With a $100,000 grant from Open Society Foundation for Albania, ASU’s Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives are assisting Albania’s transition to sustainable education. Using ASU’s extensive resources, such as experts in green building and international development, the Walton Initiatives team will complete a cost-benefit analysis of energy efficiency in Albania's public schools.

This analysis, conducted by the Walton Initiatives’ Global Sustainability Solutions Services in partnership with the East-West Management Institute, will be shared with international donor organizations, private investors and the Albanian government. Not only will the analysis direct retrofitting investments, it will support the Albanian Ministry of Education’s initiative to establish an Education Excellence Fund - a program to encourage and finance innovation in schools.

As CBO prepares to celebrate it's launch this week with the arrival of Dr. Georgina Mace, Nature publishes a call for broader participation in conservation. The call is signed by 240 conservation scientists, include six from ASU, all affiliates of the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes.

ASU scientists support call for inclusion in conservation science

On Nov. 6, a letter signed by 240 of the world’s leading conservationists, including six from ASU's new Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, was published in the journal Nature. The letter, titled “A call for inclusive conservation,” expresses discontent with a divisive debate in the conservation field over whether nature should be protected for its own sake or for the benefit of humankind.

To remedy this, the letter proposes an ethic of inclusiveness – one that recognizes the merits of each approach and encourages broader participation from the conservationist population. The letter’s six Center for Biodiversity Outcomes signatories agree that adoption of this ethic will help engage and align an expansive audience with conservation efforts.

Nature publishes the open letter as the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, a partnership between the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and School of Life Sciences, prepares to celebrate its launch on Nov. 13-14.

October 30, 2014 Parched Cities Share Water in the West by Jim Carlton of the Wall Street Journal. University access or subscription required.

A recent agreement by this city and Tucson, Ariz., highlights a growing trend in the drought-plagued Southwest: water agencies sharing resources to stretch limited supplies rather than going it alone.

Phoenix, which gets more water than it can store from the Colorado River, has agreed to send some of its surplus to Tucson, which needs it to lower pumping costs. In return, Tucson will give up part of its share of Colorado River water to Phoenix when needed. The deal finalized in early October comes despite long-standing rivalries between Arizona's two largest cities.

"Any rivalry between Phoenix and Tucson is so 10 years ago," Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said in an interview.

Water transfers between agencies have been picking up across the West in the wake of a drought that has ravaged the region for much of the past 15 years. During Texas' severe drought in 2011, more than 1.7 million acre feet of water were transferred between users, compared with an average of 150,000 annually between 2007 and 2009, according to a 2012 report by the Western Governors Association and Western States Water Council. An acre foot is 326,000 gallons, or about the amount of water used by a family of four in a year.

In August, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California agreed to send treated water to Sierra Madre, Calif., as part of a deal with the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District to ease that city's water shortage. Metropolitan, based in Los Angeles, will get repaid double what it sent in untreated water, as well as the right to buy water from the smaller agency though 2035.

"This is ushering in an era of cooperation where, typically in the past, each player has watched out and protected its own rights," said Dave White, co-director of the Decision Center for a Desert City at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz.

Read the entire article at the Wall Street Journal. University access or subscription required.

See below for additional interviews regarding this agreement.

October 21, 2014

"Sustainability: Phoenix-Tucson Water Agreement." Dave White interview on Arizona Horizon.

Program Description: Phoenix and Tucson have entered an agreement for Phoenix to store its excess Colorado River water in Tucson. The agreement is of mutual benefit to both cities. Arizona State University associate professor Dave White, who heads the Decision Center for a Desert City and studies water management decisions, will discuss the agreement.

Watch the Arizona Horizon interview with Dave White

October 3, 2014

Listen to DCDC director Dave White discuss the new water agreement between Phoenix and Tucson which could lead to similar arrangements between other Western cities, in response to drought conditions. Uncommon collaborations will be vital in the future.

Listen to Dave's comments on KJZZ.

A Wall Street Journal article on a recent Phoenix-Tucson water agreement highlights the growing trend among drought-ridden regions of sharing natural resources, and includes insights from sustainability scientists Dave White and David Sampson.

"This is ushering in an era of cooperation where, typically in the past, each player has watched out and protected its own rights," said White, co-director of Decision Center for a Desert City, in the article.

Sampson shared that the Colorado River's flow could eventually fall to as little as 40% of its long-term average.

The agreement the article cites permits Phoenix to send some of its surplus water to Tucson, where it is needed to lower pumping costs. In return, Tucson will give a portion of its Colorado River water to Phoenix when needed.

Continuing its tradition of bringing internationally known thinkers and problem-solvers to engage with the community, the Wrigley Lecture Series welcomed physicist, food activist and author Vandana Shiva on Oct. 30.  Shiva - who works to protect the diversity and integrity of native organisms, especially seeds, by promoting practices like organic farming - delivered a lecture titled “Future of Food: Dictatorship or Democracy.”

