ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO) Founding Director, Leah Gerber, along with members of the Lenfest Fishery Ecosystem Task Force, recently convened and delivered a report that serves as a multifunctional guide for Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) strategies. The report is titled “Building Effective Fishery Ecosystem Plans.”

The mission of this effort is to provide ecosystem-based solutions as the result of collaborations among universities, government agencies, commercial fishermen, and non-profit organizations. These efforts are well aligned with CBO’s mision, which is to enable discoveries and solutions needed to sustain Earth's biodiversity in a time of rapid biophysical, institutional, and cultural change.

The report is designed for an audience with knowledge and interest in fisheries, as well as for managers, council staff, advisors, and other technical professionals. In order to implement an effective EBFM system, the report proposes help in the following three key areas: (1) Provides a current status of fisheries and key principes of the EBFMs to be implemented, (2) Identifies gaps in scientific knowledge, (3) Suggests novel strategies that can be applied to fill these gaps.

Improving education systems for Native Hawaiian learners by cultivating vital community partnerships is the mission of Kamehameha Schools. That's why the organization teamed up with Arizona State University to make it possible for learners worldwide to explore some of Hawaii’s sacred cultural sites.

Through the partnership, KS developed a virtual huaka‘i (field trip) that offers learners the same cognitive and effective gains as a real-life excursion and enables the organization to share its cultural resources without disturbing sacred sites – a concern for cultural practitioners. ASU experts provided technical assistance, surveying the sites, gathering three-dimensional images and creating the online, 360-degree tour.

KS envisions one of the sites, Kahaluʻu Ma Kai, as a hub for innovative Native Hawaiian ʻāina-based STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education.

Recognizing that today’s global energy transitions demand leaders who can navigate interwoven technical, societal and environmental challenges, ASU's School of Sustainability introduced a Doctor of Philosophy in Sustainable Energy in November 2016.

The new PhD transcends the boundaries of traditional methodologies and disciplinary viewpoints to achieve a sustainable energy future. Students in the program conduct collaborative cross-disciplinary research, integrating energy science with societal and policy insights.

Drawing upon emerging knowledge and deep historical insights – as well as integrating information from the physical, biological and social sciences – students will explore and contribute to sustainable solutions that address urgent energy challenges now and in the future.

On November 14, the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO) hosted its Third Annual Biodiversity Research Engagement Symposium. The symposium offers ASU researchers an opportunity to learn about CBO work and explore potential collaborations.

The event was attended by 35 scholars. CBO-funded researchers were showcased, including Penny Langhammer, who discussed her work in measuring ecosystem services delivered by Key Biodiversity Areas in Myanmar. Hongkai Gao talked about the Earth Genome supported Green Infrastructure Support Tool (GIST) and its capability to help companies manage water usage. Kelly Gravuer, The Nature Conservancy NatureNet Fellow, discussed her joint CBO project titled “Climate change mitigation on working lands: negotiating trade-offs and synergies with biodiversity and ecosystem services.”

The remainder of the symposium was dedicated to breakout groups, who explored ways to encourage more biodiversity-focused research at ASU.

Hosted by local, organic Maya's Farm in November 2016, Dinner 2040 was a meal served to spark conversation.

The charrette-style gathering – planned by sustainability scientist Joan McGregor with support from the Food Systems Transformation Initiative – put people from diverse backgrounds around the same table. While enjoying equitably-produced dishes, diners like academics, chefs, activists, legislators and others discussed key values related to food and how they can be better implemented going forward.

McGregor hopes that Dinner 2040 events will serve as a template for “future of food” workshops and dinners in communities across North America. She explores food-related values in detail in a October 2016 Thought Leader Series contribution titled "Putting Values on Our Plates."

Dr. Jim Collins, Affiliated Faculty of the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes has co-authored a policy forum in Science Magazine on “Precaution and governance of emerging technologies.”

Collins and seven other authors summarize the increasing debate of whether or not to add more precautionary approaches to emergent technologies. The latest report titled “Gene Drives on the Horizon” by the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) discusses the emergent technologies and ethics in the field of gene drive research.

The authors discuss the need to first correctly interpret and define precaution in each specific scientific and technological context – from its understanding, use, and its effects downstream. In the case of gene drives, they summarize the NASEM report and outline four lines of recommended research to understand the benefits and potential harms and uncertainties.

Collins et al. finish their forum by acknowledging that precaution could be grounded on emotions (risk panics or innovation thrills) and how NASEM aims to counteract emotion-based research and discoveries.

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A game called “Future Shocks and City Resilience” – created by Senior Sustainability Scientist Lauren Withycombe Keeler – is helping decision-makers take a creative approach to solving complex problems.

The game was played by about 50 people at a November 2016 City of Tempe Resilience Workshop, sponsored by the city, the National League of Cities and ASU's School of Sustainability. Participants – including top city officials and ASU faculty – learned to think about sustainability in much broader terms than, say, recycling.

“It’s sustainability in terms of, how does a city create an environment that is livable for all different types of residents, and is equitable? And does it achieve that in a way that preserves and enhances the natural environment and allows the benefits to be available for future generations?” Withycombe Keeler explained.

