ENVS 220

Environmental Analysis, Fall 2018. This class is aimed at doing environmental studies by studying environmental issues today as well as putting them into practice by doing different research out in the field. We take our class out into the field for lab in order to learn survey  and interview  techniques as well as data gathering and analyzation. As this class is a methods course, we are more concentrated on the how and  why of data research and collection. This class focuses on the digestion and reflection of environmental issues and data rather than the immediate solutions. Below you will find a summary of all projects and post done throughout the semester.

Our first month of labs (see all) were aimed at land use cover change in our area. These first 5 labs were looking at the Anthropocene while focusing on local land cover change in Portland.

• Lab 1– For our first lab, we surveyed 3 different areas, Riverview natural area, Collins View Neighborhood, and our campus Lewis and Clark College. My specific site was in Collins View. We measured the temperature and humidity of our site by leaving a kestrel drop in our centroid location over a 48 hour period.
• Lab 2–  The second week we measured the canopy and ground cover of our specific site in Collins view. We went back to our site and compiled data on the tree cover and ground cover of the area. This was further base data in order to later analyze land cover change.
• Lab 3 – In this lab we compiled all the temperature, humidity, ground cover and canopy cover data from each location (Collins view, Riverview neighborhood and Lewis and Clark Campus). By compiling this data we were able to compare all the different temperature min, max and different canopy covers in order to see how different areas in Portland differ. We were also able to compare old photographs of this area from 1939 to see if it correlated with how the different sites data might have been affected by land cover change since 1939.
• Lab 4-   In this lab we utilized ARC GIS in order to map our data onto the locations of each site. With this we were able to visually see how the data was spread out and different from location to location. On top of that, we were able to put the old aerial photos of the area (1939, 1961 and 1982) layered on top of our data in order to further analyze the land cover change of the area and see if changes in specific area affect the local environment today.
• Lab 5-  After working for 4 weeks finding and analyzing land use cover change data we additionally had 5 people come to our class who have lived in the area for awhile to give us a personal narrative on the change that has occurred in the area. In order to compile all this information we made a story map where we were able to situate our data in story form so we could bring together our findings on land use cover change.

The next 4 weeks of labs we shifted our focus from the Anthropocene to the Capitalocene.

• Lab 6– In this lab we analyzed Yale Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and World Bank data in order to look at how capital and economic development has affected each countries environmental impact, which is what the Capitalocene argues. We looked at and charted the EPI score for low, middle and high income as well as the region. These graphs helped us analyze whether the Capitalocene has affected different countries overall environmental performance.
• Lab 7-  In this lab we chose two new Capitalocene data and mapped it, using ARC GIS,  with the EPI and World Trade indicators from last week. Mapping this data together helped us visually analyze different countries impact on the environment.
• Lab 8-For this lab we added in the World values survey which surveys citizens of each country on their thoughts on environmental issues. We chose three different countries, 1 from each income group, and looked at their answers to a specific question. We chose, environment v.s economic growth and graphed each countries responses. From this we created a hypothesis, found a null hypothesis and found a P value to eventually prove our hypothesis.
• Lab 9– For this final Capitolscene lab we focused on environmental justice and injustices in the Portland area, specifically having to do with air pollution. We utilized Portland air toxicity reports (PATS) and ACS, a census community survey. With our information we were able to use ARCGIS to illustrate our findings on how air pollution affects different low income and minority groups.

Our last three weeks of labs consisted of us building a situated project working from the top of the hourglass all the way to the bottom. Our project is looking at the Wasteocene, which is the issues of waste in developing countries with a situated context in Chile.

• Lab 10- This lab was the beginning of our situated project where we first began doing research. We came up with a draft framing and situated context question and a full annotated bibliography.
• Lab 11- This lab was our second project update where we made a concept map of all the different actors at play within our project. We also made a general update on new research we had found.
• Lab 12- This lab was our final project update where we refined the top of the hourglass, as well as summarized the middle of the hourglass and then brainstormed as a group for the bottom of the hourglass. We also made an ARC GIS map so as to look at the HDI indicators and waste issues in Chile and other countries.

Another component of the class is reflection posts (see all) where we are able to share our own thoughts on different environmental aspects of the class as well as further expand on topics we are interested in. As we get more information on different environmental issue and topics, this is a great forum to be able to reflect further and deeper on our own thoughts.

• Reflection 1- For my first reflection post, I wanted to dive deeper in to land use cover change based of our Verburg et al and Zaehle et. al. I focus on changed to land for agriculture and how it affects our climate.
• Reflection 2–  My second reflection post was inspired by our panel from the neighborhoods surrounding Lewis and Clark that came to our class. I wanted to further talk about local change and how they specifically talked to us about the ways they took action.
• Reflection 3- This post was very much inspired by the recent articles about climate change that had been coming out. I wanted to reflect on the different statistics coming out and how there is always an inherent frustration with environmental issues.
• Reflection 4- Continuing on my theme of frustration when it comes to environmental issues, for this post I reflected on a speaker Daryl Davis, who came to talk at our college. He is a black man who is known for talking to KKK members and asking “why  do you hate me?”. He spoke to us about his experince as well as the idea of environment across difference.
• Reflection 5– For this reflection post I wanted to draw on some of the concepts I was learning in my Climate science class and talk about the meat industry and its effects on climate. I talk about the different issues with the meat industry and climate change and attempt to lay it our to educate people more then to tell them how to live and what to eat.
• Reflection 6–  For my final reflection post I decided to talk about the informal waste sector in developing countries. I read a paper on this issue while doing research for our Wasteocene project. I wanted to talk about the informal waste sector more as a broader issue rather than just specifically Chile. I also talk about some governments efforts to formalize the informal waste sector and what these efforts would mean for those working in the informal waste sector.

A more personal aspect of the class  is our concentrations (see all). This gives us the opportunity to pick an area of focus which we can continue to research in future classes.  My area of focus is mass coral bleaching in tropical regions. This research is really interesting and personal to me as all of my family lives in Australia, specifically Cairns Australia, which is a hub for snorkeling and scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef.

So, I’ve grown up out there and I’ve seen a lot of  this bleaching myself so the research is very important and close to my heart. To read a  summary  of my research so far follow the link  above to my concentration page. Using the lens of the analysis part of our class, this is a project where absorbing and reflecting on information is key.

For our final project in ENVS 220 we took all the skills and tools we’ve learned throughout the semester to propose a situated project. Our project, titled The Wasteocene, aimed to look at the issue of waste management in developing and newly developed countries. To situate our project, we chose somewhere we were interesting in studying abroad, Santiago, Chile. Chile has a large issue with municipal solid waste and waste within landfills. For our project we propose to survey citizens in Santiago in order to compile statistics to then compare to other developing countries. From all this data we would gather, we then propose multiple solutions that could be further researched once we return from Chile. We utilized ARCGIS to look HDI mapped in different countries, we also utilized a concept map to organize different actors within our project. Our final poster is pictured below, also a link to it here. Our final project summary page can be found here with a much more detailed summary of our project.