Arizona State University
EN-3: Student Life

Campus Sustainability Solutions Initiatives (CSSI): CSSI incorporates Green Team volunteer opportunities and sustainability projects on campus. CSSI strives to bring sustainable change to the campus as well as on-campus events, and to educate students, staff, and faculty alike in how ASU can be a more sustainable university and a sustainability leader in higher education. Global Sustainability Network: The GSN believes firmly in the importance of study abroad in obtaining a global perspective, which is imperative when trying to solve sustainability problems which do often affect the entire world. The organization aims to help as many students acquire this global perspective as possible. The GSN offers a means for those who have already been on sustainability study abroad programs to stay connected with each other and help those who are looking forward to sustainability study abroad in the future. Sustainabilibuddies: The mission of Sustainabilibuddies Mentoring Program is to provide first-year and transfer students with social and academic guidance during the transition to Arizona State University (ASU) and the School of Sustainability (SOS) through upperclassmen mentorship. The Sustainability House at Barrett (SHAB) is a student-initiated, student-run community that works to build a strong living and learning environment of students with a common interest in understanding and acting upon a broad range of sustainability-related issues. Solar panels, a grey water reuse system, an organic garden, an experimental green roof, and state-of-the-art energy use modeling are all extra facilities features in SHAB. Students have the opportunity to work together to establish a dynamic, shared vision of what a sustainable future means, and they are supported by Barrett and the university to work toward achieving this goal both within and beyond the classroom. The Honor Society for Sustainability: The Alpha Chapter of the HSS fosters a network of sustainability scholars from across the campus workforce to promote sustainable principles and empower others for success. Accomplishments include: The formation of the Honor Society for Sustainability the Alpha Chapter and a week-long series of climate conversations associated with the Paris talks, including a Skype session with ASU faculty attending the Paris talks. Engineers Without Borders, ASU chapter, is a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities to improve their quality of life through implementation of environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects. Accomplishments include: During summer 2013, several members of the ASU chapter of Engineers Without Borders spent about five weeks during July and August in the Bondo Rarieda district of Kenya to resurface one of several defective dams that are essential elements of the region’s water-supply system. Green Devils (Polytechnic campus) Our mission is to make our campuses and community more sustainable. Our members serve as project leaders and organize events. Accomplishments include: Assisting with green events, tabling to raise awareness about ASU’s sustainability initiatives and goals. Assisting with the Polytechnic community garden. VegAware spreads awareness and understanding of the issues surrounding a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle and creates a community for students who live a vegetarian lifestyle. The group tables on campus and hosts campus events. School of Sustainability College Council (SOSCC) collaborates with other clubs and organizations within the School of Sustainability to promote student involvement, nurture faculty-student relations, recognize outstanding faculty, organization, and student achievements and offer students the opportunity to learn and develop the leadership skills needed to solve today's environmental, economic, and social challenges of sustainability. Achievements: Lunch with the Dean, field trips and social events for the SOS. Sun Devils for Wildlife Conservation’s goal is to spread awareness of the importance of wildlife conservation through active participation in legislation and to assist local conservation groups both financially and physically through fundraising and volunteer efforts. Additionally, club members work with several animal rights organizations to improve the treatment of animals in Arizona. U.S. Green Building Council Arizona State University Chapter - as a student group to USGBC, the goal is to help students at gain the knowledge needed to become LEED Green Associate Accredited through study sessions, educational workshops, and practice tests. The Sustainability Review (TSR) communicates sustainability challenges, developments, and opportunities through reporting, analysis, opinion, and art/visual media. We are an online journal edited and published by graduate students at Arizona State University and hosted by the university’s School of Sustainability. Greenlight Solutions exists to enable sustainability minded undergraduate and graduate students at Arizona State University (ASU) to apply their education, through consulting projects, to help organizations to operate in a more sustainable manner.

The Polytechnic campus is home to a large plot of land that was converted to a community garden in January of 2010. The garden currently has twelve 25’ x 25’ plots. Each space is leased to students, staff and faculty wishing to engage with organic gardening. The local ASU K-12 Poly Prep Academy and the ASU Poly Prep High School lease plots as well, and bring over 100 students to the garden 3 times a month. Produce is grown and delivered to the local food banks as well. This project is not student-governed. The Graduate Professional Students Association promotes and manages a CSA that is open to all students, staff and faculty. The CSA runs fall and spring term and is available for pick up in the School of Sustainability Wrigley Hall each Tuesday. Blue Sky Farms is a local organic farm located in Litchfield Park, AZ. http://gpsa.asu.edu/programs/wellness/ A SIRF grant was awarded to implement a garden in Adelphi Commons 2 “S” cluster where SOS students live in Tempe. There are two 5x10 foot planters, a couple of small planters, some herb pots, and two fruit trees. The Paraprofessional for SOS lives there and helps take care of the garden. Vertical planters (18) are offered for students to engage with growing herbs and leafy greens at the Polytechnic campus behind the Citrus Dining Hall. Clubs are welcome to use the planters as well.

