Consilience

Rethinking the Impact of Large-Scale Tree-Planting on Soil Quality for the Chronically Poor

Aidan Beyer — 2026-07-17

This paper examines how large-scale tree-planting strategies shape soil quality (SQ) and how SQ, in turn, affects the world’s poorest communities. While afforestation and large-scale tree-planting efforts have been promoted as low-cost, climate-friendly solutions, their implications for SQ are complex and yield mixed results since SQ characteristics are largely context-specific. Nature-based solutions are only effective if they work for the people who live with them every day. However, when large-scale tree-planting degrades SQ and local livelihoods, these efforts fail to be “solutions” and instead widen the poverty gap. Using a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed empirical studies, this paper builds on previous unpublished research demonstrating that tree planting yields context-dependent soil quality outcomes and examines how poor soils create and perpetuate poverty traps. The paper then evaluates inorganic fertilization as a potential intervention but finds that, despite its effectiveness, cost barriers make it unaffordable for the communities that need it most. In response, this research identifies improved tree fallows, as well as the invasive species and hybrid fruit-bearing variants, as promising alternatives for soil restoration. In addition, these approaches require minimal cash investment, reduce labor demands, and provide valuable byproducts, making them accessible to even chronically poor farmers. The paper argues that a “business as usual” approach to large-scale tree-planting without regard to soil quality risks creating poverty traps for low-income farmers, and that improved, invasive, and hybrid fruit-bearing fallows offer a more people-centered, low-cash approach to restoring soils while contributing to reforestation goals.

The Role of the Mongolian Women's Farmers Association in Addressing Food Security and Health Crises in Post-Socialist Mongolia

Griffin Sanford — 2026-07-17

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in December 1991, one of the most pressing challenges faced by post-socialist states has been widespread malnourishment and food insecurity. In response to these systemic issues affecting the daily lives of rural nomadic communities in Mongolia, the Mongolian Women’s Farmers Association (MWFA) has aimed to equip farmers across the country with the agricultural knowledge and materials needed for sustainable self-sufficiency. In this paper, I argue that the Mongolian Women's Farmers Association is a vital response to the ongoing food and health crisis within Mongolia, focusing its efforts on food diversity, traditional farming tactics, economic instruction, and ecofeminism. Using ethnographic research, survey data, secondary scholarship, and historical records, this research paper is designed to combine elements of nomadic lifestyle with aspects of more modern agricultural technology to improve Mongolian food habits. The research finds that often in post-socialist countries, due to weak infrastructure, difficulties transitioning from state-controlled to market economies, and dependency on said markets, systemic food insecurity is much more prevalent. For a country like Mongolia, a large percentage of nomadic communities face dire health consequences due to their diet of mainly meats and dairy, and because of sporadic weather patterns, are losing their ability to mobilize to new regions. Many communities lack the knowledge needed to grow and maintain vegetable gardens, making the prospect of surviving in a climate change–affected world increasingly daunting. In addition, much of the farming responsibilities are culturally given to the women, making the MWFA’s goals all the more relevant to the current socio-cultural norms of Mongolian society. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate over how food sovereignty movements can survive in post-socialist spaces and provides evidence of how Mongolia can decrease food insecurity nationwide.

Debt-for-Nature Swaps

Analys Barinaga — 2026-07-17

While the concept of protecting the natural environment is often popular, sourcing the massive funding required to reach global goals is a much more contentious topic. The purpose of debt-for-nature swaps is to supply part of this shortfall by tapping into government funds that are locked in sovereign debt obligations. Since these swaps began in 1987, they have been particularly popular in Latin America, a region that is rich in biodiversity and owes significant debt. While the swaps were popular at the end of the 20^th century and the beginning of the 21^st, they were criticized for being too small and fell out of favor in the 2010s. In the past four years, the swaps have reemerged, leading this paper to ask: what does the reemergence of debt-for-nature swaps signal for the future use of this financial instrument in Latin America; and furthermore, what are the opportunities and challenges for the future use of these swaps in the region? This paper argues that the recent swaps are uniquely characterized by credit enhancement, allowing them to be a degree of magnitude larger than past swaps; the large sum of funds and the political appeal of these swaps make them promising tools for funding conservation efforts.

