Environmental Policy Commons^™

Urban Forest Justice And The Rights To Wild Foods, Medicines, And Materials In The City, Melissa R. Poe, Rebecca J. Mclain, Marla R. Emery, Patrick T. Hurley

Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Urban forests are multifunctional socio-ecological landscapes, yet some of their social benefits remain poorly understood. This paper draws on ethnographic evidence from Seattle, Washington to demonstrate that urban forests contain nontimber forest products that contribute a variety of wild foods, medicines, and materials for the well-being of urban residents. We show that gathering wild plants and fungi in urban forests is a persistent subsistence and livelihood practice that provides sociocultural and material benefits to city residents, and creates opportunities for connecting with nature and enhancing social ties. We suggest that an orientation toward human-nature interactions in cities that conceptualizes the …

Preparing For The Rising Tide, Ellen Douglas, Paul Kirshen, Vivian Li, Chris Watson, Julie Wormser

Environmental, Earth, and Ocean Sciences Faculty Publication Series

On October 29, 2012, one of the largest Atlantic basin storms in recorded history hit the East Coast. Although Superstorm Sandy centered around New Jersey and New York when it made landfall, the massive storm system spanned 1,000 miles north to south, over three times the size of a typical hurricane.

Luckily for Boston, Sandy’s storm surge hit the city near low tide, causing relatively minor coastal flooding. Had the storm hit 5½ hours earlier, 6.6 percent of the city could have been flooded, with floodwaters reaching City Hall.

Events such as Superstorm Sandy highlight the growing relevance of climate …

Brief 7: Building An International Court For The Environment: A Conceptual Framework, Philip Riches, Stuart A. Bruce

Governance and Sustainability Issue Brief Series

This issue brief considers the role and nature of existing and potential international dispute resolution fora in relation to international environmental law. It addresses impediments at the international level, such as limited access to justice by non-state actors and the lack of technical and scientific capability. As a conceptual paper, it highlights two possible remedial options: an international environmental tribunal and an international environmental court.

The Necessity Of Changing What Is Possible: Implementing Large-Scale Wildlands Protection, David Johns

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presentation on the Wildlands Project approach to conservation

Strategic Exploitation Of A Common Resource Under Environmental Risk, Eric Fesselmeyer, Marc Santugini

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

We study the effect of environmental risk on the extraction of a common resource. Using a dynamic and non-cooperative game in which an environmental event impacts the renewability and the quality of the resource, we show that the anticipation of such an event has an ambiguous effect on extraction and the tragedy of the commons. A risk of a reduction in the renewability induces the agents to extract less today while a risk of a deterioration in the quality has the opposite effect. Moreover, when environmental risk induces conservation, the tragedy of the commons is worsened. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. …

Seizing Potential Opportunities Climate Change May Bring: The Case Of Sison, Pangasinan, Linda M. Peñalba, Dulce D. Elazegui, Jennylyn P. Jucutan

CPAf Policy Brief

This document is an output from the Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET) programme funded by the Swedish Government through Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Netherlands Directorate for International Cooperation (DGIS) through the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), for the benefit of developing countries. However, the views expressed and information contained in it are made by the individual authors and not necessarily those of or endorsed by the Swedish government, SIDA, DFID, DGIS, CDKN or the entities managing the delivery of the SUMERNET, which can accept no responsibility …

Public Procurement And Private Certification: The Case Of The Uk Tpp, Alex Latu

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Forestry certification schemes have been considered the paradigmatic instance of a new form of private governance that may challenge state-centered authority and public policy-making. Although governments and intergovernmental organizations are certainly not the schemes' "main architects", they are more involved in the overall effects of forestry certification than is often emphasized, notably through procurement policies. This paper examines a particularly interaction of private and public governance organizations, in the realm of forestry certification, among the UK government's Timber Procurement Policy (TPP), a governmental demand-side policy tool, and two major certification schemes — the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Program …

Age Structure Of Moose (Alces Alces) Killed By Gray Wolves (Canis Lupus) In Northeastern Minnesota, 1967–2011, L. David Mech, Michael E. Nelson

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

The ages of 77 adult Moose (Alces alces) killed by gray Wolves (Canis lupus) during the period 1967–2011 in northeastern Minnesota were significantly older than those of a sample of 17 585 Moose killed by hunters in nearby Ontario. Our findings support those of earlier studies of protected Moose populations in national parks that found that gray Wolves tend to kill disproportionately more older Moose.

