Environmental Studies Theses and Dissertations

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Open Access
Affective and Moral Roots of Environmental Stewardship: The Role of Obligation, Gratitude and Compassion
(University of Oregon, 2012) Markowitz, Ezra; Markowitz, Ezra; Hodges, Sara
Environmental issues such as climate change and habitat loss pose significant challenges to existing political, legal and financial institutions. As these challenges have become clearer in recent years, interest in understanding the psychological, cultural and moral motivators of environmental stewardship has grown. Recent research within the social sciences--particularly psychology, sociology and communications--has revealed numerous intra- and interpersonal processes and mechanisms that shape whether, how and to what extent individuals and communities engage with the environmental problems they face. In this dissertation, I integrate research from these and other fields to examine the role that affect, identity and morality play in driving individual-level concern about and response to environmental challenges. Across three chapters (which present results from eight empirical studies), I attempt to answer a series of core research questions, including: (1) What is the role of affect in motivating active engagement with environmental issues? (2) What factors shape recognition of problems such as climate change as morally relevant? (3) What can we learn by studying the interaction of affect and morality in the context of environmental conservation? (4) What are the limits of the affective and moral judgment systems in motivating environmental concern and action? In Chapter II (`Is climate change an ethical issue?'), I show that relatively few people identify climate change as a moral issue, that such perceptions are shaped in part by individuals' beliefs about the causes of the problem, and that perceived moral obligation predicts behavioral intentions. In Chapter III (`Who cares about the future?'), I further examine the affective roots of environmental moral beliefs and demonstrate that feelings of gratitude towards past generations enhance individuals' perceptions of responsibility towards future generations. Finally, in Chapter IV (`Are pandas like people?'), I find limits to the role of affect in motivating beneficent action on behalf of non-human others. Together, these three chapters provide novel and actionable insights into some of the factors that shape individual-level environmental stewardship. This dissertation includes both previously published sole-authored (Chapter II) and unpublished co-authored (Chapter IV) material.
Open Access
AN ACCUMULATION OF CATASTROPHE: A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF WILDFIRE IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
(University of Oregon, 2024-03-25) Dockstader, Sue; Foster, John
This dissertation is an environmental sociological study of wildland fire in what is now the western United States. It examines wildfire management from roughly the 1900s to the present time employing a Marxist historical materialist analysis. The title of this work reflects the accumulated social and environmental effects of capitalism and the interconnected catastrophes of its development. Historically, Indigenous cultural burning shaped western landscapes that provided for human and nonhuman needs, while remaining resilient to environmental disturbances. Capitalist expansion effected a rift in the relationship between humans and fire through dispossession of Native Americans, commodity production, and fire exclusion. This metabolic rift is beset by economic crises, and human displacement enabled the U.S. to mobilize large groups of precarious workers to fight fires which it continues to do today. Rapid and complete fire elimination has left a legacy of unhealthy forests and grasslands that occasionally provide fuel for wildfires that threaten people, structures, and natural resources requiring suppression. This burn-fight-burn cycle, or wildfire paradox, exemplifies what Engels called the “revenge of nature” in which the supposed subjugation of nature exposes humans to unimagined vulnerability. Modern wildfire science evolved in relation to U.S. imperialist military and economic domination that increased global economic activity among Global North countries in the aftermath of World War II. This Great Acceleration increased carbon dioxide emissions responsible for climate change that, in turn has exacerbated wildfire activity as well as propelling human settlement in and near uninhabited, wild areas that spark fires. In recent decades an alliance of polluting industries, utilities, forest owners, and the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector, have been profiting from the continued CO2 emissions that drive wildfires using carbon trading, third party liability arrangements and novel insurance products with disastrous results. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of possible avenues for changing the relationship between humans and wildland fire to avert further catastrophe.
