Arizona State University Professor Carlos Castillo-Chavez has been reappointed to the U.S. President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science.

Castillo-Chavez is a Regents’ Professor and a Joaquin Bustoz Jr. Professor at ASU. He is a faculty member in ASU's School of Sustainability and a Distinguished Sustainability Scientist in ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability. President Obama first appointed him to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science in 2010.

The 12-member committee evaluates and nominates fellow scientists for the National Medal of Science—one of the field's highest honors. Nominated scientists come from the physical, biological, mathematical or engineering sectors.

Upon his reappointment, President Obama said: “I am grateful that these impressive individuals have chosen to dedicate their talents to serving the American people at this important time for our country. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”

A celebration of food, art, and community is coming to downtown Phoenix on Saturday, April 13. Called “Feast on the Street,” the event is a culmination of numerous local community partnerships that will bring people together for a meal or two on First Street in Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row District.

“Feast on the Street is an urban harvest festival celebrating food and art in the desert, while reclaiming the city street for pedestrians,” says Heather Lineberry, Arizona State University Art Museum’s senior curator, associate director, and an event organizer. “It creates a place to gather with our Phoenix neighbors around art and food. What could be better?”

The Global Institute of Sustainability is providing composting workshops at the zero waste event and ASU's Green Team will educate participants on recycling, composting, and waste. ASU School of Sustainability alumnus, Colin Tetreault, will act as master of ceremonies.

Pop quiz question—how much of the earth’s surface is covered in water? The answer is 70%. Although that is a big number, less than 1 percent of that water is actually suitable for human use and consumption. The majority of the water on Earth is full of salt or permanently frozen in glaciers. With large scale usage of clean water for farming, drinking, and washing, the concern of water scarcity and drought comes to mind. Researchers have turned to developing water desalination as a route to protect clean water for the future. If we are able to successfully tackle water-related challenges by desalination, then we could ultimately face the looming effects of climate change and clean water demands for the future.

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Last fall, students in a community building course partnered with Valley Forward (now Arizona Forward) to develop new ideas for vacant lots near Phoenix's light rail corridor. The same students presented their work to Arizona Forward this semester and the organization has decided to turn their suggestions into a white paper and toolkit.

The course instructor Dean Brennan helped teaching assistant Hannah Szabo and the students in the course to explore the cost and focus of vacant lot revitalization. School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning student Julia Kerran and School of Sustainability student Will Heasley presented the project’s results to the Arizona Forward committee.

“Temporary development creates a use for locations that can otherwise become a source of blight, filling in empty space and fostering creative ideas as well as promoting community activities,” explains Brennan, an ASU faculty associate and planning professional.

Salt River Project (SRP) and SunPower Corp. have dedicated a one-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant to the ASU Polytechnic campus. The solar power system is the first commercially deployed for SunPower Corp. using its SunPower C7 Tracker technology. The tracking system concentrates the sun’s power seven times to lower costs of electricity use from solar power plants available today.

The system uses little water and is predicted to generate as much energy needed to power 225 SRP customers' homes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the system will offset the production of 1,277 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year or the equivalent of removing 241 passenger vehicles from Arizona roads each year.

“This dynamic project with SunPower enables ASU to move closer to our 2015, 25-megawatt solar energy-generating goal, embrace innovative technologies, and facilitate possible education opportunities for our students,” said David Brixen, ASU’s associate vice president of Facilities Development and Management.

For Earth Month 2013, the Global Institute of Sustainability will welcome Richard Morrison, ASU's Morrison Institute co-founder, to talk about sustainable and ethical business practices. Part of the Institute's Sustainability Series, Morrison's talk, "Ethics and Sustainable Practices," will take place on Monday, April 29, from noon until 1:30 p.m.

Morrison is an Episcopal priest and a sustainable ranching business partner. He is also an attorney, focusing on Native American water rights and natural resource policy.

Morrison says his main sustainability challenge is world hunger. Morrison joined the Farm Foundation's  Dialogue Project for Food and Agriculture Policy in the 21st Century to find a common commitment to ending world hunger.

Climate Research, Vol 55, No. 3

January 10, 2013

Authors

D. Ruddell [1], D. Hoffman [2], O. Ahmad [3], A. Brazel [4]

Abstract

Several critically important temperature thresholds are experienced in the climate of the desert southwest USA and in central Arizona. These thresholds present significant and increasing challenges to social systems. Utilizing daily surface air temperature records from Phoenix and Gila Bend regional weather stations from 1900−2007, we examined 3 temperature thresholds: (1) frost days (minimum temperature < 0°C); (2) misery days (maximum temperature ≥43.3°C); and (3) local characteristics of heat waves. We investigated historic climate patterns in addition to considering the human implications associated with these changes. Analyses also integrated multidecadal modes of the El Niño−Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Key findings of this study were: (1) uneven warming trends among temperature thresholds between the Phoenix (pronounced warming) and Gila Bend (modest warming) weather stations; (2) disjointed associations between ENSO and PDO with frost and misery days, signaling anthropogenic interference between temperature thresholds and historic atmospheric processes; (3) variable effects of ENSO and PDO modulations on annual frost and misery days; (4) evidence of urbanization suppressing local effects of global climate systems (i.e. ENSO, PDO); and (5) potentially significant and widespread adverse impacts on many local environmental, economic, and social systems as a result of changes in threshold temperatures.

