On September 27, 2013, visual artist and Arizona native Paul Nosa visited the Global Institute of Sustainability and the ASU Art Museum for a sewing performance with his Solar Sewing Rover. The sewing machine is portable and powered by a solar panel or a bicycle with an electric generator. Nosa is currently on a cross-country tour to promote people’s creativity, providing a tangible sewn patch of their ideas, and to teach how to use alternative energy sources.

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To encourage and reward candidates for the Executive Master’s for Sustainability Leadership program, the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University will offer scholarships of up to $15,000 per student. This dedicated financial assistance was made possible due to a $100,000 fund established through the institute’s Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives.

The Executive Master’s for Sustainability Leadership program is designed for mid-career professionals working to advance sustainability initiatives. Recipients of the Walton Sustainability Executive Scholarships will be selected based on their leadership potential and previous achievements.

Online applications are currently being accepted for the program’s inaugural class until Nov. 18. For more information about the Executive Master’s for Sustainability Leadership, the Walton Sustainability Executive Scholarship Program or how to apply, contact program adviser Jennifer Griffin at (480) 727-3097 or visit leadersinsustainability.asu.edu.

At Arizona State University (ASU), sustainability is a core value – not just of university leadership, but also of many students across the university’s campuses. ASU has student groups related to virtually any interest. Here’s a list of groups related to sustainability. If you’re interested in living, learning about, or solving problems of sustainability, consider joining one or more of these organizations.

Clubs that bring sustainability to ASU campuses »

Clubs for sustainability education and networking »

Clubs for living sustainably »

Clubs for collective action and sustainability solutions »

Learn more about ASU student organizations at http://asu.orgsync.com/home. Think your group should be included on one of these lists? Contact us at sustainability@asu.edu.

Arizona Student Environmental Coalition

The Arizona Student Environmental Coalition (ASEC) is a political action organization made up entirely of college students in the state of Arizona. The group believes that Arizona must transition from a fossil fuel economy to a clean energy economy, which for them means a prompt phase-out of coal fired electricity and the creation of a vibrant new solar industry. ASEC is a group of diligent citizens, safeguarding their local and global environment for future generations and for their own future on this planet.

Student Organization Profile | Facebook

Energy Club at ASU

The purpose of the Energy Club is to keep its members actively engaged with and abreast of economic, social, technological, and policy issues affecting the energy sector and to educate students about the grand challenges impacting the global energy sector. The Energy Club provides a forum for interdisciplinary student discussion, interaction, and engagement related to global energy issues.

Student Organization Profile | Website | Facebook | Twitter

Engineers Without Borders, ASU Chapter

Engineers Without Borders, ASU chapter, is a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities to improve their quality of life through implementation of environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects. The group connects university students, ASU faculty, and industry professionals to applied projects.

Student Organization Profile | Website

Global Water Brigades

Water Brigades is one of many programs in Global Brigades, the world's largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization. Water Brigades works to prevent water related illnesses in communities with limited access to clean water, by helping with planning, design, and construction of water systems. Additionally the group provides education and training so that the community can properly administer, operate, maintain, and sustain their water system.

Student Organization Profile | Website

GlobalResolve

GlobalResolve works together with a range of partners to develop sustainable technologies and programs in the areas of energy, clean water, and local economic development for rural communities in the developing world.

Student Organization Profile | Website

GreenLight Solutions

GreenLight Solutions is a student-run sustainability consulting service that exists to enable sustainability minded undergraduate and graduate students at ASU to apply their education, through consulting projects, to help organizations to operate more sustainably.

Student Organization Profile | Website

Local to Global Justice

This group’s primary goal is to educate ASU students and the greater community about issues of local and global justice, while promoting diversity, freedom of speech, and academic freedom of discussion. The group believes it is vital to connect local diversity, sustainability, and social justice issues to larger global struggles.

Student Organization Profile | Website | Facebook

Nourish International at ASU

Nourish International at ASU works to eradicate poverty by engaging students and empowering communities. Nourish serves to help students take a stand against the poverty crisis in a tangible way. By actively engaging in social entrepreneurship, the group works alongside developing communities to implement sustainable development projects, serving as a resource and catalyst for communities.

Student Organization Profile | Website

Real Food ASU

Real Food Challenge is a nationwide non-profit grassroots leadership project. Real Food's goal is to address topics within food systems, especially local, humane, fair, and ecologically sound food. The group works toward an understanding of what type of food system nourishes the producers, consumers, community, and earth.

