The Tempe Republic covered a mayoral forum that took place on Sept. 25. In the Southeast Valley Opinion article, each mayor's opinions and remarks are recorded regarding sustainability plans and future improvements for Mesa, Tempe, and Phoenix.

Scott Smith, the mayor of Mesa, believes sustainability is "an environmental issue, an economic issue, a planning issue."

Mark Mitchell, the mayor of Tempe, adds that the hardest challenge in implementing urban sustainability is education.

"The biggest challenge we have is educating the policy makers, making sure we have a good plan, a mass-transit system, to make sure we have the tools to attract economic-development opportunities," he says.

Greg Stanton, the mayor of Phoenix, advises that sustainability must be taken into consideration now and into the future.

"Push us to be better leaders," he says. "A lot of people made a lot of money with a sprawl economy. Even when the economy comes roaring back, let’s not do things the same way."

The mayoral forum was part of ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability's Sustainability Series.

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Let’s take a break from studying for finals and stressing out about work to really ponder what this season means. No matter what you celebrate, all the holidays bring together family, friends, and strangers. But let’s bring in another companion or two and include the natural world in the festivities.

The holidays in general are consumptive, more than usual. Decorations, gifts, baking, and parties all have their own set of impacts. So this year, we bring you some green holiday ideas that you can even apply after the celebrations. Ideas inspired by Earth911.

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Presentations

-Brad Lancaster, Regenerative Rights-of-Way: Local Harvests and Enhancements in Our Community Commons

-Eileen Dunn, LID and MS4 Stormwater Permit Nexus

-Kimberly Brewer, Implementing Existing LID Tools for the Community and Region

-Jenna Cleveland, Water Resources Research Center: Utility Guide to Rainwater and Stormwater Harvesting

-James DeRoussel, Community Based Green Infrastructure in Arizona's Public Rights-of-Way

-Grant McCormick, LID Examples in Public Settings

-Tom Kaczmarowski, Permeable/Porous Pavement

-Richard Adkins, The Urban Forest Resource: A Critical Component of Developing Sustainable Infrastructure and Healthy Living

Date: Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Time: 8:30am-4:00pm

Location: Glendale Public Library Main Auditorium

5959 West Brown Street, Glendale, AZ 85302

Who Should Attend?

Municipal professionals in storm water management, engineering, planning, landscape architecture, parks and recreation, and other departments associated with infrastructure management.

What is LID?

Low Impact Development (LID) is comprised of a set of site-design approaches and small-scale practices to manage, capture, and infiltrate storm water for beneficial use as close to its source as possible. A good LID plan provides integrated solutions to reducing storm water pollutants, improving water quality and watershed conditions, and preserving trees and natural vegetation. Ideally, LID would decrease the cost of municipal storm water infrastructure and help preserve and/or enhance our urban green spaces.

Why Attend?

Within the next 5 years most cities in the Valley will be required to submit LID plans as a part of their storm water permitting process. A good municipal LID plan requires the cooperation of many internal and external development-related professionals and departments. This one-day workshop provides the opportunity for you to enhance your understanding of LID and to network and learn from other professionals working in our region.

Preliminary Agenda

8:30 – 9:00 Registration and Refreshments

9:00 – 9:15 Welcome

9:15 – 10:00 Keynote speaker – Brad Lancaster, Designer, Consultant and Co-founder of Desert Harvesters non-profit organization.

10:00– 10:30 What is LID? Why is it Important regionally?

Eileen Dunn, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

10:30-10:45 BREAK

10:45– 12:00 Existing Regional Tools

Kimberly Brewer, Tetra Tech – examples from San Diego to Phoenix

Jenna Cleveland, Graduate Student, The University of Arizona, Water Resources Research Center – Tool kit

12:00 – 1:00 LUNCH

1:00 – 1:30 ROW Examples

James DeRoussel, Watershed Management Group

1:30 – 2:00 Public Facility Examples

Grant McCormick, Campus Planner, The University of Arizona

2:00 – 2:30 Permeable Paving Examples

Glendale Park & Ride – Tom Kaczmarowski,Sr. Civil Land Development,Engineer, City of Glendale

2:30 – 2:45 BREAK

2:45 – 3:15 Urban Forest and Urban Heat Island

Richard Adkins, Parks and Recreation Department, Forestry Supervisor, City of Phoenix

3:15 – 4:00 Barriers & Solutions Panel Discussion

Maintenance - Irene Ogata, Urban Landscape Manager, City of Tucson

Watershed Management Group - James DeRoussel

Codes / ordinances - Tetra Tech – Kimberly Brewer

Stay tuned for more details on the workshop and CEU/PDU opportunities.

