Environmental Education Commons^™

Annotated Bibliography: Environmental Education (1998-2013), Erich Yahner

BIBLIOGRAPHIES

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Laboratory Evaluation Of Black Carbon Deposition Onto Snow And Transport Via Snowmelt, Larry D. Hermanson, Joshua P. Schwarz

STAR Program Research Presentations

Black carbon (BC) is an aerosol material produced by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. BC has been shown to be the second most important anthropogenic climate warming agent after carbon dioxide due to its ability to absorb solar radiation, influence cloud behavior, and accelerate snow melt. BC in otherwise clean snow can significantly reduce its reflectivity. In order to learn about the significance of BC contamination in snow, we explored the deposition of BC onto snow and the transport of BC in snow during snowmelt. A Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2), was used to measure the concentration and …

Salinity And Temperature Distribution Of Jellyfish In The San Francisco Estuary, Trisha Huynh, Brooke Bemowski, Lindsay Sullivan, Wim Kimmerer

STAR Program Research Presentations

Jellyfish are generally characterized by their jelly-like bodies and internal lining (two tissue layers). They found both in the phylum Ctenophora and the phylum Cnidaria. Ctenophores differ from cnidarians primarily due to the rows of “combs”, or cilia, which are used for transportation. Additionally, ctenophores possess sticky cells while cindarians possess stinging cells. Jellyfish depend on zooplankton (small floating aquatic animals) as a food source; as a result, they are potential competitors and predators to plankton-eating fish and may negatively impact fish populations.

As recently as 1950, jellyfish have entered the San Francisco Bay from the Mediterranean Sea (probably …

The Power Plant Mapping Student Project, Kelsey Tayne, Tom Oda

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Power Plant Mapping Student Project: Bringing Citizen Science to Schools

Kelsey Tayne¹, Tom Oda²

¹STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR) Fellow, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132

²NOAA ESRL, Global Monitoring Division, Boulder, CO 80303

Emissions inventory (EI) is a conventional tool to monitor changes in anthropogenic emissions and can visually show geographical patterns of emission changes. The EI community is aware of significant errors in the geographical locations of point sources, including power plants. The Power Plant Mapping Student Project (PPMSP) is a platform designed for students in 4^th through 12 …

Light Pollution Research Through Citizen Science, John Kanemoto

STAR Program Research Presentations

Light pollution (LP) can disrupt and/or degrade the health of all living things, as well as, their environments. The goal of my research at the NOAO was to check the accuracy of the citizen science LP reporting systems entitled: Globe at Night (GaN), Dark Sky Meter (DSM), and Loss of the Night (LoN). On the GaN webpage, the darkness of the night sky (DotNS) is reported by selecting a magnitude chart. Each magnitude chart has a different density/number of stars around a specific constellation. The greater number of stars implies a darker night sky. Within the DSM iPhone application, a …

An Interpretive Plan Guide For Wilderness Park In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel J. Ward

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Wilderness Park, located in Lancaster County, Nebraska, is a public park of unique ecological and historical value to the city of Lincoln and to the surrounding region. The natural and historical features of the park present an opportunity to communicate environmental and historical topics that are relevant on local, national, and global levels, as well as inspire a lively sense of pride in the community. The problem is that many topics relevant to Wilderness Park are not currently being interpreted at the park, and that there are relatively few interpretive resources available to park visitors.

The purpose of this project …

Overcoming Roadblocks In Introducing Virtual World Technology To High Schools, Casey Dylan Bailey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The EAST (Environmental And Spatial Technology) Initiative is a non-profit educational organization that provides students in over two hundred schools in eight states with access to advanced computing technologies for the purpose of enabling students to develop technical skills early and to produce solutions to local community problems. Although many high-end technologies are available through EAST, they are desktop solutions that individual students use and there are none that enable students within a school or between schools to collaborate.

