Community violence can have lasting impacts on populations that experience it, including but not limited to, financial damages, property damage, and psychological trauma. Therefore, exploring mechanisms of violence prevention is increasingly important, especially within the context of multicultural societies. This research does just that by approaching community violence prevention from an interdisciplinary perspective, including aspects of public health, political science, criminology, and sociology. This dissertation explores the interfaith organization InterFaith Leadership Council of Metro Detroit and those in the organization's network. It considers how interfaith leaders, through activism and dialogue, can contribute to community violence prevention. By applying the social ecological model and social disorganization theory, this research considers how to prevent community violence through building social capital, collective efficacy, and community capacity. This inquiry also utilized the social determinants of health to describe how violence and violence prevention is linked to community health. This dissertation uses qualitative data, including interviews, document analysis, and field notes to explore the mechanisms by which interfaith leadership can prevent community violence, specifically gang violence and violent extremism. / Doctor of Philosophy / Community violence can have lasting impacts on populations that experience it, including but not limited to, financial damages, property damage, and psychological trauma. Therefore, exploring methods of violence prevention is increasingly important. This dissertation uses qualitative data to explore community violence prevention in Metro Detroit as carried out by the InterFaith Leadership Council and its broader network. Included in this dissertation are insights from interviews, document analysis, and field notes. All this data informs the research and attempts to address how the question of how the interfaith community in Metro Detroit is working to prevent community violence. This research utilizes the social ecological model and social disorganization theory as its overarching framework for analysis. The analysis examines interfaith relationships, collective efficacy, and community capacity. This research also frames violence and violence prevention within the context of the social determinants of health in an attempt to identify the factors that affect violence and violence prevention.

The conversion of grasslands to woodlands is an ecosystem transformation that threatens grassland biodiversity, the provision of important ecosystem services, and the sustainability of rural livelihoods. A global phenomenon, woody plant encroachment (WPE) has been particularly problematic in the Southern Great Plains of the United States where the actions of private landowners are integral to sustaining grasslands. Increased diversity in landowners’ motivations for owning land have shifted the social landscape of rural areas necessitating a better understanding of landowners’ perspectives about WPE and their subsequent management actions. Towards this purpose, I employed a mail survey to private landowners in the Edwards Plateau of Texas, Central Great Plains of Oklahoma, and Flint Hills of Kansas to investigate landowner perceptions and management responses to WPE. First, I assessed landowners’ acceptance of WPE as a function of how they relate to their land (i.e., sense of place), their beliefs about the positive and negative consequences of woody plants, and their perceived threat of grassland conversion. Then, I examined the drivers of landowners’ goal intentions to manage woody plants and their current use of five adaptive management practices that prevent WPE. My results demonstrate that landowners vary in their sensitivity to WPE based on how they feel connected to their land. This was true even though most landowners had low acceptance thresholds for WPE, believed it led to numerous negative outcomes, and perceived it as increasingly threatening at greater levels of encroachment. Most landowners wanted to control or remove woody plants and were actively engaged in management practices to do so. These findings address uncertainties about landowners’ acceptance of WPE and grassland conservation actions and provide broad implications for how people perceive and respond to ecosystem transformation. / Master of Science / Around the world, grasslands are converting to tree and shrub woodlands at an unprecedented rate. This transformation profoundly reduces habitat available for grassland plants and animals and diminishes many ecosystem services that people and rural communities rely on. This loss of grasslands has been especially far-reaching throughout the Southern Great Plains of the United States. Because most of this region is privately owned, the management actions of landowners play a crucial role in preventing or allowing this conversion to continue. Recent shifts in land ownership motivations expanding beyond traditional agricultural production have created increased uncertainty about how private landowners view and react to this change. To investigate how landowners perceive and respond to this woody plant encroachment (WPE) phenomenon, I conducted a mail survey of landowners in the Edwards Plateau of Texas, the Central Great Plains of Oklahoma, and the Flint Hills of Kansas. Using sense of place, landowners’ beliefs about the potential positive and negative consequences of woody plants, and their perceptions of how threatening grassland conversion is, I assessed the thresholds at which landowners’ do or do not accept WPE. Then, I examined how acceptance of WPE relates to landowners’ management goals and current use of management practices to control or reduce woody plants. I found that most landowners believed that woody plants had many negative consequences and perceived increasing levels of threat at greater levels of encroachment. This related to low levels of acceptance for woody plants in grasslands. However, landowners’ threat perceptions and acceptance of WPE varied based on their sense of place. Finally, most landowners wanted to control or remove woody plants and were actively engaged in management practices to do so. My results provide critical information regarding how current landowners’ view and respond to grassland conversion and offer broad implications for how people perceive and respond to large-scale environmental change.

