Place and Environment Commons^™

Which Came First, People Or Pollution? A Review Of Theory And Evidence From Longitudinal Environmental Justice Studies, Paul Mohai, Robin Saha

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

A considerable number of quantitative analyses have been conducted in the past several decades that demonstrate the existence of racial and socioeconomic disparities in the distribution of a wide variety of environmental hazards. The vast majority of these have been cross-sectional, snapshot studies employing data on hazardous facilities and population characteristics at only one point in time. Although some limited hypotheses can be tested with cross-sectional data, fully understanding how present-day disparities come about requires longitudinal analyses that examine the demographic characteristics of sites at the time of facility siting and track demographic changes after siting. Relatively few such studies …

A Phenomenological Study Of Anticipated Intimacy And Sexual Expression Needs Of Aging Male And Female Baby Boomers., Charles Shawn Oak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the phenomenon of how heterosexual Baby Boomers define and understand intimacy, sexual expression, along expectations and desires relating to their respective expressions across the lifespan through their individual experiences and reflections. A set of guiding questions were used in a hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative research design. Data was gathered from thirteen subjects (n=13) using the Rappaport Time Line (RTL) that was used to develop individualized semi-structured interviews and follow-up interviews that were professionally transcribed. These were coded to identify emergent themes. Results of the study provided insight into the phenomenon of how heterosexual …

Art Education In My Backyard: Creative Placemaking On An Urban Farm, Jodi Kushins

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

An art educator describes how she used her knowledge and experience of artistic and educational initiatives that forefront collective activity in real world settings to transform her backyard into an urban farm with the help of friends and neighbors. She combines an autoethnographic account of her experiences, including original photographs, with research on conceptual artists, participatory culture, and creative placemaking to position her work as participatory environmental art education. The paper is organized around the major steps one undertakes in planting a garden – siting, amending, seeding, tending, and harvesting - to draw parallels between the processes of maintaining a …

Rural Civic Action Project Poster, Heartland Center For Leadership Development

Heartland Center for Leadership Development Materials

The final project for the Rural Civic Action Project is to create a poster that includes the Community Capital Mapping activity (CCMA; Keith & Kinsey, 2013). The Community Capital Maps provide an opportunity to evaluate the impact of the projects from the participants’ perspective. Fellows should include 2 maps on their poster: the map that was created through facilitating the CCMA, the map created by the fellows evaluating the impact of their service project (the work the fellows are doing in the schools). Also included on the poster is a narrative describing the maps.

Assessing The Sustainability Of Selective Logging In Ankarabolava-Agnakatrika New Protected Area, Eileen Nakahata

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over the past 50 years, more than 90% of dense low-altitude humid forest in the District of Vangaindrano has been lost to deforestation and the remaining fragments continue to be threatened by slash and burn agriculture and selective cutting by local populations. These activities are driven by widespread poverty, population growth, and lack of development, which have made subsistence increasingly difficult. This study investigates logging rates and the stock of five commercially valuable trees in the Ankarabolava-Agnakatrika New Protected Area. Fifteen 1000m² transects were established systematically within the territory of the Matanga commune. Within each transect data was collected …

Not All Those That Are Buried Are Dead: An Analysis Of Memorialization At The Prestwich Memorial, Anna Sumner Noonan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Memorialization is an ongoing process in South Africa as narratives are attempting to be reclaimed and transformation continues to be an approach of ‘new’ nation building. This paper attempts to understand how and why the most common form of memorialization of slavery and colonialism in the postapartheid moment is that of the physical monument, memorial and museum as well as the repercussions of such a space. Through the lens of the Prestwich Memorial I examined themes of memory, erasure, historical production and landscape as artifact. I problematized the notion of primary data because all data is skewed by personal bias, …

Climate And Energy: Opinions Of Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans 2015 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy, Tonya Haigh

Nebraska Rural Poll

Many rural Nebraskans are concerned about more severe droughts or longer dry periods in their area, insect-borne diseases like West Nile Virus, and more extreme summer temperatures in their area. Fewer rural Nebraskans are concerned about the availability of water for their community or home or more frequent extreme rains or floods. Residents of the North Central region are more likely than residents of other regions of the state to be concerned about more severe droughts or longer dry periods in their area.

