Environmental Studies Commons^™

Changes In The Exposure Of California’S Levee-Protected Critical Infrastructure To Flooding Hazard In A Warming Climate, Iman Mallakpour, Mojtaba Sadegh, Amir Aghakouchak

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Levee systems are an important part of California's water infrastructure, engineered to provide resilience against flooding and reduce flood losses. The growth in California is partly associated with costly infrastructure developments that led to population expansion in the levee protected areas. Therefore, potential changes in the flood hazard could have significant socioeconomic consequences over levee protected areas, especially in the face of a changing climate. In this study, we examine the possible impacts of a warming climate on flood hazard over levee protected land in California. We use gridded maximum daily runoff from global circulation models (GCMs) that represent a …

Emergent Model For Community Engagement: Developing Courses And Programs, Barbara S. Spector, Cyndy S. Leard

Journal of Global Education and Research

This retrospective emergent design qualitative evaluation study documents the development of a unique model for community engagement and engaged scholarship in higher education. The primary novel aspect of the model is participatory involvement of both the target audience for the program and representatives of various stakeholder groups who initiated, conceptualized, tested, assessed, and evaluated the courses and program with the professor. Members of the target audience and stakeholder groups also recruited participants, contributed to refining the courses and program to meet the needs of the stakeholder groups, and contributed to redesigning courses for online learning. The model emerged while developing …

Campus Design And The Community College Experience: An Exploration Of Stress, Belonging And Scholarly Identity, Vanita Naidoo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This mixed methods research study examines factors that influence the development of scholarly identity at a community college campus. It uses survey methods and a focus group with undergraduate students at the Bronx Community College (BCC) campus to examine how campus design relates to a sense of belonging, the process of reflection, and the development of a scholarly identity. Academic attrition and low performance are challenges at urban community colleges. The study aims to address how campus design, specifically green space, impacts undergraduate students at a community college. It seeks to better understand the experience of the diverse student population …

How Globalization, Sustainability, And Human Impacts Are Affecting Two Major Mexican Cities: Mexico City And Guadalajara, Cristina Sedano

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Mexico is one of the richest countries in the world, not in terms of economic stability but in terms of natural resources, culture, and atmosphere. When people think of Mexico, they usually think of the high-tension relationship with the United States, their neighboring country to the North. Although there are many diverse historical and present-day characteristics of Mexico, most associate the county with the high levels of crime due to narco and cartels, the high levels of poverty in regional areas, and to some just a party destination. Unbeknownst to many is the thousands year old culture that is passed …

A Comparison Of Tribal Sovereignty, Self-Determination, And Environmental Justice At The Epa’S Onondaga Lake And Tar Creek Superfund Sites, Thomas Clark

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program mandates that Native American tribes are afforded the same treatment as states in the implementation of environmental remediation projects; however, the degree of coordination and consultation between the EPA and sovereign tribal governments varies widely between sites. Two of the Superfund program’s highest profile sites with Native American interest, northeast Oklahoma’s Tar Creek and central New York’s Onondaga Lake, are characterized by such a disparity in tribal participation. While Oklahoma’s Quapaw Tribe would ultimately enter into a number of cooperative agreements with the EPA for direct control over remedial projects, New York’s Onondaga Nation …

Hijab In The Indonesian National Struggle, Mangesti Rahayu

International Review of Humanities Studies

Fashion and history cannot be separated, because fashion is one indicator of a change in culture, civilization, behavior, and certain identities. Vice versa, changes and developments in fashion are influenced by conditions at the time the fashion is developing, both the social, cultural, political, religious, economic and others. Fashion that is developing in Indonesia is Muslim fashion. One part of Muslim clothing is the hijab, headgear worn by Muslim women. Hijab is not only part of religious observance, hijab is already part of fashion and we can examine the hijab style of a society from its historical period. We can …

Collaboration And Evaluation In Urban Sustainability And Resilience Transformations: The Keys To A Just Transition?, Liliana Elizabeth Caughman

Dissertations and Theses

Climate has changed and will continue changing; city populations are swelling as urbanization continues to accelerate; extreme environmental events like heat waves and floods are becoming more severe and more common; and the climate justice movement is rapidly gaining momentum. It in this context that municipal governments find themselves urgently seeking solutions to transition cities from extractive, vulnerable, and unjust to sustainable, resilient, and equitable. The task is complex and will require systemic transformations across interconnected social, environmental, and economic infrastructures. Emerging theories regarding how to govern such massive changes suggest Transition Management strategies and the values of a just …

Total Factor Environmental Productivity In The Mediterranean Countries: A Malmquist–Luenberger Index Approach, Eya Jebali, Hédi Essid

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

This paper examines the environmental productivity in the Mediterranean countries over the period 2009-2014.We use the Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index (MLPI) that can handle undesirable outputs within Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. We decompose the MLPI index into technical efficiency, technological change and scale efficiency change in order to determine the source of productivity changes. Empirical findings indicate that the total factor environmental productivity in the Mediterranean countries have a negative developmental trend. Furthermore, we find that technological progress is the main source of productivity growth. Finally, Mediterranean countries need a considerable effort on R&D to optimize the potential for technical …

La Habana: A History Of Society, Livelihood, Movement, And Land Use On The Iquitos-Nauta Highway, Katie Brown

Undergraduate Honors Theses

With increasing infrastructural projects and land titling in the Peruvian Amazon, many changes are occurring within small roadside communities. In this case study, we investigate how these changes impact livelihoods, land use, travel patterns, and social relations within the broader concepts of development, privatization of land, and commodification of nature. Specifically we focus on the caserío La Habana situated on the Iquitos-Nauta highway in the Loreto region of Peru. Semi-formal interviews and ethnographic methods were conducted to gather information on social organization, history of the community, land use practices, migration patterns, opinions on the road, and livelihood strategies. After data …

