Increasing Groundwater Recharge Activity in the San Joaquin Valley of California

Over the past several decades, groundwater has become a primary source of water used for agriculture in California. Surface water available for agricultural use has depleted due to declining rain totals and reallocation to environmental purposes. As a result, groundwater overdraft has become a severe challenge, especially in the San Joaquin Valley of California. This excessive overdraft causes a plethora of issues, one of the most serious being land subsidence (Faunt, Sneed, Traum, & Brandt, 2016). Studies suggest some areas of the San Joaquin Valley have experienced more than a 28-foot drop in the land level since the 1970’s (Alley & Alley, 2017). This is both an environmental issue and one of economics considering land subsidence is estimated to have caused in excess of $1.3 billion dollars (in terms of 2013 dollars) in damages between 1955-1972 alone (Borchers, Carpenter, Grabert, Dalgish, & Cannon, 2014). This large economic toll has grown so large that today it is difficult for economists to estimate. To correct the detrimental course that California’s water management system is on, regulations pertaining to and the monitoring of, groundwater pumping have begun to be implemented. One of these recent programs is the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) policy of 2014 which will affect California as a whole but, will put major focus on the San Joaquin Valley (Thomas, 2019). Though it is important to regulate groundwater pumping, more effort needs to be put into groundwater recharge, the process by which water is returned to the aquifers. As aquifers have water pumped out of them, there is limited time for the water to be recharged back in before the aquifers are compacted, and the space is lost forever (Alley & Alley, 2017). California needs to immediately take advantage of this time and use excess surface water, especially in the cold wet months and “wet years”, to recharge the aquifers. This, however, is a costly and unregulated endeavor for agriculturists. The author’s research will focus on the development of recharge credit programs that have begun attracting attention in recent years. This information will be combined with testimony straight from the industry in order to develop a detailed look into the economic, environmental, and agricultural benefits of these recharge credit programs, in the hopes of increasing their use and answer the question, ‘Why should I invest in recharge?

The Confessing Church

In the wake of the rise of Hitler’s National Socialist state a church struggle took over Germany. The “German Christians,” placed by Hitler, under the leadership of Ludwig Muller, fought to blend Christianity with nationalism and political oppression. Muller and the German Christians followed an ideology of Aryan superiority and taught that the Jewish people were sub- human. During the confusion throughout the Protestant church, theologians, pastors, and professors rose up based on their own theology to combat the German Christians. This movement was called the “Confessing Church” and at its peak consisted of about 3000 members. Though the German Christians brought opposition that consisted of political oppression and mass arrests, the Confessing Church fought to teach the Germans that Christ loves the Jewish people and that his word has taught that since before Luther and Hitler

Impact of Coaching by Extension Professionals on Rural Wellness Coalition Success

Objective: To quantitatively assess coaches perceived confidence in coaching rural wellness coalitions and to qualitatively determine barriers and facilitators to success in coaching rural wellness coalitions. Design: A mixed methods design was utilized with quantitative (scorecard) and qualitative (key informant interviews) methodologies. Setting: Six rural South Dakota wellness coalitions. Participants: Extension wellness coalition coaches (n=7), one previous and six current. Intervention: A component of the broader SDSU Extension 1416 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) intervention. Analysis: STATA was utilized for the quantitative scorecard data by running paired ttests. NVivo was utilized in the analysis of the qualitative key informant interview data by coding transcript to themes and then using a query matrix. Results: Perceived confidence scores of coaches were found to be significantly different at post-intervention compared to pre-intervention (13.6 (8.6) vs 19.7 (9.3), P=0.02). Key facilitators for the Extension Coaches included: perception of coach role, Extension resources, community members, wellness coalition policy, systems, and environmental changes, and community champion community involvement and availability. One key barrier was lack of training when starting. Conclusions and Implications: Extension coaches can expect confidence in their coaching abilities to increase over time. This includes being better equipped to handle barriers and an understanding of facilitators to aid in coalition success. Future research should examine additional training for Extension coaches, particularly prior to facilitating wellness coalitions

Rosy cheeks: a creative exploration of theatre for young audiences and drug education

The failure of abstinence-only reformation programs regarding drug use (e.g., D.A.R.E.) points to a concrete need for effective and codified risk-taking behavior education. While many school districts have turned to “pop-up” programs such as the Red Ribbon Campaign, these systems have become highly mechanized to make up for the abstinence-only approach that D.A.R.E. left. In my experience as an avid theatre fan, I’ve found that conversations had through the art of theatre have a significant impact on perception and risk management processes while still providing an entertaining and emotional experience. This is especially true within the domain of Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA), in which younger and younger students are exposed to stories that inform them about real-world experiences, such as grief management (Harris’ The Arkansaw Bear) and even the AIDS epidemic (Saar’s The Yellow Boat). It is with this in mind that I started the process of analyzing the relationship and responsibility theatre artists must encourage through conversations surrounding real-world experiences and expectations. Starting in January during my student teaching practicum, I worked with my students to conduct discussion-focused lessons surrounding perspectives on recreational drug use and its presence in the lives of young people today. I took this knowledge and crafted a TYA piece with my students loosely inspired by these perspectives. I have found that creating dramatic art with youth in mind has shown the enduring strength of arts engagement in the classroom, and how real-world experiences can be explored and examined through the lens of art.Thesis (B.?)Honors Colleg

Celebrity Sentence

Hey! I’m Payton, and I am a third-year Creative Writing Major with a minor in Theatre that might soon become a minor in Anthropology. I love realistic fiction and fantasy but have become more interested in writing poetry over the last few semesters. I am also on the mock trial team and enjoy yoga, hanging with my puppy carmen, and cooking/baking

Preaching With Relevance: Without Dumbing Down

Clear communication of the relevance of the biblical text to contemporary culture is the responsibility of the pastor. Keith Willhite offers strategies for exegetically solid and culturally apt sermon preparation.https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/alum_books/1222/thumbnail.jp