Global Institute of Sustainability News
Scholarships aid sustainability students exploring policy and diversity
June 14, 2013
Clean Air Cab, a local sustainable taxi cab company, has awarded two School of Sustainability students with scholarships to fund their education in the upcoming year. Incoming freshman Maria Eller plans to study diversity and sustainability while senior Sean Martin plans to explore sustainable consulting.
“We designed our scholarships to reward individuals who share our same values in conserving our ecology and creating sustainability within their thinking as it pertains to their actions, community projects, and future business structures,” says Steve Lopez, founder and owner of Clean Air Cab.
Both Eller and Martin say the scholarship will take some pressure off and allow them to focus more on their studies.
Sustainability alum takes the ‘hazard’ out of ‘hazardous waste’
June 4, 2013
Bradley Baker graduated from the School of Sustainability in 2012. Now, he works as a hazardous waste compliance officer at the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Waste Programs Division. He learned at a young age that our resources are finite, and taking care of them takes personal and group responsibility.
In his position, Baker inspects local businesses and facilities to make sure they are following hazardous waste regulations. Baker says his real-world experience from internships helped him gain his position.
“Find an internship, whether it is paid or unpaid,” he tells fellow students. “I have well over a year’s worth of experience doing unpaid internships, and I would not have been able to apply for the jobs I did without them.”
One Degree: Icing the Heat Island Effect
Thought Leader SeriesMay 29, 2013
A Thought Leader Series Piece
By Mick Dalrymple
Note: Mick Dalrymple is a LEED-accredited professional and co-founder of the Arizona Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. He is the ASU project manager of Energize Phoenix, an initiative that aims to save energy, create jobs, and improve local neighborhoods along a 10-mile stretch of Phoenix’s light rail. Recently, Dalrymple has been promoting the Global Institute of Sustainability’s 2013 Energy Efficiency Idea Guide for Arizona.
Imagine what would happen if an array of stakeholders made a concerted effort to cool the overnight low temperature of downtown Phoenix by one degree. For starters, more people would spend their evenings outdoors, increased economic activity would boost local businesses and tourism dollars, and roughly 21 million kilowatt hours (nearly $2.1 million) of energy would be saved per year.
But most importantly, Phoenix would become a real example to the world that we all can work together to positively change our climate.
Such is the power of One Degree, a simple concept that describes a tremendously complex and ambitious (but doable) challenge to create concerted change that improves community sustainability.
Students, faculty ‘show’ sustainability at open house event
May 23, 2013
Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability hosted its year-end open house and project showcase on April 24 where students and faculty got to show off their innovative course assignments and partnerships. For example, students in Professor David Manuel-Navarrete’s Sustainability Leadership and Social Change course introduced their video highlighting ASU’s transformation towards university-wide sustainability.
“Since the School was first established, we have put value on diverse learning and teaching strategies that simulate professional team settings, address real-world sustainability issues and involve community members as project partners,” says Katja Brundiers, the School’s university-community liaison and the event’s organizer.
The event created new collaborations as part of the School’s Project-and Problem-Based Learning. Students and faculty interacted together one-on-one as well as with members of the public. The event was part poster session, part mixer, part lecture, and part discussion.
You can watch the Sustainability Leadership and Social Change course video below:
School of Sustainability Alumni Chapter wins first place in Sparky’s Membership Mania competition
May 15, 2013
Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability Alumni Chapter won first place in the Sparky’s Membership Mania Competition for the second consecutive year. This competition provides a $500 cash award to the ASU Alumni Chapter with the largest increase in membership each year. Thank you to the many School of Sustainability graduates who have joined the School of Sustainability Alumni Chapter. We appreciate your talents, expertise, and connection to your alma mater! Pictured left to right: Alissa Pierson (ASU Alumni Association), Brigitte Bavousett (School of Sustainability Alumni Chapter President), Dr. Christine Wilkinson (ASU Alumni Association).
Student connects art, sustainability through experiential learning
May 14, 2013
Omaya Ahmad, a fellow with Arizona State University’s Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools program and a School of Sustainability doctoral student, integrates sustainability in Greenway Middle School’s curriculum and established courses.
Particularly, Ahmad teaches environmental sustainability to seventh-graders and societal sustainability to eight-graders. Through Greenway’s partnership with the Phoenix Art Museum and the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Ahmad was able to use local artwork to give her students real-life lessons outside the classroom.
“I wanted to do my fellowship in the Paradise Valley Unified School District because I graduated from a school in that district,” says Ahmad. “They matched me to Greenway, because of the opportunities with the honors core there. It was such a great match. It was gratifying to watch the students learn, and I learned a lot, too.”
