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Sustainability News

Fit for a queen bee

View Source | March 22, 2019

queen bee surrounded by other beesWhat makes a queen bee? How does a queen bee achieve her regal status that elevates her from her sterile worker sisters? This has been a long-standing question for scientists studying honey bees, including honey bee expert and Distinguished Sustainability Scientist Robert Page.

To get at the heart of the question, scientists have now used for the first time the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 to selectively shut off a gene necessary for general female development.

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Authors, artists explore solar futures in new anthology

ASU Now | March 22, 2019

Colorful illustration featuring two people facing each other under the sunTo begin to imagine the difficulties, joys and adventures of human life powered by an energy system dominated by solar, last week Arizona State University published “The Weight of Light,” a free digital book featuring science fiction stories, essays and art exploring a variety of possible solar futures.

The book features four original science fiction stories — three of which take place in possible future versions of Arizona, with a fourth unfolding in a revitalized and transformed Detroit — each illustrated by an artist from the Phoenix community. The stories are accompanied by essays written by ASU faculty and graduate students in a wide range of fields, from electrical and systems engineering to public policy and futures studies.

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Arizona PBS highlights sustainability scientists' work in hot playgrounds and green buildings

March 21, 2019

Woman taking a picture with a cameraTwo new segments of “Catalyst” by Arizona PBS, in the episode released March 20, feature Senior Sustainability Scientists in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability: Jenni Vanos and Harvey Bryan.

Hot playgrounds and microclimates

The “Hot playgrounds and microclimates” segment discusses research studying the effects of heat and microclimates on playgrounds and the corresponding activity of children playing there.

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Students see eye to eye with marine life

View Source | March 20, 2019

Students in boat looking up-close at whaleTwo Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability Senior Sustainability Scientists, Jesse Senko and Ira Bennett, brought a group of students to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico for a class they are teaching called “Sea Turtles, Sharks and Fisheries of Baja California: Emerging Topics in Marine Conservation."

This Global Intensive Experience, organized by the ASU Study Abroad Office, was one of 15 spring break programs across 12 different countries. These 20 students were part of the 230+ students participating in a study abroad program during ASU’s 2019 spring break.

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Interview with chef, author and slow food advocate Alice Waters

March 20, 2019

Alice Waters sitting at table outdoors with fresh food and flowersInterview by Kayla Frost

Alice Waters — who will deliver a free, public Wrigley Lecture on March 27 — is a world-famous chef who founded and owns the restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. Waters has written 16 books, including two New York Times bestsellers “The Art of Simple Food I & II” and, most recently, a critically acclaimed memoir “Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook.” Waters also founded the Edible Schoolyard Project with the goal of establishing teaching gardens in schools and connecting them with sustainable food curriculum (“edible education”) for pre-kindergarten through high school students.

In anticipation for her Wrigley Lecture, titled “We Are What We Eat: Teaching Slow Food Values in a Fast Food Culture,” we asked Waters a few questions including how food can be a conduit for solving major issues in society and what advice she has for anybody who wants to discover the joy of seasonal, local, delicious food. Read the interview below, which has been edited for length and clarity.

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Recreational fisheries need new management, says sustainability scientist

Proceedings of the National Academy of Science | March 19, 2019

man stands at the back of a fishing boatSenior Sustainability Scientist Joshua Abbott is a principal author of a new opinion paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences titled “Governing the recreational dimension of global fisheries.” Abbott is an associate professor in Arizona State University's School of Sustainability and an affiliated faculty in the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes.

The paper discusses the importance of recreational fisheries and the need to improve their management and their inclusion in fisheries policymaking. “Recreational fisheries deserve to be considered on equal footing with commercial fisheries, particularly in mixed coastal fisheries,” the authors argue.

