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On October 24, 2019, the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes partnered with the School of Life Sciences to host a Hugh Hanson Seminar by Professor Susana Cárdenas Díaz from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador.

Cárdenas Díaz directs the university’s Institute of Applied Ecology and is a professor in the College of Biology and Environmental Sciences.

During the presentation, which was attended by 25 people, Cárdenas Díaz discussed preference data from a survey of tourists in the Galapagos National Park and its Marine Reserve. Their research investigated tourists’ willingness to pay for the recovery of two marine endangered species—the hammerhead shark and green sea turtle—through visitor fees and donations.

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The ASU School of Life Sciences and the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes invite you to a Hugh Hanson Seminar to learn about marine wildlife conservation efforts in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador.

This presentation will take place on Thursday, October 24, 2019, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the School of Life Sciences, Wing-C, room 202, ASU Tempe campus.

Light refreshments will be served. RSVP is required.

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Once upon a time, economists believed that there was a limit to economic growth.

Many economists held this belief, including founding fathers such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill. They based this conclusion on, among other things, the fact that there was a limited supply of land. And for hundreds of years, the theory of finite growth prevailed as economists acknowledged the interdependence of natural and economic systems.

That is, until recently.

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Researchers from Arizona State University have launched a new project to explore how we reconcile our search for spirituality in a secular age of technoscientific advancements.

Titled “Beyond Secularization: A New Approach to Religion, Science and Technology,” the interdisciplinary initiative has received a $1.7 million grant from the Templeton Religion Trust and has the potential to revolutionize how we understand the intersection of religion, science and technology in public life. It will establish a collaboratory that will include graduate students, postdocs and faculty who will develop and advance new research methods and understandings over the next several years.

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Since September 20, more than 6 million people have marched worldwide as part of the Global Climate Strikes, spurred on by a youth movement laser focused on making climate policy a priority. In the latest article from Global Futures Laboratory thought leaders, "Why the Youth Movement Matters," Peter Schlosser, Steven Beschloss and Nina Berman look at the wave of young people who are organizing and rallying around the notion that the climate crisis is not a future problem - it is a now problem.

You can read the response on Medium. To ensure you don’t miss any Global Futures Laboratory Medium posts, follow our Medium channel directly, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn where we announce all new posts.

Michael Brown, Samantha Cheng and Jim Tolisano, along with dozens of conservation and development researchers and practitioners representing ASU's Conservation Solutions Lab, have penned a new opinion piece, released September 24, 2019, on Mongabay. The scientists call for a crucial change in the way conservation efforts are undertaken.

The scientists argue that conservation efforts must specifically engage frontline communities – those people intimately situated in and around landscapes targeted for conservation – and elevate their role such that they can take the lead in planning and directing nature conservation.

Co-developing solutions with frontline communities requires groups that fund, implement and research conservation to revise their role and approach. In addition, learning from community experiences and adapting solutions over time can improve conservation efforts globally.

ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director Leah Gerber recently coauthored a letter on Science titled “Solve the biodiversity crisis with funding.”

In the letter, Gerber and a team of conservation scientists from other universities and representatives from Defenders of Wildlife call on Congress to fully fund wildlife conservation programs to protect imperiled species.

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ASU-Conservation International Professor of Practice Jack Kittinger, along with a team of experts from The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International and California Environmental Associates have built a research agenda on Blue Water Marine Protected Areas via a report titled "Developing a Shared Research Agenda for Blue Water MPAs."

Blue Water MPAs are open ocean areas designated to protect marine biodiversity and other cultural and natural resources. The efficacy of marine reserves varies greatly depending on where they are located and how they are managed.

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ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Faculty Affiliate David Manuel-Navarrete’s expertise on Amazonian biodiversity was featured in an Arizona PBS special of the television program Arizona Horizon.

During the interview, he answered pressing questions regarding the environmental impact of the current Amazon fires. He also explained why this year’s fires are more devastating than previous ones and how this crisis will affect us at national and global scales.

