Empirical investigation into afforestation and bioenergy carbon finance projects in Tanzania, Uganda and Moldova demonstrates that effective projects—both in terms of sustainable development and the generation of genuine carbon credits—are more likely to result when the state is able to bring carbon finance initiatives into alignment with national development objectives. Amongst the countries investigated, the most important factor in such alignment was, paradoxically, commitment liberal economic reforms. Contrary to the expectation that the performance of projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) would be the same in states with similar administrative capacities, carbon finance projects were more effective in Uganda and Moldova than Tanzania. Commitment to liberal economic reforms in Uganda functions as an animating set of ideas that allows the state apparatus to work in a more purposeful manner and establish institutions and organizations which allow it to generate state power for low-carbon development. For CDM forest and bioenergy projects, the risk of unsustainability is mitigated by a land tenure system and investment regime that (i) offer opportunities for individual smallholders to engage directly with the carbon market and create incentives for domestic investors while (ii) also accommodating historical land governance practices. Genuine carbon credits were associated with project developers who possessed a latent organizational capacity for implementation and were motivated to pursue market opportunities—state forest agencies in Uganda and Moldova. However, the ability of the state to retain latent organizational capacity was restricted to sectors such as forestry that are less sophisticated technically; in the energy sector, such capacity was ceded to the private sector in Uganda and Moldova during structural adjustment. More skeptical of liberal economic policy, Tanzania has retained capacity in the energy sector; however, for the same reasons, it has not treated the CDM as a genuine opportunity. At current carbon prices, CDM projects investigated were effective when the state was able to play a developmental role in the economy. Whether commitment to liberal economic reforms can have similar developmental effects in other parts of the developing world is questionable—a different animating set of ideas may be important.

The modeling results of current global aerosol models agree, generally within a factor of two, with the measured surface concentrations of black carbon (BC) and sulphate (SF) aerosols in rural areas across the northern continents. However, few models are able to capture the observed seasonal cycle of the Arctic aerosols. In general, the observed seasonality of the Arctic aerosols is determined by complex processes, including transport, emissions and removal processes. In this work, the representations of aerosol deposition processes (i.e., dry deposition, in-cloud and below-cloud scavenging) within the framework of the Canadian Global Air Quality Model – GEM-AQ are first enhanced. Through the enhancements in GEM-AQ, the seasonality of the Arctic BC and SF is reproduced, and the improvement in model performance extends to the rest of the globe as well. Then, the importance of these deposition processes in governing the Arctic BC and SF seasonality is investigated. It is found that the observed seasonality of the Arctic BC and SF is mainly caused by the seasonal changes in aerosol wet scavenging, as well as the seasonal injection of aerosols from surrounding source regions. Being able to reproduce the seasonality of the Arctic BC, the enhanced GEM-AQ allows more accurate assessment of the contributions of anthropogenic sources to the BC abundance in the Arctic air and deposition to the Arctic surface. Simulating results on regional contributions to the Arctic BC show a strong dependence on altitude. The results reinforce the previous finding of Eurasia being the dominant contributor to the surface BC in the Arctic, and suggest a significant contribution from Asian Russia. In addition to the seasonality of the Arctic aerosols, the inter-annual variation in the Arctic BC surface concentration is also investigated. To complement the 3-D GEM-AQ model, the atmospheric backward trajectory analysis, together with estimated BC emissions, is implemented as a computational effective approach to reconstruct BC surface concentrations observed at the Canadian high Arctic station, Alert. Strong correlations are found between the reconstructed and the measured BC in the cold season at Alert between 1990 and 2005, which implies that atmospheric transport and emissions are the major contributors to the observed inter-annual variations and trends in BC. The regional contributions estimated annually from 1990 through 2005 suggest that Eurasia is the major contributor in winter and spring to the near-surface BC level at Alert with a 16-year average contribution of over 85% (specifically 94% in winter and 70% in spring). A decreasing trend in the Eurasian contribution to the Arctic is found in this study, which is mainly due to regional emission reduction. However, the inter-annual variation in the North American contribution shows no clear trend.