How Environmental Racism Prevails: A Case Study Of Asthma Alley

Heeta Thakkar — 2026-07-17

Abstract

Asthma Alley may sound like a fictional setting in apocalyptic literature, yet it is the unofficial name of a neighborhood in the Bronx, New York. This essay examines the history of environmental racism in Mott Haven, Bronx, and the emergence of South Bronx Unite– a climate justice movement formed in response to the polluted air of Asthma Alley. For almost a century, the South Bronx has been systematically neglected, exploited, and tarnished. The legacies of redlining, urban planning and rapid industrialization continue to perpetuate the environmental health crisis in the present. This essay contributes to literatures on environmental justice which address systemic racism and its intersections with public health. By focusing on the hyper-localized case study of Mott Haven through empirical evidence and an analysis of grassroots advocacy, I argue, we can better understand how systems contribute to maintaining environmental injustice. The work of South Bronx Unite in challenging existing policy frameworks which perpetuate the Asthma Alley crisis illuminates that environmental racism is not a modern phenomenon, but rather is a result of systemic racism and neglect embedded into our institutions. Lastly, it aims to bridge the gap between academic theory, public policy, and community action within current environmental justice literature.

The Toxic Legacy of Sydney Steel

Nicholas Graham — 2026-07-17

The steel mill in Sydney Nova Scotia and the associated tar ponds were a site of extreme environmental violence against the indigenous Mi’kmaq peoples who hunted and fished on the land before the mill was constructed and against the working-class people of Sydney who lived and worked in the pollution the mill produced. Using an environmental violence framework this paper analyzes scientific and historical data to make the case that the extremely slow reaction to the harm being done to these communities by the pollution produced by the mill was due to a disregard for their lives and their devaluation as people. The land and people were viewed as simple resources to be exploited, they were ‘resourcified,’ much to their detriment and thus they suffered as they were heavily contaminated with the byproducts of steelmaking. This pollution led to contamination throughout the food chain and water supply, leading to high rates of birth defects and cancer, an act of violence of a slower variety than we are used to. This disregard for human life is sorely underrepresented in scientific literature, and as such this paper aims to bridge the gap in the communication of what has happened in Sydney and raise awareness for the deeper reasons behind this and other similar environmental tragedies.

Tunnel vision?

Suleyman Ahmed — 2026-07-17

Urban flooding caused by an antiquated mixed sewage-stormwater drainage system affects about 172,000 buildings in Chicago and suburban Cook County, Illinois, incurring billion-dollar costs in property damage, environmental contamination, and personal distress each decade. Though the disproportionate burden of urban flooding in communities of color is well-documented, it is unclear whether large urban flood mitigation projects—such as Chicago’s under-construction Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP)—effectively and equitably rectify the situation. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study developed a population-weighted urban flood susceptibility model and utilized that model to recruit residents from high- and low-susceptibility zones and near-reservoir areas. Eighteen semi-structured resident interviews were then thematically analyzed to compare flooding trends and TARP’s perceived impacts. Interviewees’ experiences illustrate how the uneven burden of urban flooding persists even after TARP’s implementation. Better understanding residents’ perceptions of their own flood risk under the TARP project helps advance more inclusive and effective stormwater governance, both in Chicago and in other cities building ‘deep tunnel’ systems.

