On May 20-22, 2016, ASU hosts The National STEM Collaborative as they present the inaugural Women of Color STEM Entrepreneurship Conference entitled The New Normal: Women of Color Innovations and Achievements through STEM Entrepreneurship.

The conference will celebrate women in STEM through panel discussions, keynote speakers and interactive workshops aimed to promote engagement in entrepreneurial opportunities and entrepreneurship education.

This conference supports the Center for Biodiversity Outcome’s mission of broadening diversity in biodiversity science by engaging underserved youth and providing basic literacy and mentorship in environmental and ecological sustainability, with the goal of supporting transition into successful and impactful careers in conservation science and policy.

In an essay titled The advent of the humane economy, Wayne Pacelle – president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States and March 2016 Wrigley Lecture Series speaker – details how an increasing concern over animal protection has inspired changes in business that are beneficial to the bottom line.

A Thought Leader Series Piece

By Wayne Pacelle

Note: Wayne Pacelle is president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization. He is author of the book, "The Humane Economy: How Innovators and Enlightened Consumers Are Transforming the Lives of Animals," and his March 2016 Wrigley Lecture is titled "The Humane Economy." 

A decade ago, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure to stop the extreme confinement of pigs and veal calves on industrial-scale farms. Opponents mounted a vigorous and mocking campaign, claiming that food costs would rise and farmers would suffer if these animals were given just a little room to move beyond tiny crates. The electorate saw through those scare tactics and passed Prop 204 in a landslide, with 62 percent voting to give animals raised for food better lives.

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CBO is looking for a Business Operations Specialist to join our team. The Business Operations Specialist will provide office management, finance, HR, communications, events, administrative, project and program operations support for the Center. We encourage interested and qualified individuals to apply HERE.

The Food Systems Transformation Initiative (FSTI) is excited to collaborate with the Global Youth Innovation Network, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and other partners to support the Youth Agribusiness, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship Summit on Innovation YALESI 2016 held in Dakar, Senegal.

Youth employment and hunger are two key issues that have been impacted by the economic crisis. This is particularly true for youth living in developing countries, representing 85% of the world youth. To address these issues, YALESI 2016 will prioritize young people’s needs, considering their developmental needs, and including underserved populations, such as girls, to an effective and inclusive employment strategy.

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“We have more interest, more data, and more planning tools than we’ve ever had."

This was a sentiment expressed by James Eklund – director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board – at Decision Center for a Desert City's annual keynote on March 3, 2016.

The discussion, titled "A Conversation about Solutions for Water Sustainability in the Colorado River Basin," also included Eklund's Arizona counterpart Tom Buschatzke – director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

The two water chieftains, moderated by sustainability scientist Wellington “Duke” Reiter, explained that Arizona and Colorado have an ample water supply as the result of very careful planning and conservation.

They stressed that this fact should not keep residents of the states from viewing water as the precious resource it is.

Ted Pavlic

Ted, a Sustainability Scientist and Scholar and Professor at the School of Sustainability, has looked to nature to solve the complex problems of today. He found that nature and animals provide examples of how humans can interact with each other and their environment, especially when it comes to sustainability. In the future, he hopes to explore how behavioral analysis can be used when designing resilient and sustainable automation systems.

Janet Franklin 

The health of terrestrial plant communities are critical for human survival not only because we depend on them for food and resources, but because they provide necessary ecological processes, such as absorbing CO2, that our Earth needs to survive.

Janet Franklin researched the effects that climate change, invasive species and human induced disturbances on these vital terrestrial plant communities. She found that the drying effects of climate change effect drier landscapes the most which can lead to fires, insect outbreaks and human disturbances ultimately stressing the entire community, both plants and humans.

In this March 2016 lecture, Dr. Wally Broecker discusses the changes that global warming will bring to our planet.

Broecker, whose research has focused mainly on defining the ocean’s role in climate change, is known as the grandfather of climate science.

Winner of the 1996 U.S. National Medal of Science, Broecker is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a foreign member of the Royal Society, a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and of the European Geophysical Union, and a senior sustainability fellow at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

A Thought Leader Series Piece

By James Hansen

Note: James Hansen is the former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and is an adjunct professor at Columbia University's Earth Institute. He is credited for perceiving the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, and delivered a Wrigley Lecture on the topic in February 2016. This essay appeared in The Arizona Republic in the same month.

The commercials are low-key, but omnipresent. Gentle, warm encouragement, the key message implicit: vote for the political candidates on the take from the fossil-fuel industry. “I am an energy voter” commercials are persuasive. They promise jobs, low prices at the pump, warm homes, and energy independence for our nation.

Benefits for all, or so it seems. In reality, benefits flow mainly to a handful of people, the fossil-fuel magnates, who prefer to be anonymous. “I am an energy voter” commercials, in effect, ask us to place our offspring on a sacrificial alter. As we raise the knife, unlike Abraham, we hear no voice telling us to stop, to put down the knife.

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The Sustainability Solutions Festival returned to Phoenix in February 2016 for its third year at Arizona State University, bringing together global sustainability thought leaders and organizations to celebrate and award entrepreneurs, designers and creative thinkers who are developing solutions to our world’s greatest challenges.

With a number of events appealing to families, business leaders and sustainability experts, host Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives extended the festival from one week to two. Events explored how we can individually and collectively spark imagination, ignite change and illuminate sustainable solutions in our communities.

2016 also marked the first time the festival partnered with ASU's Night of the Open Door, shining a spotlight on sustainability programs and practices across the university through interactive games and a Passport to Sustainability.

Pitu Mirchandani, School of Sustainability

Pitu was named as a fellow to the Insinstitute For Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) for his fundamental research contributions about various aspects of transportation and traffic modeling.

ASU's Wrigley Institute is developing an ‘Introduction to Circular Economy’ program that will introduce students to circular economy principles and implementation strategies. Students will be able to pursue a professional certification program and/or a parallel graduate-level certificate program within the School of Sustainability by 2018.

Arizona State University was announced as a Pioneer University of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's prestigious international Circular Economy 100 (CE100) network. ASU is the first university to join with a city to focus an advancing the circular economy.

James Hansen, legendary for perceiving the threat of catastrophic climate change during his long career as NASA’s chief climatologist, delivered a Wrigley Lecture in February 2016 detailing the latest climate-change developments. He was also a speaker at the GreenBiz University conference, presented in partnership with The Sustainability Consortium and the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives.

Hansen, a professor at the Columbia University Earth Institute, talked about how current policies are falling short, and what he thinks will work. He spoke about his plan for a carbon fee, calling it the only viable way to move away from fossil fuels that contribute to man-made climate change.

Click here to read his Thought Leader Series essay, which was featured in The Arizona Republic. The full video of his Wrigley Lecture can be viewed here.

Rolf Halden 

Chemicals and pesticides used within homes, agriculture and industries pour into our environment. Unfortunately, the poor effects of these compounds on the human and ecological environments are often overlooked.

Rolf Halden and a team of experts have created a new study that tracks the use of chemicals and pesticides known as fiproles. These contaminants have been found to kill off pollinating insects that are vital to human and ecological lifestyles. The study continues to explore the effects of these contaminants around the world, including human health, soil and ground contamination and pollution.

Martin Pasqualetti

Pasqualetti explored the social and cultural disparities of the Navajo Nation as they have the greatest potential, in comparison with every tribe in the United States, to lead the way in renewable energy. He found that the lack of renewable energy use and creation in the Navajo land is solely due to social aspects rather than environmental.