Jesse L. Sherry

Plastic consumption and disposal has detrimental effects on the natural environment and human health, yet demand for plastic continues to rise. College students remain an important, yet understudied, group that has the potential to drastically alter plastic consumption now and in the future. The present study is part of a larger project focusing on reducing single use plastic among college students and communities in two coastal locations - Eckerd College in St. Petersburg and the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville - using behavioral theory and a custom plastic reduction challenge app. The purpose of this pilot study is to test the behavioral survey and app that will be used in the larger study. A pilot sample of 47 UNF students (78.7 % women), ranging from 18-38 years old, vohmteered to participate in the pilot in exchange for extra credit in their courses. Participants used an app to record their use and refusals of plastic items during a week-long challenge to reduce plastic consumption. After the Plastic Challenge App, they completed an online survey assessing plastic use behavior and intentions, subjective norms (perceptions that others want them to reduce plastic), attitudes (evaluations of plastic use), and perceived behavioral control (beliefs that they can control their plastic use) based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Participants reported the highest levels of refusal for plastic bags and highest levels of use for plastic bottles. Additionally, the plastic use reports from the app correlated strongly with the self-reported plastic use from the survey providing evidence of convergent validity for the app. The results of an exploratory regression indicated that the TPB model was significant in predicting plastic use intentions, F[3,43] = 4.14, p = .012. Though underpowered, this study provides initial evidence that subjective norms significantly affected participant's intentions toward single-use plastics. As expected, the TPB model predicted single use plastic behavior intentions and recordings of plastic use in the app related to responses to the survey. This lends support for the validity of the behavioral survey and fit for the behavioral model. Further analyses on larger samples will further test the effect of the app on TPB constructs and plastic use behavior by randomly assigning participants to use the app to track plastic consumption or to a control condition and comparing their survey results.

Coastal communities benefit from a diverse array of ecosystem services derived from spatial proximity to common property resources. We hypothesize that property market’s accrual of benefits from ecosystems are predictated not only on the configuration of the built environment that conveys exposure to amenities, but also the legal context that dictates users’ rights to ecological goods and services. This study explores homeowners’ preferences for proximity and access to public trust resources in Pinellas County, Florida. In addition to benefits tied to proximity to public trust resources, we also show that public access by visitors to the coast can lead to negative externalities when it is associated with high intensity use

Purpose This study aims to use life cycle assessment to determine the environmental impact of food purchases at a small, liberal arts college. The authors also use the results to develop a simple decision-making tool for college and university dining services administrators, attempting to make their food purchases more sustainable. Design/methodology/approach Life cycle assessment was used to analyze the global warming potential (GWP) of all food products purchased at a college cafe during a four-month study period. Findings The authors found the top ten highest impact products accounted for 40% of orders by weight, but 80% of the GWP. In particular, beef and cheese exhibited the highest GWP/kg. These findings highlight the importance of considering the carbon intensity of food products when making purchasing decisions. The authors also examined the carbon intensity and cost of common meal options and developed a carbon intensity comparison heuristic that can assist in making food purchasing decisions with the goal of lowering the GWP of food purchases. Practical implications The results of this study show that life cycle assessment is a useful tool for university food service operations seeking to reduce environmental impact. The carbon intensity food comparison heuristic based upon this data serves as a helpful decision-making tool in guiding food service to reduce GWP. Originality/value While life cycle assessment has typically been used to analyze individual food products, this study demonstrates its use as a decision-making tool to guide purchasing decisions across an entire array of food purchases.

Salmon aquaculture has grown rapidly and is expected to continue to grow to meet consumer demand. Due to concerns about the environmental impacts associated with salmon aquaculture, eco-labeling groups have developed standards intended to hold salmon producers accountable and provide a more sustainable option to consumers. This study utilized life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts of salmon raised to Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification standards in order to determine if ASC certification achieves the intended reductions in impact. We find that environmental impacts, such as global warming potential, do not decrease with certification. We also find that salmon feed, in contrast to the on-site aquaculture practices, dominates the environmental impacts of salmon aquaculture and contributes to over 80% of impacts in ozone depletion, global warming potential, acidification, and ecotoxicity. Based on these findings, we recommend that eco-labeling groups prioritize reducing the environmental impacts of the feed supply chain.

This study uses life cycle assessment (LCA) to develop a comprehensive model of the environmental impacts of residents of three ecovillages (Sirius Community, Earthaven, and Ecovillage at Ithaca) across four areas of activity: home energy use, transportation energy use, food consumption, and waste disposal. In addition, a model of the average U.S. resident was developed to provide a basis for comparison. Using models for residents of each ecovillage and the average U.S. resident allows the investigation of the impacts of different practices at each ecovillage while also demonstrating that ecovillage residents have substantially lower environmental impacts than the average U.S. resident. The combination of the comprehensive results provided by the LCA and the examination of multiple ecovillages provides a rich understanding of the impacts of these communities and their potential as models for the development of more sustainable communities. [Display omitted] •LCA is applied to the residents of three ecovillages to measure their environmental impact.•Ecovillages achieve large (47–80%) reductions compared to the average U.S. resident.•These reductions suggest community initiatives can effectively reduce impacts.

  [...]ecovillages embody the land ethic espoused by Aldo Leopold, which "enlarges the boundaries of community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. Consensus, however, tends to result in decisions that the community can support over the long term. Because consensus decisions must be supported by nearly all community members, decisions that only benefit a few or have only short-term benefits are rarely selected.

Ecovillages are small, intentional communities which focus on reducing environmental impact while creating a community that incorporates the natural world. Despite varying approaches, each ecovillage attempts to create a community that integrates the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability. This study investigates several of these communities to better understand two key questions: 1) to what extent do ecovillage residents have a lower environmental impact than residents of nearby communities and the national average? and 2) how is the reduction in environmental impact achieved? These questions are addressed through the use of life cycle assessment and qualitative case studies of three sites, specifically one suburban and two rural ecovillages. Comparisons with nearby communities and the national average are made, and the results show that the case study ecovillages have a much lower per capita environmental impact. My research suggests that this is achieved through a combination of physical (village building and planning) and behavioral adaptations supported by community ideals and norms.