GreenLight Solutions (GLS) was founded as a solution to multiple challenges. Students at Arizona State University (ASU) needed a way to apply the sustainability knowledge they were acquiring at ASU, and organizations needed a cost-effective way to start embracing sustainability. GLS has a cutting edge team of professionals and students eager to assist you with your unique sustainability solution, from inception to implementation. We have access to a pool of experts that encompasses practitioners and academics who have been immersed in the science of sustainability since it was embedded in ASU. Vision To design, promote, and educate about sustainability practices for organizations to implement through individualized solutions in order to create a more sustainable world. Mission To enable sustainability minded undergraduate and graduate students at Arizona State University (ASU) to apply their education, through consulting projects, to help organizations to operate more sustainably.

The Arizona State University Sustainability Initiatives Revolving Fund (SIRF) was established in fiscal year 2010 to invest in projects that foster and enable sustainability efforts and provide an economic return on investment. SIRF funds are available to all ASU community members. The SIRF is comprised of the following three tiers: Tier 1 University Community Sustainability Micro Grants: Smaller projects that are designed to build a campus sustainability culture and promote student engagement. A small funding pool is set aside each year to award grants of up to $5,000 each, and is overseen by the director of Sustainability Practices at ASU, a SIRF committee member. Tier 2 Fund Matching and Efficiency Loans: Medium-scale, capital-improvement initiatives that return a project’s costs within 6 years or less. Tier 3 Capital Expansion Loans: All large-scale initiatives that make a significant and measurable sustainability impact and return a project’s costs within 10 years or less. These loans are targeted at strategic internal and external partnerships that reduce carbon emissions.

Throughout the year, the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University sponsors, hosts, or endorses sustainability-related events, lectures, and conferences locally, nationally, and around the globe. Among the many events are two signature lecture series. The prestigious Wrigley Lecture Series brings world renowned thinkers from academia, business, and government engage the community in dialogues to address sustainability challenges. The Sustainability Series includes discussions on a range of environmental, social, and economic topics. This program is not student governed. The Sustainability@ASU Film Series provides free sustainability-themed feature-length movies at the local movie theater closest to campus, generally followed by a Q&A session with someone associated with the film, or a panel of ASU faculty or community leaders who specialize in the sustainability topic featured in the film. The Changemaker Central Solutions Summit is an open conference where students, faculty, and community members collaborate for one day to find innovative global solutions to local challenges. The main theme of this (Fall 2016) semester will be hunger, and all of the topics related to it. The Solutions Summit is hosted each year with a different theme. https://changemaker.asu.edu/solution-summit

ASU's Institute for Humanities Research has Environmental Initiatives and hosts several events and activities each year. The School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies also has events focused on sustainability. Including, a four-week Summer Institute “Extending the Land Ethic” at Northern Arizona University that will explore the connection between ecologist Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic” and contemporary notions of sustainability as the central organizing principle. The Institute will examine the relationship between humans and nature and focus on topics such as environmental ethics, ecofeminism, environmental history, green religion and ecocriticism. https://shprs.clas.asu.edu/content/sustainability-humanities-highlighted-summer-institute

ASU's Arizona Outdoors Club has over 500 members and follows the Leave No Trace principles.

Sustainability House at Barrett BSC is a community of friends, many of whom live in the sustainably built, LEED Gold-certified building on ASU's honors college campus known as Sustainability House at Barrett (SHAB). We value sustainable living practices and promote an environmentally and socially responsible lifestyle.

Barrett Sustainability House: The Sustainability House at Barrett, or more affectionately known as SHAB, is perhaps the most unique community on the Tempe campus. Founded as a collaborative sustainability community for motivated students, SHAB strives to create an environment that fosters individual learning and growth. As both a LEED Gold-certified Residence Hall and well-established student organization, we offer students the ability to collaborate between various majors, academic years, and world perspectives. We are a diverse group that reaches beyond sustainability to give each member a respected identity, regardless of religious belief, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or any other association. https://sites.google.com/a/asu.edu/shab/What-is-SHAB Campus Metabolism is an online Virtual Room displays the “real time” energy consumption of common dorm electronics and energy use in buildings across campus. Students can explore “the room” any time and look at other building usage and compare and contrast usage. http://cm.asu.edu/ Arizona State University Housing maintains model residence hall rooms on all four of its campuses, eight rooms in total. To furnish the spaces, University Housing partners with IKEA, an international retailer known for its dedication to development of sustainable practices and products. University Housing also provides space within the rooms for third-party contracted partners to promote products and services for students. One such service is drinking water delivery, which was implemented in an effort to reduce the number of single-serving plastic water bottles on campus.

University Sustainability Practices offers 10 Program Assistant positions. Zero Waste offers 8 positions. There are also many applied sustainability consulting positions offered within the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiative offered applied consulting positions. The School of Sustainability also supports a paraprofessional student programming position within the residential community in Adelphi Commons and offers many teaching assistant and research assistant positions to graduate students in the school. Wellness Ambassadors – Sun Devil Fitness Center Positions are made available through Student Employment website.

The School of Sustainability offers the following co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives. URL below provides more information about each of these programs. Community of Undergraduate Research Scholars Research Experiences for Undergraduates Study Abroad Undergraduate and Graduate Internships Graduate Research Assistantships Graduate Summer Grants Sustainability Connect (online web platform intended to match internal and external community sustainability needs with student co-curricular opportunities to address those needs.

Susan Norton