By Mira Ries—Global Locust Initiative

Above-average rainfall across many parts of Southern Africa has allowed populations of the Brown Locust (Locustana pardalina) to skyrocket. Initial outbreaks started in 2020 in the eastern and south-eastern Karoo, the region endemic to the Brown Locust. The usually arid Karoo has transformed into a lush oasis, causing South African farmers to trade the hardship of drought for the task of managing the worst outbreak in the last ten years.

Brown Locust outbreaks are a consistent natural phenomenon brought about by plentiful summer rains. Their outbreak zone covers approximately 250,000 km² of the Karoo, extending out of South Africa into southern Namibia. In the past, plagues have developed that span the entire southern African sub-continent up to the Zambezi River. Periodic upsurges are known to spread further into Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, and to a less documented extent, into Zambia, Mozambique, and Angola. To date, this current outbreak is primarily impacting South Africa and Namibia, with some 2021 reports in Botswana and Angola.

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Dr. Sybil Derrible (@SybilDerrible) is the creator of the Actionable Science for Urban Sustainability (AScUS) society, and former chair of the International Society of Industrial Ecology's Sustainable Urban Systems section. He is an Associate Professor of Civil, Materials, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago. His work embraces the growing complexity of cities, exploring our changing relationships with the built environment, natural environment, and cyber technologies, through innovative techniques that reveal the changing networks and behaviors that define urban dynamics. He is interviewed in today's podcast by Dr. Mikhail Chester (@mikhailchester), a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University.

Infrastructure Misfits (un)Society: http://www.infrastructurecomplexity.org/

Metis Center for Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering | Arizona State University: https://metis.asu.edu/

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.URExSRN.net.

To highlight some of Project Cities star students and faculty, PC staff sat down to interview Hussain Farwa. Farwa has worked on two Project Cities projects, one with the City of Peoria and one with the Town of Clarkdale.

Farwa’s first project was the COVID needs assessment for local businesses for the City of Peoria. For this project she worked on a peer community analysis to learn more about what other cities were doing to support local businesses during COVID. For her second project, she worked with the Town of Clarkdale to identify a peer community, Camp Verde, to identify recommendations for affordable housing issues. The following dialogue and summary come from an interview with Farwa about her experience in the Project Cities program.

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By: Zac DeJovine, ASU Food Systems graduate student.

As a part of our week-long Sustainability Food Systems immersive trip, my classmates and I visited Gila River Farms on December 6th in order to get a look at one of the most prominent and promising local agriculture projects here in the Valley of the Sun. Agriculture has a long history in the Phoenix area. From the Hohokam people and their irrigation canals, all the way up to the historic Gila River water settlement in 2004, agriculture and water usage have helped shape the story of the valley, much as a river shapes the landscapes it traverses. The Gila River used to traverse the valley, providing a much-needed lifeline in the middle of an expansive desert. But the droves of settlers coming to Phoenix since the late 1800s, and the resultant demand for irrigation, soon dried up this lynchpin of the ecosystem, altering life downstream massively.

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By Ella Schneider, WE Empower Intern

“Our aim is to set an alternative for our building activities that will allow us to reduce our carbon emissions, reduce our energy consumption in buildings, improve our indoor air quality and create sustainable solutions that will create a real community development approach”. - Radwa Rostom

Radwa Rostom - CEO and Founder of Hand Over Projects- Egypt

2021 WE Empower Finalist, Middle East and North Africa

Modern building techniques used by most design and construction companies are not environmentally sustainable. Hand Over aims to transform the construction industry through the use of natural and renewable materials. Founded by Radwa Rostom, a multiple award winning civil engineer, Hand Over fosters sustainable development through its approach to individual projects, buildings and spaces in addition to directly providing homes for underprivileged communities.

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by Danyelle Kawamura, WE Empower Intern

“We believe technology does not have any gender and we have proved that women can do the coding and technical things.” – Achia Nila, founder of Women in Digital

Achia Nila, founder of Women in Digital, Bangladesh

2021 WE Empower Finalist, Asia-Pacific

Over 15 years ago, Achia Nila discovered there were little to no women in the tech field. Since then, she has successfully brought women and girls into the tech field and continues to promote education and empowerment through technology. Her aim is to create digital platforms that “support, promote, and empower women in areas of IT.” In alignment with UN SDG 4: Quality Education, she has trained and empowered over 10,000 women and girls in Bangladesh and continues to work towards promoting women’s digital literacy.

