David Pijawka, sustainability scientist and professor in the School of Sustainability and School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, and doctoral student Martin Gromulat have published a new textbook for undergraduate students exploring sustainable cities. The book, "Understanding Sustainable Cities: Concepts, Cases, and Solutions," is the culmination of Pijawka's experience teaching Sustainable Cities, an undergraduate course in the School of Sustainability.

“The key goal of this book is to help other colleges and universities introduce notions of sustainability and sustainable development to their students,” says Pijawka.

ASU President Michael Crow, a strong supporter and initiator of university sustainability, wrote the forward. The introductory chapters are written by Pijawka and Gromulat. The remaining chapters are authored by expert university faculty and affiliates. The book covers everything from water to transportation.

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It is near impossible these days to research cities, businesses, or universities without coming across their sustainability initiatives. What exactly does sustainability mean? Why is it so important? ASU President Michael Crow has answered this question by saying, “Sustainability is a concept with as much transformative potential as justice, liberty, and equality.” As our world continues to grow, sustainability will be a leading factor in shaping our future environmental responsibility, accommodating population growth and resource deprivation, and introducing new economic outcomes from residential to global levels. Sustainability is the term to use when we think about designing a cleaner, brighter future.

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Before the meal was selected or a table was set at the annual ASU Staff Appreciation Barbeque last spring, organizers decided a “green event” was the way to go. The ASU Staff Council wanted to reduce waste destined for the landfill and educate staffers about ASU’s sustainability practices.

Event planners reached out to Betty Lombardo, who facilitates Green Events at ASU and is manager of University Sustainability Practices.

“Betty gave us ideas, suggestions and processes that we had not previously considered regarding how to ‘green’ an event,” said Patricia Rosciano, co-chair of the Staff Appreciation Barbeque and assistant to the vice president of ASU’s Office of Human Resources.

According to Lombardo, Green Events benefit the university in numerous ways, including: the reduction of negative environmental impacts; expressing ASU’s sustainability values; being a leader for positive change; and building sustainability awareness among stakeholders.

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An international team of meteorologists recently finished an in-depth investigation of what had been the world-record temperature extreme of 58 degrees Celsius (136.4 F), recorded on Sept. 13, 1922, in El Azizia, Libya. The group found that there were enough questions surrounding the measurement and how it was made that it was probably inaccurate, overturning the record 90 years to the day it was recorded.

“We found systematic errors in the 1922 reading,” said Randy Cerveny, an ASU President’s Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning. “This change to the record books required significant sleuthing and a lot of forensic records work,” added Cerveny, who also is the Rapporteur of Climate and Weather Extremes for the WMO, the person responsible for keeping worldwide weather records.

Officially, the “new” world record temperature extreme is 56.7 C (134 F), recorded on July 10, 1913, at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, Calif.

“In the heart of every meteorologist and climatologist beats the soul of a detective,” said Cerveny. In this case the weather detectives had to work around an unfolding revolution in Libya.

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The U.S. Department of Energy has selected the Arizona State University led Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership (ATP³) for a $15M award for its Advancements in Sustainable Algal Production opportunity.

“This algae national testbed will provide high quality data and a network of sites that will speed the pace of innovation,” said Gary Dirks, director of ATP³ and ASU LightWorks, the university initiative that pulls light-inspired research at ASU under one strategic framework. “The network will support companies and research institutions as they work to meet the nation’s energy challenges.”

ATP³ will function as a testing facility for the algal research community supporting the operation of existing outdoor algae cultivation systems and allowing researchers access to real-world conditions for algal biomass production for biofuel.

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Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix leaders asked to share their vision for sustainable future

What are Arizona’s desert cities doing to become more livable – more sustainable – in planning for transportation, housing, energy, water usage and population growth?

The mayors of three of Arizona’s largest cities – Mesa, Phoenix and Tempe – will address sustainability challenges and opportunities for their cities during a panel discussion from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Sept. 25, at the Mesa Arts Center. They will be asked to describe their city’s unique challenges and explain their vision for a sustainable future.

