Arizona State University’s Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan has been appointed to the U.S. National Science Board, which serves as an advisory body to the U.S. President and Congress on science and engineering issues and establishes policies of the National Science Foundation.

Panchanathan, ASU's senior vice president of the Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development and the leader of ASU’s research, entrepreneurship and economic development efforts, is the first American of Indian origin to be appointed to this preeminent board.

“Panch exemplifies the spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship and social responsibility that ASU aims to cultivate," said ASU President Michael Crow. "It is fitting that he be on this important board so that his influence can extend to the benefit of the nation.”

Decision Center for a Desert City, a unit of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, has released a policy brief on the complexities of agricultural water and climate vulnerability in the southwestern United States. Authored by Professors Hallie Eakin, Rimjhim Aggarwal, Abigail York and Graduate Research Assistant Skaidra Smith-Heisters, the policy brief discusses the many variables affecting agriculture, as well as the needed policy discussions surrounding them.

The brief, titled Understanding Agricultural Vulnerability in the Southwest, outlines how agriculture's dependence on climate-sensitive resources like water and energy makes it especially vulnerable to climate change. It highlights the additional research needed to understand agriculture's role in an urbanizing context, and encourages weighing the costs and benefits of agricultural water usage in an urban system. The brief recommends incorporating the agricultural sector into broader discussions regarding policy and planning for the central Arizona region.

Janet Franklin, a distinguished sustainability scientist and professor in ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, recently began her term as president of the U.S. national chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE). Landscape ecology is an interdisciplinary field that concentrates on understanding ecological processes at the landscape scale and improving land management.

According to Franklin, the chapter she now heads will be very busy over the next year. A primary focus is preparing to host the IALE World Congress, held every four years and scheduled to convene in July 2015. While overseeing congress preparations, Franklin will continue her research, which examines the dynamics of terrestrial plant communities with a particular focus on the impact of human-caused landscape change.

Senior Sustainability Scientist Martin Pasqualetti presented at a recent symposium entitled “Uncommon Dialogue: US-Mexico Transboundary Water Issues." He was one of seven speakers at the event, which was organized by Stanford University groups the Bill Lane Center for the American West and the Woods Institute for the Environment.

Pasqualetti's presentation "Resource Conflicts: The Water/Energy Nexus in the Desert Southwest," which highlighted his paper “Mixing Energy and Water at the US/Mexico Border," proposed that land used for irrigated agriculture in the Imperial Valley of California be repurposed in favor of renewable energy development. Such a move would save water for other uses and decrease carbon emissions from conventional generation while providing economic benefit.

Bruce Rittmann, director of The Biodesign Institute and a distinguished sustainability scientist, recently appeared on the Australian radio program The Science Show. Here he discussed the fuel-producing potential of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, with the show's host Robyn Williams.

During the program, Rittman described his team’s work to replace many of the substances we currently source from petroleum, such as diesel and jet fuel, with cynobacteria. He explained that these smaller, more simple organisms are up to 100 times more efficient in their use of sunlight than plants like green algae. Additionally, they are more easily managed and can utilize carbon dioxide from facilities like power plants for photosynthetic purposes.

School of Sustainability associate professor Joshua Abbott and his colleague, Eli Fenichel of Yale University, have developed the first interdisciplinary equation to measure the monetary value of natural resources. In assigning a dollar value to natural capital, Abbott and Fenichel’s approach will have widespread implications for policymakers and various stakeholders, putting natural capital on par with other, more easily measured parts of society’s wealth.

In a study titled "Natural Capital: From Metaphor to Measurement," recently published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, the researchers demonstrated how their equation can estimate the monetary value of natural resources like fish stocks, groundwater or forests in the United States. Unlike earlier approaches, the method takes into consideration the “opportunity cost” of losing future units of natural capital that could have helped replenish the resource, providing economic benefits in the long run. It is underpinned by the economic principles used to value physical or human capital.

William McDonough, a pioneer in the field of sustainable architecture and a member of ASU's Board of Directors for Sustainability, discusses the conscience behind his design with Dutch developer and colleague Coert Zachariasse in a June 2014 Newsweek article.

In the article "Building for a Better World and Making People Smile," McDunough and Zachariasse - who collaborated on the construction of a sustainable business complex outside of Amsterdam called Park 20|20 - discuss the importance of the Cradle to Cradle framework. This concept, created by McDonough, puts principles and values at the forefront of design. It posits that doing "less bad" is insufficient and that the aim should, instead, be to achieve "more good."

McDonough explains, "Instead of looking at a world of limits, and simply asking the question of modern commerce—How much can we get for as little as we give?—we propose a shift in thinking toward a world of abundance and generosity. Then, instead, we can ask a different question: How much can we give for all that we get?"