“Her prescient insights, including the importance of organic farming in feeding the world, are similar to the findings of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development," said Joni Adamson, a sustainability scholar and professor of English and Environmental Humanities. "They provide many good reasons to invite her to talk about the future of food.”

The lecture was presented by the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and Institute for Humanities Research, with support from the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies.

Watch the video »

This year, Sun Devil Athletics purchased 49,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy from Arizona Public Service, which translates to enough green energy to power the stadium for the next three home games. This is the sixth consecutive year ASU and APS have partnered to bring green sources of electricity to Sun Devil Stadium.

Through the APS Renewable Energy Incentive Program, ASU has installed more than 50 projects on three of its campuses, for a total of nearly 24 MW of solar generation. ASU now has more solar installed on its campus than any other university in the country.

In an article for Nature Publishing Group's journal Scientific Reports, Christa Brelsford - a School of Sustainability alumna and Sante Fe Institute postdoctoral fellow - and co-author Xin Lu analyze interactions by communities of Twitter users preceding and following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The authors find that among Japanese-speaking Twitter users, the disaster created more new connections and more changes in online communities than it did globally and (not surprisingly) it produced world-wide increases in earthquake-related tweets. In addition, the authors describe a novel framework for investigating the dynamics of communities in social networks that can be used to study any kind of social change.

For the tenth year in a row, the ASU Wrigley Institute will be represented at Arizona Forward’s Earth Fest, taking place at the Desert Botanical Garden on October 28. The fest serves as a venue for local environmental education organizations to share their work with Valley teachers. The ASU Wrigley Institute will have two tables at the fest: one for Ecology Explorers and one for Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools.

Heather Lineberry is senior curator and associate director of the ASU Art Museum. Her curatorial work explores how new art practices can impact decision making and change entrenched behaviors and systems. In this essay, she explores how art can facilitate deep collaboration across disciplines and social groups to challenge existing models and propose new ones.

A Thought Leader Series Piece

By Heather Lineberry

Note: Now through January 17, the ASU Art Museum hosts Trout Fishing in America and Other stories, an exhibition by artists Bryndis Snæbjörnsdóttir and Mark Wilson. The project is supported by a research grant from the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

Over the past four decades, solutions to the persistent and complex challenges of sustainability have typically been developed through scientific analysis. There has been an assumption that knowledge will lead to appropriate action. Recently the accuracy of this one-dimensional assumption has been in question, and many have begun to seek more effective ways of developing robust solutions.

About a year ago, Arnim Wiek from the School of Sustainability asked me to co-author a chapter for an introductory textbook on sustainability. This might seem an odd request for a contemporary art curator and art historian, but much of my research and curatorial work has explored the ways that artists have engaged with our challenges in living sustainably. I've found that art can facilitate deep collaboration across disciplines and social groups to challenge existing models and propose new ones.

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The Supreme Court has affirmed on multiple occasions that the EPA not only has the authority but also a legal obligation to regulate CO2 emissions as an air pollutant through the Clean Air Act. Following is a summary of the most relevant case law.

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Supported by a multimillion dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, a team of ASU researchers will develop an efficient and cost-effective carbon capture technology. The team, which includes co-principal investigators and sustainability scientists Cody Friesen and Ellen Stechel, will do so using an innovative electrochemical technique to separate carbon dioxide from other emissions originating from power plants. Additionally, it will explore the real possibility of reducing energy and cost requirements by more than half.

The project is part of a special Department of Energy program designed to pursue high-risk, high-reward advances in alternative energy research. It was was selected through a merit-based process from thousands of concept papers and hundreds of full applications. The results of the project could be an economically enabling breakthrough in the drive to reduce carbon emissions.

As a first-time applicant to the Bicycle Friendly University program, ASU recently earned a gold-level ranking. The designation, presented by the  League of American Bicyclists, recognizes higher-learning institutions that foster sustainable, productive and efficient cycling environments. Particular attention is paid to the support of cycling initiatives, as well as access to both convenient riding areas and parking on campus.

“We are honored to receive this award from the League of American Bicyclists and to see ASU’s efforts recognized,” said JC Porter, assistant director of commuter services for ASU Parking & Transit Services. “In the past year, we have transformed the bicycling culture at ASU and reinforced our commitment to meeting the transportation needs of all students, staff and faculty who bike to and from campus.”

An interdisciplinary team of ASU experts - including sustainability scientists Matthew Fraser, David Gutson and Thomas Seager - offers a new anticipatory approach to Life Cycle Assessment. The approach, featured in the Sept. 16 issue of the journal Environmental Science and Technology, explores best- and worst-case scenarios for the impacts of technologies in diverse categories. It was developed using the photovoltaic cell, a rapidly emerging technology used in solar panels, as a test subject.

