Environmental Studies Commons^™

Rhovanion, Jenna Ver Meer

Humboldt Geographic

No abstract provided.

Aspect Aware Contours, Leo Dipierro

Humboldt Geographic

No abstract provided.

Answers In The East: An Examination Of China's Renewable Energy And Its Application To Central Appalachia, Lillian Hamm

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

While much of China’s electrification has depended on coal, recent decades illustrate the country is heavily investing in and implementing renewable energy as a power source. Even China’s coal-rich provinces, like the northeastern province of Shanxi, have been making the transition to renewable energy. The central Appalachian states comprised of eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, western Virginia, and northeastern Tennessee share many characteristics with China’s Shanxi province including economic resources, climate, and geography. Yet, central Appalachia has not been able to easily transition to renewable energy. However, there are various cultural, political, and technological differences between the two regions to explain …

Profitable Retail Customer Identification Based On A Combined Prediction Strategy Of Customer Lifetime Value, Yinglu Sun, Dong Cheng, Subir Bandyopadhyay, Wei Xue

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

As a fundamental concept of customer relationship management, customer lifetime value (CLV) serves as a crucial metric to identify profitable retail customers. Various methods are available to predict CLV in different contexts. With the development of consumer big data, modern statistics and machine learning algorithms have been gradually adopted in CLV modeling. We introduce two machine learning algorithms—the gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) and the random forest (RF)—in retail customer CLV modeling and compare their predictive performance with two classical models—the Pareto/NBD (HB) and the Pareto/GGG. To ensure CLV prediction and customer identification robustness, we combined the predictions of the …

North Korea: How Fear Is Used To Control A Nation, Ashley Clisby

Capstone Showcase

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, more commonly known as North Korea, is most commonly known for its possession and testing of nuclear weapons and threatening to use these weapons of mass destruction. Less commonly talked about are the human rights violations that are being experienced by the citizens of North Korea. Most, if not all, of the information regarding North Korean human rights that have been reported on comes from individuals who have escaped the Kim regime. There is very limited information traveling in and out of North Korea that is not heavily monitored by the government. These individuals …

Assessing Barriers And Benefits To A Food Waste Composting Pilot Program In Oberlin, Ohio, Julia Halm

Honors Papers

Food waste represents significant amounts of money, energy, and natural resources throughout its lifecycle from production to disposal. Diverting the quantity of food waste sent to landfills is necessary to address the growing strain on resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study was a collaborative effort between the City of Oberlin and Oberlin College designed to identify challenges and benefits to establishing a pilot municipal composting program. Establishing a citywide composting program will help Oberlin achieve its goal of carbon neutrality. We used food audits, stakeholder interviews, and emissions reduction models to better understand the best approach to municipal …

Three Essays In Applied Econometrics: Agricultural And Energy Economics, Kuan-Ming Huang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines three empirical issues in energy and agricultural economics using econometrics models whose titles are: 1) Do Natural Hazards in the Gulf Coast Still Matter for State-Level Natural Gas Prices in the US? Evidence After the Shale Gas Boom; 2) Do Exploitations of Marcellus and Utica Shale Formations Improve Regional Economy in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia? A Synthetic Control Analysis; and 3) How Did Covid-19 Impact US Household Food Spending? An Analysis Six Months In.

The first essay assesses the impact of natural hazards on state-level natural gas prices and evaluates the effects of the shale gas …

Quantifying The Impact Of Remapping Floodplains On Residential Property Values In Snohomish County, Washington: A Hedonic Approach, Carson Joseph Risner

All Master's Theses

Flood events are the most common and costly natural disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) quantifies flood risks in the form of Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMS). These FIRMS delineate flood risks and are used to set flood insurance premiums. Changes in land use, the augmentation of the natural environment, is threatening the validity of the Nation’s FIRMS. Therefore, Congress has approved remapping programs to update these FIRMs ensuring that current flood risks are known. This remapping presents another issue, specifically for properties that are remapped into a flood zone. Current literature suggests that properties within flood zones are …

