Environmental Studies Commons^™

La Relación Entre Cambio Climático Y Migración En Los Andes De Perú: Los Q’Ero, Taquile Y La Cordillera Blanca, Sam Hosmer-Quint

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El cambio climático es uno de los problemas más grandes en el mundo. Los afectos de los cambios serán más graves para las personas más pobres y vulnerables. Perú es reconocido como uno de los países más vulnerables en el mundo, a causa de la presencia de glaciares tropicales, las cual son muy vulnerables a la desglaciación. Los efectos de cambio climático incluyen, entre otras cosas; el cambio de la temporada de lluvias y sequias, un aumento de la temperatura ambiental, inundaciones y tormentas severas. Todos estos factores hacen del cambio climático un riesgo para mucha gente y además, tiene …

Climate Change And Migration In Madagascar: Investigating The Impacts On People, Ecosystems, And Natural Resources, Eloise Parish Mueller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The principle objective of this study was to determine the impacts of migration caused or influenced by climate change on people and ecosystems in Madagascar. The specific objectives were 1.) to investigate the impacts of internal migration in Madagascar, particularly movements of people which are related to climate change, on migrants, established communities and ecosystems in regions they relocate to, and natural resources and 2.) to investigate possible solutions to social and environmental challenges resulting from migration in the country. While researching, I came to more fully appreciate the complexities of the relationships between climate, migration, and environmental and social …

Innovative Protection And Conservation Of Coral Reefs In Madagascar, Meghan Parker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Madagascar is home to approximately 3,450 kilometers of coral reefs, including some of the most biodiverse and valuable marine ecosystems in the Indian Ocean (Webster 2002). This online research project investigates the status of Madagascar’s coral reefs separated by region, threats that are facing the reefs and community-based solutions to protect and conserve the reefs. Conclusions of this online research suggest that most coral reefs in Madagascar are in relatively good health, although looming threats exist from overfishing, increased coastal populations, tourism, and warming waters. Community-based solutions are abundant and have proven effective, and can be implemented nation-wide, personalized to …

Talking Trash: A Human Problem With Human Solutions, Lauren Wisbrock, Erin Reynolds, Jen Mertins, Anne Schultz, Timothy Hoellein, Lara K. Smetana

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

The Effectiveness Of The European Union’S Environmental Policies, Wendolyn Borkoski

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The European Union has some of the highest environmental standards in the world. However, multiple member states fail at reaching the deadlines set by the European Union (EU). This thesis examines the effectiveness of the European Union’s environmental directives on gaining compliance from member states to reach the agreed-upon standards. This is assessed by using three European Union directives from different environmental areas and analyzing their requirements. Each directive represents either a hierarchical policy, negotiated policy, or voluntary policy transfer. This study hypothesizes that the hierarchical policy, represented by EU Directive 2008/98/EC, will be more effective at gaining compliance than …

Apocalypse And Eschatology In John Ford's The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), Nancy Wright

Journal of Religion & Film

John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940) visualizes conventions of the apocalypse genre to represent not simply a particular historical setting, the Great Depression, but also a vision of history to be interpreted in terms of eschatology. Expressionistic photography transforms the characters’ experiences into enigmatic visions that invite and guide interpretation. A comparison of montage sequences in Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath and Pare Lorentz’s The Plow That Broke The Plains (1936), a Farm Security Administration documentary, clarifies how Ford’s narrative film aligns spectators within and outside the mise-en-scène.

