Environmental Studies Commons^™

Understanding Women's Needs For Weather And Climate Information In Agrarian Settings: The Case Of Ngetou Maleck, Senegal, Edward Carr, Grant Fleming, Tshibangu Kalala

Sustainability and Social Justice

While climate services have the potential to reduce precipitation- and temperature-related risks to agrarian livelihoods, such outcomes are possible only when they deliver information that is salient, legitimate, and credible to end users. This is particularly true of climate services intended to address the needs of women in agrarian contexts. The design of such gender-sensitive services is hampered by oversimplified framings of women as a group in both the adaptation and climate services literatures. This paper demonstrates that even at the village level, women have different climate and weather information needs, and differing abilities to act on that information. Therefore, …

From Empty Lot To Garden Plot: Urban Agriculture In Chula Vista, Jennifer E. Gutierrez

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project is an exploration of how agriculture can be incorporated into the fabric of the city of Chula Vista, which has both uniquely urban and suburban areas. The proposal is to integrate agriculture as a design tool to reconnect to the city’s agricultural past and as a model for cities of the future. First, I discuss Chula Vista’s history and contemporary context, including demographics. I review the existing urban agriculture policies Chula Vista has and compare them to other cities in California. The second part of the project is concerned with how to choose and develop a site for …

The Influence Of Agriculture Policy: The Effects Of The Farm Bill On Farm Size, Crop Choice, And Trends In Agriculture, Emma Cotnoir

Sustainability and Social Justice

The agricultural sector in the United States is accounts for a large portion of the economy as well as environmental degradation, yet agricultural policy is often overlooked. This paper will look at one longstanding piece of legislation known as the Farm Bill, specifically the 2008 and 2014 versions, and the way the Commodity and Crop Insurance measures steer the industry. Secondary data was taken from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), along with peer reviewed journals and studies.

Trends would suggest that while other factors are involved, the Commodity subsidies encourage larger farms as well as a shift towards …

Chesapeake Aquaculture, Garth Woodruff

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Branching Out: How Virginia Can Strategically Use Trees To Combat Biodiversity Loss, Taylor Pfeiffer

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

Biodiversity loss is a particularly concerning effect of climate change because as greenhouse gas emissions increase global temperatures, decreases in the abundance and diversity of species has reduced ecosystem resiliency to these changes (Verchot et al. 2007). Weakened ecosystems and threatened species decrease the environment’s capacity to provide humans with services like safe drinking water, fuel, and protection from natural disasters, just to name a few (US EPA 2013). The agricultural industry plays a unique role in this environmental conversation, as farmland both contributes to climate change and is jeopardized by the negative effects created by the issue in a …

Off The Court, Onto The Farm, Arza E. Hammond

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This work contains two separate but connected stories about developing a relationship with something larger than myself. Reaching the end of my basketball career forced me to examine my relationship with the great game of basketball and my role in it. After ending my hoops career, I spent a summer working and living on a small, organic farm. The lessons I learned from the game helped me to develop a meaningful relationship with the farm and to find a reciprocal role with the land I lived and worked on.

The Great Sustainability Challenge, Isidor Wallimann

Sociology - All Scholarship

"The balance between society and nature is askew. The age of industrialization and the subsequent era of consumerism are large culprits for pollution and the degradation of the environment. Human activity on Earth has undeniably affected the planet and has contributed colossal levels of carbon emissions that are pushing global temperatures to keep rising. Significant ecological risks to human survival may result from not taking more pressing action. Governments have a role to play in moving more rapidly and effectively towards more sustainable practices – “how to be more sustainable?” is a question that must be integrated in all decision-making …

Assessing Farmers’ And Landowners’ Attitudes Towards Environmental Sustainability And Their Motivations Towards Walking Tourism In Sheep’S Head Way, Co. Cork, Gráinne Dwyer

Irish Business Journal

Numerous studies within academic literature examine motivations of walkers engaging with nature-based tourism activities, such as hillwalking. However, a gap exists in the literature regarding the suppliers of this type of tourism, namely landowners and farmers. This research hopes to address this identifiable gap in tourism research in a confined study area located in the Sheep’s Head Way in Co. Cork. The purpose of this research was to examine geographical spatial differences in environmental attitudes, and to determine the factors that influenced the landowner’s intentions to permit the walkway throughout their land. To examine these factors, seven semi-structured interviews were …

Gardening The Desert, Deserting The Garden: Culture, Agriculture And Ecology On The Northern Plains, 1830-1930, Ben Larson

Honors Papers

Between 1830 and 1930, the northern Plains underwent sweeping changes. Cataclysmic conflict between Indians and whites, imposition of the American settlement system, and integration into the national economy all altered the region and how people lived there. Revisions in agriculture were part of these changes but also played their own role. As the dominant form of land use, and the direct or indirect occupation of most residents, agriculture has an important part in shaping landscapes and lifeways in the, northern plains. Of course, changes in agriculture between 1830 and 1930 dramatically affected the people and the land; to suggest the …

Children And The Environment: Work, Play And Learning In Rural Sudan, Cindi Katz

Publications and Research

In agricultural economies, environmental learning and the use of environmental knowledge are central practices of social reproduction. The former is important because it encompasses the acquisition of important vocational skills and knowledge, and the latter because it is often integral to the work of providing or procuring basic needs goods and services. In these societies children learn about the environment--that is, about agriculture, animal husbandry and the use of local resources-- largely in the course of their work and play in a variety of settings. In rural areas of the Third World the transition to capitalist relations of production is …