Few rural Nebraskans reported their household experiencing health problems during the drought of 2012. However, many persons …

Perspectives On Community Life In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2015 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy

Nebraska Rural Poll

By many different measures, rural Nebraskans are positive about their community. Many rural Nebraskans rate their community as friendly, trusting, and supportive. Most rural Nebraskans also say it would be difficult to leave their community. In addition, most rural Nebraskans disagree that their community is powerless to control its future.

However, the proportion of rural Nebraskans satisfied with many social services and entertainment services has decreased across all nineteen years of the study. Declines in satisfaction levels across all 19 years are seen with nursing home care, medical care services, senior centers, mental health services, entertainment, retail shopping and restaurants. …

Delta Narratives: Saving The Historical And Cultural Heritage Of The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Steve Boilard, Robert Benedetti, Margit Aramburu, Gregg Camfield, Philip Garone, Jennifer Helzer, Reuben Smith, William Swagerty, Marcia Eymann, Tod Ruhstaller, David Stuart, Leigh Johnsen, Dylan Mcdonald, Michael J. Wurtz, Blake Roberts, Margo Lentz-Meyer

College of the Pacific Faculty Reports

From August 2014 through July 2015, the Delta Narratives project, on contract to the Delta Protection Commission, addressed two questions. First, in what ways does the historical experience of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta contribute to an understanding of key themes in regional and American history? Second, how might Delta stories gain wider appreciation within the region, throughout Northern California, and among people in the rest of California and beyond?

Scholars on the project team documented ways the history of the Delta illustrates trends in land management and reclamation, technological shifts in transportation and agriculture, the impact of ethnicity and labor …

Conveniently Located Disaster: Socio‐Spatial Inequality In Hurricane Sandy And Its Implications For The Urban Sociology Of Climate Change, Gordon Douglas, Liz Koslov, Eric Klinenberg

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

Hurricane Sandy was a major event with major implications for how sociologists think about the relationship between climate change and crisis in urban areas. The storm’s impact on New York provides a valuable case for considering how to study the impacts of climate change on large, densely settled cities with vulnerable hard infrastructure and highly complex social conditions that produce differentiated experiences across many different communities. This working paper considers data at several levels of analysis with the aim of assessing neighborhood inequalities in the impacts of such extreme weather. Drawn from the authors’ ongoing research project on unequal vulnerability …

Engagement In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: Civic And Political Participation And Views Of Community Leadership: 2015 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans have participated in community involvement activities but they have not been as involved in some political activities. However, most rural Nebraskans have spoken with their pocketbooks on political and social issues by either buying or boycotting products because of the social and political values of the company providing them. And, many rural Nebraskans have signed a written petition about a political or social issue and have contacted a local public official to express their opinion.

Certain groups are more likely than others to have participated in community and political involvement activities. While younger persons are more likely …

The Topper (July2015), Veterans Upward Bound Program, Western Kentucky University

Veterans Upward Bound Publications

VUB Awards Banquet; Glasgow Veteran Resource Center Grand Opening; Operation Stand Down; The Director's Desk; Important Numbers & Dates

The Relationship Between Self-Determination And Client Outcomes Among The Homeless, Samuel M. Hanna

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This paper has attempted to determine if there is a significant relationship between self-determination and client outcomes among the homeless. The study has been based upon the conceptual framework set forth in Self-Determination Theory. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between self-determination and client outcomes among the homeless. Using a data collection instrument, based on empirically validated instrumentation, clients from several homeless service providers in the City of San Bernardino were assessed for the level of self-determination and autonomy support they experience within these agencies. Outcome measures included such things as whether the client was going …

The Management And Stewardship Of A Cetacean Collection, Rebecca Vele

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Cetacean, by definition, is a marine mammal of the order Cetacea; a whale, dolphin or porpoise. In light of their social intellect and friendly appearance, cetaceans are used in institutions such as zoos and aquariums as a source of education and entertainment for the public. Before the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, cetaceans were captured worldwide including in U.S. waters. In the United States today, there are over 224 zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Out of those 224, 34 of these institutions display cetaceans.

