Environmental Studies Commons^™

Mobile People, Mobile God: Mobile Societies, Monotheism, And The Effects Of Ecological Landscapes On The Development Of Ancient Religions, Edward Surman

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Despite the wealth of scholarship concerning the origins of religious beliefs, practices, and cultures, there has been little consideration of the impact of ecological landscapes on the development of ancient religions. Although the influence of the natural environment is considered among the variables in explaining the development of various economic, political, and other social systems throughout history, there is a specific gap concerning its impact on the origins of religious systems. The argument which is taken up in this writing is the correlation between agriculturally marginal landscape and the development of monotheism. Specifically that the religions of the ancient Iranians …

The Ethics Of Environmentalism For The Individual Consumer, Molly Collins

Honors Theses

Climate change harms the well-being of humans. It is the poor choices of individual consumers that contribute to climate change. I argue that it is immoral to cause harm to others, thus climate change is an ethical dilemma for individual consumers. I begin with a pluralistic discussion of harm, before discussing the duties of individuals to make choices that will mitigate the current harms of climate change and the wrong moral assumptions that individuals make regarding their contribution to climate change. I discuss the principles of ethical consumerism, specifically in housing, food, and transportation. Lastly, I argue that climate change …

Using Cleaved Amplified Polymorphic Sequence (Caps) Genetic Markers To Determine The Extent Of Hybridization Between Castilleja Affinis And Castilleja Mollis As A Mechanism For Adapting To Climate Change On Santa Rosa Island, Elizabeth Medford

Scripps Senior Theses

Hybridization, the process of interbreeding between individuals of different species, is one method by which plants and animals adapt to a changing environment. One example of such adaptation through hybridization may be occurring on the California Channel Islands with two species of Castilleja. While United State Geological Survey (USGS) researchers have been studying the populations of Castilleja affinis and Castilleja mollis to determine if hybridization is occurring on Santa Rosa Island since the early 1990s, up until this point primarily overt phenotypic characteristics have been used to differentiate between the two species. Genetic methods of differentiation were adopted to …

Composting At Parkland College, Della Jacobs

A with Honors Projects

This essay summarizes the student's efforts to establish a composting program at Parkland College. The student had previously worked to establish a garden plot to supplement the offerings at the College's food pantry and subsequently worked with the cafeteria to collect composting materials for the garden plot.

Illiquid Capital: Are Conservation Easement Payments Reinvested In Farms?, Joshua M. Duke, Brian J. Schilling, Kevin P. Sullivan, J. Dixon Esseks, Paul D. Gottlieb, Lori Lynch

Center for Great Plains Studies: Staff and Fellows Publications

Agricultural conservation easements have positive externalities but few studies examine the supply-side. This paper explores whether easements may also overcome a credit-market failure, as banks may not be lending based on the full developed value of land. Original survey data test our research hypotheses and show profitable owners and nonoperators to be using easement payments to extract capital from their land by using the preservation programs as a bank. The results also show that the unprofitable owners and operators are reinvesting in their agricultural enterprises. Both results are consistent with an underlying credit-market failure, and the latter suggests that easements …

Sorting Through The Rubbish: A Case Study Of Rollins College Recycling, Courtney W. Banker

Honors Program Theses

This study analyzes the overall state of the recycling program at a private, liberal arts college in the southeastern United States. By conducting a waste audit of four campus buildings, a campus-wide web survey, and two in-depth interviews, the study revealed a 62% contamination rate within the recycling stream and a paralyzing operational obstacle that rendered the college’s real diversion rate close to 0% of the waste stream. This defends the stance that “diversion” does not equate to “recycling.” The study also exposed a disconnect between the lack of campus faith in the ability of the recycling program to capture …

Influential Factors In Encouraging Or Dissuading Orlando Businesses To Seek Leed Certification, Katrina M. Zdanowicz

Honors Program Theses

Orlando, Florida, is home to 85 building projects that have received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and 74 projects that are in the process of seeking certification. Over 90 percent of these 159 buildings have been or are being rated by LEED commercial standards. This paper argues that while LEED has played a valuable role in encouraging environmentally sustainable design in the Orlando commercial sector and will continue to be a significant presence in sustainability discussions, local government legislation can assist the end-goals of LEED by promoting more localized initiatives. The benefits of LEED certification include …

Late Holocene Expansion Of Ponderosa Pine (Pinus Ponderosa) In The Central Rocky Mountains, Usa, Jodi R. Norris, Julio L. Betancourt, Stephen T. Jackson

United States National Park Service: Publications

Aim: Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) experienced one of the most extensive and rapid post-glacial plant migrations in western North America. We used plant macrofossils from woodrat (Neotoma) middens to reconstruct its spread in the Central Rocky Mountains, identify other vegetation changes coinciding with P. ponderosa expansion at the same sites, and relate P. ponderosa migrational history to both its modern phylogeography and to a parallel expansion by Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma).

Location: Central Rocky Mountains, Wyoming and Montana, and Black Hills, Wyoming and South Dakota, USA.