School of Sustainability alumnus Andrew Krause has found practical application for his education through technology that helps users discover, adopt and share ideas for leading a more sustainable lifestyle. The eEcosphere app, now available for iOS, matches millennials with ideas that are tailored to their needs and improve their everyday decisions by providing quality local resources. This helps to prevent the common breakdown between intention and action while providing the user with a fun and collaborative experience.

Krause, who received a Master’s of Science from the School of Sustainability in 2012, was recently named as a delegate to the United Nations Foundation Global Accelerator 2014. He and fellow delegates will work with policy leaders on global issues to create innovative advancements toward key Millennium Development Goals. Because the accelerator seeks out the world’s top 100 entrepreneurs, the appointment is a great testament to the significance of Krause's work.

Many solutions to the world’s most pressing problems rely as heavily on the generosity of forward-thinking individuals as they do on the groundbreaking research of bright minds. It is these monetary investments that give flesh to many ideas that shape our future.

John S. Martinson, co-founder of China Mist Iced Tea Company, and his wife Suzanne Pickett Martinson, a writer and educator, are such individuals. The benefactors of the recently-established Martinson Sustainability Solutions Research Grant, they have already witnessed its impact through the work of School of Sustainability students Christopher Kudzas and Angela Cazel-Jahn.

Kudzas, a doctoral student and the grant’s first recipient, focuses his research on improving collective water governance strategies, particularly in areas where the resource is growing increasingly scarce. Guanacaste, a Costa Rican province that has experienced numerous water-related conflicts over the past decade, has proved to be an ideal setting for his work.

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The students enrolled in ASU’s MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program share two key characteristics with the university: a commitment to fostering meaningful change and an enthusiasm for sustainability.

This August, ASU welcomes its third cohort of Scholars, representatives of 15 Sub-Saharan African nations who exemplify academic excellence and the potential for effective leadership. All 40 students come to the land of maroon and gold determined to improve their home communities when they return after four years of undergraduate schooling.

What is ASU’s role in accomplishing this goal? In addition to providing a caliber of education these promising students could not otherwise access, Scholars are given the tools and capacities that innovative solutions require. As a complement to their chosen degree programs, all scholars take SOS 194: “Sustainability Issues in Africa,” a course offered by the School of Sustainability.

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A recent publication in Ecology and Society by DCDC co-director, Chuck Redman, explores whether sustainability and resilience should be combined or remain distinct pursuits.

Author

Charles L. Redman, DCDC co-director, Professor and Founding Director, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University

Abstract

It has become common for sustainability science and resilience theory to be considered as complementary approaches. Occasionally the terms have been used interchangeably. Although these two approaches share some working principles and objectives, they also are based on some distinct assumptions about the operation of systems and how we can best guide these systems into the future. Each approach would benefit from some scholars keeping sustainability science and resilience theory separate and focusing on further developing their distinctiveness and other scholars continuing to explore them in combination. Three areas of research in which following different procedures might be beneficial are whether to prioritize outcomes or system dynamics, how best to take advantage of community input, and increasing the use of knowledge of the past as a laboratory for potential innovations.

Conclusion

The history and archaeology of the past 10,000 years have shown countless examples of people, as individuals, small groups, and increasingly large organizational units, facing changing conditions, serious stresses, and unexpected shocks. Although the geographic scale of modern challenges appears to dwarf historical challenges, systemic shocks experienced by people in the past were just as daunting. Taking a big-picture perspective, people and societies have been amazingly successful in responding to challenges. By most objective measures, the human career to this point has been a great success!

If one takes a simple view of history, it is easy to argue that our society as it has developed will continue well into the future. This success has been achieved through adaptation and occasional transformations that, in virtually all cases, have exacerbated the divide between rich and poor and often led to further degradation of the environmental resources that both groups depend upon. Modest refinements or more efficient approaches to the challenges facing us will not reverse or alter this trajectory. Business as usual will perpetuate aspects of society we find socially undesirable and threaten the capacity of the Earth’s systems. We need to implement more sweeping, transformative changes in the way we interact with each other as well as with the surrounding built and natural environment.

If we need to transform our social-ecological systems to achieve a resilient and/or sustainable world, then we also need scientists to change their way of doing business. Unsurprisingly, personal and societal values influence scientists as they incorporate ethical ideals and approaches into their work. In my own research into future trajectories for urbanization, the ideas of sustainable cities and resilient cities have strong followings. In fact, it has been often suggested to me that for cities to be sustainable they must be resilient. Others argue that sustainable cities of the future will be "smart" cities (Harrison et al. 2010, Calabrese et al. 2011). Both Ecology and Society 19(2): 37 approaches have merits, and combining them may be the best option. However, a closer look at the mechanics proposed for smart cities, increasing energy and material efficiencies through highly interconnected information and decision systems, suggests an inflexibility and extreme hypercoherence that resilience theorists have often warned against (Holling and Gunderson 2002). Smart cities are unlikely to be more just cities, thus failing to achieve a key sustainability indicator. Urban planners and decision makers should assess the potential benefits to each approach, working through their implications in a holistic and consistent way. Toward that end, we must rigorously pursue adoption of distinct resilience and sustainability approaches, as well as combinations of the two, allowing each approach to contribute in ways that reflect its strengths.

