SAN BRUNO, Calif., Feb. 24, 2015 – Walmart announced today the debut of its Sustainability Leaders shop, an online shopping portal on Walmart.com that helps customers identify and purchase products from suppliers that are leading in sustainability.
The launch of the Sustainability Leaders shop builds on the company’s ambition to provide customers more information about the products they purchase at Walmart. The new portal helps to advance Walmart’s goal to offer customers a way to choose products they can afford, and that are produced in an environmentally and socially responsible way.
The Sustainability Leaders shop is the customer-facing iteration of Walmart’s Sustainability Index, launched in 2009 in collaboration with The Sustainability Consortium (TSC), an independent, third-party organization of academic-based scientists and more than 100 member organizations that creates tools and strategies to drive more sustainable consumer products. Over the last several years, Walmart and TSC have worked with suppliers, several leading non-profit organizations and TSC to build the Sustainability Index.
This year's annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science - the world’s largest science and technology society - featured research from ASU sustainability scientists. Topics ranged from the sustainable intensification of food production, as discussed by geographer B. L. Turner II in a panel symposium, to the sequestering of atmospheric carbon dioxide through ranching techniques, an idea being explored by Peter Byck and his SoilCarbon Nation team.
Additionally, Nadya Bliss - an assistant vice president for research strategy in the Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development - is working with science historian Manfred Laubichler to develop a set of mathematical techniques to detect patterns in networks that point to the emergence of innovation in research.
The annual meeting draws thousands of scientists, engineers, educators, policymakers and journalists from around the world.
Note:March 3 marks the launch of ASU's new Biomimicry Center, established in partnership with Montana-based Biomimicry 3.8, and co-directed by Prasad Boradkar. In this essay, Boradkar describes how biomimicry can help us create solutions to address our problems in sustainable ways.
A short five-minute walk takes me from my suburban home in south Phoenix to the Sonoran Desert, from the highly standardized and manufactured human-made world into the somewhat wild and undomesticated natural world.
Satellite views show stark differences between the two landscapes: rectilinear, hard lines divide the land inhabited by people, while meandering, unrestrained territories mark the land inhabited by all other creatures. We have, by design, created in contrast to the natural world, an artificial world of products, buildings and cities.
Philosopher Richard Buchanan describes design as “conception and planning of the artificial.” Using these processes of planning, we have created everything from tiny paperclips to enormous jet aircraft, from the smallest dwellings to the largest metropolises. And though these things are made of such materials of human creation as chrome-plated steel, aluminum and reinforced concrete, they are all ultimately extracted from the natural world. From the natural emerges the artificial.
A new paradigm focused on integrated resource management is emerging in response to the current unsustainable pace of resource consumption, waste production, and the increasing financial, social and environmental cost of managing resources. Recognizing this opportunity, the City of Phoenix and the ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiative (WSSI) within the Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS) have partnered to establish the Resource Innovation and Solutions Network (RISN). RISN brings together university, government, business and non-governmental partners to transform the relationship between resources, the environment and the economy in order to create a resource-focused Circular Economy (CE) platform that makes urban areas healthier, resilient and more efficient. CE can be defined as an industrial economy where there is no waste and therefore is restorative by intention, aims to rely on renewable energy, and hopefully eradicates waste through careful design. In the context of waste and waste stream resources, CE flows are self-sustaining and comprise a closed loop of resources that are reused and recycled so that almost no waste is produced.
RISN positions the business case for sustainability that drives industry-related initiatives that promote economic development. It is this business case that not only drives the agenda for decision makers, but also supports the appropriate definition of the scope of problems and related opportunities. It enables them to recognize the conditions under which decisions must be made, implemented and monitored to significantly transform their cities.
RISN advances integrated resource management through a global network of public and private partners using collaboration, research, innovation and application of technologies to create economic value, driving a sustainable circular economy. The initiative connects with innovators and organizations looking to create, implement and/or enhance sustainability solutions. Developing solutions in collaboration with RISN’s public and private partners provides access to research and expertise from the nation’s leading sustainability education institution, feedstock and facility resources from one of the nation’s largest and most ambitious municipalities, and shared knowledge from like-minded organizations working to create economic value that drives a sustainable circular economy.
