Sustainability Commons^™

Urban Underground Infrastructure Monitoring Iot: The Path Loss Analysis, Abdul Salam, Syed Shah

Faculty Publications

The extra quantities of wastewater entering the pipes can cause backups that result in sanitary sewer overflows. Urban underground infrastructure monitoring is important for controlling the flow of extraneous water into the pipelines. By combining the wireless underground communications and sensor solutions, the urban underground IoT applications such as real time wastewater and storm water overflow monitoring can be developed. In this paper, the path loss analysis of wireless underground communications in urban underground IoT for wastewater monitoring has been presented. It has been shown that the communication range of up to 4 kilometers can be achieved from an underground …

Life Cycle Assessment Of Pelletized Loblolly Pine (Pinus Taeda) Residues For Coal Co-Firing In Virginia, Michael Fowler

Sigma Xi Student Research Symposium (2019)

The goal of this study is to develop a real-world scenario life cycle with efficient, realistic, geologistics and minimum input demands. Woody biomass is projected to become a growing percentage of domestic electricity generation as a renewable fuel source. However, concerns persist regarding energy content, waste, emissions, ability to provide adequate biomass supply, and policies. Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) is a short rotation woody crop grown in a substantial portion of the Southeastern United States for lumber and paper pulpwood. Once harvested, the fast-growing softwood can be delimbed and debarked leaving 20% of the biomass as underutilized residues. …

Sdstate Sustainability Newsletter: Vol 3. Issue 5, Jennifer Mclaughlin

SD State Sustainability Newsletter

Content:

Don't Dump! Donate! Starts April 30th
Present at UMACS Sustainability Conference
Brookings Earth Day 2019 Events

Development Of A Scada System For Alternative Energy, Molom-Ochir Mijid

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Business and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree Master of Science by Molom-Ochir Mijid on April 18, 2019.

Connecting People, Places, And Pollinators: A Year-Long Classroom And Community Collaboration In Portland, Oregon, Hannah Werthman

The International Undergraduate Journal For Service-Learning, Leadership, and Social Change

This unique project at Portland State University (PSU) has been revolutionizing undergraduate community-based learning (CBL) efforts since the collaboration started in 2012. This case study involves a deep look into a year-long CBL effort involving three university instructors, two undergraduate student fellows from PSU’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions (ISS), Green Lents, a neighborhood-based nonprofit, and approximately seventy-five undergraduate students.

Fluoride Removal From Water Using A 3d Printed Calcium Carbonate Filter, Sophia Bakar, David Kahler, Benjamin S. Goldschmidt

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

Groundwater containing high concentrations of fluoride is the most common source of drinking water in rural areas in parts of east Africa, India, and China. The elevated levels of fluoride cause skeletal and dental fluorosis, which is the weakening and decay of bone structures due to the leeching of calcium from the body as calcium and fluoride bond by the process of adsorption. Over 150 million people are suffering from some form of fluorosis due to the consumption of groundwater. Calcium carbonate has been demonstrated to influence fluoride removal in several forms. To make fluoride removal a cost-effective and user-friendly …

Tree Physiology Before, During And After Gypsy Moth Attack And Subsequent Drought In An Upland Forest In The New Jersey Pine Barrens, Karina Schäfer

Sustainability Seminar Series

An investigation over the >ten-year period, canopy water use had declined due to mortality and has as of yet, not rebound to pre-defoliation levels. However, water use has not proportionally dropped to mortality, due to compensation of surviving trees, mostly white oak species and pines, whereby red oak species declined. Thus, mortality and changes in canopy structure increased availability of water and light, and the surviving population first decreased then increased their water use efficiency after an initial decline hinting at increased competition again. Forest functioning and species composition will likely be altered by re-occurring droughts, insect infestations and windthrow, …

Sulitest®: A Mixed-Method, Pilot Study Of Assessment Impacts On Undergraduate Sustainability-Related Learning And Motivation, Alicia Mason

Faculty Submissions

A United Nations international collaboration between the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) resulted in the creation of Sulitest® (aka Sustainability Literacy Test) an open, online training and assessment tool freely available to higher education institutions globally. This study analyzes the effectiveness of the newly developed Sulitest® to not only measure sustainability literacy of higher education student populations, but also act as a catalyst for boosting affective learning outcomes by: (a) generating interest in sustainability-related issues, (b) improving sustainability-related understandings, and (c) enhancing students’ interests in the subject matter. In order to do …

Environmental Problem Solving: Aldea Coffee Composting Project, Braxton Rivera, Laura Zemaitis, Zac Corell, Danielle Dvorchak

Environmental and Sustainability Studies Undergraduate Projects

There is currently no system to compost or sustainably dispose of waste for businesses in Grand Haven, Michigan. Aldea Coffee is a local shop that is looking to find an environmentally-friendly, sustainable waste-management system for their used coffee grounds and other wastes they produce. We believe starting a waste composting program is the next step to reduce our impact on the environment. Potentially, this program can expand to more local businesses in Grand Haven.