Getches Wilkinson Center Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2013, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment Newsletter (2013-)

No abstract provided.

Overcoming The Challenges Of Projected Climate Changes Impacts: The Case Of Tarlac City, Tarlac, Linda M. Peñalba, Dulce D. Elazegui, Samantha Geraldine G. De Los Santos

CPAf Policy Brief

This document is an output from the Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET) programme funded by the Swedish Government through Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Netherlands Directorate for International Cooperation (DGIS) through the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), for the benefit of developing countries. However, the views expressed and information contained in it are made by the individual authors and not necessarily those of or endorsed by the Swedish government, SIDA, DFID, DGIS, CDKN or the entities managing the delivery of the SUMERNET, which can accept no responsibility …

Exploring The Potential Benefits Of Climate Change: The Case Of San Fabian, Pangasinan, Linda M. Peñalba, Dulce D. Elazegui, Jennylyn P. Jucutan

CPAf Policy Brief

This document is an output from the Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET) programme funded by the Swedish Government through Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Netherlands Directorate for International Cooperation (DGIS) through the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), for the benefit of developing countries. However, the views expressed and information contained in it are made by the individual authors and not necessarily those of or endorsed by the Swedish government, SIDA, DFID, DGIS, CDKN or the entities managing the delivery of the SUMERNET, which can accept no responsibility …

Critical Success Factors In The Promotion Of Sustainable Rural Tourism By Destination Marketing Organisations: A Study Of Ballyhoura Fáilte, Louise Nugent, Siobhán Lynch

Irish Business Journal

With the Irish tourism industry maturing, destination marketing organisations (DMOs) must meet tourists’ changing expectations. For rural tourism destinations, the challenge lies in ensuring that they obtain a position of sustainability in the Irish tourism industry (Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht, 2011). Due to the highly volatile nature of the Irish rural tourism industry, treating rural tourism like any other product does not comply with the new approach to destination marketing management, which considers the resources available, the environment, the tourist, and the residents themselves (Buhalis, 2000; Pike, 2008). The aim of this study is to carry out a …

Green Politics In China: Environmental Governance And State-Society Relations, Joy Y. Zhang, Michael S. Barr

Books

Based on interviews with members of grassroots organisations, media and government institutions, Green Politics in China is an in-depth account of the novel ways Chinese society is responding to its environmental crisis, using examples rarely captured in Western media or academia.

The struggle for clean air, low-carbon conspiracy theories, is transforming Chinese society, producing new forms of public fund raising and the encouraging the international tactics of grassroots NGOs. In doing so, they challenge static understandings of state-society relations in China, providing a crucial insight into the way in which China is changing internally and emerging as a powerful player …

Evaluating The Status Of Cave Wilderness, Patricia Seiser

National Cave and Karst Management Symposium 2013

In 1964 the United States government passed landmark legislation creating a National Wilderness Preservation System to preserve and protect natural landscapes for primitive use. Despite four attempts to create a Cave Wilderness designation, two by the Cave Research Foundation, one by the National Speleological Society and one by a unit within the National Park Service system, no Wilderness designation has been made to protect and preserve a specific cave, region within a cave or a karst region. The question remains: if and when will the US declare a cave or portion of a cave/cave system as Wilderness? Two federal acts …

Climate Change Beliefs, Concerns, And Attitudes Toward Adaptation And Mitigation Among Farmers In The Midwestern United States, J. Gordon Arbuckle, Linda Stalker Prokopy, Tonya Haigh, Jon Hobbs, Tricia Knoot, Cody Knutson, Adam Loy, Amber Saylor Mase, Jean Mcguire, Lois Wright Morton, John Tyndall, Melissa Widhalm

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

A February 2012 survey of almost 5,000 farmers across a region of the U.S. that produces more than half of the nation’s corn and soybean revealed that 66% of farmers believed climate change is occurring (8% mostly anthropogenic, 33% equally human and natural, 25% mostly natural), while 31% were uncertain and 3.5% did not believe that climate change is occurring. Results of initial analyses indicate that farmers’ beliefs about climate change and its causes vary considerably, and the relationships between those beliefs, concern about the potential impacts of climate change, and attitudes toward adaptive and mitigative action differ in systematic …

