The Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) working group on Ecosystem Services and Key Biodiversity Areas, co-led by Penny Langhammer and  Leah Gerber of the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, hosted an international science workshop with the Canadian Council on Ecological Areas on November 7-10, 2017 in Quebec City, Canada.

The workshop brought together international and Canadian scientists, Canadian federal, provincial and territorial protected area and conservation agencies, experts in Aboriginal and community land-use planning, national and international non-governmental conservation experts and land stewardship experts.

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Recently, several researchers from the UREx SRN attended the Program on Ecosystem Change and Society II (PECS) Conference in Oaxaca, Mexico where they detailed the importance of green infrastructure.  UREx researchers mentioned are Nancy Grimm, Elizabeth Cook, Timon McPhearson, Hallie Eakin, David Iwaniec, and Marta Berbés-Blázquez. The PECS II blog highlights the social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) framework that the UREx uses and references Elizabeth Cook’s talk to illustrate the concept.

Have you ever considered that not all shade is created equally?  According to Cook of the UREx SRN, both trees and tall buildings provide shade; however, the shade from buildings continually casting trees into shadows may reduce the amount of photosynthesis and carbon intake. This is one example of why UREx researchers have decided to follow a SETS framework.

Three UREx SRN researchers of the Knowledge Systems Innovation Group – Clark Miller, Thaddeus Miller, and Tischa Muñoz-Erickson – recently authored an article featured on The Conversation.

The article comes at a time when weather disasters have been inundating our news feeds. At the forefront of most articles is mention of growing financial losses and outdated infrastructure.

In the article, Clark Miller, Thaddeus Miller, and Tischa Muñoz-Erickson explain the implications of cities not updating their knowledge systems – “the creative new sets of tools and practices for collecting, analyzing and applying data to solving problems.”

At the first U.N. climate meeting since President Trump announced the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris agreement, countries came together to iron out some details – like rules for how carbon emissions will be measured and how to pay for these efforts.

Called COP23, the meeting took place in Bonn, Germany in November 2017, and School of Sustainability Professor Sonja Klinsky provided advance insight.

“We are still part of the Paris agreement. If the United States wants to pull out of the accord, it will have to file this in writing in November 2019,” Klinsky told ASU Now. "Other countries’ perceptions of the willingness of the U.S. to be a cooperative global actor generally may change how effective it is at promoting its own interests. It is a distinct possibility that the U.S. will have less influence in this arena than it had previously; however, it is too early to say whether or not this has happened."

A multi-disciplinary team from Arizona State University, U.S. Geological Survey, New Mexico State University, University of Arizona and Utah State University will carry out research to inform the management of Department of Defense drylands in the western U.S. The newly-funded proposal will investigate the interactive effects of climate change and disturbance on vegetation communities and ecosystem processes across three large deserts of the western U.S.

Researchers will assess the vulnerability of vegetation and ecosystem processes to drought and disturbance with a set of factorial field experiments aimed at isolating key drivers of change under drought conditions predicted by climate models. They will combine experimental results with existing long-term climate and vegetation data collected in actively-managed and paired-protected areas to quantitatively model and scale vegetation sensitivity to different climate drivers in relation to disturbance history. Importantly, this allows for frameworks of understanding and planning at spatiotemporal scales not possible with on-the-ground or site-specific measurements alone.

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If you enjoy travel and exploring sustainability, the School of Sustainability is offering a study abroad course in Cuba over Spring Break 2018. It’s a Spring C session, 3-credit course, with 7 weeks of online content to learn about Cuba (January-February), then nine days onsite in Havana (March 3-11). A final Reflections Paper (about 8 pages) is also submitted.

Brigitte Bavousett, lead instructor for the Global Intensive Experience (GIE) course Cuba: Unlocked and On the Edge of Rapid Transitions, was impressed with the variety of learning outcomes her students demonstrated after returning from their trip to Cuba in Spring 2017. The students chose to study diverse sustainability topics, including energy independence solutions, preservation of architecture, plastic waste concerns, agro-tourism benefits, dual-currency issues, food supply challenges and more. Watch snippets from their presentations.

Scholarship funding for 2018 is available. Visit with the Study Abroad Office for more information, including on funding sources like scholarship grants and other resources. Make sure to have your FAFSA on file with ASU in order to be awarded funding. You can reach the Study Abroad Office at (480) 965-5965 or email studyabroad@asu.edu.

Benjamin Fogg is a student in the ASU School of Sustainability's Master of Sustainability Leadership program and graduates in Fall 2017.

