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May 17, 2019
The Waorani people of Pastaza, a province in eastern Ecuador, just managed to save seven millions of acres of Amazonian rainforest by winning a major lawsuit against the Ecuadorian government.
The government had plans to auction off the land to be drilled for oil, as published in an Upworthy article titled “Millions of acres of rainforest saved: A tiny Amazon tribe just defeated big oil in a historic lawsuit.”
May 16, 2019
According to a new report published recently by the United Nations, Earth’s biodiversity is on a rapid decline more than ever recorded in human history.
The UN warns, one eighth of animal and plant species could vanish completely if human habits continue down the same trajectory. The report points to factors like climate change, ecosystem fragmentation and natural resource pollution for accelerating species extinction.
View Source | May 16, 2019
Researchers at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University and the University of Oklahoma led an interdisciplinary global study to explore wastewater microbial communities. The research expands the understanding of activated sludge microbiomes for next-generation wastewater treatment and reuse systems enhanced by microbiome engineering.
Developing a fundamental understanding of the biodiversity of the activated sludge microbiome in relationship to performance is critical to advancing and optimizing this key technology for maintaining environmental health.
May 15, 2019
According to new details, bottlenose dolphins at Dolphinaris Arizona die at one of the highest rates recorded at a U.S. facility exhibiting marine mammals. For the two years Dolphinaris was open, four of their eight dolphins passed way. Two of the dolphins succumbed to an infection and two of the dolphins’ deaths still yet to be determined.
Arizona State University’s Leah Gerber, a professor in the School of Life Sciences, a senior sustainability scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and founding director of the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, shares her insight in a recent article by AZ Central.
View Source | May 15, 2019
School of Sustainability PhD alumna Christa Brelsford is part of a team working to improve the lives of slum residents by using topology — a method that allows the team to mathematically examine the slums’ spatial structures and networks.
“This method could determine, for example, the fewest streets that would need to be added to provide street access to everyone, and at minimal cost and with minimal disruption to the residents,” describes author Stephen Ornes, who wrote about Breslford’s work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
ASU Now | May 15, 2019
An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Arizona State University has received a $1 million grant from NASA’s Earth Science Division to provide long-range scenarios for water management for the Colorado River Basin.
“Water management is a pressing issue for Arizona,” said Senior Sustainability Scientist Enrique Vivoni, principal investigator of the project and professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. “This grant will assist in helping local, state and federal entities with their drought contingency planning.”
View Source | May 14, 2019
A bold proposal for the future of most of the nearly 2,000-mile stretch of land along the United States-Mexico border has been drawing attention.
The ambitious plan, called the Future Energy, Water, Industry and Education Park initiative, details concepts for developing the borderlands by bringing energy and water resources, education, farming, business opportunities and jobs to the region.
This innovation zone would consist of a series of industrial parks, focusing on the infrastructure development to support the testing, production and deployment of technologies and systems to meet growing needs for energy, water and food in both Mexico and the U.S. Along with private business enterprises and public facilities, the energy and water corridor would also include research and education centers.
May 14, 2019
The Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems focuses on innovative ideas and solutions to the many challenges of current food systems. In this series, we’re sitting down with the Swette Center affiliated faculty to catch up on food systems, innovation and what makes a good meal. See the rest of the series on our Food Systems Profiles page.
Read on for an interview with Jeff Englin, professor in the Morrison School of Agribusiness at the W. P. Carey School of Business.
May 14, 2019
It is estimated that almost a third of all bird species will have disappeared by the end of this century. What might happen in the future as messages of birds are increasingly silenced? How can art be a voice for conservation?
Declining bird populations in practically all habitat types signal profound changes over our entire planet, changes that affect our ecologically-bound cultural identities.
Join artist-researchers Krista Caballero and Frank Ekeberg on Tuesday, May 28, 2019 from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. at the Desert Botanical Garden for a talk titled "Birding the future: Messages of migration, connectivity and extinction."
May 10, 2019
Arizona State University was ranked 2nd in the country and 35th in the world in the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings 2019. These inaugural rankings, which included 462 universities from 76 nations, are “the only global performance tables that assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals,” according to Times Higher Education.
The University Impact Rankings reviewed universities on 11 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and compared universities across three categories: research, outreach and stewardship. ASU’s top-ranked impacts were SDGs 12, 11, 5 and 17:
May 10, 2019
School of Sustainability instructor Nancy Mancilla is among nine American professionals selected by Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) to travel to China for one month as part of the 2019 Zhi-Xing China Eisenhower Fellowship Program. These dynamic fellows represent a diverse group of leaders across a broad range of fields, including emerging technologies in smart cities, diversity and inclusion, sustainable development and renewable energy.