The Paradox Of “Acting Globally While Thinking Locally”: Discordance In Climate Change Adaption Policy, Daniel A. Mazmanian, John L. Jurewitz, Hal T. Nelson

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

The paradox motivating this article is why California has acted globally by enacting a comprehensive mitigation policy to reduce the emissions of Greenhouse gases, a true public good since the benefits will be shared across the planet, but has not mustered the will to act locally through the adoption of an equally comprehensive adaptation policy for the state to protect its own public and private assets and interests. We attempt to explain the paradox by identifying what it is that differentiates climate change adaptation from mitigation, both substantively and politically. The paradox notwithstanding, we identify several imaginable adaptation policies and …

The Tools And Technologies Of Transdisciplinary Climate Change Research And Community Empowerment In Barbuda, Sophia Perdikaris, Katherine Hejtmanek, Rebecca Boger, Jennifer Adams, Amy E. Potter, John Mussington

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Focusing on the smaller sister-island of Barbuda, part of the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, a group of collaborating anthropologists, archaeologists, biologists, education specialists, geographers, and environmental scientists are studying long-term human ecodynamics, the relationship amongst people, place, and the environment from the beginning of the peopling of a place through modern day. Our transdisciplinary approach brings together various field methods, tools and technologies from each field and crosses the boundaries of conventional science. This approach furthers our knowledge of climate change and facilitates practical and sustainable solutions for vulnerable populations.

Wpa News 90 (2013), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (Winter 2013), number 90

Published by the World Pheasant Association

Annual Review Of The World Pheasant Association, 2012/2013, World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Reports and Other Materials

Annual Review of the World Pheasant Association, 2012/2013

Chairman of Trustees' Report, Richard carden

Obituary: John Heyworth (August 21, 1925-November 24, 2012)

Activities of Conservation Breeding Advisory Group, 2012/2013, Nigel Hester

Back Grouse Project, Mieke Zwart

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the World Pheasant Association (September 12, 2012: Hertfordshire, United Kingdom)

Treasurer’s Report for the year ended April 30, 2013, Jon Riley

Myanmar Pheasant Survey Programme progress in 2013, Alexander Pack-Blumenau and Karl-Heinz Grabowski

Focus groups, reports

2013 Pipar Pheasant Survey, Laxman Prasad Poudyal

Municipal Waste Management: Suffolk County Municipal Systems, Services And Infrastructure, Krista L. Greene, Susan Lienau, David J. Tonjes

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

This report describes the municipal waste management systems used by local governments to manage solid waste in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. There are ten Towns that serve as the primary planners for waste systems in Suffolk County. Many of the 33 villages in Suffolk County have established their own waste management programs and policies. All programs tend to follow the same general plan of the approaches used by their respective Towns, however. All programs provide some degree of recycling services, although the scope of the services varies tremendously.

Metallic Mineral Mining In Maine, Kaitlyn Bernard

Honors Theses

In 2012 the Maine State Legislature passed a bill directing the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to rewrite the regulations governing metallic mineral mining in Maine. The bill was introduced after pressure from Maine’s largest private land owner and timber company, J.D. Irving, Limited. The company has a lucrative mineral deposit on one of their landholdings in northern Maine and is interested in pursuing a mining development project. The bill aimed to streamline the regulatory framework around mining operations and make the permitting process more conducive to mineral development throughout the state. The 2012 Maine Metallic Mineral Mining Act …

Communication At Superfund Sites And The Reification Of Division: Toward A Convergence-Building Model Of Risk Communication, Anna G. Hoover

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This case study evaluates government communication practices at Superfund sites. I describe agency communication practices in Superfund communities, paying particular attention to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's

Seven Cardinal Rules of Risk Communication and its role as a model for federal agencies engaged at these sites. Situating the study within a theoretical milieu that includes sensemaking and symbolic interactionism, I examine whether current practices deepen divisions among stakeholders, reducing the possibility for communicative convergence.

