Adora Shortridge is a Masters of Arts in the School of Sustainability conducting a research project on urban heat islands and how to prepare schools for it. The Urban Heat Island Effect has affected public health, safety, climate change, weather, and many other environmental issues. Adora seeks to solve these issues by understanding its effects on schools.

“As cities continuously morph and grow, it becomes more critical to design our communities to be resilient, diverse and inclusive, more livable, and natural. Educating all levels of the public and stakeholders is crucial to the effectiveness of strategies mentioned above, as well as to the future of our soon-to-be sweltering cities.”

Read more from Shortridge in her Q&A.

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Caitlyn Finnegan is a junior in the School of Sustainability who has spent her summer conducting research on fisheries with Assistant Professor Kailin Kroetz. Fisheries have always been a model for sustainable management, challenges, and discipline. They represent a relationship between humans and marine ecosystems.

“My interest in aquatic ecosystems and how anthropogenic activities interfere with their success drew me to assist Dr. Kailin Kroetz with her fisheries research. Fishery research is impactful because it represents a natural resource that continues to be negatively disrupted by human behavior globally.”

Read more from Finnegan in her Q&A. 

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This article was written by William H. Walker VI, a sophomore in the School of Sustainability.

Food is integral in nourishing the mind, body, and soul as well as sustaining the communities around us. We live in a society where food is wasted in the home as well as in stores. At the same time, many people live in food deserts without access to fresh produce. How can we resolve these complex sustainability issues, alleviate food deserts, and increase access to healthy fruits and veggies? Changemaker Central at ASU has an initiative that combats all of these challenges.

Borderlands (also known as Produce On Wheels Without Waste or P.O.W.W.O.W.) is a food rescue initiative hosted by Changemaker Central on the Tempe and Downtown campuses that diverts edible food that ordinarily is sent to a landfill. P.O.W.W.O.W diverts produce that is surplus, on the verge of decomposing, or quality control rejections by retailers and restaurants, and sells it at a rate of $12 for 70 lbs or $6 for 35 lbs to students.

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This article was written by William H. Walker VI, a sophomore in the School of Sustainability. 

Modern consumers have lost touch with how food is more than a commodity and brings more than nutritional value. Cultural, spiritual, ecological and community values are bound up in everything we eat. For food systems to be more sustainable, consumers need to embrace indigenous and place-based food narratives that foster more equitable food systems. 

To push back against the common narrative of food for nutrition’s sake, the Wisdom of Indigenous Foodways conference highlighted uplifting agricultural, social and sustainable narratives from the indigenous community.

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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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As a professor, it can be hard to implement real-world projects and activities into lesson plans. That’s why a team of Arizona State University sustainability researchers, staff and students created a website, “Real-World Learning Experiences for Sustainability,” to help instructors design different kinds of applied projects and implement them into coursework.

“We wanted this to be an open access tool to help facilitate real-world learning — not just at ASU, but anywhere in the world,” said Sydney Lines, Project Coordinator for Sustainability Connect, a platform for applied projects in sustainability problem solving at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability. Lines designed the RWLE website using content developed by Katja Brundiers, a School of Sustainability Assistant Research Professor; Aaron Redman, a School of Sustainability doctoral student; and Dorothy Trippel Broomall, a School of Sustainability alumnus and adjunct faculty member.

The RWLE are divided into four levels: beginner to advanced, or freshman to senior. Each level revolves around a different concept: bringing the world into the classroom, visiting the world, simulating the world and engaging the world. The website provides a toolkit for each level of learning, including activities connected to the School of Sustainability’s core competencies, downloadable resources, links to videos and other assets, and featured real-world examples.

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The GREEN program offers interested students short-term, experiential learning opportunities in Iceland, Peru, Japan, and Hawai'i. Each program is designed around the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals with an emphasis on hands-on learning in real-world scenarios while being immersed in new cultural contexts.

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Join Green Living magazine for their first annual Simple Solutions Summit in partnership with the VerdeXChange Arizona conference on six pillars of sustainability: Air, Education, Energy, Food, Water and Waste.

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Cyclists at ASU and in Tempe should check their bike cages during the week of Oct 24th. In conjunction with ASU’s bike month, a team of BikeMaps.org volunteers lead by Dr. Trisalyn Nelson will be delivering water bottles to bike racks across the region in the hopes of raising awareness about cycling safety.

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The U.S. Forest Service is hosting a series of upcoming meetings in Arizona and want to make sure the larger community is aware of the public involvement opportunity to lend their voice to the Forest Plan Revision for Tonto National Forest.

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Through SustainPHX, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton has called for the PHX Innovation Games, a challenge for city residents, entrepreneurs, innovators, students, businesses, and other organizations to find innovative ways to make the city more sustainable.

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Sustainability Connect is pleased to welcome Sydney Lines to our team as the new Sustainability Connect Coordinator.

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The Stardust Center for Affordable Homes & the Family is offering grants to Master of Sustainability Solutions (MSUS) students who participate in MSUS Culminating Experience projects that focus on affordable housing and community well-being. Starting in Fall of 2016, applications for the $1,500 (per student/per semester) grants will be open.

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TUV Rheinland Group has joined forces with Arizona State University (ASU) to create TUV Rheinland PTL, LLC, the most comprehensive, sophisticated, state-of-the-art facility for testing and certification of solar energy equipment in the world.

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Aaron Redman is a PhD student in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. He studies how individual attitudes, values and actions interact with policies and development interventions to modify the sustainability of the outcomes and the potential for long term success.

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ASU offers an exciting, new opportunity for students to apply for funding by proposing projects that make any of the ASU campuses more sustainable. ASU invests in convincing projects through the Sustainability Initiatives Revolving Fund (SIRF). The SIRF mission is to be a project showcase that proves that sustainability is good business—by investing in projects that have direct impact on expanding campus sustainability.

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