Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Understanding Students’ Global Interdependence In Science Instruction, Walter S. Smith

Journal of Global Education and Research

Multiple American educational organizations such as the National Education Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the Council of Chief State School Officers have advocated for globalizing the K-12 curriculum. The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) in a position statement on international education and the Next Generation Science Standards have produced goals and standards for internationalizing the science curriculum by addressing topics such as climate change, environment, and disease that cross borders. In contrast to those pronouncements on the curriculum, this article views global science education through an instructional lens that focuses on a students’ global interdependence in science ...

Reliability-Informed Life Cycle Warranty Cost And Life Cycle Analysis Of Newly Manufactured And Remanufactured Units, Meng Li, Venkat P. Nemani, Jinqiang Liu, Michael A. Lee, Navaid Ahmed, Gül E. Okudan Kremer, Chao Hu

Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Publications

Standard life cycle techniques such as life cycle warranty cost (LCWC) analysis and life cycle analysis (LCA) are used to respectively quantify the relative economical and environmental advantages of remanufactured goods while simultaneously identifying avenues for improvement. In this paper, we contribute to the literature on life cycle studies by incorporating reliability into LCWC analysis and LCA with the goal of improving long-term/multiple life cycle decision making. We develop a branched power-law model to incorporate the physical degradation mechanisms leading to reduced reuse rates of system parts over multiple life cycles. We then follow a standard LCA protocol to ...

A Case Study Using 2019 Pre-Monsoon Snow And Stream Chemistry In The Khumbu Region, Nepal, Heather M. Clifford, Mariusz Potocki, Inka Koch, Tenzing Sherpa, Mike Handley, Elena Korotkikh, Douglas Introne, Susan Kaspari, Kimberley Miner, Tom Matthews, Baker Perry, Heather Guy, Ananta Gajurel, Praveen Kumar Singh, Sandra Elvin, Aurora C. Elmore, Alex Tait, Paul A. Mayewski

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

This case study provides a framework for future monitoring and evidence for human source pollution in the Khumbu region, Nepal. We analyzed the chemical composition (major ions, major/trace elements, black carbon, and stable water isotopes) of pre-monsoon stream water (4300–5250 m) and snow (5200–6665 m) samples collected from Mt. Everest, Mt. Lobuche, and the Imja Valley during the 2019 pre-monsoon season, in addition to a shallow ice core recovered from the Khumbu Glacier (5300 m). In agreement with previous work, pre-monsoon aerosol deposition is dominated by dust originating from western sources and less frequently by transport from ...

Wildland Fire Risk Perceptions And Mitigation Actions In The Western United States: A Systematic Literature Review And Two Empirical Case Studies, Lauren Nicole-Dupéy Larsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals are continuing to move into previously uninhabited, wildlands in the Western United States where fire danger is often high. This continued movement of people is a two-fold problem. First, individuals are moving into areas that have dense forestland and other flammable vegetation types where wildfires can easily ignite and spread. Second, individuals are starting more wildfires in these previously uninhabited areas (over 90% of wildfires across the country are caused by humans). Although wildfire is a complex topic, one thing is simple: As individuals continue to move into these wild, forested, and often mountainous areas, the risk of these ...

It Isn't Easy Speaking Green: The Influence Of Moral Factors On The (Non-) Adoption Of Pro-Environmental Behaviors, Deferral, And Back Again, Alexi Elizabeth Lamm

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is one of the major issues humans face in the 21^st century. This decade is critical in shaping the future of Earth and the way humans live on it (IPCC, 2018). Changes in human behavior are necessary to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This series of studies explored factors important in communicating and implementing environmental behavior. The first study tested the effects of an online, interactive carbon calculator with moral interventions on three self-reported measures and one objective measure of behavior over a period of weeks. The interventions resulted in small changes in self-reported behavior and ...

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles To Quantify Erosion Control Measures On A Reclaimed Central Utah Coal Mine, Christopher R. Brown

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For certain landscape reclamation efforts surrounding, the Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining (UDOGM) utilizes a surface roughing technique called “pocking”. The process of pocking establishes closely spaced gouges approximately 1.2 meters in diameter and 0.5 meters deep across a reclaimed landscape in order to reduce surface erosion and promote plant growth on steep terrain in arid regions. Pocks are designed as a series of micro watersheds that trap water to aid in plant establishment and reduces overland flow of water. Over time vegetation grows within the pocks as they infill with sediment. While this method is ...

