Demonstrating the caliber of research that the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability supports, four members of its Sustainability Scientists and Scholars program recently received substantial awards from the National Science Foundation. The awards, which total more than $5 million, will support a range of research activities.

Sustainability scientists Hallie Eakin, Charles Perrings, Becky Ball and Thomas Seager each serve as the principle investigator of an awarded project. From reducing vulnerability in urban environments like Mexico city, to analyzing how Antarctic soil communities respond to environmental changes, their projects will yield research significant to sustainability. Several of the projects, like one aimed at improving strategies to decrease the spread of trade-related diseases, will do so using sophisticated modeling tools.

During his recent Sustainability Series presentation at ASU's Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack discussed the U.S. farming industry's shift to renewable energy. Vilsack shared that, according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, the number of farmers and ranchers transitioning to renewable energy has doubled since 2007. In fact,  solar panels accounted for nearly two-thirds of farms' energy-producing systems.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Energy to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and diversify our portfolio of biofuels and other renewable energy sources,” Vilsack said. “We are also engaging with universities like ASU to explore innovative solutions for challenges related to energy, food and sustainability.”

Vilsack also emphasized how developing a deeper understanding of agriculture's role in the future of energy, innovation and economic growth, particularly in rural areas, will be key to addressing global sustainability challenges.

Through the Global Sustainability Studies Program, one of the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, 15 ASU students completed an urban sustainability policy course at Hong Kong's City University. The ASU students, all enrolled in the School of Sustainability, worked alongside Chinese students throughout the rigorous, two-week course co-taught by Professor Rob Melnick.

Students attended lectures every morning and participated in field trips in the afternoons, enabling them to see the city - one of over 7 million people in under 430 square miles. They shared their research and experience at a recent Sustainability Series presentation.

“Hong Kong was fascinating to me because of its density and the fact that it’s facing the sustainability challenges of the future right now,” said Melissa Davidson, a graduate student in the School of Sustainability’s Master’s of Sustainable Solutions. “Hong Kong-like density is going to continue to dominate our world’s major cities. Understanding the problems in a different context is going to help us as future sustainability scientists to be better equipped to deal with the problems we’re all going to face eventually.”

Sheila Bonini, an expert in corporate sustainability, has been appointed CEO of The Sustainability Consortium® (TSC). Having served as senior expert consultant and co-leader of McKinsey & Company's Sustainability Transformation Service for more than 15 years, she brings extensive experience in the field. Bonini also joins the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability community of Sustainability Scientists and Scholars.

TSC, a unit of ASU's Wrigley Institute, is a signature public-private partnership focused on consumer product sustainability. It was co-founded in 2009 by ASU and the University of Arkansas to develop a new scientific approach to measuring the sustainability of consumer products. This resulted in the development of the Product Sustainability Toolkit, which helps businesses to identify improvement opportunities in design, supply chain and purchasing. Today, the number of TSC member organizations exceeds 90 and includes some of the largest consumer product companies in the world.

Continuing ASU's tradition of shaping Arizona’s energy future, Gary Dirks - director of LightWorks, the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and the Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership (ATP3) - has been named a member of Governor Jan Brewer’s State Energy Advisory Board. Established as part of the governor’s 2014 Executive Order adopting the state’s Master Energy Plan, the new board will help to ensure that Arizona's energy industry remains reliable, secure and affordable in the long-term.

Through Dirks' leadership, ASU has been involved in a number of projects that shape our energy future both in Arizona and across the globe. This year, along with numerous ASU partners, Dirks was instrumental in the creation of the Renewable Energy Leadership Training Program. The program provides strategic workshops on, and opportunities to assist with, energy transitions in various nations. This allows both ASU and participating nations to gain valuable insight into the complexities of such transitions. The first session included participants from Palestine, with additional projects forthcoming in both Albania and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The School of Life Sciences announces a Master of Science degree in Plant Biology and Conservation.

Rebecca Tsosie is a senior sustainability scientist and Regents' Professor of Law at Arizona State University. In this essay, she examines sustainability policies and practices as they relate to Indigenous peoples, and illustrates why placing Indigenous peoples at the center of sustainability studies is a valuable approach.

A Thought Leader Series Piece

By Rebecca Tsosie

Note: Rebecca Tsosie is a senior sustainability scientist and Regents’ Professor of Law at Arizona State University.

There are two ways to view the relationship between Indigenous peoples and sustainability policy. One approach places them at the center of sustainability studies, and one relegates them to the periphery. The latter approach became the subject of a recent controversy between experts commenting on the latest draft of the United Nations’ new sustainable development policy.

Significance of the term “Indigenous peoples”

Several weeks ago, a panel of experts from the United Nations expressed concern that the latest draft of Sustainable Development Goals had deleted all references to “Indigenous peoples,” substituting instead the phrase “Indigenous and local communities.” The shift might seem harmless to the uninformed reader. However, as the U.N. experts noted, the effect of the change was to undermine the success that Indigenous peoples have had in claiming their rightful identity as “peoples” with a right to “self-determination,” equivalent to that of all other peoples under international law.

