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July 31, 2019
The Arizona State University–Conservation International partnership supported two postdoctoral researchers from 2017–2019 who were jointly advised by a CI scientist and an ASU faculty member to advance cutting-edge conservation research. One of the researchers, Krista Kemppinen, answered a few questions for us in a new Q&A:
ASU Now | July 31, 2019
Paul Westerhoff, the Fulton Chair of Environmental Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and a senior sustainability scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, was recently named the 2019 Clarke Prize Laureate by the National Water Research Institute. According to their website, the NWRI presents the annual 50,000 dollar prize and a medal to recognize researchers that solve real-world water problems and have made outstanding achievements in water science and technology.
ASU Now | July 31, 2019
A team of researchers led by faculty from Arizona State University are working on a project called “Flood Aware” to warn people about urban flooding. The researchers plan to use traffic cameras pointed at curbs and gutters to observe road intersections, use an image processing algorithm to estimate the depth of the water and then feed the obtained data into an existing model that will forecast areas where flooding has already occurred.
July 31, 2019
The Sun Valley Forum is an annual event that "accelerates the transformation to sustainable, equitable, and secure economies and communities," according to the forum's website. Founded by Aimée Christensen, the forum each year brings together hundreds of local, national and international leaders from different sectors to work together to build a healthier, more equitable and more resilient world.
July 31, 2019
School of Sustainability sophomore William Walker VI has big dreams.
"I study sustainability at Arizona State University because I want to be a proponent of our world in the long-run," said Walker. "I ultimately want to transcend the identity and agency I embody into foundation-based work that focuses on reciprocity and community organizing."
Read more to find out about his time in the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program and his plans for the future.
July 30, 2019
-créditos de video, Sonia Hita Cañadas
Construyendo Resiliencia Desde el Sur Global
La dimensión del drama social en los países en desarrollo o “Sur Global” es relativamente bien conocida. Las grandes desigualdades socioeconómicas, los bajos ingresos, los bajos niveles de esperanza de vida, la corrupción, la violencia, el crimen, la inestabilidad política, etc.
Es necesario reflexionar si este contexto turbulento del Sur global frente a los países desarrollados se debe a una diferencia estructural en la naturaleza de las sociedades en cada caso, y sobre las implicaciones que esto pueda causar en la implementación de iniciativas de resiliencia.
Es razonable afirmar que los desafíos para la construcción de resiliencia, ya sea en las sociedades desarrolladas o en el Sur global, surgen de la misma naturaleza humana y su fragilidad para la organización social, la coexistencia y la adaptación en el ambiente. La diferencia norte-sur radicaría en la complejidad de los diferentes contextos socioeconómicos, culturales y geográficos. Si las diferencias no son en la naturaleza sino en la intensidad de los procesos, entonces la transferencia de conocimiento en dos vías es, más allá que una oportunidad, un mecanismo conveniente para el aprendizaje social.
El "norte" tiene mucho que ofrecer para la construcción de resiliencia, no solo por sus avances tecnológicos, sino también por la consolidación de sus estructuras sociales que proporcionan ventajas comparativas para crear soluciones más satisfactorias o aceptadas. La mayor legitimidad del Estado, la reducida segregación, el mayor nivel de vida, el acceso regulado a los derechos humanos y los servicios públicos, en general, son, sin duda, condiciones apropiadas para aumentar la resiliencia. Sin embargo, en tanto que el drama social del sur y su complejidad dificultan la construcción de la resiliencia, la gobernanza requerida para resolver estos desafíos demandan de una gran creatividad de estas sociedades como condición básica para su supervivencia.
Estas sociedades que asumen la construcción de la resiliencia en el sur global han consolidado habilidades valiosas para sobrellevar su gran nivel de complejidad. La relevancia de insistir en una comunicación sur- norte para la construcción de la resiliencia es evidente, ante el potencial cualitativo que se resalta desde esta perspectiva. El "Sur" tiene, para ofrecer a la comunidad global de profesionales y académicos de la resiliencia, ésta ventaja comparativa en términos de complejidad y creatividad.
