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Plastic pollution and its impact on water-reliant avifauna is a global, pervasive issue. We evaluated necropsy data of Gavia immer (Common Loon) from freshwater and marine environments in the northeastern US from 2011 to 2022, and found 16.2% (106/654) had ingested plastic items (macroplastics). We examined Common Loons stranded from 2020 to 2022, quantified macroscopic plastic items in detail, and processed the ingesta for suspected microplastics. We found macroplastics in 20.7% (11/53) and suspected microplastic particles, predominately clear fibers, in 100% (37/37) of the Common Loons. While we found no evidence that sex, mass, or geography correlated with microplastic load, both macroplastics and suspected microplastics were widespread and prevalent in Common Loon ingesta in the northeastern US. © 2025 Humboldt Field Research Institute. All rights reserved.

Climate change analyses and subsequent communications largely focus on the global and continental spatial scales while most individuals experience climate change at the state and local scales. The aggregation of local weather data into broader spatial scales causes local trends to be lost or poorly represented. This study examines climate trends for the New England region of the United States from 1940 to 2019 at the local scale to determine how they match or differ from the trends described for the region from studies at broader spatial scales. An observed increase in precipitation and average minimum temperature matches previous studies when aggregated for the New England region, but mask local variation of the variables. The increase in precipitation is greatest in upland areas and some local areas have not observed increased precipitation. Average minimum temperature has broadly increased in the region, but not universally, and average temperature and maximum temperature show weaker increasing trends along with local variation. The variation of climate trends at the local scale highlights the need for clear communication of climate change that emphasizes the spatial scale of specific statements and the acknowledgment of different observed experiences at different scales.

First published in 1990, Neptune’s Domain is organized around one unifying theme: the geographic aspects of the new Law of the Sea as expressed primarily in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The first two chapters provide essential background information. Chapters 3 through 9 explain relevant provisions of the Convention. The next two chapters cover topics excluded from the Convention, and the last three chapters are more analytical and future-oriented. All students and scholars concerned with the human use of the marine environment will welcome this book, whether they be geographers, political scientists or lawyers. © Martin Ira Glassner 1990. All rights reserved.

The vulnerability of the global economy has been starkly exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Longer term thinking and new approaches to development and prosperity are urgently required. In this paper, we forward a series of principles on which economic and development policy for the post-COVID era should be developed. These are outlined as five ‘pillars’ from which to rebuild the global economy, based on principles of a shared sustainable prosperity. These pillars are: (I) an ecological prosperity; (II) a decarbonized economy; (III) a shared cost burden; (IV) a governance new deal; (V) a just resilience. In outlining the ‘5 pillars’ we explicitly recognize that sustainability cannot simply be a ‘green’, or environmental concern. Social and economic dimensions of sustainability are key for societal stability and continuity. This is made ever starker in the context of the fundamental economic and societal restructuring forced by the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, the pillars represent a triple bottom line framing of sustainability, of mutually supportive domains of economic, social and environmental well-being. The five pillars are informed by principles of distributive and procedural justice, recognizing the importance and advantages of real community engagement and empowerment and giving due respect and deference to the ecological carrying capacity of our fragile planet. We argue that the post-COVID-19 re-build represents a once-in-a generation opportunity to markedly shift developed trajectories to more sustainable pathways, to rebalance the domains of sustainability, and in the process, to address longer-term crises including those of climate and biodiversity loss.

This chapter introduces the 5 ‘pillars’ through which to (re-)build a shared sustainable prosperity. The five pillars aim to provide a framework through which policymakers, decision-makers, politicians, community groups and the corporate sphere might begin to consider, map out and plan for just transitions in their domains. The theoretical framing combines socio-technical transitions, social justice and just transitions perspectives; the novelty of our proposed approach here is the further inclusion of resilience perspectives, to account for the shifting relations between sustainability and resilience. Our understanding of sustainability aligns with a ‘strong sustainability’ perspective, whereby ecological limits represent ‘hard’ limits to development, limits which need to be acknowledged and respected.

COVID-19 has extensively reshaped lifestyle practices, supply chain dynamics, and climate mitigation efforts. The resulting crises from the pandemic in relation to local and community sustainability practices have not yet been investigated in depth. There is a need to explore the individual characteristics and responses from rapid transitions of lifestyles at various scales. Analysing how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped and altered sustainable living practices, and the motivations supporting them, has yet to be determined but is crucial to gain further insight to improve management responses to large-scale disruptive change. Presenting empirical findings from semi-structured interviews in New Haven County, Connecticut, this study elucidates the ways in which the lifestyles have been altered and how they responded while specifically highlighting the consequences for behavioural routines and sustainable lifestyle practices. As a result of lockdowns and pandemic mitigation responses, individual sustainability engagement fluctuated with participants shifting dietary, mobility, and energy and food consumption patterns. Specifically, participants emphasised substantial decrease in daily travel during initial phases of the pandemic alongside increased online shopping and energy use at home. Though changes to consumption practices were replaced former habits with unsustainable ones, individuals also noted how they co-opted the pandemic over time to pursue sustainable actions at home. As a macro-level ‘window of opportunity’ and disruptive change, this study illustrates how sustainable lifestyle practices were reshaped; some by choice, some by force, and some reflecting a forced choice. These findings have clear implications for the stability of maintaining sustainable practices influenced by landscape-level shocks.

"Coastal zones represent a frontline in the battle for sustainability, as coastal communities face unprecedented economic challenges. Coastal ecosystems are subject to overuse, loss of resilience and increased vulnerability. This book aims to interrogate the multi-scalar complexities in creating a more sustainable coastal zone. Sustainability transitions are geographical processes, which happen in situated, particular places. However, much contemporary discussion of transition is either aspatial or based on implicit assumptions about spatial homogeneity. This book addresses these limitations through an examination of socio-technological transitions with an explicitly spatial focus in the context of the coastal zone. The book begins by focusing on theoretical understandings of transition processes specific to the coastal zone and includes detailed empirical case studies. The second half of the book appraises governance initiatives in coastal zones and their efficacy. The authors conclude with an implicit theme of social and environmental justice in coastal sustainability transitions. Research will be of interest to practitioners, academics and decision-makers active in the sphere of coastal sustainability. The multi-disciplinary nature encourages accessibility for individuals working in the fields of Economic Geography, Regional Development, Public Policy and Planning, Environmental Studies, Social Geography and Sociology" -- Provided by publisher's website.

The proposed research project focused on analyzing food system resilience in a small town in eastern Iceland from the perspective of environmental economic geography. In addition to the stated project Heidkamp initiated "a new research project focused on the uniqueness of Nordic Environments, Nordic Spaces and Nordic Places." The sabbatical study yielded panelist and lecturer invitations and conference papers and presentations.

The purpose of the project was to travel to Paraguay to explore the history of geography as a science in that country, including identifying the foremost geographers who helped introduce and establish geography as a science in that country. No such study on the history of geography in Paraguay had been previously undertaken anywhere. Further research will be needed, but the collected material is ample for at least two article-length publications.

Contains brief memoirs, some of which describe experiences in the Holocaust. Includes commentary by psychologist and child survivor Robert Krell. Partial contents: