Global Institute of Sustainability News
New 'Green' Minor for Major Change
Institute Press ReleasesSeptember 10, 2010
Arizona State University broadens scope of sustainability education offerings
TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State University (ASU) has launched a new minor in sustainability that can complement a student’s major in another academic discipline. This unique 18 credit hour program enables undergraduate students to explore the challenges of sustainability and learn what determines the sustainability of human institutions, organizations, cultures, and technologies in different environments at the local, national, and international levels.
The minor offered this fall, 2010, marks a milestone for ASU’s initiative to make sustainability education and practices university-wide across all four campuses.
Leading Expert in Business Science and Supply Chain Management Appointed to Co-Direct The Sustainability Consortium
Institute Press ReleasesAugust 10, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz.—Professor Kevin Dooley has been appointed Interim Co-Director of The Sustainability Consortium for Arizona State University (ASU). Dooley, a Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management in the W. P. Carey School of Business and Affiliate Professor in the School of Sustainability, has deep knowledge and experience with the Consortium and its activities. Jon Johnson will continue as the Consortium’s Co-Director for the University of Arkansas. Johnson is the Walton College Professor of Sustainability, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas.
The Sustainability Consortium develops transparent methodologies, tools and strategies to drive a new generation of products and supply networks that address environmental, social and economic imperatives.
Dr. Elinor Ostrom – ASU Professor & Nobel Laureate
August 4, 2010
Q&A with Nobel Laureate Dr. Elinor Ostrom Finding the key to sustaining shared resources Elinor Ostrom is a research professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and is founding director of the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity.
In 2009, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for her work in economic governance, particularly as it applies to shared resources such as pastures, fisheries, and groundwater basins. Her research examines ways that institutions and users operating at widely different scales can work together to sustain such resources.
ASU named one of nation's best and greenest colleges
August 4, 2010
Arizona State University has made the “Green Honor Roll,” rating as one of the nation’s 18 “greenest” universities, and is named among the top 120 Best Western Colleges.
This is the third year in a row that ASU made The Princeton Review’s list of most environmentally friendly institutions – a list that salutes the institutions that received the highest possible score, 99, in this year’s rating tallies.
Novozymes joins The Sustainability Consortium – a global effort to improve product sustainability
Institute Press ReleasesAugust 2, 2010
BAGSVAERD, Denmark – August 2, 2010 – Novozymes has become a founding member of The Sustainability Consortium, a new global organization with aims to improve the sustainability of consumer products. The company will join a diverse group of academics, governments, non-government organizations and businesses to fulfill The Sustainability Consortium’s mission of driving a new generation of products and supply networks that address environmental, social and economic imperatives. Other members include Dell, Disney, Wal-Mart, WWF and BASF to name a few.
The new "green conscience" in the U.S.
July 19, 2010
Das neue “grüne Gewissen” in den USA
The new “green conscience” in the U.S.
Our knowledge factories have failed
July 19, 2010
Unsere Wissensfabriken haben versagt
Our knowledge factories have failed
Is Arizona Poised to Take the Solar Lead? Az SMART Project Will Help Homeowners, Businesses, Leaders
Institute Press ReleasesJuly 13, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. (July 13, 2010) — Is Arizona prepared to take the lead in the shift to renewable energy, using its greatest natural resource – the sun? A major research effort led by Arizona State University and initially funded through a grant from Science Foundation Arizona is trying to answer that question by analyzing how best to use solar and other sustainable energy throughout the state.
A top official from the U.S. Department of Energy, Undersecretary Kristina Johnson, recently visited the project, and other VIPs are coming soon. The hope is that the Az SMART project will provide an example for other states to follow in President Obama’s plan to reduce emissions, reduce foreign oil dependence and create jobs in a clean technology economy. The project includes tools to benefit homeowners, businesses and the leaders who need to make informed decisions about which power-generation methods to use and where to locate new facilities, such as solar fields.
Organizing Teaching and Research to Address the Grand Challenges of Sustainable Development
July 6, 2010
Read Article »
BioScience
July/August 2010, Vol. 60, No. 7
Posted online on July 7, 2010
Organizing Teaching and Research to Address the Grand Challenges of Sustainable Development
Michael M. Crow, President of Arizona State University
ASU awarded $6 million for biofuel research
July 6, 2010
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded Arizona State University a $6 million grant as part of a program focused on algae-based biofuels.
