Lt. Gen. (ret) Norman R. Seip is former Commander, 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern), Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. He is also a spokesman for the energy security campaign Operation Free, a bi-partisan coalition of veterans from across the United States. In this essay, he discusses renewable energy as a key national security interest.

Two senior sustainability scientists are among the ASU researchers working to prepare for Arizona's dangerous, and sometimes fatal, summer temperatures. In an effort to reduce the number of heat-related deaths seen in 2013, Sharon Harlan – a professor in ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change – is working to understand the details behind these incidents, such as the conditions under which they occur and the demographics that are most commonly affected. Her findings indicate that residents of inner-city neighborhoods with lower household incomes, particularly elderly individuals living alone, are at greatest risk.

Mikhail Chester, assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, leads a research team that focuses on the relationship between urban form and heat vulnerability. The team also created an interactive map that directs users to cooling stations in Maricopa County.

A Thought Leader Series Piece

By Lt Gen (ret) Norman R. Seip, USAF

Note: May 17, 2014, is Armed Forces Day, a holiday established in 1949 by President Harry S. Truman as a single day for U.S. citizens to thank all military members for their service. On the occasion of the first Armed Forces Day, Truman recognized the military for progress toward its “goal of readiness for any eventuality,” a goal that endures today.

The Pentagon is leading the charge toward a secure renewable energy future. Senior military and national security leaders agree: a single-source dependence on fossil fuels – primarily oil – endangers our troops in combat zones and threatens our long-term security interests.

Additionally, our continued reliance on these dirty fuels is worsening the impacts of climate change. The effects of shifting weather patterns are already destabilizing vulnerable regions of the world, and international instability could force the military into an ever-rising number of resource-driven conflicts.

While the civilian “debate” on these issues trudges on – hampered largely by politicians beholden to petroleum interests – the Department of Defense has recognized that reducing fossil fuel dependence, investing in clean energy technologies, and incorporating climate change into national security strategies are operational, tactical, and strategic imperatives.

To strengthen our national security and prevent more of our servicemen and women from being sent into conflicts abroad, our civilian leaders would be wise to follow the lead of the military and increase our commitment to employing clean energy and combatting the threat of climate change.

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Dr. Bruce Rittmann will be attending 11th IWA Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies in Abu Dhabi on May 26-30, 2014. Not only is Dr. Rittmann a program committee core group member, he will be chairing the session on biofilm processes and presenting "Chemical, Microbiological, and Physical Structures of H2-Based Biofilms" on May 29.

In 2004, philanthropist and conservationist Julie Ann Wrigley participated in a gathering of some of the world's leading thinkers in the field of sustainability. The meeting, led by Arizona State University President Michael M. Crow, outlined a vision of a successful sustainability institute that crossed academic disciplines and institutional boundaries to forge a new way of thinking about and solving the challenges of sustainability.

To help make that vision a reality, Wrigley made a $15 million gift to establish the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University. Later, she invested another $10 million to attract some of the world's foremost scholar-researchers to the nascent School of Sustainability.

Today, the university announces an additional gift of $25 million, bringing Wrigley's investments in sustainability at ASU to a total of $50 million. Wrigley is one of three families or individuals who have given $50 million or more to ASU – the others are Fulton Homes founder Ira A. and Mary Lou Fulton and businessman William P. Carey.

VIDEO: Julie Ann Wrigley’s investment in sustainability at ASU »

Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives sponsors its first post on a Guardian blog titled "The science behind sustainability solutions," which will highlight projects at ASU and other institutions with commentary from experts across the globe. The post itself, an article titled "Too big to save: why commercial buildings resist energy efficiency," features a quote from senior sustainability scientist Mick Dalrymple.

The third National Climate Assessment report, released by the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee, concludes that the effects of climate change are evident and primarily caused by human activity. Among the report’s contributors are two Arizona State University faculty and senior sustainability scientists – Nancy Grimm and Michael Kuby – who were lead authors on three chapters. In addition, Hallie Eakin, an associate professor in ASU’s School of Sustainability, was a reviewer on the project.

Overall, the report includes 30 chapters covering climate change and its effects on a wide range of industries, activities and eight regions of the U.S. It demonstrates that how we adapt to these effects will go a long way in determining our future on Earth. Additionally, human-induced climate change is projected to accelerate significantly if emissions of heat trapping gasses continue to increase, threatening human health and well-being in many ways. The report, which included the input of nearly 300 authors and was overseen by a 60-member federal advisory committee, is the most comprehensive assessment of the science and effects of climate change in the U.S.

Ben Warner, a School of Sustainability doctoral student, used an interdisciplinary approach to determine the causes of water scarcity in the rural, semi-arid region of northwestern Costa Rica. By working directly with water and agricultural managers, Warner found that both drought and international trade liberalization treaties have had a major impact on smallholder farmers. As a result, they have become increasingly vulnerable to global changes and less capable of adapting to them.

In an effort to bolster smallholder farmers’ ability to cope with limited market access and frequent drought, Warner collected data from workshop proceedings, focus groups, interviews and surveys within the Arenal-Tempisque Irrigation Project in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. His analysis revealed that farm size, farming tenure, the presence of family members working outside of the agricultural sector, livestock ownership, perceptions of climate change and household reliance on agriculture were determining factors in farmers’ decisions to adjust their livelihoods. His findings have since been used to refine agricultural water management policy in the region.

Music, Mexican food, a perfect spring day on a patio in Tempe, Arizona…

This celebration has more of a mission than most, however. In between bites from Chipotle burritos, residents of the School of Sustainability Residential Community (SOSRC) are enthusiastically planting, building and painting. Several Wrigley Sustainability Institute staff members join them, and a butterfly flutters about a fledgling citrus tree as if imitating the activity.

