Environmental Studies Commons^™

Intersectional Approaches To Climate Action: A Comparative Study Of Women's Equality And Indigenous Voices In Iceland And New Zealand, Sixtine Foucaut

International Studies (MA) Theses

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges our world faces today and will be facing for generations to come, as nature and its ecosystems increasingly experience extreme weather patterns and irreversible environmental damage. Marginalized populations such as women and indigenous peoples have been disproportionately impacted by climate change and offer unique and valuable perspectives and lived experiences of climate change. This paper adopts an intersectional approach. Its comparative case study of Iceland and New Zealand explores how women and indigenous peoples have informally and formally contributed to climate action policies. This research analyzes the relationship between the Global Gender …

Climate Change And Racial Violence, Aidan Connors

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Climate change poses the greatest threat mankind has ever seen, not since WW2 is the damage potential so great for humanity. Humanity’s understanding of the dangers that climate change presents isn’t something new, newspaper archives show articles warning about the dangers of carbon output into the atmosphere as early as 1912 (Roney and Otamatea). Despite our knowledge of the dangers, the actions necessary to fight climate change aren’t being taken because of the risk to profits it presents for companies.

Downscaling Of Physical Risks For Climate Scenario Design, Enrico Biffis, Shuai Wang

Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics

Southeast Asia is arguably one of the areas most vulnerable to natural disasters due to its dense population, coastal urbanization, and rainfall variability driven by the local monsoon systems. In this report, we focus on the impact of global warming in the region along four climate dimensions: temperature, precipitation, wind speed and coastal surge. The latter represents the surge of water from the ocean in excess of astronomical tides. Our objective is to downscale the outputs of global climate models to temporal and spatial resolutions of interest to market participants wishing to quantify climate risk vulnerability via climate stress testing …

Examining The Impacts Of Flooding On Public Health, Lauren Gibson

Honors Theses

Over the past 10 years, South Carolina has experienced over five major weather events that have led to extreme flooding along the coast. These types of repeated major events have the potential to significantly impact people’s lives and livelihoods. When looking at the issue from a public health perspective, it is known that natural disasters such as flooding can negatively affect community health. However, little research has been done to analyze the impacts on individual health from flooding. This issue inspired a more in-depth research analysis to examine those health impacts from local Horry County residents. This research aims to …

Destruction Is A Must-See: Coastal Heritage Site Erosion And Public Perception Of Climate Change, Haley Borowy

Senior Theses

Archaeological sites in South Carolina are vanishing. As sea level rise, and therefore coastal erosion, worsen, more sites will disappear. The questions of how erosion at these sites is measured and how the public perceives the effects of climate change have been studied separately, but not together. Here, the intersection of these is discussed, alongside how sites are portrayed affects how the public perceives them, and therefore their importance. Studies on measuring coastal erosion, local news reports, government documents, and public perception of coastal management and sea level rise illuminate how people eventually decide what is worth saving.

Increasing Heat-Stress Inequality In A Warming Climate, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, John T. Abatzoglou, Jan F. Adamowski, Jeffrey P. Prestemon, Bhaskar Chittoori, Ata Akbari Asanjan, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Adaptation is key to minimizing heatwaves' societal burden; however, our understanding of adaptation capacity across the socioeconomic spectrum is incomplete. We demonstrate that observed heatwave trends in the past four decades were most pronounced in the lowest-quartile income region of the world resulting in >40% higher exposure from 2010 to 2019 compared to the highest-quartile income region. Lower-income regions have reduced adaptative capacity to warming, which compounds the impacts of higher heatwave exposure. We also show that individual contiguous heatwaves engulfed up to 2.5-fold larger areas in the recent decade (2010–2019) as compared to the 1980s. Widespread heatwaves can overwhelm …

