School of Sustainability Graduate Culminating Experiences

Society is heavily dependent on a reliable electric supply; all infrastructure systems depend on electricity to operate. When the electric system fails, the impacts can be catastrophic (food spoilage, inoperable medical devices, lack of access to water, etc.). The social impacts, defined as the direct and indirect impacts on people, of power outages must be explored as the likelihood of power outages and blackouts are increasing. However, compared to other hazards, such as heat and flooding, the knowledge base on the impacts of power outages is relatively small. The purpose of this thesis is to identify what is currently known about the social impacts of power outages, identify where gaps in the literature exist, and deploy a survey to explore power outage experiences at the household level. This thesis is comprised of two chapters, a systematic literature review on the current knowledge of the social impacts of power outages and a multi-city survey focused on power outage experiences.

The first chapter comprised of a systematic literature review using a combined search of in Scopus which returned 762 candidate articles were identified that potentially explored the social impacts of power outages. However, after multiple filtering criteria were applied, only 45 articles met all criteria. Four themes were used to classify the literature, not exclusively, including modeling, social, technical, and other. Only papers that were classified as “social” - meaning they observed how people were affected by a power outage - or in combination with other categories were used within the review.

From the literature, populations of concern were identified, including minority demographics - specifically Blacks or African Americans, children, elderly, and rural populations. The most commonly reported health concerns were from those that rely on medical devices for chronic conditions and unsafe generator practices. Criminal activity was also reported to increase during prolonged power outages and can be mitigated by consistent messaging on where to receive assistance and when power will be restored. Providing financial assistance and resources such as food and water can reduce the crime rate temporarily, but the crime rate can be expected to increase once the relief expires. Authorities should expect looting to occur, especially in poorer areas, during prolonged power outages. Gaps in the literature were identified and future directions for research were provided.

The second chapter consists of a multi-city survey that targeted three major cities across the United States (Detroit, MI; Miami, FL; and Phoenix, AZ). The survey was disseminated through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and hosted by Qualtrics. 896 participants from the three cities qualified to complete the full version of the survey. Three criteria had to be met for participants to complete the full survey including residing in one of the three target cities, living at their primary address for a majority of the year, and indicate they had experienced a power outage within the last five years.

Participants were asked questions regarding the number of outages experienced in the last five years, the length of their most recent and longest outage experienced, if they owned a generator, how they managed their longest power outage, if participants or anyone in their household relies on a medical device, the financial burden their power outage caused, and standard demographic- and income-related questions. Race was a significant variable that influenced the outage duration length but not frequency in Phoenix and Detroit. Income was not a significant variable associated with experiencing greater economic impacts, such as having thrown food away because of an outage and not receiving help during the longest outage. Additional assessments similar to this survey are needed to better understand household power outage experiences.

Findings from this thesis demonstrate traditional metrics used in vulnerability indices were not indicative of who experienced the greatest effects of power outages. Additionally, other factors that are not included in these indices, such as owning adaptive resources including medical devices and generators in Phoenix and Detroit, are factors in reducing negative outcomes. More research is needed on this topic to indicate which populations are more likely to experience factors that can influence positive or negative outage outcomes.

Live music events are growing in terms of popularity and attendance every year. Along with the traditionally produced festival comes social, environmental and economic impacts. Some event and festival management teams focus on “greening” their event, which involves operating sustainably. Many of them seek recognition in the form of certifications to highlight and market these efforts. There is a disconnect between event and festival management teams and certifications, however. Many management teams do not know which certifications exist, or which to choose based on their sustainability values. To solve this dilemma, I am creating a decision-making tool termed “FestEval” that compares Wiek’s sustainability criteria inspired by Gibson’s principles to six green certifications. Certifications are ranked using percentages and pie charts to display how well each certification aligns with the principles. My client Kilowatt Events is piloting FestEval and providing me with feedback. The tool provides event and festival management teams with a method for choosing a certification that promotes their sustainable event and fits their values. It is designed to advance the future of festivals and events in a sustainable direction. The project identifies gaps in green certifications and suggest strategies for their improvement. It draws connections to Matt Burmeister’s Sustainable Sound Guide, designed to help management teams shift from operating at the current standard to operating sustainably.

Nature journaling in school gardens is a unique way to engage students in the natural world, providing time to notice, wonder, and observe through writing and drawing while engaging in environmental and sustainability learning. With the number of school gardens increasing in the United States, educators can benefit from understanding what students experience while participating in garden-based learning activities so they can adapt their teaching to fit the educational needs of their participants. School garden studies typically focus on measuring academic and health outcomes and nature journaling studies typically focus on educator experiences with one classroom. We facilitated a nature journaling study with four elementary classrooms in a public, Title I school in the desert southwest to explore student experiences while nature journaling in their school garden. Our findings show that nature journaling provides opportunities for students to engage in sustainability literacy by helping them to develop a sense of place in their school garden, inspire environmental stewardship, and practice systems thinking right outside their classrooms.

