Sustainability News

A Thought Leader Series Piece

By John Sabo

Note: John Sabo is the Global Institute of Sustainability's director of research development, where he leads a grant proposal team that since 2008, has brought in over $44 million in expenditures. Sabo also collaborates with scientists across the U.S. investigating the impacts of water shortages on the sustainability of human and natural systems.

The year 2013 will be remembered in the U.S. as a year of extremes: The effects of Hurricane Sandy continue to cripple New York City. Droughts across the Corn Belt are causing massive crop failure. Devastating fires destroyed hundreds of homes in Colorado for a second year in a row. Flash floods have claimed lives and businesses from coast to coast, including communities experiencing recent drought and fire. This year was exceptional. Or was it?

When most people think of climate change, they think of global warming—the trend of rising air temperatures that causes a shift in expected or long-term average climate conditions. There are valid exceptions to the trend of course. Many people observe their cities occasionally cooling, and therefore think global warming is not happening. Local observations that differ from the global average from time to time are an example of a second aspect of climate change that is equally, if not more important, than the global trend: Climate change exacerbates regional differences in climate as well as the swing between years of famine and years of plenty.

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Julie Anand, a professor in Arizona State University's School of Art and a Senior Sustainability Scholar in ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability, designed and organized a photography workshop at a Honduran nonprofit this past summer. She partnered with Guaruma, an organization that provides photography and computer science after-school programs to local Honduran youth.

"We created cyanotypes because they are very elemental—only needing sunlight, water, and observation of natural patterns," says Anand. "Through photography classes at Guaruma, the children learn to understand their place, to be wide awake in it, and to love it."

The students' artwork will be displayed at ASU's Step Gallery September 16-20, with an opening reception on Tuesday, September 17, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Sales from the artwork will go to Honduran primary and secondary schools. All are welcome to attend.

Arizona State University joins Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Center for World-Class Universities top 100 universities in the world list. Shanghai Jiao Tong University just released its 11th edition of "2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities."

According to the authors of the rankings, ASU is "perhaps the most advanced globally in terms of merging the boundaries between academic disciplines. President Michael Crow has led Arizona in a strategy of differentiation, whereby the university’s academic profile is focused upon intellectual fusion around major international challenges."

Within the report, ASU ranked 46th among all universities in the United States and 25th among all public U.S. universities.

To investigate the demand and uses of graywater or effluent in Arizona, Arizona State University's Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC) turned to a social networking and digital mapping program called WaterMatch. In 2011, ASU partnered with Intel and CH2M HILL to develop the program that "plays matchmaker" for graywater producers and consumers. DCDC is using WaterMatch to investigate the incentives, roadblocks, and constraints for wastewater reuse.

“This is important because there are many different groups that are pointing to water reuse as an important part of the solution for water sustainability,” says Dave White, principal investigator, co-director of DCDC, and senior sustainability scientist in ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability.

Two School of Sustainability students, Saad Ahmed and Rud Moe, were data collectors for WaterMatch, locating water treatment plants in Arizona and New Mexico.

TEMPE, Ariz. – August 15, 2013 – Recognizing a gap in sustainability leadership education and development, Arizona State University, the nation’s leader in sustainability education, is launching a new executive master’s program focusing on organizational leadership. This new program will equip professionals with the skills to effectively integrate sustainability throughout all facets of their organizations.

Developed by ASU’s Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, a program of the Global Institute of Sustainability, and housed at the School of Sustainability, the new Executive Master’s for Sustainability Leadership (EMSL) is a 13-month program designed for mid-career professionals currently employed in or near sustainability roles with its first class commencing in January 2014.

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Each year, the Sierra Club's magazine, Sierra, analyzes and rates national universities based on particular sustainability categories like food, transportation, and curriculum. This year, Arizona State University ranks 55 out of 162 universities. ASU shines in the curriculum, purchasing, and transportation categories, beating University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University.

To be part of the annual rankings, university administrators are responsible for submitting answers to the Sierra Club's questionnaire, sharing accomplishments and methods on sustainability practices.

To date, ASU generates a total of 20.8 MW of solar energy on all campuses and is developing a zero waste program with Waste Management. University employees and students are always finding ways to purchase sustainable materials and reuse supplies.

ASU chemical engineering graduate student Jared Schoepf, co-founder of SafeSIPP, a student-led startup in ASU’s Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, has been named a top five finalist in the "College Entrepreneur of the Year" competition run by Entrepreneur Magazine.

SafeSIPP was founded by Schoepf and his fellow ASU chemical engineering classmates Lindsay Fleming and Taylor Barker, to solve three critical problems facing rural communities in the developing world: transportation, purification and storage of drinking water.

"The statistics are staggering," says Schoepf. "More than 3,000 children die each day in developing countries because they don’t have access to clean, safe-to-consume water. When the SafeSIPP team set out to create our water system, we knew we had to address this issue as well as the transportation issue. So we invented a purification unit that attaches within the system so that, as the barrel is being transported, the water is simultaneously being purified as it moves."