Atmospheric particles can affect climate directly, by scattering solar radiation, or indirectly, by acting as the seed upon which cloud droplets form. These clouds can then cool the earth's surface by reflecting incoming sunlight. In order to constrain the large uncertainties in predicting the ultimate effect of aerosol on climate, the sources of atmospheric particles and their subsequent ability to turn into cloud droplets needs to be better understood. This thesis addresses two parts of this issue: the sources of Arctic aerosol and the hygroscopicity of continental organic aerosol. Small particles were observed in Baffin Bay during September 2008 that coincided with high atmospheric and ocean surface dimethyl sulphide (DMS) concentrations suggesting that the aerosol formed from oceanic sources. An aerosol microphysics box model confirmed that local DMS could have produced the observed particles. In addition, the particle chemical composition was measured using aerosol mass spectrometry in the central Arctic Ocean in August 2008 and particles were found to be 43% organic and 46% sulphate. Factor analysis further apportioned the aerosol mass to marine biogenic and continental sources 33% and 36% of the time, respectively, with the source of the remaining mass unidentified. The second part of the study parameterises the hygroscopicity of the ambient organic aerosol fraction (κorg) at Egbert, Ontario and Whistler, British Columbia. This was done using two methods: 1) by assuming that the oxygenated organic component was hygroscopic and that the unoxygenated organic component was non-hygroscopic, κ of the oxygenated component was found to be 0.22 ± 0.04, and 2) by assuming that κorg varied linearly with the atomic oxygen to atomic carbon ratio, it could be parameterised as κorg = (0.29 ± 0.05) × (O/C). Calculations predict that knowing κorg is important in urban, semi-urban, and remote locations whenever the inorganic mass fraction is low.

This thesis explores indicator tools to measure the ecological impacts of changes to the food system. The concept of a ‘foodshed’ provides a framework to explore the relationships between ecological impacts and where food system activities occur. Indicators of resource use and reuse are developed to describe the shape and size of the foodshed. Paper 1 presents a review of six indicator-based tools from the literature. Using a three criteria definition of ecological sustainability in the food system - increased resource efficiency, decreased pollutant loading, and increased output reuse - Paper 1 examines the suitability of these tools for evaluating the impacts of municipal food policy driven-changes in the location of activities, processes within activities and diet composition. Paper 2 describes the shape of a foodshed, and investigates how changes in Toronto’s waste management impacted the reuse of food-related nitrogen. Reuse increased from 1% in 1990 to at least 4.7% in 2001, through backyard composting and the land application of processed sewage. By 2004, in spite of household organics collection, reuse decreased to 2.3%, due to a reduction in land-applied sewage. The analysis suggests that sewage management has a larger impact on the reuse of food nitrogen than household solid waste management. Paper 3 quantifies the size of the foodsheds of Canada and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and evaluates the feasibility of self-sufficiency and its impact on the total land area used for production. Nationally, there is sufficient harvested land area to meet 95% of the land area needed for self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency is only feasible for the GTA by drawing from a foodshed extending 400 kilometres beyond its boundary. Given current yields, total self-sufficiency would occupy more land area than currently used domestically and abroad. Higher yields or a change in diet could decrease the size of the foodshed.