Student Organization Profile | Website |Facebook | Twitter

Sun Devils for Wildlife Conservation

This group’s goal is to spread awareness of the importance of wildlife conservation through active participation in legislation and to assist local conservation groups financially and physically through fundraising and volunteer efforts. Additionally, the group works with several animal rights organizations to improve the treatment of animals in Arizona.

Facebook

U.S. Green Building Council, ASU Chapter

USGBC Students is an official organization of the U.S. Green Building Council. The organization fosters education, community involvement, scientific study, and research in the field of environmentally sustainable building. ASU’s chapter has a goal to help students at ASU gain the knowledge needed to become LEED Accredited through study sessions, educational workshops, and practice tests.

Student Organization Profile | Website

Back to all student sustainability clubs »

Arizona State Cycling Community

Arizona State Cycling Community's (ASCC) primary mission is to improve access to cycling resources and services. ASCC also lobbies the university and local governments for the interests of ASU cyclists. ASCC organizes exciting bicycle social events and reaches out to the greater cycling community.

Student Organization Profile | Facebook

ASU Grow

ASU Grow is a group of organic desert gardeners who learn by doing. They manage the vegetable gardens, herb garden and other edible plants on campus. In exchange for garden space, water, seeds, and access to garden tools, members of ASU Grow volunteer for the Arboretum at ASU.

Student Organization Profile | Website | Facebook

Barrett Sustainability Club

The Barrett Sustainability Club is a group of students in the honors college that enjoys learning about the world and their place in it. The group emphasizes learning about how society impacts the environment and what people can do to reduce their personal impact. The group values sustainable living practices and promotes an environmentally and socially responsible lifestyle.

Student Organization Profile | Website

UpRoot, The ASU Gardening Club

Dedicated and passionate students, faculty, and staff design, organize, and create an organic community garden on the West Campus. The group advocates and promotes healthier lifestyles and sustainable living at ASU and in the community through gardening, educational events, and research.

Student Organization Profile | Facebook

VegAware at ASU

VegAware is a student organization that works to spread awareness and understanding of the issues surrounding a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle and to create a community for students who live a veg lifestyle. VegAware is open to all who have a genuine interest in the animal rights, health and wellness, and environmental issues that lead many to choose a meatless life.

Student Organization Profile | Facebook

Back to all student sustainability clubs »

Global Sustainability Studies Initiative

By promoting the study of sustainability in a global context, the Global Sustainability Studies Initiative (GSSI) strives to help individuals develop the skills and abilities necessary to solve sustainability problems which are transdisciplinary and global in scope. The group achieves its goals through merit and non-merit based scholarships, fundraisers, and other events to raise money for members to study abroad. It serves as a network for those who have practiced sustainability study abroad and those who have not.

Student Organization Profile

Honor Society for Sustainability, Alpha Chapter

This network of sustainability scholars has demonstrated academic excellence and is committed to solving global challenges of sustainability. The group’s goals are to achieve widespread application of sustainable principles; empower members for success; recognize notable sustainability achievements; stimulate dialogues that redefine complex problems in sustainable terms; and make lasting and meaningful contributions in the lives of others.

Student Organization Profile | Website | Facebook

Net Impact, Arizona State University

Affiliated with ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business MBA program, Net Impact and the ASU Student Chapter strives to improve the world by growing and strengthening a network of leaders who use the power of business to make a positive net social, environmental, and economic impact.

Student Organization Profile

Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity and Sustainability (SEEDS)

SEEDS engages students in the world of ecology through research opportunities, workshops, volunteering, and other events. The group works with the Ecological Society of America, and travels to Long Term Ecological Research sites throughout the U.S. to see projects in action. The group also does local volunteering related to ecology, from helping schools judge science fairs to pulling invasive weeds.

Student Organization Profile

Back to all student sustainability clubs »

Campus Student Sustainability Initiatives

Campus Student Sustainability Initiatives (CSSI) is a student-run organization incorporating volunteer opportunities, projects, and initiatives on campus. CSSI strives to bring sustainable change to the campus, including on-campus events, and to educate students, staff, and faculty about how ASU can be a more sustainable university and a sustainable leader in higher education.

Student Organization Profile | Website

Green Devils

Located at the Polytechnic campus, this group’s mission is to make ASU campuses and surrounding community more sustainable. Group members are project leaders. Members get experience on how to run projects and organize events.

Student Organization Profile

School of Sustainability College Council

This group’s mission is to host events that unite students and faculty who share the common interest of sustainability. The group also helps new students as they transition into SOS, reducing stress and bringing out their best.

