What would it take to promote human prosperity and well-being for all, while protecting and enhancing the Earth’s life support systems? Hundreds of community members and leaders gathered at the second biennial Big Ideas on the Big Island Conversations to tackle this question by shining a light on the role of culture, values, and business in creating a sustainable future. Hosted at the Hualālai Resort in March 2016, this two-day event showcased two inspiring and engaging panel discussions entitled “Values, Sustainability, and Solutions” and “Business, Sustainability, and the Bottom Line.”

Chris Boone, Dean of the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University (ASU), kicked off the first day with the panel on “Values, Sustainability, and Solutions.” Four panelists explored how diverse cultures and values can be useful for designing strategies for sustainability.

Greg Chun from the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa specializes in mediating difficult conversations especially when culture and traditions clash with development and change. Chun believes “the sustainability challenge before us is really more an issue of values than it is about science and technology.”

Bryan Brayboy, Special Advisor to the ASU President on American Indian Affairs and Director of the ASU Center for Indian Education, shared the importance of integrating indigenous knowledge, culture, and values with other discourses. “We can elevate the sustainability of indigenous populations around the world by embracing the intersection of culture, societal norms, and new discoveries,” Brayboy said. Higher education provides opportunities for life-long learners to promote prosperity for all while remaining grounded in cultural traditions.

Miki Tomita, Director of the Learning Center for the Polynesian Voyaging Society, described the significance of the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, which seeks to engage communities worldwide on practicing how to live sustainably, while sharing Polynesian culture. By learning from the past and each other and creating global relationships, we can inspire action to care for Island Earth and discover wonders if Island Earth.

Prasad Boradkar, Co-Director of the Biomimicry Center at ASU, where students in design, business, engineering and sustainability partner with corporations to develop biologically inspired product concepts that benefit society and minimize environmental impacts. Boradkar stated that biomimicry embraces the Hawaiian concept of Aloha 'Āina, which means love of the land.

Following on the heels of an inspiring first session, Gary Dirks, Director of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, kicked of the second day by leading a panel discussion on “Business, Sustainability, and the Bottom Line.” Representatives from the private sector discussed their views on how business engages, innovates, invests, trains, and develops towards a prosperous future.

Bruno Sarda, former Director of Social Responsibility at Dell Inc., shared resourceful solutions for improving sustainability throughout Dell’s supply chain. Dell partners with organizations around the world to identify materials that can be repurposed for technology components. Since 2015, Dell has partnered with supplier SABIC to incorporate recycled carbon fiber in their products with the goal of removing 820,000 pounds of it from the landfill.

Sheila Bonini, Executive Director of The Sustainability Consortium, took the audience further up the supply chain and described efforts to trace the sustainability of thousands of consumer goods.

Jacqui Hoover, Executive Director of the Hawaiʻi Island Economic Development Board, discussed the role of public-private partnerships and community involvement in advancing sustainability.

Jin Yong-Cai, former President of the International Finance Corporation, discussed the importance of finance in making or breaking alternative energy decisions.

At the conclusion of both panel discussions, members of the audience showed their support with a series of standing ovations. We hope that participants share this message and do their part so our collective action can lead to prosperity for our planet and our people.

About the Big Ideas on the Big Island Conversations

Fostered by Co-Chairs Julie Ann Wrigley, Jacquie Dorrance, Bennett Dorrance, Jr., and John DeFries, the Big Ideas on the Big Island Conversations is a collaborative opportunity for people from all walks of life to work together on new solutions to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future. Following the inaugural event in 2014, the Big Ideas network in Hawaiʻi has expanded to over 300 partners, stakeholders, and friends who are committed to advancing sustainability in Hawaiʻi and across the globe. Check out the Hawaiʻi Sizzle Reel for more information.

As biodiversity is depleted, ASU oceanographer Leah Gerber – director of the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes – guides a United Nations panel that helps policy makers navigate scientific literature on the topic.

Gerber was named coordinating lead author of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a panel of scientists who will review the massive body of scientific literature around biodiversity and ecosystem services. The panel will organize the combined knowledge into a report that is both relevant and accessible to those who make decisions that impact plant and animal life.

The first authors’ meeting took place in Bonn, Germany, in August of 2016.

Charles Redman, of the UREx SRN, speaks to KTAR news about the network and its plan to make cities, like Phoenix, more resilient towards heat.

Phoenix is known for its sweltering summer days and increasing daytime temperatures; however, its nighttime lows are increasing at an even more rapid pace. Redman explains that at some point we will cross a threshold of what people, plants, and animals can cope with, and it will come down to how we utilize our resources to find a solution.

UREx’s Charles Redman, Nancy Grimm, and Paul Coseo contribute to an ASU Now article about solutions to prepare cities, like Phoenix, for an even warmer future and how UREx, a solution-oriented project, plans to make a difference.

Most people in the valley would agree that everyone relies primarily on air conditioning as their line of defense against heat; however, as temperatures increase we need to consider and come up with other methods of mitigating the effects of heat, such as green roofs or heat-resistant asphalt.

Through SustainPHX, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton has called for the PHX Innovation Games, a challenge for city residents, entrepreneurs, innovators, students, businesses, and other organizations to find innovative ways to make the city more sustainable.

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If you are a graduate student and want to further conservation efforts in the Amazon while building relationships that could lead to future collaborations, explore the ASU Global Development Research (GDR) Program in Brazil. This program was created through a partnership between Arizona State University and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). All research, travel and living expenses are paid.

For more information, click here.

David Abbott, associate professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, received not one, but two distinguishing awards this summer for his archaeological work in Arizona: the Arizona Archaeological Society’s 2016 Professional Archaeologist Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Governor’s Archaeological Advisory Commission.

