Health Implications of Impure Water Consumption and the Implementation and Outcome Analysis of Water Filters in Puerto Penasco, Sonora

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Description
Consumption of clean, pathogen-free water is vital in maintaining health. The water infrastructure in Puerto Penasco, Sonora is not sufficient in providing clean water for its residents. Water in this region is being overdrafted, meaning it is distributed from dee…

Consumption of clean, pathogen-free water is vital in maintaining health. The water infrastructure in Puerto Penasco, Sonora is not sufficient in providing clean water for its residents. Water in this region is being overdrafted, meaning it is distributed from deep wells faster than it can be regenerated, which prevents more wells from being constructed. There is a high need for a cost-efficient solution to the clean water shortage in this impoverished town. The purpose of this study was to determine: (1) how clean drinking water affects health, (2) how contaminated water and water substitutes, such as soda and juices, negatively impact health, and (3) the impact on water consumption by local residents after providing them with a portable filtration system to create clean drinking water in their own homes. Water filters were distributed in two trials to a convenience sample of 45 participants, 27 of whom were successfully contacted for a post-implementation survey. Out of the 27 participants who took the survey, 27% reported that they drank more water after receiving the filter than before, 40% reported drinking less soda after receiving the filter, 63% reported using their filter on a daily basis, 63% believed that drinking clean water is important for their health, and 74% thought that it was difficult for them to obtain clean drinking water before receiving the filter. Providing residents with a filtration system was effective in increasing water consumption and saving residents money on water but did not provide conclusive data, negating the use of soda as a water substitute. This was an effective small-scale solution to a much larger problem that may be beneficial in other similarly impoverished communities.
Date Created
2019-12
Agent

Multilevel Governance of Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Areas: Evidence from Bangladesh

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Description
Climate change impacts are evident throughout the world, particularly in the low lying coastal areas. The multidimensional nature and cross-scale impacts of climate change require a concerted effort from different organizations operating at multiple levels of governance. The efficiency and…

Climate change impacts are evident throughout the world, particularly in the low lying coastal areas. The multidimensional nature and cross-scale impacts of climate change require a concerted effort from different organizations operating at multiple levels of governance. The efficiency and effectiveness of the adaptation actions of these organizations rely on the problem framings, network structure, and power dynamics of the organizations and the challenges they encounter. Nevertheless, knowledge on how organizations within multi-level governance arrangements frame vulnerability, how the adaptation governance structure shapes their roles, how power dynamics affect the governance process, and how barriers emerge in adaptation governance as a result of multi-level interactions is limited. In this dissertation research, a multilevel governance perspective has been adopted to address these knowledge gaps through a case study of flood risk management in coastal Bangladesh. Key-informant interviews, systematic literature review, spatial multi-criteria decision analysis, social network analysis (SNA), and content analysis techniques have been used to collect and analyze data. This research finds that the organizations involved in adaptation governance generally have aligned framings of vulnerability, irrespective of the level at which they are operated, thus facilitating adaptation decision-making. However, this alignment raises concerns of a neglect of socio-economic aspects of vulnerability, potentially undermining adaptation initiatives. This study further finds that the adaptation governance process is elite-pluralistic in nature, but has a coexistence of top-down and bottom-up processes in different phases of adaptation actions. The analysis of power dynamics discloses the dominance of a few national level organizations in the adaptation governance process in Bangladesh. Lastly, four mechanisms have been found that can explain how organizational culture, practices, and preferences dictate the emergence of barriers in the adaptation governance process. This dissertation research overall advances our understanding on the significance of multilevel governance approach in climate change adaptation governance.
Date Created
2019
Agent

Mapping and modeling illicit and clandestine drivers of land use change: urban expansion in Mexico City and deforestation in Central America

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Description
Anthropogenic land use has irrevocably transformed the natural systems on which humankind relies. Understanding where, why, and how social and economic processes drive globally-important land-use changes, from deforestation to urbanization, has advanced substantially. Illicit and clandestine activities--behavior that is intentionally…

