Copyright (c) 2013 Claremont Colleges All rights reserved. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports Recent documents in Environmental Analysis Program Mellon Student Summer Research Reports en-us Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:15:35 PST 3600 http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/6 http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/6 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:20:18 PDT This paper investigates the inner workings of the Bagmati Action Plan and how the implementation of this project impacts the established squatter communities that reside in the city’s floodplains. Deemed as a contributor to the rivers polluted state, the composed plan looks at both evicting all riverside squatters and finding alternative housing for affected citizens by working jointly with the country’s Ministry of Urban Development and Building Construction. By comprehensively reviewing the strategies implemented within the Bagmati Action Plan while also uncovering the country’s governmental proposal’s of housing relocation for squatters, this paper attempts to answer questions relating to the questions of 1) Whether these plans for river revitalization are plausible, 2) how successful these programs can be in modern Kathmandu and 3) how riverside squatters will be affected by the plans agenda of uprooting and demolishing previously established self-help houses.

]]> Benjamin Conner http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/5 http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/5 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:20:17 PDT In recent years, urban gardening has become a popular form of environmental, food, and social justice. Urban community gardens such as those in Washington, DC can reduce the environmental footprint of food production, provide access to healthy produce in “food deserts,” and provide other social, educational, and even financial benefits. However, the rising popularity of urban gardening has put many people in close contact with urban soils, which are likely to contain various contaminants due to concentrated human activity over extended periods of time. This study investigates heavy metal soil contaminants found in community gardens located in Washington, DC. 45 soil samples taken from various locations and depths at 13 community gardens across Washington, DC were analyzed for trace element content using x-ray fluorescence (XRF). While most of the soil samples analyzed fell below US EPA action levels for common contaminants such as lead, cadmium, cobalt, copper, and zinc, some samples showed concentrations high enough to merit some concern. High concentrations of Pb (above the US EPA action level of 400 ppm), which can cause serious health problems in children, was found in the native soil of three garden sites. The bioavailability of Pb and risk of danger to humans depends on many factors which will be explored in this paper. Because of the potential for direct exposure and ingestion of contaminated soil, this study also reviews potential measures to avoid contamination when gardening on urban soils in Washington, DC to ensure the safety of these valuable social, nutritional, and environmental resources.

]]> Adam J. Long http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/4 http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/4 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:20:16 PDT In 2003, residents of the Serra do Brigadeiro Territory, a rural region of Southeastern Brazil in one of the few remaining patches of the Atlantic Forest, learned of a large number of bauxite concessions in their territory given by the federal government to the prominent Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio (CBA), Brazil’s largest aluminum producer. Because the region prides itself on its small-scale agriculture and its lush natural environment, the mining has been the source of much contention in the community. Introduced to the topic by the international conservation non-profit and research center, Iracambi, I spent two months in the territory this summer, exploring how the community perceives the mining. An exercise in anthropological research, this report tries to answer the question: How has the controversy surrounding the bauxite mining informed how the citizens of the Serra do Brigadeiro territory perceive their communal, religious, and individual identities in relationship to the development of their communities? Through formal and informal interviewing, participant observation, GIS mapping, and fieldwork, I concluded that the mining has instigated community inquiry into many facets of the region’s future, including: the fate of family agriculture; the value of ecological resources; globalization and its effect on economic and generational change; the rhetoric used to express opinions on external forces such as bauxite mining; the role of religion in advocacy and conflict mediation surrounding such changes in the region's cultural ecology.

]]> Lena R. Connor http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/3 http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/3 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:20:14 PDT This paper analyzes how traditional liberation theology in Brazil has been adapted in the neoliberal age to encompass ecological goals and rhetoric. In this research report, I first examine the work of prominent Brazilian ecotheologians, Ivone Gebara and Leonardo Boff. I then look into the applications of such ecological liberation theology in Catholic activism in Brazil, focusing on the role of religious advocacy in dam controversies, land reform, and mining.

]]> Lena R. Connor http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/2 http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/2 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:05:08 PDT The Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil is an area of astounding diversity in both flora and fauna, taking its place among the top five “biodiversity hotspots” in the world. However, in the past 40 or 50 years the area has been increasingly threatened by the presence of humans – approximately 93% of the Rainforest has disappeared as a result of exploitation (Turner 2004). Unsustainable farming practices, as well as logging, cattle ranching and mining activities have caused soil infertility, water depletion, erosion and destruction of ecosystems. This project examines the effects of the Pau Jacaré, Piptadenia gonoacantha, tree on soil health in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil. I conducted soil tests in an attempt to determine if planting the Pau Jacaré in and around degraded areas, through projects like forest corridors or agroforesty, may help restore soil fertility. The Pau Jacaré does not appear to provide an abundance of any specific nutrient; however its role as a pioneer species could be extremely beneficial for setting up forest corridors. Its capacity to fix nitrogen is still not clear but the way in which it creates a balance within the soil may be used in agroforestry.

]]> Aleksandra Ponomareva http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/1 http://scholarship.claremont.edu/eap_ea_mellonreports/1 Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:19:54 PDT Mr. de Jong worked at Oxford University to extend solid-state solar cells’ photoresponse by taking advantage of a favorable energy-transfer mechanism.

]]> Andrew de Jong