Sustainability Commons^™

Umass Boston School For The Environment: Educating The Next Generation Of Environmental Problem Solvers, Robyn Hannigan, Anamarija Frankic

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Environmental challenges do not recognize disciplinary, socio-economic, or geographic boundaries. To support the development of environmental problem-solvers we deeply engage undergraduate and graduate students in solving real-world environmental problems through innovation and sustainability-focused courses and research experiences. These experiences directly engage local communities in the development and implementation of environmental solutions.

Social Equality And Environmental Education In Brazil, Sherrod Williams

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Beacon Voyages for Service (BVS) is a program within the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement that coordinates Alternative Break programs. BVS Brazil traveled to Porto Alegre. This group of students partnered with “The Brazilian Association of Cultural Exchange (ABIC)” and the Center for Environmental Education to learn about the social problems that affect the citizens of Brazil and tackle issues of waste management. The students work alongside community members in a recycling unit and spend many hours working with local youth.

Building Sustainability In Rural Puerto Rico, Sherrod Williams

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Beacon Voyages for Service (BVS) is a program within the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement that coordinates Alternative Break programs. BVS Puerto Rico traveled to Las Marias, Puerto Rico. This group of students partnered with Plenitud Eco-Educational Initiatives to learn about sustainability through organic farming and permaculture practices in rural areas of Puerto Rico.

Greenwashing: The Ethics Of Green Marketing, Alex Landreville '13

Honor Scholar Theses

In this paper, I argue that companies who make exaggerated claims about the environmental impact of their products act unethically. The public has become more ecologically conscientious than ever before, and firms have been quick to exploit this new interest to their economic advantage. Many of the claims conveyed in these green advertisements attempt to convince consumers that through purchasing a product, they can create a tangible benefit on the environment relative to similar products they would have otherwise purchased. However, consumers are often manipulated by false information conveyed through explicit and implicit advertising cues. Even from a permissive ethical …

Biogas: Digesting Organic Wastes Anaerobically To Generate A Renewable Energy Source; Looking For A Solution, Allison Hall

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

In lieu of an abstract, below is the first paragraph of the paper.

In the past decade alone, it has become increasingly important that consumers find alternative energy resources to provide some relief for the environment. Carbon based fuels, like propane and natural gas, are running in short supply and it won't be long until another fuel source will be needed to sustain the energy needed for a growing world. Not only are scientists concerned about the energy crisis, they are also concerned with ozone depletion as a result of methane and carbon dioxide buildups in the atmosphere. This excess …

A Portrait Of A Farm: A Short Film Documenting Small-Scale Livestock Production On Hayters Hill Farm In Byron Bay, Noah Throop

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over the past two-hundred years, the industrialization and mechanization of agriculture has slowly dissolved the centuries-old bond between human beings, the land and their food. Today, this disconnect threatens to exacerbate wide scale environmental degradation and a wide array of chronic diseases. However small, local farms that sell their produce directly to consumers are in a position to reverse this trend and reconnect consumers with their food. Small-scale farmers are able to see the health of the environment as instrumental to their economic and personal wellbeing and are able to be held accountable for their farming practices by their customers. …

Establishment Of The Coral Sea Marine Reserve: An In-Depth Analysis Of The Social And Environmental Impacts Of An Ecosystem-Based Management Approach To Conservation, Grace O’Connor

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The proposed Coral Sea Marine Reserve covers approximately 989,842 square kilometers and is in an area that is internationally recognized for rich biodiversity, unique species and important heritage values. The reserve was established to protect and maintain biodiversity and to contribute to international (UNCED) and national obligations (EPBC, NRSMPA). This spatial protection is an ecosystem-based management approach calling for ecologically sustainable use of marine resources, as well as protection of many vulnerable and endangered species. The zoning of the Coral Sea Marine Reserve will drastically limit human use, most notably prohibiting fishing in the majority of the area. Extensive research …