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By Danyelle Kawamura, WE Empower Intern

“We have some eight and a half years to go into 2030 and this is a journey we really can’t do alone.” – Alexandra Boëthius, Strategic Lead of Accelerate2030

Alexandra ‘Santu’ Boëthius, Strategic Lead of Accelerate2030 and Co-founder of Impact Hub Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland

2021 WE Empower Finalist, Europe and North America

Alexandra Boëthius is the Strategic Lead of Accelerate2030, which identifies and supports innovative companies tackling the SDG’s in emerging and developing countries. Boëthius began her journey while obtaining her M.A. in International Relations at the University of St. Andrews. Boëthius’ thesis focused on the role of women’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in ensuring the implementation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in Turkey. Boëthius went onto volunteer at an NGO, the National Centre Against Violence, whose goal is to combat domestic and sexual violence against women and children in Mongolia. She continued her journey as an intern for UN Women in Tbilisi, Georgia with a focus on migrant and refugee populations.

It is evident that Boëthius’ efforts throughout both her education and professional career have focused on the implementation of a wider gender lens in all her areas of interest. She has continuously promoted the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and this has manifested into Accelerate2030.

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By Ella Schneider, WE Empower Intern

“ I am passionate and dedicated to not only advancing the world of global agriculture, but also forging a path of success for innovative female farmers and leaders in the future. - Shari von de Pol

Shari von de Pol - CEO of CATTLEytics Incorporated - Canada

2021 WE Empower Finalist, Europe and North America

From a career in Computer Engineering to earning her doctorate of Veterinary Medicine, Shari von de Pol began her journey in improving animals through innovative technology while also galvanizing people to envision their goals and bring new ideas to fruition in this space. CATTLEytics Incorporated uses Agricultural Technology, a system to collect and use animal data, to shape local and global farms to become more economically and ecologically sustainable. With a growing population and increase in climate change, revolutionary agriculture data utilization is of the utmost importance to not only feed the population but to decrease resource use.

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By Danyelle Kawamura, WE Empower Intern

“Our mission is to promote domestic work with dignity as a powerful tool to build prosperity.” – Claudia Esparza, Founder of Nanas y Amas

Claudia Esparza, Founder of Nanas y Amas

2021 WE Empower Finalist, Latin America and Caribbean

For over 12 years, Claudia and Nanas y Amas has provided decent work opportunities and empowered domestic workers to achieve economic independence. In alignment with UN SDG1: No Poverty and UN SDG8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, Nanas y Amas puts domestic workers in a healthier position to network, own their lives, and achieve their dreams while having access to work and the ability to economically support their families.

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By Ella Schneider, WE Empower Intern

“Our work aims to promote structural change in society, bringing knowledge through communication so that girls and women know how to fight for their rights and guarantee full access to the best possibilities of being in the world.” - Panmela Castro

Panmela Castro - Founder and President of Rede NAMI - Brazil

2021 WE Empower Finalist, Latin America and Caribbean

Fighting for gender equality to create a society free from violence towards women, Panmela Castro and the team of NAMI Network use art for cultural transformation through promoting women’s rights. Providing over 9,000 women with access to art education and financial independence, Castro creatively spreads information and laws about women’s rights to combat domestic violence.

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By: Shelby Kaplan, ASU Food Systems graduate student. 

Perry Rea and his wife Brenda decided to take a vacation in 1997 to Scottsdale, AZ. They discovered olive trees growing in the area, prompting visits to olive oil operations in order to understand oil production. This sparked an interest for the Reas, and eventually Queen Creek Olive Mill was born. The mill was established in 2005, starting with about 1,000 trees on 100 acres of land. 16 years later, the operation has expanded to over 7,000 trees, including 16 different varieties. The Queen Creek area has strong roots in farming, part of the reason the Reas began production here. Although they started from a very small-scale mill (producing about 100lbs of oil per hour), Perry and Brenda are now the largest olive oil producers in AZ (producing closer to 3 tons per hour of olive oil). It is also the only family owned and farmed olive mill in the state. 