Es razonable sugerir que el futuro de los Estados Unidos está crecientemente ligado a lo que ocurre en América Latina, y aún más, a lo que sucede con la expansión interna de las culturas latinoamericanas dentro de su territorio. El acercamiento a las experiencias del Sur es un mecanismo de anticipación o acercamiento frente a múltiples dinámicas, que tarde o temprano se revelarán con mayor notoriedad dentro de los espacios urbanos. La capacidad de dialogar con esa complejidad del sur resultará cada vez más crítica para abordar de manera resiliente los desafíos.
ScienceDirect | July 29, 2019
Sustainability scientists in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability Osvaldo Sala, Christopher Boone and Billie Turner and Arizona State University student Courtney Currier recently published a journal article, “The sustainability publication gap and its implications,” in Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability.
ASU Now | July 27, 2019
As the climate rapidly heats up, we can expect yet another collateral damage: water. This summer, Chennai, the sixth largest city in India extinguished their water supply. Next year, Day Zero — a concept originating in Cape Town where water taps run out of water — is predicted to occur in 21 Indian cities. However the problem is far from unique to India as water shortages are quickly becoming a problem many countries around the globe grapple with, including Iraq and Spain. Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Cape Town are also cities that have, or are predicted to face, water shortages in the coming years.
July 26, 2019
The Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems focuses on innovative ideas and solutions to the many challenges of current food systems. In this series, we’re sitting down with the Swette Center affiliated faculty to catch up on food systems, innovation and what makes a good meal. See the rest of the series on our Food Systems Profiles page.
Read on for an interview with Rimjhim Aggarwal, associate professor in the School of Sustainability.
ASU Now | July 26, 2019
Initially developed as a student engineering project, the Solar Powered Educational Learning Library (SolarSPELL) has evolved into a global humanitarian mission that has the potential to revamp the way communities in disadvantaged societies learn and receive healthcare. It all began at Arizona State University when Laura Hosman, an associate professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, asked her students to construct a portable solar-powered library. In just five years, the initiative has distributed hundreds of digital libraries filled with educational resources in communities in nine countries that have limited or no internet connectivity.
July 25, 2019
Applications are being accepted for the new Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership Certificate graduate program, highlighted by Civil Eats in this article on food related fellowships. The deadline for applications is August 1. Because the program was only recently announced, it is possible to get an application extension to August 15 by contacting Kathleen.Merrigan@asu.edu.
July 23, 2019
When I first arrived in Jordan, all I really knew was that I wanted to learn about human development and helping people effectively so that it really causes an impact. I wanted to meet real people who wake up every day knowing that their job is making someone else’s life just a little better. This is why I was thrilled for the opportunity to work with WE Empower winner Hadeel Anabtawi and her Go Girls campaign.
I had this passion to learn, first-hand, what it was like to improve education, empower women, and meet refugees. As Hadeel had taught me very early into my journey, this internship was what I was going to make it. Jordan has an astounding number of human development workers, and I was determined to learn from the best. This is how I (lovingly) inserted myself into the lives of some of the head coordinators for youth programs at the Syrian refugee camps. Not only have these people become some of my close friends, but they worked tirelessly to get me access into the refugee camps where they work.
July 23, 2019
This post was written by Mira Word who completed her Sustainability M.Sc. in May 2018 in Arizona State University's Cease Lab, collaborating with the Senegalese Plant Protection Directorate (DPV).
During her time at ASU, Mira studied the interactions among farmer livelihoods, agricultural practices, soil, plant nutrients and the Senegalese grasshopper (Oedaleus senegalensis), as well as other grasshoppers in the Kaffrine region of Senegal. Oedaleus senegalensis is a non-model locust, forming swarms, migrating across national borders, and is a major pest of cereal crops in the Sahel. Prompted by her recently-published thesis paper “Soil-targeted interventions could alleviate locust and grasshopper pest pressure in West Africa”, we asked her to reflect on her time as a grad student at ASU and member of the Global Locust Initiative.
