campus | Sustainability

SCIF grants still available during COVID-19

October 13, 2020

By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office

Have you ever looked around campus and had a creative idea, perhaps for an art installation or a landscaping initiative? A green building feature or collaborative research project? Or maybe an educational opportunity for students to learn about environmental justice and build appreciation for the natural world?

Fortunately, there are resources and money—even during the public health crisis—available for all students, staff, and faculty who dream of transforming the University of Utah into the most sustainable, resilient, and inclusive campus it can be.

The Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF) is a grant program that funds a variety of sustainability initiatives at the U. The fund supports student-, staff-, or faculty-led projects that enrich student experiences while giving back to the campus community. SCIF is made possible by students; each student pays $2.50 per semester into the grant program.

“SCIF is a tool that can really elevate problems on campus and turn them into sustainable opportunities,” says SCIF Manager Emerson Andrews. “In the long term, we hope it makes campus a regenerative place. Not just a net zero place, but a regenerative place.”

Andrews explains that the SCIF framework is rooted in the university’s understanding of sustainability as “the work towards a future wherein we maintain environmental integrity, economic security, and social equity for future generations and for ourselves.” Any idea that fits within this framework could be a SCIF project.

SCIF, like many campus programs, is adjusting to the realities of COVID-19, but Andrews wants the U community to know that “SCIF work is still happening.” Although the pandemic challenges some traditional ways of practicing sustainability, it also offers a unique opportunity to be creative and rethink what sustainability can look like.

For example, in-person events are not currently receiving funding on account of social distancing guidelines; however grants focused on digital events, infrastructure projects, research, and countless other ways of practicing sustainability are encouraged. “A lot of research opportunities are open because of COVID,” Andrews says. “It’s really forced the world to rethink how we operate, and that’s the same space that sustainability has been in for some time.”

Andrews encourages students, staff, and faculty to explore the intersections between COVID and the environment and to propose projects that focus on “resilience and adaptivity.” The pandemic has unveiled the importance of sustainability, and Andrews hopes that the U community will use SCIF as a tool to discover ways that “we can continue to function as a society through disruptive events,” whether those events come from disease, climate change, or unknown challenges.

Above all, Andrews wants the campus community to know that SCIF is for everyone. “Sustainability really touches all aspects of our lives,” he says, and every student, staff, or faculty member has something to offer. “Engineers are very crucial, so are artists; people who understand policy are just as crucial as people who understand planning; people who understand communications are just as crucial as people who understand the science behind everything,” Andrews explains.

Whatever your skills, interests, and passions may be, consider applying for SCIF to make your ideas a reality. “This is for you,” Andrews says. “Let’s try something.”

UTA on Demand by Via

February 11, 2020

This article, originally published in @theu, February 11, 2020, was written by Claudia Trochez, Commuter Services

Thanks to UTA’s Ed-Pass, students, faculty and staff can ride the bus, TRAX and FrontRunner for no additional fee, making public transit the obvious choice for commuting to campus. Depending on where you live exactly, UTA service can either be an invaluable resource or a not-so-convenient option that doesn’t work well with your schedule.

For residents in southern Salt Lake County where UTA service is less abundant, accessing public transit is more challenging. To help bridge the gap, UTA launched its microtransit pilot program, UTA on Demand by Via, which intends to enhance connectivity to TRAX and FrontRunner lines for commuters in the southern part of the valley by providing on demand rides to and from TRAX stations.

What is UTA on Demand by Via?

UTA’s microtransit pilot program serves about 65 square miles in southern Salt Lake County, serving the cities of Bluffdale, Draper, Herriman, Riverton and South Jordan. The service area includes seven TRAX and FrontRunner stations with designated pickup and drop off locations, making connections to campus more accessible than ever.

Via’s technology matches multiple riders headed in a similar direction into a single van, with quick and efficient routing, avoiding lengthy detours. After requesting a ride, the app will display the pickup location where the vehicle will meet you. Via is a corner-to-corner service, meaning riders will be picked up and dropped off close to their destination.

How does it work?

Riders may hail a van by using the Via app, available on the App Store and Google Play. The microtransit service operates Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and is available to students, faculty and staff at no additional fee. University affiliates with a valid uNID should use their Ed-Pass, in lieu of paying fare, by hitting the ‘UTA Pass/Ticket/Transfer’ when signing up.

ADA riders may request an accessible van by selecting ‘wheelchair accessibility’ in their profile.

For example, if you live in Draper and work on campus, you can get a lift to the Draper Town Center or Kimball Lane TRAX stations by requesting a UTA on Demand ride through the Via app. At the end of the day, you can be picked up at the TRAX station and return to where you started near your home, the grocery store or anywhere within the service area (see map below) for no charge. The service will also be useful for patients traveling to and from the South Jordan Health Center.

Why should I ride UTA?

A perk of the U community, all current students, faculty and staff members may ride UTA services, including the microtransit program, without paying fare. Choosing UTA over driving allows you to save money on car-related expenses including gas, maintenance and parking permits.

In addition to saving some green, you can also be green by choosing UTA over driving. Salt Lake City’s poor air quality is undeniable during inversion season. According to a recent study, “at least 85% of harmful emissions come from fossil fuel,” meaning the CO2 produced by cars is the lead contributor to the air quality problem Utahans face. Riding UTA will continually help reduce emissions and help keep our air clean.

Driving to the university campus from southern Salt Lake County may take anywhere from 30 to 80 minutes or more, depending on traffic and weather. While riding UTA will not likely decrease your commute time, it will certainly ease its difficulties and be safer, too. You’ll be able to start your workday sooner, catch up on emails, read or watch Netflix, instead of sitting behind the wheel in traffic or on icy, dangerous roads.

