Achieving Sustainability - Page 5 of 6 - Fomenting discussions on Sustainability

I agree, the School of Sustainability is Great!

August 13, 2014August 13, 2014 by Aaron Redman

The school year is starting up again and if you are interested in gaining an academic perspective on Achieving Sustainability, there is no better place to do that than at Arizona State University's (ASU) School of Sustainability (SOS). Disclosure: I got my master's degree there from 2008-2010. The current dean, Dr. Christopher Boone is laying out a convincing case with the top 13 reasons to attend. You can follow along on his blog.

Some of my thoughts on the posts so far:

First in the Nation: The amazing part to me is that despite of the success of SOS, I do not know of any other universities that have created a free-standing, research, teaching and outreach unit dedicated to Sustainability.¹⁾I am sure there are places that would take exception to this as academics like to split hairs over definitions and every university defines its units differently. But if there is one like SOS, I would like to know-banish my ignorance! Most programs are only teaching, or only research, or are part of another department etc, SOS continues to stand alone.
Great Careers: Sustainability can be a challenge for a career for several reasons: 1) no accepted career path 2) enormous range of possible employers (how do you prepare) 3) few employers are familiar with what the degree means 4) people hiring are NOT Sustainability people and often prefer someone with their background and an interest in Sustainability (e.g. engineers hire engineers, businesses like business majors etc. 5) few institutions are interested in the type of transformative changed studied at SOS, which can be a big let down.
Support and Guidance: I can confirm that SOS recognizes the importance of staff far and beyond what is typical of elitist academics.

Aaron Graduation from SOS — Graduation from SOS

Financial Assistance
Sustainable Campus, or Walking the Talk : What is most amazing about ASU's commitment to "walking the talk" is the scale. We are not talking about some little rural campus where a single wind turbine can power the whole place. ASU is demonstrating that change can happen on a city level scale!
Vibrant Community
Meaningful Internships: I had the opportunity to set-up some internships several years back and I can attest to the seriousness with which the institution takes creating internships that actually are parte of the culmination of your academic career and form bridges to the real world.²⁾They even published an academic paper describing the important place that internships occupy in the Sustainability program.
Undergraduate research opportunities…
Make a difference, and others may follow: SOS is certainly a community which fosters a culture of difference making, from small daily actions to big global changes.

I look forward to following the continued growth and progress of my alma mater.

Footnotes [ + ]

1.	↑	I am sure there are places that would take exception to this as academics like to split hairs over definitions and every university defines its units differently. But if there is one like SOS, I would like to know-banish my ignorance!
2.	↑	They even published an academic paper describing the important place that internships occupy in the Sustainability program.

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SustainabLINKS August 11, 2014

August 13, 2014August 11, 2014 by Aaron Redman

Seems to be a lot of discussion about food system sustainability recently:

The “evidence” which shows the harmfulness of GMOs to human health doesn’t stand up well to critique.
Irradiation of seeds is one method used in traditional crop breeding. Not so traditional? “Traditions” usually are not.
It is not surprising that the number of farmer’s markets are no longer increasing so fast, but the more interesting information would be whether the number of vendors and shoppers per market is increasing.
The author of this post asks: why do most people (including conservationists) persist with diets that are so clearly damaging to the environment? This is a question we all need to be asking.
A non-food article! Ontario has made incredible progress on eliminating the use of coal, some reasons are unique to it’s situation, but there are many lessons to learn.
Bets on new technologies are risky and don’t payout right away but its looking like another one of those infamous Department of Energy loans is going to work out pretty well. We need more of this!!

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Mexico, a World Leader in Obesity

August 6, 2014August 7, 2014 by Erin Redman

Today we have a guest post from Dr. Erin Redman on obesity and Sustainability in Mexico. Mexico is experiencing, simultaneously, significant epidemiological1)This epidemiological transition is characterized by a shift from high infectious disease morbidity and mortality (rates) to an increasing prevalence of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCCD). (disease) and nutritional2)The nutrition transition is the shift from … Read more…

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Why I Capitalize the S in Sustainability

August 5, 2014August 6, 2014 by Aaron Redman

One thing you will notice on this website, and certainly something that the spell checkers do, is that I capitalize the S in Sustainability. The reason is simple. Sustainability in the sense that I mean it- “Achieving the highest quality of life possible for the most people at the most times and places within the … Read more…

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SustainabLINKS August 4, 2014

August 3, 2014August 4, 2014 by Aaron Redman

Us tree huggers have had it right all along. Trees make us healthier!