Life Cycle Assessment is a tool commonly used by environmental engineers to weigh the positive and negative attributes of a technology at all stages of its life. Because the tool historically relies on hard data that can only be obtained after any environmental harm has already occurred, it presents a dilemma. The anticipatory approach to Life Cycle Assessment remedies this by embracing, rather than trying to eliminate, uncertainty or conflicting data. Instead of looking at one parameter at a time, it compares many uncertain parameters to identify an environmentally promising research agenda.

By Tracy Stevens, Director, Development & Engineering Services, City of Avondale

On Saturday, October 11, 2014, the City of Avondale Development and Engineering Services Department transformed 5th Street using temporary measures within historic Avondale, Arizona. The project corridor consisted of a 40-foot wide asphalt pavement with 4-foot wide attached sidewalks along both sides within the Western Avenue Arts District. With the use of duct tape, donated trees, and spray chalk the street was transformed into a multi-modal street which promotes walking and biking, while still serving vehicles and providing on-street parking. Vertically buffered bike lanes were installed using a row of parked vehicles in one direction and planters in the other direction. A Parklet was created using outdoor carpet, planters, tables and chairs to demonstrate pedestrian activation of the street within a parking stall. That evening, during the City’s annual Resident Appreciation Night, residents of all ages enjoyed riding bicycles along the protected bike lane or walking along sidewalks dually buffered by parked vehicles and bike lane improvements. As they were able to actually “feel” the improvements, City leadership were inspired to better utilize our public space to create more multi-modal streets.

During the "Unpacking Green Growth" conference organized in part by the ASU Wrigley Institute, the LuAn Declaration on Green Development in Poor Regions was released in a farmer's house in LuAn City - a poor region in the middle of China. According to the LuAn Declaration, human society is transitioning from the Industrial Era to the Internet Era. This transition is dramatically impacting the traditional development paradigm, and makes it possible for poor regions to leapfrog to an internet-based green economy of the future.

Harvard University has announced its five-year sustainability plan, which  will apply new “green” standards in an effort to reduce waste and energy use. Heather Henriksen, director of Harvard's Office of Sustainability, shared that Arizona State University’s plan served as a direct model for Harvard.

In a Harvard Crimson article, Henriksen explained that while other universities' sustainability plans focus on climate change and emissions, ASU’s is more holistic. She cited faculty involvement in sustainability research and teaching, along with greater emphasis on everyday campus operations and health, as examples.

ASU's framework for addressing the challenges of sustainability incorporates four pillars; namely, education, research, business practices, and global partnerships and transformation. The Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability serves as the hub of ASU's overall sustainability initiatives. ASU's School of Sustainability, one of the first such schools in the country, trains the next generation of sustainability practitioners, entrepreneurs and leaders.

October 14, 2014 by Eduardo Porter of The New York Times.

This summer, California’s water authority declared that wasting water — hosing a sidewalk, for example — was a crime. Next door, in Nevada, Las Vegas has paid out $200 million over the last decade for homes and businesses to pull out their lawns.

It will get worse. As climate change and population growth further stress the water supply from the drought-plagued West to the seemingly bottomless Great Lakes, states and municipalities are likely to impose increasingly draconian restrictions on water use.

Such efforts may be more effective than simply exhorting people to conserve. In August, for example, cities and towns in California consumed much less water — 27 billion gallons less —than in August last year.

But the proliferation of limits on water use will not solve the problem because regulations do nothing to address the main driver of the nation’s wanton consumption of water: its price.

"Most water problems are readily addressed with innovation," said David G. Victor of the University of California, San Diego. "Getting the water price right to signal scarcity is crucially important."

The signals today are way off. Water is far too cheap across most American cities and towns. But what’s worse is the way the United States quenches the thirst of farmers, who account for 80 percent of the nation’s water consumption and for whom water costs virtually nothing.

Adding to the challenges are the obstacles placed in the way of water trading. "Markets are essential to ensuring that water, when it’s scarce, can go to the most valuable uses," said Barton H. Thompson, an expert on environmental resources at Stanford Law School. Without them, "the allocation of water is certainly arbitrary."

Read the entire article at The New York Times.

From the invention of the computer mouse to the world’s first video game console, the 1960s marked a time of huge technological achievements. The animated sitcom “The Jetsons” spurred whimsical visions of a futuristic utopia where household robots, flying cars, and regular space travel would be commonalities. The 1960s marked a time when people were constantly asking, “What if?” and was described by historians as the ten years that have had the most significant changes in history. People were aware of the possibilities of technology and were not hard-pressed to believe that flying cars were not too far away.

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