Environmental Policy Commons^™

Combating Iuu Fishing In The South American Pacific: An Opportunity To Counter Chinese Influence Closer To Home, Alexander E. Goodno

Joint Force Quarterly

A relatively small enterprise that began three decades ago in response to dwindling Chinese squid fisheries, China’s South American distant water fishing fleet has grown exponentially to now number nearly 500 vessels and creates a growing problem for the Pacific coastal nations of South America. By establishing itself at the forefront in combatting illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing (IUUF) activities off the Pacific coast of South America, the United States can strengthen its role as a leader in the Western Hemisphere and counter growing Chinese influence in South America. This paper will demonstrate how America can achieve this end by …

Data Centers In Mountain West Markets, 2026, Cason Noll, Krish Sharma, Maisoon Faris, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Transportation & Infrastructure

This fact sheet reports on the distribution and geographic concentration of data centers across the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah as of March 6th, 2026. Using data from DataCenterMap, this fact sheet examines the number of data centers in each Mountain West state and further analyzes market-level  distribution, defined as cities within each state where data centers are located. The data are used to compare state totals and to rank Mountain West markets from highest to lowest based on the number of data centers operating in that area.

Expedition To The Public Lands: Northeastern Us, Andrew Distasi

CAFE Symposium 2026

This project takes you to 4 types of America's Public Lands: National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, National Seashore, and National Forests. This trip takes place through a two-week period and three states. I will visit Cape Cod National Seashore, White Mountain National Forest, Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and it will end in Acadia National Park. At each stop on the trip, I will be looking at "What to Do", the "History", and "Logistics" of each place. There is also one data analysis, done for Acadia National Park. Lastly, I also go over a unique management issue involving White …

Waters At Risk: Preventive Methods Against Cyanobacteria Blooms In Rhode Island, Ryan Boline

CAFE Symposium 2026

This project analyzes the rise of cyanobacteria blooms in Rhode Island freshwater systems and identifies a policy gap in the state’s largely reactive management approach. Drawing on state reports and interviews with environmental experts, it highlights nutrient runoff, climate change, and limited public education as key drivers of bloom severity. To address this gap, I developed a prevention-focused public education poster designed for integration into existing state alert and outreach systems.

An Exploration Of The Public Lands: Kaibab National Forest, Glen Canyon Nra, Zion National Park, And Desert Nwr, Patrick Tobin

CAFE Symposium 2026

An exploration of a few of America's public lands shows how our views on nature can shape how and why we protect lands. In the Southwest, we see the ideas of "nature as commodity" and "nature as pristine and unchanging" pop up time and again. These main ideas are necessary in how we view the public lands, and how we enjoy them.

Bridging Policy And Grassroots Action With Technology: A Framework For Civic Engagement In Environmental Sustainability, Mikhail Ola Adisa, Sonny Rosenthal, Shola Oyedeji, Ifeoma Adaji, Jari Porras

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Grassroots and civic organizations are increasingly recognized as “middle actors” in sustainability, leveraging ICT-driven solutions to bridge top-down policies with bottom-up citizen engagement and behavioral change. This study examines how civic organizations in Finland and Singapore integrate digital tools to support sustainable waste management practices aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 11, 12, and 17. Guided by a Design Science Research (DSR) approach and drawing on Middle-Out and multi-level governance theories, we developed and validated the Integrated Sustainability Engagement Framework (ISEF) based on interviews with 21 civic organizations and iterative feedback. Findings highlight the central roles of policy translation, localized practices, …

Advancing Climate Transition Through Fiscal Tools: The Role Of Carbon Taxation And Fuel Subsidy Reform, Farah Amgad Zayed

Theses and Dissertations

This study highlights how fiscal policy tools can accelerate Egypt's climate transition, with emphasis on carbon taxes and fossil fuel subsidies reforms. It investigates how fiscal tools can reduce carbon emissions and promote economic development by primarily relying on qualitative interviews with policymakers, consultants, representatives of the private sector, and civil society actors, paralleled with some descriptive and comparative analysis. The results show that even though Egypt has made significant strides in advancing green transition, including updating the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), introducing the first African Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), as well as phasing out fossil fuel subsidies gradually, institutional …

When Words Flow Like Water: How The Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline Environmental Impact Statement Failed To Prevent Hydrogeologic Harm In Minnesota, Carly Gutzmann

Journal of Earth and Life Science

For the aquifers of Minnesota, the environmental impact statement (EIS) was a promise of protection that never left the page. An environmental impact statement is meant to be an aid in the decision making process in order to ensure that projects consider potential environmental harms that may occur. However, they are often used instead as another regulatory box to check, rather than as active considerations when planning. As such, a project plan can be flawed from the start—if project developers only consider environmental impacts after they have already put considerable time, effort, and funding into their project as-is, they may …

Localized Air Pollution Impacts From Data Centers In Northern Virginia, Damian Pitt, Ivan Suen, Ellie Plisko

Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment Publications and Presentations

This report examins the extent of air pollution emissions resulting from the use of backup generators at data centers in Northern Virginia, including both actual current emissions and potential future emissions, and how those emissions totals compare to other sources of air pollution in the Northern Virginia region. It also examines how exposure to data center emissions correlates with demographic characteristics such as race, income, and education.