The Prairie Post Quarterly Newsletter Of The High Plains Regional Climate Center- April 2019, Natalie Umphlett, Rezaul Mamood, Warren Pettee, Paul Flanagan, Bill Sorensen, Jamie Lahowetz, Emily Brown, Crystal J. Stiles

Prairie Post: Quarterly Newsletter of the High Plains Regional Climate Center

Inside this issue:

Message from the director........................................1

Staff spotlight...........................1

Climate4Cities.......................2-3

Product highlight....................4

Update on regional climate conditions..................................4

THREDDS workshop...............5

AASC webinar...........................5

Recent and upcoming travel and activities.............................6

A Pedagogical Framework For The Design And Utilization Of Place-Based Experiential Learning Curriculum On A Campus Farm, Julia L. Angstmann, Amber J. Rollings, Grant A. Fore, Brandon H. Sorge

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Campus agriculture projects are increasingly being recognized as spaces impactful to student engagement and learning through curricular and co-curricular programming; however, most campus farm activities are limited to agriculture or sustainability programs and/or co-curricular student clubs. Thus, campus farms are largely underutilized in the undergraduate curriculum, marking a need to explore the efficacy and impact of engaging a diverse array of disciplinary courses in the rich social, environmental, and civic context of local sustainable agriculture. The Farm Hub program presented here incentivizes instructors to refocus a portion of existing course content around the topic of local, sustainable agriculture, and reduces …

Las Buenas Vibras Y El Buen Vivir El ‘Desarrollo’ Turístico Por La Ruta Del Sol, Devon Hornberger

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En Montañita, Ecuador, el turismo constituye el principal motor de crecimiento económico, lo que se considera el ‘desarrollo’. Este turismo tiene un carácter particular – bohemio, hippie, escapista — que aprovecha de los discursos de la sostenibilidad y el ‘capitalismo verde’. Este proyecto intenta poner en conversación estos tipos de discursos desarrollistas con las perspectivas locales sobre como el turismo ha afectado los modos de ser comunitarios. Se concluye que el proyecto modernizador ha plantado unas raíces firmes en Montañita, y se va extendiendo baja la tierra a las otras comunidades por toda la Ruta del Spondylus. Explora unas iniciativas …

El Esfuerzo Para Establecer La Reserva Wilapewen: Las Motivaciones Y Impedimentos De Establecer Una Reserva Ecológica En La Comuna De Curarrehue, Alexandra K. Black

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines a budding effort to establish an ecological reservation in the commune of Curarrehue, in the south-central Chilean region of the Araucanía. The study looks to explain the nature of the project, elaborating on the local context from which it originates. Engaging with modern theory on the current state of wilderness conservation in Chile, this study examines the effort to establish this reserve through a theoretical lens of wilderness conservation executed with local culture and current human physical impact in mind. Underneath this theory, the study uncovers and develops the motivations behind this effort to establish a reserve …

“In Principle” Versus “In Reality”: Assessing The Potential Of Adaptive Urban Governance Toward Urban Flooding In Ho Chi Minh City’S District 7, Cindy Pham Nguyen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Flooding has become the new normal in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). During the rainy season, many areas of the city experience severe inundation that seriously impacts infrastructure, traffic, and economic transactions. As the effects of climate change unpredictably and rapidly manifest in Southern Vietnam, the frequency and impact of urban floods are projected to increase. In addition, within the last few decades, HCMC has rapidly developed and urbanized, transforming itself into the economic center of Southern Vietnam. However, previous studies and international experts have determined that rapid, poor development may be exacerbating urban flood issues.

In recent years, city …

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 …

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 …

Movement For A Gasfield Free Northern Rivers And Its Applicability To Other Movements, Mariah Thomson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Gasfield Free Northern Rivers campaign evolved into a broader social movement opposing unconventional gas extraction in the Northern Rivers, New South Wales, Australia. This movement manifested the Bentley blockade in which thousands of people collaborated to resist the invasive gas industry. This movement was successful in getting all gas exploration licenses in the region bought back by the NSW government, thus achieving the goal of keeping the Northern Rivers Gasfield Free. In this study I investigate how the GFNR campaign reached the scale of the Bentley blockade, and what aspects of this campaign and the broader movement are applicable …

Environmental Consciousness For The Politically Autonomous: The Basque Country, Miranda L. White

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

When discussing the issue of political autonomy, the usual topics that are taken into consideration are based around human rights, language, culture, society or economics. Those are the most commonly discussed for good reason, as they are important for the rights and freedoms of a community itself. However, this research paper aims to investigate further into the discussion of the environmental effects of political autonomy in Spain, specifically in the matter of autonomous competencies for waterway and air management. Therefore, in order to test such a hypothesis, this study will use the Basque Country of Spain as the subject, and …

Droughtscape, Spring 2019, Cory Matteson

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

From the Director

Wet and cool conditions bring drought relief to the West

Notable numbers from Q1

Drought impact summary, 1st quarter 2019

New research examines drought effects on state recreation areas

At Ethiopian space science workshop, NDMC climatologist sees promise in preparing for drought

U.S.- affiliated Pacific Islands now part of U.S. Drought Monitor

Water conservation tips for drought, flood and other disasters

Upcoming events

Art In The Park, Raelee Olson, Bri Hukill, Sandy Vercellino, Brynne Garver

Environmental and Sustainability Studies Undergraduate Projects

One of the main objectives for our project was finding sustainable paints that could be used in the mural. One of the most influential sources I found was by Rochikashvili & Bongaerts (2016), which discussed three types of sustainable paints used to cover walls, and the benefits of each. This is where I learned about the emission of VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, that are found in many traditional paints and the harmful effects they can have on the environment. The authors of this paper discussed the benefits of finding low-VOC paints, as well as other sustainable paint alternatives like …