Environmental Studies Commons^™

Ground Water In The Morongo Basin: A Community College Curriculum, Lisa Michele Rosati

Theses Digitization Project

Ground water resources in the Morongo Basin are threatened by overdraft and nitrogen pollution from septic systems. Education about the current threats to ground water resources is of great importance to residents of the Morongo Basin. This project was an exploratory study designed to assess local students' knowledge and opinions on the state of the ground water. Eight laboratory activities were designed to educate the students.

Do Environmental Audits Improve Long-Term Compliance: Evidence From Manufacturing Facilities In Michigan, Mary F. Evans, Lirong Liu, Sarah L. Stafford

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

Using a unique facility-level dataset from Michigan, we examine the effect of environmental auditing on manufacturing facilities’ long-term compliance with U.S. hazardous waste regulations. We also investigate the factors that affect facilities’ decisions to conduct environmental audits and whether auditing in turn affects the probability of regulatory inspections. We account for the potential endogeneity of our audit measure and the censoring of our compliance measure using a censored trivariate probit, which we estimate using simulated maximum likelihood. We find that larger facilities and those subject to more stringent regulations are more likely to audit; facilities with poor compliance records are …

Homestead National Monument, Vegetation Classification [Map], United States National Park Service

United States National Park Service: Publications

Color graphic vegetation map of Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. Created as part of the Homestead NM of America Vegetation Mapping Project in April and May 2011. Includes a color-coded vegetation classification.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Vegetation Mapping Project [Poster], Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve encompasses 10,894 acres in eastern Kansas, just north of Strong City. This park unit was created on November 12, 1996, and is the first to protect a nationally significant example of the once vast tall grass prairie ecosystem. Of the 400,000 square miles of tall grass prairie that once covered the North American continent, less than four percent remains, prin1arily in the Flint Hills. The park unit is primarily rocky upland prairies and deep-soiled prairies in the lowlands. It also contains some wet prairie ravines, riparian forests and some former cropland and restored prairie. These …

Health Impact Assessment Of Pesticide Use In Northern Thai Farmers, Ratana Sapbamrer, Arrak Damrongsat, Prajak Kongtan

Applied Environmental Research

The present study aims to assess health impacts on pesticide use in 136 farmers from Baan Mai Ras Bam Rung Village, San Kong Subdistrict, Dok Kham Tai District, Phayao. Questionnaire and laboratory examination were used as tools. Pesticide use in questionnaire consisted of objectives, type and reasons of pesticide use, prevention practices from exposure, etc. Health impacts questionnaire included physical, mental, social, and spiritual health. The results showed that most farmers planted rice crop and the major pesticide use was insecticides (79.4 %), followed by herbicides, fungicides, and acaricides, respectively (78.7, 40.4 and 33.1 %). The reasons for the use …

Methane Potential Of Household Waste; Batch Assays Determination, Nutchanat Chamchoi, Hector Garcia, Irini Angelidaki

Applied Environmental Research

An assay for determination of the methane potential of household waste (HHW) was developed. The assay was performed in batch vials with thermophilic inoculum from a biogas plant co-digesting swine manure with industrial waste. Methane potential of 500 mL g-1VS was achieved within 10 d. Blending of the HHW household waste was suitable method for homogenization of the material. Although blending altered the physical image of the sample, it did not alter the original composition of the material. Thermal pre-treatments of the waste (70 °C for 1 h) and combined thermal alkaline pre-treatment (70 °C for 1 h and addition …

Risk Ratio Of Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, And Xylene (Btex) Exposures And Their Relations To Biological Parameters Of Gasoline Workers In Bangkok, Thailand, Tanasorn Tunsaringkasrn, Panthira Ketkaew, Kalaya Zapaung, Anusorn Rugsiyothin, Surasak Taneepanichkul

Applied Environmental Research

Gasoline station is a common source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions around its perimeter. In order to conduct a monitoring of the VOC's emission, measurements of biological markers of blood benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) in gasolinestation workers are recommended. The purposes of this study were to evaluate exposure risk ratio (110 gasoline station workers from 11 gasoline stations in Bangkok Metropolitan area compared to 10 office workers in the same station as control group) and to determine the relations between blood BTEX and biological parameters of the gasoline workers. Results showed that blood BTEX levels of gasoline …

Effects Of Smoking Locations And Room Ventilation On Occupant Exposure To Environmental Tobacco Smoke, Chaloemchai Mukthawat, Maneerat Ongwandee, Nida Chaimoon

