As part of a GreenBiz webcast, Arizona State University Senior Sustainability Scientist George Basile and Dell's director of global sustainability operations Bruno Sarda shared their advice on what it takes to tackle sustainability challenges: sustainability leaders.

"One of the big challenges is that sustainability is typically framed as a set of disparate problems," Basile says. "It doesn't allow business leaders to be effective."

A sustainability leader needs to inspire and transform businesses and organizations if improvements are to be made. Sarda shares his six steps for implementing sustainability at Dell: vision, strategy, goals, plans, execution, and communication. Fortunately, both experts agree sustainability leadership can be learned.

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.

Every scientist knows it's hard to keep track of data, especially if it's data taken from hard-to-reach wildlife subjects. That's why Senior Sustainability Scientist Heather Bateman and her colleagues in the College of Technology and Innovation created a mobile phone app that allows researchers to enter data at any time at a more accurate and faster level.

Bateman studies lizards and came across the app idea when she was finding errors in data collection. The current field methods allowed for more human errors than scientists would like.

"We realized this was a problem for us, and probably a problem for anyone who collects data in the field," Bateman says. "Not having a way to track electronically while on site meant we couldn't immediately check for errors or duplications."

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.

College of Technology and Innovation professor and Senior Sustainability Scientist Heather Bateman is joining Northern Arizona University professor Matt Johnson to study how the tamarisk leaf beetle influences wildlife populations in Southwestern riparian ecosystems like the Virgin River that stretches through Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Known as a type of "biocontrol," the beetle could naturally eliminate non-native vegetation like saltceder without causing harm to wildlife.

However, the endangered flycatcher often nests in saltceder, creating a controversial environment to test the beetle biocontrol.

"Some researchers have identified a potential dilemma that the biocontrol beetle could defoliate saltcedar where the flycatcher is nesting and cause nests to fail," Bateman says. "However, defoliation can occur at different times of the summer, depending upon beetle movement and densities. Therefore, it is important to determine the timing of saltcedar defoliation and flycatcher nesting."

Advancing Climate Adaptation in Flagstaff: Expert Discussion Session

On August 20, 2013 at the Global Institute of Sustainability, in preparation for workshops with Flagstaff's Public Works and Police Departments, a team of researchers is convening a small workshop with experts on climate and health, transportation materials, fire, storm water management, and emergency management. This discussion session will lead to a deeper understanding of the critical issues faced by the two departments. The Flagstaff City Council recently adopted strategies based upon the City’s 2012 City of Flagstaff Resiliency and Preparedness Study. Flagstaff’s management team hopes to implement these strategies through its performance measure and budgeting processes. The University of Arizona’s Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) program and Arizona State University’s Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC) and Center for Integrated Solutions to Climate Challenges is assisting the City in this process. The team will work with Flagstaff’s management team to convene workshops targeted at the police and public works departments. The goals for the workshops will be to identify adaptation strategies that can be implemented now and planned for in the medium- and long-terms as climate and social conditions evolve. Once these strategies have been identified, we will develop performance measures and progress indicators for each strategy.

Expert Discussion Session Objectives

1. Document expert opinions on how human vulnerability as they relate to health, storm water drainage, street pavement, forest fire, population, and emergency managers will be impacted by climate changes (impacts germane to the City of Flagstaff public works and police departments).
2. Develop an understanding of the ideal strategies available to adapt to the aforementioned climate change impacts, the information necessary to implement those strategies, and metrics to measure their success (ostensibly improving resilience).
3. Identify, in general, the information and tasks Flagstaff will likely need to plan and implement these strategies. This information will be incorporated into subsequent workshops with the City of Flagstaff.

Agenda

• 10:00 – 10:20 Introductions and Overview of Project (Zack Guido)
• 10:20 – 10:35 Overview of Flagstaff Resiliency Study (Nicole Woodman)
• 10:35 – 10:50 Why we are here (Ray Quay)
• 10:50 – 11:50 Q1: In your expertise area, in what ways will human vulnerability be impacted by climate changes? What impacts could potentially be the most severe? (All)
• 11:50 – 12:00 Break
• 12:00 – 12:30 Working Lunch: Q1a: What are the overlapping issues of these topics? (All)
• 12:30 – 1:30 Q2: If you were charged with developing strategies to deal with these risks in Flagstaff, what strategies would you focus on? (All)
• 1:30 – 1:50 Break
• 1:50 – 2:50 Q3: What information and or tasks would you need to plan and implement these strategies? (All)
• 2:50 – 3:30 Next steps (Ray Quay)
• 3:30 – 4:00 Q4: In your area of expertise, what practical metrics would you use to estimate or rate resiliency to climate change? (All)

Participants

• Mark Brehl, City of Flagstaff
• Mariano Gonzales, AZ Dept. of Emergency Management
• Jon Fuller, JE Fuller/Hydrology & Geomorphology Inc.
• Abe Springer, NAU, School of Earth Science & Environmental Sustainability
• Shane Underwood, ASU, Department of Civil, Environmental, & Sustainable Engineering
• Vjollca Berisha, Epidemiology
 Maricopa County Department of Public Health
• Kimberly Sharp, Comprehensive Planning Manager, City of Flagstaff
• Tamara Lawless (convener), City of Flagstaff
• Zack Guido (convener), University of Arizona
• Michele Roy (convener), Arizona State University
• Ray Quay (convener), Arizona State University
• Nicole Woodman (convener), Sustainability Manager, City of Flagstaff

Challenges of Communicating Sustainability in Complex Systems for Public Policy

In our first Water/Climate Briefing for the 2013-2014 academic year, DCDC set the stage for a wide-ranging discussion of critical issues in the realms of science and policy for this year’s theme: Communicating Sustainability in Complex Systems for Public Policy.