Open Access
An analysis of walking and bicycling behavior in suburban multifamily housing: A case study in Eugene, Oregon
(University of Oregon, 2010-12) Belanger, Kevin M., 1985-
Walking, bicycling, and other modes of active transportation can be utilitarian modes of personal transport, but barriers exist that limit the ability of groups of people to use these modes. This research looks at the walking and bicycling behaviors and attitudes of residents of suburban multifamily housing, a housing type identified in previous literature as needing research. Particularly, the roles of pedestrian route distance and directness as well as physical route characteristics are explored in their effects on walking and bicycling behavior. Results show that both the pedestrian network distance and major arterials are significantly correlated with a person's mode choice. Recommendations include increasing density around suburban commercial centers and encouraging pedestrian and bicycle connections between developments to limit arterial interaction.
Open Access
Aspects of Successful Sustainable Development Programs with an Emphasis on Latin America: A Comparative Case Study
(University of Oregon, 2012) Veltri, Brandi; Veltri, Brandi; Mitchell, Ronald
Public participation is assumed to benefit sustainable development. Actual effects of public participation, a requirement of some international agreements and funding programs, are not widely documented. I compare 16 local sustainable development programs, defined as those with economic, social, and/or environmental goals intended to not diminish economic, social, or environmental assets. Within participation, I distinguish between segments of the population, means, and timing. I also consider the roles of government and the number and type of goals of each program as alternative influences on sustainable development. Successful programs commonly have more segments of the population participating in ways that are more meaningful. Programs with social goals are typically more successful than those with only economic and/or environmental goals. This information can be used for planning sustainable development programs and updating requirements in funding guidelines to reduce investment risks and more consistently realize the benefits of sustainable development programs.
Open Access
An Assessment of Rancher Perspectives on the Livestock Compensation Program for the Mexican Gray Wolf in the Southwestern United States
(University of Oregon, 2008-09) Vynne, Stacy, 1979-
Governments and nonprofit organizations use compensation programs to offset the costs of livestock lost to endangered predator species. Both the conservation community and compensation recipients debate the value of such programs and whether they build tolerance for predators. Using surveys of ranchers and interviews with key stakeholders, I assess a program to compensate ranchers in the southwestern United States for livestock lost due to the reintroduced Mexican gray wolves. Results demonstrate that the current compensation program is ineffective because historical, cultural, and social barriers limit the program's ability to offset economic losses and the willingness of ranching communities to tolerate wolves. Improving the compensation program requires increased outreach to communities, greater collaboration among stakeholders and establishment of additional complementary programs that reduce livestock losses and provide incentives for Mexican wolf conservation.
Open Access
Beyond Wilderness: Outdoor Education And The Transfer Of Environmental Ethics
(2006-06) Mazze, Sarah, 1977-
With growing awareness of environmental issues, few outdoor educators would deny that the environment deserves greater attention in our daily lives. Most adventure education programs focus on treading lightly on the land for the duration of the program, yet may not discuss skill transference to students’ daily lives. Through interviews with 9 students and 10 alumnae of an adventure-education program, this qualitative study examines how the local example of leaving no trace can inform living a less resource consumptive lifestyle on a more global scale. Behavior change models and prior research guided the interviews with the goal of exploring: does the environment end at wilderness boundaries for students, or to what extent do they carry home and expand their knowledge of living lightly? As predicted, all subjects achieved some degree of transfer, with contributing factors including time spent in remote wilderness, explicit discussion of transference, and increased knowledge and skills.
Open Access
Caring For Creation: Investigating Faith-Based Environmentalism In Four Congregations
(University of Oregon, 2004-12) Lieberman, Gretchen Hughes, 1973-
There is growing evidence of an environmental movement within the religious sector. However, this phenomenon, referred to as faith-based environmentalism (FBE), is only present in some congregations. Previous research has investigated whether or not certain religious characteristics are associated with support for environmental issues. Building off this earlier quantitative work, this study seeks to determine what individual and collective qualities contribute to the presence of FBE. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using surveys and individual interviews from four congregations in Eugene-Springfield, Oregon. It was found that the social gospel tradition in mainline Protestantism and the corresponding tikkun olam emphasis of liberal Judaism are key theological variables correlated with FBE. Additionally, strong leadership from the clergy (in conjunction with the laity's tolerance for leadership) was found to be equally essential. This thesis concludes that despite religion's potential, these variables are critical for a faith-based response to environmental issues.
