Extreme heat events are the deadliest natural hazard in the United States and will continue to get worse in the coming years due to the effects of climate change. As a result, more people will experience deadly heat conditions. This highlights the need for decision-makers to develop better strategies for preventing future losses. How badly individuals are affected by extreme heat depends on many circumstances, such as how high temperatures actually are, weather conditions, and location. For example, a dry 90 °F day in Phoenix is probably more tolerable than a humid 90 °F day in New Orleans for most individuals. However, some groups of people are more likely to be harmed by extreme heat than others, such as the elderly and those who work outdoors. This may seem straightforward, but uncovering less obvious clues that help explain how and why some groups are affected differently by extreme heat can be difficult, since much of the impact of extreme heat depends on people’s judgements of the risk and their personal decisions. These human factors are typically not very easy to measure because different hazards affect different people indifferent ways at different times in different places. This study uses a large survey of the U.S. population and statistical methods to explore how weather, time, space, and personal experience with heat affect different people’s judgment of risk. Whether different groups understand their high or low risk status has important implications for decision-makers responsible for crafting plans to reduce extreme heat risk in their local community.

As knowledge about the constellating set of environmental and social crises stemming from the neoliberal global food regime becomes more pressing and popularized among US consumers, it has brought Indigenous actors asserting their political sovereignty and treaty rights with regards to their homelands into new collaborations, contestations, and negotiations with settlers in emerging food politics domains. In this dissertation, I examine solidarities and affinities being forged between Coast Salish and settler food actors in Puget Sound, attending specifically to how contested sovereignties are submerged but at play in these relations and how settler desires for belonging on and to stolen Indigenous lands animate liberal and radical food system politics. The dissertation presents my ethnographic fieldwork in South Puget Sound over a period of 18 months with two related Coast Salish food sovereignty projects that brought Indigenous and settler food actors into weedy collaborations. One was a curriculum development project for Native and regional youth focused on the revitalization of Coast Salish plant landscapes, knowledge, pedagogies, and systems of reciprocity. The other was a campaign to counter the introduction of genetically engineered salmon into US food markets and coastal production facilities across the Western Hemisphere, which I situate within longstanding salmon-centered social and political struggles in Coast Salish territories in the context of Indigenous/settler-state relations. Throughout these engagements, I identified how multicultural, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist food movement frameworks share in common with neoliberal nature privatization schemes modes of disavowing the geopolitics of Indigenous sovereignty within the US settler state. The research reveals patterns in how Coast Salish food actors push back against the ways settler food actors are plugged into settler colonial governmentality. These insights, in turn, helped to make legible how inherited liberal mythologies of the nation-state and legal orders rooted in the doctrine of terra nulliuslimit the stakes of food system work in terms of inclusion and equality, and miss their collusion with structures that unmake the human-land relationships that Coast Salish people define as existential and (geo)political. In my analysis, I engage Indigenous critiques of settler colonialism to complicate Marxian, Deleuzian, and Foucauldian analyses of North American alternative food politics, while doubling back to consider the ways the disavowal of ongoing Indigenous dispossession functions across these literatures and the social practices they influence, ultimately to consider how food-centered scholarship, environmentalism, and politics in North America stand to be transformed by what I argue is a Coast Salish ‘politics of refusal’. This project is unique in attending to how settler colonial theory, Indigenous critical theory, and Indigenous politics in North America enrich and complicate the literatures provincializing the Nature-Culture divide, as well as a largely Marxian and antiracist critical food studies literature. It contributes to settler colonial studies as a project of redefinition for the study of US politics and society while specifically bringing that interdisciplinary project into the ambit of North American critical food studies scholarship.