Inland freshwater salinity is rising worldwide and threatens the quality of our water resources, a phenomenon called the freshwater salinization syndrome (FSS). Simultaneously, the practice of indirect potable reuse (IPR) that augments critical water supplies with treated wastewater to enhance water security presents complexities in water quality management. This dissertation explores the complex interplay between FSS and IPR in the Occoquan Reservoir, an important drinking-water source in the Mid-Atlantic United States, within its diverse environmental, social and political contexts. Using extensive data collected over 25 years, this research quantifies contributions of multiple salinity sources to the rising concentration of sodium (a major ion associated with the FSS) in the reservoir and the finished drinking water. These sources encompass two rapidly urbanizing watersheds, a sophisticated water reclamation facility and the drinking water treatment utility. The novel application of unsteady transit time theory reveals that stream salinization can be linked to watershed salt sources using stream water age as a master variable and provides a real-time prediction model for sodium concentration in the reservoir. These results identify substantial opportunities to mitigate sodium pollution and help set the stage for stakeholder-driven bottom-up management by improving the predictability of system dynamics, enhancing knowledge of this social-ecological system and supporting the development of collective action rules. / Doctor of Philosophy / The global rise in freshwater salinity, termed as the freshwater salinization syndrome (FSS), poses a significant threat to water quality in our freshwater resources. The practice of indirect potable reuse (IPR), which involves reusing treated wastewater to supplement and secure our water supplies presents significant challenges in managing water quality. This dissertation delves into the intricate relationship between FSS and IPR, focusing on the Occoquan Reservoir-a vital drinking water source in the Mid-Atlantic United States-within its multifaceted environmental, social, and political contexts. This study uncovers the contributions of various sources of salinity to rising sodium ion concentrations (a key FSS-associated ion) in the reservoir and in finished drinking water. Sodium ions are contributed by road salts, chemicals used in water and wastewater treatment, commercial and industrial discharges, household products (e.g., laundry detergents) and human excretion. An innovative approach of examining the age of water in the stream and in the reservoir outflow enables us to trace origins of salinity within the watershed and predict the concentration of sodium ions in the reservoir, respectively. These findings reveal promising avenues for effectively addressing sodium pollution at this site. Furthermore, this research underscores the significance of convergence research, bringing diverse stakeholders together to develop collaborative strategies to manage freshwater salinization using a bottom-up approach.

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This thesis presents a new perspective on the study of past farm success and failure; it builds on the concepts of resilience and vulnerability to construct a theoretical framework which integrates environmental, historical and ethnographical data. The basic framework establishes that the resilience or vulnerability of a social-ecological system is a function of three factors: i) the exposure of the system to external (environmental) stresses, ii) the sensitivity of the system to these stresses and iii) the ability of the human component of the system to respond to them. The research focused on the component of human capacity of response (the sum of coping and adaptive capacity) within this framework. The temporal scale of the study was the 18th century, although reference is made to earlier periods for comparison. The location of the study area was Mývatnssveit, a livestock-based farming community in northern Iceland, while the spatial scale of the study is that of individual farms in the area. The results showed that successful farms had a higher capacity of response than failed farms, and that this was conferred by a greater availability and quality of resources, including human resources, natural resources and productive resources (those directly involved in agriculture). Human resources were assessed by records of number of servants per farm and by evidence of learning/knowledge transfer obtained via micromorphological analyses of home-field soils. Natural resources considered to be of particular importance were fish and eggs. Indicators of productive resources included tax value, land rent, livestock numbers and phosphorus content in home-fields. The latter revealed that the soil condition pre-settlement was linked to its post-settlement quality. An analysis of present day perceptions of historical farm abandonment in the area corresponds with the conclusions reached through the data integration in placing the human factor above the environmental one in influencing success and failure. The thesis concludes by highlighting the individuality of the study farms and the historical resilience of the livestock-based farming system. Additionally, areas of potential for future research are identified.

