Environmental Studies Commons^™

Let's Get Sorted: The Path To Zero Waste At Pomona College, Sara Sherburne

Pomona Senior Theses

This senior thesis in environmental analysis explores the Zero Waste ideal and its practical application to a college campus. Given the growing global trash crisis and its grave environmental, social and economic consequences, the Zero Waste movement argues for a holistic shift from ‘end of pipe’ disposal practices to those that promote the cyclical use of materials, with little-to-no matter ending up in the landfill or incinerator. Cities and colleges around the world have adopted these Zero Waste goals in an effort to function as more sustainable, efficient and moral entities. With a case study of Pomona College, I assess …

Exploring Transit-Based Environmental Injustices In San Gabriel Valley And Greater Los Angeles, Bailey Lai

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis attempts to disentangle the multilayered interactions between Greater Los Angeles’s history, its built environment, and its inequitable treatment of different peoples, focusing on how transportation in surrounding suburban communities like San Gabriel Valley has developed in relation to the inner city of Los Angeles. Greater Los Angeles contains a long, winding trajectory of transit-based environmental injustices, from the indigenous societies being overtaken by the Spanish missions, to the railroads and streetcars boosting the farmlands and urban growth of Los Angeles, leading into the decline of transit and rise of automobile-oriented suburbia. Within the San Gabriel Valley, the suburban …

Protecting Natural Resources On Agricultural Lands: Producers' Perspectives On The Conservation Stewardship Program In Montana, Mary Ellis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Industrial agricultural production contributes to some of the most significant environmental problems in the United States today. Scientists have identified agricultural production as a primary cause for the decline of native species, soil degradation, and water pollution in the U.S. In response to this crisis, grassroot organizations crafted, and got Congress to pass, the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), a federal program aimed to incentivize producers to increase on-farm conservation practices. CSP is designed to serve as a space for producers to gain access to financial and technical support, test out new practices, and provide a platform to discuss best practices …

Addressing Divergent Audiences In Conservation Communication: An Examination Of Land Trust Websites In Northern California, Tova Fleming

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In a world rich with a diversity of stories and values, successful conservation must not rely on everyone thinking and feeling the same way. Values are the foundation of the cognitive hierarchy of human behavior and are relatively fixed and unlikely to change. As a result, environmental communication that is reliant on a particular set of values may cause polarization around conservation issues. The reasoned action approach offers a way to explore communication techniques that address the cognitive hierarchy of human behavior at its most malleable point, behavioral intentions. Because land trusts work with historically divergent audiences who are often …

Exploring Community Knowledge And Perceptions Of Flooding And Sea-Level Rise In King Salmon, California, Kristina Kunkel

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The coastal community of King Salmon, California could be at the highest risk of relative sea-level rise on the entire U.S. West Coast. In 2019, the community already experiences severe flooding at least annually and may be regularly inundated as early as 2050. Until this study, there had been no documented effort to reach out to the community to show them future sea-level rise projections, understand the context of life in King Salmon, and listen to their reactions and perceptions. This research utilized a mixed methods grounded theory approach integrating semi-structured interviews with King Salmon stakeholders, qualitative data analysis, public …

Virulence Factors And Antibiotic Resistance Of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 Isolated From Ogun River, Abeokuta Metropolis, Nigeria, Lateefat M. Ewuoso, Saka A. Balogun, Sarafadeen O. Kareem, Temilade F. Akinhanmi

Applied Environmental Research

Although Escherichia coli (E. coli)is a harmless gut microbe in man, some strains of this bacterium are pathogenic due to the acquisition of virulence factors. The aim of this study isto investigate E. coli O157:H7 strains isolated from Ogun River, Abeokuta metropolis, for virulence factors and antibiotic resistance. Water samples were collected bimonthly from six different locations over a period of six months. The samples were cultured on Sorbitol MacConkey Agar and E. coli O157:H7 isolates were confirmed through serological characterization using the latex agglutination test. The presence of virulence genes (stx1, stx2, eae, and hylA) in the isolates was …

Relationship Between Annual Average Concentration Of Ambient Pm10 And Out-Patients With Respiratory Disease: Thailand Case Study, Thoucha Rummasak

Applied Environmental Research

The objectives of this research were to identify (1) correlation between annual average concentration of ambient PM10 and prevalence of out-patients with respiratory diseases; (2) the relative risk and attributable proportion of out-patients with respiratory disease due to long-term exposure to ambient PM10; and (3) the correlation between annual average concentration ofambient PM10 and the relative risk of out-patients with respiratory disease. Time-series data of annual average concentration of ambient PM10 and prevalence rate of out-patients with respiratory disease during an 11- year period (2004-2014) in the study area were obtained from the Pollution Control Department, Ministry of Natural Resources …

