light, opacity, color, and transparency, I focus attention …

Crafting A Campus Sustainability Action Plan: A Grassroots Approach, Jolina A. Kenney

Student Publications

In recent decades, colleges and universities have taken a leadership role in developing institution-based Sustainability Action Plans (SAPs). A SAP includes a summation of past achievements, current initiatives, and the prioritized goals and implementation strategies for future action in terms of promoting environmental sustainability. These plans can also serve as pedagogical devices that teach students, staff and faculty important lessons of intentional living, global citizenship, and environmental responsibility. While many plans are adopted as top-down initiatives, there is great value in finding ways to engage the entire campus community in such endeavors at the grassroots level. This project documents a …

Inquiry Into The Implementation Of Bush’S Executive Order 13211 And The Impact On Environmental And Public Health Regulation, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman, Gunwant Gill, Miriam Jovanovic

Publications and Research

Executive Order 13211, promulgated in 2001, requires the federal government to consider the impact of federal action on energy independence as part of the George W. Bush’s National Energy Policy. This law review examines whether EO 13211 was used to curtail environmental protection and natural resource conservation. The article begins with a review of the procedure required of federal agencies under EO 13211 and its associated documents. The paper then examines case law and published federal rulemaking proceedings and examines how federal agencies apply tests to evaluate the potential energy effect. The study concludes that EO 13211 strikes a reasonable …

Bacterial Diversity And Community Composition From Seasurface To Subseafloor, Emily A. Walsh, John B. Kirkpatrick, Scott Rutherford, David C. Smith, Mitchell Sogin, Steven D'Hondt

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

We investigated compositional relationships between bacterial communities in the water column and those in deep-sea sediment at three environmentally distinct Pacific sites (two in the Equatorial Pacific and one in the North Pacific Gyre). Through pyrosequencing of the v4-v6 hypervariable regions of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, we characterized 450 104 pyrotags representing 29 814 operational taxonomic units (OTUs, 97% similarity). Hierarchical clustering and non-metric multidimensional scaling partition the samples into four broad groups, regardless of geographic location: a photic-zone community, a subphotic community, a shallow sedimentary community and a subseafloor sedimentary community (≥1.5 meters below seafloor). Abundance-weighted community compositions …

Impacts Of Ecotourism In Costa Rica: A Sustainable Alternative To Conventional Tourism, Kimberly A. Kleszczynski

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This ethnographic project examines the economic and social influences of tourism, specifically ecotourism, on the local communities of Costa Rica. The proposed research seeks to investigate the effects of ecotourism on the environment and quality of life for residents in Costa Rica while demonstrating the importance of sustainable development in relation to the ecotourism sector. The primary purpose of this research is to view the impact of ecotourism on Costa Rican society, with a particular focus on culture, economics, the environment, and specifically from the perspectives of local Costa Rican residents. Ultimately this paper will define what ecotourism is and …

They Come Like The Clouds: Governing The Mountainous Periphery, Jared Sousa

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper addresses the extension of governmental power into the mountainous periphery of the village of Dho Tarap in the Dolpa District of Nepal. New technologies, new markets, and new social dynamics are penetrating the Himalaya and reshaping the connections that mountain people have to the outside world. In this context of connectivity and modernity, the people of Dho Tarap are also being thrust into far closer proximity to the Nepali government. After a series of geopolitical moves in Nepal and China in the 1960s, Dho Tarap as part of an isolated border region has been a part of a …

Balancing The Local And The Global: Understanding Alternative Education In Modern Ladakh, Hannah Ryde

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For nearly thirty years, the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) has addressed the shortcomings of the education system in Ladakh (la dwags), a mountainous region under the rain-shadow of the Himalayan Range in Jammu and Kashmir State of Northern India, through education reform in government schools and the creation of alternative education programs. These programs attempt to support students who have failed in, and been failed by, the Ladakhi government education system and are designed to fill in gaps in the curricula of mainstream schools through supplemental academics and skill-based learning, while simultaneously building confidence …

Effects Of Environmental Factors On The Abundance Of Blacklegged Ticks, Jasmine L. Miller, Roger A. Lebrun, Howard S. Ginsberg

Senior Honors Projects

The nymphal stage of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, is the major vector of Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne disease in North America. Tick abundance has generally been estimated using either flag/drag samples or samples from hosts. However, the biases of these sampling methods have not been adequately studied. We compared samples using both methods from sites in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Tick abundance was compared with variables related to weather (temperature, relative humidity, and tick adverse moisture events), vegetation (canopy cover, tree density, shrub density, ground vegetation, and leaf litter cover), and host abundance (mice, small mammals, medium …

Disseminating The Sustainable City Year Program (Scyp) Education Model, Nico Larco, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Final Reports

The University of Oregon has developed a catalytic learning model that simultaneously meets the needs of both the next generation’s transportation workforce and cities looking for innovative and catalytic ways to advance a new era of transportation goals. Named the Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP), the model links local community priorities (as expressed through local plans and city council goals) with courses from a range of disciplines at a nearby university. The UO program engages 500+ multidisciplinary students annually in providing 60,000+ hours of work to city-identified projects using the existing administrative systems of both universities and local communities.