This thesis is a saga that documents the identification and removal of many roadblocks to introducing a 3D multi-user virtual simulation …

Climate Justice Advocacy, Mary Finley-Brook

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Creating international policy to combat climate change is one of the biggest public diplomacy challenges of our time. With slow progress in “state-led” forums such as the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), advocacy coalitions of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are pressuring decision-makers and working to build global awareness. The power of NGOs is soft since state actors set emissions targets; nonetheless, climate justice organizations persistently broadcast several important messages, including: 1) industrialized nations along with private sector polluters have an obligation to remedy ecological debt; 2) low-income and marginalized populations …

The Restorative Effects Of Natural Decor, Tobias Burnham

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Humans are continually opting to live in urban environments, furthering us from the innate connection to the natural environment we have evolved with over millennia. These urban settings place several stressors on us in the form of stimuli that requires directed attention (cars, billboards, traffic lights, etc.) in which deplete our attentional resources leading to Direct Attention Fatigue (DAF). Attentional Restoration Theory (ART) is based on the ability of natural environments to have restorative effects on these depleted resources due to the relative ease of experiencing nature through involuntary attention. The focus of this study is to determine how nature-based …

Soil Health After Intense Ponderosa Pine Forest Fire In North Central Nebraska, Amanda Hefner

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In late July 2012, the Region 24 Complex fire consumed over 76, 000 acres of north central Nebraska. This area consists of ponderosa pine forest with high densities of eastern redcedar, deciduous hardwood forest, and Sandhills prairie. This incredible event provided an occasion to examine the effect of the fire on soil nitrification and soil erosion at The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve. Eighteen 900m² plots were established in regions chosen for their topographic location (footslope, midslope, and ridgetop), forest density, and directional slope (north vs. south facing slope). Each plot was split into nine subplots with 25 erosion …

The Effectiveness Of Venue Strategies For Environmental Communication In Non-Agricultural, School Integrated Pest Management Campaigns, Marcia L. Anderson

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Pesticides have become a preferred approach to controlling pest problems in many, schools and childcare centers, despite the exposure hazards to children and the environment. The only other place where children spend more time is in their homes. Children are continually and unknowingly exposed to pests and pesticides while in and around school buildings. Pesticides are used on athletic fields, play areas, in cafeterias, classrooms, and more. Reducing the use of pesticides from the school environment is critical to lowering children’s total exposure.

This research tests ways of communicating about Integrated Pest Management to a number of school-related target audiences. …

Energía En Nuestras Manos: La Energía Renovable En Escala Local Y La Plurinacionalidad, Noah Stanton

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Aunque la revolución ciudadana ha establecido el Ecuador como un país plurinacional con una consciencia ambiental, el régimen político actual está rechazando esta imagen del país. Frente este desafío, yo propongo que la energía renovable pueda ser una herramienta para ambos fortalecer la plurinacionalidad dentro del país y a la vez proteger el medio ambiente que lo sostiene. En la monografía, detallo cómo la energía renovable en escala local puede reforzar la autodeterminación de pueblos en el Ecuador. Luego, discuto las ventajas y desventajas de tres tipos de energía renovable: energía solar, energía eólica, y energía hídrica.

The Conceptualization Of “Environmentalism” In Sagara, Emma Chapman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My study focused on the perceptions of “environmentalism” in Sagara, Tanzania and attempted to compare Sagaran concepts to those of a more Western model. My study also identified the “actors” that taught Sagarans about the environment. After finding that Sagarans held a strong resource conservation focus in their responses, I then focused on the details of their resource use to see whether what they have been taught about conservation has been actualized in their daily life. I predicted to find that Sagarans have a much more generalized and resource conservation focused definition of “environmentalism” and that their patterns of resource …

Gamba La Kasa: Using The Sea Turtle As A Flagship For Conservation Through Storytelling And Children's Literature, Eliza Hollister

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study has been to educate the children and adults of Uzi Island on the importance of sea turtle conservation through storytelling and collaborative children's literature. This study's culminating product is a handmade children's book, written in both English and Swahili, entitled Turtle's Shell/Gamba La Kasa. A story from an Uzi elder was integrated into the book, as were illustrations gathered from the children of Uzi. Sea turtle conservation efforts are occurring all over the world through many methods, but this study is different from others because it acknowledges and utilizes the local knowledge and folklore in …