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This summer, CAP Director Dan Childers and his Wetland Ecosystem Ecology Lab hosted three Phoenix  high school students and introduced them to urban ecological research in the field and in the laboratory. The focus of the students' research was work that Childers and his lab have initiated at the Tres Rios constructed wetlands in Phoenix. For information on this summer program, please see https://asunews.asu.edu/20120911_urbanwetland

During the 2012 spring semester, the three high school students worked with CAP scientist Kelli Larson and School of Sustainability Ph.D. student Erin Frisk on sustainability issues. The students made significant strides in introducing their peers to sustainability practices and principles.

The National Science Foundation funded this initiative through the Research Assistantships for High School Students (RAHSS) program, which brings students from underrepresented groups into universities to work with faculty and students on scientific research projects. CAP faculty interested in participating in the RAHSS program should contact Marcia Nation, CAP Project Manager.

From September 9-13, a group of CAP scientists, students, and staff will be attending the LTER All Scientists Meeting (ASM) in Estes Park, Colorado. This year's LTER ASM theme is "The Unique Role of the LTER Network in the Anthropocene." CAP is sending a delegation of 38 faculty, staff, undergraduate students and graduate students to this event, which will make it one of the largest LTER site groups in attendance. CAP participants will present 20 posters and participate in working groups on topics varying from "Urban Sustainability" to the "Ecological Homogenization of America." In addition LTER education managers, students, information managers, and site science communicators will hold meetings involving representatives from all 26 LTER sites, including CAP. For more information, please see http://asm2012.lternet.edu/

As population in the Sunbelt grows, water supplies are spread thin. How does this affect native species? And how does this affect the people who move here?

Arizona State University has been awarded a four-year, $505,823 grant from the National Science Foundation to study freshwater sustainability in the face of population growth and climate change. North Carolina State University and the University of Georgia are also part of the project.

The research will take place across the Sunbelt, the area that spans the lower U.S. states including all of Arizona. These states are characterized by extended summers with brief and mild winters. This type of climate, called warm-temperate, is especially critical to studying water supplies.

“Cities across the sunbelt are growing rapidly,” says John Sabo, director of research development at ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability and lead scientist on the study. “We will need water for this growth, and allocating that water to humans may have consequences for native biodiversity, especially if supply is diminished by climate change.”

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Water Conflict in Arizona: Are We Heading for a Water Congress? from CWAGAZ on Vimeo.

On September 8, 2012, DCDC Internship Fellows and ASU School of Sustainability students Emily Allen, Kena Fedorschak, and Colin Russell explored what motivates or inhibits stakeholders when deciding whether to participate in collaborative environments, and what implications exist for the potential of a water congress in Arizona.

The Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG), an organization which promotes a sustainable water future in the Upper Verde River Basin and the Prescott Active Management Area, requested that DCDC/SOS interns present at one of their meetings and share the findings of their survey research.

In Kena's words, "Water policy and management is a complex and dynamic issue for all of Arizona’s stakeholders. Future water supply is uncertain due to limited water supplies, limited delivery systems, and the lack of an efficient collaborative entity to comprehensively coordinate planning efforts. The lack of effective and cohesive collaboration was recently demonstrated through the break-down and end of the 7-year ADD Water discussions. Increased collaboration is often believed to contribute to development of water policy in a beneficial manner; Colorado and Kansas have promoted state-wide collaboration through implementation of a water congress. In Arizona, the establishment of numerous county-wide, regional and local water groups (e.g. The East Valley Water Forum) may be a reaction by concerned or discontented stakeholders. This talk will explore what motivates and inhibits stakeholders from participating in collaborative environments and what implications exist for a potential of a water congress in Arizona."

For the past few years, ASU has been conducting studies at the Tres Rios wetlands, a facility constructed by the City of Phoenix as an alternative to traditional wastewater treatment. Researchers want to know how successfully these man-made wetlands provide ecosystem services like wildlife habitat and water treatment in an arid landscape.