To register early for this free workshop, please email Anne Reichman at scnevents@asu.edu. Seating is limited and attendance will be on a first come, first serve basis. Questions? Please contact Anne Reichman, Program Manager for ASU’s Sustainable Cities Network at anne.reichman@asu.edu/480-965-2168.

This event is sponsored by

-STORM: Stormwater Outreach for Regional Municipalities: azstorm.org

-AMEC: amec.com

-SRP: srpnet.com

-Engineering and Environmental Consultants inc. eec-info.com

-Watershed Management Group watershedmg.org

CEUs Approved for Professionals of:

Arizona Landscape Contractors Association (ALCA)

American Planning Association (APA) – CMs

Association of State Flood plain Managers (ASFPM) - CECs

Western Chapter International Society of Arboriculture (ISA)

CEU Approval Pending for the following organizations:

American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) - CESs

American Indians experienced their own civil rights movement during the 1970s and 80s as national legislation was passed that gave tribes the rights to determine their own destinies as sovereign nations.

Groundbreaking acts that were passed during this era addressed American Indian health care, child welfare, education, environmental management and self-determination.

“It was almost a perfect storm in a positive way where things came together through the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act,” said Eddie Brown, professor, sustainability scientist, and executive director of the American Indian Policy Institute in the ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “In the past, cities and counties would barely consider dealing with Indian tribes as governments.”

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After spending countless days in a cubicle working for a local bank, ASU senior Ryan Winkle knew he needed a change. Armed with just his ambition, he applied to ASU in search of a new path and the tools to make a difference in the changing world.

Winkle is currently pursuing dual undergraduate degrees in sustainability and urban planning to fulfill his passion for creating policy changes regarding nutrition and education.

“There is a disconnect now between people and how they get their food. The lettuce you eat is probably from Mexico and your tomatoes from Chile. That’s really far away,” he said.

To assist with more organic and local food opportunities, Winkle teamed up with his friends this fall to begin working on a proposal for a Mesa Urban Garden (M.U.G.) that would unite the local community and bring awareness to sustainable dining.

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Erin Frisk is a doctoral student and researcher in the School of Sustainability. Her work focuses on K-12 sustainability education by incorporating behavioral theories into instruction. She is married to Aaron Redman, a School of Sustainability alumnus. In 2009, Frisk created a line of reusable mesh produce bags called FAVE Bags (Fruit and Vegetable, Etc.). Redman and Frisk collaborated with women in El Salvador to sew the bags, thus providing much-needed income and professional development for the women. In 2010, the FAVE Bags invention earned a $2,000 grant from ASU’s Innovation Challenge competition. Frisk and Redman will be moving to Mexico to work at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México to develop a sustainability undergraduate program and outreach center. Frisk’s FAVE Bags will continue to be sold in Mexico with possible development in South Africa.

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On November 15 the Dean of the School of Sustainability, Sander van der Leeuw, spoke at the Tempe Center for the Arts about complex systems theory on the role of sustainability and innovation in societies as part of the distinguished Wrigley Lecture Series. The lecture focused on the evolution of human minds and how people have historically worked together to improve societies through the role of invention and innovation.

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George Basile is a professor in the School of Sustainability and a Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Global Institute of Sustainability. He is an internationally recognized creative thinker who was recently on the cover of Sustainability: The Journal of Record. Basile received a B.S. in physics and a Ph.D. in biophysics. He helped develop green M.B.A programs in the U.S. and Sweden. Basile advises Fortune 500 companies on sustainable business practices and is a sought-after speaker on the subject. His expertise lies in green business practices, biotechnology, strategic leadership and sustainability, and entrepreneurship.

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Urban ecology research was the focus of a recent news feature in the journal Nature, which explored the wide range of work conducted under the National Science Foundation and the US Forest Service's  Urban Long Term Research Areas Exploratory (ULTRA-Ex) grant program. This program builds on the success of ongoing urban ecological research by hundreds of scientists connected with CAP and the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES). CAP scientist Paige Warren is the PI of an ULTRA-Ex project in Boston that asseses how efforts to plant vegetation throughout Boston have affected air quality, people and wildlife. CAP scientists Chris Boone, Abby York, Dan Childers, and Josh Abbott are currently collaborating with scientists at the Sevilleta and Jornada LTER sites on an ULTRA-Ex project investigating open space in the Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces metropolitan areas.

The Conservation Alliance, a partnership of conservation organizations, parks departments, and Arizona State University researchers, has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust to further work on studying, restoring, and promoting Phoenix’s mountain park reserves.