We while the air pollution emissions from individual data centers is minor, the collective impact from the 100+ such facilities in the Northern Virginia region is significant. Notably, the cumulative emissions exposure in …

“Thank You For Listening To Us”: Incorporating Community Context And Perspectives Into Sea-Level Rise Adaptation Planning For Fields Landing & King Salmon, California, Clara Riggio

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Fields Landing and King Salmon, California are two low-lying, coastal communities on Humboldt Bay (Wigi). These communities already experience coastal flooding during the highest astronomical tides each year, and flood conditions are expected to worsen as sea levels continue to rise. The Fields Landing & King Salmon (FLKS) Living with Water Project was created as a partnership between Humboldt County departments of Planning & Building and Public Works, along with support from social science researchers at Cal Poly Humboldt, including the author. In Chapter 1, I describe the co-production approach used throughout the project, including analysis of four dilemmas that …

The Judicial Containment Of Adivasi Rights Across India's Mineral Belt, Sajni S. Sheth-Voss

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines how Adivasi resistance to mining-induced dispossession across India’s mineral belt is increasingly channeled into the judiciary, arguing that this shift functions as a mechanism of containment rather than a pathway to justice. Despite a robust legal framework designed to protect Adivasi land and consent rights, systematic non-enforcement and political closure have hollowed out policy and electoral channels, pushing communities into litigation as a last resort. Drawing on scholarship in political economy, legal studies, and political ecology, alongside primary sources including court documents and activist statements, this study follows how disputes move across institutions and are ultimately reshaped …

Plastic Waste Imports & Coastal Litter: Evidence From Citizen Science Data, Rebecca L.C. Taylor, Hebe Williams, Shan Zhang

Economics Faculty Publications

Plastic waste is an internationally traded commodity, where importing countries recycle plastic waste into usable materials. However, there are concerns that the importation process creates plastic litter - a negative externality - in importing countries. While this concern has received much media and policy attention, quantifying the magnitude of this externality has been hindered by a lack of data on plastic litter across countries and over time. To this end, we use unconventional citizen science data on litter from Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup, together with the United Nations Comtrade Database, to estimate the correlation between traded plastic waste and …

Lessons For Transformative Ocean Science From The Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (Imber) Project, Deborah Santos Prado, Ella-Kari Muhl, Mia Strand, Derek Armitage, Nina Bednaršek, Stephanie Brodie, Christopher Cvitanovic, John Claydon, Sam Dupont, Karen Evans, Alistar Hobday, Eileen Hofmann, Raleigh Hood, Laura Kaikkonen, Dongyan Liu, Jessica Melbourne-Thomas, Franz Mueter, Eugene Murphy, Prateep Kumar Nayak, Alice Newton, Heidi Pethybridge, Carol Robinson, Samiya Selim, Rowan Trebilco, Micaela Trimble, Fang Zuo

CCPO Publications

This paper synthesizes the key contributions and lessons learned from Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR), a large-scale global research project aimed at fostering ocean sustainability under global change for the benefit of society. The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development has catalyzed a renewed focus on the importance of transforming ocean science. IMBeR’s global activity over the past decade has focused on promoting transformative science by generating, mobilizing, and communicating the knowledge needed to support ocean governance. Key contributions from IMBeR participants include quantifying and comparing historic and present structure and functioning of linked ocean and human systems, …

Taking Off The “Blindfold”: Exploring Montana’S Public Trust Doctrine And The Right To A Clean And Healthful Environment After Held V. Montana, Lizzy Gazeley

Lewis & Clark Law Review

As global average temperatures continue to rise, the threat of climate change looms closer. To evade climate catastrophe, greenhouse gas emissions will need to be substantially reduced. Despite climate change’s imminent risks, in the United States, both the federal government and states remain resistant to transitioning away from fossil fuel energy sources. To combat this government inaction, some litigants have turned to an ancient doctrine. The public trust doctrine provides that sovereigns must protect natural resources from substantial impairment to ensure the public’s right to use those resources.