For waste management in Asunción, Paraguay to improve, so too must the rate of public recycling participation. However, due to minimal public waste management infrastructure, it is up to individual citizens and the private sector to develop recycling solutions in the city. One social enterprise called Soluciones Ecológicas (SE) has deployed a system of drop-off recycling stations called ecopuntos, which allow residents to deposit their paper and cardboard, plastic, and aluminum. For SE to maximize the use of its ecopuntos, it must understand the perceived barriers to, and benefits of, their use. To identify these barriers and benefits, a doer on-doer survey based on the behavioral determinants outlined in the Designing for Behavior Change Framework was distributed among Asunción residents. Results showed that perceived self-efficacy, perceived social norms, and perceived positive consequences – as well as age – were influential in shaping ecopunto use. Other determinants such as perceived negative consequences, access, and universal motivators were significant predictors of gender and age. SE and other institutions looking to improve recycling can use these results to design effective behavior change interventions.

The Woarani of the Pastaza Province in Amazonian Ecuador face complex pressures both externally and internally to develop. While there are both positive and negative impacts associated with this transition, it remains a problem that development solutions designed external to the system they’re meant to impact risk imposing asymmetries on that system. This research explores the case of a culturally and historically embedded boundary organization operating at the nexus between Western academics and two communities of Woarani in the Pastaza Province of Ecuador. Through unstructured and semi-structured interviews, field- observation and social and historical research, this study seeks to understand: 1) the pathways to development for the Waorani, what and why they choose what they do and, 2) in the context of the I-W boundary at the field school site, the elements of development that are critical for sustainable scaling. Key findings include eight elements that explain development at the field school and situate the school as a boundary organization. Another important finding is the support for sustainable scaling, that in this context, sustainable scaling is modeled by organic growth along known networks of relations.

This study examines the creation of a sustainability toolkit that can be implemented in many communities, beginning with Johnson City, Tennessee. This project began in 2019 and will continue to grow indefinitely. For this project, a toolkit that will allow the public to have access to the tools and information they need in order to make their homes more energy-efficient will be created. It will be stocked in the local library in Johnson City Tennessee for free use to the public, as long as they have a library card, they can check out the toolkits. The toolkits will be used by the public, then returned to the library so that they can be restocked and checked out again. This study looks at the market, business and organizational research and the infrastructure of the project. Methods of research included looking at how the need for a change came about, who will benefit, existing similar programs and how they will be used in conjunction with this project, current organizational structures attached to the project, current team infrastructure and what resources are needed to fill the voids. Findings include what financial resources will be required and how they will be acquired, as well as resources that are currently available for this project and what is still needed in order for this project to be successful. As a result of this project, at least two libraries in the Johnson City area will be stocked with several energy toolkits for free and a partnership for future project expansion will have been established. This study looks at the process and what was learned during the implementation of the project.

A city based on tourism, military installations, agriculture, and home to the first landing of Jamestown colonists, Virginia Beach boasts 28 miles of coastline along the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Comparable to other beaches worldwide, the utter volume of visitors has taken its toll on the city, resulting in unsightly destruction and pollution. It is not unusual to read or hear about marine animals dying from eating or being trapped by waste that is deposited into oceans, or how oil spills are harmful to marine mammals, birds, and fish; yet somehow, it is uncommon to come upon the mentioning of butt litter, the most frequently littered item on Earth. Cigarette butts are strewn about the Virginia Beach boardwalk, resort strip, and the beach. In 2014, Clean Virginia Waterways collected more than 47,600 butts along streams, rivers, bays, and coastlines (CVW, 2015). With no smoking restrictions on the beach (or boardwalk,) tourists and local beachgoers alike frequently discard their butts on the sand and face no known consequences. Small but mighty, both smoked and unsmoked butts have severe impacts on waterways, economies, air quality, and public health. An economic analysis found that cities the size of San Francisco spend, on average, between $500,000 and $6 million annually to keep their beaches, streets, and parks clear of cigarette litter (Schneider et al., 2011).

This paper examines strategies to:
1. Drastically reduce butt litter within the city - Disposable/pocket ashtrays, additional butt/ash receptacles. 2. Increase community awareness on the economic impacts of litter - Organized cleanups, advertisements /marketing, partnerships with local NGOs.
3. Enhance citations and alternative penalties for those who discard their butts on the sand.
Additionally, this paper aims to discuss the potential implementation of a beach-wide smoking ban.