Student Organization Profile | Facebook

Back to all student sustainability clubs »

In School of Sustainability professor David Manuel-Navarrete's SOS 494 course, Sustainability Leadership and Social Change, students created, edited, and filmed a documentary highlighting the transformations that Arizona State University and the Sustainability branch at CREST (the Center for Research in Engineering, Science and Technology) are undertaking to put sustainability at the center of education.

"By making the documentary, the balance of power within the class is altered; the instructor is no longer a purveyor of information and the students are not just the consumers," Manuel-Navarrete says. "Instead, it becomes a process of co-production. The co-production allows the students to effectively absorb the course's teachings."

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TEMPE, Ariz. — October 22, 2013 — Tasked with determining how best to invest global money in developing countries, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) consulted Arizona State University (ASU) for expert sustainability advice, October 15-16 at ASU.

"Our scientists and faculty bring transdisciplinary expertise, applied research and solutions to global challenges, turning knowledge into action," said ASU President Michael Crow. "We are honored to contribute that level of experience and applied science to support the exceptional work of World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and to help the IFC."

More than 40 IFC Climate Business Group members from around the world gathered in Tempe for the two-day "short course" about implications of climate change, presented by various experts from ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability and School of Sustainability.

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Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has proclaimed October to be Arizona Solar and Renewable Energy month and to celebrate, the 2013 "Living with the Sun" Solar Tour kicks off this weekend Saturday-Sunday, October 26-27. ASU's own Wrigley Hall, the headquarters of the School of Sustainability and Global Institute of Sustainability, is scheduled on the tour for both Saturday and Sunday, 1:00-4:30 p.m.

The tour is self-guided, but there will be building experts on hand at Wrigley Hall to talk about the building's specific sustainability aspects including the solar and wind systems, recycled materials, and native vegetation. Wrigley Hall is located at 800 S. Cady Mall on ASU's Tempe campus on the corner of College Ave. and University Dr.

Tour locations map

With water levels dipping in Lake Mead and population growth at an all-time high, policymakers, government agencies, and growers need to be equipped with proper water-saving agriculture and agro-ecosystem methods. To provide guidance on crop variations and water-conserving cropping patterns, Senior Sustainability Scientist Soe Myint and the Agri-Business Council of Arizona organized a workshop at ASU SkySong on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013.

Local farmers, USDA, Maricopa County Farm Bureau, Arizona Department of Water Resources, and other stakeholders worked with scientists to compare crop types to alleviate growing season risk and potentially increase profit while saving water for farmers in Arizona. Senior Sustainability Scientists Libby Wentz and Rimjhim Aggarwal served as speakers and Senior Sustainability Scientist Nancy Selover offered her expertise as the AZ State Climatologist.

Myint is the principal investigator of the NOAA-funded project, "Evaluation of Drought Risks and its Impact on Agricultural Land and Water Use to Support Adaptive Decision-Making" with additional funds being supplied by ASU's Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research and Decision Center for a Desert City.

Arizona State University scientists and student researchers are welcome to enter their environmental conservation projects in the St. Andrews Prize for the Environment.

Since 1998, the Prize has awarded works that address human/animal conflicts, water issues, air quality, solar power, food supply, and community regeneration. The top project will win $100,000. The second and third finalists will each win $25,000.

The St. Andrews Prize for the Environment is an international initiative by the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the independent exploration and production company, Conocophillips.

Entries should be submitted online by October 31, 2013.

via AZCentral.com

Arizona Republic environmental reporter Brandon Loomis investigates the wicked problem of keeping or destroying Glen Canyon Dam, a decision that seems to have no positive outcomes. Water managers, some scientists, and activists would like to see the dam removed in order to drain Lake Powell and feed a drought-stricken Lake Mead, a water source for major cities including Las Vegas and Phoenix. Draining Lake Powell would also return Glen Canyon to its former, natural glory.

However, some suggest negative consequences if the dam is to be removed. ASU’s Decision Center for a Desert City co-director and senior sustainability scientist Dave White says removing Glen Canyon Dam would rid thirsty cities of a captured and stored water supply.

"(Dam removal) would be fairly catastrophic," White says. "We have too much demand on an annual basis to be met by the natural in-flow of the river."

He says if anything, Glen Canyon Dam would be re-designed, improved, and repaired.

Continue reading the article at AZCentral.com.

