Hugh Possingham, Ph.D., Chief Scientist of The Nature Conservancy—the world’s largest environmental non-government organization—recently visited ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes to meet with faculty, students, and administrators and present a series of talks.

In partnership with the ASU Sustainability Solutions Festival and the Arizona Science Center, Dr. Possingham delivered a presentation on how math and funds prioritization can augment our capacity to protect certain endangered species.

“I have translated human’s hopes, dreams and fears into algebra,” said Possingham. “If you want to go do something, go save a plant … or you can make up a formula and save 250 species.”

Understanding that there is a finite amount of time, money and resources, our knowledge and application of the mathematics of decision science is crucial in finding answers to intriguing conservation questions, such as which species should we save—koala bears or polar bears; where should we place marine protected areas, and what is the point of gathering more data.

Three School of Sustainability students have come up with a way to guide small organizations painlessly toward zero waste. And they’ll make money doing it.

Eric Johnson, Sean Murray and Daniel Velez – all students in the Master of Sustainability Solutions program – make up the consulting firm Circle Blue. The firm will partner with schools, nonprofits and small businesses to find and eliminate waste, saving money and reducing the amount of garbage that goes to the landfills.

And now they have a financial boost in achieving that aim. The Circle Blue team won a $20,000 grant from the Pakis Social Entrepreneurship Challenge, defeating two other teams in the pitch competition in February 2017. The event, sponsored by the Center for Entrepreneurship in the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU, sought the team with the strongest potential to solve a social challenge.

On Monday, Feb. 20, 2017, the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO) will host a series of talks with Hugh Possingham, PhD, Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy — the world’s largest environmental non-government organization.

Dr. Possingham is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland. In 2016, he was elected a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, the most prestigious science academy in the world. He is one of less than 500 foreign associates — and the only one resident in Queensland.

In the afternoon, he will tell us “Four Real Stories on How Science Impacts Environmental Policy (Or Not!),” followed by a Graduate Workshop. The day will close with an evening presentation at the Arizona Science Center as part of the ASU Sustainability Solutions Festival, titled “How Math Helps Save Species.”

“We are looking forward to engaging Hugh in discussions about innovative approaches to achieve outcomes in conservation science,” said Leah Gerber, CBO Founding Director. “We hope everyone can join!”

Over 80 sustainability professionals from 56 businesses and organizations came together in Phoenix on       February 13 to redefine corporate value—measuring its true costs and profits—during a GreenBiz pre-conference titled “Redefining Corporate Value: Changing the equation for cities, food, materials and climate by placing true value on natural and social capital.”

The event was the third annual World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) North American member meeting and was facilitated in partnership with GreenBiz, ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, and ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes.

Learn more about WBCSD’s initiative on redefining value.

A climate strategy involving carbon dividends can strengthen our economy and reduce regulation while helping working-class Americans and promoting national security, say the authors of a February 2017 report published by the Climate Leadership Council.

Titled "The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends," the report explains how a four-part carbon dividends plan can help to mitigate climate change while preserving conservative principles like free market and limited government.

Among the report's authors – eight men with collectively impressive business and political acumen – is Retired Walmart Chairman Rob Walton, who serves as co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global institute of Sustainability at ASU.

At the 2017 Presidential Climate Leadership Summit in Tempe, Arizona, ASU Executive Vice President, Treasurer and CFO Morgan Olsen accepted the 2016 Climate Leadership Award on behalf of the university.

The award, announced in September 2016 and presented at a luncheon hosted by Second Nature, recognized ASU's innovative and advanced leadership in sustainability, climate change mitigation and resilience among four-year institutions.

In 2007, ASU President Michael Crow was a founding signatory of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. ASU continues to pursue sustainability solutions across its campuses, including a January 2017 power purchase agreement that more than doubles the university’s solar generating capacity.

Project Summary

A multi-state project funded by the USDA Forest Service to conduct urban forestry ecosystem services assessments in partnering communities. This project utilized i-Tree Eco to capture baseline data that may be used to assist communities to develop municipal and regional planning goals and implement strategies that address regional attainment of federal air quality standards. Four communities (Phoenix, AZ; Albuquerque, NM; Las Cruces, NM and El Paso, TX) located in regions at-risk of not meeting federal air quality standards partnered in this effort to complete assessments. This project aligned a diversity of committed partners and programs in the arena of southwest green infrastructure, and was focused on improving environmental health and community livability. This project was also initiated as a comparison to similar research that has been conducted in other parts of the country. Through this project, tools and other products are made available to assist Southwestern communities in their efforts to improve community livability. This project addressed community priorities identified in Statewide Forest Action Plans for Arizona, New Mexico and Texas: (1) Recognition of ecosystem services provided by forests; and (2) Implementation of strategies that improve community health and address environmental health factors.