In the August issue of Green Living Magazine, newly appointed professor of practice and documentarist Peter Byck shares his expectations for his new fall course, Sustainability Storytelling. In a teaching position jointly shared between ASU’s School of Sustainability and ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Byck will show students how to film their own short documentary on solar power in Arizona.

"The first place that we’re going to delve into is all the solar work that’s going on in Gila Bend," he says. "The class starts in August and we’ll start shooting in September."

Byck is also working on his most recent documentary, a follow-up to his 2010 film, Carbon Nation called Carbon Nation 2.0, under a partnership with ASU.

In an article by GreenBiz.com producer Joel Makower, Arizona State University's recently developed Executive Master’s for Sustainability Leadership program is said "to fill a critical gap in sustainability education in business." Meant for those already in the business world, but looking to advance their education and background, the new program takes only a year to complete and is based around four curriculum themes: leadership, strategy, communication, and global context.

"One of the things we’ve found is that there’s a real yearning for organizations to understand what sustainability is and [how] it can add value to organizations," says Christopher Boone, professor and interim dean of ASU’s School of Sustainability. "Ultimately, [sustainability is] about finding solutions. When we’re thinking about solutions, we need to think about not just how things work in theory, but how we can apply that theory to find solutions to complex problems."

The first cohort begins in January. On Aug. 20, Joel Makower will host a one-hour webcast, The Secrets of Sustainable Leadership in Business, sponsored by the ASU Executive Master’s for Sustainability Leadership program. Register here.

Daniel Culotta, who graduated from ASU's School of Sustainability last spring, is now the Environmental Program Manager for the City of Avondale. He is responsible for assisting companies, facilities, and organizations in achieving environmental regulation compliance, but also for creating the city's first-ever municipal sustainability plan.

"We’re creating the sustainability plan using an up-to-date, participatory, and evidence-based approach," Culotta says. "This plan will serve as the foundation for action going forward."

Culotta attributes his career success to the organizational and solution-focused experiences he had while at the School of Sustainability. He hopes that his new position will show people that sustainability is a fact of life.

PHOENIX, Ariz. – July 31, 2013 – Local elected officials, business owners and advocates held a press conference today to highlight the impacts of climate change – including extreme heat, drought and air and water quality – on Arizona’s environment, economy and public health.

“The issue of climate change is big and daunting, it’s true,” said State Senator Katie Hobbs.

“But working together, we can create the change necessary to protect our home. It begins with simply caring for each other. When we care for each other, as fellow human beings, caring for our planet becomes a natural progression. I urge you to act with me today to move toward a healthier and brighter future.”

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As part of Arizona State University's health and wellness initiative, all university campuses are now officially tobacco-free. ASU joins about 800 national universities with the policy. Effective today, the new policy prohibits all manners of smoking, including smokeless tobacco products indoors and outdoors. The policy was initiated by students and is supported by the University Staff Council and the faculty Academic Senate.

In addition to making ASU a healthier, happier, more productive place to work and learn, the tobacco-free policy will reduce litter and maintenance expenses.

"Tobacco use is a documented public health hazard and the university is dedicated to providing a healthy, comfortable, and educationally productive learning environment for faculty, staff, students, and visitors," says Kevin Salcido, associate vice president of Human Resources and a member of the tobacco-free working group.

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In an article published in the journal "Nature," Arizona State University President Michael Crow explores the pros and cons of online learning, drawing from multiple case studies from Harvard, San José State University in California, and ASU. While many skeptics say online learning greatly degrades the quality of education, ASU President Crow says, "...twenty-first-century interactive technologies offer the potential for adaptive, personalized learning on an infinite scale."

What some first called a "fad," technological advances have altered the learning environment, changing the way students freely access information and conduct their research. ASU has embraced online education, whether it be through completely online courses or a mix of in-person and online.

"Our objective is to create an environment in which a person can learn anything, and thus we must avail ourselves of every tool, mechanism and means," Crow says. "We must lead and shape this revolution, not recoil from it, if we are to avoid stifling innovation."

School of Sustainability Interim Dean Christopher Boone, together with Michail Fragkias, visiting professor at Boise State University and former executive director of the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change program based in ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability, edited a volume, Urbanization and sustainability: Linking urban ecology, environmental justice and global environmental change. The book was published in 2013.

Boone and Fragkias contributed a chapter to the volume examining the connection between environmental justice and sustainability. They suggest that vulnerability science could be a bridge between studies of local environmental justice and long-term, global sustainability studies.

Another chapter authored by a team of Arizona State University scholars – Bob Bolin, Juan Declet Barreto, Michelle Hegmon, Lisa Meierotto, and Abigail York – builds on previous CAP LTER research and examines shifting vulnerabilities, hazards, and risks in the Phoenix area.

Through case studies, analysis, and theory, the book brings together a range of scholars from urban ecology, environmental justice, and global environmental change research. In doing so, the editors have linked ideas, frameworks, and theories from the three fields to provide new, integrated insights on the pathways toward urban sustainability.