Fogg was recently promoted to Sustainability Specialist at FedEx Ground in Pittsburgh, PA. Currently, he works to develop internal and external relationships for FedEx Ground with the aim of applying circular economy principles using research from his SOS capstone project.

Why did you choose to major in sustainability?

Sustainability, in a sense, has been ingrained in me since I was a kid. I grew up in the Marshall Islands where I bore witness to beautiful islands and beaches, all while being surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. The island itself was only three miles long and half a mile wide. Over time, these islands – and many others like them – have fallen victim to issues like climate change, ocean acidification and the plastics epidemic. Knowing that such problems exist and that they threaten the beautiful paradise where I grew up, I decided to pursue an education and career in which I help solve these problems while getting businesses on board to do the same.

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"We've seen a strong business case for the circular economy transitions we've made at Google," Sustainability Lead Kate Brandt told an audience at her November 2017 Wrigley Lecture.

Titled "Google: Searching for a Circular Transition," Brandt's lecture detailed how the tech giant is working to embed circular economy principles into its infrastructure, operations and culture. She pointed to numerous wins, including using machine learning to avoid 1.5 million pounds of food waste last year and increase efficiency in an already highly-efficient data center by 40 percent.

Google is among the Global Partners of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an organization Brandt referenced throughout her lecture for its exemplary work. ASU joined the foundation's Circular Economy 100 program as a pioneer university in 2016, and the ASU Wrigley Institute is developing an ‘Introduction to Circular Economy’ course through that partnership.

Brandt also met with School of Sustainability students, faculty and staff during her visit to ASU. She remarked at how impressed and heartened she was by the university's sustainability efforts.

During an inaugural Army Reserve Mission Resilience and Sustainability conference hosted by ASU, over 150 military personnel, Department of the Army civilians and contractors were given the mandate to change the “sustainability DNA” of their organizations. The conference – which took place in November 2017 – brought together experts in the areas of energy security, water security, solid waste diversion and environmental quality from across the Army Reserve, encouraging collaboration and fostering innovation.

Joe Knott, an ASU doctoral candidate in the School of Sustainability and retired Army lieutenant colonel, helped to facilitate the partnership between ASU and ARMRS. He points out that today's young people are better versed in subjects like sustainability and climate change. In that sense, if the Army does not develop a strong sustainability culture, it may have trouble with retention.

“They expect sustainability and doing the right thing in addition to serving their country,” Knott says. “They say ‘what are you as a military organization going to allow me to do to make this earth sustainable for my kids and grandkids?’”

Sean McAllister, a doctoral student in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, is currently researching energy transitions in Brazil through ASU's Global Development Research program.

Coming from Sioux City, Iowa – a city with a rich history of fluctuating social and industrial transitions – McAllister believes the Brazilian community he is researching is like an echo of his hometown’s history. He is interested in learning how different levels of governance, policy and incentives play out on a local level, and how this affects energy outcomes and individual and community decisions.

What is the focus of your research project?

This project, which began last year, started with finding better ways to improve water quality in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Now, we are exploring technological change driven by the community. We have delivered locally-developed technologies, such as solar water heaters and solar ovens, to the community and have seen that people are genuinely interested in the technologies we are putting forth.

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Not all students who travel with the School of Sustainability are sustainability majors. Breanna Reeser, a doctorate student studying integrated behavioral health, is currently researching and interning in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Through ASU’s Global Development Research program, Reeser is collecting data for her thesis. She returns to the U.S. in December and will graduate in May.

What is the research of your GDR project?

I am currently doing my PhD dissertation research and internship at Saraphi District Hospital in Chiang Mai, Thailand in collaboration with Chiang Mai University. This is a USAID grant-funded project through ASU’s Global Development Research Lab. My thesis question involves predicting risk levels using a patient's ability to understand their doctor’s recommendations (health literacy scores).

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The Design School and the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, in partnership with An-Najah National University, recently received a grant from the Stevens Initiative to use online, collaborative learning to increase cross-cultural understanding and equip young people with the skills needed to thrive in a 21^st century economy.  ASU and An-Najah National University students exchange unique perspectives and share a common goal -- to design a sustainable community center for a refugee camp in Palestine.