The program supports the development of a clean, sustainable transportation sector – a goal of DOE’s continued effort to spur the creation of a domestic bio-industry while creating jobs. This round of DOE funding totals $24 million for three research groups to tackle key hurdles in the commercialization of algae-based biofuels.
Ecological research network wins national award
May 25, 2010
Recognizing 30 years of research by thousands of scientists, the American Institute of Biological Sciences at a May 18, 2010, ceremony honored the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network with its 2010 Distinguished Scientist Award. The award is presented annually for significant scientific contributions to the biological sciences.
Evidence of climate change underscores need for action
May 24, 2010
As part of its most comprehensive study of climate change to date, the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) issued three reports emphasizing why the United States should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change.
ASU gathers experts for international urban sustainability workshop
May 21, 2010
Guided by the principle that today’s cities are laboratories and their leaders are researchers in the new science of urban sustainability, Arizona State University’s (ASU) Jonathan Fink, along with two British colleagues, will lead Comparative Urban Genetics: Towards a Common Methodology for Pragmatic Analysis of Cities. The workshop event takes place this weekend, May 21-23, at University College London (UCL) in London, England.
High School Student Earns Place in ASU Lab
May 20, 2010
It’s considered an exceptional achievement when college undergraduates earn opportunities to conduct research under the guidance of top professors.
That makes Rahul Mitra especially exceptional.
He’s only a junior at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, and already he’s working with an engineering research group at Arizona State University.
Global Institute of Sustainability Leadership Directorate created
May 4, 2010
Shangraw appointed Director; van der Leeuw appointed Dean; Melnick continues as chief operating officer and executive dean
ASU President Michael M. Crow today announced R.F. “Rick” Shangraw, Jr. has been appointed director of the Global Institute of Sustainability, a key all-university research initiative. Shangraw also serves as ASU’s senior vice president for Knowledge Enterprise Development.
Simultaneously, ASU Provost and Executive Vice President Elizabeth D. Capaldi announced the appointment of Sander van der Leeuw as dean of the School of Sustainability. He will also continue as director of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and co-director of the Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative.
Rob Melnick continues as GIOS chief operating officer and executive dean. He, along with Shangraw and van der Leeuw, form the institute’s new directorate providing overall leadership to GIOS and its School of Sustainability.
Graduate Combines Passion for Trolleys and Sustainability
May 3, 2010
When Margaret Dunn decided to return to ASU two years ago, she was fulfilling a 25-year-old promise. What she found was a life’s passion.
Tempe's A Mountain Undergoes Restoration
April 26, 2010
A popular preserve in the middle of downtown Tempe was treated to a makeover on Saturday as part of Earth Day events.
About 100 volunteers participated in a path restoration project on the Hayden Butte Preserve, more popularly known as A Mountain. In addition to redefining its hiking trails, they painted trash cans and benches, planted cacti to define paths and removed debris so water can flow under pathways.
ASU among the first green class according to The Princeton Review
April 26, 2010
Arizona State University is one of the country’s most environmentally responsible colleges according to The Princeton Review. The nationally-known education services company selected ASU for inclusion in a unique resource it has created for college applicants – The Princeton Review’s “Guide to 286 Green Colleges.”
Earth Day 2050
April 22, 2010
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an opinion-editorial article and the concluding piece to the ASUNews’ Earth Week 2010 series that pays tribute to the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
By Jonathan Fink
Last fall I went to the 40th reunion of a high school class in St. Louis that I was a part of through freshman year. I had not seen any of the 75 other attendees in four and a half decades. It felt like a “Twilight Zone” episode, meeting these graying, accomplished retirees, with which my last conversations were about the latest Beatles single or whether their moms could drive them to my house to play. While most of these 59-year-olds were still in good physical and mental shape, the sobering reality was that by our next decadal reunion, many would be in serious decline.
City of Phoenix Receives $25 Million Grant to Create "Energize Phoenix" in Partnership with Arizona State University and Arizona Public Service
Institute Press ReleasesApril 21, 2010
New program will reduce electricity consumption, generate thousands of green jobs and create a more sustainable city in the desert
TEMPE, Ariz. – The City of Phoenix was awarded a $25-million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to launch, in partnership with Arizona State University and Arizona Public Service, “Energize Phoenix,” a project that will save energy, create jobs and transform neighborhoods.
The grant will be used as seed funding to establish a fiscally viable, permanent program that will eventually be expanded throughout the city. Locally, the funds will be leveraged by at least $190 million of additional funding from a combination of banks, local businesses and public partners.