Peru's Fishmeal Industry: Its Societal And Environmental Impact, Angel Vizurraga

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Peru is the biggest fishmeal-producing country in the world. It has exported millions of tons of fishmeal to various parts of the world since the 1960s. However, this industry has created many problems for the Peruvian people and their environment. Past research done on this topic has failed to include the negative impacts of the fishmeal industry. My project aims to exhibit the main issues that are affected or created by the fishmeal industry. I will talk about its impact on socioeconomic matters such as malnutrition and employment, as well as its impact on the environment and the wildlife population …

Air Pollution, Climate Change, And Our Health, Kathia Vargas Feliz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Climate change is a subject that is creating a lot of controversies nowadays. From newspapers to researchers, there are big efforts going on trying to bring awareness about the effects of air pollution and climate change over time. It is recommended that governments all over the world, and people from all communities act by taking care of the environment because the situation might turn out to be irremediable. There is a quote by Leonardo Dicaprio stating, “Climate change is real. It is happening right now; it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to …

Promoting Climate Change Mitigation & Supporting Ngos: Converging The Theory Of Planned Behavior & The Elaboration Likelihood Model, Passant Mostafa Halawa

Theses and Dissertations

In the 21st century, public opinion's attention in developed nations has increasingly been directed to climate change and the urgency for humanity to take action. The main discourse is that climate change would have devastating consequences on a global scale, threatening humanity’s existence. However, in most developing countries climate change is generally not regarded as an important topic and climate change messages suffer from poor public engagement. Most recent research has investigated climate change communication efficiency in developed countries. The novelty of this study lies in understanding the effectiveness of climate change messages in the Egyptian context. More specifically this …

A Call For The Library Community To Deploy Best Practices Toward A Database For Biocultural Knowledge Relating To Climate Change, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Abstract

Purpose – In this paper, a call to the library and information science community to support documentation and conservation of cultural and biocultural heritage has been presented.

Design/methodology/approach – Based in existing Literature, this proposal is generative and descriptive— rather than prescriptive—regarding precisely how libraries should collaborate to employ technical and ethical best practices to provide access to vital data, research and cultural narratives relating to climate.

Findings – COVID-19 and climate destruction signal urgent global challenges. Library best practices are positioned to respond to climate change. Literature indicates how libraries preserve, share and cross-link cultural and scientific knowledge. …

Understanding The Intersections Of The Lgbtq+ Community & Climate Change, San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, A-Bel Gong, Darbi Berry

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

In this blog, we will explore these LGBTQ+ community relationships as they relate to environmental justice, relationships and access to the outdoors, and community representation in the environmental science field.

Environmental Displacement In The Anthropocene, Elizabeth Lunstrum, Pablo S. Bose

Environmental Studies Program Faculty Publications and Presentations

This intervention invites more substantial scholarly attention to human displacement in and of the Anthropocene—this current epoch in which humans have become the primary drivers of global environmental change—and sets out an initial framework for its study. The framework is organized around three interrelated contributions. First is the recognition that displacement is driven not just by climate change but also broader forms of environmental change defining the Anthropocene, including biodiversity loss, changes to land and water resources, and the buildup of nuclear debris, along with their intersections. Second, the framework parses out three distinct moments of displacement in the Anthropocene: …

Fire Emissions In The Tropical Indonesia: Improved Estimation And Driving Forces Investigation, Xiaoman Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Indonesia has experienced frequent fires since the 1970s due to large-scale peatland conversion and extensive drainage for agricultural development. Fire emissions released from these fires have led to Indonesia being the world’s 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases in certain years. Given that fire emissions severely affect climate, weather, and the human environment, numerous approaches have been developed to estimate fire emissions. However, existing emission estimates differ largely by a factor of four in this tropical country because of frequent cloud interferences and low-temperature smoldering fires. Therefore, this dissertation aims to improve the quantification of Indonesian fire emissions through enhanced …

The Shifting Role Of Climate Change In The 2021 Bundestag Election, Carol Hager

Environmental Studies Research and Scholarship

The climate crisis unfolded in real time during the 2021 Bundestag campaign, as western Germany experienced sudden, catastrophic flooding. The climate issue presented a varying and at times unexpected array of challenges and opportunities to the German political parties. In this article I will analyze the shifting role of climate change as it played out during the campaign, in the coalition discussions that followed, and in the first nine months of the new traffic light coalition government.