The potential impacts of RISN initiatives begin with increased waste aversion, diversion and better use of diverted waste and recycling material. More importantly, RISN is focused on economic development outcomes: creation of new new local businesses, growth of existing ones and jobs.
• Green Organics Regional System Design (coming soon!) to develop a current status map and system design for landscape waste throughout the Phoenix metropolitan region. It will include a regional map of available feedstock volume and type, along with a system design that identifies the specific sites and technologies where the type and volume of available feedstock can be processed economically and environmentally, based on a flexible market demand determination. Within the month, outreach efforts will commence to engage city Solid Waste Divisions.
• Multi-Family Recycling is a solutions-oriented research and student-led project that will identify opportunities and strategies to implement waste-reduction in multi-family housing complexes.
• Food Scrap and Resource Feasibility study will develop a Phoenix food scraps conversion program, in partnership with the local grocers and the City of Phoenix. This project will assess the economic viability of pre-consumer food waste solutions and to quantify the amount, quality, and location of food-waste feedstock in the Phoenix metropolitan region.
• Waste Assessment Tool project is the development of a Resource Valuation Assessment (RVA) Tool to identify the processing costs associated with internal waste management and educate organizations in best waste management practices.
• Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) Waste Reduction project is a solutions-oriented and student-led project that is implementing waste reduction programs throughout all PVUSD schools through developing optimal recycling and waste policies. The basis of this project is a student-led research effort and teacher workshops conducted by ASU Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools.
• Living Building Challenge Course and Analysis is being taught at ASU’s School of Sustainability to explore the opportunities to incorporate Living Building concepts into the master plan for the RISN campus as well as the envisioned headquarters building.
• Regional GHG Emissions Measurement project to develop a state-of-the-art comprehensive regional GHG emissions management system that will set the gold standard for how cities address urban climate protection, public engagement and collaborative sustainability-driven economic development.
Marking the culmination of the Sustainability Solutions Festival, the Sustival will ask attendees to reimagine how one person, one community or one organization can positively impact our future. The celebration takes places at the Civic Space Park in downtown Phoenix, and will feature art, educational opportunities and entertainment. It will kick off with a bike parade through the Roosevelt Row arts district.
“We organized the Sustival not only to shed light on sustainability challenges, but to also celebrate and acknowledge those who are tackling them head-on,” said Kelly Saunders, program manager for the Sustainability Solutions Festival. “The Sustival brings together the community to learn how to have less impact on the environment, support an equitable economy and promote a prosperous society.”
ASU's new Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, led by faculty in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, aims to show that capturing excess carbon dioxide is a viable way to stabilize and reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. With novel technology that uses plastic resin to capture carbon dioxide when dry and release it when moist, the center transcends the limitations of traditional carbon reduction approaches.
The center also intends to show the economic viability of carbon capture by demonstrating its many uses. Recycled carbon could power the production of synthetic fuels, as well as provide an essential food source for plants in greenhouses. In fact, carbon dioxide collected by air capture units could enhance the yield of algae-based biofuels.
In light of its groundbreaking work, the center expects to find a place within ASU's sustainable solutions framework alongside LightWorks, PlanetWorks and the ASU Wrigley Institute.
TEMPE, Ariz - The power of global business leaders discussing the latest trends, challenges and opportunities in sustainable business is returning to Arizona State University for GreenBiz U, a shadow conference of the 2015 GreenBiz Forum taking place in Paradise Valley, AZ, Feb. 17-19.
A part of the second annual Sustainability Solutions Festival, a program of the ASU Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, GreenBiz U will bring GreenBiz Forum keynote speakers to the ASU Tempe campus for three days of insights and discussions with sustainability business, education and thought leaders such as Carter Roberts (President and CEO, World Wildlife Fund), Aaron Hurst (Author of “The Purpose Economy”), Jackie Prince Roberts (Chief Sustainability Officer for the Carlyle Group), and Sheila Bonini (CEO of The Sustainability Consortium).
