ES&P Graduate Program Annual Symposium

The Environmental Science and Policy (ES&P) program held its third annual ES&P Graduate Program Annual Symposium on Wednesday, February 6, 2009.

This event included poster presentations reporting on the Environmental Science and Policy (ES&P) Masters student’s final M.A. projects within the Department of International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE). 

Abstracts:

The Use of Birds in the Measurement of Success of Biodiversity Conservation
Trevor Attenberg
Prior to the arrival of humans in the Northeastern U.S., mega-faunal grazers and browsers kept the landscape in a mosaic of habitats. The habitat ranged from early succession grass and shrublands, to savannah, to mature forest. Later, native peoples maintained the mosaic through fire based agriculture and game management practices. Today, conservationists work to protect the biodiversity that this historically complex landscape array provided. This project seeks to discover how land management practices are affecting biodiversity, with resident avian population surveys serving as field research tools.
Project Advisor: John Baker

Straw Bale Neighborhoods: The Effects of Scale on Sustainable Housing Projects
Evan Boyd
How does the involvement of mainstream actors and regulations affect the performance and/or holistic nature of niche eco-housing technologies? Case studies of straw bale housing developments are compared.
Project advisor: Halina Brown

Outdoor Education: From Theory to Practice
Liz Bullock
Research has shown that being involved in environmental protection, stewardship, and care is healthy for children, helps them excel, and supports global sustainability. Concepts of environmental protection, stewardship, and care should start at a very early age. Children and adolescents can gain respect for the environment while they are playing, studying, or working outside. These opportunities must be cared for and increased. One organization, the Global Youth Leadership Institute (GYLI), provides environmental lessons to high school students and has been recognized globally for their achievements in education. They are starting their Middle School Program this upcoming summer. The following discussion includes recommendations for why both outdoor education is important and also how we can translate GYLI lessons to a middle school audience for their upcoming program.
Project Advisor: Jennie Stephens

China’s Responses to Climate Change and the World Bank Carbon Offset Activities in China
Chun Chun
With a rapidly growing coal-dependent economy, China has a critical role to play in global efforts to address climate change. Through the research on the World Bank carbon offset projects in China, the paper argues that China is taking a responsible attitude towards climate change and despite its successful operation so far, the Bank’s carbon offset program in China fails to reach the most vulnerable and most of the projects targets on large-scale hydropower and fossil fuel industry which are not really clean.
Project Advisor: Jennie Stephens

A Decision-support tool for managing stormwater in Massachusetts
Elena Fedorova
Storm water discharges are generated by runoff from land and impervious areas such as paved streets, parking lots, and building rooftops during rainfall and snow events. As development and imperviousness increase in an area, the natural capacity of the soil and vegetation to infiltrate and take up rainfall decreases, and more rainfall becomes storm water runoff. This can produce negative impacts by causing erosion of land areas and stream banks, by depletion of groundwater resources, by causing or increasing flooding and also by carrying pollutants to surface waters. The new statewide Stormwater Management Program intended by MassDEP will help clean up watersheds throughout Massachusetts by requiring owners of large parcels to control phosphorus and other pollutants before the stormwater runs off their property. The stormwater program will have the added benefit of recharging groundwater aquifers as measures are taken to redirect runoff away from nearby surface waters and back into the ground. However, it is apparent that a statewide standard for ground recharge that does not take into account regional hydrogeological, land use and ecological differences will not be effective. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between stream baseflow and impervious surfaces based on regional hydrological and environmental factors. As a result of the project recommendations on the scientific rational for managing stormwater will be made and shared with Bureau of Water Protection at MassDEP.
Project Advisors:Samuel Ratick and Henry Bulley

Food Policy Councils as a Tool for Facilitating Sustainable Local Food Production Systems
Clay Fielding
Food Policy Councils have emerged as communities are shifting their consumption patterns toward more locally and sustainably produced foods. These entities work to improve their local food systems by shaping local policy, creating networks for various food actors to collaborate, improving farmer/consumer connections, and initiating a myriad of other actions.
Project Advisor: Halina Brown

Assessment of Vulnerability of the Sagarmatha Himalayan Region to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) and Policy Adaptations in Nepal.
Prabha Joshi
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Project Advisors: Henry Bulley and Jennie Stephens

