Sustainability News

Dr. Anthony Michaels is an internationally known environmental scientist who has been a leader in both academia and business. He recently became CEO of Midwestern BioAg. In this essay, he discusses biological agriculture and sustainable food production.

A Thought Leader Series Piece

By Dr. Anthony Michaels

Note: Dr. Anthony Michaels (Tony) is an internationally known environmental scientist who has been a leader in both academia and business. On May 15, 2014, Dr. Michaels became CEO of Midwestern BioAg, the industry leader in biological agriculture and one of the pioneers in sustainable food production.

Can We Feed Nine Billion People While Improving the Environment?

As the world population grows to nine billion people, we face many fundamental questions. How can we improve agricultural production to feed that many people? How can we improve farm economics? How can we reduce climate impacts, minimize the nitrogen runoff that creates dead zones in oceans and reverse soil erosion? How can we create nutrient-rich foods? I believe that a big part of the answer is biological agriculture.

Biological agriculture is an integrated farming system. It combines the best historical practices, honed over centuries, with the strength of the latest scientific discoveries. It promotes natural biological processes to dramatically improve agricultural yields and reduce farm costs.

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Dave White announces that he and his team have been awarded a $20 million grant to study the effects of climate change on water, food, energy and other resources and to develop strategies to adapt to and mitigate these impacts.

1,700 high school students from more than 70 countries presented their sustainability-inspired innovations at this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), held in Los Angeles from May 11-16. After standing before hundreds of scientists, professionals, professors and judges, five were presented with $2,500 ASU Sustainability Solutions Awards by Arizona State University’s Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives.

The bright individuals honored for projects that go beyond academic boundaries to solve real-world issues are Lewis Nitschinsk from Australia, Hans Pande from Utah, Shreya Nandy and Kopal Gupta from India, and Naveena Bontha from Washington.

“We want to recognize these young leaders of our future to encourage them to pursue the solutions they create that address food security, climate change, health threats and more,” said Kelly Saunders, Sustainability Solutions Award presenter and project coordinator for the Initiative’s Sustainability Solutions Festival. “Our world’s future is represented by these students who want to make the world a better place.”

Decision Center for a Desert City, a unit of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, has released a policy brief on the complexities of agricultural water and climate vulnerability in the southwestern United States. Authored by Professors Hallie Eakin, Rimjhim Aggarwal, Abigail York and Graduate Research Assistant Skaidra Smith-Heisters, the policy brief discusses the many variables affecting agriculture, as well as the needed policy discussions surrounding them.

The brief, titled Understanding Agricultural Vulnerability in the Southwest, outlines how agriculture's dependence on climate-sensitive resources like water and energy makes it especially vulnerable to climate change. It highlights the additional research needed to understand agriculture's role in an urbanizing context, and encourages weighing the costs and benefits of agricultural water usage in an urban system. The brief recommends incorporating the agricultural sector into broader discussions regarding policy and planning for the central Arizona region.

Janet Franklin, a distinguished sustainability scientist and professor in ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, recently began her term as president of the U.S. national chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE). Landscape ecology is an interdisciplinary field that concentrates on understanding ecological processes at the landscape scale and improving land management.

According to Franklin, the chapter she now heads will be very busy over the next year. A primary focus is preparing to host the IALE World Congress, held every four years and scheduled to convene in July 2015. While overseeing congress preparations, Franklin will continue her research, which examines the dynamics of terrestrial plant communities with a particular focus on the impact of human-caused landscape change.

Senior Sustainability Scientist Martin Pasqualetti presented at a recent symposium entitled “Uncommon Dialogue: US-Mexico Transboundary Water Issues." He was one of seven speakers at the event, which was organized by Stanford University groups the Bill Lane Center for the American West and the Woods Institute for the Environment.

Pasqualetti's presentation "Resource Conflicts: The Water/Energy Nexus in the Desert Southwest," which highlighted his paper “Mixing Energy and Water at the US/Mexico Border," proposed that land used for irrigated agriculture in the Imperial Valley of California be repurposed in favor of renewable energy development. Such a move would save water for other uses and decrease carbon emissions from conventional generation while providing economic benefit.

Many solutions to the world’s most pressing problems rely as heavily on the generosity of forward-thinking individuals as they do on the groundbreaking research of bright minds. It is these monetary investments that give flesh to many ideas that shape our future.

John S. Martinson, co-founder of China Mist Iced Tea Company, and his wife Suzanne Pickett Martinson, a writer and educator, are such individuals. The benefactors of the recently-established Martinson Sustainability Solutions Research Grant, they have already witnessed its impact through the work of School of Sustainability students Christopher Kudzas and Angela Cazel-Jahn.

Kudzas, a doctoral student and the grant’s first recipient, focuses his research on improving collective water governance strategies, particularly in areas where the resource is growing increasingly scarce. Guanacaste, a Costa Rican province that has experienced numerous water-related conflicts over the past decade, has proved to be an ideal setting for his work.

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A recent study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, indicates that increasing overnight temperatures pose a greater threat to human health in Maricopa County than daytime temperatures. Because this phenomenon is largely attributed to urbanization and the heat-retaining capacity of the built environment, the increase in overnight temperatures may be mitigated by implementing a lower-growth strategy.

The study, co-authored by senior sustainability scientist Matei Georgescu, sought to quantify heat-related deaths using three urbanization and adaption scenarios along with multiple exposure variables. By guiding long-term planners and public officials toward more sustainable urban development strategies, these findings may decrease the number of heat-related illnesses and deaths otherwise reported in Maricopa County.

