President Crow: American Research Universities Must Lead Our Emergence from the Stone Age

By Michael M. Crow

During the past few years many of us may have confronted the disturbing realization that the standard operating procedures of our contemporary culture often fall short of the mark or even produce entirely unintended consequences.  The near-meltdown of global economic markets and our faltering efforts to revive the economy, to consider but one scenario among many, offer stark evidence that we seem to be grappling with the escalating complexities of the present and future stuck resolutely in the mindset of the past.  This is to say nothing about our success in shaping a world that in all likelihood cannot sustain our long-term enhancements in wealth generation and, more generally, quality of life for humanity.  Given the apparent limitations in our knowledge matched with our overwhelming hubris as well as capacity to exercise brute force, and there is only one possible conclusion:  as a species we are still mired in the final decades of the Stone Age.

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Behavioral Adoption: The Greatest Challenge to Sustainable Living

By John M. Quick

Sustainability has been defined by the United Nations as the human ability to meet “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While one would be hard pressed to find an individual who is ideologically opposed to this tenet of sustainability, one may encounter similar difficulty in locating a person whose lifestyle truly embodies these ideals. Visions of a healthy, thriving, and “green” planet inspire warm and positive feelings in many people. Yet, as it turns out, human nature is such that thoughts are often not followed by actions. While the minds of some of the world’s citizens may be captivated by the notion of sustainability, taking real action in support of it can prove difficult. This discrepancy between thought and actual behavior presents sustainable living with its greatest challenge.

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An Apocalyptic Warning: Art’s Take on the Environment

By Heather Findling

When you walk into the “Defining Sustainability” exhibition at the Arizona State University Art Museum, you are thrust into a world of warning. The exhibition challenges viewers to step out of their day-to-day bustle, examining events such as industrialization and natural disasters, and to consider that the human existence is based on a limited supply of natural resources.  Artists convey themes of conservation, decay, and survival.

The exhibition starts with older, more historic pieces, gradually bringing the viewer to the present with contemporary art. Some pieces depict land as an untouched utopia, while others challenge the notion of industrial “progress.” Some render apocalyptic messages of environmental abandonment and collapse. The quiet and serene atmosphere of the gallery allows visitors to let their mind wander, with sustainability texts ever-present to bring back ones’ focus.

Oscar Oiwa’s "Black Snow II," Oil on canvas 227 x 444 cm (90"x180"), 2003, Arizona State University Art Museum collection, Tempe, Arizona. Reproduction courtesy of artist Oscar Oiwa and P.P.O.W. Gallery, NY, NY.

As I enter the gallery space, one piece in particular catches my attention: Oscar Oiwa’s multi-paneled Black Snow 2, painted in 2003. The visual attraction does not come from the painting’s size (90” x 180”); instead, it derives from the painting’s mysterious and illusive oranges, yellows, reds, and blacks. There is a peaceful quality to the painting. Yet at the same time, a sense of uneasiness pulls at me.

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Students’ Perspective on Building Knowledge for Sustainability*

By Tischa A. Muñoz-Erickson and Thaddeus R. Miller

* Op-Ed previously published on February 2009 in the Newsletter of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE), Pages 24-25; http://www.ecoeco.org/pdf/Feb2009.pdf

Newsletter editor: Bernardo Aguilar-González

In the fall of 2007, we joined twenty-eight other students as the first class in the School of Sustainability (SOS) at Arizona State University. As one of the nation’s first schools to offer degrees in Sustainability, we knew that we were embarking on an experiment. Previous training in environmental science and policy, as well as exposure to transdiciplinary fields such as ecological economics, which work across academic disciplines and in conjunction with society, partially prepared us for the problems and opportunities that arise when obtaining a degree in Sustainability.

Building knowledge for sustainability demands exposure to such academic backgrounds, and much more. The School of Sustainability has brought in students and faculty from completely different fields, such as anthropology, ecology, economics, engineering, geography, geology, and the humanities, to engage with each other and sustainability. This unique blend of personnel has a profound effect on the way we work across academic disciplines and approach real-world issues.

As we–students and future scholars and practitioners in the field–attempt to build knowledge for sustainability that will contribute to solutions for society’s problems, we face what we see as three key questions:

1)  How do we become agents of change, while working in the context of academic institutional constraints?

2)  How do academic institutions balance the production of more stable, disciplinary knowledge with innovative knowledge for sustainability?

3)  How do programs like SOS develop and maintain an identity while adapting to an evolving societal discourse around sustainability?

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Arizona Testbowl: Denying Human Rights and Experimenting with the Ecological Integrity of the San Francisco Peaks

By Kyle Boggs

In Northern Arizona, on the slopes of the state’s highest peak, stands an on-going controversy illuminating deep cultural divides. Here, human rights and environmental justice stand in opposition to enhanced skiing recreation. As the dominant Euro-American culture shifts its perception of progress to achieve a just and sustainable future, the fight to save the San Francisco Peaks from contamination and further development stands at the crossroads of this transition.

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