Water in the U.S. West faces considerable challenges and uncertainties. Climate change has intensified weather extremes, threatening the water sources that support the region’s many stakeholders. Urban water providers are among the stakeholders contending with the challenge of providing reliable water supplies to their growing populations. Recognizing the critical role...
This research explores the prospects of legislation in Michigan to authorize statewide use of Overdose Fatality Review Teams (OFRTs) to address the escalating opioid crisis. OFRTs consist of multidisciplinary teams that collaborate for overdose prevention. These teams operate on a local to statewide level and are comprised of individuals from...
Children enter kindergarten on unequal footing. Early childhood experiences shape initial disparities and predict academic achievement and life trajectories. One influence, child care, is not available to all children in Oregon as most counties qualify as child care deserts. This paper analyzes if child care access has an effect on...
Children enter kindergarten on unequal footing. Early childhood experiences shape initial disparities and predict academic achievement and life trajectories. One influence, child care, is not available to all children in Oregon as most counties qualify as child care deserts. This paper analyzes if child care access has an effect on...
The Columbia River Treaty (CRT), signed in 1964, is known widely as a successful transboundary river treaty between the United States and Canada. It was designed with a basic dual functional purpose, to increase flood prevention in the lower basin and to maximize hydroelectric power output between the two nations....
The management of the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) gray wolf population is a longstanding controversy that has fueled generations of political and cultural turmoil in the American West. At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, wolves were eradicated from the West for the threat...
The use of FDA-approved medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) is a critical tool in reducing the impacts of the opioid crisis. Despite the known benefits of these medications, access to these treatments is lacking more than two decades into the opioid crisis. While most policy changes...
Wastewater treatment plants around the world are becoming increasingly at risk of sea level rise impacts as these facilities are typically located in low-lying areas to utilize gravity flow for influent (incoming sewage) and effluent (discharged treated sewage). As these risks become realized, treatment plant managers and decision-makers must know...
The Rohingya community have faced continuous violence, discrimination and statelessness in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. In 2017, a violent crackdown by Myanmar’s army on Rohingya Muslims sent almost a million fleeing across the border of Bangladesh. They found their temporary home in the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh...
Because the environmental threats are becoming global in scope, international cooperation and global governance issues are in the spotlight. The most controversial environmental law and policy problems arise in the areas where no individual state has sole responsibility for governing, "global commons." Scholars believe that the best way to deal...
The year, 2020, marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s ratification, granting American (primarily white) women the right to vote, however, women remain underrepresented in elected offices across the United States. In comparison to men, women face several additional challenges related to gender when attempting to reach the upper...
This MPP essay examines how states expand access to nutritious food for low-income families, focusing specifically on policies related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and farmers’ markets. Coalitions made up of nonprofits focused on hunger, farmers, and health collaborate to impact relevant policies in their respective states. The...
Recreational fisheries regulations at the state level along the US Atlantic coast are constantly changing to ensure the sustainability of marine fish populations. It is hypothesized that effective management of recreational fishing effort should have a positive impact on fish stocks. Using recreational catch per unit effort (CPUE) as a...
Transportation contributes approximately 41 percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions and 27 percent of national greenhouse gas emissions (CARB, 2019, EPA, 2017). In response to climate change concerns, stakeholders have encouraged the use of electric and hybrid vehicles through tax credits, rebates, and education campaigns. Environmental and transportation justice groups...
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have emerged in the last half century as concerning global contaminants. PFASs have been found in drinking water systems causing negative health impacts for those who rely on this as their primary source of drinking water. PFASs are man-made industrial chemicals composed of carbon chains...
The biggest obstacle to a 100% renewable energy utility portfolio is the ability to produce enough electricity to meet peak demand windows, which typically occur in the late afternoon to evening period from 3 pm to 9 pm. A popular policy option to reduce peak demand is time-of-use (TOU) electricity...
There are currently 43 countries which have adopted some kind of carbon pricing policy – either adopted a carbon tax or entered a cap–and–trade, while the remaining countries have not. This has created significant diversity in the world with regard to climate change mitigation. There is thus a need to...
