Browsing by Author "Scott, Ryan, committee member"
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Item Open Access A vision of ourselves: regional rhetoric's impact upon public policy relating to individuals experiencing homelessness(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Anderson, Garrison Michael, author; Dunn, Thomas, advisor; Prasch, Allison, committee member; Scott, Ryan, committee memberPublic policy at all levels, local, state, and national, has a profound, yet seldom, recognized impact upon the lives of citizens unless the policy directly impacts them. In the following thesis, I explore the discourse and debate that a local-level public policy can have upon the construction of space, impact upon already marginalized populations, and the use of regional identity to justify said policy. More specifically, I explore the consideration of a "appropriate-use of public space ordinance" in a mid-sized city, Fort Collins, Colorado. I argue that visions of Fort Collins regional identity are used to justify certain aspects of the ordinance that criminalize individuals experiencing homelessness. In my analysis, I make use of theories of communication and space including critical regionalism, juxtaposition, and spatial trajectories. In application of these theories to understand my text I am performing an analysis of critical rhetoric to reveal potential power struggles at play and the possibility for change.Item Open Access Phenomenologically separating nature from us: the role of nature in relation to human capabilities and environmental value(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Watters, Andrew, author; Shockley, Kenneth, advisor; Cafaro, Philip, advisor; Scott, Ryan, committee memberThe role of nature in human well-being is often left unrecognized. In Thinking like a Mall, Steven Vogel provides a materialist argument that as humans we are always already engaged in a world that we have helped transform through our practices (our active and concernful involvement), and so it makes no sense to think of nature as something independent of us. I argue, drawing from the work of Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger, that while we are a part of Nature understood as a totality of things given that we are embodied-in-the-world, we are distinct from Nature insofar as we are concerned about our capabilities; our phenomenological concerns not being reducible to a thing-in-the-world. While the interconnection of things-in-the-world enable our capabilities given that we are embodied-in-the-world, they do so beyond our concerns. Hence, while we are part of Nature, there is a sense in which it is independent from us insofar as it contributes to our capabilities or practices independently of our knowledge; paralleling Breena Holland's characterization of the environment as a meta-capability with objective instrumental value. In addition to having objective instrumental value, it is shown through the work of Simon P. James and Kenneth Shockley that environmental features can have constitutive value and non-projected generative value. Insofar as we value our capabilities, we ought to protect the environment that makes them possible, recognizing that the environment enables our capabilities, in part, independently of our concerns.Item Open Access Policies and other institutions to support cross-boundary forest management: lessons from four "shared stewardship" projects in the western United States(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Aldworth, Tyler Lee, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Cheng, Antony, committee member; Scott, Ryan, committee memberLand managers are increasingly seeking to increase the pace and scale of management actions by working across boundaries, but a key question is whether new approaches can be undertaken within the confines of existing institutions. Climate change, past forest management practices, and alterations in land use have led to increases in both the extent and severity of wildland fire in recent decades. Growing the pace and scale of land management activities to meet these challenges requires the cooperation of a diverse set of jurisdictions, organizations, and actors operating at various scales and with different capacities while balancing sometimes conflicting suites of objectives and public interests. In 2018 the United States Forest Service published "A Shared Stewardship Strategy" – an initiative focused on increasing the pace and scale of management actions and providing leadership direction for cross-boundary work, elevating as part of a longer-term trend the role of states and non-federal entities in managing forested ecosystems. Through qualitative inquiry, this thesis reports on four landscape-scale cross-boundary projects that meet the intent of Shared Stewardship. Chapter One introduces the study and reviews relevant literature related to institutions, policy implementation, cross-boundary work, and the context of forest management in the United States. Chapter Two, a research product written for a practitioner audience, discusses the involvement of partners and their roles in each project, the prioritization processes utilized by each project, and the key formal and informal factors that influenced each project. Chapter Three, a research product intended for a peer-reviewed journal, evaluates the institutions that facilitate and challenge cross-boundary work, and ways that actors attempted to overcome institutional challenges using a framework that integrates theories of policy implementation and historical institutionalism. Chapter Four conveys overall conclusions and suggestions for further inquiry. Key findings were that guaranteed funding and central coordinators helped projects move forward, while internal USFS policies often negatively impacted a project's relative success. Project planners often innovated around institutional challenges through creative agreements and contracting methods. Insights from this research could help inform forest managers across the United States on ways to design and execute large-scale, cross-boundary work. This study also contributes to the growing body of literature on using policy implementation and institutional innovation lenses to investigate forest and other land management governance contexts. Further research should investigate the consequences of novel institutional changes, such as budget modernization and the impact of additional funding opportunities presented by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.Item Open Access Small government, big problems: climate change adaptation policy in North American Great Lakes localities(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Gelardi, Carrington, author; Schomburg, Madeline, advisor; Scott, Ryan, committee member; Mumme, Stephen, committee member; Denning, Scott, committee memberThe Great Lakes region is home to 30 million people, one of the world's largest economies, and the world's largest freshwater ecosystem. These characteristics make the region uniquely vulnerable to climate change. Local governments in the area are subject to the impacts of climate change whether they are prepared for them or not. To explore this issue, this paper seeks to answer the question, "What is the state of local climate change adaptation policy in the Great Lakes region?" Most literature that exists on local adaptation focuses on larger cities with populations over 50,000 people. This project fills that gap by looking at climate plans from all U.S. local governments that border the Great Lakes regardless of their size. To do this, climate change adaptation plans and policies were gathered from each county and sub-county municipality (such as cities, villages, towns, and townships) in the United States that border the Great Lakes. A text analysis was performed that compared the documents to regional climate science, as well as an inductive content analysis to pull out the major topics in each plan. Local governments in the Great Lakes region are in the beginning stages of adapting to climate change. 6% sent back relevant policies. Many of them were small governments with under 20,000. Findings suggest a lack the capacity to adequately adapt, especially within the smallest governments. The degree of assistance needed from larger institutions to supplement any insufficiencies is still unclear. The results of this project capture a snapshot of how local governments bordering the Great Lakes are (or are not) adapting to climate change. This can be used to foster intergovernmental learning on how sub-state governments in the region can adapt, while also providing insight into the boundaries of local action in the face of a global issue.Item Open Access The provisions and implementation of just transitions: lessons learned from Colorado's Just Transition(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Aghababian, Sidra, author; Stevis, Dimitris, advisor; Scott, Ryan, committee member; Fremstad, Anders, committee memberAs the world progresses on a path towards decarbonization to achieve emission reduction and climate goals, the question of how to transition from fossil fuel energy sources arises. Transitions from fossil fuel energy sources have the potential to be "just" by addressing social and environmental justice implications. It is important to understand how to create and implement transitions that are "just". This work explores the provisions and implementations of Colorado's Just Transition Policy. Using qualitative analysis, it first examines and evaluates the goals or provisions of Colorado's Just Transition Policy. It then examines whether and how the implementation of the policy is weakening, reproducing, or strengthening these goals.