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Item THE ROLE OF SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT CARDS IN TRANSDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION AND ADAPTIVE GOVERNANCE FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE(2020) Nguyen, Vanessa Vargas; Dennison, William C; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Addressing sustainability challenges and overcoming environmental problems requires fundamental societal changes. However, communicating these issues and convincing people to act is challenging. One emerging science communication tool that can accommodate this need is boundary-spanning report cards. Report cards were originally used as a tool for assessing and communicating ecosystem health conditions, but there are a growing number of report cards that incorporate socio-economic values. My dissertation focuses on investigating the role of socio-environmental report cards in addressing sustainability challenges. My research question was centered around whether considering human dimensions and understanding the links between natural and social components of socio-environmental systems can lead to a productive collaboration. This collaboration can lead to positive actions that contribute to a sustainable future. My research has two major themes:1) Evaluation of report cards and 2) Evolution of the report card process. First, I found that report cards from a diversity of locations can lead to environmental literacy and promote sustainable actions and positive environmental change. Then, using the Mississippi River Watershed report card as a case study, I demonstrated that report cards are boundary objects that can serve as a platform for transdisciplinary collaboration and serve as a catalyst for collective action. I also established that various report cards in the Chesapeake Bay watershed were able to enhance adaptive governance by facilitating continual learning and cross-scale exchange of information between different organizations. My results highlighted the evolution of report cards from a product created to increase awareness and education about environmental issues, to a process that engages stakeholders. My conclusion is that report cards should include both social and environmental indicators and the process needs to be stakeholder-driven and action-oriented. I developed a framework and a theory of change to guide how socio-environmental report cards can address sustainability challenges and applied it in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. By creating a holistic assessment that balances environmental, economic, and social concerns, socio-environmental report cards incorporate multiple perspectives from multisectoral actors. Thus, socio-environmental report cards can enhance adaptive governance and provide the foundation for collaborative solutions for sustainable resource management.Item EVALUATING THE BENEFITS, SUSTAINABILITY, AND RESILIENCE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE ON A SUSTAINABLE RESIDENTIAL HOME(2018) Thompson, Rhea Ava; Tilley, David; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)With global populations becoming increasingly urbanized, green infrastructure (GI) is progressively being recognized as a sustainable approach to mitigating urban environmental problems. Unlike traditional ‘hard’ engineering approaches that historically viewed problems in isolation and solutions in singular terms, implementation of GI promises some deferment from the effects of urbanization by providing a multitude of benefits such as reduced stormwater runoff and flooding, decreased heat waves, and enlivened local environments and ecological habitats. These benefits are important considering many cities are projected to be more vulnerable to the effects of urbanization with climate change, especially as the vast amount of the global population lives in coastal urban environments. However, the diversity of GI benefits has not been fully characterized, and they are increasingly applied in residential settings. Furthermore, current research has not fully explored the beneficial role of GI in achieving sustainable and resilient communities. Using an Integrated Water: Energy Monitoring System measuring meteorological, water, and energy fluxes over two years (July 2014-June 2016) on a sustainable home in Rockville, Maryland, U.S., the following objectives were explored: (1) Examined how a sloped modular extensive green roof, constructed wetland and bioretention designed in-series affected site hydrology. Furthermore, we studied the effect of season, antecedent substrate water content, storm characteristics (size, intensity, frequency), and vegetation development (green roof only) on hydrological performance. (2) Characterized the seasonal thermal performance of the green roof (to the building and surrounding environment) relative to the cool roof. Evaluated how green roof thermal performance related to evapotranspiration, solar reflectance (albedo) and thermal conductance (U-value). Additionally, the effect of substrate water content, vegetation development, and microclimate on evapotranspiration, albedo and U-values was assessed. (3) Green roof evapotranspiration was measured and compared to values predicted with the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith model. Furthermore, the effects of substrate