The Contribution Of Mining Sector To Sustainable Development In Saudi Arabia, Mourad Zmami, Ousama Ben-Salha, Sultan O. Almarshad, Houyem Chekki

Journal of Sustainable Mining

The mining sector development is among the priorities of the Saudi Vision 2030. There is currently a lot of interest in the role of the mining sector in Saudi Arabia. This research contributes to this debate by empirically assessing the effects of mining on sustainable development in Saudi Arabia during the period 1980-2018. Unlike many previous studies, the three sustainable development dimensions, namely economic, social, and environmental, are jointly considered. The cointegration analysis, based on the ARDL, Gregory-Hansen, and combined cointegration tests, confirms the existence of long-run relationships between mining and all sustainable development dimensions. Furthermore, the findings lend substantial ...

Life Cycle Assessment Of Bioplastics And Food Waste Disposal Methods, Shakira R. Hobbs, Tyler M. Harris, William J. Barr, Amy E. Landis

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

The environmental impacts of five waste management scenarios for polylactic acid (PLA)-based bioplastics and food waste were quantified using life cycle assessment. Laboratory experiments have demonstrated the potential for a pretreatment process to accelerate the degradation of bioplastics and were modeled in two of the five scenarios assessed. The five scenarios analyzed in this study were: (1a) Anaerobic digestion (1b) Anaerobic digestion with pretreatment; (2a) Compost; (2a) Compost with pretreatment; (3) Landfill. Results suggested that food waste and pretreated bioplastics disposed of with an anaerobic digester offers life cycle and environmental net total benefits (environmental advantages/offsets) in several ...

Avulsions Drive Ecosystem Services And Economic Changes In The Brazilian Pantanal Wetlands, Rômullo O. Louzada, Ivan Bergier, Fabio O. Roque, Michael M. Mcglue, Aguinaldo Silva, Mario L. Assine

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

The Pantanal wetland is a mosaic of landscapes that brings together rich biodiversity with the valuable activities of fishing, tourism and ranching. Human occupation and land use in the headwaters have intensified the rate of channel avulsions in the lower reaches of the largest megafan on the Taquari River. This study evaluates the long-term changes of landscapes in the active depositional lobe of the Taquari megafan from the perspective of local communities of pantaneiros. Maps derived from multiple decades of multispectral Landsat data have proven useful for studying land cover changes through the relationship between dry (terrestrial vegetation and soil ...

Covid-19: A One Health Issue, Karen Gruszynski

Cumberland Mountain Naturalist

COVID-19 has very rapidly become part of modern societal lexicon as the disease highlights the importance understanding zoonotic diseases and the impact they can have on human life. With a 177million human cases and 3.82million deaths globally at the time of this publication, the "One Health" nature of the disease has had a lasting impact across the planet. As the disease spread rapidly, it highlighted the dissemination of information through social media and other sources. With this in mind, Dr. Gary Vroegindewey, Director for One Health at LMU-CVM, put forth the idea to have students collect and summarize information ...

Mining Energy Consumption As A Function Of Ore Grade Decline: The Case Of Lead And Zinc, Ricardo Magdalena, Alicia Valero, Jose-Luis Palacios, Antonio Valero

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Demand for raw materials is increasing exponentially. To satisfy that demand, more minerals need to be mined from the Earth’s crust. As a result, minerals are being exhausted, and ore grades decline. Lower ore grade mines also mean more energy, which in turn entails fossil fuel emissions and more climate change. This paper estimates the specific energy for the beneficiation process of metals lead and zinc as case studies. The evaluation is performed with specialized software, HSC Chemistry which assesses the specific energy for every stage: comminution, flotation, and refining. Different scenarios have been established to simulate the behavior ...

Lessons From A Landscape Irrigation Rebate Program In Miami Dade County, Haimanote K. Bayabil, Laura Vasquez, Jesus Lomeli, Patrick Martin

Journal of Extension

We calculated savings in outdoor water uses from 37 properties in Fisher Island, Florida, that were retrofitted with smart Evapotranspiration-based irrigation controllers through the Miami Dade County’s Landscape Irrigation Rebate Program. We found average water savings of 11.4 million gallons per year from the 37 properties on the island. We discuss the roles of extension personnel in developing and effectively managing an irrigation rebate program and the implications of results from this program for large scale efforts towards efficient use of freshwater resources.

Literature Review: Pollutant Removal Efficacy Of Floating Treatment Wetlands Across Water Bodies, Sophie Johnson

University Honors Theses

Wetland numbers are declining worldwide and there is a need to replace the water filtration services they provide. One emerging option is floating treatment wetlands (FTW). FTW are a floating mat that serves as a habitat for aquatic plants whose roots are suspended in the water and that remove both organic and inorganic pollutants like nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), potentially toxic metals, and suspended solids. A literature search was performed to examine the efficacy of FTW pollutant removal. Specifically, I inspected 1) how effective FTW are at removing a range of nutrients; 2) what types of plants are most effective ...