I implement textual analysis and narrative inquiry to examine written and spoken communication about the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant National Priorities List Superfund site. Through …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 2012 Annual Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Stephen K. Wilson, Daniel J. Swanson, Michael Prowatzke, Phil Graeve

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) plays a vital role in protecting and managing some of the last remnants of native mixed-grass prairie in the region. The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network (NGPN) and Fire Ecology Program (FireEP) surveyed 12 long-term monitoring plots in Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in 2012 as part of an effort to better understand the condition of plant communities in the park. We measured plant diversity and cover, looked for the presence of exotic species that may be newly invading the park, and evaluated the amount of human and natural disturbance …

Wpa News 92 (2013), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (Winter 2013), number 92

Published by the World Pheasant Association

Una Propuesta De Planificación Para Afrontar Los Efectos Del Cambio Climático En El Sector Agrícola De Jalisco, México, Isabelle A. Heilman

CMC Senior Theses

Jalisco es un estado altamente vulnerable a los efectos del cambio climático. El estado es vulnerable a sequías en el norte e inundaciones en las costas. Jalisco también es un estado con un sector agrícola de alta producción. Los efectos del cambio climático ponen en riesgo esta producción agrícola, que en turno tendría efectos negativos en las familias agrícolas y la economía del estado. A través de varias estrategias de adaptación al nivel del agricultor y del gobierno, se puede crear un sector agrícola con posibilidades para afrontar los efectos del cambio climático con éxito. Para crear estas estrategias de …

Fossil Fuel Subsidies: Impacts And Reform Strategies, Jennifer E. Good

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis uses cross-country panel regressions to identify the effects of fossil-fuel subsidies for both oil importers and oil exporters on GDP growth, industry growth, crowding out of government expenditures in education, health, and infrastructure, government debt, carbon dioxide emissions, inequality and poverty. Fossil-fuel subsidies are found to be associated with lower levels of growth and industry growth, less government expenditure on health and education, poorer infrastructure quality, more government debt, and higher rates of carbon dioxide emissions. No relationship is found between fossil fuel subsidies and poverty and inequality. These results confirm the arguments of those that argue that …

The Geography Of Global Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions: An Exploratory Analysis, Jochen Albrecht, Peter Marcotullio, Amdrea Sarzynski, Niels Schulz, Jake Garcia

Publications and Research

The purpose of this paper is to describe global urban greenhouse gas emissions by region and sector, examine the distribution of emissions through the urban-to-rural gradient, and identify covariates of emission levels for our baseline year, 2000.We usemultiple existing spatial databases to identify urban extent, greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, N2O, CH4 and SF6) and covariates of emissions in a “top-down” analysis. The results indicate that urban activities are significant sources of total greenhouse gas emissions (36.8 and 48.6 % of total). The urban energy sector accounts for between 41.5 and 66.3 % of total energy emissions. Significant differences exist in …

Carbon Storage And Sequestration By Trees In Urban And Community Areas Of The United States, David J. Nowak, Eric J. Greenfield, Robert E. Hoehn, Elizabeth Lapoint

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the United States was quantified to assess the magnitude and role of urban forests in relation to climate change. Urban tree field data from 28 cities and 6 states were used to determine the average carbon density per unit of tree cover. These data were applied to statewide urban tree cover measurements to determine total urban forest carbon storage and annual sequestration by state and nationally. Urban whole tree carbon storage densities average 7.69 kg C m^‒2 of tree cover and sequestration densities average 0.28 kg C m^‒2 of tree …

Evaluating Population Connectivity For Species Of Conservation Concern In The American Great Plains, Samuel A. Cushman, Erin L. Landguth, Curtis H. Flather

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Habitat loss and fragmentation are widely recognized as among the most important threats to global biodiversity. New analytical approaches are providing an improved ability to predict the effects of landscape change on population connectivity at vast spatial extents. This paper presents an analysis of population connectivity for three species of conservation concern [swift fox (Vulpes velox); lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus); massasuaga (Sistrurus catenatus)] across the American Great Plains region. We used factorial least-cost path and resistant kernel analyses to predict effects of landscape conditions on corridor network connectivity. Our predictions of population connectivity provide …

We Have Never Been "Post-Political", James Mccarthy

Geography

The Progressive Era attempt to 'depoliticize' environmental governance was of course an utter failure for a host of reasons: powerful economic and political interests found or made entry points into supposedly sealed-off arenas, eventually culminating in the phenomenon of agency capture. Scientists and technocrats carried their own politics into their work, consciously or unconsciously; the people affected by new property relations and management regimes resisted and reconfigured the newly emergent socionatures in their areas in a variety of ways, producing a reality more complicated than, and often at odds with, the superficially clear official policy; and so on. It is …