View the entire article online at Ecology and Society.

By Gabrielle Olson, ASU Lightworks

On March 27, 2014, Tempe’s South Water Treatment Plant hosted their first public solar tour. The tour highlighted the implementation of more than 3,000 solar panels that will generate more than 1.6 million kilowatt (kW) hours of electricity each year, supplying 15 percent of the plant's energy needs. This achievement marks the city’s largest solar energy project thus far.

Sunny and without a cloud in the sky, the afternoon was at perfect condition for the solar panels. City of Tempe’s Energy Management Coordinator, Grace Kelly, and Environmental Services Manager, David McNeil, introduced themselves as tour guides. "I feel lucky because I get to go outside and work on this project every day," McNeil said as he led guests toward the impressive display of solar panels.

Guests on the tour were free to walk around with Kelly and McNeil asking any questions they had about the solar project. The tour was without haste as guests had the opportunity to independently network with one another while pleasantly enjoying a first-hand look at the remarkable project.

Once the tour ended, guests were led back inside for a thorough presentation by Kelley, discussing the development of the project. Although it had been in the talks for a few years, Kelly explained that planning for the project officially began in early 2012. The first step was establishing the city’s Alternative Energy Committee, which aims to research the best energy practices and select sites for installations. The bid to issue Tempe South Water Treatment Plant with solar panels took place in December with submittals for the project due by March 2013. Out of the 10 vendors submitted for the proposal, SolarCity was selected to install the solar energy system along with the public power utility Salt River Project (SRP). The overall project only took about two years to complete with just six weeks needed for construction. Kelly saluted SolarCity, SRP, and the City of Tempe for their great work together in the partnership. Follow this link to view the entire Power Point presentation.

With 100 percent of the solar energy produced going into the plant, Tempe expects to save more than $25,500 in utility costs during the first year, and anticipates savings of $2.3 million over 20 years. Plans for the city’s next solar projects are already in the making. Future solar projects include a 250 kW facility at Tempe’s downtown Police/Courts building, a 900 kW system at Johnny G. Martinez Water Treatment Plant, and solar implementation at a library complex is in its planning phase. It is clear that Tempe is working toward establishing itself as a leading city committed to solar energy. Follow this link to SRP’s website to watch a brief virtual tour of the facility’s solar panels.

To view the full article, follow this link to the ASU Lightworks website.

A recent study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, indicates that increasing overnight temperatures pose a greater threat to human health in Maricopa County than daytime temperatures. Because this phenomenon is largely attributed to urbanization and the heat-retaining capacity of the built environment, the increase in overnight temperatures may be mitigated by implementing a lower-growth strategy.

The study, co-authored by senior sustainability scientist Matei Georgescu, sought to quantify heat-related deaths using three urbanization and adaption scenarios along with multiple exposure variables. By guiding long-term planners and public officials toward more sustainable urban development strategies, these findings may decrease the number of heat-related illnesses and deaths otherwise reported in Maricopa County.

By Allie Nicodemo

Imagine a typical day in your city – the commute to work, walk around the block on your lunch break, trip to the dog park before meeting up with friends at a local restaurant. Now imagine what daily life in your city might be like if twice as many people called it home.

This thought experiment isn’t too far from becoming reality. The world population keeps growing with no signs of slowing down. The Census Bureau projects that today’s 7.1 billion will become 9 billion by 2044, and increasingly, these people are moving into cities. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2050, 6.4 billion people around the globe will live in urban areas - up from 3.4 billion in 2009.

Most of this growth is taking place in developing countries. However, certain cities in the U.S. are experiencing significant population increases as well. Phoenix is one of them, having added more than 40,000 new residents last year alone.

A substantial increase in population, coupled with hotter temperatures and other manifestations of climate change, will present unprecedented challenges for cities. Not only is Phoenix growing rapidly, but its climate also mirrors that of many other cities with populations on the rise, providing a good example of what much of the world is facing now or can expect in the future.

"Phoenix is a place that a lot of people look to for an example of how we will be resilient in the face of what are probably less than optimal conditions," says Wellington Reiter, a consultant for the Office of the President and former dean of the former College of Design at Arizona State University. "What we learn here and how efficiently we use our resources could be exported as intellectual capital or maybe even on-the-ground know-how."

Defining sustainability

The challenges of population growth, climate change and other changing conditions are leading many cities to explore sustainability options. But what does sustainability mean, and how do we measure it?

