Sustainability News

The USAID Takamol- Gender Program, in collaboration with Arizona State University and the Jordanian Ministry of Environment, conducted the first-ever gender and climate change conference in February 2016.

Among those to provide opening remarks was Global Sustainability Solutions Services Practice Lead Rajesh Buch, who highlighted the intersection between climate change and gender in light of Jordan’s drive to accelerate its green growth initiatives after the December 2015 Conference of Parties in Paris.

Women in Jordanian communities are leaders and change makers who would benefit from stronger integration between gender mainstreaming and sustainable development concepts. Through multi-stakeholder dialogues and exchanges of knowledge, Takamol hopes to facilitate this integration by developing a policy paper and action plan. Guest speakers from ASU provided international best practices and shared knowledge on gender and climate change linkages within various contexts.

“We hope to contribute to impactful and innovative solutions to the social, environmental and economic challenges of this region, specifically around the implications of climate change on gender” said Gary Dirks, executive director for the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

ASU is taking the lead on a collaborative national project –supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Center for Atmospheric Research – to answer questions about urban farming.

Senior sustainability scientist Alex Maholov is the project's lead principal investigator and oversees an interdisciplinary team consisting of computational and climate scientists, mathematicians, statisticians, geoscientists and social scientists. The team will help predict the yields of crops, studying “what if” scenarios to optimize future outcomes. For example, the team will study what would happen if vacant lands around the Phoenix metropolitan area were converted to farms.

The end product will be a physics-based model utilizing weather and farming data to predict environmental, economic and socio-economic impacts of increased urban agriculture. The model will be public and accessible to everyone, including scientists, researchers, farmers, city planners and policymakers.

For the first time in its history, the International Union for Conservation of Nature will host its World Conservation Congress on U.S. soil – a bid secured with the assistance of ASU.

Likened to the United Nations of nature conservation, the IUCN is a global organization based in Switzerland whose members include NGOs, governments and universities. It hosts the WCC every four years, providing a forum for members to share information and experiences, debate major sustainable development issues and propose solutions.

The conference has been hosted throughout the world in its 68 years – most recently by South Korea. Not only will the 2016 conference be held in Hawai'i, it will feature three events sponsored by the ASU Wrigley Institute, as well as a subcommittee on Neighbor Islands and Counties chaired by board member John DeFries.

The December 2015 conference in Paris, where governments of the world adopted an arguably game-changing international agreement on climate change, was a lot to process for many of us.

To aid our digestion of this historic event, four ASU experts and conference attendees will join us for the latest installment in the Case Critical series, "Postcards from Paris," on January 20, 2016. They'll cover what happened at COP21, what they did while they were there, what they consider to be the innovations of the Paris agreement, and what the agreement implies for the U.S. and world. What might ASU staff, students and faculty contribute as all parties move forward?

The experts include Manjana Milkoreit, a senior sustainability fellow and postdoctoral research fellow with the Walton Initiatives; Jeffrey Swofford, a doctoral student in the School of Sustainability; Daniel Bodansky, a foundation professor of law in the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and the faculty co-director of the Center for Law and Global Affairs; and Sonja Klinsky, a senior sustainability scientist and assistant professor in the School of Sustainability.

The event is co-sponsored by the Center for Law and Global Affairs at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.

Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability has been boldly leading the way to a sustainable future since its inception in 2006.

Now in 2016, the school – the first comprehensive, degree-granting program of its kind in the nation – reaches its 10^th Anniversary. The milestone will be marked with a series of memorable events from April 14-16, including a Wrigley Lecture by renowned author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” Michael Pollan.

The school has enjoyed numerous accomplishments over the past decade, including an expanding set of undergraduate and graduate degree programs, a minor in sustainability and multiple online offerings. It has also established training partnerships with organizations including the International Finance Corporation, World Bank, Starbucks, Walton Family Foundation, Wells Fargo, United States Agency for International Development and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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Eight ASU sustainability experts were in attendance at the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Paris, France, Nov. 30 through Dec. 11. With expertise ranging from international law to ecology to ideology, policy and equity, Arizona State University was well represented in the media.

In an article published near the end of the negotiations, Sustainability Scientist Sonja Klinsky was prominently featured in the Los Angeles Times. Together with Walton Sustainability Postdoctoral Fellow Manjana Milkoreit, Klinsky was also consulted for a piece on PBS FRONTLINE. Foundation Professor of Law Daniel Bodansky was featured in articles by both US News & World Report and CNN, and local NPR affiliate KJZZ ran an interview with Klinsky and Bodansky, as well.

Follow our web page dedicated to the COP 21 for more information about the experts, plus quotes, links to articles and more.

In a recent contribution to the Journal of Sustainability Education titled "On Hope and Agency in Sustainability: Lessons from Arizona State University," School of Sustainability Dean Christopher Boone examines how ASU prepares students to address the pressing challenges of living and working sustainably.

