The Environmental Humanities Initiative (EHI) networks faculty and students from across 22 units at ASU and is rapidly expanding its international partnerships.

This was evident at the recent Conference of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment held in Detroit, Michigan. ASU alumni who have studied with EHI faculty traveled to the conference to participate in the launch of the newest observatory in the global Humanities for the Environment network.

Since 2013, ASU has served as the headquarters of the North American (NA) Observatory. Funded in its first phase by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and ASU’s Office of the President, the NA Observatory is in a second phase in which it is supporting the expansion of the network to Latin America, Africa and the Circumpolar North.

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"Sustainability is the ability to understand the intricacies of connected systems, and from that understanding, being able to make decisions as if I were going to be around here forever."

Leah Sunna graduated in 2012 with her Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability. Sunna describes how she views sustainability.

"Sustainability is the balance between economics, society, and the environment – a true balance."

Danielle Van Vleet, a 2013 Sustainability Bachelor of Arts graduate, emphasizes the importance of balance in sustainability.

"Sustainability is everything. You can apply it to law, you can apply it to business, you can apply it to sports management, you can apply it to education, outreach, activism, everything."

Sustainability student Garrett Wong tells us that sustainability can be found and applied all around us.

"Sustainability is pursuing a different path that ensures current generations and future generations can enjoy the benefits of ecosystem processes that nature provides for us, while at the same time making sure that inequality between nations, inequality between generations, is really minimized."

Daniel Nzengya earned his PhD from the School of Sustainability in 2014. Nzengya explains that through sustainability we can achieve equality.

"Sustainability provides us the tools and the opportunities in order to enable a more fruitful and sustainable outcome."

Senior sustainability scholar and School of Sustainability instructor Colin Tetreault describes what sustainability can accomplish.

"Sustainability is taking care of people. It means living in a way that we can continue to live and have a good quality of life."

Payton Collins, a 2015 graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability, shares her perspective on the meaning of sustainability.

"Sustainability is a personal initiative that every person has to take. It is making choices that affect the environment in a positive way, even enriching it if you can."

Cat Fowler, a student in the School of Sustainability, speaks about the personal aspects of sustainability.

"Sustainability is looking at the environment, and society, and economy, and seeing how you can solve a problem in one of those areas without causing a problem in the others."

Bachelor of Science in Sustainability student Ali Boden explains what sustainability means to her.

"Sustainability is a state of mind, and certainly in that journey of discovery and assessing the different aspects – the different facets of sustainability – you can improve the quality of life of your community."

Marco Ugarte, who graduated with his PhD in Sustainability in 2011, gives his take on sustainability.

"Sustainability is something that is equal for people of all creeds, races, nationalities, religions. It is a place where we can breathe, a place where we can have clean water, and a place where we can thrive."

Jaleila Brumand graduated from the School of Sustainability in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science. Brumand describes what type of place sustainability creates.

"Sustainability is recognizing that, as humans, we are stewards of this planet and that our actions lead to incredible consequences, positive and negative. By understanding that, we can create the progress that the world needs – both socially, environmentally and economically – that makes sure the legacy of humanity exits in a responsible way."

Debbie Namugayi, a 2014 School of Sustainability Master of Arts graduate, urges humans to be stewards of the environment.

"Sustainability is being able to look at that big picture, and it's not just being sustainable with your profits, or just being sustainable environmentally, but it's looking at the social impacts and piecing all of that together to understand how to succeed in the future."

Allie Brickner, who graduated in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science from the School of Sustainability, explains how she looks at sustainability.

"Sustainability is realizing where we come from and understanding that it's our responsibility to make sure that all that hard work, struggle, and advancement and development of the past hundreds of years were not in vain."

Alen Jakupovic graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the School of Sustainability in 2015. Jakupovic describes what sustainability means to him.

"Sustainability is ensuring that there are opportunities for people now to be successful, and opportunities in the future for them to be successful, and maintaining  those opportunities."

Nicholas Weller, a 2013 Bachelor of Science in Sustainability graduate, speaks about the opportunities associated with sustainability.

In April 2017, Arizona welcomed the NCAA’s Final Four Tournament – a college basketball championship that spanned three days in downtown Phoenix. With over 70,000 fans in attendance, the event was the perfect opportunity for Phoenix to flex its sustainability muscles.

Partners from all over the Valley united to leave the Final Four with a legacy of sustainability that could continue long after its departure from Phoenix. These partners included ASU’s School of Sustainability, the City of Phoenix, the City of Glendale, APS, SRP, Keep Phoenix Beautiful, Green Living Magazine, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Northern Arizona Forest Fund and numerous community members.

This month, the Final Four received the Evergreen Certification from the Council for Responsible Sport at the Pac-12 Sustainability Conference, held in conjunction with the 2017 Green Sports Alliance Summit in Sacramento. The Evergreen Certification signifies the highest level of sustainability certification possible at a sporting event.

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"Sustainability is we, as human beings, defining who we will become in the future, and becoming something better in the long-term. It is thinking of more than just the here and now, and thinking of where our potential is and where it can be, and to strive for that potential."

2013 Sustainability Bachelor of Arts graduate Christopher Robins describes how he sees sustainability and its potential for good.

During the last week of July 2017, ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director, Leah Gerber, will represent academia in Cartagena, Colombia during an International Congress for Conservation Biology workshop titled “Partnerships for Conservation.”

Our planet will be populated by 9.7 billion by 2050, but the current 7 billion have already taxed its capacity to provide for us. To advance conservation and nature-based solutions that achieve impact at scale requires a broad range of actions and participation by government, the private sector, donors, communities, NGOs and academia.

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ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director, Leah Gerber is heading to Ecuador for the 2017-18 academic year as a Fulbright Scholar.

Ecuador is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. At present, approximately 36% of the country’s mainland is designated as “Key Biodiversity Areas” by the United Nation’s World Conservation and Monitoring Center.

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On May 5, 2017, ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director, Leah Gerber, partnered with the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center to present the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials with a new tool for prioritizing recovery actions.

The plan, based on an algorithm specifically created for the United States, proposes to save as many as 200 additional species by tapping into funds currently allocated to save more iconic species, whose populations have decreased regardless of the millions of dollars invested to save them.

This proposal, already proven effective in New Zealand and Australia, is most timely as the Trump administration plans to reduce the budgets of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior, which oversees USFWS.