The threat of global climate change to the world’s water resources has jeopardized access to clean drinking water across the world and continues to devastate biodiversity and natural life globally. South Africa operates as a useful case study to understand and analyze the effectiveness of public policy responses to the perils of climate change on issues of water access and ecosystem preservation. After the new South African Constitution was enacted in 1997, protecting water resources and ensuring their equitable distribution across the nation’s population was a paramount goal of the young democratic government. The National Water Act was passed in 1998, nationalizing the country’s water infrastructure and putting in place programs seeking to ensure equitable distributive and environmental outcomes. Thus far, it has failed. Access to South Africa’s water resources is as stratified as access to its economy; its aquatic ecosystems remain in grave danger; and many of the same problems of South Africa’s Apartheid era still plague its efforts to create an equitable water system. Decision-making power continues to be concentrated in the hands of the wealthy, at the expense of historically marginalized groups, whose voices are still not adequately heard. Corporate actors still exert undue influence over legislative policy that favors economic growth over environmental sustainability. The looming threat of climate change is exponentially increasing the chances of disasters like Cape Town’s 2018 feared ‘Day Zero’. The National Water Act’s noble intentions were never actualized, and therefore the people of South Africa remain in serious danger of acute and chronic threats to their water supply.

Service corps and service-focused leadership programs are popular approaches for higher education institutions to prepare their students to become civically engaged future leaders. It is established that integrating diverse students into higher education produces better educational outcomes through active thinking and decision-making as well as introducing students to new perspectives. This study aims to evaluate how effective recruitment practices in Arizona State University’s Next Generation Service Corps (NGSC) are at attracting diverse students. By reviewing the current literature on recruiting diverse candidates, best practices can be established. Data was collected through interviews with NGSC staff on their current recruitment strategies and personal concepts of diversity. Data was also collected from the current students in the program to determine the common channels of recruitment and reasons for their application. There was a misalignment in staff reported recruitment strategy and how students reported finding out about the program. A misalignment in the recruitment strategy and application questions with NGSC staff’s desired traits for applicants was also found. With this in mind, this research provides staff with a full picture of the current state of their recruiting practices and identifies areas for improvement.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the impacts of virtue signaling and tokenism within the cosmetic industry and how it relates to corporate social responsibility. Secondary research has been gathered and analyzed to find insight into how these aspects in marketing can impact the profits and other measures of success within business. This will lead to an understanding of how corporate social responsibility can be beneficial to the cosmetic industry, especially as companies grow and expand their target market. This thesis research is based on secondary research built from articles and advertisements. Additionally, research will be pulled from company statistics in profits and sales to determine success in different product launches and the marketing tactics utilized. After analyzing these differences and the types of advertisements that lead to the most successful results, it can be determined that virtue signaling and racial/ethnic tokenism can hinder success potential and thus, in contrast, companies that adhere to the ethical implications within corporate social responsibility will benefit from a reputation of sincerity.