Sustainability Commons^™

Predicting Post-Fire Change In West Virginia, Usa From Remotely-Sensed Data, Michael Strager P. Strager, Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy, Aaron E. Maxwell

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Prescribed burning is used in West Virginia, USA to return the important disturbance process of fire to oak and oak-pine forests. Species composition and structure are often the main goals for re-establishing fire with less emphasis on fuel reduction or reducing catastrophic wildfire. In planning prescribed fires land managers could benefit from the ability to predict mortality to overstory trees. In this study, wildfires and prescribed fires in West Virginia were examined to determine if specific landscape and terrain characteristics were associated with patches of high/moderate post-fire change. Using the ensemble machine learning approach of Random Forest, we determined that …

Benchmark Levels For The Consumptive Water Footprint Of Crop Production For Different Environmental Conditions: A Case Study For Winter Wheat In China, La Zhuo, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Meeting growing food demands while simultaneously shrinking the water footprint (WF) of agricultural production is one of the greatest societal challenges. Benchmarks for the WF of crop production can serve as a reference and be helpful in setting WF reduction targets. The consumptive WF of crops, the consumption of rainwater stored in the soil (green WF), and the consumption of irrigation water (blue WF) over the crop growing period varies spatially and temporally depending on environmental factors like climate and soil. The study explores which environmental factors should be distinguished when determining benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of crops. …

Baiting Sustainability: Collaborative Coastal Management, Heritage Tourism, And Alternative Fisheries In Placencia, Belize, Eric Koenig

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Local coastal fishers in Belize are adapting novel strategies to manage, exploit, and market marine and coastal resources in an effort to promote fishing livelihoods and coastal environmental sustainability. These resilience strategies respond to diminished fishing stocks, fisheries and environmental policies and regulations, climate change, shifting seafood markets, and expanding tourism development. With growing foreign investment and nationally-directed infrastructure improvement projects on the Placencia Peninsula in recent years, tourism development is shifting toward mass tourism, and local residents are seeking avenues to sustain their livelihoods. In Placencia, the need for effective monitoring and management of Marine Protected Areas, fisheries, and …

Perspectives On The Development Of A Local Food System: The Case Of Dayton, Ohio, Diana Cuy Castellanos, John C. Jones, Joanne Christaldi, Katherine A. Liutkus

Health and Sport Science Faculty Publications

Multiple sectors play vital roles in a community’s development and maintenance of a sustainable local food system. This study explored the perceptions of twenty-two representatives from the civil society, public, and private sectors in Dayton, Ohio, about the development of the region’s local food system. The researchers employed grounded theory methodology for data collection and analysis. Core themes from the participants of each sector group emerged from the data and areas of convergence and divergence among groups were reported.

Wind Power: Frustrating Yet Inevitable, Garth Woodruff

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Comparing Sanitation Delivery Modalities In Urban Informal Settlement Schools: A Randomized Trial In Nairobi, Kenya, Kate Bohnert, Anna N. Chard, Alex Mwaki, Amy E., Kirby, Richard Muga, Corey L. Nagel, Evan A. Thomas, Matthew C. Freeman

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The provision of safely managed sanitation in informal settlements is a challenge, especially in schools that require durable, clean, sex-segregated facilities for a large number of children. In informal settlements in Nairobi, school sanitation facilities demand considerable capital costs, yet are prone to breakage and often unhygienic. The private sector may be able to provide quality facilities and services to schools at lower costs as an alternative to the sanitation that is traditionally provided by the government. We conducted a randomized trial comparing private sector service delivery (PSSD) of urine-diverting dry latrines with routine waste collection and maintenance and government …

Change Agents

SIGNED: The Magazine of The Hong Kong Design Institute

Two recent visitors to HKDI helped students understand how design and a sustainable lifestyle can be good partners but as Summer Cao reports designers have to inspire consumers to adopt better habits before long term improvements in the environment will be possible.

Designed To Last

SIGNED: The Magazine of The Hong Kong Design Institute

Issues of creativity and sustainability have usually been separated since the industrial revolution in the West over two hundred years ago. While most designers have thought about how to sell their products, rather than how to save the earth, an increasing number have begun to argue that this separation is untenable. The HKDI's Yan Yan Lam is one of them. As she explains to Daniel Jeffreys, a sustainable future for the planet is something that will only happen by disign.

