Sustainability Commons^™

Declining Co2 Price Paths, Gernot Wagner

Sustainability Seminar Series

Pricing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions involves making trade-offs between consumption today and unknown damages in the (distant) future. While decision making under risk and uncertainty is the forte of financial economics, important insights from pricing financial assets do not typically inform standard climate–economy models. Here, we introduce EZ-Climate, a simple recursive dynamic asset pricing model that allows for a calibration of the carbon dioxide (CO2) price path based on probabilistic assumptions around climate damages. Atmospheric CO2 is the “asset” with a negative expected return. The economic model focuses on society’s willingness to substitute consumption across time and across uncertain states of …

Save Water Drink Wine: Challenges Of Implementing The Ethnography Of The Temecula Valley Wine Industry Into Food-Energy-Water Nexus Decision-Making, Zaida E. Darley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study demonstrates the interrelationships of people, food, energy, and water associated with Temecula Valley’s wine industry and reveals contradictions and biases in how people view these resources, which ultimately shape management and policies. The FEW (Food, Energy, and Water) Nexus is an approach increasingly used by policy- and decision-makers to understand the interrelationship of several resources. However, a FEW Nexus approach often lacks in social aspects that influence environmentally and economically sustainable outcomes, especially in the wine and wine tourism industry. When quantitative and qualitative data are available, the other challenge is which assessment to use. Two assessments often …

Improvement Of The Effectiveness Of Greywacke Crushing Process By Applying An Impact Crusher In Quarry For The Production Of Railway Ballast, Krzysztof Kurus, Karolina Jąderko-Skubis

Journal of Sustainable Mining

The production of aggregates in rock mining requires an optimal system of crushers, separators and conveyors. Proper machine selection allows to obtain aggregates with appropriate technical parameters and increase the output of required fractions with a given unit cost. The usage of rock raw materials for the production of railway ballast used in the railway track superstructure is connected with the necessity to meet strictly defined quality requirements.

This paper presents an example of the use of an impact crusher in a selected quarry for the purpose of obtaining the correct parameters of railway ballast and a suitable grain curve. …

West Chester's Energy Future, Will Williams

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

Landscape-Scale Differences Among Cities Alter Common Species’ Responses To Urbanization, Mason Fidino, Travis Gallo, Elizabeth W. Lehrer, Maureen H. Murray, Cria Kay, Heather A. Sander, Brandon Macdougall, Carmen M. Salsbury, Travis J. Ryan, Julia L. Angstmann, J. Amy Belaire, Barbara Dugelby, Chris Schell, Theodore Stankowich, Max Amaya, David Drake, Sheryl H. Hursh, Adam A. Ahlers, Jacque Williamson, Laurel M. Hartley, Amanda J. Zellmer, Kelly Simon

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Understanding how biodiversity responds to urbanization is challenging, due in part to the single-city focus of most urban ecological research. Here, we delineate continent-scale patterns in urban species assemblages by leveraging data from a multi-city camera trap survey and quantify how differences in greenspace availability and average housing density among 10 North American cities relate to the distribution of eight widespread North American mammals. To do so, we deployed camera traps at 569 sites across these ten cities between 18 June and 14 August. Most data came from 2017, though some cities contributed 2016 or 2018 data if it was …

Applications Of Thermodynamic Modelling Techniques In Earth And Environmental Sciences, Jihua Hao

Sustainability Seminar Series

In nature, kinetic laws control how fast one reaction is, but thermodynamic laws determine whether one reaction can happen or not. In this talk, Dr. Hao will introduce some basic thermodynamic theories and explain how to determine affinity of reaction in natural environments. In addition, Dr. Hao will present several examples of using thermodynamics to understand cycles of elements on our Earth based on his own research outputs. Furthermore, this talk will cover some discussions on how to apply thermodynamic simulations to figure out potential ways to maintain sustainability in nature.

