Compromised Groundwater Quality Resulting from Large-Scale Damming Projects

Is Corporate Environmentalism Profitable? Experimental Investigations of the Effects of Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumption, Employment and Political Activity

Mitigating future arsenic catastrophes in Asia: An integrative study of processes controlling arsenic release induced by land use

Arsenic is having a devastating impact on human health in Asia. In Bangladesh and West Bengal alone, an estimated 57 million people are exposed to drinking water with arsenic concentrations exceeding the World Health Organization's recommended limit of 10 µg/L. It is our hypothesis that different land uses will limit arsenic exposure to tens of millions more individuals within Southeast and Sub-continental Asia. We therefore propose an interdisciplinary study focusing on how land use alters the solid-water partitioning of arsenic in Cambodia and Vietnam. Our study blends an integrative scientific investigation of chemical, biological, and hydrologic factors controlling arsenic partitioning with an evaluation of the relationship between agricultural policies and farming practices on these processes. This research is a significant departure from existing efforts, in terms of scope and geography, with the goal of understanding the relative impact land use will have on biogeochemical mechanisms responsible for arsenic liberation.

Consequences of increased global meat consumption on the global environment -- trade in virtual water, energy & nutrients

Meat production is projected to double by 2020 due to increased per capita global consumption of meat and population growth. Most of this increase in production will come through industrialized animal production systems. These trends will have major consequences on the global environment. Vast transfers of "virtual" energy, water and nutrients will occur among nations that will have large impacts on local and distant environments. A full accounting of these trends and projections will give us the capacity to propose policies to ameliorate the negative aspects of these developments and position us to address the multiple consequences of industrialized animal production systems.

Indoor air pollution and health in developing countries: An intervention study in Bangladesh

This research represents a new interdisciplinary collaboration at Stanford to investigate the behavioral underpinnings of indoor air pollution in the developing world and to estimate its impact on human health. Researchers will work with a number of public agencies, private companies and NGOs.

An interdisciplinary assessment of an agricultural-urban water market in Southern India: physical impacts, welfare consequences, and policy implications

This research project analyzes the rural-urban groundwater market in Chennai (formerly Madras, in South India), as a case study of water resources sustainability in a developing nation. The research develops a combined hydrogeological and economic framework to consider the biophysical and welfare impacts of future water demands in the region. In addition, this work examines the potential of public policies to alter the time-profiles of water supplies and demands and thereby enhance social welfare.

Rethinking the Balance Between Future Obesity and Malnutrition with Climate Change

The goal is to develop a computer model capable of evaluating nutrition-related health policies in India, taking into account the impact of climate change on agricultural production and food availability.

Fertilizer use and the epidemiology and evolution of cholera in Bangladesh

This proposal examines another possible consequence of fertilzer-dependent intensive agriculture, the worsening of infectious disease epidemics by microbes that live in the same aquatic habitats that also harbor algae and other components of this complex ecosystem. One such infectious agent is Vibrio cholerae, the cause of asiatic cholera, a devastating diarrheal illness that occurs as a seasonal epidemic in the Ganges Delta region of Bangladesh. This interdisciplinary team will explore the idea that the over use of chemical fertilizers might exacerbate cholera epidemics through their effects on algal ecology in the rural agrarian district of Bangladesh.

From Bangalore to the Bay Area: Comparative urban growth patterns across the pacific rim

Developing nations are moving toward Western-style ways of living, resulting in land- and resource intensive development. What does the globalization of the American suburb mean for the global environment? This project addresses the question through quantitative and qualitative analysis of case studies from China, India and the U.S.