Environmental Studies Commons^™

A Call For Bioregional Governance In Cascadia: Shaping An Ecological Identity In The Land Of Falling Waters, Molly D. Freed

Scripps Senior Theses

In recent years, as globalization has taken a toll on North Americans’ “sense of place,” there has been a swelling interest in the identification of bioregions: spaces delineated by their natural borders and shaped by the cultures that arise within them. Bioregionalism, the movement that arose from this scalar shift, emphasizes the “reinhabitation” of bioregions through a deep understanding and attachment between residents and their watershed and habitat. This thesis argues for a shift to bioregional-scale environmental governance in the Cascadian bioregion (the Pacific Northwest) via an interstate compact. Using the Great Lakes bioregion as a comparable case …

Participatory Conservation Of Coastal Habitats: The Importance Of Understanding Homeowner Decision Making To Mitigate Cascading Shoreline Degradation, Steven B. Scyphers, Steven J. Picou, Sean P. Powers

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Along densely populated coasts, the armoring of shorelines is a prevalent cause of natural habitat loss and degradation. This article explores the values and decision making of waterfront homeowners and identifies two interlinked and potentially reversible drivers of coastal degradation. We discovered that: (1) misperceptions regarding the environmental impacts and cost-effectiveness of different shoreline conditions was common and may promote armoring; and (2) many homeowners reported only altering their shorelines in response to damage caused by armoring on neighboring properties. Collectively, these findings suggest that a single homeowner’s decision may trigger cascading degradation along a shoreline, which highlights the necessity …

A Gis Assessment Of Ecoregion Representation In Chile's Existing And Proposed Integrated Network Of Protected Areas, Jessica Schutz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Chile's state designated protected areas are reported to show representation bias and to be unable to meet conservation goals. Private protected areas are considered an important tool to resolve these issues, which has led to support for increasing the role of private protected areas in Chile and creating an integrated public-private protected area network. But the validity of the capacity of private protected areas to fix Chile's state protected area network bias, and the advantage of creating an integrated protected area network, have not been assessed. This study uses the most recent data on Chile's state, private, and international protected …

Do Democratic Governments Improve Environmental Quality?, Yoonsoo Nam

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

My research question is whether democratic countries improve the environment. This research question is important because many nowadays people are more than ever concerned about environmental quality, and researchers have produced mixed results of democratic governments’ effects on the environment. As an attempt to contribute to this area of research, I implement three different types of heterogeneity in the relationships between democratic countries and environmental quality. These three different types of heterogeneity include different environmental outcomes, separate components of democracy, and countries with different income levels. By using these three different types of heterogeneity, I may better understand the mechanisms …

Fractionation And Mobility Of Lead In Klity Creek Riverbank Sediments, Kanchanaburi, Thailand, Teerawit Poopa, Prasert Pavasant, Vorapot Kanokkantapong, Bunyarit Panyapinyopol

Applied Environmental Research

The sequential extraction method was employed to investigate the distribution and chemical fractions of lead (Pb) in Klity Creek sediments, Kanchanaburi, Thailand with the main objective to define the lead mobility in sediment and potential bioavailability in relation to sediment contamination levels. Samples were collected from a total of twelve sampling sites distributed from upstream of the polluted zone until the final downstream point at Srinakarin Reservoir. The results showed that the background value of total lead concentration in the sediments from this area was higher than those reported from other locations in Thailand. Sequential extraction results revealed that lead …

A Study Of Residual Cyanides And Potential Stabilities In Tailings Storage Facility Of Gold Mining Operation, Suwanit Parinyachet, Quanchai Leepowpanth

Applied Environmental Research

The study aimed to investigate residual cyanides and their potential stabilities in tailings from a gold processing plant deposited in the Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) of a gold mining site. For this purpose, several samples of tailings were taken from the recently abandoned TSF to a depth of 2.5 meters, representing 1 to 2 years old tailings. The samples were analyzed for pH, metals, residual cyanides, and Net Acid Generation Test (NAG test). The results showed that, in all samples, pH values were neutral to slightly alkaline. Fe concentrations were relatively high (22,800-35,000 mg kg-1) indicating that Fe can readily …

