We made great strides in 2016, furthering innovative solutions, meaningful engagement, unparalleled education and impactful research on a global scale. From all of us at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, thank you and have a joyful holiday season.

While a passion for the environment is essential, students looking for careers in the field also need the right credentials. To help meet that need, sustainability scientist Heather Bateman worked with colleagues in ASU’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts to develop the undergraduate Wildlife Management Certificate.

According to Bateman, the need was twofold: “Applied biological sciences students wanted some type of recognition when they graduated that would indicate to potential employers they had expertise in the discipline of wildlife management, and [myself and other biology professors] wanted to get the word out across ASU about opportunities to study wildlife and engage with wildlife professionals.”

The new certificate provides application-based, hands-on experience to students interested in biology, conservation, sustainability and management of natural resources. It was first offered in Fall 2016.

China Mist sat down with Kris Spector, restaurant sustainability expert and founder of Spector Sustainability Consulting. Kris helps restaurants evolve to meet market demands and to continue maximizing their profits while reducing environmental impact. Previously, he has sustainability experience with Waste Management, a luxury resort, 5-star restaurants, and commercial real estate.

"I learned about the Global Institute of Sustainability [ASU’s School of Sustainability] and I thought, 'Wow, that’s the future. That’s a no-brainer. I’m going to go do that.'"

“Sustainability is a concept with as much transformative potential as justice, liberty and equality.”

Michael Crow became President of Arizona State University in July 2002, and continues to pioneer a holistic vision for sustainability all across the university.

Read more about his call to sustainability.

“Living in harmony with our social and natural environment, based on a sense of justice and equity.”

Sander van der Leeuw, a Foundation Professor in the School of Sustainability, served as the Dean of the School from 2010 to 2013. Van der Leeuw emphasizes the importance of a harmonious approach to sustainability.

Watch van der Leeuw's Wrigley Lecture, "Complex Systems Theory, Sustainability, and Innovation."

“Sustainability is larger than one person, one company or one country. Its scope, scale and importance demand unprecedented and swift solutions to environmental protection and other complex problems.”

Julie Ann Wrigley is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Julie Ann Wrigley Foundation. Wrigley remarked on the importance of sustainability in a 2007 publication from the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, Sustainability for Arizona: The Issue of Our Age.

Watch her commemorate the 10th Anniversary of ASU's School of Sustainability.

“Sustainability is improving human well-being and ensuring social equity for present and future generations while safeguarding the planet’s life-supporting ecosystems.”

Chris Boone has served as the Dean of the School of Sustainability since July 2013. Boone illustrates the significance of protecting the planet for its future inhabitants.

Read more about Dean Boone's response to Arizona's sustainability challenges.

“Sustainability is an awareness of the connectivity of the world and the implications of our actions. It is finding solutions through innovative approaches, expanding future options by practicing environmental stewardship, building governance institutions that continually learn, and instilling values that promote justice."

Charles L. Redman is the Founding Director of ASU's School of Sustainability, as well as a professor in the School. Redman expresses the gravity of applying sustainability solutions in an interconnected world.

Read more about his thoughts on today's sustainability challenges. 

“Sustainability is a process that engages every discipline to provide dynamic solutions to complex issues.”

Brian McCollow, a former student in ASU's School of Sustainability, indicates the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability.

Learn more about his work in Ghana with GlobalResolve.

“Promoting human prosperity and well-being for all, while protecting and enhancing the earth’s life support systems.”

In 2011, the Board of Directors of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU created a succinct definition of sustainability to help everyone better understand the concept.

“Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

The Brundtland Commission defines "sustainability" in their 1987 report, Our Common Future.

My name is Devon Edwards and I just entered my second year as the Associate Director of the Corporate Eco Forum, a membership organization comprised of 70 large multinationals that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability as a business strategy issue.

I entered this role shortly after graduating from SOS in May 2014, and have been fortunate to work with several of the most influential sustainable business leaders in the world (including one of my favorite professors, Bruno Sarda!).