This …

Carbon, Cookstoves, And Kitchens: Case Studies Of Fuelwood Use And The Potential For Ethanol Substitutability In Rural India, Vietnam, And Tanzania, Monica V. Ogra, Alyssa L. Bosold, Jessie M. Pierce, Quinn M. Heist

Environmental Studies Student Conference Presentations

Fuelwood constitutes the primary domestic cooking fuel in many rural communities throughout the Global South. Unsustainable levels of fuelwood consumption, however, contribute not only to local forest degradation but also to global climate change through the release of black carbon and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Moreover, as a driver of indoor air pollution, it also negatively affects human health. Indoor air pollution linked to cooking smoke is among the leading causes of preventable respiratory disease, and negatively impacts women and children through disproportionate and repeated exposure. While many "cleaner" and "more efficient" alternate stove designs have been developed for …

The Role Of Traditional Knowledge About And Management Of Seaworms (Polychaeta) In Making Austronesian Worlds, Cynthia Twyford Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

This paper discusses how Kodi make their worlds cognitively as well as experientially, and how these worlds relate to sustainability and wellbeing. Kodi construct their cognitive worlds as well as their biophysical landscapes whilst interacting with many other species. This presentation focuses on human-polychaete interactions in order to illustrate world making processes. Seaworm traditions have deep historical roots in Austronesian societies and continue to be crucial for the wellbeing of contemporary communities. World-making processes are evident in what Kodi people say about seaworms and how they move through space relative to seaworms. While Kodi construct time they simultaneously construct space …

Sites Prioritization Of Commercial Solar Photovoltaic Systems Using Gis Resources In Massachusetts, Zifeng Li

Sustainability and Social Justice

ABSTRACT SITES PRIORITIZATION OF COMMERCIAL SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS USING GIS RESOURCES IN MASSACHUSETTS ZIFENG LI

My summer internship at SolarFlair Energy Inc. was conducted from May 20 to August 21 in 2015, where I cooperated with two supervisors for my work; Dodge A. Travis and Daniel T. Greenwood. I was working as a Geographic Information Science analyst to help generate business and sell commercial solar panel systems. By using available GIS databases to assess viable sites for solar installations, analyzing sites using and prioritizing potential sites through multi-criteria analysis, I successfully generate business lists for a variety of towns in …

Gis Professional Portfolio For William Thoman, William M. Thoman

Sustainability and Social Justice

Portfolio Overview

The following professional portfolio demonstrates the use of Geographic Information Systems and associated fields such as remote sensing, computer programming, and spatial statistics in order to explore environmental and human phenomena and the interactions between humanity and the environment. The following projects transition from more narrowly focused remote sensing or spatial statistics projects to those which combine a number of skills and knowledge bases

Worcester, Ma Bike Share Feasibility Study, Corinne Jachelski

Sustainability and Social Justice

The Worcester, MA Bike Share Feasibility Study was conducted to determine whether the City of Worcester is suitable for a city wide bike share. This study includes a general history of bike shares; their benefits based on major categories of social, environmental, economic, and transit; and overview of demographic composition of Worcester. Several cities of similar population size to Worcester that have implemented bike share systems are reviewed as context for system size. Other completed bike share feasibility studies informed the methods employed in this study, as well as provided more information broadly and specifically about all of the elements …

Green Building Retrofits In A Corporate Setting, Edward M. Snook Jr.