<p>The Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation (COMMIT) was the largest community-based effort to date aimed specifically at the reduction of smoking. COMMIT involved 11 matched pairs of intervention and comparison communities from geographically diverse regions of North America. One community from each of the matched pairs was randomly allocated to receive a standardized intervention protocol implemented between 1989 and 1993. The main trial goal was to achieve higher quit rates amongst heavy smokers in the intervention communities compared to the comparison communities.</p> <p>Intermediate trial goals were to increase the priority of smoking as a public health problem and increase social norms that support nonsmoking in the intervention communities. These goals were informed by contemporary health promotion theory which suggests that longstanding changes in behaviour are best achieved by altering social environments to support healthy choices. This thesis presents a conceptualization of the links between attributes of individuals, communities and attitudes toward smoking which provides the basis for empirical investigations of COMMIT's success in promoting attitude change; the nature of the relationship between attitude and behaviour change for smoking; and the role of community context in constructing attitudes.</p> <p>Intermediate trial goals were to increase the priority of smoking as a public health problem and increase social norms that support nonsmoking in the intervention communities. These goals were informed by contemporary health promotion theory which suggests that longstanding changes in behaviour are best achieved by altering social environments to support healthy choices. This thesis presents a conceptualization of the links between attributes of individuals, communities and attitudes toward smoking which provides the basis for empirical investigations of COMMIT's success in promoting attitude change; the nature of the relationship between attitude and behaviour change for smoking; and the role of community context in constructing attitudes.</p> <p>Attitude change was assessed primarily from prevalence surveys administered in 1989 (n=9,875) and 1993 (n=14,117). Data from cohorts of smokers and nonsmokers (n=5,450) were also used to examine covariates of attitude change and for the analysis of the attitude change -behaviour change relationship. Community profile data and legislative tracking were employed in the descriptive analyses of the relationship between community context and smoking attitudes.</p> <p>Valid and reliable measures representing the primary constructs ofbeliefin the priority of smoking as a public health problem and norms and values concerning smoking were developed. Attitude change, assessed by a cross-sectional approach, revealed that there were substantial changes in favour of stronger anti-smoking attitudes in both the intervention and comparison communities. Intervention effects were limited to changes in heavy smokers' beliefs about the seriousness of smoking as a public health problem. The strongest covariate of attitude change was shown to be quitting smoking during the trial for both measures, while changes in beliefs about smoking as a public health problem were demonstrated to be greater for less educated groups in the intervention communities. The attitude change -behaviour change analyses revealed support for traditional theoretical positions in the debate. Conclusions reached, however, suggest that the type of behaviour change being measured (i.e., quitting or starting smoking) and the measure of attitude affect the results of attitude behaviour analyses. Lastly, 'place' was shown have an important independent effect on attitudes toward smoking. Through case studies of several COMMIT communities, place attributes identified to have an important impact on individual smoking attitudes were economic reliance on the tobacco industry, socio-economic and cultural composition and legislative/political climates.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

There has been a general shift in the location of steel production over the last 15 years away from developed countries towards developing countries. The shift is similar to those documented in their industries like cars and textiles, but the reasons for the shift are different partly because steel is not produced by multinational corporations. This thesis examines part of the shift in steel production. specifically its decline in the United States and its expansion in Brasil. An analysis of changing class relationships around steel production over the most recent cycle of accumulation is conducted for each country. The importance of indigenous class forces in determining the course of industrial development is emphasized. in contrast with most of the radical literature on industrial development which considers third world growth to be externally imposed. The thesis makes two major contributes to the literature. First a theory of international development which is consistent with realist-marxist principles is provided. This theory also integrates the economic and political branches of marxist theory through an analysis of competition, a subject relatively absent from most marxist analyses. Secondly, research at a concrete level is conducted which illustrates the strengths and usefulness of the realist-marxist theory. By analyzing an industry (steel) that in its institutional organization and physical structure is different from other industries that have been examined empirically, different kinds of social relationships are found to be important in determining the pattern of international development. An explanation of the shift in steel production is provided therefore which also demonstrates practically the realist argument that causes of Industrial development are both abstract and specific: specific to places, times and branches of production. Most of the existing radical literature on international development identifies only causes that are specific to certain cases. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Climate change presents a wide range of concerns that can jeopardize international security. Among those concerns are neo-Malthusian worries of diminishing natural resources. Predictive models suggest that rainfall and temperature anomalies have the potential to reduce water basins, crop production, increase land degradation among other perils that threaten human security. This concern is particularly true in sub-Saharan Africa given the region’s strong dependence on rain-fed agriculture. Despite strong claims from various world leaders and scientists of a direct climate-conflict nexus, little empirical evidence has been devoted to find a systematic causal pathway of this kind. What is more, the literature not explored the relationship between climate change and low-intensity forms of social unrest. Therefore, contrary to most of the literature that explores a direct climate-conflict relationship, this dissertation contributes to the literature along two lines. First, it explores the relationship between climate change and socio-political unrest. Second, rather than simply assume a direct relationship between climate shocks and conflict, this dissertation examines: a) the effects of climate change on food scarcity, and the impact of that scarcity, in turn, on the likelihood of social unrest and conflict, and b) the effects of climate change on land degradation, that the impact of that degradation, in turn, on the frequency of communal violence.

This study is a survey of the Kentucky State Park system as it exists today. Investigations were directed primarily to factors which influence attendance at Kentucky's parks and to the development of a formula for use in determining possible expansion rates for these parks.

