Author: Adrienne Goudy
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Fighting Food Waste With Portion Sizes
Problem Statement: The US wastes nearly 40% of our food, creating 125-160 billion pounds of waste annually, leading to high emission rates, resource depletion, and food insecurity. Research Question: What are the most effective waste mitigation and management strategies in the restaurant industry that could be utilized to produce a more sustainable environment? A survey…
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Sustainable Residential Microgrid with Permaculture – A Building Block in Sustainable Communities of the Future
Established initially as a research station by the Bucknell University Sustainable Energy Research Team (BUSERT), the microgrid was created to demonstrate off-grid operation of a residential home using the power systems of a PV Array and natural gas generator to supplement typical grid power. Over the past six years the microgrid site has evolved to…
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CLIMATE ACTION PLANNING FOR THE CITY OF SHAMOKIN
In response to climate change, many local governments are supporting state and federal greenhouse gas(GHG) reduction targets with the development of their own plans for climate mitigation and adaptation to build their own resiliency. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has developed a program with ICLEI to aid local governments in this effort. For…
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Homelessness Research and Awareness Project
The Homelessness Research and Awareness Project seeks to address the rising issue of homelessness within Shamokin, PA. This project is being completed at the request of The Faith Alliance for Revitalization, a coalition of nonprofits, businesses, volunteers, and government in the Shamokin area. The goal of the research project is to better understand the problem…
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Effect of Nitrates on Algae Bloom Formation
One of the largest threats to aquatic ecosystems are harmful algae blooms (HABs) which are caused by excess levels of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. Agricultural runoff is a relevant issue in North East Pennsylvania (NEPA) and a leading source of phosphorus and nitrogen into waterbodies. Excess of nitrates in soils that are not…
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The Influence of the Transport of PM 2.5 and Ozone on Lancaster County Air Quality
The collateral impact of emissions present in the atmosphere is exacerbated by the increased in ambient air temperatures. Utilizing the Environmental Protection Agency ‘s (EPA) outdoor air quality data from AirNow, we focus on the pollutants ozone and PM2.5 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This study is focused on days that recorded daily ozone and PM2.5 Air…
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Nature’s Unifying Patterns: Sustainable Biomimicry
In fall 2020, I added a sustainability component to my elective course, BMEG 431: Biomimetic Materials. The Biomimicry Institute (biomimicry.org) defines biomimicry as “the practice of looking to nature for inspiration to solve design problems in a regenerative way.” The implication is that it is not enough to look to nature for design solutions to…
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A Cross-disciplinary Analysis of Sustainability and Business Performance: Finding New Metrics
At the intersection of the operations management and financial reporting literature, the importance of impact measurement of activities towards operational excellence has long been recognized. Of specific interest are effects on financial performance of continuous improvement frameworks that target quality (e.g. Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, ISO9000, Corbett et al., 2005, Chatzoglou et al.,…
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Montgomery County Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Climate Action Plan
In response to climate change and global warming altering the environment, local governments are responding by seeking to create plans to combat the changes. This independent study with the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment involves working with Montgomery County Consortium of Communities (MCCC) to create their Greenhouse Gas Inventory and an accompanying Local…
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Democracy Defeated Discursively: Andrew Wheeler and the Deregulation of the Fossil Fuel Industry
With over 70% of the U.S. population believing that climate change is a serious problem that merits immediate confrontation, it is both surprising and a serious ecological threat that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) furthered over 50 deregulatory actions during the Trump Presidency. While previous research has mostly focused on large economic models and social…