Boone starts by explaining the appeal of sustainability to many students — it offers a hopeful alternative to doom and gloom while encouraging everyone to participate in the creation of a desirable future. He then describes how — with the strong support of President Michael Crow — sustainability education flourished at ASU, making this optimistic science accessible to all of its students.

Focusing on curricular strategies while addressing some extra-curricular strategies, Boone discusses in detail how the principle of sustainability has been integrated into ASU. He also shares the post-graduate employment patterns of alumni who are now agents of sustainability in their places of work.

Ann Marie Raymondi, a 2013 graduate of the School of Sustainability's Master of Science program, has been named a NASA Harriett G. Jenkins Graduate Fellow following a rigorous selection process. Now pursuing her master’s in biology at Boise State, Raymondi is one of only 13 to receive a prestigious Minority University Research Education Project (MUREP) Advanced STEM Training and Research (ASTAR) fellowship.

The fellowship application required students to develop a research proposal, which was then evaluated by NASA for scientific rigor and impact. Raymondi's research will examine the effects of fire and climate change on plant communities in the sagebrush-steppe system. This is an important line of inquiry as many ecosystems that support life on Earth are undergoing rapid change, underscoring the need for tools to aid our understanding.

In addition to research conducted at Boise State during the academic year, Raymondi's award provides her with an annual 10- to 15-week center-based research experience at a NASA research center.

A paper authored by Decision Center for a Desert City researchers, published today in the journal Sustainability, synthesizes a decade of water research in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Titled "Decision-Making under Uncertainty for Water Sustainability and Urban Climate Change Adaptation," the paper explores human–environment dynamics, gaps in knowledge and practice, social learning and the evolution of an interdisciplinary research and boundary organization, which has enhanced adaptive and sustainable governance in the face of complex system dynamics.

"This research exemplifies the transdisciplinary approach advanced by ASU," says DCDC Director Dave White. "The knowledge generated here was developed by a team of social, behavioral, economic and sustainability scientists collaborating with biophysical scientists, engineers, a network of stakeholders and an internationally-recognized group of scientists and practitioners on our advisory committee."

In addition to White, the paper was authored by sustainability scientists Kelli Larson, Pat Gober and Amber Wutich.

ASU LightWorks recently received funding through the Naval Enterprise Partnership Teaming with Universities for National Excellence (NEPTUNE), a pilot program of the Office of Naval Research. The $1.5 million in seed grants over seven years will support six energy-related research projects at Arizona State University that will engage veterans or active-duty military.

Recognizing that energy challenges pertain to both technology and people, the projects will invite participation from the ASU veteran community through the Pat Tillman Veterans Center, as well as from local bases with active-duty military personnel. The projects aim to provide military members with experience, training and resume-building that is beneficial in post-military careers.

ASU's Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, directed by Senior Sustainability Scientist Leah Gerber, was created a year ago to pragmatically stem the tide of loss in what has been called the Sixth Extinction. Its mission is to make discoveries and create solutions to conserve, where possible, and to manage biodiversity for the long term as the world rapidly changes. In doing so, tough decisions must be made.

“We can’t save everything,” says Anita Hagy Ferguson, program coordinator for the center. “We’re not operating in that la-la land. It’s heartbreaking, but we are operating with real data, with real reality, and you cannot save everything. You have to make choices in what to save and how to save it, so that we can move quickly.”

The center’s research focuses on five areas: biodiversity assessment and decision tools, governance and biodiversity, advancing corporate sustainability, public health and biodiversity, and engagement of underserved youth. To learn more about the center, watch this interview with Gerber on Arizona Horizon.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature Council has selected Hawaii as the host of the September 1-10, 2016, IUCN World Conservation Congress – the world’s largest conservation event. Held every four years, the congress brings together leaders from government, the public sector, non-governmental organizations, business, U.N. agencies, and indigenous and grass-roots organizations to discuss and decide on solutions to the world’s most pressing environment and development challenges. This is the first time the congress has been held in the U.S.

Former IUCN Director General and board member of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability Julia Marton-Lefèvre, said, “I have every confidence that Hawaii - with its outstanding facilities, rich biological diversity, vibrant indigenous culture, ‘aloha spirit’ and strong commitment to conservation and sustainable development - will provide an outstanding setting for our 2016 congress.”

More information can be found here.

Kamehameha Schools teachers Rod Floro and Brendan Courtot hope to empower Hawai’i’s youth through culture and sustainability. Floro, a sixth-grade science teacher, and Courtot, a vocational technology and applied math teacher, were selected through a competitive application process to participate in the first ever National Sustainability Teachers’ Academy in June 2015 at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. The Teachers’ Academy was established through the generosity of the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives.