Evaluation Of Chemotherapy Contamination Following The Implementation Of Closed System Transfer Devices, Warunsuda Sripakdee, Suphat Subongkot, Wannaporn Wattanawong, Saroch Onlaor

Applied Environmental Research

This studycompared thecontamination of the chemotherapeutic agent cyclophosphamide between using a conventional admixing procedure and closed system transfer devices (CSTDs). Surface wipes and urine samples were collected for two weeks before and two weeks after the CSTDs were used. The surface wipe samples were collected from critical areas in an aseptic dispensary unit and a chemotherapy patient care unit. The urine samples were collected from healthcare workers. Contamination from cyclophosphamide in the surface wipe samples was detected in fewer areas following the implementation of CSTDs. The mediancyclophospha-mide concentration in aseptic dispensary unit areas following the usage of CSTDs was significantlylower …

Review Of The Current Situation Of Cd Contamination In Agricultural Field In The Mae Sot District, Tak Province, Northwestern Thailand, Pensiri Akkajit

Applied Environmental Research

This paper reviews contamination status, sources and remediation of Cd in agricultural land in Mae Sot District, Tak Province, Northwestern Thailand. The Cd contamination becamean environmental issue because mining of a Zn deposit area located uphill of the Mae Tao creekscaused movement of Cd and Zn along the creek to contaminate agricultural soils downstream. Blood Cd levels of residents in this contaminated area were found to exceed the national average of 0.5 µg g-1creatinine. The main route of Cd exposure in this area is the consumption of rice locally grown in this Cd contaminated area. Remediation of Cd-contaminated soils is …

Cultivating Opportunity: Land Transfer Tools To Support Land Access For Beginning Farmers, Samuel E. Plotkin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This is an exciting, but precarious, time for the generational transfer of agricultural land in the US as established farmers are aging and transitioning out of farm ownership. Beginning farmers, however, the next generation of agrarians, face numerous obstacles to land access – finding and purchasing property. Two of the greatest barriers include the high price farm property commands today and the steady loss of agricultural land. Conservation easements are vital tools in the effort to protect agricultural land, and land transfer tools that enhance conservation easements stand to be crucial instruments for supporting beginning farmers’ access to land. There …

Wilderness And Epistemic Wildness, John T. Stanfield

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The traditional concept of wilderness was a product of the time out of which it came. Times have changed. The social context of conservation, how humans affect nature, and scientific understanding of how ecosystems function have all shifted in ways that make the wilderness idea problematic. The values that people found in wilderness are still relevant, however. It is the way that they are tied together in the concept of wilderness that has become a problem.

I propose a revised concept of wilderness that meets the concerns of critics of wilderness, and accounts for the tension between the wild and …

Sacred Zones: Examing Wilderness In Yellowstone, Maine And Russia, Lily S. Vonderheide

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis seeks to examine issues of resource conservation and recreational access in three regions of immense historical and ecological significance: Yellowstone National Park, the North Woods of Maine, and the protected nature reserve system of Siberia. By applying a combination of direct professional experience, current research and ongoing environmental policy action, the thesis attempts to provide an accurate picture of current and future challenges facing the three regions. Part I, “Yellowstone Paradox,” traces the roots of Yellowstone’s restrictions on recreational boating access in a post-WWII discourse of consumer recreation, the development of a sustainability ethic and its deployment as …

Why Do Countries Cooperate? The Effect Of Cross-Border Pollution, Eric D. Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As evidence regarding the consequences of climate change grows, the need to act cooperatively becomes increasingly apparent. International environmental agreements are one of many means being pursued to improve environmental management and combat climate change at large. This study examines factors that influence international environmental treaty participation among European countries. Using panel data on 35 European countries for 1980-1999, joint treaty participation is estimated as a function of various globalization variables with specific attention given to the effects of cross-border air pollution, foreign direct investment, and trade. These results suggest that cross-border air pollution does increase cooperation even after controlling …

Off The Court, Onto The Farm, Arza E. Hammond

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This work contains two separate but connected stories about developing a relationship with something larger than myself. Reaching the end of my basketball career forced me to examine my relationship with the great game of basketball and my role in it. After ending my hoops career, I spent a summer working and living on a small, organic farm. The lessons I learned from the game helped me to develop a meaningful relationship with the farm and to find a reciprocal role with the land I lived and worked on.

