Secondhand or Second-Class? Environmental Injustice in Global Textile Waste Trade

This paper addresses the issue of textile waste dumping, specifically how secondhand clothing exports from the Global North create environmental, social, and public health burdens in the Global South. The study focuses on case studies in Chile’s Atacama Desert, where shipments of used clothing overwhelm local waste infrastructures and worsen patterns of environmental injustice. Chapter 1 describes the global flows of textile waste, including trade volumes, landfill accumulation, and the impacts of discarded clothing on ecosystem services such as clean water, fertile soils, and breathable air, alongside health risks from microplastic pollution, toxic runoff, and respiratory hazards from textile fires. This data provides a baseline understanding of how the fashion industry’s waste is displaced across borders and disproportionately placed onto vulnerable communities. Chapter 2 explores the environmental history of textile waste, tracing the journey of post-consumer clothing from charitable donations to a transnational waste stream. This historical view situates the current crisis within the broader direction of industrial fashion, globalization, and resource exploitation. Chapter 3 examines the environmental economics of the issue, analyzing the costs and benefits of the secondhand clothing trade, its effects on local economies in the Global South, and the market incentives that sustain overproduction and overconsumption in the Global North. Chapter 4 investigates the environmental politics and law shaping textile waste management, including international trade policies and the absence of extended producer responsibility regulations. Finally, Chapter 5 combines the findings into a set of policy recommendations. These include strengthening extended producer responsibility, regulating transnational textile trade, and supporting local waste management capacity in receiving countries to reduce the injustices in global fashion waste

Student.Alpha.House_Scan5

A student enters Alpha House.https://research.library.fordham.edu/honorsprogram_fcrh_75/1004/thumbnail.jp

First.8.Members_Scan25

The inscription of the first eight members of the Honors Program included a ceremonial presentation of the Golden Alphas, given to graduating seniors upon their completion of the program’s requirements.https://research.library.fordham.edu/honorsprogram_fcrh_75/1024/thumbnail.jp

A Restoration by Mangroves: Marilao and Pasig River Plan for Restoration

This paper discusses the restoration of the Pasig Rivers of the Philippines using the wondrous magic of mangrove trees to bring back various aquatic, flora, and bird species. The Pasig River was once the Philippines’ most beautiful river, spanning the entire Metro Manila, with different floral species blooming, teeming marine life, and being a significant transportation route. However, throughout the years, urbanization has caused the state of the river to decline drastically. Improper waste segregation, disposal, and improper river maintenance have given it the title “Manila’s toilet.” This is why it is essential to restore the river to its status as “The Venice Grand Canal of the East.”  Chapter one discusses the grave pollution collection of waste in the Pasig River, ecological services, and what caused the river’s dire state. Chapter two talks about the historical and cultural significance of the Pasig River, from the time before colonization, Spanish and American colonization, and the current state. Chapter three delves into using mangrove trees as natural solutions for the Pasig River through Conservation Biology to filter the water and natural flood barriers and provide habitats for various species. Chapter four discusses the beneficial changes to the economy, local communities, and business as a political player, geared towards my capstone project for sustainable business. Including the politics and policies of the Pasig river, like how government departments handle the river’s well-being, existing policies, and what policies need to be changed and improved. Finally, chapter five talks about my rehabilitation plan, including industry players, policies to be implemented, costs, economic impact, and a sketch of how the river is to look like when finished

Isolated by Design: An Analysis of the Texas Energy Grid

This paper examines how climate change impacts Texas’s energy grid and identifies strategies for building grid resilience by focusing on renewable energy solutions and the inclusion of marginalized groups in decision-making processes. Understanding the conditions that led to the 2021 energy crisis and how they continue to impact Texas residents is critical in advocating for policy reform and climate adaptation. Therefore, the paper begins with the grid’s failure during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 to demonstrate how the crisis resulted from extreme weather, market design, policy choices, and inadequate infrastructure. Chapter One analyzes the environmental impact of generating electricity using fossil fuels to meet energy demand, especially demand produced in dense urban areas across Texas. The chapter also highlights how nonrenewable energy contributes to the cycle of climate change and degrades ecosystem services. Chapter Two explores how the grid’s failures disproportionately impact low-income and marginalized populations, exacerbating existing social inequalities. Chapter Three investigates the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’s (ERCOT) energy-only market model that prioritizes low costs over long-term reliability and resiliency. Furthermore, the chapter compares the market structure to the interconnected systems of the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) Interconnection, which provides greater stability. Chapter Four considers existing energy policies in Texas and how natural gas companies shape them. Finally, Chapter Five advocates for investments in distributed energy resources and urban planning strategies through policy reform that prioritizes energy security for all Texans

A System That Runs on Beef: The Effects of Modern Cattle Farming on the Environment

Abstract This paper discusses the economic, ethical, and environmental impacts of modern cattle ranching in the United States, as well as e4orts taken to mitigate environmental damage as a result of agriculture. With the world population on the rise, and society becoming more disconnected from their food than ever, is important to understand the history of how modern-day agriculture came to be as it is, and how we can combat some of the unique challenges it poses. Chapter 1 covers the current problems in modern day cattle farming, as well as the ecology of cattle, both behavioral and biological, and how these things shape the cattle industry. Chapter 2 focuses on the history of cattle farming, explaining the steps taken from the domestication of cattle to the rotational agricultural model, to modern day factory farming. Chapter 3 discusses the economics of both rotational and factory farming. It explains how exactly people in the agricultural and ranching businesses make money, the economic challenges that climate change poses to these businesses, and how we can balance the need to make profit and sell food, and the need to protect our environment. Chapter 4 delves into the politics of cattle farming, and how legislation about cattle is discussed and passed in the United States of America. It discusses how these policies shape the industry, and the problems that they caused. Finally, chapter 5 concludes the paper by synthesizing the important information from each chapter and presenting my own ideas on what e4ective policy changes could look like to solve the problems in the meat industry without having to completely shut down cattle ranching as a business. Keywords: Methanogenesis, Net-Zero Emissions, Rotational Farming, Factory Farming, Rumen Microbiom

Academic.Structure_Scan27

The brochure outlines the program’s previous academic structure, which was notably different from today. Instead of a four-year program, students applied to the program at the end of their sophomore years and joined the Honors program for their junior and senior years.https://research.library.fordham.edu/honorsprogram_fcrh_75/1026/thumbnail.jp

Alpha.Interview_Scan2

Interviews were historically a requirement for entry into the Honors Program. Here a student in Alpha House answers questions from Honors professors to determine his acceptance into the program, in an interview taking place in Alpha House.https://research.library.fordham.edu/honorsprogram_fcrh_75/1001/thumbnail.jp