Affiong Williams is a 2019 finalist in the WE Empower UN SDG Challenge and a pioneer in the snack industry. WE Empower Intern Jacqueline Blisse elaborates on how Affiong and her company Reelfruit are benefitting her industry as well as her community.

Affiong Williams is the Chief Executive Officer of Reelfruit, a snack business from Nigeria whose core business value is investing in women.  Reelfruit practices what they preach, their outreach to women who live in rural areas has allowed these women to learn skills and provide for their families.

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Joni Adamson, the director of the Environmental Humanities Initiative at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, and Michael Angilletta, a professor in the School of Life Sciences and the associate director of undergraduate programs, have been named President's Professors. To be designated as a President’s Professor is one of ASU’s most prestigious faculty honors. The recognition is given to faculty who have made substantial contributions to undergraduate education and faculty who have the ability to inspire original, creative works in their fields.

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The prominent color-field painter Kenneth Noland once said: “For me, context is the key. From that comes the understanding of everything.” Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Dean’s Distinguished Professor Jianguo Wu would certainly agree.

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Hiding In Plain Sight and Fighting For A Home are two short films on the complexities of homelessness from School of Sustainability and Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication students in Peter Byck’s Sustainability Storytelling course.

Hiding in Plain Sight spotlights a woman’s experience with homelessness and the special challenges she faces that differ from men. The film’s protagonist struggles to find nutrition, health care and shelter while trying to fill roles as a caretaker, mother and friend. First-time filmmakers Dawson Morford, Katharina Saloman and Sarah Aly El Sayed piece together a powerful portrait of a unique partnership between a homeless woman and a chronically ill man, while chronicling the plight of homeless women in Phoenix, Arizona. Highlighting the vulnerabilities of unsheltered women, the filmmakers show us there is no single narrative for the multiple demographic groups of homeless people. Women, specifically, face unique personal safety and health hurdles while living on the streets.

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Are you a graduate student who is passionate about conserving nature? Do you sometimes wonder about the most effective way to influence change? Are you ready to take your communication and leadership skills to the next level? If so, the Graduate Certificate in Environmental Communication and Leadership (ECL) may be for you.

The ECL graduate certificate is a compilation of key courses designed to train graduate students in honing their leadership skills and communicating environmental science to the general public, stakeholders and decision-makers.

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When the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis requested information on topics of great concern, the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability was ready to respond. Nearly 50 faculty from across ASU – primarily Sustainability Scientists, Scholars and Fellows – responded to the questions raised by the committee with comprehensive transdisciplinary responses. Faculty responses were categorized, compiled and integrated into the final document, which captured ASU’s commitment to use-inspired, solutions-oriented work.

View the final response, as submitted to the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis on November 22, 2019.

The Arctic is experiencing climate change more dramatically than anywhere else on Earth. In fact, the Arctic Ocean is expected to be virtually ice-free in the late summer within 20 years. These rapid changes not only affect life in the Arctic, but also the entirety of the planet.

In the newest article from the Global Futures Laboratory, "Rapid Changes in the Arctic: This Story is Not Just about Polar Bears," thought leaders Peter Schlosser, Stephanie Pfirman, Clea Edwards, Nina Berman, Steven Beschloss, Rolf Halden and Manfred Laubichler discuss the changing Arctic and what needs to be done to course correct. "To be clear, this is not all doom and gloom. There is a path forward," they say.

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As a changing climate brings about more frequent extreme weather events, experts are increasingly worried about a rarely discussed topic: urban infrastructure systems. Many experts are sounding the alarm that the structural foundations that have long helped cities function properly won’t hold in the future.

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Launched in 2015 with an $18 million investment from USAID, the USPCAS-E project was conceived as a five-year partnership between Arizona State University (ASU) and two leading Pakistani universities — the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) and the University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar (UET Peshawar) — together with supporting partner Oregon State University (OSU). Its charge: develop innovative solutions to Pakistan’s energy challenges through a host of initiatives, from modernizing curriculum and infrastructure within NUST and UET Peshawar to facilitating enhanced learning opportunities for faculty and students through academic exchange programs and joint research projects at ASU and OSU.

Director Sayfe Kiaei, a sustainability scientist and professor in the School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, invites you to visit the website and project archive to review the many accomplishments and highlights of the project.

Ntombenhle Khathwane is a 2019 finalist of the WE Empower United Nations  Sustainable Development Goals challenge and an innovative entrepreneur that empowers African women through her natural cosmetic brand and positive marketing. In the following article, WE Empower Intern Jordan Leiter highlights Khathwane, her business AfroBotanics and shows how they promote gender equality and other sustainable development goals.