The Bioscience-Industrial Complex, Radical Materialist Aesthetics, And Interspecies Political Ecologies: The Unforeseen Posthuman Future In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein And Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam Trilogy, Sarah Sydney Lane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project traces how Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy, science fiction novels from the Romantic and contemporary literary periods respectively, contest the problematic relationships between subjecthood, science, ecological health, and patriarchal, capitalist societies by crafting radical materialist alternatives to such a system and its dualistic and destructive interpersonal/interspecies relations. Through the theoretical framework of ecofeminism that recognizes the conceptual linkages between women and nature in Western systems of thought, as well as psychoanalytical feminist critiques of the masculinization of scientific epistemology, this project examines the developmental and ontological overlaps between literary “masculine” and “scientific” subjects socialized under …

Raising Grain In Next Year Country: Dryland Farming, Drought, And Adaptation In The Golden Triangle, Montana, Caroline M. Stephens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change has already and will likely continue to impact agriculture in the Western United States, threatening water supplies for both irrigated and rainfed agriculture (Calzadilla et al. 2010; Chambers and Pellant 2008; MacDonald et al. 2010; Pedersen et al. 2009). In the Golden Triangle, a region in north central Montana, known for its dryland grain production, the same is true. There is a need for in-depth, fine-grained, place-based, and qualitative research about the process of climate change adaptation in agriculture (Miller et al. 2013). Drought challenges farmers in the Triangle, which is semiarid and receives 10-15 inches of annual …

Unearthing Connections In A Storied Landscape: The Flathead River Honoring And Place-Based Education In The Flathead Valley, Melissa Wardlow

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Abundance, Density, And Opinions About Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Whidbey Island, Washington, Robert P. Wingard

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Obtaining reliable knowledge is the first step towards properly managing wildlife species. Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) on Whidbey Island, Washington have not been the subject of study, and little is known about the population, or the opinion of resident’s of Whidbey Island towards the deer population. However, wildlife managers suggest deer on the island may be overabundant or over social carrying capacity. Given the lack of empirical knowledge about the deer population or human opinions towards deer on Whidbey Island, I designed research to determine the abundance and density of Columbian black-tailed deer on Whidbey Island, …

Farm-To-School In Montana: An Assessment Of Program Participation, Autumn Lee

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montana is a prominent player in the farm-to-school movement with its strong agricultural industry and its leadership in the farm-to-school FoodCorps program. Farm-to- school involves connecting students to food through local procurement, nutrition education, and garden immersion. Many researchers indicate that farm-to-school participation strengthens local economies, improves student health, and creates more cohesive communities, but the financial and logistical challenges of implementation signal the call for stronger policy and funding support. In this professional paper, I build upon previous research to understand the unique outcomes of farm-to-school participation in Montana and to explore the policy and funding needs specific to …

Sampling Strategies For Finite Population Using Auxiliary Information, Florentin Smarandache, Rajesh Singh

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The present book aims to present some improved estimators using auxiliary and attribute information in case of simple random sampling and stratified random sampling and in some cases when non-response is present. This volume is a collection of five papers, written by seven co-authors (listed in the order of the papers): Sachin Malik, Rajesh Singh, Florentin Smarandache, B. B. Khare, P. S. Jha, Usha Srivastava and Habib Ur. Rehman. The first and the second papers deal with the problem of estimating the finite population mean when some information on two auxiliary attributes are available. In the third paper, problems related …

Life Cycle Assessment (Lca) Of Tourism Activities, Kayla Santello

Honors Theses and Capstones

Abstract— Tourism, like other developed industries is a commerce that requires energy inputs and yields outputs with significant effects on the environment. However a comprehensive study examining the life cycle impact associated with each tourism component including transportation, accommodation, food services, and recreation is still lacking. Therefore a search of previous tourism life cycle studies was carried out and ten studies were further investigated. Indicators, assessment approaches, and system boundaries of these previous studies were assessed. Then the outcomes were normalized and compared in order to obtain ranges for the four components of tourism. It was found that energy intensity …