Launched in late 2011, the Alliance brings together CAP and Arizona State University's School of Life Sciences’ Ecosystem Conservation and Resilience Initiative (ECRI) with the Desert Botanical Garden, Audubon Arizona, the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department, and the Phoenix Mountains Preservation Council.

The Desert Botanical Garden leads the initiative and was the main recipient of the three-year grant from the Pulliam Trust, which will enable the Alliance to begin work on several projects this winter.

"This grant will allow the Alliance to realize many of its ambitious goals to further the preservation and conservation of the metro area’s open spaces, supporting both recreational enjoyment and ecosystem health now and into the future," says Nancy B. Grimm, director of CAP LTER and professor in the School of Life Sciences.

The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust awards grants to nonprofit groups focusing on job creation, land preservation, and local cultural enrichment. The Conservation Alliance’s awarded portion is part of the $2.2 million the Trust granted to 24 nonprofit organizations in Arizona in 2012.

It has long been acknowledged that there are marked similarities among the built structures of suburbs in the United States due to the proliferation of big box stores and similarities in housing design and neighborhood layout. Now, a team of scientists from across the LTER Network (CAP, PIE, FCE, BES, CDR plus Los Angeles) is examining the ecological homogenization of America. They posit that cities are becoming more similar ecologically due to widespread landscaping practices such as the grass lawn and fertilizer use, which are promoted through the multimillion dollar landscaping industry. This work, funded by a LTER-leveraged grant from the National Science Foundation, is led by Peter Groffman (BES) and involves Sharon Hall and Kelli Larson from CAP. Both Groffman and Hall were recently interviewed by the New York Times for a story detailing their research. This work builds on ongoing cross-LTER research on residential landscapes, which has culminated in articles published in Human Ecology, The Triple Helix, Urban Ecosystems and Cities and Environment.

Chain Reaction, is a science magazine/web site for students in grades 4-8, published by the Office of Research Communications at Arizona State University. Chain Reaction explores scientific concepts using real research explained by working scientists. Their goal is to spark interest in science and higher education and to provide teachers with a high-quality resource.

Each printed issue of Chain Reaction is built around a topic that the Arizona Science Standards require students to study, and the articles reflect Arizona's standards for K-12 science education. Because students respond so well to it, teachers have found creative ways to incorporate Chain Reaction into other areas of their curriculum, such as language arts units.

Chain Reaction and its staff have earned national awards and recognition from education and communication associations as an outstanding publication for young readers.

Chain Reaction Volume 7 explores how many of the largest and fastest-growing cities on Earth are located in hot places. Big cities make temperatures even higher through the urban heat island effect. The "island" is made up of buildings and roads, houses and parking lots. These human-made materials absorb the sun’s warmth during the day. They keep temperatures high, even in the dark of night when surrounding areas cool off.

Scientists at Arizona State University, including lead scientists Sharon Harlan (principal investigator), Susanne Grossman-Clarke, Darrel Jenerette, Tim Lant, Chris Martin, William Stefanov (co-principal investigators) as well as DCDC researchers Anthony Brazel, Winston Chow, Ben Ruddell, Darren Ruddell and Education Manager Monica Elser, contributed to this Chain Reaction issue.

Download Volume 7 of Chain Reaction.

Your yard in the Valley of the Sun may have many commonalities with a yard in wintry Minnesota. The plants you choose, the fertilizer you use, and how you landscape your yard may have a larger, widespread impact than you think.

A recent NY Times article profiled ASU's Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research's four-year NSF project analyzing how and why America's urban landscapes are starting to look the same. ASU is partnering with universities from Boston, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Miami, and Los Angeles to develop theories to explain what they call "ecological homogenization."

It is noted in the article that over time, Americans have progressed a single type of landscape preference. The article's author, Maggie Koerth-Baker, writes:

"Over the course of the last century, we’ve developed those preferences and started applying them to a wide variety of natural landscapes, shifting all places — whether desert, forest or prairie — closer to the norm. Since the 1950s, for example, Phoenix has been remade into a much wetter place that more closely resembles the pond-dotted ecosystem of the Northeast."

Sharon Hall, a sustainability scientist and project investigator, hopes that CAP LTER's research will show the impacts of our everyday decisions and the implications of ecological homogenization.

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Efforts to reduce dependence on conventional energy sources such as fossil fuels and coal is spurred by the desire to alleviate the harmful environmental impacts of carbon dioxide emissions that result from the production and use of these sources.