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A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences quantifies the loss of rangeland, such as grasslands and savannas, in the United States and Argentina. Using census data and remote sensors, the research team - which included Distinguished Sustainability Scientist Osvaldo Sala - found that encroaching woody plants like shrubs and trees diminish livestock production.

“While the phenomenon of woody plant invasion has been occurring for decades, for the first time, we have quantified the losses in ecosystem services,” said Sala. “We found that an increase in tree and shrub cover of 1 percent leads to a 2 percent loss in livestock production.”

Because, according to the study's findings, woody plant cover in North America increases at a rate of between .5 and 2 percent each year, rangelands are likely to experience a continued decrease in meat production.

A study published in the journal Earth's Future, authored in part by former Urban Ecology IGERT fellow Nate Toké and School of Sustainability Dean Christopher Boone, was cited in several recent news articles. Both Popular Science and KQED Science covered the team's findings, which demonstrate that the population living near fault zones in the Los Angeles area is predominantly wealthy.

This is significant because close proximity to environmental hazards typically dictates lower property values, meaning poor populations are commonly the most socially vulnerable. In examining why wealthy individuals would choose to live in high-risk locations, the team found that a 1971 zoning act forbidding construction on fault lines inadvertently encouraged green belts to flourish. The attractive vegetation outweighed the dangers posed by potential earthquakes, and wealthy individuals began to build homes near these areas.

According to Toké, "One of the most important observations from this study is that the distribution of high social vulnerability is more strongly tied to the absence of the amenity of parks and greenspace than to natural hazards.”

The Ecological Society of America held its annual meeting in Sacramento from August 10-15, 2014. CAP was well represented at this meeting by several scientists and students. Below are the sessions in which students and scientists presented CAP-related research.

Convergence of microclimate across diverse cities in the US CAP presenters: Sharon Hall and Kelli Larson

Climate change, ecosystem services, and biogeochemical cycles CAP presenter: Nancy Grimm

Climate change, ecosystems, biodiversity and ecosystem services CAP presenter: Nancy Grimm

Homogenization of plant diversity in six major USA cites: Integrating socio-economic, environmental, and phylogenetic information CAP presenters: Sharon Hall and Kelli Larson

Enhancing Urban Sustainability: Social and Ecological Dimensions CAP presenters: Dan Childers and Melissa Davidson

Urban Ecosystems I CAP presenters: Sharon Hall, Kelli Larson, Julie Ripplinger, and Janet Franklin

Cross-taxa comparative analysis of long-term community data CAP presenter: Julie Ripplinger

Novel flow regimes and novel plant communities: strategies of urban-adapted riparian plants CAP presenter: Julie Stromberg

Moving from the ecology of cities to ecology for cities: Integrating urban ecology, design, and decision-making for urban sustainability CAP presenters: Dan Childers and Melissa Davidson

Sustainability: Urban Systems CAP presenters: Melissa McHale and Nancy Grimm

Carbon Lost vs. carbon gained:  A study of carbon tradeoffs among land uses in Phoenix, AZ, reveals the inadequacy of statistical spatial scaling techniques and the need for new methodologies for understanding carbon dynamics across cities CAP presenters: Nancy Grimm, Ananda Majumdar, and Melissa McHale

When the economic engine stalls: An examination of plant communities in post-recession urban landscapes CAP presenters: Julie Ripplinger and Janet Franklin

An article recently published in the Idaho Mountain Express examines resident Julie Ann Wrigley's interest in sustainability. The article, titled "Julie Wrigley puts her money where the green is," places special emphasis on the $50 million contribution that the philanthropist and environmentalist has made to ASU's Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, a department named in her honor.

According to the article, Wrigley's donation was inspired by the vision of Michael Crow, president of ASU and author of the "New American University Reader." She  cites ASU's willingness to work across disciplines and form partnerships as its defining characteristics, making it the model of a university capable of solving 21st century problems.

“Under the old model, one part of the university has no reason to work with another part,” Wrigley said. “At ASU, sustainability is a value system campus-wide, not just a single field of study.”

Rolf Halden, a senior sustainability scientist and director of ASU’s Center for Environmental Security, is the lead investigator of a study that examined the exposure of pregnant women and their fetuses to certain antibacterial compounds. The study, recently published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, found common germ-killers in both the urine and umbilical cords of the women that were screened.

In addition to a concern that antibacterial compounds may contribute to growing antibiotic resistance, there is evidence that materials like triclosan and triclocarban are linked to developmental and reproductive problems. Information of this nature has prompted both the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency to consider the safety of these compounds.

In anticipation of Changemaker Central’s Innovation Challenge, an ASU seed-funding campaign that encourages every academic unit to create its own theme, the School of Sustainability has teamed up with The Verizon Foundation. Given the foundation’s interest in innovative change, the School of Sustainability’s theme was born: “How can we accelerate the adoption and deployment of smart technologies to make our cities more sustainable?”