Waste Management And Upcycling, Katarina Brieditis, Katarina Evans

SIGNED: The Magazine of The Hong Kong Design Institute

All material is good material, you only need to create ways to use it. Re Rag Rug started as an experimental design project to explore the social and ecological factors of turning waste material into rugs…

Magic Carpets

SIGNED: The Magazine of The Hong Kong Design Institute

Two designers have harnessed creativity and innovation to recreate and invigorate a traditional Swedish handicraft using recycled materials. As Libby Zeng reports their goal is to persuade the whole world to embrace sustainable design.

Impact Of Climate Change On Corn Yields In Alabama, Pauline Welikhe, Joseph Essamuah-Quansah, Kenneth Boote, Senthold Asseng, Gamal El Afandi, Souleymane Fall, Desmond Mortley, Ramble Ankumah

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Abstract

The study used calibrated Crop Environment Resource Synthesis (CERES) maize (corn) model to simulate maize (corn) physiological growth processes and yields under 2045 and 2075 projected climate change scenarios for six representative counties in Alabama. The future climatologies for two emission scenarios Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 (medium) and RCP 8.5 (high) were developed based on the IPSL-CM5A-MR high resolution climate model. Average yield decreases of 19.5% and 37.3% were, respectively, projected under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 for 2045, and average yield decreases of 32.5% and 77.8% were, respectively, projected under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 for 2075. …

Utilizing Nasa Earth Observations To Identify And Protect Ancient Chacoan Sites Throughout The San Juan Basin, New Mexico, Kelsey Herndon, Sydney Neely, Dash Cruz, Ryan Schick, Robert Griffin

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Moving Up

SIGNED: The Magazine of The Hong Kong Design Institute

The HKDI is on course to become a pioneer in environmentally conscious design by embedding the concept of sustainability into fashion at the start of the creative process.

Mathematical Modeling In Collaborative Courses: The Soup To Nuts Experience, Sarah Hews, Christina Cianfrani

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Agenda: Winter, Wilderness & Climate: Threats & Solutions, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment, The Wilderness Society, Protect Our Winters

Winter, Wilderness, and Climate--Threats and Solutions (October 12)

In partnership with the Getches-Wilkinson Center, join The Wilderness Society and Protect Our Winters for an interactive presentation about energy development and climate impacts on public lands.

This event was held on Wednesday, October 12, 2016, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m., in the University of Colorado Law School, Wolf Law Building, Wittemyer Courtroom.

Slides: Winter, Wilderness & Climate: Threats & Solutions, Jim Ramey, Lindsay Bourgoine

Winter, Wilderness, and Climate--Threats and Solutions (October 12)

Presenters:

Jim Ramey, The Wilderness Society

Lindsay Bourgoine, Protect Our Winters

56 slides

Neilson Library Final Charter, Smith College

The New Neilson Library

Final charter for the New Neilson Library project.

Characterization Of S-Swcnt/Pf-Pd Dispersions And Networks, Tamara N. El-Hayek Ms., Jeffrey Blackburn, Andrew Ferguson, Tammy Pheuphong

STAR Program Research Presentations

Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) are being investigated for their use in a wide variety of renewable energy applications. Their unique physical properties contribute to desirable traits such as a high carrier mobility, strong optical absorption and tunable electronic band gap. Unfortunately, due to variability in certain parameters, SWCNTs are limited in their application. The major drawback is that SWCNTs are variable in size and type and typical synthetic methods are not selective. As a result, selective methods must be developed in order to sort these tubes and extract those which are desirable for a particular application. Though there are several …

Testing Predictions Used To Build An Agrivoltaics Installation On A Small-Scale Educational Model, Katie Kinney, Rebecca Minor, Greg Barron-Gafford

STAR Program Research Presentations

Models are valuable tools for explaining and testing systems. Small-scale models can be especially useful for educational purposes. For models to be useful, they have to accurately depict the larger system that they are describing. A novel man-made system, known as an agrivoltaic structure, is being constructed at Biosphere 2 near Oracle, Arizona. The word agrivoltaic is a combination of agriculture and photovoltaics, or solar farming. My research involved creating a small-scale version of this system for educational purposes. The model of this system tested two predictions: that plants will grow better in the shade of a panel and that …

Getches-Wilkinson Center Newsletter, Fall 2016, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment Newsletter (2013-)

No abstract provided.