The four papers of this dissertation explore themes related to waste prevention, the system boundaries, functional units and scale of life cycle assessments (LCAs) of municipal solid waste (MSW) management, as well as the transparency and consistency of the application of LCA methods. The first paper is a comparative analysis of the methodological choices and transparency of 20 LCAs of MSW that were recently published in peer-reviewed journals, and includes a comparison of their midpoint level impact values using statistical indicators. The second paper proposes a conceptual model, designated WasteMAP (Waste Management And Prevention), for evaluating LCAs of MSW which incorporate waste prevention. In WasteMAP, waste prevention through dematerialization is viewed as analogous to waste treatments so long as it does not affect the functional output (product services) of MSW-generating product systems. Papers 3 and 4 comprise the WasteMAP LCA case study. Paper 3 depicts product LCAs of wine and spirit packaging (conventional, lightweight and refillable, each type generating different quantities of waste) at the scale of the individual package and the municipality. At the municipal scale, the LCAs address impacts from the wine and spirit packaging supplied in the City of Toronto, Canada in 2008, and a waste prevention scenario which substitutes lighter weight and reusable containers. The lowest endpoint level impacts out of the five container types studied were associated with refillable containers and aseptic cartons. Paper 4 addresses the Toronto MSW management system and applies the WasteMAP model to allow for the comparison, on a functionally equivalent basis, of the LCA results of a reference scenario, based on 2008 data, with a scenario incorporating six types of waste prevention activities (prevention of unaddressed advertising mail, disposable plastic bags, newspapers, lightweight and refillable wine and spirit packaging, and yard waste). The findings highlight the benefits of waste prevention, and the relative significance of the decision to account for recycled content when modelling waste prevention. The endpoint level impact assessment results using the ReCiPe and Impact 2002+ evaluation methods are in keeping with the assumption in the waste hierarchy that waste prevention has a superior environmental performance.

Soil fungi play an important role in regulating plant communities as well as above and below ground ecosystem-level processes; conversely, plant communities may also affect the structure and functionality of these root-associating fungi. Alteration of these fungal communities due to non-native plant invasion has the potential to disrupt biogeochemical cycling, soil structure, and plant growth. Both beneficial symbionts such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) as well as the total fungal community are potentially altered by aggressive invasive plant species in such a way as to disrupt existing native endophytic fungal communities in the soil post invasion. This disruption could provide a pathway for invasion and suggests the importance of investigating plant-fungal associations in invaded ranges. I used molecular techniques to characterize the fungal communities colonizing Vincetoxicum rossicum or Dog-strangling vine (DSV) and Alliaria petiolata or garlic mustard, both European natives that are currently well established in Eastern North America, as well as native plants that are commonly found persisting in the presence of dense colonies of DSV, as well as those same natives growing separately from DSV. Fungi colonizing different plant groups were analyzed using primers that target the internal transcribed spacer region of the ribosomal operon in order to amplify total fungal species (TF), as well as primers designed to exclusively amplify AMF using small subunit rRNA sequences. Significant differences were observed in the diversity of both the TF and the AMF communities colonizing native plants in the invaded sites relative to the uninvaded sites. Sequencing work indicated that DSV forms associations with a broad array of fungal partners relative to proximal native plants, suggesting the likelihood of it being a fungal generalist. As well, DSV was found to associate with described opportunistic AMF such as Glomus intraradices, G. caledonium, G. fasciculatum and G. mosseae, while natives growing within DSV patches were not. Finally, garlic mustard was found to have the dominant effect where DSV and garlic mustard were co-occurring. These findings support the ongoing investigations into plant invasion processes, and therefore contribute to the development of effective strategies for invasive species management as well as site restoration techniques.

This dissertation reports a study exploring adult engagement with sustainability learning practices in EcoSchools-certified secondary schools in Canada, Lithuania and Sweden as a means towards shaping a liveable future. The study is situated in the area of education for sustainable development. The study design was initially based on an interest in revealing specific practices of sustainability education as a means of improving the relationship between environmental impact and wealth. While echoing findings in the existing literature, this research contributes to the development of the field through insight into the perspectives that adults bring to sustainability education. Primary data collected in the spring of 2006 were recorded (mostly single) semistructured interviews with 30 individuals (national coordinators, caretakers, teachers and administrators), including 10 Canadians from four schools, 14 Lithuanians from four schools, and six Swedes from two schools. Four phases of qualitative analysis were used on the data: initial transcript coding and trends; précis document trends; a six-stage model of interview responses allowing vertical (between question) and horizontal (between stage) comparisons; word maps of subthemes as a scaffold to detail participants’ four primary views (long, wide, deep, dynamic) regarding sustainability. Ultimately, the results of this study point less than expected to revealing specific transferable practices regarding success and challenge in EcoSchools. Rather, these findings provide some insight into a means of shaping a sustainable future through an individual’s sustainability perspective: a living responsiveness based on a sense of connection, supported by improved sustainability cognition, and realized through sustainability practice and considered engagement.

