Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

The Psychological Impacts Of Being Environmentally Active, Allie White

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

There are many psychological impacts that come with being environmentally active. The impacts that people tend to focus more on recently are the negative impacts, such as eco-anxiety or activist burnout. Much less attention is given to the potential positive impacts associated with being environmentally active. Thus, this research aims to look at whether there are positive psychological impacts of being environmentally active, and if there are, what specifically about being environmentally active creates those positive impacts. This is important because, if there are positive impacts of being environmentally active, they could be used to motivate people to become more …

Los Efectos De La Minería En La Salud: El Movimiento Social Aymara En Torno Al Cerro Márquez, Maya Hajny Fernandez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With the political and social state of Chile’s history, mining has been present for hundreds of years, affecting the land and the indigenous populations in the country. This study asked how mining in the town of Ticnamar would affect the community, what positive and negative results mining activity has, what the most important elements of the social movement against mining are and how all of these elements influence health. The study sought to learn and study the impact of and the motivations that mining could have in the community of Ticnamar, and how it is perceived by the community. More …

How Pennsylvanians Define Environmental Justice, Kayla Hofmann

Sociology Summer Fellows

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) defines an environmental justice area as any census tract that partially or wholly includes a 30 percent or greater minority population or 20 percent or more of a population living in poverty. However, little is known about how the average Pennsylvanian defines environmental justice, hindering our ability to determine whether the current definition is adequate. Using transcripts from nine listening sessions on the DEP’s tour of affected counties, I address 3 questions: (1) How do people define environmental justice? (2) What do people think are the most pressing issues in each county? And …

Regenerative Grazing And The Benefits Of Livestock On Soils In Northern New South Wales, Raymond Mooney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Conventional cattle grazing has received criticism for environmental degradation in the past. Regenerative grazing and the principles of regenerative agriculture show encouraging signs that proper livestock management and planned grazing can reverse degradation and mitigate climate change. An emphasis on soil health and increasing soil carbon and organic matter levels reveals positive feedback for environmental health, the economic security of farmers, and nutritional health of consumers.

In this study I looked to investigate the benefits of regenerative agriculture, reasons why it is being practiced, and the extent it is practiced within the grazing in comparison to traditional methods within Northern …

The Impacts Of Tourism On Subak, Sawah, And The Environment, Reiley Adelson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper I wish to explore the topic of Sawah, Subak, and the impact tourism has on both of these important parts of Balinese culture. By starting with the history of subak, moving into the Green Revolution, then into the start of mass tourism, and coming all the way up until today, I would like to see how subak has changed and developed or how it hasn’t. I would also like to get a sense of what people see for the future of farming in Bali. To go about this, I talked with rice farmers, who are being directly …

Life Events Which Motivate Youth To Become Climate Activists In Sydney And Canberra, Phoebe Dolan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Climate activism is the tool of young people to rise and fight for their future and the future of the planet. Today it is necessary that young people engage as climate activists. My research asks what life events motivate youth to become climate activists. I looked into the initial life events which spark the motivation of young people to understand their initial motives for joining the climate movement. I looked into where the motivation came from, a concern for nature, a concern for social justice or the interconnectedness of the two. I also looked into the life events of individuals …

There She Blows: Public Perceptions Of Mt. Merapi And Mt. Agung, Trey Atticus Spadone

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the archipelago is repeatedly affected by tsunamis, landslides, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Indonesia has the most active volcanoes of any country in the world due to subduction zones between the Eurasian and Indo-Australian plates. The last major eruptions were in 2017 (Mt. Agung in Bali) and 2010 (Mt. Merapi in Central Java) which both required thousands of people to be evacuated from their homes. Since volcanoes have such a geological presence in the country, I was interested in investigating how aware the public is of volcanoes and their associated risks. Where …

National Chemistry Week In The Greater Lafayette Area: Chemistry Is Out Of This World!, Daniela Mesa Sanchez, Jessica Callus, Daisy Unsihuay

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

National Chemistry Week (NCW), an outreach program initiated by the American Chemical Society (ACS), encourages scientists to bring their love of chemistry to the community. The Plutonium Chapter (Purdue University) of Iota Sigma Pi (ISP) organizes an annual celebration of this event in which over 1600 elementary school students are exposed to hands-on experiments related to the annual theme. In 2018, the theme was “Chemistry is Out of This World,” which allowed nearly a 100 volunteers to explore several space-themed experiments with children from three different school districts all over the Greater Lafayette area. Our poster outlines the preparation of …

Climate Justice Movement Building: Values And Cultures Of Creation In Santa Barbara, California, Corrie Grosse

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

This article analyzes how young people in the climate justice movement cultivate a prefigurative culture centered on justice as a response to the threat of climate change. Employing grounded theory and drawing on data from in-depth interviews with 29 youth activists and participant observation in Santa Barbara County, California, the birthplace of both the environmental movement and offshore oil drilling, I argue that four key values—relationships, accessibility, intersectionality, and community—enable movement building, a stated goal of the climate justice movement. These values emerge from interviewees’ words and practices. Drawing on John Foran’s (2014) notion of political cultures of creation, I …

Ignatian Pedagogy For Sustainability To Support Community-Based Projects: Client-Focused Sustainable Energy Solutions, Andrew Baruth

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Seeing the words of Laudato Si’ as a call to action, we are engaging students in Ignatian Pedagogy for Sustainability through a series of community-based projects with the goal of client-focused sustainable energy solutions and associated dialogue. We outline the development of a purpose-created Energy Technology undergraduate program housed in the College of Arts and Sciences at Creighton University, born from Ignatian Sensibilities, and highlight the role of client engagement to engross students in a client-focused design process to deliver sustainable energy initiatives that become practically feasible with student leadership. For the senior capstone of this program, students engage in …

Numeracy And Social Justice: A Wide, Deep, And Longstanding Intersection, Kira Hamman, Victor Piercey, Samuel L. Tunstall

Numeracy

We discuss the connection between the numeracy and social justice movements both in historical context and in its modern incarnation. The intersection between numeracy and social justice encompasses a wide variety of disciplines and quantitative topics, but within that variety there are important commonalities. We examine the importance of sound quantitative measures for understanding social issues and the necessity of interdisciplinary collaboration in this work. Particular reference is made to the papers in the first part of the Numeracy special collection on social justice, which appear in this issue.