Sustainability and Social Justice

Buildings influence human consumption levels and lifestyles, require resources for creation and operation, and occupy physical space in the environment. This study examines if energy efficient buildings provide sufficient benefits to overcome costs in a certified green building project and the ways that tenants and owners can work together to accomplish retrofit projects and LEED certification in existing buildings. The results of the LEED feasibility analysis demonstrated that the office building studied could achieve Silver or Gold certification with little or no infrastructure and process change cost. Additionally, benefits exist for both the building’s owner and tenant, and costs can …

Garden-Based Learning In Worcester, Massachusetts: Addressing Science And Health Curriculum Gaps Through Summer Youth Programming, Julia Groenfeldt

Sustainability and Social Justice

This research examines the role of experiential garden-based “food citizenship” education for improving school year health and science curriculum retention and to further influence broader social and environmental awareness. Studies demonstrate the importance of these educational models to teach children the processes of food production to consumption. Through new knowledge on food systems education, children will learn to become more mindful and conscious consumers that will ultimately impact personal health outcomes as well as broader global sustainability. Education is a key component to the emerging alternative food network (AFN) that is challenging the modern agro-industrial food system. This research provides …

Multi-Year Optimization Of Malaria Intervention: A Mathematical Model, Harry J. Dudley, Abhishek Goenka '15, Cesar J. Orellana '17, Susan E. Martonosi

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Malaria is a mosquito-borne, lethal disease that affects millions and kills hundreds of thousands of people each year, mostly children. There is an increasing need for models of malaria control. In this paper, a model is developed for allocating malaria interventions across geographic regions and time, subject to budget constraints, with the aim of minimizing the number of person-days of malaria infection.

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Scotts Bluff National Monument, 2011-2015 Summary Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Christopher J. Davis

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Program and Fire Effects Program have been monitoring vegetation in Scotts Bluff National Monument for over 18 years. While methods have changed slightly, this report summarizes data from over 80 locations from 1998-2015. Below, we list the questions we asked using these data and provide a summarized answer. For more details see the full report. A summary of the current condition (2011-2015) and trends (based on 1988-2015) in plant communities at Scotts Bluff is found in Table ES-1.

1. What is the current status of plant community composition and structure of …

Air Quality Related Values (Aqrvs) For Northern Great Plains Network (Ngpn) Parks, Effects From Ozone; Visibility Reducing Particles; And Atmospheric Deposition Of Acids, Nutrients And Toxics, Timothy J. Sullivan

United States National Park Service: Publications

Summary

This report describes the Air Quality Related Values (AQRVs) of the Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN). AQRVs are those resources sensitive to air quality and include streams, lakes, soils, vegetation, fish and wildlife, and visibility. This report also describes air pollutant emissions and air quality in NGPN, and their effects on AQRVs. The primary pollutants likely to affect AQRVs include nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) compounds (nitrate [NO₃^-], ammonium [NH₄⁺], and sulfate [SO₄^2-]); ground-level ozone (O₃); haze-causing particles; and airborne toxics.

The 13 parks that are included in …

Mechanisms Of Methane Transport Through Populus Trichocarpa, Ellynne Marie Kutschera, M. A. K. Khalil, Andrew Rice, Todd Rosenstiel

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although the dynamics of methane (CH4) emission from croplands and wetlands have been fairly well investigated, the contribution of trees to global CH4 emission and the mechanisms of tree transport are relatively unknown. CH4 emissions from the common wetland tree species Populus trichocarpa (black cottonwood) native to the Pacific Northwest were measured under hydroponic conditions in order to separate plant transport mechanisms from the influence of soil processes. Roots were exposed to CH4 enriched water and canopy emissions of CH4 were measured. The average flux for 34 trials (at temperatures ranging from 17 to 25 °C) was 2.8 ± 2.2 …

Park Management Gis Intern In New York City Department Of Park & Recreation, Dongjun Zhou 3125032

Sustainability and Social Justice

My park management GIS internship with New York City Department of Parks & Recreation took place during June and August 2015, where I primarily worked under the guidance of Terese Flores, the park manager for the borough of Manhattan. My internship responsibility was assisting the Park Manager with park improvement project that primarily involved asset mapping for park properties, field data collecting and entry, budget devising as well as park staff coordinating. According to the requirement of GISDE program at Clark University, the content of this report mainly covers three aspects of this internship: the introduction for the mission and …

Spatial Engagement With Poetry By Heather H. Yeung, Deborah C. Bowen

The Goose

Review of Spatial Engagement with Poetry by Heather H. Yeung.

Giving Voice To The Wild: The Rhetorical Legacy Of Sigurd Olson And The Singing Wilderness, Brant Short

Speaker & Gavel

In this study I will examine Olson‘s first and most notable work, The Singing Wilderness, published in 1956. This book became a standard work of the period, it established Olson as a national leader among American conservationists, and most significantly, it served as a rhetorical blueprint for others who were greatly inspired by Olson‘s personal quest to understand the natural world on its own terms. In this essay, I will describe Olson‘s status among scholars and provide a biographical overview of significant events in his life. Next I will analyze The Singing Wilderness as a rhetorical text which established Olson‘s …