Anthropogenic land use has irrevocably transformed the natural systems on which humankind relies. Understanding where, why, and how social and economic processes drive globally-important land-use changes, from deforestation to urbanization, has advanced substantially. Illicit and clandestine activities--behavior that is intentionally secret because it breaks formal laws or violates informal norms--are poorly understood, however, despite the recognition of their significant role in land change. This dissertation fills this lacuna by studying illicit and clandestine activity and quantifying its influence on land-use patterns through examining informal urbanization in Mexico City and deforestation Central America. The first chapter introduces the topic, presenting a framework to examine illicit transactions in land systems. The second chapter uses data from interviews with actors involved with land development in Mexico City, demonstrating how economic and political payoffs explain the persistence of four types of informal urban expansion. The third chapter examines how electoral politics influence informal urban expansion and land titling in Mexico City using panel regression. Results show land title distribution increases just before elections, and more titles are extended to loyal voters of the dominant party in power. Urban expansion increases with electoral competition in local elections for borough chiefs and legislators. The fourth chapter tests and confirms the hypothesis that narcotrafficking has a causal effect on forest loss in Central America from 2001-2016 using two proxies of narcoactivity: drug seizures and events from media reports. The fifth chapter explores the spatial signature and pattern of informal urban development. It uses a typology of urban informality identified in chapter two to hypothesize and demonstrate distinct urban expansion patterns from satellite imagery. The sixth and final chapter summarizes the role of illicit and clandestine activity in shaping deforestation and urban expansion through illegal economies, electoral politics, and other informal transactions. Measures of illicit and clandestine activity should--and could--be incorporated into land change models to account for a wider range of relevant causes. This dissertation shines a new light on the previously hidden processes behind ever-easier to detect land-use patterns as earth observing satellites increase spatial and temporal resolution.
Date Created
2019
Agent

“Time to Reconnect”: High School Students’ Perspectives of a Nature-Based School Landscape

Description

The widespread environmental degradation characterizing the Anthropocene is a call to address a deteriorating human-nature relationship. For much of history, humans have been deeply connected with and in respect of nature both physically and psychologically, and this bond can be…

The widespread environmental degradation characterizing the Anthropocene is a call to address a deteriorating human-nature relationship. For much of history, humans have been deeply connected with and in respect of nature both physically and psychologically, and this bond can be renewed. Doing so is especially important for future generations, as modern youth have less opportunities to experience the natural world and more opportunities to experience the virtual world. A lack of nature connectedness in our youth has clear implications for sustainability and underscores the need for interventions aimed at reconnecting youth with nature. Primary and secondary education is a particularly valuable leverage point for such interventions, and nature-based school landscapes may be a valuable tool in strengthening the human-nature relationship and reconnecting youth with nature. While studies have indirectly linked garden-based learning and connection with nature in youth, research has not yet directly explored the relationship between the two.

My research explores 12th grade students attending Desert Marigold School in South Phoenix. Desert Marigold practices Waldorf educational philosophy with the school’s garden as a primary teaching tool and recreational space. I used arts-based methods to give students an opportunity to visually communicate their perspectives of the school’s landscape through photography and artistic renderings. Students then verbally described and discussed their media in a series of group interviews. Data were then coded and analyzed for themes of connection with nature expressed in the literature. The results illustrate that students connect with nature in a variety ways through the school’s landscape, demonstrating potential for enhanced sustainability outcomes in education.

Date Created
2019-04-26
Agent

Fair Trade: History, Ethics & Impact 1-Credit Course

Description
This course will cover the history, ethics and impact of the fair trade movement for a variety of stakeholders in the Global South and Global North. We will be participating in various activities that will acquaint us with different topics,…

This course will cover the history, ethics and impact of the fair trade movement for a variety of stakeholders in the Global South and Global North. We will be participating in various activities that will acquaint us with different topics, including globalization, the gender wage gap, environmental degradation and supply chain management. Guest speakers from the fair trade community will contribute their perspectives regarding the movement. Students will gain an understanding of the tradeoffs of the fair trade movement for the different actors throughout the length of the supply chain. Students will describe the purpose of the fair trade movement and who it seeks to serve. Students will explain what the Fair Trade certification entails for the actors who engage in the system. Students will debate the tradeoffs of the fair trade movement, incorporating the perspectives of multiple stakeholders from both the Global South and Global North. Finally, students will evaluate Fair Trade as a tool for sustainability both socially and economically.
Date Created
2019-05
Agent

