Environmental Policy Commons^™

Using Artificial Intelligence To Understand Environmental Policy Innovation Labs' Contribution To The Sustainable Development Goals, Sidney M. Mechling

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Policy innovation labs (PILs) serve as centers of experimental innovation pursued by governmental, private, and non-profit entities that employ design-thinking methodology, scientific experimentation, and user-centric approaches (Wellstead et al., 2021). The multi-disciplinary expertise of policy innovation labs in social and economic topics equips them to offer policy recommendations addressing public issues, including environmental concerns. When designing innovative solutions, it is customary for policy innovation labs to provide substantial information and reports detailing their progress and methods. However, the wealth of information available becomes a challenge to fully divest in comprehending a lab's contribution to solving global issues. This report addresses …

Teaching Agroecology: Preparing Students For Navigating Uncharted Territory, Charles A. Francis, Steve Gliessman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Agroecologists understand that farming and food systems are more complex than the aggregation of their components. This realization drives our choices of learning strategies and activities that will prepare students for complexity and uncertainty. Our quest for a just, sustainable, and nutritious food system adequate to equitably serve everyone on the planet today and into the future is an enormous challenge. An undertaking of this magnitude will be met only with major adjustments informed by thoughtful teaching and practicing problem solving skills through a new educational lens. The principles of agroecology help us focus this lens on the wicked problems …

Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance: Evidence On The Paris Alignment Of Members’ Disclosure, Proxy Voting, And Fossil Fuel Bond Investing, L. Chin, Theodor Florian Cojoianu, Andreas G. F. Hoepner, D. Moreno, R. Patil, Anh Vu

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

One of the seven sector-specific alliances under the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), the United Nations-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) is an international group of 74 institutional investors with a combined pool of assets under management (AUM) worth US$10.6 trillion.i NZAOA members are committed to transitioning their investments to netzero emissions by 2050, in line with the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientific research to follow “no or limited” overshoot trajectories to a 1.5°C scenario. NZAOA members also launched a more ambitious second edition of the Target Setting Protocol (TSP2) at the beginning of 2022. …

Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson

Scripps Senior Theses

We are experiencing a climate crisis that must be confronted with strategic mitigation. Pomona College contributes to the climate crisis through its emissions for which there is a baseline record. However there is no baseline record of the climate mitigation currently performed by the trees on Pomona’s campus through carbon storage. This study seeks to determine a current baseline quantity of carbon stored and sequestrated by Pomona’s trees as well as possible courses of climate mitigation for Pomona College to take. Initial information gathering was conducted through interviews with several stakeholders. This study was conducted using data collected prior to …

Desalination And Development: Locating The Missing Masses In Dakar’S Water Network, Marina Riad

Scripps Senior Theses

The introduction of desalination technology to the water network in Dakar, Senegal marks a monumental change in how state and commercial interests aim to solve systemic problems using novel technologies. Desalination aims to transform the ocean surrounding Dakar into potable water, a vital resource in the growing metropolis. However, this desalination project must integrate itself within a network of social, historical, political, commercial, and ecological influences shaping the role of desalination in urban Dakar. With millions of dollars and an entire ocean mobilized towards solving Dakar’s water problems, it may come as a surprise that this project will only provide …

Making The Case For The Great Dismal Swamp National Heritage Area: A Scoping Review, Madelyn Newton, Chandler J. Berry, Bethany Arrington, Nick Wilson, Colin Mccormack, Michael Wilcox, Alexis Barmoh, Chris A. B. Zajchowski

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are nationally distinct landscapes that represent unique cultural, historical, and/or natural attributes significant to the legacy of the United States of America (U.S.). The Great Dismal Swamp, located in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, is a prime candidate for NHA designation with diverse qualifications, among which was its antebellum role as a refuge for formerly enslaved people. The goal of our research, conducted in 2022 during the period of the U.S. Congressional debate on designation, was to investigate and expound upon the rationale for NHA designation of the Swamp. To do so, we used a …

The Impact Of Climate Change On Environmental Sustainability And Human Mortality, Xingzhi Mara Chen, Andrew Sharma, Hua Liu

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Climate dictates the critical aspects of human environmental conditions. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions due to human-induced climate change have alarmingly increased. Consequently, climate change directly affects environmental sustainability and human mortality in the short term and creates prolonged and complicated long-term indirect grave risks. This paper examines three-level environmental impact risks associated with climate change on human mortality. It proposes a conceptual framework for developing an empirical event-based human mortality database related to climate change and communication strategies to enhance global environmental adaptation, resilience, and sustainability.

Anticipating And Adapting To The Impacts Of Climate Change On Low Elevation Coastal Zone (Lecz) Communities, Lynn Donelson Wright, Thomas Allen, Kiki Caruson, Alain Hénaff, Jaia Syvitski

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

[Scholarcy Abstract] The rates of sea level rise in coastal Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay significantly exceed the global rate and weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation adds to the annual rates.