Open Access
Channel change of the upper Umatilla River during and between flood periods : variability and ecological implications
(University of Oregon, 2008-12) Hughes, Michael L.
This study examines the role of floods in shaping the geomorphology of the multichannel, gravel-bed upper Umatilla River, northeastern Oregon, USA. Three parts are presented: (1) the development and application of an error-sensitive aerial photo-based planform channel-change detection and measurement methodology, (2) an examination of the occurrence, variability, and landform impacts of channel widening, straightening, and lateral movement during two mid-to-Iate 20th century flood periods, (3) an investigation of the effects of these floods on channel complexity, a proxy of habitat quality and indicator of ecological health in multi-channel rivers. Floods in 1964-5 (17- to 37-year recurrence interval) scoured, widened, and straightened the active channel in conjunction with large lateral movements, bar accretion, and capture of marginal vegetated areas by lateral scour. Following the flood, lateral movements were smaller, the channel narrowed, and bars, scoured areas, and vegetation lapsed from the channel. A similar flood in 1975 also scoured, widened, and straightened the channel; however, lateral channel movement and changes in channellandforrns were less in 1975 due to latent adjustment of the channel to the first flood. Migratory straightening, meander cutoffs, and avulsions dominated lateral movements during flood periods, whereas episodes of migratory (lateral) extension and (downstream) translation of meanders dominated lateral movement between flood periods. Channel changes were spatially variable and generally greater in reaches with wide floodplains. Floods reduced the overall complexity of the river channel, although the magnitude of change was highly variable and some areas increased in complexity in response to flooding. By contrast, channel complexity increased in the period between floods, particularly in laterally confined areas where complexity loss was high during the first flood period. Two key processes appear to most affect channel complexity: (a) lateral scour and avulsions, which capture vegetation into the channel, and (2) migrations of the main channel, which reflect bar accretion and dissection. Results of this study are broadly congruent with theories (and their corollaries) emphasizing adjustment of channel dimensions, increased rates of change, and reduced complexity in response to flood disturbance, but only partially consistent with theories emphasizing large geomorphic changes in structurally confined settings. This dissertation includes both previously published and co-authored material.
Open Access
Consumer Willingness to Pay for Transitional Organic Produce
(University of Oregon, 2013-10-03) Williams, Marissa; Cameron, Trudy Ann
United States agriculture is continuing to shift toward organic production techniques to align with consumer demand, yet organic products make up an insignificant portion of the food market. This disparity has been examined via consumer willingness to pay for organic products and research on the costs and benefits of organic operations; however, little has been investigated about a potential transitional organic market. In shifting from conventional to organic agriculture there is a substantial transition phase of at least three years, during which producers cannot label their products as USDA organic. This research therefore examines consumer willingness to pay for transitional organic produce based on a Lane County representative adult population (n = 200). Results of the conjoint choice stated preference survey suggest that there exists a viable market for transitional organic products, revealing systematic heterogeneity in preferences for produce labeled as transitional USDA organic.
Open Access
The Contribution of Reflective Writing to Ecological Awareness at the H.I. Andrews Experimental Forest
(University of Oregon, 2009-06) Hoshaw, Robert M., 1983-
This thesis examines the Long-Term Ecological Reflections at H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon, a project that promotes creative inquiry at an ecological research station. I analyze how reflective writing contributes to a deeper understanding of ecosystem processes and fosters a closer connection to nature, referred to as "ecological awareness." I argue that the greatest ecological awareness comes from a combination of scientific and artistic ways of knowing as well as physical immersion in nature. I critically analyze the work of four writers: Jane Coffey, Vicki Graham, Freeman House, and Robin Kimmerer. These works create a strong connection to place for the reader and facilitate an understanding of the forest ecosystem through a discussion of scientific facts. They also create a sense of place through vivid and metaphorical language. These reflections will become an increasingly valuable mode of inquiry as the Andrews Forest develops a stronger writer-scientists interaction.