Project Goals

1. Produce community forest assessments in four targeted municipalities that quantify current ecosystem services being provided (including improved air quality, energy conserved, carbon sequestered, and much more);
2. Develop and implement municipal goals, planning tools and community forest strategies (planning, development and management) that are recognized by environmental regulators as mitigating factors for air quality;
3. Develop planning tools and outreach materials and use these tools through traditional and non-traditional partnership forums to increase awareness and develop similar projects and efforts throughout the Southwest and the United States.

This project involved extensive collaboration with municipal, state and federal partners to develop agreed-upon sampling strategies; data analysis and reports; results distribution/dissemination; and in the creation of outreach materials. Community reports and additional information are provided as links below.

Project Partners: Arizona State Forestry, City of Phoenix, New Mexico EMNRD Forestry Division, City of Albuquerque, City of Las Cruces, Texas A&M University Forest Service, and the City of El Paso.

Public Information Dissemination Partner: Arizona State University/ Sustainable Cities Network, Julie Anne Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability

More information

Project Desert Canopy

Brochure and Fact Sheets

• City of Phoenix - Fact Sheet
• El Paso, Texas – Fact Sheet
• Albuquerque, New Mexico – Fact Sheet
• Las Cruces, New Mexico – Fact Sheet
• Project Brochure

Reports

• Phoenix, Arizona – Community Forest Assessment
• El Paso, Texas – Community Forest Assessment
• Albuquerque, New Mexico – Community Forest Assessment
• Las Cruces, New Mexico – Community Forest Assessment
• Southwest Region – Community Forest Assessment (comparison of four communities)

Big cities are generally associated with fast-paced life, but an ASU study shows that one psychological effect of population density is the adoption of a “slow life strategy.”

The ASU team – including sustainability scientists Steven Neuberg and Douglas Kenrick – collected data from all 50 states and nations around the world. Then, through a series of experiments, they found that perceptions of crowdedness cause people to delay gratification in favor of slower behaviors. These included long-term romantic relationships, having fewer children and investing more in education.

“With the world’s population growing,” Neuberg says, “it seems more important than ever to understand the psychological effects of overcrowding and how living in crowded environments might influence people’s behaviors. Applying a new perspective to an old question is allowing us to reexamine the effects of living in crowded environments.”

Arizona State University School of Sustainability professor Hallie Eakin joined with renowned climate change expert and University of Arizona professor Diana Liverman for an annual meeting of UA and ASU graduate students working on issues of climate, society and environmental justice.

The students shared insights into how to undertake transformative science in ways that directly address the needs of vulnerable communities and future generations. "The gathering gives me hope that we will meet the challenges of climate justice through shared ideas and commitment," commented Liverman.

The workshop included research presentations by students from both universities, followed by discussions about the Paris climate agreement, finding optimism in tough times, strategies for engaging people and organizations to achieve environmental justice, and how to engage further in direct climate justice action. Climate communication expert Susi Moser inspired the students with virtual talk on "Hope, even now."

A two-week workshop at Arizona State University's School of Sustainability brought students from China a new way of systems thinking to analyze complex sustainability problems.

Marty Anderies, professor and senior sustainability scientist, introduced the students to the key sustainability challenge areas of food, water, energy and urbanization – both locally and globally. His sustainability class was a combination of learning activities: documentaries and dialogue, interactive role-playing games, field trips and lectures.

The 16 students came from Beijing's Beihang University, an elite research university known for launching the first light passenger aircraft in China in 1950s. They chose ASU because the university is well-known in Chinese academia for its leading research and heavy focus in sustainability.

Dear CAPpers:

As we begin a new year, a new phase of CAP, and a strange new world, I have some news and important information to pass along.

First, many thanks to Mark, Cindy, and everyone else who helped make our 2017 All Scientist Meeting such a success. Final head count was more than 100 attendees! I received a great deal of positive feedback about Diane’s excellent and very timely plenary talk, Nancy’s insightful infrastructure talk, and the wonderful collection of fire-talks we had about CAP modelling efforts. The posters were equally impressive.

Speaking of the posters, here are the results of our student poster contest (drumroll, please)... And the Winner of the 2017 CAP Student Poster Contest is Megan Wheeler, who presented “Residential soil water model evaluation to improve outdoor water use recommendations in Phoenix, Arizona” with Sharon Hall and Enrique Vivoni! Congratulations, Megan! You won up to $500 towards your travel to a conference where you present your CAP data!