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Growing up in North Texas, Wes Fitch never really had the opportunity to experience nature. So when he finally did in Boulder, Colorado and the Pacific Northwest, it was life changing.

"As someone from the suburbs in Texas, this was my first experience living among beautiful geography and a community which reinforces a healthy, active and environmentally-conscious lifestyle," Fitch said. He credits these experiences with inspiring his dedication to create "harmonious relationships between humans and our planet’s systems."

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Inna Braverman is a 2019 finalist of the WE Empower United Nations Sustainable Development Goals challenge and an innovative entrepreneur generating green electricity in Israel using ocean waves . In the following article, WE Empower Intern Jordan Leiter highlights Braverman, her company Eco Wave Power (EWP) and shows how it promotes gender equality and other sustainable development goals.

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The Global Drylands Center recently published its annual newsletter. The newsletter contains important and exciting news about a recent trip with Global Drylands Center associates to the Jornada Experimental Station in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The purpose of this trip was to highlight research and educational activities of the Global Drylands Center. Specifically, we demonstrated rainfall manipulation experiments and discussed in the field major research findings. Regarding educational activities, we met with Stephanie Bestelmeyer who is the Director of the Asombro Institute for Science Education, which is a leader institution in the field of informal environmental education.

Learn more details and other opportunities within the 2019 Global Drylands Center Annual Newsletter (PDF).

Most people are experiencing the concept of sustainability in a gloom-and-doom context of seemingly insurmountable global challenges like plastic pollution in the ocean and climate change. Today, however, sustainability strategies are smart business: They reduce cost through efficiency, increase revenue, and help organizations come out on top in the talent war.

The Sustainability Opportunity is an intensive seminar that combines the power of the consistently top-ranked W. P. Carey School of Business with the pioneering, first-in-the-nation School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. Instead of focusing on gloom and doom, this seminar focuses on the business and organizational opportunities that accompany our global challenges.

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The Arizona State University Office of University Initiatives announces that its 2020 Social Embeddedness Network Conference will take place on Tuesday, March 24, 2020 via Zoom.

This is an opportunity for ASU staff and faculty to share and learn from others about how we partner with community organizations in socially embedded research, teaching or practice to achieve positive outcomes at the local, regional and global levels. Community partners are invited to co-present with their ASU colleagues.

This year, learn how ASU and communities are partnering to advance social impact locally and beyond, through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more and register on the conference web page.

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Jessica Hubley is a 2019 finalist of the WE Empower United Nation Sustainable Development Goals challenge and an innovative entrepreneur that uses her software business which leverages the growth of the $1.5 trillion software services industry, to drive economic power into the hands of human trafficking survivors, empowering them. In the article below, WE Empower Intern Jordan Leiter highlights Hubley, her business, AnnieCannons, and shows how they promote gender equality and other sustainable development goals.

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Anjlee Prakash is a 2019 finalist of the WE Empower United Nation Sustainable Development Goal challenge and an innovative entrepreneur who founded the Learning Links Foundation (LLF). Through the LLF, Anjlee has had a positive impact on over 15 million students and 2 million teachers across 48000 schools in India over the past 17 years. In the article below, WE Empower Intern Jordan Leiter highlights Anjlee, the LLF and shows how they promote gender equality and other sustainable development goals.

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Karolina Andrian is a 2019 finalist of the WE Empower United Nations Sustainable Development Goals challenge and an innovative entrepreneur promoting gender equality in Poland through a focus on the work-family balance. Below, WE Empower Intern Jordan Leiter highlights Andrian, her business Femmeritum, and shows how they further gender equality and other sustainable development goals.

Andrian is the co-owner of Femmeritum, an organization that designs and implements specially catered work-family balance programs in small businesses and large corporations. Through Femmeritum, Andrian persuades corporations to offer their employees’ services like parenting programs, workshops and childcare.

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Silvina Moschini is a 2019 finalist of the WE Empower United Nations Sustainable Development Goals challenge and the creator of the first online platform to “leverage TransparentBusiness cloud technology, matching algorithms and remote workforce management tools to connect professional women with flexible remote job opportunities to eliminate the barriers between talent and opportunities and making the connection between education for employability”. In the article below, WE Empower intern Jordan Leiter highlights Moschini, her US-based business SheWorks! and shows how they promote gender equality and other sustainable development goals.

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: October 15, 2020.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Nicole Darnall: School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, 875502 Tempe, AZ, USA

Prof. Justin M. Stritch: Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, Arizona State University, 85004, Phoenix, AZ, USA

Prof. Stuart Bretschneider: Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, Arizona State University, 85004, Phoenix, AZ, USA

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