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ASU students developing off-grid tech to help small farms build resilience to climate change

View Source | March 18, 2019

SolarSPELL students posing with solar panelA new article on ASU Now, "ASU students developing off-grid tech to help small farms build resilience to climate change," tells the story of how five Arizona State University computer science seniors found themselves tackling issues of climate change and sustainable food systems. As part of a capstone project called SolarSENSE, these students are using SolarSPELL off-grid technology to make agricultural sensors more affordable and accessible for small, rural farms around the world. SolarSPELL, Solar-Powered Educational Learning Libraries, is a project directed by Senior Sustainability Scientist Laura Hosman.

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The power of narratives in climate change action

View Source | March 15, 2019

Washington panel memeber speakingA panel at the Future of Humane Technology event Thursday at the Barrett and O’Connor Washington Center in Washington, D.C. explored the power of narratives to shape what we do with climate change. Two Arizona State University faculty associated with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability contributed to the discussion: Distinguished Sustainability Scholar Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Regents’ Professor and director of Jewish studies at ASU; and Distinguished Sustainability Scientist Gary Dirks, director of the ASU Wrigley Institute.

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ASU professor’s Mexico research garners local award for Latina/o achievement

ASU Now | March 11, 2019

Maria Cruz-TorresMaria Cruz-Torres, a senior sustainability scientist and an associate professor in the School of Transborder Studies, has been documenting a lesser-seen side of Sinaloa’s prized seafood industry — its female shrimp traders — for 20 years. This research project earned her the Victoria Foundation’s Eugene García Outstanding Latina/o Faculty Award last September. Launched in 1969, the Phoenix-based group was the first Latina/o community foundation in the United States and now hosts an award series honoring contributions in academia, civil service and the arts around Arizona.

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Interview with food systems activist Raj Patel

March 11, 2019

Raj Patel HeadshotInterview by Kayla Frost

If you know anything about Raj Patel, you know he has a lot to say about our food system, capitalism and activism. After Patel delivered a Wrigley Lecture at Arizona State University in November 2018, we asked some follow-up questions over the phone. But before we get to the interview — an introduction.

Patel, a research professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, has written several books including “The Value of Nothing,” a New York Times and international best-seller, and “Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System.” Patel’s most recent book, which he co-wrote with environmental historian Jason W. Moore, is “A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things.” He’s also a co-host of the food politics podcast “The Secret Ingredient.”

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Sustainability scientist Nancy Grimm wins fellowship

March 8, 2019

Nancy Grimm working in the fieldSenior Sustainability Scientist Nancy Grimm, the Virginia M. Ullman Professor of Ecology in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, was named a 2019 Fellow of the Society of Freshwater Science in honor of her outstanding contributions to stream and watershed science.

According to Grimm's biography on the Society of Freshwater Science fellows site, "Grimm studies urban and stream ecosystems. Initially working on stream nitrogen dynamics, she expanded out and down to riparian and hyporheic zones and then abruptly became an urban ecologist."

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Conducting research: Exploring charge flow through proteins

View Source | March 7, 2019

Stuart LindsayIn a new study, distinguished sustainability scientist Stuart Lindsay and his colleagues at Arizona State University explore a surprising property of proteins — one that has only recently come to light. In research appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the group demonstrates electrical conductance through proteins poised between a pair of electrodes.

They further show that such conductance only occurs under highly specific conditions, when the contacts connecting the protein molecules to their electrodes are composed of exactly the molecule the protein has evolved to bind. This provides a recipe for wiring proteins into electrical circuits.

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Sustainability scientists win solar cell research awards

March 1, 2019

Zachary Holman holding mirro to reflect himselfArizona State University recently earned six prestigious Department of Energy awards, totaling nearly $5.7 million, ranking it first among university recipients of Solar Energy Technologies Office awards to advance photovoltaic research and development in 2018.

Three of these winners were senior sustainability scientists in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability: Mariana Bertoni, Clark Miller and Zachary Holman.

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Acoustic Ecology Lab highlighted by Arizona PBS

View Source | February 28, 2019

Small bird sits on plant with pink flowersThe Acoustic Ecology Lab at Arizona State University was recently featured in an episode of “Catalyst” by Arizona PBS. The episode focused on the work of Senior Sustainability Scholar Sabine Feisst and Senior Sustainability Scientist Garth Paine.

