ES 494: Problems in Environmental Science

Changing Water Quality in Great Pond

As part of a capstone course, a portion of seniors in Colby’s Environmental Studies Program create an annual report on the ecology of a segment of the Belgrade Lakes system. Past studies have focused on individual lakes within the system; this year, students concentrated their studies on nutrient cycling in Great Pond.

The students presented their findings at a public presentation on December 6, 2012 at the Maine Lakes Resource Center in Belgrade. A copy of the report will be available soon. 

 

ES 493: Environmental Policy Practicum, Domestic Emphasis

The State of Maine's Environment
The State of Maine’s Environment 2012 report examines four topics of importance to Maine: Large Landscape Conservation, Energy Infrastructure, Industrial Hazardous Waste, and Certification Schemes. For each issue, we explore the history and current state of the topic, the laws and regulations which directly influence it, the stakeholders involved involved in the area, and future scenarios and implications of our findings. We conclude each chapter with recommendations based on our analyses.

To download the completed hard copy of the report (as pdf) see: State of Maine’s  Environment 2012

To learn more about the authors, see our bios on the About Us page.

 

ES 493: Environmental Policy Practicum, International Emphasis
Development Strategies and Environmental Policy in East Africa
Environmental Policy Update 2012: Development Strategies and Environmental Policy in East Africa is the second in a series of reports written by the Colby Environmental Policy Group, a group of senior environmental policy majors at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.  This is the second East Africa Update report created by students enrolled in ES 493: Environmental Policy Practicum, taught by Assistant Professor Travis Reynolds. Reports from previous years focused on the state of Maine’s environment, and can be viewed on the State of Maine’s Environment page.

The 2012 report examines seven topics of importance to Ethiopia: Philanthropy, Floriculture, Agriculture, Land-Use Management, Small Business Models, Waste Management, and Massive Hydropower.  For each issue, we explore the history of the topic, laws and institutions, stakeholders, the current state of the topic, and the implications of our findings that we relate to the future state of the topic.  We conclude each chapter with policy recommendations based on our analyses. To learn more about the authors see short biographies on the About Us page.

To view a summary of the Environmental Policy Update 2012 report, see the Executive Summary. To download a complete pdf of the entire Environmental Policy Update 2012 report (26.5 MB) click here. To view and download individual chapters of the reports on-line, visit the Key Issues in Ethiopia 2012 page. To view powerpoint presentations summarizing the each individual chapter of the report, see the Student Presentations.

Atlas of Maine student discussing poster with Prof. Russ Cole.

ES 212: Atlas of Maine

The Atlas of Maine 2011 was developed by students in ES212: Introduction to GIS and Remote Sensing. This course is a comprehensive theoretical and practical introduction to the fundamental principles of geographic information systems and remote sensing digital image processing taught by Philip Nyhus, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Colby College. For acknowledgements click here.

The Atlas of Maine was the first of two projects completed by the students. The Atlas emphasized "visual GIS." The goal of this project was to develop a series of visually striking maps illustrating Maine's unique natural and human resources. Full-scale posters were developed and presented at the annual Colby Undergraduate Research Symposium.

For their second project, the students completed independent projects that emphasized "analytical GIS." To see the student's GIS research projects, click here.

For additional information about GIS resources at Colby College, click here.