Browsing by Author "Betsill, Michele, committee member"
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Item Open Access A STIRPAT model of sectoral CO2 emissions at the county scale(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Sztukowski, John, author; Zahran, Sammy, advisor; Peek, Lori, committee member; Betsill, Michele, committee memberBackground: The scientific community agrees that the principal cause of increased surface temperature globally is the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion being most important among GHGs. Objectives: To analyze the spatial correspondences between CO2 emissions and anthropogenic variables of population, affluence, and technology in the United States. Methods: Ordinary least squares regression and spatial analytical techniques are used to analyze variation in CO2 emissions based on a modified version of the STIRPAT model. The unit of analysis is the county, with 3108 counties in the contiguous United States analyzed. The CO2 emissions of multiple sectors are analyzed as a function of total county population, income per capita, and climatic variation. Results: Population has a proportional relationship, the strongest association, with CO2 emissions. Affluence has a positive relationship with CO2 emissions with an attainable Environmental Kuznets Curve for the residential sector and total CO2 emissions. Climate, including average winter and summer season temperature, has a positive relationship with total CO2 emissions, although it has a negative relationship with the residential and commercial sectors of CO2 emissions. Technology acts as the residual in the model, accounting for net-positive and net-negative technology. Conclusion: Population growth, and to a smaller extent economic growth, are the driving forces of CO2 at the local level. These findings are consistent with global STIRPAT models. An increase in winter or summer temperature further exacerbates CO2 emissions. Understanding the relationships between these anthropogenic variables and environmental impacts at the local scale is a crucial step in the process of formulating mitigation strategies aimed at reducing CO2 emissions in the US.Item Open Access Carbon offsets and certification: how and why offset providers choose to certify(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Taft, David A., author; Stevis, Dimitris, advisor; Betsill, Michele, committee member; Taylor, Peter, committee memberIn a world that is increasingly concerned about carbon emissions and the atmospheric impacts of those emissions, carbon offsets have become a broadly accepted form of emissions reductions. While the UN set the initial standard for governing those offsets with the Clean Development Mechanism, a voluntary carbon market and a wide variety of private carbon offset certifications have gained an important role in that voluntary market. Because these private certifications take a variety of forms and have their own specialty niches, it is important to understand the intricacies of these certifications for the growing number of carbon offset producers. This research studies the reasons why a small non-profit carbon offset producer would seek certification, as well as how that producer went about choosing among a wide range of offset standards. The research revealed that for an organization to certify, the increased market share and legitimacy must outweigh the cost of certification. In addition, the choice in certification largely depends on cost, suitability, and the perception that the standard will uphold its legitimacy in the long term.Item Restricted Distrust of government(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Boyles, Claire Lynn, author; Doenges, Judy, advisor; Levy, EJ, committee member; Betsill, Michele, committee memberDistrust of Government is a book-length collection of short stories centered in a tradition of literature of the American West, typically set in rural small-towns on the Front Range and Eastern Plains of Colorado. These stories are place-based, exploring land use issues such as fracking, water rights, mining, and agricultural policy through characters, mostly women, who are forced to negotiate the impacts on family and livelihood of land use decisions made by others. Distrust of government, loss, caregiving responsibilities, and the myriad other ways it can be difficult to love those who are closest to us are common themes in this work. These stories are my attempt to join conversations in progress on important and difficult questions: How should humans (and art) confront the Anthropocene? What does ethical land use look like? How can we stay connected to family and community? How does loss motivate or derail us?Item Open Access Liberal international environmental justice and foreign direct investment at the International Finance Corporation(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Ehresman, Timothy G., author; Stevis, Dimitris, advisor; Betsill, Michele, committee member; Charlton, Sue Ellen, committee member; Galvin, Kathleen, committee memberIn recent years there have been broad and important debates about whether international environmental justice is attainable within the liberal model. This issue warrants examination, particularly in a context which reflects the strongest possible potential for liberal claims. An especially potent commendation of the liberal model is found in North-to-South foreign direct investment, where liberal advocates identify investment as a key strategy to improve the life chances of the poor. However, foreign direct investment today reflects in many cases dimensions of injustice as between investor and affected populations. Such injustices arise in particular where an investment project taps into local resources such as land, air, water, precious metals, and so on without sufficient participation by affected persons in the benefits of such resource access. These sorts of inequities are especially troubling where the investor originates in one of the wealthier countries of the global North and the