Even though the Marine Mammal Protection Act “Prohibits, with …

Imagining The Unimaginable: Torture And The Criminal Law, Francesca Laguardia

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This article examines the use of torture by the U.S. government in the context of the late 20th-century preventive turn in criminal justice. Challenging the assumption that the use of “enhanced interrogation tactics” in the war on terror was an exceptional deviation from accepted norms, this article suggests that this deviation began decades before the terror attacks, in the context of conventional criminal procedure. I point to the use of the “ticking time bomb hypothetical,” and its connection to criminal procedure’s “kidnapping hypothetical.” Using case law and criminal procedure textbooks I trace the employment of that narrative over several decades, …

The Relationship Between Motivation And Volunteer Satisfaction In Conservation Programs 2015., Raena Blumenthal

Master's Theses

Conservation leisure service organizations are relying more heavily on volunteers to sustain their services and protect natural resources (Strigas, 2006). However, research focusing on volunteer vacationers, those who spend money to volunteer, is still in its infancy. Drawing on functional theorizing (Bruyer & Rappe, 2007; Clary, Snyder, Ridge, Copeland, Stukas, Haugen, & Miene, 1998; Houle, Sagarin, & Kaplan, 2005; Katz, 1960; Smith, Bruner, & White, 1956), this study explored volunteer vacationers’ motivations and the relationships between motivations to volunteer, satisfaction with the volunteer vacation experience, and inclinations to volunteer in the future (in both local and nonlocal settings). The study …

The Industrial Impact On Wetlands In Jinja And The Nexus Of Industry, Wetlands, And Community (A Rights-Based Sustainable Development Approach), Ranger Ruffins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Uganda is a beautiful country filled with an extensive amount of natural resources, one of the most profound being wetlands. It is said that these wetlands are a crucial source of food and water for almost 3 million people (NEMA, 2012 and Oguttu et.al, 2008). They also provide many more invaluable socioeconomic benefits for the country. As Uganda experiences increasing development as well as a rapidly increasing population, the wetlands become increasingly necessary, at the same time they become increasingly threatened. It is written in the 1995 Ugandan constitution that Ugandan policy is aimed at ensuring sustainable development for the …

Non-Compliance In Marine Reserves: Measuring The Drivers Of Behavior Among Recreational Fishermen Within The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Nick Manning

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) provides outstanding ecological, cultural, social, and economic services to the number of communities that use it. Most of the park is regulated via a zoning system designed to protect its biodiversity and ensure the sustainable use of its resources (GBRMPA, 2004). Like any social institution, zoning regulations rely heavily on compliance in order to be effective. Recreational fishing on the GBRMP accounts for most of the noncompliance behavior associated with zoning (Arias and Sutton, 2013). Thus, understanding fishers compliance behavior is central to understanding how to best manage these areas. Using results from …

The Role Of Grupo Nzinga De Capoeira Angola In The Empowerment And Development Of Children From The Community Of Alto Da Sereia, Mariana Cardona

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite Brazil being one of the largest economies in the world, exclusion and child poverty remain as some of the most pressing social issues throughout the country. Child poverty is extremely problematic in Salvador da Bahia, where children from underprivileged communities are vulnerable to violence, exclusion, drug trafficking and prostitution. Grupo Nzinga de Capoeira Angola is an organization founded by Mestra Janja Araujo in 1995, whose main mission is to defend the rights of children and adolescents, fight against racial and gender discrimination, preserve and promote Afro-Brazilian culture, and empower girls, children and women. This paper seeks to understand how …

“Seguimos Siendo Indígenas” Una Investigación Sobre El Discurso De Los Derechos Y Necesidades De La Comunidad Shipiba De Cantagallo Como Pueblo Indígena En El Contexto Urbano De Lima., Janet Sanchez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

A través de un método etnográfico basado en entrevistas formales e informales y observaciones tomados durante dos semanas en la Comunidad ShipiboKonibo de Cantagallo, este informe examina cómo esta comunidad expresa sus derechos y necesidades como pueblo indígena en el contexto urbano de Lima. Este estudio fue ejecutado durante un tiempo de conflicto entre la comunidad y la Municipalidad de Lima, que bajo el cargo de Luis Castañeda, canceló la reubicación de la Comunidad ShipoKonibo que está siendo desplazado por la construcción del Vía Parque Rímac. Los resultados demuestran que los Shipibos de Cantagallo luchan por ser tratados como iguales …