Methods: Plant macrofossils were analysed in …

Bumpers College Students In Action, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Greenhouse Gas Emission In Jewelry Industry: A Case Study Of Silver Flat Ring, Parnuwat Usapein, Chantra Tongcumpou

Applied Environmental Research

This paper describes an assessment of the carbon footprint (CF) of a silver ring, together with an attempt to measurematerial and energy consumption. The boundary of analyzing CF was defined as Business to Business (B2B). All primary data were obtained from a survey of the case study factory. Acquisition of raw material (silver) was the main GHG contribution to the overall CF and was thus considered as a CF hotspot. Acquisition accounted for 0.9740 kg CO2e or 94.44% of total emissions, followed by production processes (0.0573 kg CO2e) and tran-sportation (0.002 kg CO2e). The total CF amounted to 1.03 kg …

The Econometric Model Of Ship-Generated Operational Waste: The Underlying Tool For Waste Management In Container Port, Chalermpong Senarak

Applied Environmental Research

Marine pollution prevention through adequate provision of garbage reception facility (GRF) is a legal obligation of every port. According to MARPOL 73/78, each port authority should explore ways to increase its ability to prevent marine pollution from ship-generated waste. The paper supports this legal requirement by developing an econometric model for estimating the amount of operational waste delivered at GRF. The multiple regression with ordinary least squares technique was used to analyze the relationship between the amount of operational waste per month and two explanatory variables - size of ship and travelling distance from the last port of discharge. Data …

Acidic Recovery From Wastewater Of Automotive Battery Plant Using Membrane Technology, Nantanee Chaimongkalayon, Sudtida P. Thanasupsin

Applied Environmental Research

Diffusion dialysis (DD) equipped with anion exchange membranes (AEMs) is used as an effective tool to recover acidfrom various types of waste acid solutions. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of using the DD process to recover sulfuric acid (HsSO4) from the acidic wastewater from an automotive battery plant. A numbers of experimental runs was conducted to optimize the equipment's operating conditions, particularly variations in feed flow and flow rate ratios . The results showed that H2SO4 permeated well through the AEM, while metal ions were efficiently rejected. The recovery of H2SO4 increased as flow rate …

Parting The Green Curtain: Tracing Environmental Inequality In Portland, Oregon, Lindsay E. Mccord

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis utilizes a lens of environmental justice to analyze the history of Portland, Oregon and the formation of the Albina neighborhood in North Portland to understand how this community became a space of environmental inequality. Portland has been a leader in sustainable development, and yet, even with its successes, the city either been unable or unwilling to address the disproportionate impacts of environmental hazardss on low-income and communities of color in Albina. Through an examination of Portland’s history of segregation, stigmatization of Albina and its residents, housing policies, and urban renewal as they relate to Albina, this thesis traces …

The Price Is Right: Investigating Net Metering Policies For Rooftop Solar In California, Jesse Honig

Pitzer Senior Theses

As an increasing number of homeowners decide to take advantage of distributed renewable resources such as rooftop solar, we may need to rethink the current regulatory paradigm and governance structure of the electric market. This thesis examines the shortcomings of current net metering programs in California. While the current Net Metering 2.0 proceeding highlights a clash of solar advocates and electric utilities, it is in fact revealing an underlying structural flaw that has been present all along. In order to send the appropriate price signals to solar customers, both the structure by which utilities recover costs and the rate at …

Faith In A Changing Planet: The Role Of Religious Leaders In The Fight For A Livable Climate, Morissa Zuckerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

Progressive religious leaders are playing an increasingly important role in the effort to combat climate change. Through a combination of unstructured in-depth interviews and primary source analysis, this thesis highlights nine U.S. religious leaders from various denominations of Christianity, Judaism and Islam who are actively involved in working on climate issues. Drawing on literature in social movement theory, I explore how clergy are uniquely influential in climate issues because of the organizational advantage and moral authority they hold through their positions as religious leaders, granting them the ability to highlight social justice implications of climate change with distinctive legitimacy. Clergy …

Assessing Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions In European Medium And Large Cities: Methodological Considerations, Peter Marcotullio, Andrea Sarzynski, Jochen Albrecht, Niels Schulz, Jake Garcia

Publications and Research

Policymakers need clear, consistent, and reliable information about the location of greenhouse gases and drivers of emitting activity in order to design appropriate mitigating strategies. At the urban scale, there have been challenges in developing consistent and reliable emissions inventories. This chapter examines selected methods to determine greenhouse gas emissions at the urban scale. We describe the various criteria considered when constructing an urban greenhouse gas protocol including the definition of urban, the gasses that are measured, the source they come from, the scope of analysis and how the measurements are undertaken. We then present results for European medium and …

The Effects Of Air Pollution On Education And Human Capital: Evidence From Chinese Cities, Niall Williams

Economics Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Little Rebecca, Rebecca Collins

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Santiago de Compostela, a city in Galicia, Spain, has been said since the 8th century to hold the remains of St. James, an apostle and the patron saint of Spain. Old walking routes, still in use, fork all throughout the European continent toward this singular destination, with the collective label of the “Way of St. James,” (the Camino de Santiago in Spanish, Le Chemin du St. Jacques in French). For nine months of this past year, the Camino de Santiago and the study of pilgrimage was my singular destination as well. I studied the history of pilgrimage, European pilgrimage literature, …

Entering Into Dialogue With Pope Francis' Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home, Sarah Jeanne Shimer

Honors Theses

Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home brings together the spheres of science and religion. In this document, Francis puts forth a call for action towards religious and non-religious communities alike to address climate change. The strength of the document lies in the way Francis expresses his call. By drawing on scientific and religious tradition, he situates the encyclical in a broader conversation about the moral obligation for humans to care for the environment. This thesis explores the reception of Laudato Si by religious and environmental communities through political cartoons, written critiques, and personal interviews. …

Nature As Spiritual Lived Experience: How Five Christian Theologians Encounter The Spirit In And Through The Natural World, Brad A. Martell

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative study explored five Western Christian theologians’ religious lived experience of God’s Spirit in and through Nature. The hermeneutic phenomenological research method was utilized. Rich descriptions of lived experience were collected through 60-90 minute long phenomenological interviews which were recorded and transcribed verbatim into a text for analysis. Analysis included repeated readings of the text, identification of themes, and validation and/or correction of themes. Synthesis looked at the research as a whole and established implications and applications for Christian theology, particularly ecotheology. The study contributes to the literature of phenomenology and theology, calls for a place for lived experience …