Safe-to-fail infrastructure for resilient cities under non-stationary climate

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Description

Motivated by the need for cities to prepare and be resilient to unpredictable future weather conditions, this dissertation advances a novel infrastructure development theory of “safe-to-fail” to increase the adaptive capacity of cities to climate change. Current infrastructure development is…

Motivated by the need for cities to prepare and be resilient to unpredictable future weather conditions, this dissertation advances a novel infrastructure development theory of “safe-to-fail” to increase the adaptive capacity of cities to climate change. Current infrastructure development is primarily reliant on identifying probable risks to engineered systems and making infrastructure reliable to maintain its function up to a designed system capacity. However, alterations happening in the earth system (e.g., atmosphere, oceans, land, and ice) and in human systems (e.g., greenhouse gas emission, population, land-use, technology, and natural resource use) are increasing the uncertainties in weather predictions and risk calculations and making it difficult for engineered infrastructure to maintain intended design thresholds in non-stationary future. This dissertation presents a new way to develop safe-to-fail infrastructure that departs from the current practice of risk calculation and is able to manage failure consequences when unpredicted risks overwhelm engineered systems.

This dissertation 1) defines infrastructure failure, refines existing safe-to-fail theory, and compares decision considerations for safe-to-fail vs. fail-safe infrastructure development under non-stationary climate; 2) suggests an approach to integrate the estimation of infrastructure failure impacts with extreme weather risks; 3) provides a decision tool to implement resilience strategies into safe-to-fail infrastructure development; and, 4) recognizes diverse perspectives for adopting safe-to-fail theory into practice in various decision contexts.

Overall, this dissertation advances safe-to-fail theory to help guide climate adaptation decisions that consider infrastructure failure and their consequences. The results of this dissertation demonstrate an emerging need for stakeholders, including policy makers, planners, engineers, and community members, to understand an impending “infrastructure trolley problem”, where the adaptive capacity of some regions is improved at the expense of others. Safe-to-fail further engages stakeholders to bring their knowledge into the prioritization of various failure costs based on their institutional, regional, financial, and social capacity to withstand failures. This approach connects to sustainability, where city practitioners deliberately think of and include the future cost of social, environmental and economic attributes in planning and decision-making.

Date Created
2018
Agent

Assessing the Causes of Food Insecurity among College Students

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Description
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of what food insecurity among college students. Qualitative research regarding food insecurity on college campuses has been growing as we gain a better understanding of how prevalent this…

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of what food insecurity among college students. Qualitative research regarding food insecurity on college campuses has been growing as we gain a better understanding of how prevalent this issue is and its broad impact on students. However, to our knowledge there are only a handful of studies that examined the student and university staff experience using mixed methods. Qualitative data is needed to gain a deeper understanding of the student experience. OBJECTIVE: To gain deeper insights about students’ food insecurity experiences from students themselves and the university staff members who work with them. This insight is necessary to shift university’s current policies and approach to helping students experiencing food insecurity and removing the stigma of the “starving student” experience. METHODS: Surveys and interviews were used to collect data from students to gain an understanding of their current living situations and understand their personal experiences accessing food. University staff completed surveys focused on understanding staff’s experiences with student food insecurity as well as their attitudes and beliefs about students who experience hunger. RESULTS: The current study found that the financial burden of attending college along with student’s food literacy level can contribute to student’s food insecurity. Students identified barriers to food access, discussed their perceptions of their food experience, and also discussed who they lean on for support when struggling with food. Student’s previous life experiences, food literacy, and social support systems all impact the student food experience. University staff identified similar barriers that they perceive students experience when struggling with hunger and also indicated that they have received little to no training or instruction on how to support students experiencing food insecurity. CONCLUSION: These findings can be used as a building block for developing interventions and the implementation of new resources to help minimize food insecurity on college campuses.
Date Created
2018
Agent