The Stevens Initiative is an international effort to build career and global competence skills for young people in the United States and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by growing and enhancing the field of virtual exchange: online, international, and collaborative learning. The Initiative honors the legacy of Ambassador Chris Stevens, who devoted his life to building bridges between people from different cultures.  Arizona State University and An-Najah National University received one of 13 new grants funded through this international competition, expanding the Initiative’s reach to approximately 30,000 students in 18 MENA countries and 31 American states.

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Phosphorus is a basic element found in all living things and is a key component of most fertilizers – enabling modern agriculture. On the flip side, phosphorus runoff contaminates rivers, lakes and streams, providing an overabundance of nutrients that leads to toxic algal blooms.

That's why the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance, a unit of the ASU Wrigley Institute, continues to grow – to take on the phosphorus problem in the global food system. Following a five-year National Science Foundation grant, the alliance received a second round of funding from the OCP Group – a Moroccan mining company that owns the largest deposits of phosphate rock in the world.

The alliance grew out of industry interest in phosphorus sustainability and recycling during the original NSF grant period, which brought together dozens of researchers from around the world. In 2017, the alliance grew to nine member organizations representing different stages of the phosphorus value chain.

Not everyone in our highly-connected world is a text or tweet away. For those in off-grid locales like Samoa, lack of information access means fewer educational opportunities.

That’s where ASU’s SolarSPELL comes in. The digital library, developed by Senior Sustainability Scientist Laura Hosman, is both portable and solar-powered. With its own Wi-Fi hotspot, it functions without electricity or existing internet connectivity.

In October 2017, volunteers came to ASU’s Polytechnic campus and built 150 SolarSPELLs in one day! Hosman’s innovative device received one of the inaugural PLuS Alliance Prizes at the 2017 Times Higher Education World Academic Summit in London.

Urban resilience projects are all well and good, but how do we actually implement them? This episode focuses on the financial aspects of getting projects off the ground and different financing options for cities to consider. Joyce Coffee leads the discussion as our two guests, Shalini Vajjhala and Stacy Swann, bring their expertise from the world of finance to help shed some light.

Vajjhala is the founder and CEO of re:focus partners, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, and a former USEPA Special Representative leading the US-Brazil Joint Initiative on Urban Sustainability.

Swann is the founder and CEO of Climate Finance Advisors, the Vice-Chairperson of the Board for the Montgomery County Green Bank, and a former senior advisor on climate finance to the US Department of the Treasury.

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The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes recently launched a new graduate certificate titled “Environmental Communication and Leadership” to help conservation students develop important leadership and communication skills needed to increase their influence and reach above and beyond academia.

The certificate is designed to train students in environmental disciplines how to go beyond scientific journal publications to communicate relevant discoveries to society, including the press, the public, policy makers and other key stakeholders.

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In partnership with Conservation International, the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is excited to launch a new class in spring 2018 targeted to undergraduate and graduate students titled “Biodiversity Conservation in Practice.”

The course will be taught by the ASU-Conservation International Professors or Practice and is designed for students interested in exploring practical applications of biodiversity conservation. By learning directly from global conservation field practitioners, students will gain a better understanding on the link between academia and practice.

This course is cross-listed as BIO 412/BIO 598/SOS 598 and GPH 598. It will be taught Tuesday and Thursdays, from 1:30-2:45 p.m. in the School of Life Sciences, wing E, room B52.

Doctor of Philosophy Defense Announcement for Adam Schreiner-McGraw

Date: November 2, 2017

Time: 3:00 PM

Location: ISTB4, Room 240

Advisor: Enrique Vivoni

Committee Members: Kelin Whipple, Osvaldo Sala, Heather Throop and Giuseppe Mascaro

Population growth within drylands is occurring faster than growth in any other ecologic zone, which puts pressure on already stressed water resources. Because the availability of surface water supplies in drylands tends to be highly variable, many of these populations rely on groundwater, and are rapidly depleting these available resources. It is therefore important to quantify how much water is recharging aquifers in order to promote sustainable use.

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The UREx SRN has added Georgia State University’s Urban Studies Institute (USI) to its network, bringing the total number of partnering institutions to seventeen.

USI and UREx have similar missions and are looking forward to becoming partners in building resilient, sustainable, and equitable cities.  David Iwaniec, a senior sustainability scientist with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and now assistant professor at the Urban Studies Institute, will be leading the initiative at GSU.

What does social equity look like in a resilient city? In this episode, graduate students and postdocs reflect on the relationship between 'green' projects and processes of displacement and gentrification. In particular, we talk about our own roles in addressing environmental justice, as we embark in research on urban resilience to extreme weather events.

If you have questions or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod.