Environmental Policy Commons^™

Enhancing The Eden Alternative Model With Well Standards: A Case Study Analysis, Mariah Stoner

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

This thesis investigates the potential for improving the Eden Alternative Model, a person-centered approach to elder care that emphasizes creating a homelike environment and meaningful relationships, using WELL Standards, a building certification system focused on enhancing human health and well-being through improvements in environmental quality. Through a mixed-methods approach involving quantitative data analysis and qualitative case studies, this research examines how WELL Standards, which cover aspects such as air quality, water quality, lighting, and thermal comfort, can improve environmental quality and resident satisfaction within the Eden Alternative Model. This research introduces a tailored approach to elder care by combining these …

Community Voices, Climate Action Choices: Working Towards A Resilient Monterey County, Lesley A. Solano Alonso

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Vulnerable communities in Monterey County face disproportionate environmental and health impacts due to climate change, yet many residents remain unaware of the tools and resources available to support local action. This capstone project was implemented in partnership with Ecology Action (EA) and the Resilient Central Coast (RCC) campaign to increase awareness and engagement with the RCC platform. Serving diverse communities across Monterey County, the project included bilingual outreach efforts, community tabling, educational presentations, and a climate action survey. Over 650 residents were engaged directly, resulting in 99 new household sign-ups on the RCC website, a major milestone for the agency. …

From Basel (1989) To Busan (2024): Developments And Contradictions In The Global Plastic Waste Trade, Megan E. Hughes

Honors Theses

In 1989, the international community convened in Basel to adopt groundbreaking, legally binding legislation on the transboundary movement of hazardous waste. Plastic waste was notably absent from the initial Basel Convention due to the perceived economic value in plastic recycling despite social, economic, and environmental harms. Consequently, the transboundary sale of plastic waste for recycling– known as the Global Plastic Waste Trade (GPWT)– has proceeded largely unregulated, enabling unsustainable plastic consumption while exacerbating environmental justice divides between developed and developing nations. Recent commitments in the GPWT, such as the European Commission Circular Economy Action Plan (2015), China’s National Sword policy …

Critically Assessing Normative Methods And Their Limitations In Managing Crowding Within Parks And Protected Areas, Glendon R. Vansandt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Visitor experiences in parks and protected areas are shaped by a variety of environmental, managerial, and social factors. To ensure that visitors enjoy their time in these spaces, management agencies often adopt guidelines to establish acceptable levels for different aspects of these experiences. One of the most selected factors is perceived crowding, which reflects how crowded visitors feel in a given area. When perceived crowding exceeds desired levels, it can significantly diminish visitor satisfaction.

This thesis presents two studies aimed at identifying the shortcomings of the management of perceived crowding. The first study conducts a comprehensive literature review that identifies …

Dr-4429: Social Perceptions And Narratives Of The 2019 Mississippi Delta Flood, Lily B. Langstaff

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the social perceptions and narratives surrounding the 2019 Mississippi Delta flood. Recognizing flooding as a “wicked problem,” the research highlights how socioeconomic and cultural identities relate to access to resources and assistance for affected communities, with an emphasis on infrastructure. Through qualitative analysis, including thematic coding of journalistic media sources covering the flood, the study explores the perceptions and experiences as well as the concept of ‘deservingness’ and its relationship with government resources and assistance. Findings indicate that the Mississippi Delta community faced temporal barriers to post-flood recovery due to disparities in representation and perception, underscoring the …

Realokasi Subsidi Bbm Untuk Investasi Energi Terbarukan Di Indonesia: Analisa Social Accounting Matrix, Sidik Nur Toha, Widyono Soetjipto

Jurnal Kebijakan Ekonomi

The challenge of energy transition is the high subsidy on fossil fuels and financing needs. Using social accounting matrix, this study examines the impact of energy transition plan and subsidy reform on economy, society and environment through three scenarios: business-as-usual scenario (Sim1), energy transition (Sim2) and phasing-out (Sim3). Sim2 and Sim3 are conducted without subsidy transfer (Sim2 & Sim3) and subsidy transfer for financing renewable power plants (Sim2.1 & Sim 3.1). The result is Sim3 has better economic, social and environmental impacts than Sim1. When reallocation is conducted, reallocation simulation shows positive impacts on economy and society with significant differences …

Contracting For Public Delivery: The Dynamics Of Relational Governance And Power Asymmetry In Public Infrastructure Project, Fazlur Rahman Hassan, Dzulfian Syaafrian, Dinda Ayu Maharani

