WaterSim debuts at largest science festival in US

ASU's Decision Center for a Desert City was one of only 30 NSF-funded projects invited to represent the organization at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., where the DCDC team introduced attendees to its water supply and demand simulation tool – WaterSim.

Part of the School of Sustainability's 10th anniversary celebration, author and food activist Michael Pollan – named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine – described in his April 2016 Wrigley Lecture how we can fix our broken food system.

From a Wrigley Lecture by Michael Pollan to a Festival of Sustainability at ASU, the events of April 14 not only celebrated the evolution and accomplishments of the nation's first School of Sustainability, they spotlighted the foresight and collaborative spirit of the university as a whole.

A March 2016 report titled “Adaptation for a High Energy Planet: A Climate Pragmatism Project," co-authored by sustainability scientists Dan Sarewitz and Netra Chhetri, says that efforts to reverse climate change are not fast-acting enough – practical steps must be taken now to blunt disasters.

According to Sir Crispin Tickell, member of the Board of Directors for Sustainability at ASU, how we cope with the accumulating effects of our actions is a major issue for society and requires both understanding and political leadership – a sentiment he expressed during an April Sustainability Series talk.

The world we know is the product of an infinitesimal period, not only human history but in that of life on Earth. To understand the future as well as the

Biodiversity describes the plethora of different species on the Earth, as well as the ecosystems that they create and sustain. Humans couldn’t survive without a biodiverse planet, simply because the

Announced at a recent White House Water Summit, a new ASU initiative called FutureH2O – under the direction of sustainability scientist John Sabo – will look for opportunities to harness the abundance of Earth's water using methods the university is uniquely poised to apply.

Former Vice President Al Gore and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim were among the dignitaries who stopped by the ASU LightWorks booth at the ARPA-E summit – held in Washington, D.C. – to admire the solar technology developed by senior sustainability scientist Zak Holman.

Given that only 12% of listed endangered species receive the recommended funding, Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Director Leah Gerber proposes reallocating funds from species with surplus budgets – a measure that could support recovery for 180 species.

A Thought Leader Series Piece By Wayne Pacelle Note: Wayne Pacelle is president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization. He is

ASU's Food Systems Transformation Initiative is collaborating with partners like the Global Youth Innovation Network and the International Fund for Agricultural Development to support a summit on youth agribusiness, leadership and entrepreneurship held in Dakar, Senegal in March 2016.