Biking At Bucknell: The Evaluation Of The Built Environment, Societal Environment, And Individual Behavior And Attitudes In Relation To Biking At Bucknell University, Makenna Cerney

Honors Theses

A biking market in this thesis is defined by three major contributors: (a) the built environment such as the engineering and construction of bike lanes, parking corrals, and other aspects of the physical infrastructure for biking, (b) the societal environment which includes the norms and communal acceptance of biking, and (c) individual beliefs, behaviors and attitudes toward biking. These three areas form the foundation of the factors that stimulate the demand for biking in the biking market, which in turn drives the supply of biking and biking services. This thesis intends to conduct research on the built environment, societal environment, …

Indoor Cooking Practices And Associated Health Factors Among Participants In The Dominican Republic And Nicaragua: A Collaborative Study Between Respiratory Therapy Students And Comunidad Connect, Rachel Culbreth, Rachel Trawick, Jon Thompson, Douglas S. Gardenhire

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

The purpose of this study is to determine factors associated with indoor cooking practices and specific vital signs across two middle-income countries, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. This study used data from Nicaragua (n=76) and Dominican Republic (n=62) (collected in 2018-2019). Multivariable linear regression was utilized to determine factors associated with carbon monoxide levels and systolic blood pressure. Among all participants (n=138), approximately half lived in Nicaragua (n=76, 55.1%) and half lived in Dominican Republic (n=62, 44.9%). The overall smoking prevalence in each country was low (9.2% in Nicaragua and 4.8% in Dominican Republic). Age was associated with higher carbon monoxide …

Consumer Preferences Of Solar Systems In Boston And Atlanta: A Choice Experiment, Sam Mabile

Honors Theses and Capstones

Creating a cleaner energy grid has become a hot topic over the past 20 years, as the effects of fossil fuels on our planet has become clearer. The solar market in the US has exploded over the past 10 years, with an average annual growth rate of about 42% (Solar Industry Research Data, 2020). Choice experiments are often conducted to better understand consumers preferences towards products or characteristics of products. In this study, data of a choice experiment in a survey of residents in Boston and Atlanta regarding preferences for attributes of household solar energy collecting system are …

Transitioning To Legalization Of Cannabis In Washington State: Regulations’ Impacts On Commodification, Metabolism, & Labor Practices, Rob Loewen

All Master's Theses

This thesis provides an ethnographically grounded analysis of how existing regulations shape the legal recreational cannabis industry in Washington State. I examine the processes involved from seed to sale, including cultivation, processing, quality-control testing, and distribution of recreational cannabis. The goal of this research is to provide a greater understanding of how existing regulations were formed and how they shape social relations within the industry. This study seeks to answer the question: “How are the processes of production within the recreational cannabis industry, along with its labor force and its consumers, impacted by societal perceptions about cannabis, encapsulated within state …

Resilience: Insights From The U.S. Longterm Ecological Research Network, Jane Cowles, Laura Templeton, John J. Battles, Peter J. Edmunds, Robert C. Carpenter, Stephen R. Carpenter, Michael Paul Nelson, Natalie L. Cleavitt, Timothy J. Fahey, Peter M. Groffman, Joe H. Sullivan, Maile C. Neel, Gretchen J. A. Hansen, Sarah Hobbie, Sally J. Holbrook, Clare E. Kazanski, Eric W. Seabloom, Russell J. Schmitt, Emily H. Stanley, Alan J. Tepley, Natalie S. Van Doorn, Jake M. Vander Zanden

Advanced Science Research Center

Ecosystems are changing in complex and unpredictable ways, and analysis of these changes is facilitated by coordinated, long-term research. Meeting diverse societal needs requires an understanding of what populations and communities will be dominant in 20, 50, and 100 yr. This paper is a product of a synthesis effort of the U.S. National Science Foundation funded Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network addressing the LTER core research area of populations and communities. This analysis revealed that each LTER site had at least one compelling story about what their site would look like in 50 or 100 yr. As the stories were …

