Geography Commons^™

Introduction, Char Miller

EnviroLab Asia

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents: Volume 1: Oil Palm In Southeast Asia: Culture, Politics, And Sustainability

EnviroLab Asia

No abstract provided.

Resisting Dams And Plantations: Indigenous Identity In Sarawak, Wan Ping Chua '17

EnviroLab Asia

The market and community are always intertwined, and sustained through economic power, social obligations and ideologies. In Sarawak, Malaysia, the expansion of land use for the development of cash crops and energy infrastructure has faced resistance from indigenous communities who depend upon land for subsistence lifestyles. In this encounter, values and cultures are reworked, and the ways in which the community and market rely upon each other in the community changes. The examination of the rice and wild foods sustenance lifestyle of the indigenous Kenyah in Sarawak, Malaysia, and resistance against land development projects, suggest that in the conflicts over …

What Does “Sustainable Development” Mean?, Grace Stewart '17

EnviroLab Asia

A recurring theme throughout the EnviroLab Asia clinic trip to Singapore and Malaysian Borneo was the concept of "sustainable development." In this essay, I explore my own thoughts and concerns regarding this phrase, such as the tension that exists between "sustainability" (the maintenance of resources) and the conventional concept of "development" (which consumes resources and can often wreak environmental destruction). I reflect on this tension within the context of environmental issues faced by the Dayak people in Sarawak--the building of the Baram Dam, and the prevalence of oil palm plantations.

Going Home, Johann Lim '18

EnviroLab Asia

In this reflection, Johann shares how the people he met on the trip (faculty, student fellows, activists and the indigenous people we lived with) furnished him with a lot of knowledge about his home country and the surrounding region and in the process shattered some misconceptions. He also contemplates how the experience prompted him to reevaluate his role as a consumer, activist, and future educator.

Landscapes Of Globalisation In Se Asia, Brian G. Mcadoo

EnviroLab Asia

As economies continue to expand in Southeast Asia, urban and rural landscapes are undergoing industrial-scale change at a staggering pace. A number of growing industries are responsible for these changes, from soil and biodiversity loss caused by palm-oil deforestation to rainforest flooded in the interest of “climate neutral” hydropower. To best understand the wide-reaching effects of these transformations, a radically interdisciplinary approach is needed to unravel the intersection between environmental degradation, economics and culture. Is the quest for biofuels and carbon-neutral energy to support burgeoning largely urban populations, sometimes in other nations, effectively shifting the environmental costs to rural communities? …

Transformation, Wallace M. Meyer Iii

EnviroLab Asia

Prior to leaving for Claremont Colleges’ Envriolab Asia trip to Malaysia and Singapore, I was conflicted by the question: Do we have the moral authority to interfere with resource extraction and oil-palm development in SE Asia? At that time, the trip seemed imperialistic. Why should people from Malaysia, Indonesia or any developing SE Asia country listen to a group of liberal arts college faculty from a city where widespread habitat modifications have led to significant loss of native habitats, declines in biodiversity, and changes in how these ecosystems function? Many observations transformed my opinion and have inspired me to advocate …

Adaptation And Power, Elizabeth Weinlein '17

EnviroLab Asia

Academic knowledge of some of the inequities and injustices embedded in economic development was given greater depth and significance after the EnviroLab Asia clinic trip to Southeast Asia; the same was true result occurred after the group’s meeting with Dyack activists.

Re-Envisioning Sustainable Oil-Palm In Se Asia, Wallace M. Meyer Iii

EnviroLab Asia

In Southeast Asia, expansion of oil-palm agriculture, in combination with other industries (logging, fiber, and mega-dams), is transforming significant portions of the landscape threatening biodiversity, key ecosystem services, and human cultural diversity. While transformative answers to these multifaceted environmental issues seem daunting, the conservation biology literature provides a road map for effective techniques to mitigate environmental degradation while allowing for thoughtful, well-planned economic growth. I suggest that the lack of strict operational definitions and a holistic approach to sustainability are the two most critical factors hindering development of sustainable oil-palm agriculture. The task for environmental practitioners is to succinctly define …

The Impacts Of Logging And Palm Oil On Aquatic Ecosystems And Freshwater Sources In Southeast Asia, Isabelle Ng '17

EnviroLab Asia

The process of deforestation has large environmental implications on terrestrial as well as aquatic habitats. Palm oil plantations lead to sedimentation and agricultural runoff into streams and rivers. Such high nutrient inputs could lead to eutrophication, bioaccumulation, and toxic blooms, which could lead to changes in aquatic ecosystems as well as drinking water quality for surrounding communities. Pollutants from streams and rivers are furthermore, channeled down into estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems, thus negatively impacting those areas as well. One possible way to reduce the amount of runoff is by treating the waste produced by palm oil mills as well …

Narratives About Energy, Megaprojects, And The Ecology Of Tropical Rivers: The Baram River Dam Project, Marc Los Huertos

EnviroLab Asia

The conflict between development goals to build dams for hydroelectricity and indigenous peoples in Sarawak was set in motion in the 1970s. In spite of the potential ecological damage, hydroelectric development has been justified by developed and developing countries for decades. These impacts include changes in river geomorphology, water quality, and habitat value and access. Moreover, in the Bakun and Baram river watersheds, the Dayak people of Sarawak have poignantly demonstrated the socio-ecological disruption. For the time being, the construction of the Baram Dam has been halted.