Droughtscape, Spring 2013, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

Contents

Director’s report

First quarter climate summary and outlook

Impacts: Crop indemnities set records in 2012; water conflicts escalating

International meeting recommends countries have drought policies

NDMC plays key role in international drought policy meeting

EDEN and VOAD guide helps build community drought capacity

Svoboda, other experts and policymakers focus on food and water security

New Mexico ranching workshop set for May 29 in Socorro

Ranch planning updates: archived webinars, new publications

Tune in to the US Drought Monitor Forum, April 16-18

Archived webinar looks at using drought simulations in planning

CoCoRaHS WxTalk on drought

Cultivating Change: Women Transforming Holland’S Food System, Meg Vandeusen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Women are influential in the production and reproduction of food systems. Historically, domesticity positioned women as gatekeepers to their family’s food consumption; these food practices have in turn informed cultural codes that construct personal identity. Feminist scholars have investigated how cooking and feeding practices affect a woman’s perception of self and interaction with society. Both practices are viewed as a simultaneous burden and pleasure, as an act of victimization and empowerment. These binaries must be deconstructed in order to create change within the food system. The impact of women taking control of the full cycle – gaining knowledge of where …

The Infinite And The Finite: An Analysis Of The United States’ Energy Future, Elise Voorhis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Last year the New York Times published a newsworthy article stating that the United States could become “Energy Independent” from the tumultuous OPEC countries. This groundbreaking revelation, supported by statistics from the International Energy Agency, claimed that newfound energy resources were spread throughout North America in the form of shale oil and gas. Politicians and the public clung to this possibility in the face of strenuous relations with the Middle East as the Arab Spring and the War on Terror waged on. However, the consequences of becoming “energy independent” have not been considered. What are the geopolitical implications of pursuing …

The Stories Of Environmental Ethicists In Word And Image, Camille Robins

Scripps Senior Theses

The Stories of Environmental Ethicists in Word and Image captures the spirit of three local people: John B. Cobb, Jr., Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Dean Freudenberger. As teachers, writers, activists, and members of the progressive retirement community Pilgrim Place, they’ve had a significant influence on the global environmental movement. The photographs and small essays in this project highlight who they are and what they’ve done, and how they continue to shape contemporary intellectual discourse. An analysis of how portrait photographers use images to tell stories and how they incorporate text in their photographic collections to create fuller, more robust pictures …

A Guide To The Pomona College Organic Farm: An Introduction To The Farm’S History And Basic Gardening Skills And Techniques, Adam J. Long

Pomona Senior Theses

It was almost four years ago when I first visited the Pomona College Organic Farm and since then I have learned everything from the basics of gardening to the complex steps required to organize students for events and activities. As I learned more and saw so many students come and go, I saw a need for written documentation that would allow future generations of students to benefit from the skills that my peers and I have learned in our time at the Farm. The value of the Farm is grounded in having a vibrant physical space, and right now the …

Justified By Faith: The Upper Susquehanna Lutheran Synod And The Pennsylvania Natural Gas Fracking Controversy, Lena R. Connor

Pomona Senior Theses

An exercise in applied Christian ecotheology, this thesis focuses on a community of Lutheran church bodies (ELCA) in North Central Pennsylvania as they grappled with natural gas hydraulic fracturing in the summer of 2012. In the paper, I employ a combination of theological, environmental, historical, and ethnographic research methodologies to ground my analysis of how this synod of Lutherans to date has approached the fracking boom. My primary research question is: How might the Upper Susquehanna Synod of the ELCA--as a representative body of 131 Lutheran churches that are steeped in tradition--use its history, community involvement, theology, and church structure …

Rethinking Sustainability To Meet The Climate Change Challenge, Michael Burger, Elizabeth Burleson, Rebecca M. Bratspies, Robin Kundis Craig, Alexandra R. Harrington, David M. Driesen, Keith H. Hirokawa, Sarah Krakoff, Katrina Fischer Kuh, Stephen R. Miller, Jessica Owley, Patrick Parenteau, Melissa Powers, Shannon M. Roesler, Jona M. Roesler