BISNIS & BIROKRASI: Jurnal Ilmu Administrasi dan Organisasi

Government institutions often face a dilemma in providing goods and services: whether to ‘outsource’ or manage them ‘in-house’. Large-scale public services typically require complex contracts to ensure successful project completion. This study examines the dynamics of relational governance and power shifts that lead to contract failure using a mixed-method approach applied to a complex public service project in Jakarta, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. The findings indicate that a contractual win-win outcome can be achieved with strong governance rules, particularly relational governance. However, relational governance can weaken without robust contractual governance, particularly during conflicts or disputes. …

Community Land Governance In Liberia: Implications For Tenure Security And Land Concessions, Julia R. Entwistle, Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong

Geography and the Environment: Faculty Scholarship

Throughout rural Africa, the intersection of customary traditions and statutory governance has often led to overlapping jurisdictions and conflicts over community land rights. In Liberia, this dynamic is particularly evident in the rise of commercial land concessions. This article examines the Liberian government’s approach to community land rights and its impacts on land tenure security, especially in the context of these concessions. This study employs a discourse analysis of Liberian land use policies alongside qualitative data from in-depth interviews with community members living near large-scale plantations. Despite historical erosion of community land rights, Liberian communities have adapted statutory frameworks to …

Turning Farm Waste Into Energy: Pragmatic Approaches For Cleaner Midwestern American Communities, Rebecca Gaisie

Selected or Submitted Student Research Papers/Projects

Mismanagement of farm waste in the Midwest of the United States has resulted in significant methane emissions, water contamination, and public health concerns. The present manure management rules are still inconsistent, underfunded, and insufficient to motivate individuals to behave in a way that benefits the environment, despite increasing concerns about the environment. This policy study investigates anaerobic digestion as a potential means to convert waste into energy that could support rural and environmental development. Some of the problems with the federal and state legislation examined in this study under an EPI framework are a lack of incentives, inadequate technical support, …

Fisheries Management Paper No.286: Western Australian Octopus Resource Harvest Strategy, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Fisheries Management Papers

Harvest strategies for Western Australia’s (WA) aquatic resources are formal documents developed to support decision-making processes that ensure the outcomes are consistent with the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD; Fletcher 2002a) and Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM; Fletcher et al. 2012). Harvest strategies are a key component of all contemporary fishery management systems and a requirement for certification under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). The objectives of ESD are reflected in the objectives of the Fish Resources Management Act 1994 (FRMA).

This Octopus Resource Harvest Strategy (Harvest Strategy) has been developed and revised in line with the Harvest Strategy …

Supreme Court Gives States The Green Light To Go Ham: The Dormant Commerce Clause In Renewable Energy In Light Of National Pork Producers, Ellie Carl

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Two years ago, the Supreme Court slaughtered the Dormant Commerce Clause in its decision in National Pork Producers v. Ross. While the case is not explicitly about environmental law, it significantly affects environmental laws and policies, especially pertaining to state renewable portfolio standards. These state policies are especially prone to Dormant Commerce Clause litigation, given the interstate nature of electric grids. This paper argues that the scope of the Dormant Commerce Clause in light of this decision is appropriate for ensuring that states have adequate wiggle room in renewable energy regulation, but not an excessive amount of leeway so …

Holding Ground In The Cerulean Tide: Minority Party Legislators' Strategies For Advancing Climate Policies In Landslide States, Sukjae Lee

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation addresses a key puzzle: Why do states sometimes adopt nationally polarized policies, such as climate change legislation, even when doing so does not align with strict partisan interests? The analysis focuses on “landslide states,” where a single party overwhelmingly dominates, and the minority party cannot realistically expect to gain a majority. In these environments, reduced partisan conflict allows minority party legislators to break from traditional partisan paths. As a result, I argue that electoral motivations drive them to signal moderation by advancing liberal policy agendas or incorporating provisions that minimize backlash from their core constituents in landslide states. …

System Change, Not Climate Change: Collaborative Development Of A Few Nexus Experiential Learning Course For A Justice-Centered Comparative Study Abroad Program, Sonya Ahamed

National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW)