Bioremediation Of Polluted Zanzibar Seawater: The Nutrient And Bacterial Bioextraction Potential Of Native Seaweeds And Bivalves, Katie Bergman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In Stone Town, Zanzibar, increasing populations and insufficient sewage treatment has greatly increased harmful levels of nutrients and anthropogenic-sourced contaminants along the city’s coastal waters. In this study, the nutrient and bacterial bioextractive abilities of local species of bivalves (A. antiquata, P. margaritifera) and seaweeds (E. denticulatum, U. reticulata) were examined in order to determine the potential for these species to remedy the local polluted waters. It was hypothesized that due to bivalves’ suspension-feeding activity, both species of bivalves would be able to decrease turbidity and fecal indicator bacteria (Enterococci) levels in sample polluted …

The Power Of China: An Analysis Of China’S Energy Sources And The Case For Clean Energy, Lauren Vunderink

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

China’s energy demands have been growing exponentially since the early 1980s, impacting the global environment and economy. China is already the world’s largest producer and consumer of energy, and as it continues to urbanize and develop its electricity demand is projected to more than double by 2040. China’s energy consumption will not continue its rapid growth forever; its population growth and energy demand are expected to level off by 2040. While mostly relying on the increasing amounts of coal, oil, and natural gas, the Chinese government aims for renewable resources to satisfy 15% of total energy consumption by 2020. That …

Pollution In Stone Town’S Coastal Waters: An Assessment Of Environmental Influences On Fecal Contamination, Socorro Lopez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Urbanized areas in Tanzania, including Zanzibar Town on Unguja, are struggling to deal with the large amount of waste generated by growing populations and increasing tourist industries. In 2010, the waters surrounding Stone Town, a subsection of Zanzibar Town, were found to be highly polluted by fecal waste. This study attempted to determine whether pollution has lessened or worsened in the past four years. Furthermore, environmental components of the coastal area, particularly tides, were tested in order to determine whether they had an impact on pollution in the waters. Using the membrane filtration method, mean enterococci were quantified in two …

Growing Pains Or Opportunities? A Customer Survey Of Three Farmers' Markets In One Rural Community, Randall K. Wilson, Paul A. Di Salvo, Claire E. Quinn, Suzanne T. Englot, Julia P. Mitchell

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

The continued growth of farmers' markets is presenting new challenges to Extension. As the number of markets expands, how can Extension help those in the same community work together for mutual benefit? The study reported here examined similarities and differences among customers attending three different farmers' markets within a single locality in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Based on 370 customer surveys, study results underscore the diversity of markets operating within the same community and provide insights into ways Extension might assist markets to work together to expand their shared customer base, increase revenues, and better serve local residents.

Coastal And Ocean Economic Summaries Of The Coastal States 2014, Pat Johnston

Publications

The following summaries of the ocean and coastal economies were prepared by the National Ocean Economics Program as a companion the State of the U.S. Ocean and Coastal Economies 2014. The U.S. report, its appendices, and these state summary reports are available on the NOEP website at www.OceanEconomics.org/download.

Economic Impact Of The Commercial Fisheries On Local County Economies From Catch In All California National Marine Sanctuaries 2010, 2011 And 2012, Vernon R. Leeworthy, Desiree Jerome, Kelsey Schueler

Working Papers

This report estimates the economic impact of commercial fishing within all California National Marine Sanctuaries (CA NMS) according to the California Ocean Fish Harvester Economic Model (COFHE). The methodology applies county multipliers to estimates of harvest revenue from CA NMS in order to calculate output, income, value added and employment. This report also describes a profile of the commercial fish industry in the CA NMS. CA NMS includes all existing National Marine Sanctuary sites in California: Channel Islands (CINMS), Monterey Bay (MBNMS), Cordell Bank (CBNMS) and Gulf of the Farallones (GFNMS).

The three-year average for 2010 to 2012 finds that …