This is the culmination of a months-long effort to recreate SOSRC’s courtyard, located in the appropriately named “S Cluster” of Adelphi Commons II. The colorful umbrellas, numerous planter boxes, plentiful seating and greenery are recent features of a patio that was nothing more than rocks and a French drain prior to the undertaking.

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Motivated by the desire to make an impact, School of Sustainability doctoral student and Neely Foundation grant recipient David Yu made a courageous decision that has changed the course of his career.

Yu was born and spent his formative years in Seoul, South Korea. As a teen, he immigrated to the Canadian province of British Columbia with his family. After graduating from Centennial High School in Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver, he enrolled in the engineering science program at Simon Fraser University.

Life after graduation was comfortable for Yu, who began working as an engineer and quality assurance professional in the IT industry. Though he made a decent living, he began craving a change.

“I wanted to have more impact than being just one of many engineers in a big company,” Yu says. “I wanted an exciting career that allowed me to contribute and make an impact, even when I’m 60 or 70 years old.”

With his sights set on a new occupation in either environmental policy or sustainability science, Yu resigned from his job of seven years to pursue the graduate degree necessary to attain it.

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CAP scientist, Emily Talen has won a prestigious Guggenheim fellowship. She will be using her fellowship year to write a book on neighborhoods, synthesizing information and data across time and space.  Her past CAP-supported work includes research on urban codes  which culminated in a book, City Rules: How Regulations Affect Urban Form.

CAP scientist, Janet Franklin has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Janet has a large research program focused on human-induced landscape change. Within CAP, Janet has been working with her Ph.D. student, Julie Ripplinger, to understand what mechanisms explain species loss or dominance in the urban environment.

Inspired by the goal of a 40 percent diversion rate put forth by the Reimagine Phoenix initiative, Paradise Valley Unified School District (PV Schools) is finding new uses for trash. As one of the largest districts in Arizona, generating nearly 1,500 tons of waste per year, PV Schools has partnered with the Mayo Clinic of Arizona, the City of Phoenix and the Resource Innovation and Solutions Network (RISN) – a program operated by Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability’s Sustainability Solutions Services (S3) – to achieve this aim.

Not only are teams of experts from ASU and Mayo Clinic helping the school district to prevent, minimize, reuse and recycle waste, the partnership presents an opportunity to incorporate sustainability into students' studies. Sustainability students from Paradise Valley schools have already completed an assessment of the district’s current waste strategies, pinpointing opportunities for improvement and for educating their peers. Beginning in the fall, teachers will design a waste diversion curriculum in consultation with the expert teams, and at least one elementary, junior high and high school will conduct a waste diversion project.

Janet Franklin, a sustainability scientist in ASU's Wrigley Sustainability Institute and professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). This election, considered one of the highest honors a scientist can receive, recognizes Franklin's distinguished and continued achievements in original scientific research that can be used for the general benefit of society.

Beginning with the idea that Earth is a whole, living organism, Franklin's research addresses the impacts of human-caused landscape change, as well as their long-term implications for the environment and its inhabitants  Her work combines field work with statistical modeling, computer simulation, geospatial data and spatial analysis.

Arizona State University is leading the conversation on innovations in public finance through a new report, released by the Smart Cities Council and ASU's Center for Urban Innovation, and an upcoming conference. The report  outlines some of the most promising tools to help cities improve the efficiency of large-scale systems, such as water and transportation, to smaller projects. Its findings will be a focal point of discussion at the upcoming ASU Annual Public Finance Conference, where keynote speaker Georgia Levenson Keohane - a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute - will explore innovations including novel approaches to financing for catastrophe bonds and the growing use of social impact bonds and pay-for-success in social finance.

An Arizona Republic article describing the Wrigley Lecture presented by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus details the link between alternative fuel development and national security.

"Sustainability for our military forces isn't just a Unites States concern, our allies are just as interested as we are," Mabus said. "Sustainability is a global issue."

School of Sustainability senior Alexis Roeckner began her ASU experience in pursuit of a journalism degree. Though the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism’s reputable program appealed to her passion for writing and ambition to be published one day, she realized during her first semester that her interests lie elsewhere.

“I had heard about the School of Sustainability while I was still in high school, but because I’d already been accepted into the journalism program, I decided to admire from afar,” Roeckner says. “I discovered that, while the journalism program was great, it just wasn’t a fit for me. So I began the process of switching over to sustainability and didn’t look back.”

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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.

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A Thought Leader Series Piece

By William McDonough

Note: William McDonough is a globally recognized leader in sustainable development. Trained as an architect, Mr. McDonough’s interests and influence range widely, and he works at all scales. Mr. McDonough has written and lectured extensively on design as the first signal of human intention.

Living in the age of cities

We live in the age of cities, in the midst of the most dramatic transformation of urban life and the urban landscape the world has ever seen. Cities have always been engines of growth, innovation and opportunity, drawing people from afar since the ancient settlements of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus, and the Yellow River gave urban form to “a certain energized crowding” along their alluvial plains.

But urbanization on a global scale has happened in a heartbeat. It took more than 5,000 years of human development for the world’s urban population to approach one billion, in the early 1960s, but in the short half-century since it has more than tripled, reaching 3.5 billion in 2010. By 2030, according to the latest United Nations estimates, five billion people will live in cities, nearly half of them making their lives in homes, schools, workplaces and parks that do not yet exist.

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Bioscience nonprofit AZBio presents "A Leadership Conversation with Nobel Laureate Dr. Leland Hartwell," the chief scientist for the Center for Sustainable Health and a distinguished sustainability scientist with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability. Dr. Hartwell is interviewed by AZBio CEO Joan Koerber-Walker on topics that impact Arizona's future, such as innovation, health and the key roles played by research and education.