‘Carbon Nation’ director Peter Byck teaches sustainable storytelling
May 9, 2013
For his new professor of practice position at ASU’s School of Sustainability and ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Peter Byck will be teaching a new “Sustainability Storytelling” course this fall.
Students from the two schools will learn how to produce and direct their own five-minute documentaries about issues surrounding clean energy and climate change. Byck is a seasoned documentarist; his first film, “Garbage,” won the South by Southwest Film Festival and his second documentary, “Carbon Nation,” is gaining worldwide attention.
“Working with a large university like ASU will allow us to amplify stories out into the world because we need to educate the American people on clean energy,” says Byck.
Sustainability alumna turns food waste into a career
May 8, 2013
Natalie Fleming graduated from the School of Sustainability in 2012 and a month later, she obtained a position at a Utah startup called EcoScraps. The company collects food waste from grocery stores, food banks, and farms and turns it into eco-friendly and sustainable gardening products. Working remotely in San Francisco, Fleming is the district sales manager responsible for training EcoScrap employees and representatives.
She gives some advice to graduating sustainability students on how to enter the job market:
“Tell everyone you meet how excited you are to graduate and how much you love sustainability,” Fleming says. “Let them know you’re on a job hunt. Share your interest with people and you never know where that connection is going to come from. It will help you get your foot in the door.”
The Green Register: College Move-Out Eco-Friendly Tips
May 7, 2013
Move-out topics like packing, cleaning, and textbooks are covered in The Green Register’s “The Green Minute.”
For instance, you can collect recycled boxes from local companies instead of buying brand-new boxes. Be sure to sell back your old textbooks, too, or donate them to local schools. And have leftover furniture? Sell it online or host a garage sale.
For more tips, learn about Arizona State University’s Ditch the Dumpster program.
Sustainability student, lifelong learner awarded Fulbright
April 29, 2013
Outstanding graduate and Fulbright winner Jill Brumand is an honors student and a double major in sustainability and geography. She started her academic career at Arizona State University in 2009 and will begin her graduate career as a Fulbright master’s student at Lancaster University in Northwest England.
During her sophomore year, Brumand partnered with Sustainability Scientist Kelli Larson to do some undergraduate research work on people’s landscape choices in Phoenix and the sustainability implications. Throughout the rest of her undergraduate career, Brumand worked with Dell and Maricopa County. She was also a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) student with the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) program. Brumand credits her success to the School of Sustainability.
“The School of Sustainability has a network of people who care and check up on you,” she says. “The support and encouragement of the faculty and staff at the school has been invaluable.”
ASU named one of nation’s greenest schools
April 26, 2013
For the fifth consecutive year, Arizona State University made The Princeton Review’s “Green Honor Roll,” a list that includes universities across the nation that promote sustainability in education, practices, and partnerships.
ASU has the largest collection of solar panels of any public university and numerous LEED-certified buildings. Sustainability is a core goal across departmental curriculum. The university is also pursuing carbon neutrality by 2035.
As part of the recognition, ASU will appear in The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2013 Edition, the only free publication that offers information on the top colleges focusing on sustainability.
ASU students provide sustainable solutions in K-12 schools
April 24, 2013
As part of Arizona State University’s Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools program, engineering graduate student Shawn Fink organized Mountain Pointe High School’s Earth Day celebrations. He also partnered with the high school’s teachers to create sustainability lesson plans and student projects.
The Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools program, part of ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability, recently won the 2013 President’s Award for Sustainability. Since the program’s inception, ASU has partnered with more than ten local K-12 schools. Graduate students at ASU can learn how to interact with students, plan lessons, and gain real-world experience in teaching.
“High school students will face real, complex sustainability challenges in their lifetimes,” says Monica Elser, a principal investigator for the Sustainable Schools program. When students learn about sustainability in their classrooms and through real projects implemented in their schools, she says, “it helps them see how sustainability applies to them, and how they can make a difference in the future.”
New social networking site helps users make more sustainable decisions
April 24, 2013
A recent School of Sustainability alum, Andrew Krause, and his mentor, Sustainability Scientist George Basile, and two former classmates have launched the website, eEcosphere in an effort to make sustainability actions easier to adopt among everyday people.
The website is based on years of research done by Basile and other sustainability scientists. The research they compiled outlines how people and corporations have undertaken sustainability efforts. This research is now on eEcosphere in an easy-to-read, interactive format with social capabilities.
“A person may already be saving energy but might need help with water conservation; someone else might need help with both,” Krause elaborates. “eEcosphere helps people identify and adopt ideas that match their personal sustainability goals. It embeds a scientific approach in the decision-making process and encourages people to take action as a group using the social web.”