Soil Response Of Helicopter Liming In The Monongahela National Forest, Jarrett Douglas Fowler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Soils in the Monongahela National Forest (MNF) are acidic due to sandstone parent material, acid deposition, uptake of base cations by vegetation, and release of organic acids by organic matter (OM) decomposition. Increases in soil acidity have caused declines in forest health and changed species composition and nutrient status. Liming can neutralize soil acidity, but no large-scale liming projects have been done on acid forest soils in the USA. In anticipation of acquiring funding for a proposed liming project in the MNF, in 2007 and 2009 10 sites were selected to sample and analyze soils before lime was applied. In …

Building Bridges: How Collaboration Is Addressing Wildlife-Vehicle Conflicts In Montana's Upper Yellowstone Watershed, Daniel Phelps Anderson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In my first semester of graduate studies at the University of Montana – Fall, 2019 – I was given an assignment from one of my professors to research a “landscape-scale” conflict of my choosing and compose a professional memo that could be sent to key influencers or stakeholders tied to the issue. Naturally, I directed my attention to a community I know and love, the Upper Yellowstone, and a conflict that is ubiquitous across the West: Wildlife-Vehicle Conflicts (WVCs).

In the pages that follow I describe how Yellowstone Safe Passages came to be, who is involved, and the steps we …

Vcu Monroe Park Campus 'Iconic Green' Pre-Planning And Design Study, Nicholas A. Jancaitis

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The 'Iconic Green' pre-planning study for the Monroe Park Campus of VCU provides the framework and data necessary to support the intended 'nexus' on the proposed site. A review of the existing literature on various subjects included will highlight models and successful measures that have ensured success for previous similar built works. Having an understanding of the underlying factors and implications for the site, a needs assessment using existing literature and design precedents and in comparison with VCU's own desired end state and needs. Focusing on these comparisons within a theoretical framework called the Just Beautiful City, established in this …

Optical Hygiene And Modernity: A Site Analysis Of Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant Using Lefebvre’S Triad, William R. Stone

Pomona Senior Theses

Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant sits at the edge of Los Angeles County as an almost unknowable infrastructure. Unlike the city block, the grocery store, or one’s own home, this integral part of the urban landscape asks not to be experienced by its users, only the employees who work there every day. This place, which I’d hesitate to call a place, amalgamates preconceptions about infrastructure, sewage, purity, danger, modern architecture, and the role of the state.

In this thesis I conduct a site analysis of Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in three parts, or moments based loosely on Henri Lefebvre’s conceptual triad: …

Managed: Examining The Relationship Between Montana's State Government And Its Natural Resources, Peter Dempsey Zimmerman

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The three stories in this portfolio examine the relationship between Montana's government and its natural resources. Chapter one is a narrative outlining the stories, my reporting and publication. Chapter two: New Governor Greg Gianforte makes his picks for the heads of state environmental regulatory agencies, surprising everyone in the process. Chapter three: The state legislature proposes bills to protect the future of Colstrip as the coal industry declines. Chapter four: Data raises questions over the true impact of a new wolf management program.

Agro-Environmental Approaches To The Moderation Of Outmigration From Northeast Thailand, Megan Perron

CMC Senior Theses

Thailand’s increasing migration rates out of the country’s poorest region over the past few decades have resulted in a range of issues for both migrants and relatives of the migrants who choose to remain at home. A combination of rapid urban growth in Bangkok and a declining agricultural sector in the Northeast, driven by climate change and unsustainable farming practices, is driving rural-to-urban migration that subjects them to harsh working conditions and social marginalization. To attract migration back to Isaan, the implementation of Climate-Smart Agriculture in the near term and eventually, Regenerative Agriculture, will likely build climate resilience in the …