recipient country and affected population resides in the global South. This study attempts to then answer the question: may such injustices be remediated within the scope of a liberal model of economic activity and development? That is, can liberal prescriptions for justice be satisfied by liberal economic precepts and patterns? The study first posits a social liberal amendment to dominant contemporary neoliberal understandings. The analysis then turns to the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation as a potential best-case example of efforts to render North-South foreign direct investment more environmentally sound. In particular, the study asks whether the policies and programs of the International Finance Corporation may be fairly seen to accommodate liberal justice precepts. Culling the existing literature, and employing evidence gleaned from documentary analysis and in-person interviews, the study asks whether the International Finance Corporation is durably engaged in advancing international environmental justice in financed projects. Through a deconstruction of International Finance Corporation documents and case studies of a purposive sample of recently-financed projects the study asks whether there is more going on at the International Finance Corporation than mere environmental window-dressing. The analysis shows that a social liberal international environmental justice is being advanced, but not evenly. The study concludes that a stronger implementation of international environmental justice is possible within the social liberal model, but that improvements are needed.Item Open Access Mind the gap: the value-action gap, nudges, and an ecosocial vision(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Croteau, Jessica, author; Macdonald, Bradley, advisor; Betsill, Michele, committee member; Dickinson, Greg, committee memberThis thesis explores the question: Why do even those with environmental awareness and attitudes often fail to act in an environmental manner? This question begs a second: How can environmental behaviors be engendered? To explore these questions, I first worked to understand the current state of the environment to determine if there is an environmental crisis. The evidence suggests there is an environmental problem, and further, that a majority of humans are aware and opposed to environmental degradation. I then study the environmental value-action gap, or the gap between an individual's environmental attitudes and lack of environmental action. To understand this phenomenon, I studied the individual barriers to action presented in the literature. While compelling, I believe a study of the systemic barriers must also be addressed and discussed the ways in which structural factors work to hinder environmental action. I conclude my thesis with a novel discussion of the use of nudge theory to remove the gap between environmental values and action. However, I note there must be the development of a Critical Nudge Theory, within a new world vision—an Ecosocial vision—to work toward a truly socially and ecologically harmonious future.Item Open Access Multiscalar power, conflict and procedural justice in regulating Colorado's unconventional oil and gas development(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Ryder, Stacia, author; Malin, Stephanie, advisor; Betsill, Michele, committee member; Mao, KuoRay, committee member; Peek, Lori, committee memberTo view the abstract, please see the full text of the document.Item Open Access Predictors of behavioral intention to purchase risky consumer products(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Kim, Sejin, author; Hallahan, Kirk, advisor; Betsill, Michele, committee member; Long, Marilee, committee member; Rouner, Donna, committee member; Vaske, Jerry, committee memberTwo online surveys dealing with the purchase of potentially risky consumer products, sunscreen containing nanoparticles (n=373) and genetically modified foods (n=379), examined behavioral intention within the framework of the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010). In addition to attitude and social norms, which are subsumed under the theory, predictors examined included cognitive and affective risk perceptions, systematic versus heuristic processing, and two personality traits: need for cognition and need for affect (specifically, the avoidance and approach sub-dimensions identified by Maio & Esses, 2001). Four hypotheses were tested and supported. High cognitive and affective risk perceptions were negatively related to attitude, adherence to social norms and purchase intent. High need for cognition was positively related to systematic processing, while negatively related to heuristic processing. High need for affect avoidance was positively related to heuristic processing, while high need for affect approach was positively related to systematic processing. Finally, higher systematic processing was positively related to both cognitive risk perception and affective risk perception, while higher heuristic processing was not. Sex, awareness, and product use were included as explanatory variables that helped explain purchase intent. Females were more likely to purchase and more aware of both products. Level of prior product perceived knowledge (measured for GM foods only) was not significantly related to purchase intent. However, its higher level was correlated to systematic processing, while its lower level was associated with heuristic processing. Separate hierarchical regressions examined the combined effects of the focal and explanatory variables on purchase intent. The final regression model in the sunscreen study explained 39.0% of the variance and suggested purchase intent was related to sex (being female), low product awareness, low cognitive risk perception, and positive attitude and conformity to social norms. The final regression model in the GM foods study, which explained 29.2% of the variance, suggested that purchase intention was best explained by the need for affect avoidance, low affective risk