Fungus formation and Ochratoxin A (OTA) occurrence in Robusta coffee of Vietnam during storage - Implication for human health
Khoa Dang Le
Aspergillus niger is a dominant fungus species formed in stored coffee beans in Central Highland of Vietnam. Significantly, the infection rate of coffee beans stored in the well-ventilated storage system by funguses is higher than in the poor-ventilated storage system. This is also true in term of Ochratoxin-A (OTA) contamination, given OTA tested results of coffee sample stored in both vented and sealed warehouses. In 1993, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified OTA as a possible carcinogen (group B) to humans.
Project Advisor: Tim Downs

Marketization of Urban Water Service in China
Xi Liu
This research reviews the French model of urban water service and the current situation of marketization of urban water service in China, and focuses on the problems associated with the marketization process. This research explores how these problems could be addressed from the government, industry and water corporations’ perspectives.
Project advisor: Robert L. Goble

Going from Niche to Mainstream - How can known technology and assembly changes be deployed to infuse High Energy Home (HEH) performance into mainstream Cold Climate residential construction?
John Magnant
With the advent of global climate concern, and the known impact that residential housing and buildings make on the climate, what is keeping home- builders from taking advantage of better technologies to build more sustainable residential buildings? High Energy Home technologies are available, and in many cases only require general knowledge as to how they can be applied. This paper looks at pioneers and case studies, but focuses on the problems and solutions of High Performance Homes as a guide to transcend residential construction from conventional to High performance Home construction, particularly in Cold Climates.
Project Advisor: Halina Brown

Prospects and Problems of Cultivating Jatropha as a bio-diesel crop in India
Shrikant Mohanta
Jatropha curcas is emerging as an important bio-diesel plant all over the world, because it is a non-food crop and it can grow well in degraded waste lands, without application of fertilizer or irrigation. However, its effectiveness in cultivating commercial scale is yet to be established. This paper discusses the potential of Jatropha as a biodiesel crop in India, as well as the socio-economic fall-out of cultivating it in larger scale in farmers’ fields.
Project Advisor: Jennie Stephens

Grasshopper Sparrows: Dead and Buried in the Northeastern United States?
Susan Moynagh
Grassland bird species are declining throughout the United States, and especially in the northeastern portion of the country. This is primarily due to destruction and degradation of their habitats. The Grasshopper Sparrow will be used as a case study to see how they are impacted by habitat loss. Federal, State and local legislation and policies, and policies of non- governmental agencies seek to address the decline in bird population, but are failing to do so. I examine the biology and habitat needs of the Grasshopper Sparrow, outline the regulations and policies, and identify their weaknesses, using literature citations, books and government reports for information. I then make recommendations to improve conservation efforts for Grasshopper Sparrows, and other grassland species, as well.
Project Advisor: John Baker

Measuring Success: the Case of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Julie Muszalski
This project focuses on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the first market-based cap-and-trade carbon dioxide emissions reduction program set in the United States on a regional scale. The research includes discussion of RGGI’s strengths and limitations, including a comparison of the sulfur dioxide reduction program in the United States and the carbon dioxide emissions reduction program in the European Union. Most significantly, although the first two trading auctions have resulted in the sale of over 41 million permits, RGGI currently lacks a monitoring system. By defining criteria for “effectiveness” and proposing monitoring and capacity building schemes, it is therefore recommended that RGGI and similar programs could improve effectiveness with the implementation of a monitoring system.
Project Advisors: Jennie Stephens & Tim Downs

Creating A Revolving Fund and Endowment for Environmental Sustainability at Clark University: Closing The Gap Between Environmental Promise and Environmental Progress
Dominic Pascarelli
One of the primary obstacles to most environmental initiatives is securing funding. Generally, there are two types of environmental initiatives: (a) those that have some future financial return on investment and (b) those that may not have some future financial return on investment. This is of utmost significance since, regardless of environmental merit or urgency, projects that are more likely to have some future financial return on investment will be funded first. This project will address the aforementioned funding issues at Clark University by creating two interconnected funding mechanisms: (a) a revolving fund for environmental projects that generate a financial return and (b) an endowment for environmental initiatives that may not generate a financial return.
Project Advisor: Mark Tigan