July 23, 2019
The partnership between Arizona State University’s Project Cities program and the City of Apache Junction has been a successful, enduring one since the program’s conception in 2017. We are proud to have collaborated with Apache Junction on eight projects across 13 classes, with 213 ASU students since fall 2017. With all of the work our ASU students and faculty have completed, we are excited to see some real impacts begin to come about at the city, informed by Project Cities students’ research and recommendations!
While all the projects our students have completed with the City have proven informative, there are a few that have made significant progress since ASU’s involvement began: A proposal for an off-leash dog park, an RFP-based system overhaul for solid waste management, and a General Plan update incorporating sustainability. The first two started as student proposals from the fall 2017 semester, the third from spring 2018.
July 23, 2019
Heejoo Min had a pivotal moment when she realized that we needed to completely change our perspectives to include sustainability. This realization led her to ASU where she discovered the School of Sustainability.
“ASU was the only school that had a dedicated department for sustainability,” Min said (pictured top row, third from left). “I looked more into it and I thought it was very well-designed program. Other schools offered it as an environmental science degree, but I thought sustainability is so much more than just science.”
July 23, 2019
Explore opportunities for building positive futures by becoming a CAP LTER postdoctoral fellow. The fellow works with the Scenarios and Futures research team, focusing on scenario co-development and spatially-explicit scenario modeling of urban change under possible alternate future scenarios. He or she plays a key role in the scenario-development process, modeling, analysis and visualization.
The fellow’s postdoctoral research includes understanding trade-offs associated with possible interventions for social, ecological and technical domains of urban systems, as well as assessing how urban change will affect the future ability of ecosystems to provide services for sustainability, resilience and equity. Find additional details and apply here.
July 17, 2019
Paiton Upshaw was working at her previous job when she realized she wanted more. Motivated by her love for the planet, Upshaw decided to take the next step by attending the School of Sustainability online program through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan.
“I knew I wanted to do something to help the world because I love the world,” Upshaw said. “I saw that Starbucks paid full tuition to ASU online and upon looking through the ASU online majors, I found sustainability! I thought that sustainability aligned perfectly with what I was interested in, and I've really enjoyed my entire time at the School of Sustainability through ASU online."
| July 12, 2019
In case you missed it, we recently published an op-ed on Medium called “Why we are launching the ASU Global Futures Laboratory,” co-written by our Vice President and Vice Provost Peter Schlosser and Arizona State University President Michael Crow. In this piece, Schlosser and Crow outline why ASU established the Global Futures Laboratory and what our initiative aims to do.
The op-ed is the first post on our new Medium channel, which we will use as a platform to share short op-eds from not only our leadership, but also the scientists and scholars within our network who are pioneering solutions to global sustainability.
To ensure you don’t miss any posts, follow our Medium channel directly, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn where we will announce all new posts.
July 12, 2019
The Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems focuses on innovative ideas and solutions to the many challenges of current food systems. In this series, we’re sitting down with the Swette Center affiliated faculty to catch up on food systems, innovation and what makes a good meal. See the rest of the series on our Food Systems Profiles page.
Read on for an interview with Stavros Kavouras, professor of nutrition in the College of Health Solutions and director of the Hydration Science Lab.
July 11, 2019
When you take a bite out of a juicy shrimp tail, does it come to mind the process the food underwent to arrive on your plate? Most of us will answer “no.” However, seafood is one of the main nutrition sources for three billion people on Earth.
In a recent article by Conservation International titled “Meet a scientist: The sustainable-food guru,” ASU-Conservation International, professor of practice and senior director of the blue production program for CI’s Center for Oceans, Jack Kittinger shares powerful insights on the challenges and opportunities of the seafood industry.
