Environmental Studies Commons^™

Biological Invasions In Coastal Marine Ecosystems: How Changes In Trade Are Linked To Ballast Water Delivery Of Nonindigenous Species, Danielle Elizabeth Verna

Dissertations and Theses

Globalization has escalated transfers of nonindigenous species (NIS) across natural dispersal barriers. The resulting biological invasions have become a leading global mechanism of ecological change. NIS are often transported between coastal marine ecosystems in the ballast water of commercial ships, and patterns of NIS introduction and establishment can be linked to global trade dynamics. Here I examined drivers of trade and ballast water across spatial and temporal extents of invasion. The analyses incorporated a variety of datasets on trade, industries, and ship behavior to identify fluctuations in globally transported commodities that lead to changes in maritime shipping patterns and frequency. …

Building City Identities: A Consumer Perspective, Delphine Godefroit-Winkel, Marie Schill, Cristina Longo, Martin Chour

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This study complements current knowledge on city identity and city attachment through a phenomenological inquiry among 22 Casablanca consumer residents. Five Casablanca identities emerge: City of Escape, Busy Isolating City, Clustering City, Small City, and Dark City. The findings illuminate (1) how consumers build specific types of city identities; (2) demonstrate city identity as the outcome of interplays between various consumption experiences, perceived characteristics of spaces and places, and ambivalent emotions; and (3) update current knowledge on city attachment. This work further provides valuable recommendations to public authorities who are willing to leverage specific identities.

Ecological Risk Assessment Of Managed Relocation As A Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, Aviv Karasov-Olson, Mark W. Schwartz, Julian D. Olden, Sarah Skikne, Jessica J. Hellmann, Sarah Allen, Christy Brigham, Danielle Buttke, David J. Lawrence, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Gregor W. Schuurman, Melissa Trammell, Cat Hawkins Hoffman

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Changing climate and introduced species are placing an increasing number of species at risk of extinction. Increasing extinction risk is increasing calls to protect species by relocating, or translocating, them to locations with more favorable biotic or climatic conditions. Managed relocation, or assisted migration, of species entails risks to both the conservation target organisms being moved as well as the recipient ecosystems into which they are moved.

Recognizing this risk, calls have been made for practitioners interested in considering a managed relocation project to engage in a serious risk assessment prior to advancing a project. We engaged a …

Cbe Waves Newsletter: March 2021, Various

Newsletters

• BROAD CITIZEN LOBBY to PROMOTE OCEAN CLIMATE ACTION;
• WRITING WORKSHOP for OCEAN AND CLIMATE ADVOCACY;
• OCEANS IN NATIONAL INCOME ACCOUNTS 5th. Intl. Symposium Wednesday-Thursday, March 24-25, 2021;
• HOW THE BLUE ECONOMY can HELP SOLVE the CLIMATE CRISIS;
• OPTIONS for SEA LEVEL RISE ADAPTATION on WEST CLIFF DRIVE;
• ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABILITY SPRING LECTURES & FILM EVENT,

Protocol For Monitoring Fish Communities In Small Streams In The Heartland Inventory And Monitoring Network, Version 2.0, Hope R. Dodd, David G. Peitz, Gareth Rowell, Janice A. Hinsey, David E. Bowles, Lloyd W. Morrison, Michael D. Debacker, Jennifer L. Haack-Gaynor, Jeffrey M. Williams

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Fish communities are an important component of aquatic systems and are good bioindicators of ecosystem health. Land use changes in the Midwest have caused sedimentation, erosion, and nutrient loading that degrades and fragments habitat and impairs water quality. Because most small wadeable streams in the Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network (HTLN) have a relatively small area of their watersheds located within park boundaries, these streams are at risk of degradation due to adjacent land use practices and other anthropogenic disturbances. Shifts in the physical and chemical properties of aquatic systems have a dramatic effect on the biotic community. …

Cultivated Wild: Enhancing Human Health In Cities Through Green Projects Especially During A Pandemic, Glenn Rose

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

The University of Richmond Eco-corridor, a new renovation project, transformed a wildly overgrown area into one of beauty with several recreational uses. The opening of this project comes at an important time for local outdoor recreation in cities, the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous work has suggested that landscapes are more beautiful when there is minimal human impact, therefore wilderness scenes are more likely to be used for nature walks and observing nature. While other studies suggest that beauty is dependent on how the land may be used, suggesting that “cultivated wild” is preferrable. This paper used an observational study and a …

Comparing The Environmental Impacts Of Using Mass Timber And Structural Steel, Khang Hoang Nguyen, Steelee Knight Morgan

Construction Management

Although mass timber has seen a gradual rise in demand in the past, there has been a lack of extensive research on the environmental impacts of using mass timber as a primary structural framing material. This paper compares structural steel, and mass timber’s total embodied carbon emissions. Accurate estimates were made using plans and specs for different projects retrieved from semi-structured interviews. The estimates were input through the EC3 Calculator to provide extensive total carbon emissions measurements between each construction material. Using structural steel framing increased the project’s overall environmental impact by roughly 84% compared to using mass timber. The …

The Road Ahead, Chloe Tilley

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

The creative project that I chose to make is a visual representation on the website “Creately” where I created a map of categorizations. I call the map that I created “The Road Ahead.” There are three sections, “where we were”, “where we are”, and “where we’re going”, and within these grounds I made a bank of major concepts and key terms that we have studied and explored throughout this semester; the map is essentially a word bank and concept organization of all the ideas from this course that were discussed and were threaded through the readings. The structure that I …