In an interview with ASU Now, School of Sustainability Assistant Professor Datu Buyung Agusdinata describes how ASU is supporting the development of a video game – one that helps everyday people understand how their consumption of food, energy and water can affect everything from the environment to income inequality.

The game represents an effort by multiple institutions and is funded through a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Agusdinata leads the ASU team, which will contribute a better understanding of human decision-making in households, as well as of humans' response to psychological cues and social norms.

The game will reveal the preferences and intentions of users, suggesting what they might do under certain conditions in a realistic environment. Ultimately, it will inform concrete and cost-effective methods – including technology and policy – for promoting sustainable consumption.

Guatemala is consistently listed in the top 10 happiest countries in the world, despite the difficulties it faces with poverty and crime. To continue this trend and improve the lives of Guatemala's residents, different groups are working there – including School of Sustainability faculty, alumni and students, who have visited the country for the past two summers.

These visits yield a number of connections, like one between two alumni who were in Guatemala with different organizations and crossed paths unexpectedly. Another graduate from the School of Sustainability is currently working in Guatemala for Habitat for Humanity. A study abroad program also brought students to the country in the summer of 2015, and the faculty member who facilitated the trip – who has visited multiple times since – plans to go back again this December.

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Tempe, AZ – The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) announced today that Sheila Bonini will be stepping down as CEO to take a position at WWF and Euan Murray will be the new CEO effective December 1^st.

In her two years as CEO of TSC, Bonini has led a transformation of the organization to position it to leverage the tremendous scientific-based work through retailer implementation. Under her leadership TSC now has more than 1,700 suppliers using its tools, covering over $135 billion in retail trade. More suppliers are reporting daily, and 2016 should be TSC’s biggest year yet as more retailers join TSC and Walmart continues to expand. In addition to continued implementation at scale by Walmart and Sam’s Club, TSC has deepened its partnership with Kroger and is implementing with other major retailers in North America and Europe. Bonini has helped raise the level of the mission for TSC to drive impact across consumer product supply chains and produced TSC’s first ever Impact Report.

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When research crawls, slithers and stings

The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is excited to welcome its new Project Manager, Amy Scoville-Weaver.

Amy brings a professional background in brand management, strategic planning and community outreach, and has worked in a variety of positions within the humanitarian and environmental space.

She has a BA in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College and a MSc in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Amy has conducted research at University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute. She is interested in the intersection between people and nature in urban environments and in understanding policy implications for strengthening community and ecological resilience.

Welcome aboard, Amy!

At the first-ever meeting of the Global Consortium for Sustainability Outcomes, ASU President Michael Crow described both the depth of the challenge at hand and his excitement to join forces with other universities to make sustainability both a value and an outcome.

The twenty men and women in the room, representatives of eleven universities around the world, had traveled to Tempe to do just that: work together to create sustainability outcomes on a global scale, and at a pace that our current challenges mandate. It was clear from the dialogue over the course of their two days together that this was the goal of every founding member.

The Global Consortium for Sustainability Outcomes is an international network that transforms ideas into action. By joining the consortium – a nonprofit, member-governed organization – members enjoy the benefits of collaboration, international connectivity and the catalytic effect that contributes to sustainability impact.

Cyclists at ASU and in Tempe should check their bike cages during the week of Oct 24th. In conjunction with ASU’s bike month, a team of BikeMaps.org volunteers lead by Dr. Trisalyn Nelson will be delivering water bottles to bike racks across the region in the hopes of raising awareness about cycling safety.

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A Thought Leader Series Piece

by Leon Billings & Thomas Jorling

Note: As the two senior staff members who led the Senate environment subcommittee during the 1970s, Leon Billings and Thomas Jorling are widely regarded as pioneers of the "Golden Age" in environmental policy when Congress developed some of the most influential and enduring legislation – still in effect today.

While electronic media, political commentators and candidates wallow in irrelevancy, our planet’s future hangs in the balance. Actions man has taken over the last century and a half have contaminated the thin patina of atmosphere that we call air.

No, this isn’t conventional air pollution that we have sought to reduce through efficiency and technology. This is climate pollution caused by a group of pollutants called greenhouse gasses, byproducts of man’s use of natural resources to improve the human condition.

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A Thought Leader Series Piece

by Joan McGregor

Food is inseparable from human history, culture and values. It provides significant meaning to people around the world, regardless of nationality. The failure of food systems to recognize these qualities in food contributes to some of the vast inequalities we see today.

A sustainable food system, then, is one that respects historical, cultural and place-based practices. It supports ecological health, considering the current strengths and challenges of a region’s natural resources and protecting them for future generations. Encouraging culinary innovations that contribute to human health and nutrition is another key component.

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AASHE has released the 2016 Sustainable Campus Index, a publication that recognizes top-performing colleges and universities in 17 distinct aspects of sustainability and overall, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). The report also highlights innovative and high-impact initiatives from institutions that submitted STARS reports in the 12 months prior to July 1, 2016. ASU is listed as #1 in Procurement.