This is a question that SOS 498: “Smart City and Technology Innovation Challenge” will address in depth – a noble endeavor in light of our rapidly urbanizing and “plugged in” population of 7 billion. And given the host of smart technologies that already exist, but whose potential for a greener good is not fully realized, answers are needed.

Under the guidance of experts, students' seedling ideas will flower into feasible, sustainable solutions. The top innovations may win up to $4,000 toward the ASU Bookstore, courtesy of The Verizon Foundation. All proposals will also be submitted to the Innovation Challenge for a chance to receive thousands more in seed funding.

Bangladesh. One of the world’s most populous countries, and one of its poorest.

Akane Ota was living in a village far from Dhaka, the country’s capital. Her assignment with Grameen Bank, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning microfinance organization, asked that she survey villagers to assess their living conditions, then create a business plan to improve them.

Unfazed by the difficulty of this task, Ota made her way through the village, diligently collecting data. As she did so, two things become increasingly apparent: the connection between unreliable energy and inaccessible social services, and the environmental injury caused by non-renewable technology.

As Ota explains, “I was amazed by the beautiful untouched nature of Bangladesh. But I also saw highly polluted air and water, which was depressing.”

Around this time, Ota’s native Japan was shaken by a major earthquake that, in turn, triggered a tsunami reaching 133 feet in height. The wave disabled the power supply and nullified the cooling mechanisms for three reactors at Fukushima’s nuclear plant. The consequences of the subsequent meltdown left a lasting impression on Ota and heightened her passion for stable and sustainable energy.

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CAP scientist Chris Boone recently gave a presentation in Los Angeles at the Park Equity Symposium. His presentation, "It’s about process, not just outcomes," was videotaped and is now available on YouTube. It details research Boone and colleagues at the Baltimore Ecosystem Study have done on park equity in the Baltimore Metropolitan Area. In his presentation, Boone states that just distribution of and access to parks is laudable but is insufficient to meet standards of justice. Any analysis of park equity must include an assessment of process, including the fairness of institutions, decision-making, and representation. Park equity assessment should include present and past processes since historical decisions can have lasting effects.

Boone and colleagues have also researched park equity in Phoenix, which will be published in an upcoming volume on CAP LTER science, edited by Charles Redman, the co-founder of the CAP research program with current CAP director, Nancy Grimm.

Roy Curtiss, III of ASU's Biodesign Institute has been selected as the recipient of the 2014 AZBio Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Arizona BioIndustry Association. Curtiss, who was initially drawn to ASU by the vision of a New American University and state-of-the-art research enterprise put forth by President Michael Crow, focuses his efforts on alleviating worldwide suffering from infectious diseases. Shortly after arriving, he received the largest support of his career, more than $15.4 million from the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Roy’s lifelong dedication and achievements in bioscience research, education and innovation are really quite remarkable, and his efforts have inspired countless life science careers,” said Biodesign Institute Executive Director Raymond DuBois, M.D., Ph.D. “His passion and commitment in taking on the challenges of combating infectious diseases and the impact he is having on urgent societal problems make him a stellar example of the translational research spirit of the Biodesign Institute.”

To position itself for future growth and furthered impact, The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) has created two leadership positions. The new roles - Chief Operating Officer and Director of Marketing, Development and Communications - are effective July 2014 and will enhance the strength of the leadership team.

The individuals filling these roles are experienced leaders in the field of sustainability. Chief Operating Officer Malcolm Fox began his career as a consultant to the US Environmental Protection Agency, and worked most recently as COO/CFO of Equitable Origin. Susan Arnot Heaney - Director of Marketing, Development and Communications - has extensive experience in the area of corporate responsibility, working with companies like Avon Products, Inc. to implement programs, policies and communications platforms for a myriad of issues.

A recent article published by the National Association of College and University Business Officers explored the trend of higher education institutions toward alternative, renewable energy options. Titled “Going for Zero,” the article presented a brief rundown of ASU’s impressive stats, demonstrating that the university is being noticed for its commitment to carbon neutrality.

In the article, Morgan Olsen - university executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer - shares that an important factor in maintaining carbon neutrality is ensuring its future success: “On the research front, one of the things we can contribute is the training of millions of people we educate every year to become leaders of tomorrow. While in some respects higher education has a small physical footprint compared to the rest of world, from an environmental standpoint we have an outsized ability to have positive impact through our education mission.”

Fron Nahzi, Global Business Development Director for Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, authored a recent article in The World Post titled "When Donor Driven Programs Work." In the article, Nahzi discusses the importance of incorporating sustainability practices into government aid programs like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Nahzi posits that finding sustainable solutions to energy, water, transportation and livelihood quandaries ensures a better investment by the American taxpayer.

USAID is in a particularly favorable position to assume a sustainable approach to international development, according to Nahzi. Not only would doing so support changes called for by climate reports generated by both the United States and United Nations, but the organization already utilizes what Nahzi calls a system of "cross-cutting issues." Additionally, the first Africa Leaders' Summit is being held at the White House next week, presenting a great opportunity for USAID to incorporate sustainable solutions into its foreign aid programs.