2013 winners of President’s Award for Sustainability
April 21, 2013
For their demonstrated excellence in fostering the successful development, implementation and promotion of sustainability, three programs at ASU were awarded the President’s Award for Sustainability:
Facilities Management Grounds Services – Grounds for Grounds
The program recycles coffee grounds into fertilizer, working towards Arizona State University’s zero waste goal.
Materials Management Recycling
The recyclable items list has grown thanks to ASU’s Materials Management, which also helps ASU Recycling staff.
Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools
Graduate students, professors, high school students and teachers, and researchers team up to work on a project to make a local Arizona school more sustainable.
ASU’s School of Sustainability receives grant from Women & Philanthropy
April 19, 2013
Women & Philanthropy, a group committed to supporting and investing in Arizona State University, awarded $286,541 to six promising programs this year, the highest amount of total annual funding in its 10-year history.
While this year’s grants recognize ASU’s commitment to science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics (STEAM), they also include programs that support ASU’s commitment to connect with communities through mutually beneficial partnerships.
The School of Sustainability, part of the Global Institute of Sustainability, received $30,200 to work with the journal, “The Sustainability Review,” to produce public videos highlighting current research in an easy-to-understand format.
Celebrate Earth Day at the Tempe campus Farmers Market
April 16, 2013
Visit the Farmers Market @ the ASU Tempe Campus on Tuesday, April 23 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to celebrate Earth Day 2013. This will be the last market of the spring season.
This market will feature guest vendors, Medicine Take-Back Day, prize drawings and extra tables and chairs for lunch dining.
Visit Farmers Market Special Events to learn more or email FarmersMarket@asu.edu.
School of Sustainability student wins Udall Scholarship for commitment to environment
April 16, 2013
Emily Allen, a sustainability and English major and student in Barrett, The Honors College, has been named a 2013 Udall Scholar by the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation. She will receive a $5,000 scholarship to use toward tuition for her senior year at Arizona State University.
Allen hopes to follow in the footsteps of the scholarship’s namesake, Morris K. Udall, a U.S. congressman who established legislation in Arizona to expand national parks and create the Central Arizona Project.
“My career goal is to work with local governments in the state of Arizona to protect fragile water resources from the pressures of overuse and rapid urban development. I plan to accomplish this goal as an attorney with a water law specialty, either in a private firm or a local municipality,” Allen stated on her scholarship application.
Obama reappoints Sustainability Scientist to Committee on the National Medal of Science
April 11, 2013
Arizona State University Professor Carlos Castillo-Chavez has been reappointed to the U.S. President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science.
Castillo-Chavez is a Regents’ Professor and a Joaquin Bustoz Jr. Professor at ASU. He is a faculty member in ASU’s School of Sustainability and a Distinguished Sustainability Scientist in ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability. President Obama first appointed him to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science in 2010.
The 12-member committee evaluates and nominates fellow scientists for the National Medal of Science—one of the field’s highest honors. Nominated scientists come from the physical, biological, mathematical or engineering sectors.
Upon his reappointment, President Obama said: “I am grateful that these impressive individuals have chosen to dedicate their talents to serving the American people at this important time for our country. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”
Downtown Phoenix is ripe for a feast on the street
April 10, 2013
A celebration of food, art, and community is coming to downtown Phoenix on Saturday, April 13. Called “Feast on the Street,” the event is a culmination of numerous local community partnerships that will bring people together for a meal or two on First Street in Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row District.
“Feast on the Street is an urban harvest festival celebrating food and art in the desert, while reclaiming the city street for pedestrians,” says Heather Lineberry, Arizona State University Art Museum’s senior curator, associate director, and an event organizer. “It creates a place to gather with our Phoenix neighbors around art and food. What could be better?”
The Global Institute of Sustainability is providing composting workshops at the zero waste event and ASU’s Green Team will educate participants on recycling, composting, and waste. ASU School of Sustainability alumnus, Colin Tetreault, will act as master of ceremonies.
Sustainable business practices are necessary for the common good
April 8, 2013
For Earth Month 2013, the Global Institute of Sustainability will welcome Richard Morrison, ASU’s Morrison Institute co-founder, to talk about sustainable and ethical business practices. Part of the Institute’s Sustainability Series, Morrison’s talk, “Ethics and Sustainable Practices,” will take place on Monday, April 29, from noon until 1:30 p.m.
Morrison is an Episcopal priest and a sustainable ranching business partner. He is also an attorney, focusing on Native American water rights and natural resource policy.
Morrison says his main sustainability challenge is world hunger. Morrison joined the Farm Foundation’s Dialogue Project for Food and Agriculture Policy in the 21st Century to find a common commitment to ending world hunger.