Climate Change In Fiction: The Evolution And Challenges Of Environmental Apocalyptic Literature, Lauren Gode

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the several aspects and variations of environmental apocalyptic literature, and its potential ability to mobilize action against the imminent threat of global climate change. It delves into the intersection between climate research and fiction, as well as the rhetorical techniques used in works such as The Death of Grass by John Christopher, The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and covers the complementarity between climate fiction and works of non-fiction such as The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh. Finally, this thesis will assess the effectiveness of …

Captives & Spoils In Chicago: Examining The Columbian Exposition’S Triumphal Procession Of 1893, Kazandra Zelaya

CMC Senior Theses

Daniel Burnham’s vision of a classical revival in the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 brought ancient Roman triumph with its captives and spoils to Chicago, Illinois. Burnham’s restorative urban utopia used Beaux-Arts architecture in the exposition’s White City that evoked the image of Roman triumphal processions. Beaux-Arts architecture did not extend into the Midway Plaisance, however, the model of Roman triumph extended into the ethnographic exhibits. By examining the ethnographic exhibits of the Midway as a version of a Roman triumphal procession, the exhibits highlighted novel types of captivity through sponsorships, wages, and erasure. Illustrations of American imperialism in the …

Twin Threats: The Short-Sighted Us Response To Global Climate Change And Pandemics, Bryan Williams

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the failure of the United States government to mitigate global climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic by comparing poor public reactions and governmental administration between the two threats. Using developmental constructs to serve as a framework for assessing public reactions to climate change and pandemics, this thesis implements a content analysis study of American news media from 2000 to 2020; it identifies the rhetoric embedded in communications that has directed the US public’s focus of attention and shaped public opinion on these issues. The results indicate significantly less focus of attention on human health issues than economic …

The Politicization And Polarization Of Climate Change, Williamson Grassle

CMC Senior Theses

In the mid to late 20th-century, climate change and other environmental issues were addressed on a bipartisan basis, with Republican politicians like President Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush supporting and advancing measures to combat climate change. However, since the 1990s, climate change has become increasingly polarized, with significant polarization in the last decade. This paper dives into the causes behind climate change's politicization and polarization and what the future holds for bipartisan agreement by analyzing peer-reviewed articles, campaign contributions, news stories, political archives, and past interviews with climate experts. The analysis finds that the polarization has been driven by …

A Global Ecological Classification Of Coastal Segment Units To Complement Marine Biodiversity Observation Network Assessments, Roger Sayre, Kevin Butler, Keith Van Graafeiland, Sean Breyer, Dawn Wright, Charlie Frye, Deniz Karagulle, Madeline Martin, Jill Cress, Tom Allen, Rebecca J. Allee, Rost Parsons, Bjorn Nyberg, Mark J. Costello, Peter Harris, Frank E. Muller-Karger

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

A new data layer provides Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) labels for global coastal segments at 1 km or shorter resolution. These characteristics are summarized for six US Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) sites and one MBON Pole to Pole of the Americas site in Argentina. The global coastlines CMECS classifications were produced from a partitioning of a 30 m Landsat-derived shoreline vector that was segmented into 4 million 1 km or shorter segments. Each segment was attributed with values from 10 variables that represent the ecological settings in which the coastline occurs, including properties of the adjacent …

The Rurality Of Education: Best Practices To Improve The Quality And Accessibility Of Basic Education Service Delivery In The Rural Area Of Oke Ogun, Oyo State In Nigeria, Alice Jokodola

Theses and Dissertations

Nigeria’s educational system is riddled with issues and challenges, leading it to have the highest number of out-of-school children in the world. Not only have these issues and challenges led to a high number of out-of-school children, but it has also led to an increase in national poverty and illiteracy rates. Research points to the fact that these challenges result from a lack of quality and accessible basic education in Nigeria. It also indicates that rural areas are often the most vulnerable and affected when it comes to receiving quality and accessible education. This study focused on the rural area …