Climate Trailblazer Or Corporate Giveaway: An Economic And Political Evaluation Of Cap-And-Trade In California, Benjamin Reicher

Pomona Senior Theses

In this thesis, I conduct an economic and political analysis of California’s cap-and-trade program, the leading national (and international) example of a market-based strategy to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions. I evaluate the program on several economic and political measures of success, especially as contrasted with the performance of various regulatory policies that California also relies on to meet its emissions reduction targets. These regulations exemplify a command and control approach to emissions mitigation as opposed to a market-based approach, and indeed tend to be favored by grassroots activists who may be skeptical about market-friendly policies; my thesis seeks to …

Deep Roots In Eroding Soil: Building Decolonial Resilience Amidst Climate Violence And Displacement In A Louisiana Bayou Indigenous Community, Lia Mcgrath Kahan

Senior Independent Study Theses

The Pointe-au-Chien Indigenous community of coastal Louisiana is fighting for survival as climate change and socio-political factors threaten to displace them from their ancestral home. This project takes an ethnographic and historical approach to exploring how colonization and climate change have influenced Pointe-au-Chien tribal members’ ability to stay on their ancestral land. Climate projections estimate that the bayou this community has lived alongside of for generations will soon be unrecognizable, leading to potential displacement and devastating cultural loss. Due to the increasing severity of climate change, it is crucial to look to the experiences of frontline Indigenous communities to support …

In My Backyard: Bioregional Communities As A Climate Mitigation Strategy, Zoe Johnston

Capstone Showcase

The urgency of the climate crisis requires an immediate revisioning of our society in order to mitigate the worst environmental consequences. This paper explores one possible climate mitigation strategy, bioregionalism, a theoretical vision of re-localizing economies and defining their reach by natural boundaries (Curtis 2003; Cato 2011). This idea of relocalization emerges from an understanding that globalized capitalism has exacerbated, if not engendered, the climate crisis. Local communities represent an alternative method of organizing in which people are more directly connected to the land that they live on. One major critique of bioregionalism, made by Albo (2007) and Hahnel (2007), …

The Nexus Of Climate Change, Biodiversity, And Food Security: A Brazil Case Study, Andrew M. Berger

Dissertations and Theses

What is referred to as climate change today is the rapid warming of the climate, largely from human actions, and the effects that come with that warming. One study published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2021 argues that, “human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases have caused increases in global average temperatures, changes in precipitation timing and intensity, rising sea levels, and many other changes.” A Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study found that when looking at the number of countries exposed to climate extremes in five year periods from 2000 to 2020, the number of countries “exposed …

Marx, Critical Theory, And The Treadmill Of Production Of Value: Why Environmental Sociology Needs A Critique Of Capital, Alex Stoner

Journal Articles

This chapter explores the domestication of Marx’s critique of political economy within Marxist-oriented environmental sociology, and treadmill of production (ToP) theory, in particular. The aim is to explicate the theoretical resources for a rigorous critique of capital-induced planetary degradation. Shortcomings of ToP theory pertaining to the conceptualization of capital and value are identified. The reasons for these shortcomings, including how they might be addressed, are elaborated by reconsidering key aspects of Marx’s critical theory of modern capitalist society. The chapter contributes to current discussions in both critical theory and environmental sociology by demonstrating the continued relevance of Marx’s critical theory …

Responses To Environmental Change, Lisa Reyes Mason, Susan P. Kemp, Lawrence A. Palinkas, Amy Krings