The Waterfall Crisis, Guiliana G. Grisaffi

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

While the Earth’s surface is 71% covered in water, that does not mean that one day all our water could be gone. The current global water crisis is not just a water crisis-it is a waterfall crisis. One wicked, terrible problem that leads to many other wicked problems, a waterfall crisis. Millions of women and young girls are taken out of work and school and instead forced to collect and gather fresh water for their families. Children are suffering from irreversible health consequences from toxic, contaminated water, an example of a health consequence is a lower IQ from lead poisoning. …

Sdstate Sustainability Newsletter: Vol. 5 Issue 2, Jennifer Mclaughlin

SD State Sustainability Newsletter

Content:

• SDSU in Princeton Review's 2021 Guide to Green Schools

• Facilities & Services Adds Electric Delivery Vehicle to Fleet

• Wokini Initiative Included in AASHE's 2020 Sustainable Campus Index

• 5 Tips for a Sustainable Holiday

• Inaugural Sustainability Ambassador Program Completed Last Week

Reducing Paper Usage Through Monthly Printing Reports: A Case Study From The College Of The Holy Cross, Office Of Sustainability

Office of Sustainability

This case study outlines the project goals, implementation, and results of a reporting initiative aimed to reduce waste on a small, liberal arts college campus.

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Asian Businesses And The Economy, Havovi Joshi

Asian Management Insights

The Covid-19 pandemic will likely end when a vaccine can be made available to everyone, or when we have achieved some measure of herd immunity. Unfortunately, both are as yet nowhere in sight.

Human Rights And Social, Economic, & Environmental Justice: Ethics Of Samfundssind & Agape, Claire L. Dente

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Multidisciplinary Enrichment Of Undergraduate Environmental Geology Students From International Summer Programs. Case Study: Summer 2019 3mugis, Russia, Ruslana Baker, Malek Shami, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Stanley Schleifer

Publications and Research

Hosted by the People’s Friendly University of Russia (RUDN), the Modeling, Monitoring, and Managing of Urban Green Infrastructure (3MUGIS) summer program was organized by the collaboration of the New York City Urban Soil Institute (NYC-USI), City University of New York – Brooklyn College, and under the auspices of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS). The program consisted of one-week lecture sessions and two-weeks of fieldwork across five bioclimatic zones, ranging from the sub-arctic tundra of the Kola Peninsula to the Southern Steps of Rostov, Black Sea. Faculty and guest lecturers included scientists with various expertise from Germany, USA, Russia, …

Integrating Digital Tools In Remote Learning To Enhance The Delivery Methods Of Technical Content In Undergraduate Geosciences, Ruslana Baker, Malek Shami, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Stanley Schleifer

Publications and Research

The global transition to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic was an extremely difficult task for both students and faculty in geological sciences. Technical courses, such as Structural Geology, Mineralogy, Petrology, and Invertebrate Paleontology, that require in-person lectures and laboratory sessions involving various rocks and mineral samples, fossils, maps, and models, were a major concern at the start. The challenge of delivering the technical content via Microsoft Teams, Skype, Webex, Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, Zoom, and other internet based platforms was not only a burden for the faculty to carry, as students were struggling to conceptualize outcrop-and-type-section-based information and link …

A Sustainability Machine: The Incineration-Based Waste Regime In Tampa, Fl, Usa, Kevin P. Martyn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent history has seen some significant changes in terms of how society thinks about and deals with its wastes. Increasingly troubling indications of the immediacy of ecological concerns, now often described by the Anthropocene concept, have been provocative of a reinvigorated fervor for a sustainability transition. As a result, sustainability has become well-established as both an urgent pursuit and an eminently pliable buzzword. This research describes and explains one key aspect of society’s pursuit of some version of sustainability: our relationship with waste.