The interdependences among water, energy and food, are diverse and multidimensional and are referred to as the food-water-energy (FWE) nexus. This nexus approach seeks to understand the complex interactions among these sectors, in order to identify synergies and trade-offs that could serve as the basis for developing effective planning and...
Food, water, and energy have strong interdependencies; actions in one sector inadvertently affect actions in another sector. Recent literature supports a “nexus” approach, whereby policies related to food, water, and energy are integrated and used in tandem rather than in isolation. Developing a better understanding of the trade-offs between food,...
When a catastrophic event happens, senior residents who are physically or mentally disabled, are placed at a much greater risk of injury or death. Researchers in the aftermath of hurricanes’ Katrina, Sandy, and Harvey, consistently record elderly residents presenting the most difficult challenges for emergency personnel during evacuation and post...
People in the US and Europe eat the most meat worldwide, lose or waste about 20% of this product overall, and they waste the most food per capita. Food waste is currently addressed as an issue of volume, so programs and policies target foods that are wasted more by weight...
Collaborative governance strives to address complex environmental problems by building cooperation and consensus among stakeholders. While there are many successful examples of collaborative governance, all too frequently collaborative groups come to an agreement in the meeting room only to struggle to bring their plans to fruition. What are the factors...
Group Engagement Theory describes the relationship between citizen perceptions of policy, individual identity and status judgements, and individual group engagement decisions. Utilizing a least likely crucial case methodology, this paper uses the case of Josephine County, Oregon to determine the validity of the Group Engagement Theory prediction that citizen identity...
This study examines the determinants of food consumption behaviors, such as purchasing less meat products, paying attention to how and where food is produced, and reducing food waste within the household. Food consumption is particularly important given that it can often comprise between 10% to 30% of the total household...
Increasing renewable energy development is often seen as an essential tool for combating global climate change, yet despite widespread support in theory, renewable energy often faces problems at the implementation stage. In the state of Washington, where voters have expressed a desire for greater renewable energy by mandating that 15%...
Despite widespread public support for renewable energy development, the siting of wind energy facilities can prove problematic due to opposition from surrounding communities. I propose a unifying framework to explain community response to wind energy development – showing how concepts from environmental sociology related to local biophysical and socioeconomic conditions...
Cities of the world today house more than half the world’s population, contribute to 80 percent of the global GDP, consume approximately 70 percent of the global energy and produce 70 percent of the greenhouse gases produced worldwide (Floater et al., 2014; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014). City governments...
A history of fire suppression, growth in the wildland-urban interface, and changing climate conditions, have created a fire regime in central Oregon that is growing in severity and intensity, putting more people and structures at risk and requiring a greater percentage of state and federal agency budgets to manage fires....
Deforestation and loss of soil fertility are two forms of environmental degradation with global importance. Theories of environmental degradation commonly cited in public and academic discourse have historically emphasized the role of human populations and national economic development as being the primary drivers of environmental damage. This thesis utilizes quantitative...
Wind energy has widespread public support; nevertheless, the emergence of local support or
opposition in response to siting proposals is often unpredictable. Uncertainty surrounding a
community’s response is problematic for both the company planning the project and for states
pursuing policies for expanded development and use of renewable energy. Given...
Climate change policies present multiple quandaries to the field of public policy and science studies. Despite the prevalent scientific consensus, approaches demonstrate great heterogeneity. With one side advocating for the facticity of climate change and a pro-active stance, while the other argues about negative economic trade-offs, viewpoints diverge. Between controversy...
Selecting locations for large energy facilities represents a land use dilemma: The beneficiaries of such facilities often are not the ones to suffer from adverse local impacts. As a result, it is not uncommon for local opposition groups to form in response to such proposals, and although opportunities for public...
Tax evasion is one of many problematic issues associated with tax systems that negatively affect
state’s ability to provide public goods and services. This study seeks to examine the impact of
tax composition on tax evasion using information about 150 countries from 1999 to 2007. The
paper adopts neoclassical theoretical...