water content, vegetation characteristics and microclimate on evapotranspiration rates was also evaluated. (4) Finally, using emergy theory, GI sustainability and resilience relative to a gray wastewater system and natural forest was explored.Item Comparative Ecological Modeling for Long-term Solution of Excess Nitrogen Loading to Surface Waters and Related Chronic and Systemic Human-Environment Problems(2007-04-25) Fiscus, Daniel Avery; Ulanowicz, Robert E; Gates, J Edward; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Concurrent environmental problems including 1) excess CO2 emissions and climate change, 2) excess nitrogen export and eutrophication of surface waters, and 3) dependence on non-renewable fossil fuel energy supplies can be considered interdependent symptoms of a single systemic "humans in the environment disorder". This dissertation presents results from three integrated research projects to frame and solve this general human-environmental problem. As an interdisciplinary whole, the projects help define and characterize organizing principles for future human-environment systems without major carbon (C), nitrogen (N), energy and related problems. Forests and other non-human ecosystems provide model systems, as these communities self-sustain for 10,000 years and longer. Comparative studies of soils, C and N emissions, and food web networks provide transferable principles to guide local action for sustainability. Soils in long-term forest land-use stored more C and organic matter than soils in long-term agricultural use. These results recommend permaculture, agroforestry and perennial agriculture to provide food and other human needs while building soil and enhancing soil fertility. Audits of the Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, MD, showed this environmental science facility causes emissions of 70 times more C and 60 times more N than local forests can absorb. The Lab also is 99% dependent on non-renewable energy sources. This study provides data necessary to alter operations toward environmental sustainability. Comparisons of the U.S. beef supply network showed unusually high network ascendency (a whole-system efficiency measure), higher dependency on a few compartments and lower network connectance than four non-human food webs. Results support efforts to increase U.S. food supply reliability via local agriculture and diversified food network pathways. Overall, the research identifies a systemic cultural cause of the human-environment crisis in subordination of environmental value, quality and capacity to values in economic, social, scientific and other arenas. Elevation of environmental value to equal standing with other human values thus promises a solution to the global ecological crisis. Realization of such a cultural paradigm shift likely requires revisions to fundamental scientific definitions, theories and understanding of life, evolution and ecology, all of which now operate with a predominantly organismal model of life that likewise de-emphasizes the environment.Item THE ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM; LOCAL VERSUS GLOBAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS IN VAL DI MERSE, ITALY(2005-06-01) Patterson, Trista Maj; Costanza, Robert; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Tourism has been proposed as an important tool for sustainable development, yet decision-makers lack appropriate measures for its economic, social, and environmental success. "Sustainable tourism" implies a finite limit to tourism growth beyond which point it is no longer sustainable, yet to date, benchmark environmental indicators have not been developed to define a destination's carrying capacity. This dissertation utilizes concepts from ecological economics towards defining a sustainable scale for tourism development. In addition, an ecological footprint indicator (EF) is applied to two populations (residents and tourists) responsible for both local and global environmental pressures. These distinctions are important because traditional concepts of tourism carrying capacity focus solely on impacts to the host destination. This creates the possibility that tourism activity viewed as locally sustainable is still causing impacts elsewhere on the planet. By widening the scale of the ecological footprint, I quantify and discuss the differences between local and global environmental pressures of tourism. Proponents of "alternative tourism" (agrotourism, ecotourism, bicycle tourism) have suggested the Merse watershed in Tuscany Italy be developed to absorb tourist overflow from crowded city centers. My findings are that combined local activity of host and visitor populations does not exceed (in terms of ecological footprint) the biocapacity calculated for Val di Merse. However, biocapacity for Val di Merse is exceeded when arrival transport to the destination is included, with tourist equivalent resident EF rising from 5.36 to 38.15 gha/person. I conclude that tourism frequently is declared locally sustainable without examination of its impacts at a global level. In response, I propose an alternative conceptual model which provides a foundation for knowledge management across multiple spatial scales. Local policy strategies for tourism are explored using conceptual models, analysis of eco-efficiency, and the area's tradeoffs in greenhouse gas emission inventory.