The International Honors Program (IHP) on Climate Change: The Politics of Land, Water and Energy Justice has been offered by the School for International Training (SIT) since 2013. This thematic multidisciplinary program currently travels to Morocco, Nepal, and Ecuador for one month each, introducing students to local food, water, and energy challenges in the context of a changing climate. In updating the program following its relaunch in 2023, renewed attention was given to the food, energy, and water nexus from a comparative perspective across and within these countries. This presentation will focus on the development of experiential learning cycles for …

Climate Change Policies And Good Governance In Egypt, Mahmoud Elshourbagy

Theses and Dissertations

Egypt recognizes the impacts of climate change and is particularly vulnerable because of its high-density population, economic burden and geographical location. In response, Egypt established National Climate Change Council in 2016. In 2022, the council issued “National Climate Change Strategy 2050” to integrate and align the efforts of government bodies to adapt and mitigate climate change risks. One of the strategic goals of “National Climate Change Strategy 2050” is to enhance climate governance in Egypt as a critical tool. This study attempts to evaluate climate change policies in the context of good governance by using a tool developed by World …

Energy Saving Through Climate Education: Climate Sensitization In School For Mindful Consumption At Home, Haritha Saranga, Satyajit Roy, Kanchan Mukherjee

Working Papers

An effective fight against climate change requires both a “top-down” approach and “bottom-up” changes; that is, adopting sustainable practices at the individual and household levels, which requires knowledge, belief, and willingness to engage in climate action. Extant research has shown a number of challenges in bringing about persistent changes in human behavior. We propose to bring about mindful energy consumption behavior at the household level by using children as the conduit for behavior change. Scalable interventions that create awareness about climate change and its impact through early self-regulation in middle and high schools are a promising and cost-effective opportunity to …

Addressing The Humanitarian Crisis In Bangladesh’S Disaster Management, Rifat Anik

CAFE Symposium 2025

Bangladesh faces frequent and severe natural disasters like cyclones, floods, and river erosion, making it highly susceptible to climate-induced displacement and economic instability. As disasters grow more intense, vulnerable communities struggle to recover, facing repeated losses with limited support. Despite disaster management efforts, gaps in response, inefficient resource distribution, and governance issues often leave those most in need without adequate assistance. Understanding these challenges is crucial to improving disaster response and building a more resilient system.

A Recycling Case Study: Gettysburg College, Luke Francek

CAFE Symposium 2025

My project addresses the issue of non-recyclable Van Doren reed cases at Gettysburg College and proposes a community-based solution to mitigate waste. It outlines the environmental impact of improperly handled reed cases, presents research on reed usage and material recyclability, and proposes two initiatives: an education campaign and a dedicated collection receptacle for proper disposal. The proposal emphasizes collaboration with faculty, localized recycling efforts, and the potential for broader replication in other communities.

Geographic Distance And State's Grip: Information Asymmetry, State Inattention, And Firm Implementation Of State Policy, Xiyi Yang, Heli Wang, Xiaoyu Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this study, we develop the argument that geographic distance between the state and local governments undermines the state's capacity to influence the implementation of state policies by local organizations. Drawing from information economics and the attention-based view, we propose that physical distance reduces the state's monitoring effectiveness through two interrelated mechanisms: information asymmetry and state leaders' inattention to distant issues. Using data of Chinese public firms' implementation of environmental activities between 2008 and 2016, we find that firms conduct fewer environmental activities required by the state when they are regulated by local governments that are more geographically distant to …

The Influence Of The Un Watercourses Convention On The Development Of A Policy Design In The Nile River Basin, Zienab Ali Abdelhady

Theses and Dissertations

The adoption in 1997 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UN Watercourses Convention or UNWC) marked a milestone in the codification and progressive development of international water law. Similarly, the signature in 2010 by the majority of the Nile Basin states of the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) was a major step towards a permanent legal and institutional framework as well as a significant shift from the currently applicable legal regime in the basin. The research concludes that the principles enshrined in the UNWC can assist future regional treaty …

Moving From ‘Managing Stakeholders’ To ‘Managing For Stakeholders’: The Imperative For Responsible Business, Meena Raghunathan, Kara Li Liu

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

Gone are the days when it was accepted that shareholders were the ones for whose benefit business was done, and that the purpose of business was to maximize returns to shareholders. Today, it is universally accepted that a business has to look beyond maximizing profits. It has to take into account the needs all stakeholders, including the environment.

Several frameworks and approaches have been advocated to achieve the objective of optimizing the value of the corporation from multiple angles, including Triple Bottom Line, Responsible Business, Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, etc. At the heart of all these concepts is the issue …