Open Access
A Cultural Snapshot: Exploring the Value of Community Photography for the Coquille Indian Tribe in a Climate Change Era
(University of Oregon, 2014-06-17) Vinyeta, Kirsten; Norgaard, Kari
Like many American Indian tribes, the Coquille Indian Tribe of Oregon has endured long struggles to preserve its cultural traditions despite the impacts of colonization. Now, advancing climate change poses additional threats to indigenous ways of life. In recent decades, the Coquille have archived historical documents and photographs as a means to protect and assert their tribal sovereignty. There has also been a surge in photography within the Tribe to document contemporary tribal activities. Community photography may be a useful tool for the purpose of asserting tribal culture and self-determination in the face of a changing climate. Photovoice, a type of community photography in which photographs are combined with oral descriptions, may be particularly well suited for tribal purposes. This collaboration explores the value of community photography in general, and photovoice in particular, when used by the Coquille Indian Tribe in the context of climate change.
Open Access
Defining Biomass as a Source of Renewable Energy: The Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions of Biomass Energy and a Survey and Analysis of Biomass Definitions in States' Renewable Portfolio Standards, Federal Law, and Proposed Legislation
(University of Oregon, 2011-06) Zeller-Powell, Christine Elizabeth
Electricity generated from woody biomass material is generally considered renewable energy and has been considered carbon neutral. However, recent criticism from scientists argues that the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission profile of bioenergy is nuanced and the carbon neutral label is inappropriate. An initial carbon debt is created when a forest is harvested and combusted for bioenergy. Because forests re-grow over a period of years, life cycle analyses show that bioenergy generated from whole trees from forests may not reduce GHG emissions in the short term, as required to combat climate change. State renewable portfolio standards and federal laws and proposed legislation designed to incentivize renewable energy typically define eligible forms of biomass that qualify for these incentives. Most of these definitions are very broad and do not account for GHG emissions from bioenergy. Federal and state laws should incorporate life cycle analyses into definitions of eligible biomass so that these laws incentivize biomass electricity that reduces GHG emissions in the next several decades.
Open Access
Eating in Urban Frontiers: Alternative Food and Gentrification in Chicago
(University of Oregon, 2014-06-17) Havlik, Brooke; Norgaard, Kari
While scholars and activists have analyzed the consequences of a largely white, middle-class membership in the alternative food movement, lesser consideration has been given to the relationship food has with gentrification processes. On Chicago's West Side, alternative food spaces such as gardens, restaurants and farmers markets are staking a physical and cultural claim in longstanding communities of color. Food is perhaps unique and more powerful than prior initiators of gentrification such as art due to its mundane, everyday qualities that intersect with its ability to uphold class distinctions. Using qualitative interviews, participant-observation and a literature review, I will examine how alternative food contributes to and is a form of resistance against the uprooting of longstanding Puerto Rican and Mexican communities on Chicago's West Side. Readers who have an investment in the alternative food movement must be conscientious of these tensions and consider resisting gentrification by creating inclusive, intercultural food spaces.
Open Access
Ecological Intensification of Oregon Hazelnut Orchards: Restoring Native Plant Communities in Shared Ecosystems
(University of Oregon, 2024-08-07) Lane-Massee, Marissa; Hallett, Lauren
The rapidly expanding Oregon hazelnut industry offers a unique opportunity for restoring ecosystem services to private lands that were historically oak-prairie dominated habitats. With typical orchard management consisting of bare-soil orchard floors, ecological intensification through the use of native conservation cover may directly benefit farmers and their operations, saving time and money spent on land management. With the hazelnut industry currently investing resources into young orchards, soil management with cover crops has become a contentious point of research. Looking towards the future, understanding how cover crops can be tailored towards an expanding and aging Oregon hazelnut industry is imperative. Here, I study the feasibility of large-scale native conservation cover implementation in a mature orchard, with measurements of compatibility to orchard management practices and desirable ecosystem services that farmers can directly utilize. My results show that native conservation cover can successfully suppress orchard weeds, align with important pest management timeframes, facilitate hazelnut pickup during wet harvest years, reduce chemical and mechanical inputs, and while not having a significant effect on soil moisture, significantly reducing soil temperature during summer months. This study demonstrates the feasibility and compatibility for native conservation cover to be used in commercial hazelnut systems, and the capacity at which native conservation cover directly benefits the farmer and agroecosystem alike.