As the human population grows and an increasing number of people move to urban areas, cities around the world are considering options for improved sustainability. Because its climate is similar to other cities experiencing population booms, Phoenix is in a unique position to exemplify resilience in the face of climate change.

Recognizing this opportunity, local city officials and ASU researchers - such as those at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability - are working to provide a digestible definition of sustainability, as well as frameworks that can be easily implemented by policymakers. Through projects on campus, partnerships with municipalities and faculty-led investigations, these researchers are developing innovative solutions to complex challenges like feeding and transporting the population, reducing sprawl and preserving cultural identity.

Sustainability scientist Netra Chhetri has been awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor in the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes.

Jameson Wetmore is the recipient of the 2014 SHESC Director’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

CSPO Associate Director Clark Miller presented the April seminar of the New Tools for Science Policy series “Designing Transitions in Energy Systems: The Human Dimensions” in Washington, D.C.

Pollen-Tech is an Arizona State University-based company offering a spray that spreads pollen on plants. The idea came from an MBA student’s business plan. Pollen-Tech won a grant through ASU’s Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative and is based at ASU’s SkySong Innovation Center and the MAC6 manufacturing incubator in Tempe. David Wade, CEO of Pollen-Tech, will discuss his company’s product on Arizona Horizon.

Lt. Gen. (ret) Norman R. Seip is former Commander, 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern), Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. He is also a spokesman for the energy security campaign Operation Free, a bi-partisan coalition of veterans from across the United States. In this essay, he discusses renewable energy as a key national security interest.

Two senior sustainability scientists are among the ASU researchers working to prepare for Arizona's dangerous, and sometimes fatal, summer temperatures. In an effort to reduce the number of heat-related deaths seen in 2013, Sharon Harlan – a professor in ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change – is working to understand the details behind these incidents, such as the conditions under which they occur and the demographics that are most commonly affected. Her findings indicate that residents of inner-city neighborhoods with lower household incomes, particularly elderly individuals living alone, are at greatest risk.

Mikhail Chester, assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, leads a research team that focuses on the relationship between urban form and heat vulnerability. The team also created an interactive map that directs users to cooling stations in Maricopa County.

A Thought Leader Series Piece

By Lt Gen (ret) Norman R. Seip, USAF

Note: May 17, 2014, is Armed Forces Day, a holiday established in 1949 by President Harry S. Truman as a single day for U.S. citizens to thank all military members for their service. On the occasion of the first Armed Forces Day, Truman recognized the military for progress toward its “goal of readiness for any eventuality,” a goal that endures today.

The Pentagon is leading the charge toward a secure renewable energy future. Senior military and national security leaders agree: a single-source dependence on fossil fuels – primarily oil – endangers our troops in combat zones and threatens our long-term security interests.

Additionally, our continued reliance on these dirty fuels is worsening the impacts of climate change. The effects of shifting weather patterns are already destabilizing vulnerable regions of the world, and international instability could force the military into an ever-rising number of resource-driven conflicts.

While the civilian “debate” on these issues trudges on – hampered largely by politicians beholden to petroleum interests – the Department of Defense has recognized that reducing fossil fuel dependence, investing in clean energy technologies, and incorporating climate change into national security strategies are operational, tactical, and strategic imperatives.

To strengthen our national security and prevent more of our servicemen and women from being sent into conflicts abroad, our civilian leaders would be wise to follow the lead of the military and increase our commitment to employing clean energy and combatting the threat of climate change.

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Dr. Bruce Rittmann will be attending 11th IWA Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies in Abu Dhabi on May 26-30, 2014. Not only is Dr. Rittmann a program committee core group member, he will be chairing the session on biofilm processes and presenting "Chemical, Microbiological, and Physical Structures of H2-Based Biofilms" on May 29.

Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives sponsors its first post on a Guardian blog titled "The science behind sustainability solutions," which will highlight projects at ASU and other institutions with commentary from experts across the globe. The post itself, an article titled "Too big to save: why commercial buildings resist energy efficiency," features a quote from senior sustainability scientist Mick Dalrymple.

Music, Mexican food, a perfect spring day on a patio in Tempe, Arizona…

This celebration has more of a mission than most, however. In between bites from Chipotle burritos, residents of the School of Sustainability Residential Community (SOSRC) are enthusiastically planting, building and painting. Several Wrigley Sustainability Institute staff members join them, and a butterfly flutters about a fledgling citrus tree as if imitating the activity.

This is the culmination of a months-long effort to recreate SOSRC’s courtyard, located in the appropriately named “S Cluster” of Adelphi Commons II. The colorful umbrellas, numerous planter boxes, plentiful seating and greenery are recent features of a patio that was nothing more than rocks and a French drain prior to the undertaking.

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CAP scientist, Emily Talen has won a prestigious Guggenheim fellowship. She will be using her fellowship year to write a book on neighborhoods, synthesizing information and data across time and space.  Her past CAP-supported work includes research on urban codes  which culminated in a book, City Rules: How Regulations Affect Urban Form.

CAP scientist, Janet Franklin has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Janet has a large research program focused on human-induced landscape change. Within CAP, Janet has been working with her Ph.D. student, Julie Ripplinger, to understand what mechanisms explain species loss or dominance in the urban environment.