Applied Environmental Research

Non smoker exposure to second hand smoke is still of concern even though smoking free environments have been implemented in public places in Thailand. Thus, smokers have changed their behavior to smoke in their dwellings instead which could cause pollutant transfers from a smoking area to an adjacent non smoking area by air flows between zones. The objective of this study was to investigate relative magnitudes of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in a non smoking area that is adjacent to a smoking residential area. The study was also to demonstrate the effect of room ventilation rates on exposure levels of …

Habitat And Landscape Suitability As Indicators Of Bird Abundance In Created And Restored Wetlands, Jordan W. Mora, John N. Mager Iii, Douglas J. Spieles

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Vegetation Classification [Map], United States National Park Service

United States National Park Service: Publications

Colo vegetation map of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City, Kansas, USA, from the Tallgrass Prairie NP Vegetation Mapping Project, created between April and June 2011. Includes a color-coded vegetation classification.

Homestead National Monument, Vegetation Mapping Project [Poster], Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

Homestead National Monument was created in 1936 to celebrate the significance of the Homestead Act of 1862, which granted 160 acres of free land to claimants. This was one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States. The site is the first tract homesteaded under the act by Daniel Freemen, and encompasses 184 acres in Gage County, west of Beatrice, Nebraska.

This unique site also hosts the oldest prairie restoration in the National Park system and the second-oldest tallgrass prairie restoration known. This park unit also has a small remnant of native tallgrass …

Riparian Wetland Response To Livestock Exclusion In The Lower Columbia River Basin, Sarah Ann Holmen

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of riparian plant communities along a succession gradient of livestock exclusion in the Lower Columbia River Basin (LCRB). Livestock exclusion is an example of a passive restoration practice throughout the region. However, few studies have focused on the effects of livestock or livestock exclusion on riparian wetland ecosystems in this area. Two passive restoration sites, 3 and 13 years since livestock exclusion, and a control site with a continued livestock grazing presence were examined. It was hypothesized that native plant species richness would be lower in the excluded wetlands than …

Contents, Discovery Editors

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

No abstract provided.

Instructions For Authors, Discovery Editors

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

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Dean, Michael Vayda

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

No abstract provided.

Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences - Volume 12 2011, Several Authors

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

No abstract provided.

Community Engagement In Sustainable Design: A Case Study Of The Oberlin Project, Amanda L. Goldstein

Honors Papers

The Oberlin Project is an unprecedented opportunity for the city of Oberlin, Oberlin College, and other participating institutions to work together to achieve sustainable development and carbon neutrality. How might these institutions engage Oberlin citizens in some of the planning decisions that will shape Oberlin's future? Collaborating with citizens is important because in theory, encouraging participatory, collaborative planning contributes to just, equitable, and diverse cities. Study of sustainability initiatives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for instance, reveal that it is possible for cities to make great leaps at sustainable urbanism while simultaneously building up a strong base of social capital aimed at …

Community Perceptions Of The Barriers And Benefits To Local Food Access In Northeast Ohio, Gabriela Rosalie Baker

Honors Papers

This research sought to examine the perceptions around the barriers and benefits to purchasing local produce in northeast Ohio. The research questions explored include: how do (low-income) communities in Northeast Ohio perceive the barriers and benefits to accessing local produce? What opportunities are there for organizations such as City Fresh to increase participation in their Fresh Stop program, and hence, to increase access to fresh produce in these communities? The study was designed using the principles of community-based social marketing. Interviewees included participants in City Fresh’s Fresh Stop program along with non-Fresh Stop participants from similar geographic areas. Participants completed …

A History Of Resilience Is A History Of Resistance, Melissa Ooten

Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications

As an historian, I’m struck by the emphasis this documentary places on non-humans – be it animals, plants, soil, or mountains – although as a native of Appalachia, that doesn’t surprise me. The film is billed as “America’s first environmental history series: and as such, it gives us a bold, unique template of how to talk holistically about the concept of place and the specific place of Appalachia. While it may be particularly prescient to talk about the broader concept of place through ecology and other facets when analyzing the history of Appalachia, surely it is no less important when …

Ongoing Studies In Rio Grande Valley History, Milo Kearney, Anthony K. Knopp, Antonio Zavaleta

Studies in Rio Grande Valley Regional History Series

Chupacabras, a poem / Milo Kearney -- The Texas Center for Border and Transnational Studies / Antonio Zavaleta with help from others -- History Through World War I : Comparative freedom in the borderlands: fugitive slaves in Texas and Mexico from the age of enlightenment through the U.S. Civil War / Francis X. Galan and Joseph Leon -- Contraband trade in Matamoros and its impact on the northern Mexican economy during the 1820s / Melisa Galvan -- Preparando los festejos para la inauguración del Ferrocarril a Monterrey / Andres F. Cuellar -- Adolf F. Dittman and Brownsville's first motion picture …