Legal and institutional structures fundamentally shape opportunities for adaptive governance of environmental resources at multiple ecological and societal scales. Properties of adaptive governance are widely studied. However, these studies have not resulted in consolidated frameworks for legal and institutional design, limiting our ability to promote adaptation and social-ecological resilience. We develop an overarching framework that describes the current and potential role of law in enabling adaptation. We apply this framework to different social-ecological settings, centers of activity, and scales, illustrating the multidimensional and polycentric nature of water governance. Adaptation typically emerges organically among multiple centers of agency and authority in society as a relatively self-organized or autonomous process marked by innovation, social learning, and political deliberation. This self-directed and emergent process is difficult to create in an exogenous, top-down fashion. However, traditional centers of authority may establish enabling conditions for adaptation using a suite of legal, economic, and democratic tools to legitimize and facilitate self-organization, coordination, and collaboration across scales. The principles outlined here provide preliminary legal and institutional foundations for adaptive environmental governance, which may inform institutional design and guide future scholarship.

This dissertation evaluates the role and effectiveness of law in the transboundary environmental governance of the Baltic Sea with regard to eutrophication. To this end, it reviews the applicable international agreements with their related instruments, as well as the EU legal frameworks, for the protection of the Baltic Sea environment on the basis of theories on resilience in social-ecological systems. The scientific discourse on resilience in social-ecological systems provides theories on effective governance of complex environmental problems with nonlinear causal connections. The governance features identified in resilience governance also show significant similarities with characteristic features of the concept of ecosystem approach. The resilience features can thus provide guidance to the operationalization of this concept, which lacks a distinct meaning in the legal context. Eutrophication is one of the main environmental problems in the Baltic Sea. Despite the fact that this problem has been acknowledged since the 1970s, only little progress has been visible in the attempts to limit the problem. Environmental governance in the form of cooperation and common action has, however, been established by the coastal states of the Baltic Sea to reduce the discharges to their common resource. This was originally coordinated through the Helsinki Convention and its administrative organization HELCOM in the 1970s. Since the year 2000 a new set of legal instruments and approaches have developed, emphasizing also the ecosystem approach. These instruments have a basis both in HELCOM and in EU environmental law, most significantly represented by the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. They establish a unique regulatory structure, with new approaches to regulation, which also give rise to questions regarding interpretation and effectiveness that have not previously been analyzed. It is concluded that applicable law in the Baltic Sea area reflects resilience features such as adaptability, flexibility and redundancy within the legal structure. The legal structure for the Baltic Sea is dynamic and stretches over many levels of governance. The applicable legal instruments are constructed so as to be adaptable and flexible. The legal instruments moreover include significant elements that provide for participation at different levels and in different forms, which contribute to enabling the mentioned resilience features. However, the Baltic Sea legal structure – as law in general – has different core functions than just providing for effective environmental governance. Law is based in a number of general principles connected to the rule of law and the function of law as a foundation for stability in the society and in human interactions. These principles are also important since they are directly linked to enforcement, monitoring and control. While the legal structure in the Baltic Sea may provide for effective governance and social-ecological resilience, the resilience features reflected in law do not always appear as far-reaching as suggested by resilience theories, much due to the legal principles. It is however because of these principles and the base for binding requirements they enable, that law can push for governance measures and features that might not have been accomplished otherwise. This, in the larger perspective, includes creating requirements that steer human activities away from critical thresholds. / Baltic Ecosystem Adaptive Management, BEAM

