November 8, 2011
From The Atlantic, this article features a conversation with Kevin Dooley, Senior Sustainability Scientist and Professor of Supply Chain Management, W.P. Carey School of Business. Dooley also serves as Academic Director of the Sustainability Consortium. Dr. Dooley is a world-known expert in the application of complexity science to help organizations improve. He has published over 100 research articles and co-authored an award winning book, “Organizational Change and Innovation Processes.”
In this article, Dooley discusses how most people are largely unaware of the life cycle of products they purchase and how smart companies already know that the next competitive landscape is about being more sustainable.
November 3, 2011
A Thought Leader Series PieceBy Grady Gammage, Jr.
In early October, Andrew Ross issued the latest indictment of Phoenix: Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City. Ross’s book represents the latest, longest, and most articulate examination of Arizona’s capital – the nation’s sixth largest city – as a kind of colossal demographic mistake. But he’s not the first to go down this path.
In a 2006 radio interview, author Simon Winchester said that Phoenix “should never have been built” because “there’s no water there.” In 2008, Sustainlane.com rated Phoenix among the least sustainable cities in the U.S. for water supply, primarily because of the distance water must travel to reach the city. In 2010, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that Maricopa County, home to the Phoenix Metro area, was among the “most challenged” places in the U.S. for climate change – this conclusion based on the difference between rainfall and water use within the county. And in 2011, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) found current patterns of Arizona water use to be “unsustainable,” due to the large amount of water going to agriculture.
These views highlight the huge problems inherent in measuring urban sustainability. In large part, Phoenix seems to be everyone’s favorite whipping boy essentially because it’s hot in Arizona and doesn’t rain very much. This view is too simplistic.
Read more »
November 3, 2011
From The Atlantic, this article features a conversation with Bruce Rittmann, Distinguished Sustainability Scientist and Regents’ Professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. As director of the Swette Center for Environmental Technology at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, Rittmann is searching for solutions to the challenges facing our world. Dr. Rittmann’s research is aimed at developing microbiological systems that capture renewable resources and also minimize environmental pollution.
In this article, Rittmann discusses a revolutionary innovation that directs photosynthesis to make fuel molecules as a potential substitute for petroleum—the ideal win-win situation—a partnership between microbial workers and human managers.
November 1, 2011
TEMPE, Ariz., – The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) took a major step forward today when they announced the completion of 10 Category Sustainability Profiles as part of research on 50 product categories, with a commitment to develop 50 additional product categories by the end of 2011. The profiles provide accessible and actionable information for a wide range of companies on supply chain impacts. This knowledge allows institutions to take actions that reduce production costs, use fewer resources, and communicate benefitsto consumers.
Read more »
October 14, 2011
At Arizona State, the bar is sky-high when it comes to how the university runs its daily sustainable campus operations. It continues to be recognized as a model for sustainability; Arizona State University was recently named on The Princeton Review’s 2012 Honor Roll of the nation’s “greenest” universities. For the fourth consecutive year, The Princeton Review has recognized ASU for obtaining the highest possible score (99) in its Green Rating tallies. ASU was one of only 16 universities to achieve a perfect score.
ASU was also in the top 25 on Sierra magazine’s Coolest Schools list – a survey that ranks the greenest college campuses across the nation. A publication of The Sierra Club, Sierra magazine’s “Coolest Schools” ranking is an index that provides comparative information about the most important elements of campus sustainability.
In addition, ASU earned a STARS Gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). ASU was one of only 22 institutions out of 117 to receive a gold rating. STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, is a transparent, self-assessment framework for colleges and universities to gauge relative progress toward sustainability.
Established in 2007, the School of Sustainability brings together multiple disciplines and leaders to create and share knowledge, train a new generation of scholars and practitioners, and develop practical solutions to the most pressing environmental, economic, and social challenges of sustainability - especially as they relate to urban areas.
5/2 - Crow, faculty present ideas at American Innovation for Sustainability forum
5/1 - Sustainable Army: Creating a Net Zero Bootprint
4/25 - ASU team to represent US in worldwide student technology competition
4/23 - High school students show off research experience, win big