Open Access
The ecological other: Indians, invalids, and immigrants in U.S. environmental thought and literature
(University of Oregon, 2009-09) Ray, Sarah Jaquette, 1976-
This dissertation argues that a fundamental paradox underlies U.S. environmentalism: even as it functions as a critique of dominant social and economic practices, environmentalism simultaneously reinforces many social hierarchies, especially with regard to race, immigration, and disability, despite its claims to recognize the interdependence of human and ecological well-being. This project addresses the related questions: In what ways does environmentalism--as a code of behavioral imperatives and as a set of rhetorical strategies--ironically play a role in the exploitation of land and communities? Along what lines--class, race, ability, gender, nationality, age, and even "sense of place"--do these environmental codes and discourses delineate good and bad environmental behavior? I contend that environmentalism emerged in part to help legitimize U.S. imperial ambitions and support racialized and patriarchal conceptions of national identity. Concern about "the environment" made anxieties about communities of color more palatable than overt racism. Furthermore, "environmentalism's hidden attachments" to whiteness and Manifest Destiny historically aligned the movement with other repressive ideologies, such as eugenics and strict anti-immigration. These "hidden attachments" exist today, yet few have analyzed their contemporary implications, a gap this project fills. In three chapters, I detail nineteenth-century environmentalism's influence on contemporary environmental thought. Each of these three illustrative chapters investigates a distinct category of environmentalism's "ecological others": Native Americans, people with disabilities, and undocumented immigrants. I argue that environmentalism defines these groups as "ecological others" because they are viewed as threats to nature and to the American national body politic. The first illustrative chapter analyzes Native American land claims in Leslie Marmon Silko's 1991 novel, Almanac of the Dead . The second illustrative chapter examines the importance of the fit body in environmental literature and U.S. adventure culture. In the third illustrative chapter, I integrate literary analysis with geographical theories and methods to investigate national security, wilderness protection, and undocumented immigration in the borderland. In a concluding fourth chapter, I analyze works of members of the excluded groups discussed in the first three chapters to show how they transform mainstream environmentalism to bridge social justice and ecological concerns. This dissertation contains previously published material.
Open Access
Ecology, Society, and Self: Toward a Multi-Tiered Framework for Participatory Approaches in Knowledge Generation
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06) Studholme, Ashley; Lynch, Kathryn
Participatory approaches in knowledge generation have become increasingly important in understanding our environments and integrating human and natural systems. Such approaches have been used to discover new species, address environmental injustices, and develop land management practices. However, frameworks and models used to explore participatory approaches tend to be oversimplified or focus on a specific component. Here, I present an integrated multi-tiered framework to gain insight into how project context and design interact to create outcomes that shape the socio-ecological system. The framework accounts for the nested scales, i.e. ecological, societal, and individual, of both the context and the outcomes. I then demonstrate the utility of the framework by applying it to two case studies in Ecuador: 1.) a climate change monitoring network and 2.) Andean bear para-biologists. Using this framework, it was evident that in both projects, gendered landscapes and how participants engaged were primary factors in shaping outcomes.
Open Access
Edaphic Controls Over Succession In Former Oak Savanna, Willamette Valley, Oregon
(University of Oregon, 2008-06) Murphy, Meghan Suzanne, 1979-
Oak savanna was a dominant ecosystem of Oregon's Willamette Valley prior to Euro-American settlement but has declined precipitously due to urbanization, agriculture, and reduced fire regimes. Some areas have retained their savanna structure while others have succeeded into woodland or forest. I investigated the relationships of current community type to edaphic (bulk density, texture, carbon, nitrogen, depth, and pH) and topographic (slope and heatload) factors at seven sites using analysis of variance and principal components analysis. Results indicate that edaphic and topographic conditions strongly influence successional pathways in former oak savanna, but the specific effects depend on site location. Soil moisture was also measured seasonally at three of the sites in community types representing the current successional stages. Results indicate that dry conditions restrict succession to dense forest, and that soil depth is an important control over soil moisture within the soil profile.