The site of this research is Tampa, Florida, a sunbelt city with a unique waste management system. …

Improved Sustainability Of Bridges Through Better Diagnostics And Deeper Understanding Of Deterioration Processes, Nenad Gucunski

Sustainability Seminar Series

Effective and economic management of bridges depends on an accurate assessment of their current condition, and, in turn, prediction of their future performance. Deterioration processes in reinforced concrete, since they are a result of multiple inputs and actions, are inherently complex. To fully and accurately characterize various types of deterioration and gauge its severity, it requires using multiple nondestructive evaluation (NDE) tools in concert with other technologies. Among all the components, reinforced concrete decks deteriorate fastest, primarily due to their direct exposure to traffic and environmental loading, and maintenance actions. Therefore, the most significant advancements in NDE technologies’ efficacy for …

The Pca-Logistic Method For Identification Of Water Burst In Nalinhe No.2 Coal Mine, Ji Zhuochen, Ding Xiang, Hou Enke, Pu Zhiguo, Xie Peng

Coal Geology & Exploration

Nalinhe No.2 coal mine is the first pair of large-scale mines in the Nalinhe mining area. The water inrush events occur from time to time due to its own complex hydrogeological conditions and strong disturbance of excavation in the initial stage of production, which has caused serious threat to the mining activity safety. Finding the source of gushing water quickly and effectively is the key to control the mine water disaster. Based on the water quality analysis of main aquifers and goaf water samples in Nalinhe No.2 coal mine, and drawing the piper trilinear nomograph water samples, the hydrogeochemical characteristics …

Method And Practice Of Quality Test After Grouting In Coal Mine Goaf, Liu Xiaoping, Li Shan, Liu Xinxing, Cao Xiaoyi, Wang Yutao

Coal Geology & Exploration

Grouting quality test is the key technology for efficient development and utilization of waste land in the goaf of a coal mine, it is of great significance to evaluate the stability of the site and the safety of construction after goaf management. Based on many engineering practices, this paper summarizes the evaluation method of the qualified standards of the grouting quality and the errors existed in the testing work. The results proved that the quality inspection after grouting is a systematic work. The test method could be optimized according to the characteristics of the construction and grouting design requirements, following …

Expansion Mechanism And Control Measures Of High Concentration Slurry Filling In Cavity Goaf Of Coal Mine, Wu Boqiang, Wang Xiaodong, Zhu Shibin

Coal Geology & Exploration

The filling expansion mechanism and control measures of high concentration slurry in goaf is one of the difficult problems to be solved in the filling treatment of cavity goaf. Based on this, combined with the high concentration slurry transportation and rheological theory, a high concentration slurry filling process model was constructed to reveal its expansion mechanism, the dynamic and resistance calculation methods of filling expansion process were studied, the main influencing factors and control methods of filling accumulation body morphology were determined, and the theoretical results were verified by outdoor filling test.The results show that the the relative error between …

Test Of Near-Horizontal Drilling Hydraulic Reverse Circulation Coring In Leakage Formation, Yang Dongdong, Zhao Jiangpeng

Coal Geology & Exploration

Based on the urgent need of accurate exploration of geological anomalous bodies such as collapse columns and small faults in underground coal mines for near-horizontal boreholes coring drilling of leakage formation, the double-wall hydraulic reverse circulation continuous coring technology was proposed, its technical principle and characteristics were analyzed, the matching ø89/42 mm double-wall coring drilling pipes and reverse circulation coring bits were developed. Three near-horizontal coring boreholes were drilled, the functional tests were carried out in a surface mine, the maximum core recovery rate of a single borehole was 83.6%, the maximum roundtrip footage was 69 m and the average …

Experimental Study On Bearing Characteristics Of Filled Piers In Coal Mine Goaf, Zhu Shibin

Coal Geology & Exploration

The high concentration slurry is poured into the goaf to form filled piers. The bearing capacity of the piers to the superstructure are affected by the overlap size. In order to grasp the influence of the overlap size on the bearing capacity of the overlying rock layer, high concentration slurry was prepared which selected cement as the cementing material, standard sand as the aggregate. 3D printing technology was used to make the mold to produce the overlapped round table samples. The uniaxial compression test was carried out. Test results show that, when the top area and height of each single …