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- Creators: School of International Letters and Cultures
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In the story, Awaken, humans contest over territory with the avians — a sentient bid species. Years ago, the humans moved to underground dwellings in order to protect themselves from aerial assaults and developed sophisticated technology to keep the avians away from their crops. Over time, the avains became a legend humans tell their children to get them to behave, but a segment of the government remembers the real threat avians pose and are determined to vanquish their avian enemies. Kial Damian Johnson was created by his mother and father, who are involved in that segment of the government, with avian and human DNA. He finds himself drawn into the continuous battle between avians and humans. He learns that Yellowstone is going to erupt soon and neither avians nor humans can survive without sharing their resources, and he attempts to bring about peace between the two sides.
The narrative deals with issues prevalent in Animal Studies through giving the bird population a voice and a visible culture, and also reflects on current world issues as we strive to work together globally in the Anthropocene. Through researching and conducting interviews, I crafted this story to contribute to the environmental discourse. I wrote this story in a Young Adult style in order to invite the youth to engage in the conversation about issues of cross-cultural environmental sustainability.
As we count down the years remaining before a global climate catastrophe, ever increases the importance of teaching environmental history and fostering environmental stewardship from a young age. In the age of globalization, nothing exists in a vacuum, yet our traditional education system often fails to reflect the abundant connections between content areas that are prevalent outside of schools. In fact, many of the flaws of the field of education have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and a forced transition to online schooling, with many educators reverting to outdated practices in a desperate attempt to get students through the year. The aim of this project was to design a unit curriculum with these issues in mind. This month-long environmental history unit engages students through the use of hands-on activities and promotes interdisciplinary connections. The unit can be taught in a physical, online, or hybrid American history class, and will hopefully inspire and motivate students to become environmental stewards as they look toward their futures on this planet.
When you are sitting at the terminal waiting for your flight or taking the bus to get to work, have you ever thought about who used your seat last? More importantly, have you ever thought about the last time that seat was cleaned? Sadly, it is uncertain to see if it was properly sanitized in the last hour, yesterday, in the last week, or even last month. Especially during these tough times, everyone wants to be assured that they are always in a safe and healthy environment. Through the Founders Lab, our team is collaborating with an engineering capstone team to bring automated seat cleaning technology into the market. This product is a custom-designed seat cover that is tear-resistant and provides a sanitary surface for anyone to sit on. When someone leaves the seat, a pressure sensor is triggered, and the cover is replaced with a secondary cover that was stored in a UV radiated container. The waterproof fabric and internal filters prevent spills and food crumbs from remaining when the user changes. The reason for bringing this product into the market is due to the unsanitary conditions in many high traffic areas. This technology can be implemented in public transportation, restaurants, sports stadiums, and much more. It will instantly improve the efficiency of sanitation for many businesses and keep a promise to its users that they will never bring something they sat on back home. #Safeseating
Lithium ion batteries are quintessential components of modern life. They are used to power smart devices — phones, tablets, laptops, and are rapidly becoming major elements in the automotive industry. Demand projections for lithium are skyrocketing with production struggling to keep up pace. This drive is due mostly to the rapid adoption of electric vehicles; sales of electric vehicles in 2020 are more than double what they were only a year prior. With such staggering growth it is important to understand how lithium is sourced and what that means for the environment. Will production even be capable of meeting the demand as more industries make use of this valuable element? How will the environmental impact of lithium affect growth? This thesis attempts to answer these questions as the world looks to a decade of rapid growth for lithium ion batteries.
Food waste is a crucial issue in stores, restaurants and other institutions. Specifically, there is a high amount of food waste in grocery stores, especially in the produce section. As a result, environmental damage occurs, and many individuals struggle to have food in their homes. This thesis will analyze the cause, quantity, and effect of this waste, and how it can be changed or mitigated. An overarching question was posed to analyze these causes and effects of waste, asking how does the amount of produce waste that occurs in Scottsdale, Arizona contribute to environmental issues and what is being done to remedy this issue? As this is a difficult question to answer on its own, the research was broken down into two more answerable questions, which are Why does produce get wasted in grocery stores? How much of this occurs? and What remedies already exist to limit/reduce this waste? These questions are important because they contribute to knowledge and understanding about food waste, consumer waste, as well as the overall environmental impact of being wasteful. It is also important for both retailers and consumers to understand that waste has an immense and negative impact on the environment and contributes to climate change, and that taking steps to reduce this waste is essential.
Mining is a key component of both the Brazilian and Chilean economies and accounts for an outsized share of these countries’ exports. Yet, it is a common target for environmental criticism, especially due to its impacts on local populations and ecosystems. Brazil and Chile have adopted markedly different trade strategies over the past three decades, most notably with regards to their involvement in international trade agreements. This paper investigates how these differences in trade policy since 1990 have affected the sustainability of each country’s mining sector by identifying and comparing the channels through which free trade agreements influence the environmental impacts of resource extraction.
Animal agriculture is a growing industry worldwide as the global demand for animal products increases. This has resulted in many harmful unintended consequences for human health, the environment, and animal welfare. This paper aims to uncover the hidden costs of negative externalities by answering the question: What types of subsidies is the US government distributing to the animal agriculture industry and in what amount? This paper will begin with some background on a few of the externalities created by the animal agriculture industry focusing specifically on environmental issues of water, air, and deforestation. Once this background is established, this will show that animal agriculture is in fact a negative-externality-generating industry. Next, subsidies will be defined and the principal findings of the research will reveal the different forms of support that the US government provides to animal agriculture. Lastly, these subsidies, both direct and indirect, will be quantified.