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By: Keith Arnold, ASU Food Systems graduate student.

What keeps you up at night? What worries you about the future of food? When asked this, the gentleman answered by sharing relatable responses. Will my grandchildren have food to eat? Will there be enough resources for their own families and friends to farm as their present-day ancestors? What does the future hold for the United States? Not only for the government but also for the land and people. When will urban leaders understand the importance of agriculture in the face of booming technology? These were a few aspects provided by Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA) Director Mark W. Killian. 

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By Jason Pena, ASU Food Systems graduate student.

It was a cool December morning just south of the Salt River near Phoenix when we arrived at Spaces of Opportunity. This part of the community has historically been marginalized by economic hardships, but in 2015 something changed for the better of the community. Spaces of Opportunity was founded in 2015 on the idea brought forth by the Roosevelt School District to turn 19 acres of vacant property, which for over 40 years was cotton and maize, into an urban community garden. 

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By Mary Mik, ASU Food Systems graduate student. 

Relocating for a Dream

Joe and Emily relocated to Arizona three years ago from California. There, they spent 25-year working in bars, restaurants, and clubs. With their track record in hospitality, desire to connect people with fresh food, and Emily’s green thumb, Joe and Emily imagined a new kind of work in their new home of Arizona.

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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 Abigail York, Professor of Governance and Public Policy, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Co-Director of Earth Systems Science for the Anthropocene.

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By: Nicholas Benard, ASU Food Systems graduate student. 

As our group from ASU’s Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership Cohort gathered in front of Jeff Zimmerman, founder of Hayden Flour Mills, you could feel his excitement begin to build up. He almost seemed to hum with energy. Part of that excitement came from having our group visit his mill in-person at Queen Creek, Arizona, as last year the visit was conducted virtually due to the pandemic.  “I had also come down with Covid,” Jeff added, explaining how last year he pulled himself from bed and roused himself to still give his Zoom talk about growing heirloom grains in the desert. As our visit and conversation with Jeff continued, it became clear that there are few forces in the world that could deter Jeff from sharing his passion and vision for these crops.

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Join the ASU Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems for our annual career panel on Friday, March 18th, from 1-2pm AZ via Zoom.  This event will give students pursuing careers in food systems, sustainability, and agribusiness a better understanding of their career options after graduation. We are honored to have panelists with experience in private, non-profit, and government organizations to share stories of how they built their job paths and offer insights into current trends in the field. For more information on the panelists, read their biographies below. 

To RSVP for this event, click here. A zoom link will be emailed to you after you register. 

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By: Kate Seybold, ASU Food Systems graduate student.  

Aguiar Farm is owned and operated by Fernando Aguiar and his family. Originally from Mexico, Fernando grew up on a farm and learned the trade working alongside his father and grandfather. After moving to the United States in 1981, Fernando worked in construction for 10 years before returning to his agricultural roots and starting Aguiar Farm in Paulden, AZ. Today, Aguiar Farm sells direct-to-consumer at farmers markets, such as the Prescott Farmers Market. They also sell to restaurants and other wholesale customers via Sun Produce Cooperative, a Phoenix-based organization dedicated to creating market access and alternative distribution channels for Arizona’s small-scale producers.

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By: Abigail Martone-Richards, ASU Food Systems graduate student. 

The Prescott Farmers Market in Prescott, Arizona was founded in 1997 as a seasonal market, expanding to year-round in 2014. Heading up the market is Executive Director Kathleen Yetman who, in addition to running the market, is pursuing a master’s degree in Sustainable Foods Systems through Arizona State University. Currently, Kathleen oversees a staff of 9 people who run all operational aspects of the market and has plans to double her staff as the market continues to grow. Each week the market is made up of 50-60 vendors and averages 4,000 visitors from Prescott and the surrounding area, resulting in approximately $30,000 in weekly sales. The market’s mission, “to support and expand local agriculture, cultivate a healthy community and increase access to affordable local food,” is the guiding force as it looks to expand its current programming and meet ambitious future goals.

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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 Sara Meerow, Assistant Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.

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