Prescott College. Environmental Studies.

Before the invention of photography, artists were essential members of exploratory expeditions. When science emerged as a worthy goal of exploration during the Enlightenment, commanders of European naval vessels began to assign naturalist duties to officers and surgeons, and the ship's manifest often included civilian passengers who filled this role. Professional artists documented the living colors, landscapes, and events that could not otherwise...

As societies work toward more sustainably functioning systems, it is important to study those systems that currently operate unsustainably. While unsustainability can take many forms, in general, when the natural world or human welfare are neglected, the outcome is an unsustainable system. Moving from unsustainable to sustainable systems requires dialogue and coordination between disparate disciplines. Understanding the complex hurdles associated...

The goal is to develop a design process for land use and developing/planning, in the context of ecological and regenerative design philosophies that can be applied to a variety of projects, climates, locations, and communities. The design process is a set of tools utilized in organizing the land use design process that involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and...

White Stork (Ciconia ciconia ) is a large migratory bird that recovered from near extinction during the last century in most parts of Europe. The problem I addressed in this research is the unknown status and nesting preferences among breeding pairs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Additional consideration was the Civil War (1992-1995) in BiH that displaced half of the country population and killed hundreds of thousands of people, left marks on the...

Agriculture will experience radical new challenges in the next forty years. Peak oil, which is likely to occur before 2020, will result in potentially extensive liquid fuels shortages that are likely to impinge most immediately on the transportation sector. Rising transportation costs will likely cause corresponding increases in food prices, one response to which may be an increased reliance on local food production to satisfy local demand. In this...

Currently, transoceanic and intercontinental dispersal of the Zebra/Quagga mussel (and many other Aquatic Invasive Species) has already occurred. While there may be countless vectors of transportation for these species, it remains a fact that transient recreational boating is the primary mechanism of overland dispersal. This regional study is the current representation (2008) of the specific pattern of spread among waterbodies that will be experienced...

Efforts to protect Blue-ringed octopuses (genus Hapalochlaena ) would positively influence the preservation of other marine species, their habitats, and the economic sustainability of indigenous human populations. Threats in the forms of human interference, ecosystem degradation, and over-collection for the aquarium trade are destructive to populations of Hapalochlaena living in littoral ecosystems of the South China Sea, Celebes Sea, and Arafura...

This thesis contributes to the ongoing debate directed at formulating strategies that will increase global access to clean water while, at the same time, deepening people-centered democratic institutions, expanding broad pro-poor policies, and encouraging ecological stewardship and responsibility. In particular, this thesis attempts to offer insights into the contentious debate over the privatization of water provisioning and discusses promising public...

This project explores the significance of seed saving as an integral part of sustainable agriculture through the lens of social-ecological resilience. In order to take a deeper look at seed saving and its relationship to social-ecological resilience on a regional scale, this research examines the practices of three culturally distinct seed-saving organizations in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado--an indigenous pueblo organization, a multi-generational...

The learning objectives of this thesis have been to participate in a real world collaborative research project exploring possible affects of climate change on wildlife species, understanding the process of designing models which capture the decision making of wildlife, and learning how to code models. The project I became part of has attempted to determine the causality of wildlife decision making in the context of climate change. A way to achieve...