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Arizona State University professors Osvaldo Sala, a drylands researcher and Regents Professor in the School of Life Sciences, and Meenakshi Wadhwa, a cosmochemistry expert and the new director of ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration, have been elected to the 2019 class of the American Geophysical Union Fellows. The election is an honor just 0.1% of AGU members in any given year enjoy. To be elected is a recognition of “attaining scientific eminence through achievements in research, as demonstrated by a breakthrough or discovery, innovation in science or the development of methods and instruments, or sustained impact," according to the AGU.

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What is the future of coffee in a changing climate? How can we enhance the livelihoods of farmers while protecting the nature that surrounds them?

Conservation International and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research partnered with Arizona State University to help answer these questions.

“Farmers and government planners are making decisions today based on their past experience,” ASU-CI Professor of Practice and CI Peru's Director of Science and Development Percy Summers said. “This works in a [short-term, predictable] world, but increasingly change has become the new norm.”

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ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director Leah Gerber was quoted this week in a Time article addressing the recent changes made by the U.S. federal government to the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

The article, titled “The Trump Administration’s Changes to the Endangered Species Act Risks Pushing More Species to Extinction” echoes the concern of various conservation scientists who fear the changes will further threaten imperiled species.

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Osvaldo Sala, a Regents and Foundation Professor at Arizona State University and a Distinguished Sustainability Scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, was elected on August 16 as president of the Ecological Society of America. Elected by ESA members during the society’s annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, Sala will be president for a one-year term that ends in 2020. He is the first Hispanic person to serve as president in the organization's century-long history.

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Extreme weather changes and a boom in population growth will result in a declining of the rivers in Arizona, according to an Arizona State University professor. Heather Bateman, a field ecologist and an associate professor in ASU’s College of Integrative Arts and Sciences predicts that the steady rise of Phoenix’s population will increase the consumption of water which will in turn reduce the amount of water in streams. Bateman has conducted research that shows that in highly modified rivers, there is also a “lower diversity of lizards, amphibians and small mammals.”

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Beth Polidoro, ASU New College professor and Center for Biodiversity Outcomes associate director of biodiversity valuation and assessments, was recently featured in an ASU Now article about her recent discovery of chemical pollutants in the urban lakes of Phoenix.

Polidoro and her team found contaminants in fish such as phlates (microplastics), PAHs (such as car emissions or forest fire combusted materials), pesticides and metals.

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As three Arizona State University alumni — Debbie Namugayi, Katherine Palmer and Patrick Ware — show, sustainability practices can be implemented into any career.

As a sustainability manager at Eastern Kentucky University, School of Sustainability alumna Debbie Namugayi works to implement broad policy sustainability initiatives across the entire campus. She also works on engaging students who aren’t necessarily concerned about sustainability, taking a different approach by incentivizing them with fun activities rather than asking them to make sacrifices. She previously worked at the University of Maryland where she promoted a “green chapter” program for Greek life and recently implemented a bike sharing project at the 16,000-strong Eastern Kentucky University.

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The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is currently hiring a new project manager. Applications close on Thursday, August 22 at 3:00 p.m. (AZ time).

The new project manager will help plan, direct, organize and execute the strategic goals of the center. The project manager will coordinate internal and external proposal development; act as the primary center liaison for partnerships and research collaborations; act as primary center contact for ASU and external engagement; identify and implement project management tools for program planning.

Click here to learn more and apply.

The Arizona State University–Conservation International partnership supported two postdoctoral researchers from 2017–2019 who were jointly advised by a CI scientist and an ASU faculty member to advance cutting-edge conservation research.

One of the researchers, Elena M. Finkbeiner, is the Fisheries Science Program Manager for Conservation International’s Global Fisheries and Aquaculture Program.

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The Arizona State University–Conservation International partnership supported two postdoctoral researchers from 2017–2019 who were jointly advised by a CI scientist and an ASU faculty member to advance cutting-edge conservation research. One of the researchers, Krista Kemppinen, answered a few questions for us in a new Q&A:

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Paul Westerhoff, the Fulton Chair of Environmental Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and a senior sustainability scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, was recently named the 2019 Clarke Prize Laureate by the National Water Research Institute. According to their website, the NWRI presents the annual 50,000 dollar prize and a medal to recognize researchers that solve real-world water problems and have made outstanding achievements in water science and technology.

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