Role Of Natural Wetlands In Arsenic Removal From Arsenic-Contaminated Runoff, Vanlop Thathong, Netnapid Tantamsapya, Chatpet Yossapol, Chih-Hsiang Liao, Wanpen Wirojanagud

Applied Environmental Research

This research aims to identify the role of natural wetlands in arsenic (As) removal. Phu Lek wetland in Loei Province, Thailand, was selected as the study area. Monthly samples of water (144), plant (360), and sediment (144) were collected from the wetland for 24 months. As concentration in the surface water at the wetland inlet was 0.85±0.26 mg L-1, and 0.02±0.01 mg L-1 at the wetland outlet. It was observed that the As level in water decreased significantly along its flow path, with an As removal efficiency of 98 %. As concentration in the sediment was 89.53-356.22 mg kg-1 at …

Application Of A Mixed Order Model To Determine The Rate Adsorption Of 1-Nitronaphthalene Onto Activated Carbon, Suntree Rincome

Applied Environmental Research

This study investigated the adsorption kinetics of 1-nitronaphthalene solution (a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, PAH) onto seven different masses of activated carbon. The coefficient of determination (r2) was used to determine the best-fit kinetic model and to confirm agreement between experimental data and the kinetic rate equations. The results indicated that adsorption could be defined with masses of 0.0200 g and 0.0501 g when fitted using a second order rate equation. Adsorption on to masses of 0.1003 g, 0.1203, 0.1501 g, and 0.2001 g was best defined when data were fitted to a pseudo second order rate equation. However, adsorption onto …

Middle To Late Holocene (7200-2900 Cal. Bp) Archaeological Site Formation Processes At Crumps Sink And The Origins Of Anthropogenic Environments In Central Kentucky, Usa, Justin Nels Carlson

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

Though some researchers have argued that the Big Barrens grasslands of Kentucky were the product of anthropogenic land clearing practices by Native Americans, heretofore, this hypothesis had not been tested archaeologically. More work was needed to refine chronologies of fire activity in the region, determine the extent to which humans played a role in the process, and integrate these findings with the paleoenvironmental and archaeological record. With these goals in mind, I conducted archaeological and geoarchaeological investigations at Crumps Sink in the Sinkhole Plain of Kentucky. The archaeological record and site formation history of Crumps Sink were compared with environmental …

The Environmental, Social, And Economic Benefits Of Blue Green Infrastructure In An Urbanized Area, Joseph L. Oguns

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

At present, it is evident that there is a shift from rural to an urban settlement which results in high demand for residential buildings and other urban infrastructure. Blue – Green Infrastructure (BGI) is a system of using blue (water) and green (nature) to address urban and environmental challenges. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the environmental, social, and economic benefits of blue-green infrastructure in an urbanized area in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The study involves the utilization of Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine water quality level resulting from nonpoint source pollution through acquiring elevation data; watershed; and …

Evaluation Of Restoration Techniques And Management Practices Of Tule Pertaining To Eco-Cultural Use, Irene A. Vasquez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Tule (Schoenoplectus sp.) is a native plant commonly used by California tribes and Indigenous people throughout the world (Macía & Balslev 2000). Ecological, social and regulatory threats to its use in contemporary Indigenous culture highlight major issues concerning natural resource management. My ancestral homeland, what is now Yosemite National Park, stands as a figurehead in the intersection of land management and Indigenous peoples. An important element of Traditional Ecological Management (TEM) for quality basketry materials is prescribed fire, an element western science is increasingly acknowledging for creating a more biodiverse and heterogeneous landscape. This research was conducted in Mariposa and …

Walking While Asking:Lessons From Agroecology Education In Chiapas, Mexico, Katherine E. Keller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Keller, Kate, M.S., December 2019 Environmental Studies

Walking While Asking: Lessons from Agroecology Education in Chiapas, Mexico

Committee Chairperson: Dr. Neva Hassanein

This professional paper presents an assessment of the most recent project of Schools for Chiapas (SfC), a U.S.-based solidarity organization working in collaboration with the Zapatista autonomous communities in Chiapas, Mexico. It examines the challenges and potentials of SfC’s efforts to implement food forests at 16 autonomous secondary schools. I contextualize this work within a larger conversation amongst food sovereignty activists and scholars around efforts to scale-out the use of agroecology through education. As the organization looks to …