Our panelists explored:

• Understanding sustainability and complex systems
• Communicating sustainability and climate change for public policy
• Design of governance arrangements to transcend political borders
• Design and administration of complex organizations
• The role of global governance organizations in sustainability
• Incorporating complexity into water resources decision making
• Innovative tools for communicating complexity for public policy

We aim to provide opportunities for researchers, policy makers, and the interested public to engage in informed dialogue about the challenges and opportunities for decision making about sustainability in complex systems.

Join the conversation!

Panelists

Jonathan Koppell

Dean, College of Public Programs

Lattie and Elva Coor Presidential Chair, School of Public Affairs

Arizona State University

Michael Schoon

Assistant Professor, Environmental Policy

School of Sustainability

Arizona State University

Doug Toy

Water Regulatory Affairs Manager

City of Chandler

Dave White

Moderator

Co-Director, Decision Center for a Desert City

Arizona State University

When

Wednesday, September 4, 2013, 12:00-1:30 p.m.

Thank you for your interest! We are at seating capacity. RSVPs will now be wait listed. Video of the discussion will be posted on September 9 at /outreach/waterclimate-briefings/

Location

Decision Center for a Desert City, 21 East 6th Street, Suite 126B, Tempe [Map]

In a recent article, GreenBiz senior writer Heather Clancy highlights the many sustainability achievements and goals for Arizona State University, a "driving force behind the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment."

ASU aims to become carbon-neutral by 2025, a goal already in the works with 72 solar systems, electric vehicles, recycling and composting efforts, and sustainable purchasing.

To guide ASU's sustainable purchasing efforts, the business and purchasing team uses an automation and process management application developed by SciQuest. The program is all part of ASU's "principled practice" philosophy, writes Clancy.

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 a Pacific Standard article, reporter Cameron Walker explores how yards across America are starting to look the same. He compares the nation's yards to a checkerboard, especially when you look from up above in an airplane. Why is this happening?

Several of the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) location researchers, including those from ASU's Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project, are finding that increasingly urban cities are planting species similar to other urban areas instead of local flora.

Sustainability Scientist and investigator Kelli Larson surveyed Phoenix homeowners who said homeowner associations specified what plants could grow in their lawns, sometimes preferring exotic species. Fortunately, many Phoenicians are happy to adopt the natural, water-saving xeriscaping method.

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.

A recent article in Pacific Standard magazine cited research conducted by CAP scientist Kelli Larson on residential landscapes in Phoenix. Larson's work has focused on understanding household decision-making regarding residential landscaping across several neighborhoods in the Phoenix metropolitan area. This work has been folded into a larger research initiative, the Ecological Homogenization of Urban America, involving six US metropolitan areas (Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Phoenix) that examines whether residential neighborhoods across the United States are ecologically similar. CAP scientist Sharon Hall is also an investigator on this project, which is associated with several Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites.

Concerns for water in the West are reflected in recent articles in the news such as Las Vegas water chief seeks disaster aid for Colorado River drought via Las Vegas Review-Journal; Arid Southwest Cities’ Plea: Lose the Lawn via The New York Times; New Mexico is the driest of the dry via the Los Angeles Times.

Tracking drought blends science and art. No single definition of drought works for all circumstances, so people rely on drought indices to detect and measure droughts. But no single index works under all circumstances, either. That's why we need the Drought Monitor, a synthesis of multiple indices and impacts, that represents a consensus of federal and academic scientists. The product will be refined over time as find ways to make it better reflect the needs of decision-makers and others who use the information.

The data cutoff for Drought Monitor maps is Tuesday at 7 a.m. Eastern Time. The maps, which are based on analysis of the data, are released each Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Check out the U.S. Drought Monitor and the Arizona Drought Monitor.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced in partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Map courtesy of NDMC-UNL.

The 2012 edition of "Higher Education Sustainability Review," a publication of the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), highlights some of Arizona State University's sustainable construction achievements.

Additionally, the U.S. Green Building Council, developer of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, has recognized ASU as having the most LEED-certified structures in the state of Arizona and the most LEED gold-certified new buildings.

Since 2009, ASU instated a Sustainable Design Policy for new construction and renovation projects on all campuses.

On July 31, 2013, over 150 Phoenicians and 20 participating community organizations took part in the “I Will Act” on climate change challenge. The Act On Climate Change Phoenix event kicked off with an outdoor press conference in the Civic Space Park featuring elected officials, climate experts, and community members. Organizers of the event passed out red umbrellas, sporting the Twitter handle #ActOnClimate, as a visual demonstration against climate change. The red umbrellas were then donated to the homeless and public transit riders to be used for shading against the hot Phoenix sun.

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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.