Open and throughfall precipitation samples were collected at Haliburton Forest for a total of nine events from July – November of 2009. The following species were analyzed quantitatively: NO3-, SO42-, Cl-, HCOO-, C2O42-, NH4+, Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+. Wet deposition inputs to the system were quantified and the sources of wet-deposited species were probed. The throughfall method was employed to quantify inputs to the forest floor and probe canopy-precipitation interactions. Leaf wash samples at three heights aided in the interpretation of throughfall data and allowed for an examination of vertical profiles of dry deposition to the canopy. Results suggest possible nitrate foliar leaching during the growing season, although this appears to cease during senescence. This finding supports previous evidence that Haliburton Forest has shifted from nitrogen-limitation toward nitrogen-saturation and estimated total atmospheric N inputs to the system are close to the proposed critical load of 10 kg N ha-1 yr-1.

Atmospheric particles can affect climate directly, by scattering solar radiation, or indirectly, by acting as the seed upon which cloud droplets form. These clouds can then cool the earth's surface by reflecting incoming sunlight. In order to constrain the large uncertainties in predicting the ultimate effect of aerosol on climate, the sources of atmospheric particles and their subsequent ability to turn into cloud droplets needs to be better understood. This thesis addresses two parts of this issue: the sources of Arctic aerosol and the hygroscopicity of continental organic aerosol. Small particles were observed in Baffin Bay during September 2008 that coincided with high atmospheric and ocean surface dimethyl sulphide (DMS) concentrations suggesting that the aerosol formed from oceanic sources. An aerosol microphysics box model confirmed that local DMS could have produced the observed particles. In addition, the particle chemical composition was measured using aerosol mass spectrometry in the central Arctic Ocean in August 2008 and particles were found to be 43% organic and 46% sulphate. Factor analysis further apportioned the aerosol mass to marine biogenic and continental sources 33% and 36% of the time, respectively, with the source of the remaining mass unidentified. The second part of the study parameterises the hygroscopicity of the ambient organic aerosol fraction (κorg) at Egbert, Ontario and Whistler, British Columbia. This was done using two methods: 1) by assuming that the oxygenated organic component was hygroscopic and that the unoxygenated organic component was non-hygroscopic, κ of the oxygenated component was found to be 0.22 ± 0.04, and 2) by assuming that κorg varied linearly with the atomic oxygen to atomic carbon ratio, it could be parameterised as κorg = (0.29 ± 0.05) × (O/C). Calculations predict that knowing κorg is important in urban, semi-urban, and remote locations whenever the inorganic mass fraction is low.

This thesis explores indicator tools to measure the ecological impacts of changes to the food system. The concept of a ‘foodshed’ provides a framework to explore the relationships between ecological impacts and where food system activities occur. Indicators of resource use and reuse are developed to describe the shape and size of the foodshed. Paper 1 presents a review of six indicator-based tools from the literature. Using a three criteria definition of ecological sustainability in the food system - increased resource efficiency, decreased pollutant loading, and increased output reuse - Paper 1 examines the suitability of these tools for evaluating the impacts of municipal food policy driven-changes in the location of activities, processes within activities and diet composition. Paper 2 describes the shape of a foodshed, and investigates how changes in Toronto’s waste management impacted the reuse of food-related nitrogen. Reuse increased from 1% in 1990 to at least 4.7% in 2001, through backyard composting and the land application of processed sewage. By 2004, in spite of household organics collection, reuse decreased to 2.3%, due to a reduction in land-applied sewage. The analysis suggests that sewage management has a larger impact on the reuse of food nitrogen than household solid waste management. Paper 3 quantifies the size of the foodsheds of Canada and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and evaluates the feasibility of self-sufficiency and its impact on the total land area used for production. Nationally, there is sufficient harvested land area to meet 95% of the land area needed for self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency is only feasible for the GTA by drawing from a foodshed extending 400 kilometres beyond its boundary. Given current yields, total self-sufficiency would occupy more land area than currently used domestically and abroad. Higher yields or a change in diet could decrease the size of the foodshed.