A Multi-Scale Analysis Of Jaguar (Panthera Onca) And Puma (Puma Concolor) Habitat Selection And Conservation In The Narrowest Section Of Panama., Kimberly A. Craighead

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Over the past two centuries, large terrestrial carnivores have suffered extreme population declines and range contractions resulting from the synergistic anthropogenic threats of land-use change and indirect effects of climate change. In Panama, rapid land use conversion coupled with climate change is predicted to negatively impact jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor). This dissertation examined the environmental variables and scales influencing jaguar and puma habitat selection by season (annual, wet, and dry), using multi-scale optimized habitat suitability models and a machine-learning algorithm (Random Forests), in the narrowest section of Panama. The models derived from the data of an intensive …

Just Preservation, Adrian Treves, Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila, William S. Lynn

Animal Sentience

We are failing to protect the biosphere. Novel views of conservation, preservation, and sustainability are surfacing in the wake of consensus about our failures to prevent extinction or slow climate change. We argue that the interests and well-being of non-humans, youth, and future generations of both human and non-human beings (futurity) have too long been ignored in consensus-based, anthropocentric conservation. Consensus-based stakeholder-driven processes disadvantage those absent or without a voice and allow current adult humans and narrow, exploitative interests to dominate decisions about the use of nature over its preservation for futurity of all life. We propose that authentically non-anthropocentric …

Environmental Protection Services And Salvage Law : Emerging Issues In Perspective, Huiru Liu

World Maritime University Ph.D. Dissertations

This dissertation primarily concerns the law and practice of salvage focusing on its environmental dimension which started to evolve since the Torrey Canyon disaster in 1967, which until that time, was the biggest oil spill in maritime history. In the contemporary era of shipping, a major part of salvorial operations has shifted from property preservation to environmental protection. This dissertation centers on the services provided by salvors to prevent or mitigate damage to the environment. This phenomenon is generally referred to as "environmental salvage" which, it is submitted, is an anomaly and a misnomer. It is therefore proposed that the …

Why Does My Town Smell Like Nail Polish?: Using The Toxics Release Inventory To Investigate Industrial Chemical Pollutants In Elkhart County, Indiana, Magdalena Lehman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis investigates 2017 industrial chemical air pollution in Elkhart County, Indiana starting with data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators model (RSEI). TRI requires facilities across the United States to report release amounts for certain chemicals known to cause adverse human health impacts. A related database, the RSEI model adds context to release amounts by modeling for toxicity and exposure. The resulting RSEI score approximates relative risk among releases. In combination, these tools are intended to allow communities to identify risks and provide oversight of point-source industrial chemical pollution in their neighborhoods. …

East Chicago Politics: A Cornucopia Of Corruption, Tina Ebenger, Tracey Mccabe

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Despite the comical title, there is a lot of corruption in East Chicago (IN) politics. One mayoral election had to have a “do-over” because of fraudulent absentee ballots, and a former mayor is doing time in jail for using public monies to remodel his home. This cornucopia of corruption extended to the indictment of six public officials (the so-called Sidewalk Six) in East Chicago for misusing public funds for political gain, specifically vote-buying, in the 1999 mayoral reelection of Robert Pastrick. These officials, ranging from a parks superintendent to a city engineer to several city council members, bought votes by …

The Impact Of Perspective In Identifying And Responding To Potential Sexual Misconduct: A Study Of University Students, Nichole Maki Weller, Kathy Parkison, Steven R. Cox, Michael Plummer

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Recent events have demonstrated a divergent understanding of sexual harassment and other forms of sexual misconduct. Although sociocultural standards regarding sexual misconduct have changed over time, including improved social and workplace standards and protections, it is clear that not everyone views these events through the same lens. The lens is even less clear when potential misconduct is viewed from the distinct perspectives of a “victim” and a “perpetrator.” We surveyed 424 undergraduate and graduate students at Indiana University Kokomo to identify the impact of perspective and various sociodemographic characteristics that may influence perceptions of what is, and is not, sexual …

The Environmental Imaginations Of Moby-Dick: Technology And Vulnerability In Human/More-Than-Human Relationships, Jensen A. Lillquist

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the twenty-first century, the relationship between the human and the more-than-human is a problem of massive proportions, as we live in an age of climate change, mass-extinction, over-population, and resource depletion. Evaluating how we have arrived where we are and re-thinking the issues at play as we move forward is crucial for future adaptation of human/more-than-human relationships; this is the primary goal of my analysis of the environmental imaginations of Moby-Dick.

I argue that the four primary environmental imaginations—the providential, the utilitarian, the Romantic, and the ecological—that have influenced United States culture since European settlement are represented by Herman …