ASU researchers are working on a range of long-term solutions to beat the Phoenix heat. Among them are members of the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network, like sustainability scientists Nancy Grimm and Chuck Redman.

According to Redman, solutions to challenges like heat need to come from a variety of places. He points to landscaping, water use and green roofs as opportunities for improved cooling. Grimm stresses the need to strengthen power infrastructure, our first line of defense against the summer heat. If temperatures trend upward toward 130 degrees, she says, it becomes even more crucial that our infrastructure can withstand both an increased demand for cooling and the heat itself.

Sustainability Connect is pleased to welcome Sydney Lines to our team as the new Sustainability Connect Coordinator.

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Team of researchers marks ASU's first visit to the island nation with scientific cooperation, relationship building and mutual respect.

The Stardust Center for Affordable Homes & the Family is offering grants to Master of Sustainability Solutions (MSUS) students who participate in MSUS Culminating Experience projects that focus on affordable housing and community well-being. Starting in Fall of 2016, applications for the $1,500 (per student/per semester) grants will be open.

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The question of how to improve communication between the the science community and emergency managers was a major focus of a Climate and Risk Management Workshop held at DEMA on July 13, 2016.

Nalini Chhetri, a Sr. Sustainability Scientist at the Wrigley Institute, was one of five lead investigators whose job was to help improve how climate science data—and the extremes it portends—is presented so as to inspire increased investment in risk mitigation and planning for severe weather events.

Senior Sustainability Scientist Kiril Hristovski is honored by Gjorge Ivanov, president of Macedonia, for his invaluable contribution to the preservation and affirmation of Macedonia's historical, cultural and spiritual traditions and values. 22 years ago, Hristovski was honored by then-US-president George Bush for academic achievement.

In a July 2016 commentary in The World Post, Fron Nahzi – global business development director for the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives' – describes the status of Kosovo's energy transition. He explains that though clean energy is seen as an attractive alternative to the current coal-powered system in that country, the cost of new infrastructure presents a challenge.

When asked to design a program on renewable energy and sustainability to be presented in Kosovo – a country that relies on two coal-fueled power plants – the School of Sustainability's Ryan Johnson gladly accepted.

Johnson, who directs the school's professional training and custom sustainability education efforts, then approached geographer Martin Pasqualetti and electrical engineer Ron Roedel because of their expertise in renewable energy, as well as with a similar program in the Middle East.

After studying Kosovo's great solar potential, the two professors presented their insights at a two-week seminar beginning in May 2016. Each day was split between presentations by Pasqualetti – a sustainability scientist who focused on the social aspects of transitioning to a new energy source – and Roedel, who focused on the technical aspects of renewable energy. Together, they demonstrated the value of renewable energy and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Developed economies have historically attributed their growth and productivity to urbanization. But in the developing world, urbanization is often associated with negative outcomes like poverty and environmental degradation, says Senior Sustainability Scientist José Lobo.

In a May 2016 contribution to UGEC Viewpoints – a blog of the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change program, hosted by the ASU Wrigley Institute – Lobo considers how urban planning can be implemented to improve the slums of the developing world. He writes that traditional forms of urban planning can have tragic consequences, like evictions and relocations, and points to data collection and community engagement as means to sustainability.

Lobo, who co-leads the Slums, Neighborhoods and Human Development Cities project, also expressed his hope for slums in this January 2016 article, which appeared in ASU Now.

The average American suburb faces many sustainability challenges, including low-density and auto-centric development. But according to Senior Sustainability Scholar Grady Gammage, Jr., suburban cities are also a source of promise.

In his latest book, "The Future of the Suburban City," Gammage takes a fresh look at what it means to be sustainable. He shows that suburbs have a few advantages in an era of climate change, and provides examples of cities that are already making strides toward increased resilience. With these examples, he demonstrates the power of collective action to address the challenges of geography through public policy.

The book, developed with support from the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, serves as a realistic yet hopeful story of Phoenix and shows what is possible for any suburban city.

When a massive locust outbreak struck Argentina in 2016, Senior Sustainability Scientist Arianne Cease flew to the scene to offer her expertise.

Cease, a professor in the School of Sustainability, has studied locusts around the world. She and her lab manager arrived to swarms more than four miles long and two miles high – the worst Argentina had seen in 60 years.

After assessing the situation and sharing her research, Cease hosted a two-day workshop. Here, she described to university researchers and government officials how to address locust outbreaks using a systems approach.

With the aim of creating a rapid-response team to address situations like the one in Argentina, Cease is building a Global Locust Consortium. She hopes to host the initial meeting by early 2017.

In a Christian Science Monitor contribution titled "Water management is a wicked problem, but not an unsolvable one," School of Sustainability alumnus Christa Brelsford untangles the web of water supply and demand.

Brelsford, a postdoctoral fellow of the Arizona State University-Santa Fe Institute Center for Biosocial Complex Systems, discusses the reality of water in the West, writing "There is no new water to allocate, and so the water management task now is to make the best possible use of the water resources that are available."

She goes on to say that water management – which lies at the intersection of economic, legal, political, hydrological, climatological, ecological, agricultural and engineered systems – can result in solutions when a complex systems perspective is applied.

Imagine a village that boasts an open meadow with tall grasses accessible to all.

A local farming family has grazed sheep there for years without issue. But when the rest of the town’s sheep farmers discover its lush pastures, it becomes over-grazed and unable to feed anyone’s sheep.

The commons – common-pool resources like the meadow – are no stranger to conflict and debate. But as two sustainability scientists at Arizona State University explain in the latest edition of their book, Sustaining the Commons, they are also not without solutions.

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