Researchers are working on using sunlight as a catalyst for a process to produce clean hydrogen fuels, or looking at converting biomass (plant materials) as a clean fuel for power plants.

Arizona State University civil and environmental engineer Mikhail Chester weighs in along with other noted experts on alternative-energy issues in a recent article in a prominent international science magazine.

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Researchers at Arizona State University are working to identify these unseen contaminants and to measure their effects on human and environmental health.

Some of those unnoticed pollutants are directly linked to consumer practices. Chemicals in the products we use often end up in the water supply. For example, many stain and stick resistant products are made with something called perfluorinated compounds. Their chemistry, which makes them useful in the home, also makes them persistent in the environment. They simply do not degrade.

“What’s needed is a combination of more foresight in the way we pick and produce chemicals and then education of the consumers,” says Rolf Halden, a sustainability scientist and the director of the new Center for Environmental Security in the Biodesign Institute at ASU. “Right now, people are completely in the dark – they don’t even know what they’re buying. If you work with pollution control, the best, most effective way to deal with pollution is to not create pollution.”

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The Arizona Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council recognized Arizona State University for its accomplishments in achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications for building construction.

ASU received two awards for the number of LEED building certifications in Arizona: Highest LEED Achievement – Most Certifications in Arizona and LEED New Construction – Most Gold Buildings.

“The benefits of attaining LEED certification demonstrates ASU’s dedication to incorporating many sustainable models in the built environment, such as water and energy conservation, and the reduction of landfill waste and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ed Soltero, assistant vice president and university architect at ASU. “LEED silver certification is our minimum target for all new construction across all four ASU campuses.”

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Arizona State University is joining together with Intel to challenge college and university students everywhere to create more optimistic and engaging stories about sustainable futures.

Tomorrow Project USA, a collaboration between ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination(CSI) and Intel’s Tomorrow Project, is currently hosting a student writing competition, “Green Dreams,” to solicit original stories and essays that envision the beauty of green: fact-based, thoughtfully optimistic visions of the future powered by sustainable living, renewable energy and game-changing technologies.

The competition ends on Saturday, Dec. 1.

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A Thought Leader Series Piece

By Bruno Sarda

Note: Bruno Sarda is the director of global sustainability operations at Dell, a consultant for the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, and a faculty member at the School of Sustainability.

Our world faces ‘wicked’ problems.

Wicked problems, as explained by Ann Kinzig, chief research strategist at ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability, are challenges that are complex “all the way down.” They resist simple solutions.

Wicked problems include how to deal with a rapidly changing and unstable climate. How to feed a projected 9 billion people on this planet while enabling many to rise out of poverty. And how to do all of the above while respecting the physical boundaries and finite resources of our planet. These problems are the key challenge of sustainability.

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The Conservation Alliance, a partnership of conservation organizations, parks departments, and Arizona State University researchers, has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust to further work on studying, restoring, and promoting Phoenix’s mountain park reserves.

Launched in late 2011, the Alliance brings together Arizona State University’s Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) program and the School of Life Sciences’ Ecosystem Conservation and Resilience Initiative (ECRI) with the Desert Botanical Garden, Audubon Arizona, the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department, and the Phoenix Mountains Preservation Council.

The Desert Botanical Garden leads the initiative and was the main recipient of the three-year grant from the Pulliam Trust, which will enable the Alliance to begin work on several projects this winter.

“This grant will allow the Alliance to realize many of its ambitious goals to further the preservation and conservation of the metro area's open spaces, supporting both recreational enjoyment and ecosystem health now and into the future,” says Nancy B. Grimm, director of CAP LTER and professor in the School of Life Sciences.

The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust awards grants to nonprofit groups focusing on job creation, land preservation, and local cultural enrichment. The Conservation Alliance’s awarded portion is part of the $2.2 million the Trust granted to 24 nonprofit organizations in Arizona in 2012.

Many consumers wonder how products are made and what the footprint behind developing, delivering, and purchasing a product is. There are plenty of metrics and tons of information out there tracking a product's journey from conception to shelf, but what information is correct? Different metrics are supported by different companies and organizations. How does a consumer decide if a product is sustainable?

That's where The Sustainability Consortium comes in. As an organization made up of 10 universities, several nonprofits, and eighty international companies, The Consortium aims to create an "end all, be all" metric for measuring product sustainability.

Called the "Ultimate Sustainability Index" by the Scientific American, the metric will be used to evaluate the first 100 products ranging from laundry soap to cereal. The data from the index will be more comprehensive than other developed metrics due to large pressure put on suppliers to make their emissions, waste, resource use, and labor practices public.

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