Key Words

Temperature thresholds, Urban heat island, Phoenix, Gila Bend, Coupled natural-human systems

[1] Spatial Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0374, USA

[2] School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1041, USA

[3] School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-5502, USA

[4] School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-5302, USA

Earth Day is Monday, April 22, but Arizona State University is making the whole month of April a time to celebrate the natural world we all depend on. The Tempe and Polytechnic campuses feature a wide variety of events for Earth Month 2013 that you can get involved in.

For instance:

- Wrigley Lectures featuring England’s resident climate change expert Sir Crispin Tickell and science historian Naomi Oreskes

- Sustainability Series discussions with Local First Arizona’s Kimber Lanning and ASU’s Morrison Institute co-founder Richard Morrison

- film screenings of “A Fierce Green Fire” and “A Place at the Table: One Nation, Underfed”

- backyard date palm harvesting workshops

- Earth Week Festival

- Farmers Market @ the ASU Tempe campus

- local community gardening

- southwest storytelling workshop

- organic food eating contest

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Earth Day is Monday, April 22 and Arizona State University is turning all of April into Earth Month 2013. Tempe campus and Polytechnic campus feature multiple events like workshops, lectures, and film screenings. All events are open to the public.

“ASU’s Earth Month helps us celebrate our connections to the natural resources and ecosystems on which we depend,” says Nick Brown, ASU’s director of University Sustainability Practices. “In an urban environment, it’s easy to overlook our interdependence on natural systems, and observations like Earth Day remind us of our need for good land stewardship.”

Ten films will be screened during Arizona State University's Human Rights Festival this weekend, April 5-7, at the Tempe campus.

Human Rights Film Festival Director and Sustainability Scientist LaDawn Haglund says, "I was inspired to create a human rights film festival, in part, because in an academic environment, it is easy to get lost in heady and sometimes terrible facts. Film, when done well, forces us to bring our hearts to the issues, helping us to empathize and, hopefully, spurring us to act."

Of the films, one is part of ASU's Earth Week 2013 events entitled "A Fierce Green Fire." The film explores the history of the grassroots environmental movement for the last fifty years. Another film, "Four Stories Of Water" focuses on indigenous water rights.

Naomi Oreskes will be visiting Arizona State University to give her lecture, “Who is Responsible for Climate Change?” on Earth Day, Monday, April 22 from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. at Old Main’s Carson Ballroom on the Tempe campus.

Oreskes is a prolific writer, appearing in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and academic journals like Nature and Science. She was named the 2011 Climate Change Communicator of the Year by George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication.

As a writer and an academic, Oreskes researches the role of science in society and investigates society's reaction to climate change evidence. She shares the importance and urgency of climate change to multiple audiences.

Joseph Miceli, a researcher at ASU’s Biodesign Institute with Sustainability Scientists Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown and Cesar Torres, is studying how the anode respiring bacteria can be used to clean up waste and produce hydrogen or electric energy.

“One of the ways we currently treat wastewater from such sources as food processing is to use aerobic organisms,” Miceli says, referring to bacteria requiring oxygen for survival. “So we have to pump oxygen into the system in order to help feed the bacteria, which break down the chemical contaminants. This adds a very large cost.”

However, the anode respiring bacteria Miceli is studying can survive in oxygen-free environments, making it more cost-effective and sustainable. Even more so, the bacteria produces energy while respiring.

Researchers at Arizona State University, including Sustainability Scientist Marco Janssen, are using games to learn about water resource sharing and cooperation among people.

The project was recently covered in an article by the International Food Policy Research Institute, which is a partner on the project along with India’s Foundation for Ecological Security and Colombia’s Universidad de los Andes.

The research is taking place in rural India and Colombia where groups of villagers are asked to act out water use and crop growing strategies in low-water surroundings. Once their "water supply" is exceeded, the game is over.

The School of Sustainability at Arizona State University has announced its new dean effective July 1, 2013. Christopher Boone, a professor at the School of Sustainability and School of Human Evolution and Social Change, has served as the associate dean for education of the School of Sustainability since July 2010. Boone has been with ASU since 2006 and is a member of the executive committees of the School of Sustainability and the Global Institute of Sustainability.

Boone will succeed Dean Sander van der Leeuw, who will continue to support the School's research and education endeavors as a member of the Global Institute of Sustainability's board of directors and co-director of the Complex Adaptive Systems Network.