Erik Johnston, Center for Policy Informatics, Arizona State University
Dara Wald, Center for Policy Informatics and Decision Center for a Desert City, Arizona State University
For the past six years we have worked with the NSF-supported Decision Center for a Desert City at Arizona State University to create educational experiences using the WaterSim Platform. This model, based on water demand and supply in the Phoenix Metropolitan area, was developed to help stakeholders deliberate on and explore the consequences of urban water planning decisions in central Arizona. The user-interface allows participants to adjust various parameters—population growth, climate change, agricultural water use, urban development, and residential water use—and receive instant feedback on their decisions.
We believe that only through experiencing the realities of complexity, uncertainty and human behavior, can modern public administration challenges be understood.
In teaching game theory to students in the School of Public Affairs, we describe the concepts of "mutual best responses" and "dominant strategies," but it is only when the students participate in a 1-2 hour game theory tournament, does the nuance of strategic interaction hit home.
During the 20-30 rounds of games—where Skittles are the currency—students play in pairs, in groups, single rounds and repeated interactions, and in cooperative and not-so-cooperative arrangements. In response to game play, the most common phrase we hear is, "That is not how they were supposed to behave." Within minutes it becomes clear that, as in real-life public administration challenges, knowledge is useful, but the essential component is experience, particularly multiple experiences with varying outcomes. However, there are limits to the use of Skittles.
To address more sophisticated challenges, we have developed an interactive, collaborative simulation to provide an environment for students to experience the challenges of modern public administration, including complex systems that illustrate the interplay of policy, infrastructure, climate uncertainty, and multiple interdependent stakeholders.
Joni Adamson likes to call herself a “Jill of all trades.” Adamson, a professor of English and Environmental Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) and a Senior Sustainability Scholar at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU, has developed an impressive repertoire of research interests including but not limited to: environmental humanities, environmental literature and film, Sonoran Desert ecosystems and cultures, global indigenous studies, food sovereignty, and critical plant studies.
The Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes is the top university-based science and technology think tank in the U.S., according to the 2014 Global Go To Think Tanks Report. The report, published by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, ranks the ASU department tenth out of 45 science and technology think tanks worldwide.
This blog continues our feature series on the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. In order to achieve or surpass the EPA’s expectations for Building Block 4 of the plan, energy efficiency, Arizona will need to continue the current trajectory of its energy efficiency savings beyond the 2020 timeframe.
How will we feed a world population that is predicted to grow to 9.6 billion people by 2050, using only the resources that are available to us today?
The answer may be what scientists call sustainable intensification. Arizona State University geographer B. L. Turner II was a discussant at a panel symposium on that topic at the 2015 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), held in San Jose, Calif.
Sustainable intensification refers to increasing food production without reducing environmental quality, and takes into account a broad range of factors including a changing climate, changing patterns of consumption, and the need to sustain both natural resources and human livelihoods.
Turner, a distinguished sustainability scientist in ASU's Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, is an expert in human-environment relationships, both modern-day and historical. Part of his extensive body of work includes examining how climate change affects a civilization's ability to feed its people, and conversely, how changing patterns of farmland cultivation affect climate through things like deforestation and desertification.
GreenBiz U, a shadow conference of the 2015 GreenBiz Forum, brings sustainability business, education and thought leaders to ASU for a discussion of the latest trends, challenges and opportunities in sustainable business. The experts will cover topics ranging from portable solar electronics to the State of Green Business report, which will be discussed during the GreenBiz Forum in Paradise Valley.
GreenBiz U is part of the second annual Sustainability Solutions Festival, a program of the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives. It marks the first campus presentation by Sheila Bonini, who was named CEO of The Sustainability Consortium, a multi-stakeholder nonprofit organization that translates scientific information into business practice, last fall.
"This is an extraordinary collaboration with far-ranging impact,” said Joel Makower, chairman and executive editor of GreenBiz Group, Inc. “By leveraging our collective networks and knowledge bases, we are convening an unparalleled group of speakers and attendees that will make this week a truly exceptional opportunity for knowledge sharing and networking among the sustainable business community."