Social-ecologies of crisis: assessing the back-to-land movement in Greece

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Description
Adaptation and transformation have emerged as a key themes for human-environment research, especially in the context of rapid social-ecological changes. The 2008 global financial crisis constitutes a major driver of change with social-ecological ramifications that have yet to be fully…

Adaptation and transformation have emerged as a key themes for human-environment research, especially in the context of rapid social-ecological changes. The 2008 global financial crisis constitutes a major driver of change with social-ecological ramifications that have yet to be fully explored. Using Greece, the poster child of the euro-crisis as a case-study, this dissertation examines how adaptive capacity is mobilized and even enhanced in times of crisis, paying particular attention to the role played by natural capital. To do so, I focus on the back-to-land trend whereby urbanites seek to engage in food production post-crisis (2008-onwards). In-depth qualitative analysis of back-to-landers’ motivations, experiences, and challenges is integrated with quantitative data about household demographics, incomes and assets, and land management characteristics. The dissertation is organized in three main result papers (chapters). The first seeks to understand why people turn to the land in times of crisis, and the role played by agency. The second analyzes the various assets that people mobilize in order to go back to the land, paying particular attention to the different mobilities necessary for their livelihood transformation. The third examines environmental safety nets in terms of material and non-material benefits that ecosystems provide to people. This research contributes to a wider social-ecological scholarship that seeks to understand how people adapt and transform when confronted with crises, focusing on how land and associated ecosystem services contribute to the resilience of these households, and the role played by agency in this process.
Date Created
2018
Agent

Transformation Labs as a Sustainability Intervention to Leverage the Human Factor of Social-Ecological Change in the Escalante Community Garden

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Description
While we often see community gardens as material spaces managed by organizations, resources and institutional arrangements do not fully define a community garden or ensure its success. Understanding the “human factor” is key to implementing interventions at the subjective level…

While we often see community gardens as material spaces managed by organizations, resources and institutional arrangements do not fully define a community garden or ensure its success. Understanding the “human factor” is key to implementing interventions at the subjective level that allow gardens to thrive. The Escalante Community Garden in Tempe, Arizona is a transforming social-ecological system wherein volunteers exhibiting collective efficacy are a crucial component. To keep this undergoing transformation on a positive pathway, I leveraged a sustainability intervention, a Transformation Lab, using a set of replicable participatory tools to support personal and interpersonal dynamics beyond an organizational perspective.
Date Created
2018-04-19
Agent

Cryospheric Hazards and Risk Perceptions in the Mt. Everest Region, Nepal

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Description
Multiple studies have reported potential risks posed by a rapid expansion of glacial lakes in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. People’s perception of such cryospheric hazards can influence their actions, beliefs, and responses to those hazards and associated risks.…

Multiple studies have reported potential risks posed by a rapid expansion of glacial lakes in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. People’s perception of such cryospheric hazards can influence their actions, beliefs, and responses to those hazards and associated risks. This paper analyzes local people’s perceptions of cryospheric hazards and risks using a social survey dataset of 138 households in the Khumbu and Pharak areas of the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. A statistical logit model of categorical household data showed a significant positive correlation with the perceptions of cryospheric risks to their livelihood sources, mainly tourism. Local people’s GLOF risk perceptions are also influenced by their proximity to rapidly expanding glacial lakes and potential flood zones located in Dudhkoshi River basin. The emergency remediation work implemented in the Imja glacial lake by the Government of Nepal in 2016 has served as a cognitive fix, especially in the low lying settlements in Pharak. Uncertainties of cryosphere that exist in the region can be attributed to a disconnect between how scientific knowledge on GLOFs risks is communicated to the local communities and how government policies on climate change adaptation and mitigation have been limited only to awareness campaigns and emergency remediation works. A sustainable partnership of scientists, policymakers, and local communities is urgently needed to build a science-driven, community-based initiative that focuses not just in addressing a single GLOF threat (e.g., Imja) but develops on a comprehensive cryospheric risk management plan and considers opportunities and challenges of tourism in the local climate adaptation policies.
Date Created
2018-04-18
Agent
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