Several distinctive environmental movements of the past century have had major influence on public policies in the United States. More generally, social movements that push environmental issues into the limelight have the potential for significantly altering public perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs, thus driving big policy changes. This thesis examines the...
The hazards-of-place model of vulnerability to environmental hazards posits that vulnerability has biophysical and social components. While biophysical characteristics are important in predicting locations of elevated wildfire risk, the social characteristics of human communities may help us predict locations of elevated wildfire impacts. We examine the relationship between biophysical and...
This study examines the association of household characteristics with forest product consumption and other benefits derived from community forest in Nepal. The analysis is based on random sample data of 80 households from a Community Forest User Groups of Baghmara Community Forestry (BCF) in Nepal. Using an OLS regression to...
This study investigates the barriers faced by fats, oil, and grease (FOG) as an energy feedstock in the state of Oregon. FOG, which typically originates in food service establishments (FSEs), historically has been treated as waste, yet it also has the chemical make up to be an energy feedstock in...
Michigan’s State Department of Education issued a resolution in 2003 calling for all public K-12 schools to repeal their American Indian mascots and in 2013 the Michigan Department of Civil Rights filed a complaint with the United States Department of Education in response to school districts failing to do so....
The absence of federal climate legislation in the United States has led to a growth of sub-federal and non-governmental programs to combat greenhouse gas emissions. One such program, the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) seeks to mitigate greenhouse emissions from higher education through the voluntary commitment of...
While discussing what types of campaign finance laws are and are not constitutional in his opinion in McCutcheon v. FEC, 572 U.S. ____ (2014), Chief Justice John Roberts stated that “those who govern should be the last people to help decide who should govern.” His intent was to highlight how...
Housing is the single most important environmental factor associated with high rates of mortality and morbidity (United Nations, 2007). Most Americans spend about 90% of their time indoors, and an estimated two-thirds of that is spent in the home (Klepeis et al., 2001). Studies show a link between substandard housing...
The role of science in marine policy, and environmental policy in general, is a debated topic. Currently, there is an increasing desire for transparent and participatory democracy that involves more input from local residents and other non-experts. These demands often conflict with the increasing complexity of problems and the real...
Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) located in Eugene, Lane County, Oregon, is developing a voluntary landowner incentive program that will provide monetary incentives to non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners in the McKenzie River Watershed, EWEB’s drinking water source for the metropolitan area of Eugene, to promote good stewardship of...
This research uses the Institutional Development Analysis (IDA) framework to examine the relationships between the individual levels of enforcement and the commercial trawl fishermen in Newport, Oregon, to determine if there is a difference in relationships and whether those differences impact compliance. While a difference in the relationships between the...
Policies in Europe over the last half a century have steadily dismantled the inequality-easing processes of the welfare state. Current conditions coupled with concerns related to the recent economic downturn have heightened focus on the issue of income distribution. Education has been identified as a resource to combat such ills....
During the 2011 Oregon Legislative session, seven bills were debated that addressed policy affecting small farms. This paper seeks to understand the environment surrounding these bills: what is the political structure for determining small farm policy? To answer this question seven policymakers were interviewed and two legislative hearings were observed....
The spread of invasive species into the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the United States poses a serious threat to the valuable forest resources of the region. Many insects and diseases that are a threat to these forest resources can be transported inside firewood. When campers transport their firewood across borders...
Community driven development (CDD) is one of the recent approaches in the development arena that integrates people into mainstream development. Bringing people together into the development prospects through social capital is an important aspect of this approach that harnesses greater social inclusion and wider participation at the grass root level....
The Himalayan mountain range is one of the world’s largest sources of fresh water, and Nepal, situated at the foothills of the Himalayas, is endowed with ample water resources. In spite of this water abundance, drinking water supply in many parts of the country is inadequate, particularly in the capital,...
The complexity of modern environmental problems has increased appeals for including scientific research and findings in natural resource policy decision making. Though scientists, resource managers, interest groups, and the general public support more science-based environmental policy, these preferences have been accompanied by growing calls for decentralization and democratization of policy...