In Held v. Montana, youth plaintiffs alleged that the State of Montana …

Geography Of Erasure: Manufactured Housing, Heat Exposure, And State Neglect In Florida, Gianna M. Hutton

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis examines Florida's manufactured housing communities through the intersecting frameworks of energy justice, critical heat studies, and housing displacement scholarship, centering how structural, political, and economic forces shape uneven exposure to thermal insecurity and housing precarity. Using a mixed-methods approach combining statistical regression analysis of American Community Survey microdata (2019-2023) and spatial case study of Miami-Dade County's heat governance and The Li'l Abner Mobile Home Community’s displacement, this research investigates how manufactured housing residents experience compounded exclusions across energy systems, urban heat governance, and housing security. The findings reveal that manufactured home residents face a 26% higher energy burden …

Left In The (Road) Dust: Analyzing Advanced Clean Cars Ii In California’S Disadvantaged Communities, Jj Hoffman

Pomona Senior Theses

Across the United States, air pollution disproportionately impacts minority groups. California’s Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) waiver was positioned to lead to significant environmental justice impacts, such as reductions in emissions and adverse health outcomes, by establishing stricter regulations for vehicle emissions and ensuring that 100 percent of new passenger vehicle sales are zero-emission by 2035. As the federal government recently nullified ACC II, pollution, and by extension health, could worsen, especially in disadvantaged communities. The thesis established several important relationships, including how disadvantaged communities experienced higher traffic, pollution, and worse health outcomes than non-disadvantaged communities. Though the results …

Collaboration And Co-Management Ahead Of Permitting: Understanding How Actors And Their Interactions Lead To Non-Optimal Shoreline Projects, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Mariana Saitgalina, Michelle Covi

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

Living shorelines are widely promoted as nature-based solutions to coastal erosion and wetland protection, yet hardened shoreline structures continue to dominate even in jurisdictions with explicit policy mandates prioritizing living shorelines. In this research, we examine why non-optimal shoreline modification outcomes persist in Virginia (USA) despite a regulatory framework designed to promote ecological alternatives. We use primary data from interviews with wetlands board members, marine contractors, and nonprofit organizations and findings from a secondary survey of shoreline property owners to analyze shoreline management as a multi-sector collaborative decision-making process. Findings show that shoreline outcomes are shaped less by individual regulatory …

Sea-Level Rise Adaptation And Collaboration In Polycentric Governance: A Comparison Of Three Regions, Francesca Vantaggiato, Mark Lubell, Matthew C. Nowlin, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Majid Shafiee-Jood

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

Adaptation to sea-level rise confronts coastal communities worldwide with a new set of collective action problems that require collaboration. When does collaboration result in concrete action for adaptation? To address this question, we combine the Ecology of Games and Collaborative Governance frameworks using a comparative analysis of three coastal regions in the United States. We leverage original survey data from the San Francisco Bay Area in California (2018, N = 878), the Tri-County (Charleston) Area in South Carolina (2022, N = 152), and the Hampton Roads region in Virginia (2023, N = 153), three regions that differ in terms of …

Public Perception Of Environmental Contamination And Its Implications For Fish And Community Health In West Bengal, India, Libia Hazra

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In West Bengal, India, the highest fish-consuming state in the country, fish are woven into everyday life, including ceremonies of birth and marriage, prayers offered during harvesting and the cultural memory of communities whose identities are inseparable from aquatic life. However, the rivers, wetlands, and ponds that sustain these fish-human relationships are increasingly threatened by environmental contamination resulting from industrial discharge, agricultural runoff, and inadequate environmental management. Understanding how communities perceive these environmental changes is essential for developing effective conservation and public health strategies.

In collaboration between the Indian Institute of Technology (ITT) Kharagpur, India, and Michigan Technological University (USA), …

Enhancing Coastal Vulnerability Assessments And Policy Impacts On Socioeconomic And Environmental Equity In Michigan's Great Lakes Communities, Esther N. Acheampong

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Accelerating shoreline erosion, fluctuating lake levels, and climate-induced hazards are transforming the Great Lakes’ freshwater coasts, exposing the limitations of static and inequitable management frameworks. This dissertation investigates how Michigan’s coastal governance systems produce and manage vulnerability along the Lake Michigan shoreline by integrating geospatial modeling, institutional policy analysis, and environmental justice theory. It argues that both physical processes and institutional designs co-determine patterns of exposure, protection, and equity. The research begins by developing a refined Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) tailored for lacustrine environments, applying it to Muskegon County to assess how shoreline change, armoring, and seasonality influence localized risk. …