Journal Articles

This article presents a preliminary effort to capture the dialogue at the Environmental Law Collaborative’s inaugural Workshop. Attendees engaged in the re-conceptualization of sustainability in the age of climate change, premised on evidence that climate change is forcing changes in the norms of political, social, economic, and technological standards. As climate change continues to dominate many fields of research, sustainability is at a critical moment that challenges its conceptual coherence. Sustainability has never been free from disputes over its meaning and has long struggled with the difficulties of simultaneously implementing the “triple-bottom line” components of environmental, economic, and social well-being. …

An Evaluation Of Environmental Education Programs On Pemba Island, Lindsay Kingston

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Pemba Island, a member of the Zanzibar archipelago, is intimately connected and highly dependent on their natural resources, which are rapidly deteriorating. How to sustain their agrarian-based economy whilst also conserving the environment is the current challenge facing this island. Key to overcoming this dilemma is the development of knowledgeable and effective environmental organizations, such as environmental clubs and NGOs. A small-scale assessment of the environmental education (EE) and associated clubs was established primarily through a student survey, on-site visits, and interviews. It focuses primarily on evaluating three schools and their associated clubs, but also provides information on the Island’s …

Testing The Waters: Public Health Lab- Ivo De Carneri’S Safe Water Project Pemba Island, Tanzania, E. Grace Reville

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Access to an improved source of drinking water is becoming increasingly difficult in Tanzania. The Safe Water Project, run through Public Health Lab Ivo de Carneri (PHL-IdC) in Chake-Chake, Pemba, is a water quality analysis and infrastructure project on Pemba island, Tanzania that aims to improve water quality and access through three distinct project phasesinitial assessment and planning, reworking of network infrastructure, and the ongoing sampling for biological and chemical indicators of water quality. This report deals exclusively with the microbial aspect of the third phase of the project, the ongoing sampling and analysis of primary and secondary water resources …

Maximizing Community Action: An Internship With Be The Change, Rachel Rosenbaum

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

From 3 April 2013 to 28 April 2013, I interned with the Brisbane branch of Be The Change, an organization that promotes ecological, social and spiritual sustainability through their empowering symposiums, in Australia. I focused on creating a tool to help symposium participants take community action after the event. My goal was to create a resource for Be The Change to use across Australia to further its impact, attend a symposium and implement sustainable actions in my everyday life.

In the 140 total hours of work I completed, I helped plan a symposium, participated in workshops and events within the …

Measuring And Improving Sustainable Resource Management At Byron Region Community College, Jeremy Betterley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study is to measure and report on progress made by Byron Region community College in relation to sustainable resource management as well as to observe, identify, and address and areas for improvement by developing recommendations in the categories of energy, waste and water. The college is dedicated in its vision to promote sustainability out of a sense of responsibility to the environment and future generations as well as a desire to train and prepare people for addressing 21st century problems such as climate change, drought, and peak oil. Energy, waste, and water make up a significant …

Implications For Soil Microbe Research: Investigations Into The Feasibility Of Dna Amplification From Stained Roots And Temporal Patterns In Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities., Catherine Ausland

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are obligate biotrophs that form symbiotic relationships with 80% of vascular plants around the world. Because of their beneficial relationship with plants in almost all terrestrial ecosystems, the implication of utilizing AM fungi in ecological restorations is immense. The following investigations seek to increase knowledge of the community ecology of AM fungi in order to enhance the potential for use of AM in ecological restoration. The first investigation replicated a novel method of AM visualization in plant roots, utilizing ink and vinegar as less destructive staining agents, to determine whether molecular studies could be feasibly performed …

“Hariyo Ban Nepalko Dhan” (“Nepal’S Wealth Is The Green Forest”): The People’S Participation In Structuring Sustainable Development Through Community Forestry, Natasha Eulberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Community forestry has a long history in Nepal, and despite the nationalization of the country’s forests in the mid-twentieth century, current legislation determines that rights and execution of community forest management lies largely with community forest user groups (CFUGs). This research questions to what extent CFUGs truly represent autonomous bodies with the full power and ability to manage and utilize community forests and forest resources. This research also seeks to determine the impact and distribution of CFUG operations and benefits on CFUG members, and the ways in which CFUG management practices have impacted how group members perceive and interact with …