This semester I will be working on a two credit Independent Study. My primary goal with this study is to help transition my ENVS concentration into a thesis through applying resiliency to nuclear power. My goal is to build my understanding of nuclear power as an environmental issue and develop frameworks to understand it. In order for this study to be applicable to my thesis, I will end the semester with four tangible products:
- I will read 15 sources related to my topic and create an annotated bibliography.
- Each week I will post at least once documenting my thoughts, readings, connections to classes, outside sources, etc.
- I will teach one class period at the end of the semester in my ENVS 311 Unnatural Disasters class with Liz Safran about nuclear power and its role as a potential technological disaster.
- I will also create a research plan for thesis regarding components such as data sources and framework methodology, which will culminate in a DS post or page outlining the plan.
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The path to understanding nuclear power through independent study
This semester has been a new experience for me, working one-on-one with a professor about a subject that I have been so interested in, nuclear power. I began the semester with very straightforward background research on the nuclear power industry, including how the power is produced, what types of plants are there and what are […]
Critiquing Resilience: perhaps too many facets?
While creating my thesis outline and annotated bibliography for this independent study, it became clear that in order to effectively use resilience as a framework for my research, I would need to better interrogate the concept. Throughout the collection of key literature, authors tended to use similar definitions, yet expanded them in different ways. Cutter […]
Updated Thesis Outline
Framing: To what extent can communities be resilient to nuclear power disasters? Focus: What pre-, during, and post-event systems, decisions, and realities helped or hindered Fukushima prefecture’s resilience profile in response to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown? Background Disaster Resilience Social and ecological connected (Adger 2000) Site-specific – coastal (Cutter et. al. 2008) […]
Annotated Bibliography
Articles with asterisks are foundational resources. * Adger, W. Neil. 2000. “Social and Ecological Resilience: Are They Related?” Progress in Human Geography 24 (3): 347–64. In this article, Adger examines how social and ecological resilience interact with one another. Adger defines the resilience of an ecological system as “the functioning of the system, rather […]
Reflections on ENVS 311 (Un)Natural Disasters
I am glad that I took the (Un)natural Disasters course alongside both my nuclear power independent study and my ENVS 330 core course, Situating Environmental Problems and Solutions. This trio of classes was an excellent combination for the spring of my junior year, as I begin to prep for thesis. The goal of my independent […]