One goal of this research initiative is providing environmental education to high school and college students.

“In this project we’ve got students doing both lab work and field work, and that is pretty unusual,” says Dan Childers, the director for ASU's Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research and principal investigator.

In June, Ariah Evans, Aunese Evans, and Daniel Loza joined Childers and ASU’s Wetland Ecosystem Ecology Lab (WEEL) group to work on a plant decomposition study at Tres Rios. As part of their work, they measured greenhouse gas emissions, plant growth, and water evaporation. The three students come from two Phoenix high schools and are part of the National Science Foundation’s Research Assistantships for High School Students (RAHSS) program.

Two undergraduate students assisting the Tres Rios research are funded through the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.

Chris Sanchez, a junior at the University of Miami studying anthropology and environmental sciences, says he can better prepare the high school students because he participated in the RAHSS program when he was in high school. Sanchez mentors the students with another undergraduate, Nich Weller, a senior in ASU’s School of Sustainability studying urban ecosystems. Weller says there is constant collaboration with the high school students.

“They always have questions for us, and oftentimes we have questions for them,” Weller says. “It’s sort of ad hoc learning as you go.”

In the end, Childers hopes that the Tres Rios research gives all the students a learning experience that can’t compare to others.

“I think, fundamentally, what I would like to know is that the process of what we went through this summer has given them an opportunity to think a little more critically and creatively on their own and recognize there’s a big picture to everything,” he says.

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New this fall, educators-in-training can be equipped with a wide breadth of knowledge pertaining to all facets of sustainability. Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Biodesign Institute, and School of Sustainability have partnered together to create a course called Sustainability Science for Teachers.

Lee Hartwell, a distinguished sustainability scientist in ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability and Virginia G. Piper Chair of Personalized Medicine, leads the course along with School of Sustainability alumnus Annie Warren and Teachers College Assistant Professor Leanna Archambault. The course aims to provide future educators with successful teaching methods to engage younger students in sustainability science.

“How can we introduce science in a way that feeds the natural curiosity and interest that kids have rather than destroying it?” says Hartwell. “We [teachers] no longer need to become domain experts. We’re seeing the bright young kids being able to move from one arena to another and solving problems.”

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In a recent opinion article featured in Bloomberg, theoretical physicist Mark Buchanan interviews School of Sustainability Dean Sander van der Leeuw on humans' power to alter the planet.

Buchanan, a columnist for Nature Physics, shares his thoughts on why humans continue to innovate and improve technology, but with ever-increasing consequences on the environment. The sudden explosion in human activity since the Industrial Revolution caused higher temperatures, increased population, and more species extinctions. Now, scientists are calling our present time the "Anthropocene" era—the time period in which human activity affects all of Earth's processes profoundly.

What sets us apart from other species, Buchanan says, is our ability to innovate through technology.

"New techniques for everything from farming to computation interact and combine to drive the creation of more innovations in an ever-accelerating spiral," Buchanan writes. "Paradoxically, technological innovation has also created our biggest problems, including climate change, environmental destruction and the threat of nuclear annihilation."

But, Buchanan points out, innovation and technology is necessary to civilization. How can humans exist without threatening natural systems and avoid additional environmental consequences? Dean Sander van der Leeuw says humans must innovate differently.

"Humans suffer from a mismatch between our thinking about what we do and the truth of what we do," Buchanan paraphrases van der Leeuw. "Our brains make sense of a multifaceted world by ignoring much of its complexity—a trait Van der Leeuw calls 'low dimensional' thinking."

“Every human action upon the environment modifies the latter in many more ways that its human actors perceive, simply because the dimensionality of the environment is much higher than can be captured by the human mind," says van der Leeuw.

So the solution? Buchanan and van der Leeuw suggest humans must "innovate differently by using technology to reduce the mismatch between our brains and reality."

Read the opinion piece »

In a recent article published by Karen Bakker in Science entitled,"Water Security: Research Challenges and Opportunities", she argues for enhanced integration between academic research and policy making for water sustainability.