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Communities worldwide are facing environmental crises such as air pollution, water shortages, climate change, and other forms of environmental change and degradation. While technical solutions for environmental change are essential, so too are solutions that consider social acceptability, value cultural relevance, and prioritize equity and social justice. Social work has a critical and urgent role in creating and implementing macrolevel social responses to environmental change. The key concepts of environmental change, environmental and ecological justice, social vulnerability, and social responses are discussed. A description of the roles and skills unique to macro social workers for this effort is given, followed …

Camping, Weather, And Disasters: Extending The Construal Level Theory, Christopher Craig, Siyao Ma, Ismail Karabas, Song Feng

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

Camping is an outdoor accommodation and type of recreation that is susceptible to weather and climate change. Camping—in addition to the relationships camping shares with weather— remains understudied despite the subsectors’ salient economic impact and high participation rate. The observable effects of non-meteorological/climatological (e.g., pandemic) is also a topic that has received limited attention. Accordingly, we introduce the Camping-Weather-Disaster (CWD) framework to examine the concurrent impact of weather and the COVID-19 disaster on post-disaster camping trip plans among leisure travelers in the 48 contiguous United States (n=2,442). Extending the Construal Level Theory, the CWD framework considers traveler construal (i.e., understanding) …

Addressing The Role Of Climate Change In Agriculture And Mexico-Us Immigration, Xiaoxin Liang

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Among the greatest threats of climate change is the significant impact on mass displacement, particularly as it relates to Mexico-US immigration. Low crop yields from worsening climate conditions have been linked to increased migration of Mexican farmers. With a projected 4.2 million additional migrants in the foreseeable future, it poses a contemporary environmental, social, and political dilemma. This policy brief analyzes several provision proposals to be adopted into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), as evaluated under economic cost, equity, environmental impact, and feasibility criteria. My research concludes that the most effective and direct provision proposal is the implementation of adaptive …

The Sustainability-Peace Nexus In Crisis Contexts: How The Rohingya Escaped The Ethnic Violence In Myanmar, But Are Trapped Into Environmental Challenges In Bangladesh, Saleh Ahmed, William Paul Simmons, Rashed Chowdhury, Saleemul Huq

Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Because of ethnic and cultural violence in Myanmar, approximately a million Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh starting from August 2017, in what the UN has called a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. Those arriving in Bangladesh were able to escape decade-long ethnic violence in Myanmar, but the Rohingya’s immediate destination, Cox’s Bazar district is one of the most climate-vulnerable and disaster-prone areas in Bangladesh. Currently, they have been subjected to extreme rainfalls, landslides, and flashfloods. With the COVID-19 pandemic, they continue to face fear and further marginalization in resource-constrained Bangladesh, as well as increased vulnerability due to tropical cyclones, flashfloods, …

Climate-Induced Stressors To Peace: A Review Of Recent Literature, Ayyoob Sharifi, Dahlia Simangan, Chui Ying Lee, Rose Reyes, Tarek Katramiz, Jairus Carmela C. Josol, Leticia Dos Muchangos, Hassan Virji, Shinji Kaneko, Thea Kersti Tandog, Leorence Tandog, Moinul Islam

Environmental Science Faculty Publications

Climate change is increasingly recognized as a threat to global peace and security. This paper intends to provide a better understanding of the nature of interactions between climate change and events that undermine peace through a systematic review of recent literature. It highlights major methodological approaches adopted in the literature, elaborates on the geographic focus of the research at the nexus of climate change and peace, and provides further information on how various climatic stressors, such as extreme temperature, floods, sea-level rise, storms, and water stress may be linked to different events that undermine peace (e.g. civil conflict, crime, intercommunal …

Warming Enabled Upslope Advance In Western Us Forest Fires, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, John T. Abatzoglou, Charles H. Luce, Jan F. Adamowski, Arvin Farid, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increases in burned area and large fire occurrence are widely documented over the western United States over the past half century. Here, we focus on the elevational distribution of forest fires in mountainous ecoregions of the western United States and show the largest increase rates in burned area above 2,500 m during 1984 to 2017. Furthermore, we show that high-elevation fires advanced upslope with a median cumulative change of 252 m (−107 to 656 m; 95% CI) in 34 y across studied ecoregions. We also document a strong interannual relationship between high-elevation fires and warm season vapor pressure deficit (VPD). …