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A little-known fact about ASU – it is home to the National Sewage Sludge Repository, the largest archive of its kind in the country. Samples in the repository come from 200 wastewater treatment plants and represent 10 percent of the U.S. population.

Senior Sustainability Scientist Rolf Halden, director of the Biodesign Center for Environmental Security, explains that this collection serves as a window into public health and habits. For example, if wastewater sludge shows high concentrations of opioids, researchers could alert authorities to a previously undetected drug problem.

This potential to point out public health concerns becomes increasingly relevant. As the world's population continues to move to cities, the ability to diagnose human activities, consumption and health in urban centers will be key to understanding and managing human health and planetary sustainability.

The GREEN program offers interested students short-term, experiential learning opportunities in Iceland, Peru, Japan, and Hawai'i. Each program is designed around the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals with an emphasis on hands-on learning in real-world scenarios while being immersed in new cultural contexts.

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Designed to break new ground in alternative energy; increase educational opportunities for the military community; and bolster science, technology, engineering and mathematics outreach, the Department of the Navy and the Office of Naval Research have launched the Naval Enterprise Partnership Teaming with Universities for National Excellence initiative, or NEPTUNE.

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Senior Sustainability Scientist Leah Gerber, founding director of ASU’s Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, has been named a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America, according to an announcement released by the ESA. Gerber was selected for her pioneering efforts to integrate marine ecology and conservation science into tenable policy and decision-making tools.

Gerber's notable achievements include a publication portfolio of more than 100 papers, receiving the “Inspirational Faculty Award” from ASU, and her role as a lead author for the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

On Jan. 26, 2017,  Arizona State University officially launched Campaign ASU 2020,  the first comprehensive fundraising campaign in the nearly fifteen-year tenure of President Michael Crow. This transformational $1.5 billion campaign will engage alumni and friends in expanding the access and excellence for which ASU has become known.

The campaign coincides with the 2020 strategic vision of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability to scale sustainability solutions with like-minded partners around the world. The ASU Wrigley Institute addresses humanity's most pressing challenges in social, environmental and economic sustainability.

Bringing nature back into the classroom and other inside spaces is the objective of ASU adjunct faculty members Joe Zazzera and Sonja Bochart. During a February 2017 lecture on biophilia – or love of nature – they expanded on the numerous benefits of interacting with nature, including enhanced productivity, reduced stress and improved well-being.

Bochart explained that the effects of nature can be measured on a physical level; blood pressure drops and parasympathetic healing activates – benefits that our predominately-indoor lifestyles prevent. By including environmental features like natural materials, water, and “living walls” or hanging plants in our homes, classrooms and workplaces, we can increase our overall well-being.

The lecture was an installment in the ASU Wrigley Institute's Sustainability Series, where speakers discuss a range of environmental, social and economic topics.

An international team of professors, including Senior Sustainability Scientist George Basile, made up the editorial team of a recently published “Special Volume” of the Journal of Cleaner Production – the world´s leading journal in the area of sustainable development, according to Google Scholar.

The timely knowledge captured in this SV helps leaders to learn how to define social and ecological sustainability, to get a deeper understanding of the leadership case for sustainability proactivity, and to operationalize sustainability in a systematic and strategic way across diverse disciplines and sectors.

“We invited the whole scientific community to contribute and received a great response," says Managing Guest Editor Göran Broman. "After selection based on the theme and after thorough peer-review, we ended up with thirty-five published papers.”

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In partnership with Conservation International, ASU’s Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is hiring a postdoctoral research associate.

The fellow will conduct highly interdisciplinary research to explore the role of nature in sustainable development, specifically in the context of achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

How are decisions really made to manage flooding, water scarcity or water contamination in the world’s megacities?

We might assume that most decisions would be made on a cool, rational weighing of the technical options that are most likely to result in a reduction of risk. We know, however, that few decisions are made on technical criteria alone. In some cities, authorities may not be able to consider some water management options, such as using recycled waste water for drinking, because of the potential for political opposition. In other cities, elected officials are susceptible to pressures to appease particular voting constituencies in their allocation of water resources.

Over time, what options are considered and what decisions are taken give concrete shape to the built environment. These decisions affect how the city grows, what physical infrastructure is put in place, where and for what purposes. The  intangible but potent social and political influences on decision-making can be called “social-political infrastructure”: the norms, values, rules and relationships that influence and reinforce persistent patterns of decision-making in cities – and shape urban development – in ways similar to the “hard” infrastructure of the built environment.

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