Perkembangan Teknologi Informasi, Tfp, Dan Emisi Gas Co2 Di Indonesia, Ganiko Moddilani, Irwandi Irwandi

Jurnal Ekonomi dan Pembangunan Indonesia

This paper examines the development of information technology, total factor productivity (TFP), and urbanization of CO2 gas emissions in Indonesia from 1975–2014. To discuss empirically, this study uses the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. There are several results in this study. Firstly, the TFP coefficient value in the short term is lower than the long term, so that the Enviromental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is not proven. This is one of the causes of rising CO2 gas emissions. Secondly, information technology has a significant impact on the increase of CO2 gas emissions. Thirdly, Indonesia’s urbanization has reduced CO2 gas emissions.

The Role Of The Physical And Social Environment In Observed And Self-Reported Park Use In Low-Income Neighborhoods In New York City, Javier E. Otero Peña, Hanish Kodali, Emily Ferris, Katarzyna Wyka, Setha Low, Kelly R. Evenson, Joan M. Dorn, Lorna E. Thorpe, Terry T. K. Huang

Publications and Research

Physical and social environments of parks and neighborhoods influence park use, but the extent of their relative influence remains unclear. This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between the physical and social environment of parks and both observed and self-reported park use in low-income neighborhoods in New York City. We conducted community- (n = 54 parks) and individual-level (n = 904 residents) analyses. At the community level, observed park use was measured using a validated park audit tool and regressed on the number of facilities and programmed activities in parks, violent crime, stop-and-frisk incidents, and traffic accidents. At the …

Educating For Hope: Building Climate Change Resilience In The Middle School Classroom, Cambry J. Baker

Senior Independent Study Theses

Children increasingly express feelings of anxiety and hopelessness about climate change. Recent research has shown that cultivating hope in climate change education can increase young people’s emotional resilience and environmental behavior. This study asks: How does middle school teachers’ engagement with climate change and climate change emotions impact students’ hope? And how do students’ climate anxiety, self-efficacy, and connection to nature affect their environmental behavior and climate change hope? Data were collected in October 2020 through an online survey of middle school students (n=96) in Ohio. On average, students experienced low climate anxiety, moderate constructive hope and low-moderate hope based …

The Transcorporeal South: Bodies And Ecologies In Twentieth-Century Southern Literature, Tiffany Morgan Messick

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation proposes that transcorporeality offers an alternative to Cartesian dualistic modes of embodiment in Walker Percy’s, The Moviegoer, Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Richard Wright’s, Native Son, and Carson McCullers’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Opposing the division between mind and body as theorized by René Descartes, transcorporeality advances the body’s porosity, maintaining that the individual is enmeshed within the material world and that this entanglement consubstantiates consciousness. Examining the works of Descartes, focusing especially on the ways that Cartesian ideas have been applied in Southern culture, I contend that a Cartesian definition of subjectivity, …

Operationalizing Resilience: Co-Creating A Framework To Monitor Hard, Natural, And Nature-Based Shoreline Features In New York State, Katinka Wijsman, D. S. Novem Auyeung, Pippa Brashear, Brett F. Branco, Joseph H. Graziano, Kathryn Graziano, Peter M. Groffman, Helen Cheng, Dylan Corbett

Advanced Science Research Center

There is growing interest in the application of nature-based solutions to adapt to climate change and promote resilience, yet barriers exist to their implementation. These include a perceived lack of evidence of their functioning in comparison to conventional solutions and an inability for existing design, policy, and assessment processes to capture the multiple benefits of these solutions. Positing this as a challenge of operationalizing and measuring resilience, we argue that the concept of resilience needs to be given concrete meaning in applied management contexts. Starting with shoreline vulnerability as a policy problem and natural and nature-based shoreline features as a …