Right now, there are hundreds of billions of locusts wreaking havoc on vegetation across Africa. Experts are sounding the alarm, including United Nations humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, who said the swarm has the potential to be "the most devastating plague of locusts in any of our living memories if we don't reduce the problem faster than we're doing at the moment."

The outbreak has hit East Africa particularly hard as many countries in the region are heavily dependent on agriculture. Locust swarms devastate food crops and raise food insecurity, an issue many of the countries already struggle with. According to the UN, the swarms are the largest in Somalia and Ethiopia in 25 years and the largest in Kenya in 70 years. In Kenya, Joseph Katone Leparole — who has lived in the hamlet, Wamba, for most of his 68 years — described the plague as being similar to an umbrella covering the sky.

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For the latest information on the Desert Locust situation, please see the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Locust Watch website.

The Desert Locust is known throughout history for its capacity to reach plague-like swarms, descending from the sky to ravage crops and trouble farmers. Scientifically named Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål 1775), this species undergoes an almost “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” type of transformation called locust phase polyphenism. The Desert Locust can change from a solitary insect, behaving more like a typical grasshopper, into a “gregarious” form that prefers high-density communities and lots of traveling. These gregarious adults make up clouds of locusts capable of migrating hundreds of kilometers in a single night.

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In a global economy, it is not unusual for decisions made on one end of the world to affect what goes on in the opposite end of the globe. So, when China decided in 2018 to limit the number of reusable materials it accepted from the United States (due to their recycling facilities becoming overwhelmed), many Arizona cities like Mesa, Tucson and Casa Grande were compelled to reduce or eliminate their recycling programs.

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This blog post was written by Arizona State University graduate student Kelly McClelland. In addition to studying Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership at ASU, Kelly is a food leader in Flint, Michigan where she works as a nutrition program manager at the Crim Fitness Foundation, oversees Flint FoodCorps members, and serves on the board of Edible Flint.  

At the end of a long day of garden tours, the ASU Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership cohort gathered in the courtyard of Manzo Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona to learn about the school garden program at Tucson Unified School District.

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There is no doubt that one of the most prestigious awards a junior faculty member can receive is the NSF CAREER. If received, the grant’s five years of funding serves as a foundation for a young professor’s research program. As one might imagine, because it is so prestigious and relatively long-lasting, getting it is very competitive. The funding rate is approximately 14% to 24% depending on the directorate.

If you think you might be interested in applying, you first need to be sure that you are eligible.

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Together with colleagues from Cornell, Michigan State, Purdue, and Susquehanna University, program director and sustainability scholar Carola Grebitus will present a weeklong winter workshop on various aspects of agriculture from agribusiness, ag economics, consumer studies, marketing and applied economics. The course is open to academics (students, professors, individuals employed by colleges and universities, and other institutions of higher education) and non-academics (consultants and other practitioners from the private sector or national and international organizations).

Attendees will learn to successfully deploy surveys and experiments in research studies in these fields. The workshop will cover: designing surveys, choice experiments, auctions to collect data, related data analysis, results interpretation, and deriving recommendations to stakeholders.

Scholarships of $800 are still available for interested students. The scholarship deadline is February 25. Graduate students at different levels (MSc, MPhil, PG-diploma, and PhD) are encouraged to apply.

To register for the workshop. Seats are limited and registration is first come, first served.

Use all of your senses to develop new ways to explore food at Emerge 2020: Eating at the Edges. Look at alternative forms of food production, distribution and consumption in an effort to build a new culinary world that is more inclusive and equitable.

Event at Mesa Arts Center, POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. See website for activities and to RSVP.

ASU’s Wrigley Sustainability Institute will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with Wrigley Speaker Meg Lowman. Referred to as "the real-life Lorax" by National Geographic, she has dedicated three decades to the exploration of tree canopies and is one of the first pioneers in the field of treetop science.

In her talk, CanopyMeg will highlight her creative toolkit for whole-forest exploration and discuss how she applies her research to create sustainability practices on local and global scales, such as designing canopy walkways to encourage ecotourism for local income instead of logging.

One of the most difficult things a person or family can experience is the traumatic loss of a loved one. A traumatic loss is unexpected, violent, or involves a person who should not yet die, like a child. For people who experience these losses, traditional therapy may be inadequate: the therapist may not understand the depth of the person’s pain, the setting may be too sterile, and there may be a push toward try psychotropic medications rather than nonmedical alternatives.

Dr. Joanne Cacciatore - senior sustainability scholar in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and associate professor in the School of Social Work – is developing a new approach. Her paper, Evaluating care farming as a means to care for those in trauma and grief, outlines her approach. Dr. Cacciatore operates the Selah Carefarm - C.A.R.E. stands for counseling, advocacy, research and education - which takes people into nature to hang out with and care for animals. Researchers know that engagement with nature has positive physiological effects. Even more, contact with animals lowers stress hormones (cortisol), heart rate, and blood pressure. Greencare therapy, of which care farming is an example, facilitates individuals’ interactions with nature with the intent of providing a health benefit.

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In 2004, Arizona State University President Michael M. Crow convened a meeting in Temozón, Mexico, of a small but distinguished group of intellectual leaders who were exploring a new idea: sustainability science. Could sustainability be a core value of a large public research university?

It would have to instruct and inspire new generations. It would have to solve pressing real-world problems. And it would have to walk its talk.