Institutional Responses To Pressures For Sustainable Palm Oil, Stephen Marks, Justin Lauw '18, Shivang Mehta '19, Fernando Salud '17

EnviroLab Asia

As the two leading palm oil producing countries, Indonesia and Malaysia have come under external pressures to limit deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions related to land use conversion for oil palm cultivation. We examine various institutional frameworks that have emerged to mediate these pressures. These frameworks can be distinguished by their geographic scope—domestic, region, and global—as well as by the nature of control—private, non-profit, and governmental. The frameworks have taken the form of sustainability certification systems from non-profit organizations or governments, corporate sustainability policies, or the setting through global or bilateral negotiations of voluntary national targets for limiting deforestation or …

Forest Threnody, Yii Kah Hoe

EnviroLab Asia

Yii Kah Hoe’s Forest Threnody, which received its world premiere on November 1, 2015 in Garrison Theater at Scripps College, Claremont CA, was performed by the Claremont Concert Choir and Claremont Chamber Choir of CMC, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer and Scripps Colleges.

An Evaluation Of Gridded Temperature Products And Their Effectiveness In Modeling Small Scale Ambient Temperatures, Barrie Chileen

Geography: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The use of remotely sensed temperature products is becoming increasingly prevalent in research on climate change due to their accessibility, low cost, and spatial and temporal coverage. These studies use gridded products to model near-surface ambient temperatures as many often lack the resources and time to conduct on- site temperature measurements. Previous studies have compared the effectiveness of these gridded products against each other and weather station data (Vavrus et al. 2015, McEvoy et al. 2014). However, little research has been done to determine the effectiveness of these gridded products in modeling ambient climate. For this study, 65 LogTag temperature …

Burundi : Water Scarcity, Isabel Salas

Global Public Health

Burundi is located near the African great lakes region of East Africa. This country is one of the poorest and hungriest countries throughout the world because of this they are facing multiple problems with communicable disease. These families are seeing a reduction in the amount of water available to them and based on this they are receiving water from external sources such as wells and lakes. Most of the water throughout Burundi is contaminated with Phytoplankton which increase cholera outbreaks in this area. It has also been shown that uranium impacts the water throughout the wells and lakes. Both of …

Dewitt, Iowa: Smart Growth Design, Dr. Christopher Strunk, Melisa Ribikawskis

2016-2017: DeWitt, Iowa

As part of the Sustainable Working Landscapes Initiative project, two urban geography and planning classes researched Smart Growth principles and their applicability for the City of DeWitt. Smart Growth is a cohesive set of design philosophies that prioritizes mixed-use development over single-use development, pedestrian–friendly and bike-friendly transportation over automobile-dominated transportation, and infill development over peripheral development. Dozens of governmental, businesses, and civic organizations, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have recognized the movement by founding the Smart Growth Network, which is an association that promotes Smart Growth nationwide.

Local officials in DeWitt are interested in incorporating the principles of Smart …

Engagement In A Public Forum: Knowledge, Action, And Cosmopolitanism, Jennifer F. Brewer, Natalie Springuel, James Wilson, Robin Alden, Dana Morse, Catherine Schmitt, Chris Bartlett, Teresa Joihnson, Carla Guenther, Damian Brady

Geography

Facing challenges to the civic purpose of higher education, some scholars and administrators turn to the rhetoric of engagement. Simultaneously, the political philosophy of cosmopolitanism has gained intellectual favor, advocating openness to the lived experiences of distant others. We articulate linkages between these two discourses in an extended case study, finding that a cosmopolitan ethos of engagement in a rural context can improve (1) understanding among people ordinarily separated by spatialized social-ecological differences, (2) prospects for longer term environmental sustainability, and (3) the visionary potential of collaborative inquiry. Despite globalization of food systems and neoliberal shifts in fishery management, an …

Understanding How Social Entrepreneurs Fit Into The Tourism Discourse, Ziene Mottiar, Karla Boluk

Books / Book chapters

This chapter discusses how social entrepreneurs fit into the existing tourism discourse. It examines four areas of literature in particular, tourism entrepreneurs, sustainability, destination development and intrapreneurship, and analyzes how introducing the concept of social entrepreneurs into these discussions is useful, and contributes to our understanding. Furthermore the paper illustrates that as social entrepreneurs are relevant to a broad range of issues in the tourism literature this should prevent the development of research silos where social entrepreneurship scholars seek out their own vein of research. The nexus of common ground and interests, as displayed in this chapter, should enhance the …

Occupational Diseases In The Automotive Industry In Czechia – Geographic And Medical Context, Jan Jarolímek, Pavel Urban, Petr Pavlínek, Dagmar Dzúrová

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

Objectives: The automotive industry represents the most important industrial sector in Czechia. The objective of this study has been to analyze the occurrence of occupational diseases (OD) in the automotive industry during the period from 2001 till 2014. Material and Methods: Data on OD cases was retrieved from the National Registry of OD. Further, we conducted a survey in automotive companies with focus on occupational health services and positions of the companies in global production networks (GPNs). An analysis of OD distribution in the automotive industry was performed (age, gender, company size and its role in GPNs, regional distribution of …

Foreword, Deborah Lapidus

EnviroLab Asia

No abstract provided.