An Analysis Of The Impacts Of Climate Change On Food Security In The Albertine Rift Of East Africa, Malcolm Jacob

Sustainability and Social Justice

As one of the most densely populated regions on the continent of Africa, the Albertine Rift (consisting of parts of Rwanda, Uganda, and the eastern DRC) faces ongoing problems providing enough food for its people through crop production, livestock husbandry, and other forms of food production. Even more troubling for the future is that anthropogenic climate change is expected to significantly exacerbate food insecurity. This paper addresses one central question: how will climate change impact food security in the Albertine Rift? Based on an analysis of available data, this paper finds that policymakers should listen closely to local farmers and …

Evaluation Of Existing Climate-Change Adaptation Plans For Municipalities In Mexico: Proposition Of A “Sustainable Mac-Water Framework” That Considers Vulnerability To Impacts On Water Resources, Tsanta Rakotoarisoa

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper presents a sustainable adaptive capacity framework for water management for municipalities, named Sustainable MAC-Water framework, after assessing the strengths and weaknesses of adaptive capacity in Mexico and its municipalities. It provides municipalities with an instrument to help them create sustainable adaptive capacity plans (Sustainable MAC plans) to prevent adverse impacts on water resources and related sectors. It is based on a study of policy instruments crafted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Government of Mexico, and literature on adaptive capacity, assessment, and planning. The Sustainable MAC-Water framework recommends the establishment of a Reactive Barriers …

The Analysis Of Japanese Consumers’ Purchasing Behaviour Towards Single-Use Plastic Packaging., Yui Setojima

Business ETD Collections

In recent years, the concept of sustainability has been put into the spotlight due to greater concern of environmental issues. Plastic pollution is one of serious sustainability issues which governments are rushing into making new regulations to deal with. The Japanese government is struggling to manage Japan’s heavy use of plastics and Japanese organizations are being asked to take positive actions towards reducing the use of plastic through media coverage and public pressure. However, plastic pollution requires huge efforts not only from governments but also organizations, whether large or small, and all individuals on Earth. This research aims to investigate …

Western Fires Are Burning Higher In The Mountains At Unprecedented Rates: It’S A Clear Sign Of Climate Change, Mojtaba Sadegh, John Abatzoglou, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Western U.S. appears headed for another dangerous fire season, and a new study shows that even high mountain areas once considered too wet to burn are at increasing risk as the climate warms.

Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. West is in severe to exceptional drought right now, including large parts of the Rocky Mountains, Cascades and Sierra Nevada. The situation is so severe that the Colorado River basin is on the verge of its first official water shortage declaration, and forecasts suggest another hot, dry summer is on the way.

Warm and dry conditions like these are a recipe …

Ideas And Perspectives: Biogeochemistry – Some Key Foci For The Future, Thomas S. Bianchi, Madhur Anand, Chris T. Bauch, Donald E. Canfield, Luc De Meester, Katja Fennel, Peter M. Groffman, Michael L. Pace, Mak Saito, Myrna N J. Simpson

Advanced Science Research Center

Biogeochemistry has an important role to play in many environmental issues of current concern related to global change and air, water, and soil quality. However, reliable predictions and tangible implementation of solutions, offered by biogeochemistry, will need further integration of disciplines. Here, we refocus on how further developing and strengthening ties between biology, geology, chemistry, and social sciences will advance biogeochemistry through (1) better incorporation of mechanisms, including contemporary evolutionary adaptation, to predict changing biogeochemical cycles, and (2) implementing new and developing insights from social sciences to better understand how sustainable and equitable responses by society are achieved. The challenges …