Sustainability Office

Explore Sustainability at the U

curating global ecology through big data

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Bianca Greeff, Graduate Assistant. Ecologists seek to answer the big questions about how the world is changing, and how species and ecosystems are responding to those changes. To answer these questions, a new network of analysis is needed. Community-curated data sources can provide new insight on how systems are have changed in the past and […]

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Intentional Change

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Bianca Greeff, Graduate Assistant. Designers are agents of change. They research how our everyday actions and behaviors are conceived, planned, and acted on. By making these intangible aspects of society tangible, designers have the ability to communicate about or change these societal features. In the past, design has been leveraged as a way to create […]

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Embodied Sustainability

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By: Bianca Greeff, Graduate Assistant As a socially engaged artistic process, dance can be a powerful medium for communicating the ideas, facts, and figures of sustainability and environmental justice. Engaging with these ideas on a physical level can lead to a new perspective of the interconnections between our bodies and the environment. Dr. Ananya Chatterjea, […]

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Merging Research and Design

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By Ashley Babbitt, public relations specialist, College of Architecture + Planning. Originally posted on July 3, 2017. The University of Utah recently approved the creation of the Center for Ecological Planning and Design. The new center merges the provisional Ecological Planning Center and the Integrated Technology in Architecture Center — both in the College of Architecture + […]

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SUSTAINABLE CAMPUS INITIATIVE FUND: YEAR IN REVIEW (2016-17)

Burned Out Art Installation, $262.14 Project manager: Lya Yang  |  Project advisor: Wendy Wischer Lya Yang created an interactive sculpture installation to talk about energy use and indirectly bring awareness to carbon dioxide emissions created by power plants that generate electricity by burning fossil fuels. The piece consisted of black structures to evoke factory plants […]

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GCSC Grows Through Partnership

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Global Change and Sustainability Center expands with new Center for Ecological Planning and Design and University Water Center. The Global Change and Sustainability Center has expanded to include a partnership with two new centers; the University Water Center and the Center for Ecological Planning and Design. These centers bring scholars together around specific research themes […]

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Sustainable Sanitary Pads

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Originally posted on May 29, 2017. By Vince Horiuchi, public relations associate, University of Utah College of Engineering Each year, nearly 20 billion sanitary pads, tampons and applicators are dumped into North American landfills every year, and it takes centuries for them to biodegrade inside plastic bags, according to a 2016 Harvard Business School report. […]

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SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP

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Originally posted on April 11 2017. The Sustainability Office and Alta Ski Area recently awarded eight Alta Sustainability Leadership Awards to members of the University of Utah campus community for their sustainability leadership, and recognized Onno Wieringa, Alta’s general manager and president, for his lifetime work advancing sustainability. “Alta Ski area realizes we must encourage our future leaders because […]

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INVESTIGATING CONTAMINATION

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Bianca Greeff, Graduate Assistant The Marcellus shale in northeastern Pennsylvania is estimated to hold up to 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, possibly making it the second largest natural gas field in the world. The deep sedimentary rock of the Marcellus requires hydraulic fracturing to access the natural gas trapped between rock layers. By John G. […]

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IN DEFENSE OF DARK SKIES

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By: Colter Dye, Sustainability Ambassador. Bridging the borders of three great North American ecosystems: the Great Basin, the Colorado Plateau, and the Rocky Mountains, Salt Lake City is a popular destination for wildlife enthusiasts, outdoor adventurers, and those seeking to connect to the natural world. While snow-capped mountain peaks, vast red deserts, and tree-filled canyons […]

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