“We want to understand the totality of our sonic environment: how our human-generated sounds interact with animal sounds, with the sound of wind and water — and how human-generated sound can perhaps have an unfavorable effect,” Feisst said in the video.

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You will return home

February 28, 2019

Jack KittingerA Thought Leader Series Piece

by Jack Kittinger

We know the challenges we face in conservation. Conservation is about human security — it's about people, communities, families — our children. Globally, we continue to neglect how important nature is to our survival and ability to thrive.

Even as our most pressing environmental problems multiply, our resources to combat them don't keep pace. We strive. We come up short. It's easy to look at the global scale of the challenges we face and feel overwhelmed — to want to give up.

But we don't and we can't.

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100 years of Grand Canyon National Park

View Source | February 26, 2019

Expansive view of Grand CanyonOne hundred years ago, on February 26, 1919, the Grand Canyon was established as a U.S. national park. To celebrate the park's 100-year anniversary, ASU Now interviewed several Arizona State University faculty across diverse departments to collect tales from the Grand Canyon.

Several sustainability scientists and scholars from the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability contributed their perspectives about Grand Canyon National Park, including: Steven Semken, Mark Klett, Paul Hirt, Hilairy Hartnett, Heather Throop, Megha Budruk, Christine Vogt and Dave White.

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ASU and Oakland A's launch sustainability partnership at Hohokam Stadium

February 25, 2019

Man holding baseball in Hohokam StadiumThe Oakland Athletics and Arizona State University's School of Sustainability announced a partnership to help Hohokam Stadium maximize sustainability efforts and move toward zero waste during the 2019 spring training season.

Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Oakland A's, will be the focus of the "Recycle Rally" initiative that will test and implement zero waste strategies with the goals of reducing landfill impact, increasing operational efficiencies and improving the fan experience. The unique partnership launched on February 21, when the A's hosted the Seattle Mariners at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona.

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Changing the world through better phosphorus management

February 25, 2019

river flowing through green fieldsGreener fields and bluer waters are in the cards thanks to a new project in development by the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance at Arizona State University. Slated to launch in April, the Phosphorus Sustainability Challenge will encourage organizations to publicly commit to reducing their phosphorus footprint.

Phosphorus isn’t the first thing people think of when discussing sustainability, but it’s essential for global food security. Phosphorus is a key ingredient in crop fertilizers, as it is essential for plant growth and yield, and it’s also added to animal feed to grow their bodies and especially their bones.

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ASU tackles range of issues at world’s largest annual science meeting

View Source | February 25, 2019

ASU annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of ScienceFrom the rise of artificial intelligence to the future of water, Arizona State University faculty and students discussed a slew of science topics at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). AAAS is the world’s largest science and technology society, and its annual meeting (held Feb. 14–17 in Washington, D.C.) draws thousands of scientists, engineers, educators, policymakers and journalists from around the world.

At the AAAS meeting, School of Sustainability researcher Veronica Horvath addressed the future of the American West’s most precious resource, water. Horvath, an Arizona State University Master of Science in sustainability student and Decision Center for a Desert City research assistant, is a first-place awardee of the 2018 Central Arizona Project Award for outstanding water research.

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Confronting grand social challenges with humanities

View Source | February 22, 2019

ASU Humanities Lab Regents' Professor Sally Kitch launched the ASU Humanities Lab in 2017 to engage students of all disciplines with real-world problems.

Kitch, a distinguished sustainability scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, previously served as founding director of the faculty-oriented Institute for Humanities Research (IHR).

“I started the Humanities Lab because I realized that our students were not benefitting from the kind of interdisciplinary, exploratory experiences faculty were getting through the IHR,” she said. “So I wanted to see if we could establish a way for students to get that experience — to recognize the humanities as important for approaching and addressing today’s challenges, because the kinds of questions that really plague us are humanistic at their core."

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