“This year’s Zhi-Xing Fellows are forward-thinking innovators, addressing some of the most important issues of our times. We’re pleased to welcome them into the global network of Eisenhower Fellows,” said Robert Gates, chairman of Eisenhower Fellowships.
May 10, 2019
The Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems focuses on innovative ideas and solutions to the many challenges of current food systems. In this series, we’re sitting down with the Swette Center affiliated faculty to catch up on food systems, innovation and what makes a good meal. See the rest of the series on our Food Systems Profiles page.
Read on for an interview with Dave White, professor in the School of Community Resources and Development, Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions.
May 8, 2019
As the spring semester came to an end, Arizona State University students shared the work they had been doing with Project Cities in partnership with the City of Glendale and the City of Apache Junction. The Project Cities program works to connect local cities with ASU students, faculty directors and academic courses to research and propose solutions to sustainability challenges affecting the communities.
Students from four classes worked with the program this semester. Albert Brown, an instructor in The Polytechnic School's Environmental and Resource Management program, taught 39 students in ERM 401/501 Hazardous Waste Management to lead the development of a project outline and work plan for the City of Glendale involving above ground storage tank inventory and compliance.
May 6, 2019
Last summer, we did a Q&A with Anthony Contento, a Master of Sustainability Leadership student in the School of Sustainability. Now that he just graduated with a few more accomplishments under his belt, we thought it was time to do a follow-up interview to learn about his capstone project and hear reflections about his experience with the program.
Question: Can you tell us about your capstone project?
View Source | May 6, 2019
On May 6 at the UNESCO world headquarters in Paris, the United Nations released a global assessment on biodiversity as part of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). It is the first large-scale global assessment on biodiversity since 2005.
Arizona State University’s Leah Gerber, a professor in the School of Life Sciences, a senior sustainability scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and founding director of the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, was one of the lead authors of the IPBES global assessment. In an interview with ASU Now, Gerber provides her thoughts on the assessment and what needs to be done to improve biodiversity of the planet.
May 6, 2019
Liana Skibbie is graduating this May with a Master of Sustainability Leadership from the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. Skibbie, a long-time employee of Starbucks, created a capstone project that aims to build a network of sustainability leaders within Starbucks to foster more sustainable behaviors, especially in regards to waste.
Though it’s not always easy to complete a master’s degree on top of a full workload, Skibbie said she would recommend the program to anyone interested. “This program has been incredible,” Skibbie said. “The professors have been extremely helpful and supportive through the entire thing.”
View Source | May 4, 2019
Both infrastructure disasters and infrastructure funding bills are back in the news, so Jason Sauer sat down with Dr. Sam Markolf to talk about a paper Sam published last year about disasters and better infrastructure design. We talk about how old infrastructure “locks us in” to living with its consequences and how it creates path dependencies in creating future forms and functions of cities. We end up talking a lot about Miami, but the lessons here also apply to cities across the US and around the world! If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher or Buzzsprout.
View Source | May 4, 2019
Each year, geographers from around the country and the world gather for the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers. Part of the meeting includes recognizing geographers for their work and achievements over the past year. Senior sustainability scientist Wenwen Li, associate professor with the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University, was among those who were honored.
During the annual meeting, Li was named an Emerging Scholar by the Spatial Analysis and Modeling Specialty Group. The emerging scholar award honors early- to mid-career scholars who have made significant contributions to education and research initiatives that are congruent with the mission of AAG-SAM.
May 3, 2019
We're happy to present an opportunity to study locust phase polyphenism evolution through demogenetic agent-based simulations.
Cirad is seeking a graduate student with a Master of Science (or equivalent) on evolutionary ecology and modelling. Candidates with good computer science skills (particularly on C++, R, Netlogo or other object-oriented language) will be given priority. Applications (CV + motivation letter, in PDF format) are to be sent to Cyril Piou (cyril.piou@cirad.fr) (with topic «PEPPER PhD») before June 10th, 2019.
More detailed information can be found on the Cirad locust team's website.
May 3, 2019
One of the goals of the Master of Sustainability Leadership in the School of Sustainability is to teach tools that can be immediately applied to benefit each student’s workplace — and student Christopher William Mutshnick is a great example of that succeeding. Mutshnick, who is graduating with an MSL degree this month, has worked in the field of educational outreach and equity for nearly 10 years and used his capstone project to create for his organization a program that addresses global challenges while improving student learning and access to higher education.
Initially, Mutshnick didn’t see how threats like climate change connected with education. But then it dawned on him: “In my quest to make the world a better place, I had failed to realize that a prerequisite was having a world left to save.” Read his Q&A to learn more about this realization and what Mutshnick has been working on since.
