Confluence Volume 4, Fall 2025

Volume Four

The convergence of space, time, people, and places to create complex systems is the epitome of Geography and Environmental Sciences. In an ever-changing world that often seems unsettling, we can look for reassurance in the research happening around us that investigates ways to survive and thrive as a global society and ecosystem. With this, we present our fourth volume of the GES student journal, Confluence.  

The students’ work in this short volume explores a variety of topics at the forefront of science and society, from environmental justice to climate change and more. Each project was nominated by faculty before undergoing a rigorous peer-review process before publication. 

This volume begins with a spatial analysis of a neighboring area to the University of Colorado, Denver. Patrick Kaltenbacher explores the intersection between health, demographics, and a superfund site in his Story Map, A Spatial Analysis of Rocky Mountain Arsenal Neighbors.  

Next, we head to the Florida Everglades in Sydney Puett’s Issues Brief on Saltwater Intrusion in the Florida Everglades. Here, Sydney reviews the threats to transition zones in wetlands and offers some thoughtful solutions in the context of climate change.  

The volume continues with a passage by Tahlia Brayer, offering thoughts on the topic of climate change. To Anyone Who’s Ever Thrown Out a Half-Eaten Sandwich, invites you to consider the individual role you play and considerations for small actions that could contribute to big change.  

We then zoom out to A Geographic Analysis of COVID-19 Mortality Across the United States by Lauren Parkinson. As we approach 6 years from the first reported COVID case, Lauren’s analysis offers a look back at those initial critical years to better understand who was most impacted by the pandemic.   

Finally, we end our volume with a poem that explores the intersection between public and private spaces. Set in a public restroom, Public, Private, Permitted: Who Gets to Go? by Erica Zwahlen redirects our focus to an oftentimes daily human experience.  

In reflection of this volume, I am left thinking about the interconnectedness of it all. How one thing here might lead and impact another thing there. I encourage you to move through each of these published pieces while considering how they might connect to one another and how they might converge to tell a story about our world from a viewpoint we’ve yet to consider.  

On behalf of the journal, I would like to congratulate our authors and thank the peer-reviewers who contributed to this volume. This journal shares the brilliant work of our students and exemplifies the collaborative efforts of the department, alumni, and the like to promote research and scholarship that we so desperately need in today’s world.  

Enjoy!  

Sincerely, 
Taylor DuPree 

A special thanks to CLAS Web Services Manager, Tim Stalker, who helped transition Confluence to the website you see today - one that ensures our journal is more accessible to everyone.  

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