UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

Browse

Filters

2019 - 201912020 - 20231

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.behavior change

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Energy equity & justice implications of climate change mitigation pathways
    (2023) Vallimyalil, Mel George A; Patwardhan, Anand; Hultman, Nathan E; Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Analyzing distributional effects on vulnerable sections is important for enhancing climate mitigation ambition by supporting social objectives. Discounting the impacts on the most vulnerable, prior research underestimates the skew in investments required to meet sustainable development goals. Its focus on representative households and cost optimal mitigation pathway archetypes also amplifies false narratives around societal and developmental tradeoffs of mitigation policies. This study demonstrates that bespoke pathway design can support simultaneous attainment of multiple national energy priorities. Using a consistent framework and accounting for interactions between different sectors, it evaluates a set of diverse mitigation pathways to similar climate outcomes. It examines short & long-term distributional impacts on national energy goals to identify pathways which offer synergies across multiple objectives and regions.Next, the impacts are downscaled to the household income deciles in India & the US using household survey data & future income distribution projections, to scrutinize the residential energy burden changes under different mitigation policies. The results show regressive impacts on access and affordability for most mitigation pathways, except those propelled by demand side mitigation strategies and non-CO2 emission reductions. Thereafter, it expands the conceptualization of energy poverty beyond unitary dimensions, binary classifications and income relationships. Applying an alternative framework to identify vulnerable households experiencing energy poverty in India, this study showcases the disparities across dimensions. It then envisions an intersectionality context and proffers empirical evidence of the increased likelihood of households at the overlap of multiple deprivations being entrapped in more severe forms of energy poverty and the concomitant effects on gender inequity. A key finding of this study is that mitigation pathway choice and design matters for just energy transition goals and tailored pathways addressing underlying local and global inequities provide latitude for synergies and progressive impacts. It also establishes that technology solutions alone are unable to redress pre-existing inequities and should be complemented with other support policies for the vulnerable. This study contributes to the scholarship on the need for improved representation of heterogeneity in energy-climate models and offers policy relevance – showing the importance of underlying systemic changes to achieve social & climate goals together.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Using behavior change and social-ecological frameworks to inform riparian forest buffer outreach in the Maryland Upper Potomac watershed
    (2019) Boone, Hannah; Pavao-Zuckerman, Mitchell; Environmental Science and Technology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Land in the Maryland Upper Potomac watershed is predominantly privately held. Watershed restoration efforts seek to improve water quality through the implementation of riparian forest buffers. However, those efforts rely on aggregated actions of the individuals within the watershed, and adoption rates for the past decade have been below annual targets. An understanding of outreach strategies that promote riparian forest buffer adoption in a complex social-ecological system is needed. Employing qualitative methods, we integrated social-ecological and behavior change frameworks to better understand riparian forest buffer outreach and adoption in the Maryland Upper Potomac watershed. We conducted nineteen interviews with key stakeholders, followed by a quantification of main findings through landowner and practitioner questionnaires. Findings demonstrate that there is no “one size fits all” strategy. Rather, riparian forest buffer outreach needs interpersonal connections between landowners and practitioners to build trust and account for context-specific ecological feedbacks. There is opportunity to further reinforce riparian forest buffers through activities that demonstrate and leverage norms, impacting adoption through social feedbacks.