Engaging Non-State Armed Groups (Nsags) In The ‘Fight’ Against Sexual And Gender-Based Violence In Eastern Congo (Drc), Mackenzie Kennedy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

While the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has managed to achieve a greater level of stability more than a decade after finding itself at the center of “Africa’s World War,” the Eastern region of the country continues to face insecurity developments as poorly controlled domestic and foreign armed groups have undermined attempts to secure peace in the region since the end of the Rwandan genocide. Sexual violence has been used as a tool to humiliate, dominate, terrorize, displace, and control civilian populations. Despite much needed international attention towards assisting SGBV survivors, there remains a lack of effective preventative efforts …

Better Engaging Communities: Moving Beyond Cardinal Rules, Anna G. Hoover

Anna G. Hoover

“Cardinal rules” and best practice approaches have guided governmental risk communication efforts at chronic risk sites for more than two decades, playing an important role in how those most affected by contamination make sense of risk. In addition to providing information, however, communication approaches themselves can affect community perceptions indirectly, through stakeholder interpretations of the processes by which risk information is shared. It is increasingly necessary to evaluate not only whether risk communication approaches have been effective for increasing knowledge but if, in fact, the ways in which information is shared has had unintended consequences that change how stakeholders perceive …

The Topper (March 2015), Veterans Upward Bound Program, Western Kentucky University

Veterans Upward Bound Publications

Scholarship Opportunity; Vet-to-Vet Tutoring; Coming Home to Damaging Stereotypes; Have You Completed the FAFSA?; Coming Soon!; Notes & News; The Director's Desk; Important Numbers & Dates

Between Warrior And Helplessness In The Valley Of Azawa - The Struggle Of The Kel Tamashek In The War Of The Sahel, Patrick James Christian

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an Investigation into the Tuareg involvement in violent conflict in the Sahara and the Sahel of North Africa from a sociological psychological perspective of unmet human needs. The research begins by establishing the structure and texture of the sociological, psychological, and emotional life patterns of their existence when not involved in violent conflict. This is followed by an examination of the pathology of Tuareg social structures that are engaged in intra and inter communal violence as perpetrators, victims, and bystanders. The first part of the research establishes normal conditions of the sociological life cycle and highlights natural …

Optimism In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: Perceptions Of Well-Being, 2015 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy

Nebraska Rural Poll

This year, rural Nebraskans are the most positive about their current situation as they’ve been in all 20 years of this study. Just over one-half (53%) of rural Nebraskans believe they are better off than they were five years ago (the highest proportion in all 20 years of this study, tied in 2008). This is up slightly from 50 percent last year. And, rural Nebraskans’ outlook on their future is the most optimistic in all 20 years of this study. Almost one-half of rural Nebraskans (48%) believe they will be better off ten years from now (the highest of all …

Threads And Stitches Of Peace- Understanding What Makes Ghana An Oasis Of Peace?, Hippolyt Akow Saamwan Pul

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Ghana is considered an oasis of peace despite having the same mix of ethno-political competitions for state power and resources; north-south horizontal inequalities; ethno-regional concentrations of Christians and Muslims; highly ethnicised elections; a natural resource dependent economy; and a politically polarized public sphere, among others, that have plunged other countries in Africa into violent and often protracted national conflicts. Use of the conflict paradigm to explain Africa's conflicts glosses over positive deviance cases such as Ghana. This study used the peace paradigm in a mixed method, grounded theory research to examine Ghana's apparent exceptionalism in staving off violent national conflicts. …

Remaking Nature In Montana: Topophilic Considerations Of Wolves And Wolf Trapping, Andrew Myers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2011, after nearly forty years of federal protection, the gray wolf was removed from the Endangered Species List in Montana and its management entrusted to the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The implementation of public trapping seasons in 2012 as a method to control wolf populations has further inflamed an already embroiled debate. The purpose of this research was to investigate how the presence of wolves and wolf trapping impacts human attachments to landscapes of “nature” in Montana by focusing on the following questions: What are the public’s social constructions of wolves? What are the public’s social constructions of …

Creating Healthy Community In The Postindustrial City, Brian A. Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.