The study of health disparities and the social determinants of health has resulted in the call for public health researchers to investigate the mid- and upstream factors that influence the incidence of chronic diseases (Adler & Rehkopf, 2008; Berkman, 2009; Braveman P. , 2006; Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014; Krieger, 2011; Rose, 1985). Social ecological models (SEMs) provide important conceptual tools to inform this research and practice (Krieger, 2011; Golden & Earp, 2012; Story, Kaphingst, Robinson O'Brien, & Glanz, 2008; Glanz, Rimer, & Lewis, 2002). These models can help us look at the social and physical environments in rural Arizona communities and consider how health policies and environmental interventions address mediating factors, such as disparities in access to fresh food, that contribute to ill health in marginalized, rural, populations. Rural residents are at greater risk for obesity than their urban counterparts (Jackson, Doescher, Jerant, & Hart, 2006; Story, Kaphingst, Robinson O'Brien, & Glanz, 2008). And while human life expectancy has steadily increased over the past thousand years, current projections indicate that the rise in obesity-related illnesses will soon result in its decline (Olshansky, et al., 2005). One reason for this decline, may be the reduced availability of healthy food – an important predictor of positive health outcomes including reduced obesity and chronic disease - in many parts of the United States (Brownson, Haire-Joshu, & Luke, 2006; Ahen, Brown, & Dukas, 2011; Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014; Braveman, Egerter, & Williams, 2011). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food deserts as geographic areas in which there is limited access to grocery stores and whose populations have a high rate of poverty. In Arizona, 24% of the rural census tracts are considered food deserts; compared to an average of eight percent of rural census tracts across the nation (United States Department of Agriculture, 2013). Food deserts are one example of the upstream factors influencing the health of rural populations. Local health departments have been encouraged through the National Association for City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) and through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) to conduct community health assessments (CHAs) in order to identify unique contexts and community resources, health disparities, and the social determinants of health as well as potential areas for advocacy, policy change, environmental interventions, and health promotion interventions. Public health challenges like chronic diseases, which have multiple causes, can be explored in-depth through CHAs. CHAs often contain recommendations for action and/or are followed by community health improvement plans (CHIPs) which help local health departments prioritize resources and set measurable goals. In Florence, AZ recommendations made in a CHA are being acted upon by a non-profit agency, the Future Forward Foundation (3F). This investigation explores two interrelated issues regarding the use of CHAs and CHIPs as practical tools to set public health priorities. First, what makes a CHA useful to rural public health practitioners? What methods of conducting a CHA and subsequently analyzing the data results in actionable policy recommendations and/or environmental level interventions? Second, to what extent can public health agencies engage nontraditional partners to work in partnership to address the social determinants of health? As an example, I will look at the impact of a volunteer-based non-profit agency, located in a rural food desert on improving the social and physical nutrition environment as recommended by a local CHA. This inquiry will provide insights to public health practitioners seeking to identify and implement policy and environmental change addressing complex, multi-causal, public health issues, and provide insights regarding engaging nontraditional partners who may not self-identify as public health agencies.

In the territory of the Gwich’in First Nation, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, environmental, sociocultural, and economic changes are affecting relationships between communities and the land and water. In this thesis, I used two research projects to explore the impacts of social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory by examining cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish and well-being. In the first part of my MA, I used spatial overlay analysis to quantify and map: 1) cultural feature intensity, 2) cumulative environmental disturbance, and 3) overlap between disturbances and cultural features. I also interviewed four regional cultural heritage experts, who contributed critical insights into representing Gwich’in cultural features. The first two analyses indicated that overlay methods can facilitate understandings of land use and cumulative impacts, illustrating Gwich’in territory as a cultural landscape encompassing widespread, dense cultural features and diffuse, lower intensity cumulative environmental impacts. The third analysis showed that overlaying cultural feature and disturbance data is a novel, straightforward step to better incorporating cultural impacts in cumulative impact assessments. Many of the changes I mapped are affecting fishing practices central to Gwich’in livelihoods. To better understand these changes, in the second part of my MA I explored the relationship between drivers of access to fish and well-being amidst social-ecological change, by interviewing 29 Gwich’in individuals. My interviews showed that socioeconomic and environmental barriers have decreased access to fish. However, access to fish remains critical and related to well-being, driven by various socioeconomic factors. Many of these factors are reflected in sharing networks and adaptive practices that are encompassed in ecological monitoring and land-based education. These factors may strengthen Gwich’in fishing livelihoods, and highlight the importance of programs like the Rat River Char Monitoring program, and land-based education like the Ganahghootr’onatan – Teetł’it Land Based Learning Project. / Graduate

Circular economy has emerged as a new economic paradigm to solve problems of natural resource scarcity and environmental pollution by using resources more efficiently and designing products to minimize waste. This study examines the potential of circular economy to enable the achievement of sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals in Europe. This thesis, through a qualitative content analysis of four overarching European reports related to circular economy strategies, uses a social-ecological systems perspective to: (a) analyze how the three aspects of sustainable development are addressed in the reports and (b) pointing out at missing elements in the European circular economy project that could hinder the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. Circular economy is a good start to change habits in terms of recycling, reusing and repairing but it also raises awareness about the link between our level of consumption and production and its impact on the environment. However, the results of this study show that the link between Sustainable Development Goals and circular economy is weak and that the economic aspects are highlighted in all the reports to the detriment of environmental and social aspects. As a consequence, the current application of circular economy in Europe does not provide systemic and structural changes, fails to address the root of the problem and reflects a weak vision of sustainability.