perceptions, positive attitude, and conformity to social norms. This study proposed a framework in which personality traits based on psychological needs (need for cognition and need for affect) led to different styles of processing. Then, two forms of risk perception (cognitive and affective) together were shown to influence purchase intention of common technologically enhanced consumer goods. The study underscored the importance of looking into both affective and cognitive risk perceptions examining purchase intention for risky products. This study also illustrated the potential practical importance of the two sub-dimensions of need for affect identified in the literature, suggesting that each can possibly influence the processing of persuasive messages and risk perceptions and ultimately consumer actions.Item Open Access Seasonal, synoptic, and intraseasonal variability of the West African monsoon(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) McCrary, Rachel Rose, author; Randall, David A., advisor; Denning, A. Scott, committee member; van den Heever, Susan C., committee member; Betsill, Michele, committee memberThe simulation of the West African monsoon is examined in two coupled general circulation models (CGCMs). The first model is the standard Community Climate System Model (CCSM) which uses traditional parameterizations to represent convective processes. The second model is the superparameterized-CCSM (SP-CCSM), in which convective parameterizations have been replaced by embedding a two-dimensional cloud resolving model into each gridbox. Superparameterization is intended to improve simulation of the complex multiscale interactions that occur between the large-scale environment and clouds. Key features of West African climate are analyzed in both models including: the mean annual cycle of the monsoon, African easterly wave (AEW) activity and dynamics, and the intraseasonal modulation of precipitation. Adding superparameterization improves the position and intensity of the summer maximum in precipitation which is shifted from over the Gulf of Guinea in CCSM (not realistic), to over the continent in SP-CCSM which is in keeping with the observations. AEWs and their relationship with convection are also improved in the SP-CCSM: In the standard model, little to no easterly wave activity occurs over West Africa, and the relationship with convection is tenuous at best. SP-CCSM on the other hand produces strong AEWs over the region that exhibit similar horizontal and vertical structures to observations. AEWs in SP-CCSM are strongly coupled to convection, more so than is supported by observations. An examination of the energetics of the simulated AEWs suggests that convection drives the generation and propagation the waves in SP- CCSM. Consistent with observations, intraseasonal variations in West African precipitation in SP-CCSM appear to be linked to variations in convection in the Indo-Pacific region corresponding with the MJO and the Indian monsoon. Because of these physically-realistic relationships, SP-CCSM has potential to deepen our understanding of the teleconnections between the MJO and West Africa, helping to improve seasonal rainfall forecasts.Item Open Access Social media and political participation: the case of the Muslim Council of Britain(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Burford, Allison, author; Cavdar, Gamze, advisor; Betsill, Michele, committee member; Kodrich, Kris, committee memberIt has been suggested by the media and scholars alike that social media might be a potential solution for problems of political participation. To test this hypothesis, this thesis examines the content of political participation by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) as reflected in its Twitter posts for the period of January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011. Furthermore, I compare traditional sources of political participation in the MCB (i.e. newsletters and press releases) from the years 2005 and 2011, with the political participation through Twitter. The findings indicate that political participation over social media occurs with substantially more frequency, and with a significant change in tone, while traditional participation shows very little change in tone or frequency.Item Open Access Vulnerability to drought in the La Paz, Mexico watershed(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Haeffner, Melissa, author; Galvin, Kathleen, advisor; Betsill, Michele, committee member; Leisz, Stephen, committee member; Ojima, Dennis, committee memberThis study explores the relationship between drought vulnerability and migration in the ranchero community in the Sierras of the La Paz watershed in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Using household survey data, I examine how the various dimensions of vulnerability are related to migration as an adaptation strategy to drought. Contrary to what is predicted by environmental migration and climate vulnerability theory, drought exposed rancheros who had high sensitivity and low adaptive capacity did not use migration as an adaptation strategy in the last severe drought (2006-2012), despite migration being a central part of their traditional culture. This dissertation shows how rural upstream households are constrained in traditional adaptation options (including migration options) while new options have become available (including sedentary options) - because of other social changes in the same watershed, specifically, the expansion of urban services. Taking a closer look at watershed dynamics, I find that urban services have both positive and negative impacts on ranchero drought vulnerability. On the one hand, urban services diversify ranchero water sources in normal seasons; on the other hand, access to urban services does not remain consistent in severe drought. I conclude with a new conceptualization of drought responses with a discussion of the implications of these findings for future research and public policy that includes a need for broader stakeholder inclusion.