Over the last 6 months, I served as the lead author of our 2016 corporate renewable energy report, which was produced in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund. The report, “Corporate Renewable Energy Procurement: A Snapshot of Key Trends, Practices, and Strategies in 2016,” draws on insights from 37 Corporate Eco Forum members and Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles signatories, representing 9 sectors, with combined revenues exceeding $1 trillion.

Just want to communicate the work I'm doing in the sustainability space with SOS leadership -- something I haven't done before. I hope you find the report interesting and useful.

With almost half of federal highways and major roads in the U.S. classified below "good condition," the country is in need of serious transportation innovation.

Senior Sustainability Scientists Narayanan Neithalath, Timothy James and Kamil Kaloush are exploring how to improve the nation's transportation infrastructure by creating safer, less expensive, and more environmentally-friendly and durable structures.

A few of their techniques? Integrating innovative materials such as recycled tires and longer-lasting concrete, and building sensors to monitor structural safety.

According to Neithalath, "We can use less resources, we can make bridges last longer and we can make them less risky. Sustainability is a collaboration of all these different things.”

The COP 22 international climate change conference in Marrakech, Morocco, was a discussion on strategies to implement the Paris Agreement from last year's COP 21. In recognition of the international fight against climate change, the Honor Society for Sustainability hosted a week of events at Wrigley Hall.

Join Green Living magazine for their first annual Simple Solutions Summit in partnership with the VerdeXChange Arizona conference on six pillars of sustainability: Air, Education, Energy, Food, Water and Waste.

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Levi Strauss & Co, WWF-Pakistan, WWF-US, Earth Genome, and Arizona State University  have reached a high-level agreement regarding a collaboration focused on improving watershed health in the Ravi River basin around Lahore, Pakistan in 2017 and beyond.

The project will be a ground-breaking collective action initiative that mixes strong local stakeholder involvement alongside a powerful modeling tool to improving watershed health in the Ravi basin. The new scope will now include a powerful online decision-support tool developed by Earth Genome and ASU that both creates a sophisticated hydrological model of the Ravi basin and can project the future potential impact of large-scale intervention scenarios.

Sustainability scientist Paul Westerhoff has been named a 2016-17 Regents' Professor.

While scientists generally agree that human activity is accelerating Earth’s warming trend, president-elect Donald Trump has called it a hoax. His election was a hot topic at the COP 22 climate meetings in Marrakech, Morocco, where international climate scientists met to discuss implementation of the Paris climate agreement.

School of Sustainability Assistant Professor Sonja Klinsky, who presented research on strategies for global cooperation on climate and human well-being at the meeting in Marrakech, took a few moments to gauge the mood there for ASU Now.

Klinsky described the election results as "devastating to all," and cited several specific concerns. These include an increased vulnerability of Americans to climate change impacts, lost economic opportunities, a tarnished international reputation and eroded trust.

At age 21, Sarra Tekola stood on a stage in Blaine, Washington and shouted to a crowd that she was “born to fight climate change.” Now enrolled in the PhD program at ASU's School of Sustainability, Tekola has been named to Outside magazine's "30 Under 30."

The list features young adults successfully tackling some of the biggest challenges on the planet and leading the way for others. Tekola, the daughter of an Ethiopian refugee who fled his home country after a deadly drought, has been championing climate action for years. Outside nicknames her "The Troublemaker" for her sometimes unconventional way of prompting positive change.

Tekola is now studying how to build eco-communities for underprivileged people.

The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes invites applications for a postdoctoral research fellowship in partnership with Earth Genome (EG). The fellow will help develop water scenario planning tools to assist companies’ stewardship of natural resources by scoping and categorizing projects in large basins across the world.

The project goal is to help Levi Strauss & Co develop science-based water sustainability targets relevant to their operations in Lahore and the River Ravi catchment (part of the larger Indus River system). Additionally, the postdoc will contribute to an ASU-Earth Genome collaboration that aims to apply cutting edge hydrologic science to develop global data support systems for the private sector.

EG is an environmental data analytics organization that provides corporate leaders, government officials, businesses and investors with insights to assist with decision-making, helping to reduce environmental risks on the planet in a time of accelerated changes.