Addressing the Problem of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Luanda City: Where to Go?
Manuel Pinto
The concern over unsustainable urban development process in developing countries is growing. Rapid urbanization in developing countries has constrained the capacity of cities to provide suitable employment, municipal solid waste and sewage disposal, water supply, and settlement. Municipal solid waste has been on the increase in whish is attributable to general population growth and to some degree, increased consumerism that normally follow economic growth. Many developing countries are already unable to address the municipal solid waste management in major cities in a sustainable manner. Luanda city, in Angola is one such practical example. This paper identifies, through existing literature, the reasons for the inability to successfully address the rising concerns on municipal solid waste management in Luanda city, and studies viable solution that may be suitable to address the problem.
Project Advisor: Tim Downs

The effect of wind turbines on sustainable behaviors and values in Hull, MA
Gabe Rand
There is a general consensus that fossil fuel based energy systems are unsustainable due to resource peaking, impacts on global climate change, and foreign dependencies. Transitions toward sustainable energy regimes in the U.S. and Europe are depending heavily on transitions to renewable technologies and on wind energy in particular. In contrast to much of the State controversy surrounding wind energy in Massachusetts the Town of Hull has become an exemplary case study of successful wind energy development. The primary benefit of wind turbines providing local and clean energy is clear. The purpose of this research project is to explore the more complex secondary effects (e.g. green branding) that the wind turbines may have had on the town.
Project Advisor: Halina Brown

Understanding the Failures of the Past and Developing a Workable Fisheries Management Policy for George’s Banks Groundfishery
Jared Silva
New England has a long history of exploiting a fishery until imminent collapse, and New England’s once vital and strong groundfishing industry is no different. This paper will provide a historical overview of the industry in order to demonstrate the cultural and social importance of its survival. In this historical background the reader will begin to see a cycle of mismanagement by both the regulator and the regulated and the growing distrust due to the continuous erratic, misguided, and failed policies. In order to provide a workable policy management plan for the future the five major policy alternatives: the do nothing alternative, the closing of George’s Banks, the outlawing of dragging technology, a catch-share investment program, and diversification through employment, will be evaluated. In conclusion, using the results of the critical evaluation I will recommend a pathway of alternatives that in theory satisfies the needs of the stakeholders.
Project Advisor: Tim Downs

Analysis of the shift from Traditional Energy to Modern Energy Technology, Policies and Programs
Asha Singh
The paper presents the overview of the paradigm shift of traditional energy to modern energy production and consumption pattern in response to the rising concern about anthropogenic influence in Climate Change. Analysis of the challenges and opportunities of the changes taking
place at the policy, program level, and institutional level will be done through the lenses of energy equity and efficiency. South Asian energy institutions, policies and programs and will be the basis for the analysis.  
Project Advisor: Halina Brown

A Critical Evaluation of the Long-term Sustainability of Wastewater Irrigation Near Aleppo, Syria
Greg Sixt
The purpose of the research was to evaluate whether the use of wastewater for irrigation in the agricultural region south of Aleppo, Syria is a viable long-term solution for the arid region. Water, soil, and plant samples were taken from the agricultural fields and from a wellwater irrigated control region and analyzed for salts and select metal ions to determine the impact of the irrigation practice on the soil and on the crops. GIS was used to map the research area so that samples could be taken at the same locations on a repeat basis for the duration of the research to account for temporal variances.
Project Advisor: Tim Downs

Study on prospect approaches for improving food safety in China
Chen Xiongzhen
Food supply in China has changed from shortcoming to richness during the last century, but food safety issues in China became a common recent concern due to the frequent food incidents. In this paper, I will discuss causes of food safety issues, study administrative system of food safety in USA, and suggest prospect approaches for improving food safety in China.
Project Advisor: Halina Brown

Prospects for Employing City-wide Bicycles in City of Toronto: What Toronto Can Learn from Paris
Yuzhu Wu
This paper mainly assesses the feasibility for employing a city-wide bicycle program in the city of Toronto. Firstly, this paper provides insights into the context of development of city-wide bicycle projects in worldwide scale, and talks about the importance of bicycles as a key element of sustainable transportation in cities. Secondly, this paper reviews the operation of a bicycle rental project “Vélib” in Paris. Thirdly, a framework is made to identify what factors would be considered to implement the project in Toronto. The potential costs and challenges will be discussed. This research concludes with brief recommendation.
Faculty advisor: Halina Brown

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