“I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve the School of Sustainability,” Boone said. “I see this as a really important continuation of the work Professor Van der Leeuw did to strengthen the School. ASU serves as an international model for blending sustainability education and research with practice. I am confident we will continue to be a leader in sustainability.”

Dear colleagues, staff, and students,

On June 30, 2013, I will be stepping down, at my own request, as dean of Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability (the School).

I will continue as Foundation Professor with tenure in ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change (SHESC) and a half-time appointment in both SHESC and the School. I will have the pleasure to keep my responsibility as co-director of CAS@ASU (the new name of the Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative), as well as for the development of ASU’s Center for Integrated Solutions to Climate Challenges.

This is, for me, a liberating step. After ten years of administrative duties at ASU, I see my remaining years in academia melting like snow under the Arizona sun. I want to return to a more normal academic life of teaching, writing, thinking strategically about the scientific domains I am involved in, and strengthening ties with colleagues all over the world with whom I enjoy working.

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Arizona State University's Institute for Humanities Research received funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to join forces with humanities research centers worldwide to foster novel ways of collaboration for a more sustainable future.

There are two large-scale projects under the grant that will run through 2015. The first is Religion, Secularism, and Political Belonging and the second is Humanities for the Environment, in which ASU's Institute for Humanities Research will play a major role. The Institute will join its global partners in investigating what it means to be human under the climate crisis.

Several Sustainability Scientists are appointed to the projects, including: Joni Adamson, Ron Broglio, Netra Chhetri, Paul Hirt, Joan McGregor, Stephen Pyne, and Rebecca Tsosie.

via Denver Post on March 27, 2013

On Monday, Denver returns to a low-water lifestyle that many haven't experienced in more than a decade.

The Denver Board of Water Commissioners on Wednesday declared a Stage 2 drought, with mandatory restrictions on lawn irrigation, hotel laundry, car washing and other nonessential uses.

Residents may water lawns only twice weekly. Restaurants can serve water to customers only when asked. Lodging establishments can wash sheets for long-term guests no more frequently than every four days, unless the customer makes a request.

Cars may be washed only by using a bucket or a hand-held hose equipped with an automatic shut-off nozzle. Fleet and commercial vehicles may be washed only once a week.

Water-watchers say this drought is worse than in 2002, the last time Stage 2 restrictions were enacted.

Read more: Denver Water approves mandatory watering restrictions because of drought - The Denver Post

Britain’s Sir Crispin Tickell will be visiting Arizona State University to discuss “The Human Future” on Thursday, April 11, from 6:00-7:30 p.m. at the Tempe Center for the Arts in the Lakeside Room.

Passionate about history, world affairs, and the biological sciences, Tickell has become a renowned climate change expert. In 1984, he served as advisor to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, helping her add climate change to the Group of Seven (G7) agenda. He is currently an advisor-at-large to ASU President Michael Crow.

“I hope the audience will begin to see the threat the human species faces and the way we can meet climate change challenges, or fail to meet those challenges.” Tickell says. “I think once people understand the issues and recognize their personal responsibilities; they can begin to take the appropriate actions.”

Water is rare in a desert, especially in a desert that has the fifth-largest city in the U.S.—Phoenix. Recently, newspapers from Arizona and Los Angeles published competing articles about which city's water supply is less sustainable. What's more, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says the water seven U.S. states (40 million people) depend on is disappearing.

Many experts say that industrial and agricultural water consumers should turn to reusing. Luckily, Arizona State University is partnering with CH2M HILL and Intel on a program called WaterMatch, designed to make such reuse possible. The university is contributing data on wastewater treatment plants to "match" water reuse consumers with water reuse suppliers.

There are downsides to water reuse, but to focus on solutions, ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability, ASU's Decision Center for a Desert City, CH2M HILL, and Intel will host a gathering of experts to discuss how the Colorado River could be used for water reuse.

via NASA Images Image of the Day

The Colorado Plateau spans northern Arizona, southern Utah, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. This physiographic province is well known for its striking landscapes and broad vistas—an impression that is enhanced by the view from the orbital perspective of the International Space Station. This astronaut photograph highlights part of the Utah-Arizona border region of the Plateau, and includes several prominent landforms.

The Colorado River, dammed to form Lake Powell in 1963, crosses from east to west (which is left to right here because the astronaut was looking south; north is towards the bottom of the image). The confluence of the Colorado and San Juan Rivers is also visible. Sunglint—sunlight reflected off a water surface back towards the observer—provides a silvery, mirror-like sheen to some areas of the water surfaces.

The geologic uplift of the Colorado Plateau led to rapid downcutting of rivers into the flat sedimentary bedrock, leaving spectacular erosional landforms. One such feature, The Rincon, preserves evidence of a former meander bend of the Colorado River.