Bakker goes on to make note of several promising efforts to improve the linkage between knowledge and action, "In addition, project-based funding should be complemented by the creation of long-term networks [e.g., Oxford University’s Water Security Network] and research units that bring together interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners on a longer-term basis (32), e.g., NSF’s Decision Center for a Desert City, which bridges science and policy to create analytical tools used in water decision-making."

The article illustrates the increasing impact of our work at Decision Center for a Desert City. Read the entire article at Science.

Karen Bakker is Director of the Program on Water Governance in the Department of Geography and Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

Abstract

An estimated 80% of the world's population faces a high-level water security or water-related biodiversity risk (1). The issue of water security—defined as an acceptable level of water-related risks to humans and ecosystems, coupled with the availability of water of sufficient quantity and quality to support livelihoods, national security, human health, and ecosystem services (2, 3)—is thus receiving considerable attention. To date, however, the majority of academic research on water security is relatively poorly integrated with the needs of policy-makers and practitioners; hence, substantial changes to funding, education, research frameworks, and academic incentive structures are required if researchers are to be enabled to make more substantive contributions to addressing the global water crisis.

A team of researchers from Arizona State University has found that warming resulting from megapolitan expansion is seasonally dependent, with greatest warming occurring during summer and least during winter. Among the most practical ways to combat urbanization-induced warming – the painting of buildings' roofs white – was found to disrupt regional hydroclimate, highlighting the need for evaluation of tradeoffs associated with combating urban heat islands (UHI).

“We found that raising the reflectivity of buildings by painting their roofs white is an effective way of reducing higher average temperatures caused by urban expansion,” said Matei Georgescu, an assistant professor in ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and sustainability scientist. “However, increased reflectivity also modifies hydroclimatic processes and, in the case of the ‘Sun Corridor,’ can lead to a significant reduction of rainfall. Our maximum Sun Corridor expansion scenario leads to a 12 percent reduction in rainfall, averaged across the entire state. Painting roofs white leads to an additional 4 percent reduction in rainfall.”

Located in a semi-arid environment, the Sun Corridor is composed of four metropolitan areas: Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott and Nogales. With a population projection expected to exceed 9 million people by 2040, the rapidly expanding megapolitan offers the opportunity to identify tradeoffs focused on sustainable expansion of the built environment.

“Truly sustainable development will have to consider impacts extending beyond average temperature,” Georgescu explained. “A crucial step in that approach is to identify potential adaptation and mitigation strategies and assess tradeoffs, to ensure that we make smart decisions with minimum damaging consequences.”

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View a video on the Sun Corridor research »

Q&A with Nancy Selover

Nancy Selover is a Senior Sustainability Scientist at the Global Institute of Sustainability, a research professor at the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences), and State Climatologist at the Arizona State Climate Office. As a climatologist with an interest in water supply issues, she is co-chair of the Drought Monitoring Technical Committee of the Governor’s Drought Task Force, a member of the Arizona Flood Warning System, a member of the Applied Climatology Committee of the American Meteorological Society, and Arizona’s state coordinator for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network, a nationwide citizen-scientist network of precipitation observers.

How did sustainability become part of your research focus?

The issue of sustainable water supply became immediately apparent in 2005 when I joined the Governor’s Drought Task Force as a member of the Monitoring Technical Committee. This group watches Arizona drought conditions statewide and guides the National Drought Monitor reports for Arizona. As a climatologist, I was acutely aware of the scarcity of water resources in desert regions, but as a part of this group I learned how the recharge rate of groundwater is highly variable across our watersheds. So, while the Phoenix area has access to renewable surface water from the Salt, Verde, and Colorado rivers, other parts of the state are not as fortunate. For them, water conservation and sustainable use are critical issues.

