March 11, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. – As graduate students in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, Maren Mahoney and Zach Hughes had seen plenty of academic journals related to sustainability. But nowhere could they find a publication that made the complex concept of sustainability accessible to the everyday reader.
So they started one.
"We wanted to help shape the discussion about sustainability in the public arena – it is a concept that is hard to understand for most people, and we felt it was important to reach an audience outside of academia," says Mahoney.
She and Hughes envisioned a publication that would inspire social change by connecting with people and issues locally, nationally, and internationally. The result is The Sustainability Review, an online journal edited and published by School of Sustainability students.
Part scholarly journal, part popular magazine, The Sustainability Review includes research, essays, and artwork. It is intended to engage people from all walks of life in discussions about a broad range of sustainability topics. The publication is edited entirely by students.
Mahoney and Hughes were among the first students in the nation's first-ever School of Sustainability, which launched in fall 2007 with a mission to create and share knowledge, train a new generation of sustainability scholars and practitioners, and develop real-world solutions to the world's pressing environmental, economic, and social challenges.
Fully committed to that mission, the pair began discussing the creation of a School of Sustainability publication in August 2008. Just over a year later, and with the help and cooperation of numerous other students and faculty, the inaugural issue of The Sustainability Review has been released.
"The Sustainability Review will generate interest and dialogue about sustainability across a comprehensive audience," said Charles Redman, director of the School of Sustainability, "I commend these students for their great leadership, creativity, and dedication to this innovative project."
The journal's first issue includes written and artistic perspectives on academic innovation, water conservation, waste management, renewable energy, transportation alternatives, biodiversity, community gardening, recreation, environmental justice, and more. Contributors include academics and non-academics alike.
Planned as a biannual publication, The Sustainability Review will post its next call for papers this summer. To read the first issue and find additional information visit: www.thesustainabilityreview.org .
About the School of Sustainability in the Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University (ASU)
The Global Institute of Sustainability is the hub of ASU’s sustainability initiatives. The Institute advances research, education, and business practices for an urbanizing world. Its School of Sustainability, the first of its kind in the U.S., offers transdisciplinary degree programs that advance practical solutions to environmental, economic, and social challenges – especially as they relate to urban areas. For more information: http:schoolofsustainability.asu.edu or http://sustainability.asu.edu.
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Media Contact:
Karen Leland, Director, Communications
Global Institute of Sustainability/School of Sustainability
Arizona State University
karen.leland@asu.edu / 480-965-0013