Environmental, Health And Safety Intricacies Of Artisanal Mining In The Gold-Rich Landscapes Of Karamoja, North-Eastern Uganda, Eria Serwajja, Paul Isolo Mukwaya

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Artisanal small-scale gold mining presents opportunities for Uganda’s rural poor. However, it also poses serious environmental, health and safety challenges. A suite of data collection methods including interviews, focus groups discussions, water and soils sampling were used to examine the perceptions of miners on the status, prevalence and extent of mercury use in artisanal gold mining, mercury transit routes and toxicity levels of soils and water in Karamoja sub-region. It also explores the health, safety and environmental implications of artisanal small-scale gold mining in the sub-region. The findings show that trade and access to mercury is widespread; although trade ...

Clayoquot Sound Harmful Algal Blooms Investigation Of Warn Bay To Tranquil Inlet – 2019, Katja Whelan

Environmental Science Undergraduate Theses

A large and successful shellfish and fish industry resides in the northeastern Pacific, so when a heat anomaly now known as the “Blob” was discovered in the area there was concern about its impacts. Since many harmful algal blooms (HABs) thrive in higher temperatures, it was important to determine if the “Blob” caused more favorable environmental conditions to support increased amounts of algae in the water. Measurements were taken in 2019 for essential nutrients such as nitrates, phosphates, and silicates, as well as water properties including temperature, salinity, density, dissolved oxygen, transmissivity, and fluorescence. These were then compared to data ...

A Comparative Study Of Delineated Watersheds Using Aster And Srtm In Johor, Malaysia, Nafisah Khalid, Maisarah Abdul Halim, Siti Nur A’Tirah Shahimi

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

The availability of watershed delineation that has been generated from DEM data is difficult to obtain and the accessibility of DEM data which are unrestricted and precise are hard to obtain in Malaysia. The aim of this study is to examine the accuracy of watershed delineation between Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from ASTER and SRTM in Johor State Malaysia. In this study, free online data sources from USGS website are used to delineate watershed from ASTER and SRTM satellite imageries. The hydrological modelling tool namely ArcSWAT is utilized to delineate watersheds for both DEM datasets. Both DEM data that had ...

Not Approved For Human Consumption: A Study Of The Denmark Water Crisis, A Call For Reforming The Swda, And A Demand For Community Lawyering In Rural America, Matthew Woodward

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Over the past four decades, nine million Americans have ingested dangerous drinking water from a trusted source: their own taps. Each year, “an estimated 16.4 million cases of acute gastroenteritis” are linked to public drinking water. For many Americans, drinking water—perhaps the most important cornerstone of human health—has become cause for concern.

In Flint, Michigan, this concern turned to panic. In 2014, after toddlers began developing painful skin conditions, children fell seriously ill, and tap water emerged in the form of thick, orange-brown sludge, the people of Flint began to wonder: is there something in the water ...

Spatiotemporal Interactions Between Surface Coal Mining And Land Cover And Use Changes, Nikolaos Paraskevis, Aikaterini Servou, Christos Roumpos, Francis Pavloudakis

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Long-term surface mining and land cover and use changes have been evidenced to have a critical relationship. This study conducts trend and correlation analysis by statistical tools to quantitatively evaluate this relationship in the Ptolemais (Northern Greece) coal mining area for the period 1990-2018. Firstly, based on Corine data and satellite images, a relative spatial indicator (RSI) was adopted to describe the mineral land areas. Secondly, land cover and use changes were spatially defined using Corine data and ArcGIS tools. The active mining area was then distinguished by dumping area, using Landsat satellite imagery and mining maps, and finally, mine ...

Enhancing Biochar As Scaffolding For Slow Release Of Nitrogen Fertilizer, Santanu Bakshi, Chumki Banik, David A. Laird, Ryan G. Smith, Robert C. Brown

Mechanical Engineering Publications

Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth; however, excessive use of N fertilizers and complexities of the N cycle in soil cause negative environmental impacts. This imposes several challenges in controlling the N availability timing and losses. The objective of this study was to develop a biochar-based slow-release fertilizer (SRF) to reduce N loss and increase N use efficiency in crop production. We provided a laboratory-based assessment of several H3PO4 activated (5 and 15%) biochar-based SRFs, produced from different combinations of biochar to urea (1:2, 1:3, 1:4, and 1:6), calcium lignosulfonate (5%), and paraffin ...

Weather And Climate Summary And Forecast: June 2021 Report, Gregory V. Jones

Linfield University Wine Studies Reports

This report provides a summary of the weather and climate forecast for June 2021. It includes forecast information specific to the Pacific Northwest and the western United States, as well as forecast information for other portions of the United States and abroad.