Open Access
Engendering the Metabolic Rift: A Feminist Political Ecology of Agrofuels
(University of Oregon, 2012) Dockstader, Sue; Dockstader, Sue; Foster, John
This thesis analyzes the gendered impacts of plant-based alternatives to petroleum, commonly called biofuels. Synthesizing case studies, scientific research and policies papers, this theoretical work adopts the term “agrofuels” coined by the peasant organization La Vía Campesina to reflect the true nature of these commodities – one of dispossession and ecological destruction. This paper documents the falsity of the claim that the fuels are “sustainable” by presenting facts linking them to deforestation, loss and pollution of water sources, destruction of important biodiversity and the knowledge that maintains this diversity, as well as economic exploitation. Most importantly, I verify that the adoption of agrofuel expansion exacerbates gendered patterns of exclusion and, in most cases, worsens women’s positions within the communities targeted for feedstock production with regard to land tenure, household energy maintenance, independent income and physical integrity.
Open Access
Environmental Justice and Flood Adaptation: A Spatial Analysis of Flood Mitigation Projects in Harris County, Texas
(University of Oregon, 2019-04-30) Pravin, Avni; Liévanos, Raoul
Although literature on flood risk and environmental justice investigates the link between race and ethnicity and vulnerability to floods, few studies examine the distribution of flood mitigation amenities. This study analyzes census tract proximity to flood mitigation projects (FMPs) completed between 2012 and 2016 in Harris County, Texas to determine if a) project location is biased towards economic growth and the urban core; b) areas most impacted by previous floods are prioritized for drainage assistance; and c) if low-income and Latinx populations are being neglected. A spatial error regression analysis indicates that FMPs are significantly proximate to the urban core, net of other factors. Results also indicate no significant relationship between census tract-level Latinx composition, income status, and proximity to FMPs. Finally, built environment characteristics and locations of previous flooding had no significant effect on where projects were placed.
Embargo
Essays on the Recreational Value of Avian Biodiversity
(University of Oregon, 2016-10-27) Kolstoe, Sonja; Cameron, Trudy Ann
This dissertation uses a convenience sample of members of eBird, a large citizen science project maintained by the Cornell University's Laboratory of Ornithology, to explore the value of avian biodiversity to bird watchers. Panel data (i.e. longitudinal data) are highly desirable for preference estimation. Fortuitously, the diaries of birding excursions by eBird members provide a rich source of spatial data on trips taken, over time by the same individuals, to a variety of birding destinations. Origin and destination data can be combined with exogenous species prevalence information. These combined data sources permit estimation of utility-theoretic choice models that allow derivation of the marginal utilities of avian biodiversity measures as well as the marginal utility of net income (i.e. consumption of other goods and services). Ratios of these marginal utilities yield marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) estimates for numbers of bird species (or numbers of species of different types, in richer specifications). MWTP for levels of other attributes of birding destinations are also derived (e.g. ecosystem type, management regime, seasonal variations, a time trend).\\ The chapters are organized as follows: Chapter 2 is a stand-alone paper that demonstrates the feasibility of a travel-cost based random utility model with the eBird data. This chapter focuses on measuring the total number of bird species at each birding hotspot in Washington and Oregon states. This chapter does not differentiate among types of birders beyond using their recent birding activities in an analysis of habit formation or variety-seeking behavior. For this model, beyond past behavior, a representative consumer is postulated. Chapter 3 starts from the basic specifications identified in Chapter 2 and explores heterogeneous preferences among consumers as well as their preferences for species richness and for different categories of birds. This chapter explores whether different types of birds are relatively more attractive to different types of birders (for example, by gender or by age or by neighborhood characteristics and educational attainment). Chapter 4 is an extension of the work in Chapter 3 to explore how changing site attributes in the face of climate change effects birder welfare. This dissertation includes previously unpublished co-authored material.