On the 15th anniversary of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, ASU has proven it can do all of that and more. Read more about the accomplishments and evolution of the ASU Wrigley Institute in these ASU Now stories:

• The institute: Its spark, its impact
• The donor: A passion for tackling tough global challenges
• The founding director: Our efforts continue to look forward
• The current director: Designing a future in which humanity thrives

The Conservation Solutions Lab, a multi-partner collaboration led by Chemonics International and ASU, organized a summit in Kenya on February 11-14, 2020 in collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association.

This event was held at the Mt. Kenya Safari Lodge in Nayuki, Kenya.

The purpose of this summit was to propel movement from community engagement to community-led conservation solutions in Africa.

Forum participants dialogued about the central role of communities for conservation success. They discussed current challenges and impacts to generate new ideas for future communities in driving sustainable conservation outcomes in East Africa and beyond.

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ASU-Conservation International's Assistant Research Professor Katie Cramer will be delivering a talk on Monday, February 24, 2020, titled "The past, present and future of coral reefs."

This talk will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in the School of Life Sciences, C-wing, room 202 (LSC 202), ASU Tempe campus.

Coral reefs provide vital ecosystem services to humanity but are imperiled globally due to local and global human disturbances. Despite broad scientific consensus on the anthropogenic activities responsible for the coral reef crisis, this knowledge has not been effectively translated into policy and management actions to reverse reef declines.

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This blog post was written by Arizona State University graduate student Katie Davis. In addition to studying Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership at ASU, Katie is tackling the issue of postharvest food waste as the senior manager of regulatory affairs for Apeel Sciences in Santa Barbara, CA. 

Just a short drive outside Phoenix, in Mesa, Arizona, is the Hatley family farm. Now known as Associated Farms, Adam Hatley and his family have been farming this land since 1976, when Adam’s father first started cultivating the land here. They grow approximately 1,200 acres of cotton on land leased from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. While cotton is not the number one crop in Arizona and production has been declining in recent years, it is still incredibly important to the state’s economy.

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The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is currently hiring a postdoctoral research associate to lead the development of a decision tool for assessing pesticide risk for species listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The ESA requires explicit consideration of the potential pesticide impacts on threatened and endangered species. However, this process is currently hindered by agency limitations on resources, data and inter-agency coordination.

The postdoctoral research associate will work with the stakeholders to bring a decision-theoretic approach to the problem and identify bottlenecks that can be enhanced by explicitly incorporating efficiency and developing robust and transparent decision support techniques to achieve efficiency, both now and into the future.

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On Saturday, January 18, 2020, Center for Biodiversity Outcomes’ employees represented Arizona State University at the third annual OdySea Aquarium Conservation Expo, held in the aquarium's courtyard.

Over 40 local organizations were featured, sharing their conservation efforts. Activities included live animal interactions, pet adoptions (two dogs), didactic games, raffles and sustainable fish sampling by the aquarium's chef (1,500 samples).

Close to 9,000 people attended this event and many of them donated much-needed supplies to support conservation efforts in the region. The aquarium was also able to raise funds to support its education and conservation initiatives.

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ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director Leah Gerber and School for the Future of Innovation in Society’s Innovation in Global Development PhD program student Chris Barton attended GreenBiz 2020 to present a micro-session on “Biodiversity and Profitability: Mapping the natural environment's influence on your firm's profitability."

The GreenBiz conference took place on February 4-5 at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn, convening sustainable companies to advance the intersection between technology, sustainability and business.

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One of the many challenges we face in the journey to create a more sustainable planet is that although more people are now aware of the problem of climate change, that awareness does not necessarily lead to a change in behavior. At Arizona State University, student organizations discovered this roadblock when they noticed intensively publicizing information did not result in as much success as they hoped in regards to meeting the university’s sustainability goals. So to address this, Kendon Jung, the Coordinator for Educational Outreach and Student Services and the chair of the City of Tempe sustainability comission came up with an innovative idea: creating a new interdisciplinary class.

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By: Katie Poirier, ASU Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership Certificate student. 

On Wednesday December 4th, a couple students and professors of the Food and Farm Immersion branched off during the morning and early afternoon to table at the newly opened Whole Foods Market in downtown Tempe, Arizona. The tabling event took place in the lobby of the market and intended to promote the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems. A high rise sits over the Whole Foods Market and an escalator from the building leads right into the lobby. Many people were in and out with prepared lunches and beverages, as the hours we were there spanned lunch. Students, business people, and families passed through the lobby’s automatic doors, adorned with small pines and holiday wreathes.

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As we continue to grapple with the adverse effects of climate change, there is a renewed urgency about the need to transition to renewable sources of energy. However, transitioning comes with its own set of challenges, some of which include the high costs of some alternate sources of energy and questions about their efficiency. One renewable source of energy that ticks both of the previous boxes is solar energy.

Solar energy, while quite expensive, still remains one of the most promising sources of alternate energy. It’s why researchers at the Holman Research Group in Arizona State University have been working on innovative ways to reduce its cost. Led by Zachary Holman, an associate professor of electrical engineering and a senior sustainability scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, the research team has published new findings in the science journal Joule that show how a minute change to the industry-standard silicon wafers significantly enhances solar cell composition.

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The Lincoln Institute's Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy has announced its new Babbitt Dissertation Fellowship Program. The fellowships will assist Ph.D. students at U.S. universities whose research builds on, and contributes to, the concerns of the Babbitt Center to advance water sustainabiltiy and resilience, particularly in the American West. The fellowships are an impotant link between the Lincoln Institute's education mission and its research objective by supporting early-career scholars.

Applications are due April 1, 2020. Application guidelines and more information can be found on the Babbitt Center's fellowship program web page.