Supermarket Redlining And Food Deserts: Potential Policies And Alternative Food Market Solutions With Applications To The Hartford Food System, Alexis Meehan

Honors Scholar Theses

Food deserts are neighborhoods that are typically socioeconomically disadvantaged and have high levels of low-income populations who face barriers to accessing healthy, nutritious food. These barriers which include, but are not limited to, the increased distance these food insecure populations are located from large food retailers that supply fresh produce. Many of these inequalities stem from institutionalized racism which allowed for practices such as supermarket redlining and, in part, led to the creation of food deserts in places like Hartford, Connecticut. In using the historical context that shaped the Hartford food system and comparing the identified alternative food market solutions …

The Socio-Environmental Politics Surrounding The Commodification Of Guayusa In The Ecuadorian Amazon, Molly Silk

Master's Theses

Guayusa, a tree used for its leaves, that when dried, boiled, and consumed in tea form, acts as a natural stimulant due to its high levels of caffeine. Initially used among Kichwa people, the plant is thought to be a panacea with abilities to heal health complications such as infertility, headaches, and nausea. In addition, the Kichwa community holds an incredibly strong ritualistic and cultural connection to the tea. Guayusa is said to connect the person and community to the dream world through the process of gathering in the early hours of the morning to drink the tea, and decipher …

A Colonial Climate: Climate Change Governance In Puerto Rico, Usa, Justin Grant Pearson

Master's Projects and Capstones

This capstone project examines the relationship between the colonial structures of governance that persist in Puerto Rico and how they affect the island’s resilience to the onslaught of climate change. Within the frameworks of climate change, governance and colonialism, I set out to analyze the means by which Puerto Rico’s status as a colony of the United States has led to its history and present circumstances that have left a gap in terms of effective governance at the federal and other upper levels of government. The conclusion made is that there needs to be a greater level of focus placed …

What Does A "Just" Local Food System Look Like? Views From Worcester In A Changing Climate, Marguerite Cawley

Capstone Collection

Food and climate are closely intertwined, with the high-emissions U.S. industrial food system contributing to climate change, while a changing climate produces new food system vulnerabilities, which will particularly impact those of the least means. This research is premised on the need to transform our food system, and to define what this vision looks like at the local level, while centering questions of power, justice and rights. It explores how groups, organizations and individuals engaged in local food system change envision transformation and understand corresponding social justice concerns, in a changing climate. It looks at opportunities for food and climate …

Communal Reciprocity In The Andes: An Ethnohistorical Approach To The Relationship Between Ayni And Food Production, Catherine Curran

Spanish Honors Papers

Ayni, or reciprocity, historically characterizes Quechua culture as a fundamental aspect of ancient Andean societies. Furthermore, ayni represents a cosmovision that may come from pre-Hispanic times (as a political practice and ideology of the Inca Empire), that can be found in the texts of historians of the colonial period and endure to the present day. In this way, ayni is an ancient principle that has influenced Andean communities and continues to maintain today as a way to re-energize and maintain livelihood of the community through environmental conservation and complex household economies of sharing land, labor, and food. Due to …

Coronavirus Closures Could Lead To A Radical Revolution In Conservation, James Stinson, Elizabeth (Libby) Lunstrum

University Author Recognition Bibliography: 2020

In the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, social media was flooded with reports of animals reclaiming abandoned environments. According to one widely shared post, dolphins had returned to the canals of Venice.

While many of those stories have since been debunked, conservationists are providing legitimate reports of cleaner air and water, and wildlife reclaiming contested habitats.

With widespread closures of parks and conservation areas around the world, could this be an opportunity to transform the way we manage and use these protected environments?

Mountains To The Sea: How Climate Change Influences People, Cultures And Communities, Stephanie L. Maltarich

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Modified Floristic Quality Index As A Rapid Habitat Assessment Method In The Northern Everglades, Rebakah E. Gibble, Donatto D. Surratt

United States National Park Service: Publications

Floristic quality assessments (FQA) using floristic quality indices (FQIs) are useful tools for assessing and comparing vegetation communities and related habitat condition. However, intensive vegetation surveys requiring significant time and technical expertise are necessary, which limits the use of FQIs in environmental monitoring programs. This study modified standard FQI methods to develop a rapid assessment method for characterizing and modeling change in wetland habitat condition in the northern Everglades. Method modifications include limiting vegetation surveys to a subset of taxa selected as indicators of impact and eliminating richness and/or abundance factors from the equation. These modifications reduce the amount of …

Temporal Discounting And Sustainable Behaviors, Natalia Piskorski

Theses and Dissertations

An experimental study was conducted (N = 175) to test for differences between thinking about the future and the present when it came to sustainable behavior and attitudes. Previous studies show temporal discounting can be overcome at least in the short term to alter current behaviors; however, there is a gap in the literature in regards to sustainable behaviors. This study used similar techniques to determine whether environmentally protective behavior can be altered by having an individual imagine themselves in the future. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups, a current other, current self, or a future-self group. …

The Role Of University Of Nebraska-Lincoln's Biodigester On Sustainable Food Waste Reduction Within Selleck Dining Center, Jennifer Gilbert

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln took a major step toward sustainability this past fall when Dining Services installed their first ever biodigester on November 8, 2019 within Selleck Dining Center. The impact this biodigester has had, thus far, is observable in the form of quantitative data collected in the amount of food waste digested by this technology. This study focuses on analyzing collected data from the LFC Cloud database, while also searching for trends and patterns that could further suggest substantial impact and efficiency of the biodigester on food waste reduction and sustainability initiatives within UNL Dining Services. Data Tables and …

Confronting White Environmentalism, Kayla L. Gomez

Toyon: Multilingual Literary Magazine

No abstract provided.