"It’s defined in many different ways," says David Pijawka, a professor and associate director of ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning. These varying definitions have made it difficult for cities to make policy changes that would help mitigate future challenges.

"We’ve been dealing with that for 25 years. We have some good frameworks and we know what we need to do, but we still must learn to articulate it meaningfully and easily for the decision maker," says Pijawka, who is also a Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

In 1987, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Many people equate sustainability with environmentalism, but sustainability researchers at ASU are working to broaden our understanding of the concept. They define sustainability as well-being in four key areas: natural capital (plants, animals, water, etc.) human capital (skills, knowledge, etc.), social capital (networks of relationships) and financial capital.

Sustainability is complex because these different sources of capital often conflict with each other. For example, logging a forest reduces natural capital, but can provide jobs that increase financial capital. Different people will prioritize these tradeoffs differently. Someone living in poverty in a rural area might prioritize jobs over environmentalism, while a well-employed person with asthma might place more value on clean air.

"If we want people to continue living here, we have to make certain choices," says Anne Reichman, program manager of the Sustainable Cities Network at ASU. "Those choices are going to be difficult in the future when we look at the cost of water, the cost of energy, our air quality, and resource availability."

These are just some of the factors that must be considered when planning for sustainability. And they’re all connected.

See more at ASU's Office of Knowledge and Enterprise Development

As the human population grows and an increasing number of people move to urban areas, cities around the world are considering options for improved sustainability. Because its climate is similar to other cities experiencing population booms, Phoenix is in a unique position to exemplify resilience in the face of climate change.

Recognizing this opportunity, local city officials and ASU researchers - such as those at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability - are working to provide a digestible definition of sustainability, as well as frameworks that can be easily implemented by policymakers. Through projects on campus, partnerships with municipalities and faculty-led investigations, these researchers are developing innovative solutions to complex challenges like feeding and transporting the population, reducing sprawl and preserving cultural identity.

Enrique Vivoni, a senior sustainability scientist and professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, has been named a recipient of the 2014 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize. Awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the prize recognizes notable achievements in research related to civil engineering, and is generally given to members under the age of 40.

The selection committee cited Vivoni for his “contributions to the understanding of ecohydrologic processes in semi-arid areas,” taking particular note of his focus on the impacts of climate change. Over the past year, he has demonstrated the role of terrestrial plants on topographic, radiation and hydrological properties in aspect-delimited ecosystems; developed participatory modeling workshops in Mexico that address infrastructure and climate change impacts on water supply in rural settings; and identified the role of urban irrigation on soil moisture dynamics and its management implications in Phoenix.

Dennis McGinn - U.S. Navy Assistant Secretary for Energy, Installations and Environment - highlighted problems shared between the Navy and civilian cities during a recent visit to Arizona State University. In the realm of energy use and reliability, such overlapping issues include cost, sustainability, efficiency and energy security.

During his visit, McGinn toured the Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation (AzCATI) at the Polytechnic campus in Mesa. As the largest university-based algae facility on the globe, AzCATI leads the DOE-funded national algae testbed, known as the Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership (ATP3). McGinn expressed the Navy's interest in the work done by both AzCATI and ATP3, particularly if the cost of creating algae biofuels shrinks to compete with traditional fuel markets.

Through the increased use of U.S.-made renewable fuels, McGinn expects that the nation will achieve a higher level of physical and economic security along with the Navy.

Sustainability scientist Netra Chhetri has been awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor in the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes.

Jameson Wetmore is the recipient of the 2014 SHESC Director’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

CSPO Associate Director Clark Miller presented the April seminar of the New Tools for Science Policy series “Designing Transitions in Energy Systems: The Human Dimensions” in Washington, D.C.

Pollen-Tech is an Arizona State University-based company offering a spray that spreads pollen on plants. The idea came from an MBA student’s business plan. Pollen-Tech won a grant through ASU’s Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative and is based at ASU’s SkySong Innovation Center and the MAC6 manufacturing incubator in Tempe. David Wade, CEO of Pollen-Tech, will discuss his company’s product on Arizona Horizon.

An Arizona State University research team - which featured sustainability scientists Matei Georgescu, Alex Mahalov and Mohamed Moustaoui - found that the release of excess heat from air conditioners running during the night resulted in higher outdoor temperatures. This phenomenon not only worsens the urban heat island effect, but increases cooling demands, resulting in a positive feedback loop.

The study - titled “Anthropogenic Heating of the Urban Environment due to Air Conditioning” and published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres - used a physics-based modeling system to evaluate the impact of heat emission from air conditioning systems on surrounding air temperature. They found that the effect of "waste heat" from air conditioning systems was more consequential during the night due to the limited depth of the urban boundary layer.

These findings will help to address future energy needs in a more sustainable manner.