Regional paleoclimatic proxies and current local climate variables and were analyzed to reconstruct paleoglaciers in an effort to assess glacier change On Mount Rainier. Despite the dry and generally warm conditions (sea surface temperatures (SST) -0.15°C to +1.8°C relative to current temperatures), the previously documented McNeeley II advance (10,900 - 9,950 cal yr B.P.) was likely produced by air temperature fluctuations. The average SST record and the terrestrial climate proxies show cooling temperatures with continued dryness between McNeeley II and the Burroughs Mountain advance (3,442 - 2,153 cal yr B.P.). The paleoclimate during the Burroughs Mountain advance was both cool and warm (SST temperatures -0.55°C to +0.5°C) and was the wettest of the Holocene. A combination of statistical and deterministic equilibrium line altitude (ELA) models was used to produce Holocene ELAs between 1,735 -2,980 m. Glacial advances were predicted 10,990, 10,170, 9,260, 8,200, 6,490, 3,450 and 550 - 160 cal yr. B.P. Two glacier flow models were produced simultaneously to constrain glacial extent through the Holocene. Model I is based on current mass balance parameters and produced lengths for the Nisqually and Emmons glaciers 3.7 - 14.2 km and 4.2 - 17.1 km respectively. Glaciated area ranged from 26 to 327 km2. Model 2 is tuned to the Garda advance and produced lengths 2.6-10.6 km and 2.3-13.9 km. Glaciated area ranged from 11 to 303 km2. The first two advances were similar in elevation and GIS-modeled extent to McNeely II moraines. The following three advances were not detected in the geologic record. The 3,450 cal yr. B.P. advance was the largest of the late-Holocene (ELA 1,800 - 1,817 m) and was ~200 m lower than the geologic record. The ELAs of the Garda advance were modeled (1,944 - 1,983 m) and are similar to previous reconstructions. North-south spatial variations in glacial extent increase during periods of recession as the southern glaciers receive more ablation than northern glaciers. Early humans could have accessed the alpine environments as high as 1,730-2,980 m. The early Holocene glacial extent allowed the highest (2,980 m) 11,150 cal yr. B.P. and lowest (1,730 m) 10,990 cal yr. B.P. alpine access. Glacial retreat (2,727 m 10,400 cal yr. B.P.) was followed by an advance (1,929 m 10,170 cal yr. B.P.) and another retreat (2,951 m 10,050 cal yr. B.P.). Ice gradually descended and limited access to 1,820 m 6,490 cal yr. B.P. Glacial extents remained largely unchanged until the historic era when paleohumans would have had access to alpine environments at 2,000 m.

Located just east of Missoula, Montana, Milltown Dam stood from 1908 to 2008 immediately downstream of the Clark Fork River’s confluence with the Blackfoot River. After the discovery of arsenic-contaminated groundwater in the nearby community of Milltown, as well as extensive deposits of contaminated sediment in the dam’s upstream reservoir, in 1981, the area was designated a Superfund site – along with much of the Upper Clark Fork Watershed. This motivated the eventual decision to remove the dam, perform environmental remediation, and reconstruct approximately five kilometers of the Clark Fork River and its floodplain. This study is part conceptual and part empirical. It describes a state-and-transition framework equipped to investigate channel evolution as well as the adjustment trajectories of other socio-biophysical landscapes. This framework is then applied to understand the post-restoration channel evolution of the Clark Fork River’s mainstem, secondary channels, and floodplain. Adopting a state-and-transition framework to conceptualize landscape evolution lets environmental managers more effectively anticipate river response under multiple disturbence scenarios and therefore use more improvisational and adaptive management techniques that do not attempt to guide the landscape toward a single and permanent end state. State-and-transition models can also be used to highlight the spatially explicit patterns of complex biophysical response. The state-and-transition models developed for the Clark Fork River demonstrate the possibility of multiple evolutionary trajectories. Neither the secondary channels nor the main channel have responded in a linear, monotonic fashion, and future responses will be contingent upon hydrogeomorphic and climatic variability and chance disturbances. The biogeomorphic adjustments observed so far suggest divergent evolutionary trajectories and that in some instances the long-term fates of the mainstem, floodplain, and secondary channels are inescapably enmeshed with one another.

Food deserts are low-income areas lacking access to nutritious and affordable food. Such limited access has various implications for public health, particularly diet-related diseases such as diabetes. Among American Indian communities, diabetes is particularly rampant at nearly twice the rate of white populations in the U.S. On the Navajo Nation, diabetes incidence has been estimated to be as high as 1 in 3. According to the USDA, the majority of the Navajo Nation is considered a food desert. This paper utilizes food sovereignty as a lens for decolonization to identify the underlying causes of hunger and nutrition-related diseases within Diné communities. This paper will explore the histories of the change in the Diné diet and how colonial processes and the loss of traditional food systems affects current food and health patterns on the Navajo Nation. By expanding the scope of public health issues such as obesity and diabetes in Native American communities from food access and nutrition to power relations embedded in colonial structures that have resulted in the loss of indigenous sovereignty and power, I hope to pinpoint entry points for future indigenous researchers to develop and enact policies that will expand access to healthy and culturally significant foods on the Navajo Nation and contribute to efforts to restore food sovereignty of the Navajo Nation by rebuilding local food economies.

This paper explores Alexanderplatz during the Weimar Period in Berlin. It is looked at from three different perspectives: historical urban plans, Alfred Döblin's novel Berlin Alexanderplatz, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1980's film adaptation of Berlin Alexanderplatz. Through these three mediums, an argument forms that Alexanderplatz functioned as both a major transit space for movement of transportation and pedestrians, but also the transit space for the movement of ideas and information.