As media outlets increasingly tout the possibilities of algae as a resource for the future, more and more people are beginning to ask the question- “why algae?” With recognition of being one of nature′s most prolific and efficient photosynthetic plants, algae is speculated to serve as the foundation for a new generation of renewable and low-carbon transportation fuels, as well as serving as a major component for numerous bioproducts. It is no wonder why a group of multidisciplinary researchers have come together to explore this fascinating organism further in a resource hub named the Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation (AzCATI).
Halden is co-leading a CBO research focal area on Biodiversity and Public Health with a keen interest in this emerging issue of micro plastics as aquatic pollutants.
The Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives honored five teams of middle school students at the 2015 Arizona Regional Future City Competition, an initiative of DiscoverE that promotes engineering careers to young learners. This year's theme, “Feeding Future Cities,” asked participants to design cities that provided one protein and one vegetable source for inhabitants.
The teams spent four months designing their future cities using SimCity software and fashioning prototypes using recycled materials. The recipients of Walton Sustainable Community Awards were recognized for their particularly innovative application of community health and civic design. All participants learned valuable lessons in engineering, sustainability and science, as well as important skills such as public speaking and presentation.
This year, the annual Founder's Day Awards Dinner - taking place at the Arizona Biltmore on March 5 - will recognize alumni, faculty and supporters who have made game-changing contributions to the field of sustainability. Among the awardees are School of Sustainability graduate Ryan Delaney; School of Sustainability faculty Christopher Wharton and Hallie Eakin; sustainability scientists Jim Elser and Chad Johnson; and Norton and Ramsey Sustainability Scholarship benefactor Rev. Jenny Norton.
The Philanthropists of the Year Award will be presented to Rob and Melani Walton in recognition of their dedication to creativity, innovation and engaged practice in creating a more sustainable world. They have demonstrated this through corporate leadership and philanthropy, such as their investment in ASU's Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives. The seven programs of the Walton Initiatives are designed to develop scalable solutions to global economic, social and environmental challenges.
Because water supply and demand face equally uncertain futures, a strategy that considers their relationship and anticipates a range of possible future scenarios for these two fundamental aspects of water use might be the wisest approach for water resource managers.
Abstract
Uncertainty has been a driving factor in water resource planning for several decades, particularly in arid regions and in those with a high degree of interannual variability in precipitation.
In the last few decades, anticipatory governance has emerged as an approach for planning under conditions of high uncertainty.
In shifting from a predict-and-plan approach, water resource managers are anticipating a wide range of futures, developing response strategies, and adapting to anticipated changes as needed.
The uncertainty of water supply has been the primary focus of such efforts primarily because of the potential for long-term drought and climate change.
Until recently, water-demand estimating and forecasting have been viewed with greater certainty than water supply, with a focus on revenue projections, infrastructure capacity planning, and how demand can be reduced in the long term and quickly during drought.
However, water-demand estimating and forecasting have high levels of uncertainty, particularly in the longer time frame, and thus can also benefit from anticipatory governance. Integrated water resource planning is an approach that brings the uncertainty of water demand and supply into a common anticipatory governance framework.
As one of this year’s Fulbright Scholars, Arizona State University hydrology professor Enrique Vivoni will have an opportunity to work with some of Mexico’s leading experts in his field to advance his collaborative studies of the shared water resources between the U.S. and Mexico. The award enables him to spend nine months beginning in August 2015 conducting research at the Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada in Ensenada, Baja California, and the research center of Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología.
SAN BRUNO, Calif., Feb. 24, 2015 – Walmart announced today the debut of its Sustainability Leaders shop, an online shopping portal on Walmart.com that helps customers identify and purchase products from suppliers that are leading in sustainability.
Joni Adamson likes to call herself a “Jill of all trades.” Adamson, a professor of English and Environmental Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) and a Senior Sustainability Scholar at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU, has developed an impressive repertoire of research interests including but not limited to: environmental humanities, environmental literature and film, Sonoran Desert ecosystems and cultures, global indigenous studies, food sovereignty, and critical plant studies.
As media outlets increasingly tout the possibilities of algae as a resource for the future, more and more people are beginning to ask the question- “
Uncertainty has been a driving factor in water resource planning for several decades, particularly in arid regions and in those with a high degree of interannual variability in precipitation.