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With the 2012 presidential election coming up, energy policy ensures itself as a frontline issue that both candidates need to continue to address. The question of where and how we will produce our energy will need to be determined in order to accommodate our future energy demands. Renewable energy has become a hot topic of discussion due to rapidly advancing clean technology as a result of the necessity to find ways to be more sustainable and efficient in our methods of energy use and the ever-present impacts we continue to see in our environment from our current methods. That being said, it is no coincidence that the push for wide acceptance of renewable energy in U.S. (and global) energy policy has influenced the increased interest in renewable energy studies at universities across the nation. Students who are interested in renewable energy studies will be the ones to fill the demand of our growing green job market and help conduct the research to foster the appropriate technology to do so. Students here at ASU are already fulfilling these roles.

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In a feature story titled “Planting Sustainability Ideas” in the State Press Magazine, State Climatologist Nancy Selover tells reporter Shawn Raymundo that “(t)hough 60 percent of the U.S. is in some form of drought … this year is actually mild compared to previous years throughout the decade.”

In the Aug. 29, 2012 online report, Selover noted that “(s)ince the Valley was a major agricultural area for more than 100 years, irrigation systems and canals connected to the Salt and Colorado Rivers were built by the Salt River Project and Central Arizona Project early on to combat the lack of rainfall and prevent water shortages during dry spells.”

Another ASU sustainability scientist, Hallie Eakin, also weighed in on the issue in the story. “It’s always to the interest of the farmer to use their water in the most efficient way possible because of the key resources,” said Eakin, an associate professor in ASU’s School of Sustainability.

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Stephanie Deitrick, PhD student in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at ASU and past DCDC Graduate Research Assistant, is currently recruiting people to answer questions on the influence of visual representation on decision-making. The survey will take 20-30 minutes to complete.

The results of the research may be published, but your name will not be used. Participants in this survey will have the opportunity to be entered into a drawing for Amazon gift cards ranging from $50-$80 each.

If you would like to help Stephanie with her research, please link to the visualization water planning survey and complete the questionnaire. Thank you from Stephanie for your assistance.

By Skip Derra at ASU News

CH2M HILL’s WaterMatch, a grassroots, goodwill initiative that promotes the reuse of municipal effluent for industrial and agricultural use, is expanding through collaborations with companies and universities around the world. Arizona State University and Intel are among the targets for this expansion in the U.S.

CH2M HILL, a program management, construction management and design firm located in Denver, developed WaterMatch as a free website that uses social networking and geospatial mapping to connect water generators with water users. "We are expanding WaterMatch and the grassroots water reuse revolution to promote progress through partnerships and projects on the ground," said Jan Dell, vice president at CH2M HILL. "We invite companies, municipalities and universities to join us in this effort."

CH2M HILL launched WaterMatch in 2011. Recognizing the importance of water reuse and the low rates of implementation around the world, corporations and universities are partnering with WaterMatch to promote reuse and sustainable water management through a variety of actions. WaterMatch has more than 21,000 potential water reuse sources and is growing daily.

ASU and Intel are working with local municipalities in Arizona and the U.S. Southwest to populate the WaterMatch map and associated wastewater treatment plant profiles. They also are conducting research into the uses and benefits of WaterMatch.

"Sustainable water management is a key focus at Intel," said Gary Niekerk, director of Corporate Citizenship at Intel. "We created the external collaboration with CH2M HILL‘s WaterMatch, ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability and ASU’s Decision Center for a Desert City to increase water sustainability in our local community." Niekerk added that Intel believes that technology can play an important role in addressing the world’s sustainability challenges.

The university program will leverage what is learned from successful pilot projects at Arizona State University and the University of California-San Diego.

"Our students are eager to engage on the critical issue of water sustainability in Arizona and work on a grassroots project," said John Sabo, director of Research Development at ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability. "It’s great to see the program our students helped to pilot expand globally."

Also helping to populate the map and grow the user base are SGS, a global inspection, testing, verification and certification company in Poland; British Water in the United Kingdom; and ConocoPhillips, working in Indonesia.

To tap into the energy and creativity of students, and offer them real-world learning experiences that support local community and economic development, WaterMatch is collaborating on a global WaterMatch Makers university program with Net Impact, a global nonprofit that supports a new generation of leaders who work for a more sustainable world.