For many who enroll in ASU's School of Sustainability, making a difference in the world is a top priority. The School allows students to design their own academic path based on the type of the career they want, whether it be in energy, food, waste, policy, economics, or international development.

"My dream is to help save the world and make a difference," says freshman Kate Tiffany, a Phoenix native who is studying sustainability and international development. "I’m really happy to be involved in a community that’s really passionate about the environment, and we all love what we’re doing and feel strongly about sustainability. I’m excited to be here."

Students can preview a list of spring 2014 courses by searching for "SOS" in the online course catalog starting Oct. 17. Course registration officially opens on Oct. 21.

TEMPE, Ariz. — October 15, 2013 — The annual Empowerment for Peace through Leadership in Agribusiness and Sustainability (EmPeace LABS) conference takes place October 19-26 in Maharashtra, India to connect global farmers in a network that will further sustainable farming methods and establish peaceful communities in developing countries.

The EmPeace LABS conference is coordinated by Arizona State University (ASU), Jain Irrigation Systems, Ltd., and the Gandhi Research Foundation. Mahatma Gandhi’s peaceful perspective is a core inspiration for the conference’s curriculum.

“When people are hungry, they fight for resources,” says Marek Wosinski, conference organizer, senior sustainability scientist in ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability, and senior lecturer in ASU’s Department of Psychology. “If you want to create stability, you need to secure food.”

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Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability and its School of Sustainability host many events throughout the year, both on campus and off. These events not only bring world-renowned thinkers and doers, many in our own backyard, from academia, business, and government to ASU; they also provide an outlet for ASU to present its own sustainability research to the public and engage the community in dialogues to address sustainability challenges.

Events are free and open to the public, up to room capacity, so RSVP early. Visit http://sustainability.asu.edu/events/ for a list of upcoming events.

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At the National Science Foundation's "Change the World: Science and Engineering Careers Fair" in Virginia, representatives from ASU's Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC) inspired young students to consider science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career paths.

"It is vital to expose students in STEM research at an early age to inspire their love of science, improve their confidence in their own ability to pursue education in STEM fields, and show them how research and modeling can help improve their lives and the lives of friends and family," says Dave White, co-director of DCDC.

Program manager Liz Marquez and graduate research assistant Rashmi Krishnamurthy showcased DCDC's WaterSim, a simulation model that predicts future water outcomes based on situational factors. The program is used by water managers and K-12 teachers.

Mariela Castaneda is a water resource specialist at the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), a job she attained following an internship there during her senior year at Arizona State University (ASU). She graduated in 2013 from ASU’s School of Sustainability.

The Glendale, Ariz. native and graduate of Copper Canyon High School considered Northern Arizona University as well as the University of Arizona, but decided on ASU because of the financial support she received here.

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Environmental Reporter Brandon Loomis investigates the wicked problem of keeping or destroying Glen Canyon Dam, a decision that seems to have no positive outcomes. Water managers, some scientists, and activists would like to see the dam removed in order to drain Lake Powell and feed a drought-stricken Lake Mead, a water source for major cities including Las Vegas and Phoenix. Draining Lake Powell would also return Glen Canyon to its former, natural glory.

However, some suggest negative consequences if the dam is to be removed. ASU's Decision Center for a Desert City co-director and senior sustainability scientist Dave White says removing Glen Canyon Dam would rid thirsty cities of a captured and stored water supply.

"(Dam removal) would be fairly catastrophic," says White, also an associate professor in the School of Community Resources and Development. "We have too much demand on an annual basis to be met by the natural in-flow of the river."

He says if anything, Glen Canyon Dam would be re-designed, improved, and repaired.

Christopher Boone, a noted scholar on sustainable urbanism, environmental health, and environmental justice, has been serving as interim dean since July 2013. Boone is also a professor in the School of Sustainability and School of Human Evolution and Social Change and co-principal investigator of the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research project.

"Professor Boone’s extensive work in sustainable urban infrastructure, public health, and environmental justice gives him a unique insight into assembling the environmental, economic, social, and cultural pieces of the global sustainability puzzle," said ASU President Michael M. Crow. "His holistic approach to finding answers to pressing challenges and passion for transforming sustainability education into use-inspired research and practice will train a new generation of students and practitioners to do the same."

Boone has co-authored two books on urban sustainability, "City and Environment" and "Urbanization and Sustainability." He currently serves on the editorial boards of journals such as International Journal of Sustainable Urban Development and Environmental Justice. He is also the associate editor of the journal Current Research on Cities and co-editor of a new book series, called "New Directions in Sustainability and Society."