A Storm’S A Brewin’, Olivia Tsamparlis, Gina Tarantino

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

This article analyzes the effects of human coffee consumption on three different levels: globally, nationally in the United States, and locally on Bryant University’s campus. This article follows the process of coffee production from the first planting of the bean, to the coffee being poured into the consumer’s cup. The paper dives deep into an analysis of how Bryant University students consume coffee and view global coffee consumption. Not only does this paper explore how Bryant University students view the presence of coffee in their daily life, but it also finds out through a qualitative and quantitative survey if students …

Measuring The Size Of Bryant’S Ecological Footprint, Benjamin Martin, Gianny Pires

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Since the beginning of the industrial age, people have been leaving a significant footprint on the Earth's environment. Currently, the environment has become a notable issue all over the world. Many countries, institutions, and people, in general, have taken steps toward slowing down the effect we are leaving on Earth. In this research paper, we are researching national trends of sustainability and a specific institution, Bryant University, overtime Bryant University has developed many integrated methods of sustainability. Various methods of sustainability are explored throughout the text. Bryant's sustainability efforts can be reviewed and monitored, with methods such as Life-Cycle Assessments, …

Investing In A Green Future: Universities And Renewable Energy, Tommy Kimmell, Philip Kimmell, Matthew Sorensen, Cameron Ruggiero, Ben Coit

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

This paper explains how the implementation of renewable energy is a favorable energy choice and explores the growing trend of investing in a green economy. The report begins by providing some context as to what renewable energy is and explains why it is a favorable energy choice. The first section outlines the energy industry and deciphers between the two forms of energy currently making up the sector. Breaking up the industry into two separate sectors, being renewable energy and nonrenewable energy, provides an understanding on which form is currently dominating the market. Moreover, the outline describes the concept of investing …

Environmental Connections: The Interactions Between The Work Environment And Green Spaces, Jared Wu, Jason Butler, Benjamin Barnhart

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

No abstract provided.

Climate, Complacency And American Culture: The Role Of Narrative In The Era Of The Misinformation Amid The Anthropocene, Kayla Batalha

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

This article explores the relationship between climate misinformation campaigns and narratives in light of skepticism and denial of climate change in the era of the Anthropocene. Beginning in the earliest moments of human existence, this paper establishes the importance of narratives in the founding of modern humanity and how such foundational stories has led to our current Anthropogenic world. It goes on to examine misinformation created and funded by politically powerful foundations and companies that distorts the current discussions of climate change among the American public. In leu of the abundance of climate misinformation, this paper also analyzes how the …

The Center Of The World, Chris Fryer

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

A body of water is often seen as a serene place of relaxation, but just under the surface, aquatic life bustle around. This creative narrative will spark your imagination into having you believe that you are placed in the shoes of a wandering student as you encounter this great entity, known as the Bryant Pond. This journey will allow you to free your mind, and let it wander as you get lost in your own imagination. Have you ever wondered how certain things came to be, such as out-of-place objects in an environment that could have naturalistically been put …

Acoustically Advertising Male Harbour Seals In Southeast Alaska Do Not Make Biologically Relevant Acoustic Adjustments In The Presence Of Vessel Noise, Leanna P. Matthews, Michelle E.H. Fournet, Christine Gabriele, Holger Klinck, Susan E. Parks

United States National Park Service: Publications

Aquatically breeding harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) males use underwater vocalizations during the breeding season to establish underwater territories, defend territories against intruder males, and possibly to attract females. Vessel noise overlaps in frequency with these vocalizations and could negatively impact breeding success by limiting communication space. In this study, we investigated whether harbour seals employed anti-masking strategies to maintain communication in the presence of vessel noise in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Harbour seals in this location did not sufficiently adjust source levels or acoustic parameters of vocalizations to compensate for acoustic masking. Instead, for every 1 dB …

Carnivore Population Structure Across An Urbanization Gradient: A Regional Genetic Analysis Of Bobcats In Southern California, Julia G. Smith, Megan K. Jennings, Erin E. Boydston, Kevin R. Crooks, Holly B. Ernest, Seth Riley, Laurel E. K. Serleys, Shaelynn Sleater-Squires, Rebecca L. Lewison

United States National Park Service: Publications

Context In human-dominated landscapes, habitat fragmentation and barriers to movement can interrupt gene flow. While often considered at a local extent, regional analyses are also needed to reveal broader landscape-mediated population processes.

