Sustainability News

Spring brings a lot of things, including thesis and dissertation defenses. The following have either successfully completed or will be completing their defenses this spring:

• Thomas Bleasdale defended his dissertation, “Gardens of justice: Food-based social movement in south and west Phoenix,” on April 16^th (Sharon Harlan, Chair; Bob Bolin and Kevin McHugh, committee members)
• Hannah Heavenrich will defend her thesis, “Soil biogeochemical consequences of a ‘sustainable’ urban grassland to shrubland transition,” on May 13^th (Sharon Hall, Chair; Kelli Larson and Diane Pataki, committee members)
• Jeffrey Ackley will defend his dissertation, “Rich lizards: How affluence, land cover, and the urban heat island effect influence desert reptiles persisting in an urban landscape,” on May 15^th (Jianguo Wu and Brian Sullivan, co-chairs; Soe Myint, Dale Denardo, and Michael Angilletta, committee members)

• CAP REU student, Jessica Jia, successfully defended her Honor’s Thesis, “Quantifying the trade-off between landscape vegetation height, surface temperature, and water consumption in single-family residential houses for a desert city,” this spring (Kelli Larson and Elizabeth Wentz, co-chairs).

Congratulations to all of these students!

Sustainability scientist Deepak Chhabra, a professor in the School of Community Resources and Development, led a study commissioned by the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department to demonstrate how investment in public parks provides an economic return.

Using survey data from park visitors to eight iconic parks – six in Maricopa County and two that span into Pinal and Yavapai counties – the team ran impact studies for each park, as well as an aggregate study on the Phoenix metropolitan area. For every dollar invested by Maricopa County parks, Chhabra and her team found approximately $1.40 was generated, after costs.

Chhabra noted that although individual park returns varied, it is difficult to determine why; the size of the park and amenities offered differ and could factor in. This provides feedback to the parks on how they might improve their individual results.

Arizona State University is the recipient of a 2015 recycling bin grant from the national nonprofit Keep America Beautiful and the Coca-Cola Foundation. More than 3,600 recycling bins are being distributed to 37 colleges and universities as part of the Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Recycling Bin Grant Program. ASU will receive 75 bins.

Osvaldo Sala is a Julie A. Wrigley chair in life sciences and sustainability and a Foundation professor in the School of Sustainability; a professor in the School of Life Sciences; an advisory board member for the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes; and a distinguished sustainability scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

He is particularly interested in working with scenarios as a way of simplifying, understanding and communicating the complex relationships that emerge from the study of social-ecological systems.

In this video, Sala discusses his research, as well as the nature and significance of sustainability science.

Video »

Arizona State University was recently honored with a 2014 Tree Campus USA award, which Gov. Doug Ducey presented to the ASU Grounds Services/Arboretum crew at the Arizona Capitol on April 23. The national Tree Campus USA program honors colleges and universities for promoting healthy trees and engaging students and staff in the spirit of conservation.

Professor Nancy Grimm delivered the 30th Annual Eugene P. Odum lecture at the University of Georgia. Grimm presented a talk that synthesized her more than 35 years of research in the Southwest, entitled "The Only Certainty is Change: Reflections on a Stream, a City, and a Public University."

Narayanan Neithalath is one of the researchers interviewed on a national PBS News Hour program on efforts of inventors and engineers to make cement and concrete that has a much smaller carbon footprint. With support from the National Science Foundation, Neithalath and his team in the Laboratory for the Science of Sustainable Infrastructure Materials have made progress in developing multi-functional materials that could offer more environmentally sustainable forms of binders for concrete.

Energy Digital ranks ASU the top higher education institution in terms of solar installments.

Per energy Digital, "It’s been incremental, but ASU is the nation’s top higher-education institution with solar installed by quite a bit. It’s portfolio of solar installations is huge: It has 86 installations on four campuses and the ASU research park. The campus has numerous buildings that are LEED Silver certified, with more on the way. And as the university states, installing solar is “the right thing to do.”