Rain Gardens and Monsoon Flood Management in Mumbai

Dhruv Deepak Sakore — 2026-07-17

Mumbai experiences 2,200–2,800 mm of annual rainfall, much of it concentrated in a few monsoon weeks, producing chronic flooding in low-lying neighbourhoods such as Hindmata Junction. At the same time, the Mumbai Coastal Road project is creating roughly 130 acres of new reclaimed parkland along the city’s western shore. This paper asks how much practical potential rain-garden systems have to reduce localised waterlogging in Mumbai’s monsoon climate, and how that potential differs between dense inland bowls and newly reclaimed coastal open spaces. The study adopts an identification-and-description strategy using secondary data: Indian Meteorological Department rainfall records, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai drainage reports, media coverage of recent flood events, and international literature on rain-garden performance in tropical cities. Simple volume estimates and typology-based reasoning are used to compare feasible rain-garden configurations at Hindmata and along the Coastal Road parks. Results show that at Hindmata, extreme inflows from a ~2 km² catchment (on the order of 150,000–170,000 m³ per hour during cloudbursts) dwarf the storage that micro-scale rain-garden typologies could realistically provide, limiting their role to mitigating kerb-side ponding and improving water quality. Along the Coastal Road, by contrast, the combination of smaller contributing catchments and contiguous programmable parkland allows park-integrated bioretention basins and bioswale corridors to intercept a meaningful fraction of runoff. The paper argues that urban form is a decisive filter for the feasible role of rain gardens in dense coastal megacities, with implications for how Mumbai and similar cities deploy green infrastructure for monsoon resilience.

The Efficacy of Solid Waste Management in Mto Wa Mbu, Tanzania

Bradley Lazo — 2026-07-17

Solid Waste significantly contributes to the degradation of both public and environmental health, making effective waste management a critical issue for countries worldwide. By 2050, global waste production is projected to increase by up to 70%, with sub-Saharan Africa expected to more than triple its current waste levels [7]. Although Tanzania has made notable developmental strides, evident in rising GDP and declining poverty rates [17], the country continues to face challenges in waste management due to limited financial resources for public policy in this sector. This study uses a standardized observational checklist, along with an interview, and literature reviews, to gather data and assess the current solid waste management practices in Mto Wa Mbu, a town and administrative ward in Tanzania’s Arusha Region. By analyzing the waste management system in Mto Wa Mbu, this research aims to highlight policy shortcomings, both governmental and community-based, and offer insight into potential improvements. While Mto Wa Mbu has seen progress, largely driven by community-based organizations (CBOs) and private businesses, issues such as littering, open burning, and insufficient public waste disposal infrastructure persist. The paper concludes by proposing strategies for promoting a more circular economy within the village.

Campus as Carbon Sink

Madison Eaton — 2026-07-20

Soils are a major carbon sink, and as atmospheric carbon emissions continue to increase around the world, attention is being turned to soils as a possible way to offset these emissions. For institutions like colleges and universities that manage significant acreage and are increasingly seeking avenues toward carbon neutrality, quantifying and enhancing the amount of carbon held in campus soil may be a valuable addition to existing sustainability efforts. This study investigates how land cover and soil compaction affect soil carbon sequestration on a college campus in the Southeastern U.S. Areas of different land covers in one campus neighborhood were mapped using GIS software to determine predominant landscaping conditions. Grassy lawns covered 67.4% of the study area, perennial beds covered 22.9%, and annual beds covered 2.1%, making up the vast majority of permeable surface area. Compaction measurements and soil samples were taken from randomly selected points within each of these three land cover types. Soil samples were analyzed using Loss-on-Ignition (LOI) techniques to determine the percentage of soil organic carbon (SOC) by mass. Findings showed that compaction is strongly correlated with land cover, prohibiting the distinction between the impact of land cover vs. compaction on SOC content. Perennial beds were moderately compacted and contain more SOC than grassy lawns (average 8.02% vs. 6.37%) which were highly compacted. Annual beds were minimally compacted and showed the highest average SOC values of 23.97%, likely due to large inputs of compost rather than long-term biological soil carbon sequestration. The results of this study suggest that conversion of grassy lawns into perennial plant beds would increase SOC sequestration potential on campus, thereby contributing to university carbon neutrality goals by sequestering atmospheric carbon in the ground.