Objectives To explore the relationship between patterns of gene flow and fragmentation resulting from urbanization across southern California, we used the bobcat as an indicator species. We assembled data for a landscape level genetic analysis across southern California from both archived and new samples, including two northern Californian populations for comparison, to identify local and regional areas affected by isolation.

Methods Our regional analyses focused on a dataset …

Asynchronous Carbon Sink Saturation In African And Amazonian Tropical Forests, Wannes Hubau, Simon L. Lewis, Et. Al. Authors

United States National Park Service: Publications

Structurally intact tropical forests sequestered about half of the global terrestrial carbon uptake over the 1990s and early 2000s, removing about 15 percent of 1–3 anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Climate-driven vegetation models 4,5 typically predict that this tropical forest ‘carbon sink’ will continue for decades . Here we assess trends in the carbon sink using 244 structurally intact African tropical forests spanning 11 countries, compare them with 321 published plots from Amazonia and investigate the underlying drivers of the trends. The carbon sink in live aboveground biomass in intact African tropical forests has been stable for the three decades to …

Eelgrass Health Survey And Results, Nicholas B. Anderson, Catherine M. Ashcraft, Dante D. Torio, Frederick T. Short

Natural Resources & the Environment

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire designed, tested, and conducted an eelgrass health survey. The primary goal of the survey was to collect health ratings from respondents who had viewed pre-selected images of eelgrass representing a wide range of health conditions. Survey results were used as a calibration and validation to a novel eelgrass health index developed using video-monitoring. Two secondary goals of this this survey were the identification of plant-specific and environmental characteristics important to respondents and the introduction of the new eelgrass health index. This published dataset includes de-identified survey respondent background and demographic data, the survey …

Problematic Plant Monitoring In Homestead National Monument Of America, 2006–2017, Craig C. Young

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

Managers are challenged with the impact of problematic plants, including exotic, invasive, and pest plant species. Information on the abundance, distribution, and location of these plants is essential for developing risk-based approaches to managing these species. Based on surveys conducted in 2006, 2009, 2013, and 2017, Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network staff and contractors identified a cumulative total of 20 potentially problematic plant species in Homestead National Monument of America (NMA). Of the 13 species found in 2017, we characterized 4 as very low frequency, 4 as low frequency, 2 as medium frequency, and 3 as high frequency. Only …

Environmental Injustice: Examining How The New York Times Frames The Flint Water Crisis, Mark Congdon Jr., Quang Ngo, Evan Young

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Perceived as one of the current environmental controversies in the United States, the Flint water crisis represents a case of environmental injustice and has attracted public attention and scrutiny. Among mainstream news media outlets, The New York Times is the newspaper that has intensively published news stories addressing the issue. Using qualitative frame analysis as the method, the researchers examined the way in which The New York Times framed the Flint water crisis from when a federal state of emergency was declared in 2016 to the one-year anniversary of this declaration. Examining how the Flint water crisis is framed in …

Problematic Plant Monitoring In Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, 2006–2018, Craig C. Young

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

Managers are challenged with the impact of problematic plants, including exotic, invasive, and pest plant species. Information on the abundance, distribution, and location of these plants is essential for developing risk-based approaches to managing these species. Based on surveys conducted in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018, Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network staff and contractors identified a cumulative total of 33 problematic plant species in Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Of the 27 species found in 2018, we characterized 14 as very low frequency, 9 as low frequency, 4 as medium frequency, and 0 as high frequency. Only 4 (14.8%) of …

Estimating Residential Water Demand In A Relocation Area With Inadequate Piped Water System, Rosalina Palanca-Tan

Economics Department Faculty Publications

This paper assesses household water demand and estimates a demand equation particularly for low-income households in the Philippines. The study uses survey data on the value and volume of household water purchases from different water providers in a government resettlement area. The paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of average water price on household water consumption, as well as the effects of household income and size on household water consumption. The study finds that households buying water from jetmatic pump wells and water tankers pay more than five times that of those served by the piped water system. This …