The National Sustainability Teachers’ Academy equips passionate kindergarten through 12th-grade educators like Floro and Courtot with the knowledge and skills to inspire and motivate future leaders to create and implement solutions for the economic, social and environmental challenges of our world. The solutions-based curriculum emphasizes real-world learning by integrating knowledge with practice and capitalizing on the cutting-edge research made available to the Teachers’ Academy by ASU.

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Most experts agree that sustainability's primary aim is to accommodate a growing number of people on a planet with finite resources. The precise definition of sustainability, however, garners numerous interpretations. In a recent ASU News article, the members of the ASU Wrigley Institute's directorate provide their personal definitions.

“It’s looking after the Earth as a system, people as a system, and trying to find ways we can both survive and thrive in the future,” says School of Sustainability Dean Christopher Boone. “That’s one definition. I don’t always use that definition. I use something more formal.”

According to Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Rob Melnick, “Both the Brundtland definition and Gifford Pinchot’s encompass a rapidly growing, relatively new expression of ‘sustainability. That is, ‘intergenerational well-being.’ This works for me."

Gary Dirks, director of the ASU Wrigley Institute, simply defines sustainability as “universal, intergenerational human well-being.”

ASU’s Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research program was a partner on a recent week-long workshop that presented big data to high school girls.

More than a dozen 11th- and 12th-graders spent their fall break learning a statistical computing program and gathering skills that will be valuable to them in future STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers. The workshop was taught by Jessica Guo, a graduate student in the School of Life Sciences.

“Programs like this one are narrowing the gap in girls’ participation and success in math and science,” said Monica Elser, education manager for the ASU Wrigley Institute. "The workshop capitalized on a broad range of data and ASU resources to create something really special for these students.”

In recognition of Global Climate Change Week during Campus Sustainability Month, the ASU Wrigley Institute has launched the Climate Story Video Contest. The contest invites ASU students to examine how the changing climate has affected their lives and how they feel about it in a video of three minutes or less.

Contest winners will be determined through both a popular vote - or the number of likes a story gets on the ASU Wrigley Institute’s YouTube Channel - and a judges vote. The winning videos will be featured on the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives and Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative websites in addition to the ASU Wrigley Institute's, as well as shown during the Sustainability Festival in February 2016.

Submissions are due by October 31, 2015. For information on how to submit your climate story, click here.

Anna Bettis, a student in the School of Sustainability's Master of Sustainable Solutions program, recorded a question for Democratic presidential candidates via a CNN video booth at ASU's Tempe campus.

“As a young person, I’m very concerned about climate change and how it will affect my future. As a presidential candidate, what will you do to address climate change?” she asked.

Bettis says she did not expect her question to be aired during the Democratic presidential debate several weeks later, and was thrilled when she saw her face appear on the big screen of downtown's Desoto Market where she was watching.

Bettis credits a high school marine biology lesson, which exposed her to the natural resource challenges we face, for her sustainability passion. She received her bachelor's from the School of Sustainability in 2014.

Carbon Roots International - a company co-founded by School of Sustainability graduate and Founders’ Day Award recipient, Ryan Delaney - was highlighted in the October issue of National Geographic magazine with the headline "Bright Ideas can Change the World."

Launched in 2010, CRI uses sustainability principles to help rural farmers in Haiti develop more efficient agricultural practices. It trains farmers on the production of a renewable fuel known as “green charcoal,” which allows them to convert crop waste into a fuel source that can be used in cooking and to improve soil fertility.

CRI is one of 29 projects to receive a grant from the "Great Energy Challenge," an initiative of National Geographic in partnership with Shell that recognizes innovative energy solutions.

Each year, Popular Science accepts nominations for the brightest young minds in science and engineering, then identifies what it refers to as the "Brilliant 10." Among those in its just-released 2015 cohort is Arianne Cease, a sustainability scientist and assistant professor in ASU’s School of Sustainability.

Cease is cited for her investigations into what transforms individual locusts into ravenous swarms that devastate crops and threaten livelihoods, and her work identifying strategies to stop the insects from swarming.

“We are working to address the age-old challenge of locusts and locust plagues, which are a problem around the world for food security,” said Cease. “We are working to understand what causes plagues so that we can address the problem in a new way, by incorporating local farmers and human communities into the equation.”

The Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative at Arizona State University, in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Council, invites writers to submit short stories that explore climate change, science and human futures in its first Climate Fiction Short Story Contest.

Speculative fiction stories have the power to take policy debates and obscure scientific jargon and turn them into gripping, visceral tales. The emerging subgenre of climate fiction helps us to imagine futures shaped by climate change - a gradual process that can be difficult for people to comprehend.

"Merging climate science and deeply human storytelling, climate fiction can be a powerful learning tool,” said Manjana Milkoreit, a postdoctoral research fellow with the Walton Initiatives. “Taking the reader into a possible future, a story can turn modeling scenarios and temperature graphs into meaning and emotion. It can help us make sense of and respond to this incredibly complex problem."

The submission deadline is Jan. 15, 2016, and contest entry is free.