Living In The Plantationocene, Joshua Turner

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Preceding centuries of exploitation and commodification of all life and the natural world have led us to the crises we face today. To describe the dramatic changes our species has forced upon the planet, in 2000, scientists Eugene Stormer and Paul Crutzen dubbed the geological epoch we inhabit the Anthropocene (Global Change Newsletter). Although the term is useful to distinguish the altered composition of the atmosphere, soil, and oceans that human activity has produced from the ecological baseline of the Holocene, some scholars are critical of the term. Not all humans are equally to blame for the environmental degradation which …

Life As It Is, And Where I Want It To Be, Christopher Black

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Are you living a purposeful life? Ask yourself this regularly, and you will find yourself embarking on an expedition for passion; Is this not what we should be searching for each and every day? The word “purpose” can be defined as the reason why we do things. Without purpose we are essentially blind in all of our endeavors. At the beginning of every executive summary, at the forefront of every entrepreneurial venture, and within the crux of our hearts, lies purpose. Discovering your purpose is said to harvest empowerment, fluffiness, and happiness.

The Complicated Family Reunion, Cameron Chabot

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Plastic has a complicated beginning and an even more complicated future. It is made from substances call polymers and while some can be made from plant cellulose, many now are synthetic polymers made up of petroleum and other fossil fuels. Most fossil fuels are formed from the fossilized, buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago, so it is quite disturbing that they are being used for plastics that get thrown away after one use. This story follows a six pack of bottles (The Cola Family) and their different journeys around the world after being discarded.

Bipoc Communities And Environmental Humanities, Liza Gonzalez

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

No abstract provided.

Shannon Soundscape, Satrina-Mae Shannon

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

As a commuter student who does not live on campus, I elected to sit on my back patio for this listening exercise. While I had initially thought that staying relatively close to my house would be somewhat redundant in terms of what I would hear, I was pleasantly shocked to hear just how many sounds, be it human or nonhuman, ring out on my street in a given moment. Looking back, I think I had just never taken the time to actually listen to them.

I live near many trees, so the sound of birds chirping, or squirrels climbing is …

Morrison Soundscape, Ellie Morrison

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

I am staying in an apartment in the Museum District of Philadelphia, so I went to the courtyard in the middle of the property. I took some snacks with me, took the elevator to the ground floor, then walked outside and chose a white Adirondack chair in the middle of the grass. Being in a big city, I heard much more man-made, urban sounds than I did clean, natural sounds.

The first thing I noticed was the low, almost throaty, rumble of motorcycles on the freeway not even 200 yards away. It came in non-metrical bursts for the first minute …

Leszczynski Soundscape, Joseph Leszczynski

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Sitting outside of the Fisher Student Center, on black lacquered chairs, was the location of my soundscape experience. Being outside and an epicenter of activity, the amount of noise there was abundant. I was still outdoors, thus explaining the neutral noise of the environment. Some of the natural, non-human sounds I heard were from insects. A distinct, crescendo buzz came from above in the trees. The timbre was brash, like a trumpet that hit a high pitch note with vibrato. In addition, there were occasions where dried leaves would hit the ground from falling off a branch. This noise was …

Donlan Soundscape, Christopher Donlan

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

To capture the soundscape, I spent some time on the patio behind my apartment building and was able to identify a number of sounds, both natural and manmade. The location I was at sits right along the Blackstone River however, so the sound of the running water generates lots of white noise. While not changing in rhythm or pitch, the water produced a smooth and subtle tone that slightly masks the other sounds.

The most prominent sound I heard was the chirping from crickets. Their sound has a very fast paced rhythm that occurs in a steady pattern, however the …

A Typical Afternoon In The Hustling Streets Of Mumbai, Ishan Mehta

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

This soundscape activity is going to give you an experience of a typical afternoon in the hustling streets of Mumbai. I live on the 18^th floor of an apartment building in a suburb called Versova. One may think that staying at a higher floor would mean that there would be less sound, but in reality sound travels up through the building and you can hear everything. Since I could not go out of the house I walked around in my balcony which faces the ocean and right under is the main street, this is what I could hear. As …

Quarantine Adventures, Sarah Ragnauth

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

“Quarantine Adventures'' is a museum made entirely out of objects brought back from travels abroad…. before Corona hit. The pieces are from the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jordan, and Istanbul. The museum is broken up into two main parts. The first part contains pieces that were brought back from the Caribbean, while the second part features work from the Middle East. Each piece has a different story to tell.

The mission of this museum is to provide a little sunshine during this dark time. Being quarantined …

The Choata Mandir Museum - Lord Buddha, Ryan Kilcoyne

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

The mission of The Choata Mandir Museum is to embrace the aesthetic quality in Hindu art while bringing peace an offering to anyone who visits. We respect the viewpoints of all religions while guiding artistic appreciation through Hindu religion.

“Lord Buddha is a prince, and he was my favorite prince to worship when I was a child. Buddha is one of the most famous lords in the world, even in common American culture.

My sisters and I would follow the many teaching of Buddha and take time in our daily life to reflect with Buddha to become better Hindus. I …

Information Perception And Climate Change Adaptation, Ji Won Sung

Undergraduate Economic Review

Despite 97% of scientists believing that climate change is occurring, a far smaller proportion of ordinary citizens agree with this statement and the proportion of those who do greatly diverge by political affiliation. This paper lays out a dynamic information updating model with adaptation choice as the final outcome, linking information perception, belief perception, and behavioral implementation. Furthermore, this paper examines how various behavioral and environmental factors affect the agent’s adaptation choices by means of such cognitive processes. This research has implications for further research on climate change preference formation and effective communication strategies, such as informative or normative nudges.