Resources

2006. Author: Anna Brown. It's surprising to learn that the water-rich state of Massachusetts experiences incidences of water stress, where rivers go dry for stretches of the year and where municipalities struggle to meet water demand. Water conservation and demand management is one important part of reducing pressures on water supplies and alleviating ecosystem stress. Although the state has recently revisited water management policies and has promoted revised measures to increase conservation...

2017. Author: Fernando Vega. Through the 2013 Energy Reform, the Law of Energy Transition, and the General Law of Climate Change, the policy makers in Mexico have aimed to lower electricity tariffs, generate 35% of electricity from clean energy sources by 2024, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in 2020 and 50% in 2050 compared to greenhouse gas emissions in 2000. Furthermore, the 2013 Energy Reform aims to promote economic development and reduce electricity subsidies. In an effort to...

2016. Author: Kelly Dunning. This dissertation examines two countries, Indonesia and Malaysia, and their pathways to implementing the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), specifically focused on how regional and national policies in Southeast Asia have fared when implementing the Aichi Targets of the CBD. These include both safeguarding ecosystems through protections and ensuring that benefits from ecosystems can be enjoyed by all. I examine CBD implementation through marine...

2016. Author: Devon Neary. In 2000, President Clinton signed legislation authorizing the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), a $7.8 billion, 68 project, 30-year effort to restore one of the most unique and diverse ecosystems in the world. The plan was the culmination of efforts by environmentalists to reverse a century of drainage and development driven by economic speculation in South Florida. For 16 years, CERP has struggled through lawsuits, stakeholder disagreements...

2008. Author: Michael Hogan. Renewable portfolio standards ("RPS") have spread widely as states have made an effort to promote electricity production from renewable energy sources, granting privileged market access to eligible technologies and resources. One prominent public policy objective driving their rapid adoption and expansion in recent years has been the desire to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. Eighty percent of power sector CO2, and thus one third of all U.S...

The future is always uncertain, but planners and policy makers typically make decisions as though their models and forecasts are accurate. This can lead to major problems and inefficiencies; infrastructure is built and management decisions are made with one future in mind and things can turn out quite differently in practice. The challenges are exacerbated as uncertainty and complexity increase, as is happening under climate change. Scenario planning offers a powerful alternative to predicting...

2007. Author: Gregg Macey. This study grew out of an interest in environmental justice and the unique problems faced by neighborhoods located near petrochemical facilities. It also focuses on negotiation theory and how it can be applied under an increasingly diverse array of circumstances. I sketch the roots of the concept of integrative bargaining and how it emerged as a powerful yet limited tool for meeting the interests of stakeholders in multi-party contexts. Specifically, I demonstrate how...

2019. Solutions, vol. 10, no. 2. Authors: S. Barnard and Susskind, L. Natural ecosystems are being lost to development in fast-growing countries around the world. While land development may often be a desirable objective, conversion from one land use to another rarely takes account of the myriad benefits that natural ecosystems, directly or indirectly, provide to humans. This is because markets often fail to capture the value of these benefits monetarily. If there were an easy way to compute the...

2022. This project provides a 7-generation framework for Community Dog PopulationManagement in the Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation. This framework is composed of three tracks, Mind, Body and Spirit, which form the basis for a One Health healing. It is organized in 7 stages that begin with defined by an event called ‘The Festival of Healing’ where Tribe Members meet to evaluate the framework’s progress and decide the following actions to implement the next initiatives. The project aims to...

2014. Author: Casey Stein. Human reliance on fossil fuels has led to a wide range of adverse environmental and health effects. As our understanding of these impacts has grown, so has the search for other, more sustainable sources of energy. One such source is solar power, and the federal and state governments in the United States have created various policies and financial incentives to encourage adoption of solar energy technologies. While solar energy offers tremendous potential benefits...

2011. Author: Amanda Martin. Almost all cities in the United States have initiated efforts to become more sustainable. Theoretically, sustainability encompasses social equity, as well as ecological and economic systems. In practice, many cities are unsure about the role of equity in sustainability planning. With greater knowledge of how urban sustainability initiatives affect social equity, public officials will better be able to incorporate equity into their activities. However, at this time...

2014. Author: Ryan Cook. To address the need for massive change in the electric power industry, state and local actors are experimenting with creative policy approaches in the clean energy space. I investigate the facilitating role that networks play in the production and implementation of these policy ideas. I look at policy networks through the case of Solarize, a community-based solar energy group-purchasing program that has grown rapidly since its emergence in 2009. I compare and contrast...