C. A. Miller, J. O’Leary, E. Graffy, E. Stechel, G. Dirks “Narrative Futures and the Governance of Energy Transitions” Futures, doi: 10.1016/j.futures.2014.12.001, 2014.

Arizona State University students across all campuses are being asked to “Ditch the Dumpster” by donating their unwanted items from campus residence halls instead of throwing them away. Donated and recyclable items not only are distributed to area children and families via community partners and local non-profits, but also are diverted from area landfills.

The event kicks off on April 22 for Earth Day and continues through May 10. Sun Devils have participated in the donation event every year since 2008.

ASU received honorable mention in a list of the nation's 25 greenest college campuses, which was compiled using The College Sustainability Report Card, Sierra Club Cool Schools 2014, EPA Top 30 Colleges and Universities, and the AASHE Stars ratings.

The award graphic can be found here.

LightWorks has helped to bring Intel’s Green Buildings Conference to ASU, February 12, 2015, where industry leaders include Intel, Ameresco, CHMHill, AECOM, P&G, Colgate and local members of the U.S. Sustainable Global Building Council. These companies will be coming to learn about best green building practices not only from their corporate peers, but from ASU faculty as well. Attendees will learn about topics ranging from Sandia National Labs’ sustainability campus, ASU’s strategies to reach zero-carbon goals, and LEED goals, PV and retrofits.

LightWorks and QESST are solarizing the Super Bowl Central block party Jan. 28-Feb. 1 in downtown Phoenix by connecting solar panels, which are erected to form a shade structure over the ASU booth. At the booth, batteries for fun games will be charged using solar energy.  QESST volunteers and students will display how solar energy is generated by showing off their own solar panels and hosting hands-on games, which allow participants to connect solar panels to switches and fans, and to solar-powered cars. Students who participate with QESST will also teach attendees about the innovations QESST has made in photovoltaics.

ASU LightWorks is looking forward to working more closely with Mexico’s UNAM Institute of Engineering, Institute of Renewable Energies, as well as Mexico’s Electrical Research Institute. Director and deputy director of ASU LightWorks, Gary Dirks and Ellen Stechel, visited their campuses in January 2015 and met with institutions’ directors to further discuss collaborations regarding undergraduate and graduate student exchange programs, bioremediation, desalination and joint algae ventures, expanding their solar expertise and operations, smart grids, micro grids and cross-border transmissions.

ASU student Will Novak - who is studying public service and public policy in the School of Public Affairs - has a plan to beautify the 181 miles of canals that run through Phoenix. The project recently received an ASU Innovation Challenge grant, which awarded him $2,000 from the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies.

ASU receives a 2014 Food Recovery Challenge (FRC) Certificate of Achievement from the EPA for increasing food waste diverted from landfills by 742% from 2012 to 2013.  Through food recycling alone, ASU has prevented 178 metric tons of carbon equivalent, which is like avoiding the burning of 191,102 lbs of coal.

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!

We admit it. This article is a total fake. Sorry. Someday, however, something just like this could happen.

As of April 1, 2015, the ASU Sustainability website will be carbon neutral, thanks to the dedication and endurance of School of Sustainability staff. If you visit Wrigley Hall today, you won't find typical desk setups. All have been replaced with standing desks - or perhaps walking desks is a better descriptor. The desks are stationed within 8-foot-diameter wheels, which the staff walk or jog on to generate electricity.

Continue Reading

Karen Kao, the first person to graduate from the ASU School of Sustainability with a practice-based Master’s in Sustainable Solutions, is featured in the "My Cool Job" section of the ASU Magazine's March issue. Kao is now the sustainability program coordinator at GreenerU, a Boston-based organization that works with colleges to improve their sustainability and efficiency.

In the spirit of the Southwest Maker Fest happening in Downtown Mesa, Ashley Yost - Communications Manager for ASU's EcoCar 3 team - appeared on Fox 10 to discuss the competition and to showcase an educational prototype ASU engineering students created for it.

In his essay, Happily Ever After: Storytelling and the Long View, Ed Finn argues that changing our frame of reference – taking a longer view of history – can help us change the world. Finn is the founding director of ASU's Center for Science and the Imagination.