A detailed look at why the natural gas boom may not be all that great for climate change after all.

There was some good news on the climate change front including rising sales of electric/hybrid cars and Daniel Gross over at Slate makes the assertion that we may be advancing from small energy efficiency improvements to full scale energy demand destruction.

Suburbia did not fair well this week with a Brookings report finding growing poverty in suburban neighborhoods and Time featuring in article on untenable financial structure of suburbs (generating more liabilities for municipalities than tax dollars over the long run).

Where does your city rank in mass transit? Impressively, Flagstaff is tops (per capita) in Arizona.

Bonus: An Astrobiologist and a Sci-Fi novelist chat about the possibility for a sustainable future.

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What dumplings can tell us about Achieving Sustainability

July 31, 2014July 31, 2014 by Aaron Redman

Last week the New York Times Magazine included a piece titled: “What do Chinese dumplings have to do with global warming?” which is an interesting look into the rapid rise of refrigerated and frozen foods in China over the last two decades. One often forgets that “refrigeration” does not just mean the fridge in your … Read more…

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For Sustainability, Spanish sees Double

August 17, 2014July 29, 2014 by Aaron Redman

La version en español. When I first arrived in Mexico I was surprised to discover that there were actually two different translations for Sustainability in Spanish-Sostenibilidad and Sustentabilidad. Since my colleagues at UNAM’s Institute of Ecology used Sostenibilidad I decided to stick to that version for all my work here. Inevitably when I present about … Read more…

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SustainabLINKS July 28, 2014

July 27, 2014July 28, 2014 by Aaron Redman

A lot of interesting pieces on our food system to peruse:
- Being a vegetarian has gotten a little cheaper in the last year.
- More good news, sales of Coca Cola in Mexico have declined since the implementation of the soda tax, keep our fingers crossed that the trend continues.
- A great take down of the Paleo diet. My favorite quote: “Watch out for the assumption that the only way forward is to find our way back to Eden.” This type of thinking is all too pervasive in the Sustainability/Environmental movement.
- In a related topic, Gluten Intolerance: “I would like to offer another meaning for G.I: Grossly Ill-informed.”
- Great piece by Chef Linton Hopkins on why cheeseburgers in and of themselves aren’t the problem, its the way we produce them. E.g. “Our bread shelves should be empty at the end of the day.”
Another reminder that Sustainable solutions can be found when we look to improve environmental and social conditions, such as through busing.
The prestigious academic journal Science has a special issue out on our Vanishing Fauna, which is making the rounds of news sites as the Sixth Mass Extinction.
Photo essay of people with a week’s worth of their garbage.
Go hike out in nature-Doctor’s orders!

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SustainabLINKS July 21, 2014

July 19, 2014July 21, 2014 by Aaron Redman

Over at Ideas for Sustainability Joern Fischer identified some frameworks within which certain groups of sustainability scientists seem to be trapped ¹⁾He calls them group-think but they seem to be more like frameworks for sustainability problem-solving within which some individuals seem trapped..
Good
overview of the Santa Fe Institute and its potential in the Sustainability realm. With plenty of shout-outs to my Alma Mater.
How much is clean air worth for you? Multi-national companies are giving hazard pay to get employees to move to some particularly egregious Chinese cities.
Another great piece from Vox.com on a new paper pointing to “leverage points” for increasing the global food security. Research article is gated.
The BBC details an “extreme” (and that is putting it lightly) idea for Achieving Sustainability. Actually probably a sensible thought if we ever decide to launch interstellar colonizing spaceships…for Sustainability here on Earth, probably not such a stellar plan.

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