Sustainability Highlights

Stage is set for sustainability anniversary celebration

On April 14, the School of Sustainability marks its 10th Anniversary with a series of sustainability-themed events, culminating with a Celebration of Sustainability @ ASU Festival that features remarks from ASU President Michael Crow and Benefactor Julie Ann Wrigley. Click below for a complete listing of events.

Tri-continental partnership takes on global issues

In February 2016, Arizona State University and two other major research institutions formally launched the PLuS Alliance with the aim of finding research-led solutions to sustainability, health, social justice and technology challenges while expanding access to world-class learning.

ASU partners with UH Hilo on energy certificate

The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo will begin offering a certificate in energy science in fall 2016, a program made possible through collaboration with ASU's School of Sustainability, which provided courses, syllabi and rationale from its own undergraduate certificate in energy and sustainability.

Western mayors team up to tackle water challenges

A summit hosted by Dave White – director of ASU's Decision Center for a Desert City – and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton gathered mayors from seven western cities to discuss the actions they are taking to address urban water supply and demand issues in an era of changing climate.

Addressing the need for ecological expertise in business

Ecologists who are motivated to achieve real impact in nature conservation should consider engaging with the corporate sector, say sustainability scientists Leah Gerber and Sheila Bonini, who are among the authors of a February 2016 editorial that makes this case.

Powering Pakistan's future through partnership

In January 2016, ASU welcomed 24 exchange graduate students from the U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy – a program directed by Senior Sustainability Scientist Sayfe Kiaei that is dedicated to researching and developing solutions for Pakistan’s unique energy needs.

A conference on climate change, from a gender perspective

ASU sustainability experts, including Global Sustainability Solutions Services Practice Lead Rajesh Buch, provided international best practices and shared knowledge at the first-ever gender and climate change conference, held in Jordan in February 2016 by the USAID Takamol- Gender Program.

Top thought leaders gather in Phoenix for third year

The Sustainability Solutions Festival returned to Phoenix in February 2016, extending programming to two weeks of events that brought together global sustainability thought leaders and organizations to celebrate and award entrepreneurs, designers and creative thinkers.

Assigning a dollar value to natural capital

School of Sustainability professor Joshua Abbott is among the authors of a study, published in February 2016 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that calculates the value of natural capital with the same economic principles used to value traditional assets.

Father of climate-change awareness speaks at ASU

James Hansen, renowned for seeing the threat of catastrophic climate change during his long career as NASA’s chief climatologist, delivered a February 2016 Wrigley Lecture about recent climate change developments and how we can fix the problem.

Studying the effects of neighborhood gardens

ASU researchers, including senior sustainability scientist and lead principal investigator Alex Maholov, are developing a physics-based model utilizing weather and farming data to predict environmental, economic and socio-economic impacts of increased urban agriculture.

Wayne Pacelle: Thought Leader Series

In an essay titled "The advent of the humane economy," Wayne Pacelle – president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States and March 2016 Wrigley Lecture Series speaker – details how an increasing concern over animal protection has inspired wide-sweeping and innovative change in business.