The original vision was to enhance future resilience of Low-Elevation Coastal Zone communities by advancing understandings and approaches to better anticipate and mitigate hazards to human health, safety and welfare and reduce deleterious impacts to coastal residents and industries. The goal of the thematic Research Topic has been to assemble interdisciplinary papers that contribute to better understanding of the couplings among physical, ecological, socioeconomic, management and policy …

Implications For Defense Strategy Stemming From Geopolitical Transformation Fueled By Climate Change, Steven R. Burrows

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Climate change has quickly become one of the most globally significant geopolitical issues facing all of humanity. Left unfettered, climate change is poised to impact nearly every facet of our environment ranging from increasingly dangerous and damaging storms, rising sea levels, increasingly extensive droughts to glacial melting, loss of arctic sea ice and a myriad of other catastrophic events. While still evolving, the current identified environmental threats will initiate long standing impacts not only to the environment, but to the global geopolitical and security climate of nearly every nation on the Earth. This project will not provide a synthesis of …

Coastal Science For Resilience And Management At The Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Nc, Usa, Michael J. Flynn, Thomas R. Allen, Meaghan E. Johnson, David E. Hallac

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

National seashores are cherished public lands with rich environmental, cultural, and historic resources. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore is one such coastal asset that is both bountiful yet vulnerable, with historic lighthouses, critical habitats, and recreational amenities alike facing threats of sea-level rise and continual storm and climate change impacts. Over 3 million visitors to the Seashore in 2021 set an annual visitation record. Historic resources such as the Bodie Island Lighthouse and Ocracoke Lighthouse are among the most visited sites, yet these assets are also among those most vulnerable to flooding, compromised structural integrity, and reduced accessibility. Future challenges …

Assessment Of Spatio-Temporal Variations In Pm2.5 And Associated Long-Range Air Mass Transport And Mortality In South Asia, Md Sariful Islam, Shimul Roy, Tanmoy Roy Tusher, Mizanur Rahman, Ryley C. Harris

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) is associated with adverse impacts on ambient air quality and human mortality; the situation is especially dire in developing countries experiencing rapid industrialization and urban development. This study assessed the spatio-temporal variations of PM_2.5 and its health impacts in the South Asian region. Both satellite and station-based data were used to monitor the variations in PM_2.5 over time. Additionally, mortality data associated with ambient particulate matter were used to depict the overall impacts of air pollution in this region. We applied the Mann–Kendall and Sen’s slope trend analysis tool to investigate the …

An Update On The Influence Of Natural Climate Variability And Anthropogenic Climate Change On Tropical Cyclones, Suzana J. Camargo, Hiroyuki Murakami, Nadia Bloemendaal, Savin S. Chand, Medha S. Deshpande, Christian Dominguez-Sarmiento, Juan Jesús González-Alemán, Thomas R. Knutson, I. I. Lin, Il- Ju Moon, Christina M. Patricola, Kevin A. Reed, Malcolm J. Roberts, Enrico Scoccimarro, Chi Yung Tam, Elizabeth J. Wallace, Liguang Wu, Yohei Yamada, Wei Zhang, Haikun Zhao

OES Faculty Publications

A substantial number of studies have been published since the Ninth International Workshop on Tropical Cyclones (IWTC-9) in 2018, improving our understanding of the effect of climate change on tropical cyclones (TCs) and associated hazards and risks. These studies have reinforced the robustness of increases in TC intensity and associated TC hazards and risks due to anthropogenic climate change. New modeling and observational studies suggested the potential influence of anthropogenic climate forcings, including greenhouse gases and aerosols, on global and regional TC activity at the decadal and century time scales. However, there are still substantial uncertainties owing to model uncertainty …

Municipal Waste In Southern Nevada: Understanding The Obsession With Garbage, Zachary Billot

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

This policy brief will analyze the current state of municipal waste, both residential and commercial, in Clark County Nevada. Southern Nevada’s reliance on inexpensive disposal of waste results in lack of support for sustainable investment in waste diversion programs. Clark County lags significantly behind the US in terms of recycling processing due to problems related to collection of materials and limited programs that divert food waste in a city reliant on casinos that dispose tons of food per day. A multifactor approach which includes education, investment in waste diversion, policy change for waste collection and cost, and management of waste …

Calling Time: How To Remove Fossil Fuel Sponsorships From Sports, Arts & Events, Ashlee Morgan, Sophia Nimphius, Genevieve Stewart, Jennifer Rayner, Ashleigh Croucher, Simon Bradshaw

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Sports, arts and major events are deeply embedded in the Australian way of life. Weekend matches, concerts and festivals bring us together - to cheer, to share pride and excitement, to feel connected to each other and to keep building our national story.

When we barrack for our beloved teams, discover the work of a new local artist or laugh until our cheeks hurt at a comedy show, we are taking part in a ritual that has shaped social and cultural life in Australia for generations.

Climate change – driven by burning coal, oil and gas – is putting all …