Share your thoughts

UTA on Demand by Via is a pilot program and UTA wants to hear from you. Take this survey to share your thoughts and help UTA study effective ‘first-and-last mile’ connections to our bus and rail services.

For more information on UTA on Demand by Via and all other services, visit call 801-RIDE-UTA.

Is your New Year’s Resolution to get more exercise?

December 30, 2019

Do you want to improve your health by getting more exercise in the new year? Is it difficult to find the time to exercise during your busy day? Activate your commute and you’ll do both!

Make walking or biking a part of your commute to the U and your physical health will improve – and help clear our air . As you experience the benefits of walking or biking, also known as active transportation, you are contributing to a healthier community – both physically, socially and economically. Continue reading for more ideas on activating your commute… NEED LINK With active transportation a part of your lifestyle you save money on fuel, spend less time in traffic congestion and integrate physical activity into your daily commute. You also help reduce vehicle emissions that contribute to Utah’s poor air quality while reducing traffic congestion and demand for vehicle parking on campus.

University survey data indicates a majority of us live eight miles or less from our campus destination. Riding a bike is a great way to commute over short distances and keep you active during the day. Bicycling to campus means you have a free parking space, right next to your campus destination. Take your bike to the Campus Bike Shop for repairs, and make sure you ride on February 14^th – it’s Winter Bike to Work Day and we want to celebrate with you!

If you are a commuter that drives alone in your car, rethink your trip and try public transit. Notice how you benefit from taking the bus or train– this is your personal time to read, listen to music, socialize or just zone out during your daily commute. If you live in Salt Lake City, you can also rent a shared scooter to access the campus. Just like a bicycle, shared scooters must be parked adjacent to an outdoor bicycle rack. When operating a shared scooter, you are responsible for following the University operating guidelines for devices on campus sidewalks.

Safety is key with active transportation. Plan your walking or biking route with the campus map and observe where all sidewalks, bikeways and crosswalks are located. Be aware of your surroundings, wear clothing that is easily visible to motorists, slow your speed on campus pathways and always give pedestrians the right of way.

So get outside and walk to the bus or train, hop on your bike, push a scooter or skateboard, or if you drive alone in your car, park farther from your destination and take a brisk walk. These are all great ways to improve your physical health and help clear our air, every single day of the year.

What’s waste got to do with climate change?

November 22, 2019

This article, originally published in @theu, November 13, 2019, was written by Kate Whitbeck, communications, sustainability department.

Did you know that one of the easiest low cost and most effective ways to impact climate change is to change our consumption habits? An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded study indicates that more than 40% of our climate impact in the U.S. comes from our stuff and our food. There is an energy and emissions cost to manufacturing, transporting, using goods and then eventually disposing of them. Simply reusing, reducing, recycling and buying used or recycled goods conserves energy and reduces emissions.

More than 40% of our climate impact in the U.S. comes from our stuff and our food.

– Environmental Protection Agency

Millie Heiner, sustainability ambassador, presents a zero waste kit to President Ruth Watkins.

In an effort to promote a culture of waste reduction on campus, the Sustainability Office has launched the #UBYO campaign to encourage the U community to bring their own reusable bottles, mugs, containers, utensils and more to reduce plastic waste. We handed out thousands of reusable utensil kits at new student orientation events and the farmers market and gave away 12 zero-waste kits through an opportunity drawing. We even presented U President Ruth Watkins with a zero waste kit. Each kit contains a reusable hot/cold bottle, reusable silicone bag (plastic bag alternative), handkerchief (reusable napkin), reusable grocery bag, utensils and reusable silicone food container. Many of the items are available at the Campus Store or can be assembled from items you already have at home or can pick up at your favorite thrift store.

In order to start a conversation around waste reduction on campus and in honor of America Recycles Day, which takes place in November, the Sustainability Office is organizing a Hinckley Institute Panel entitled The End of Recycling? Life After National Sword on Wednesday, Nov. 20, from 12-1 p.m. The panel will explore how policy changes in China have affected our local recycling practices and what we can expect for the future. Panel participants include Beau Peck, director of sales and marketing from the Pro Recycling Group, Jennifer Farrell from Salt Lake City Waste and Recycling Division and Joshua James, University of Utah recycling manager.

It is important to understand the link between climate change and waste reduction, and the energy and emissions savings we can gain from reducing and recycling. According to the EPA, recycling aluminum cans saves 95% of the energy needed to make new cans from raw materials. Recycling steel and tin cans saves 60-74%; paper about 60%, and plastic and glass about 33% compared to making those from raw materials. While these energy savings are significant, we also need to recognize that recycling has its own carbon footprint related to collection, transportation and processing. Reducing, reusing and sharing should always come before recycling.

An environmentally friendly kit made for U. Available now at the Campus Store.

Some people are intimidated by the concept of zero waste. While zero waste is generally defined as diverting 90% or above from the landfill, it can still feel like an unachievable goal. Fortunately, the reality is that many people making a concerted but imperfect effort has a much greater effect than one person reaching zero. Zero doesn’t have to be everyone’s goal. Making good choices when possible can be the goal.

The other good thing about changing consumption habits is that it’s within everyone’s reach and can save you money. Not everyone can afford an electric car or has the ability to make major changes to our power grid or transportation system. The movement isn’t about buying. Choosing to borrow, reuse and share keeps money in your wallet and keeps your carbon footprint low.

The University is taking a close look at its waste habits and focusing on some new strategies to divert more from the landfill. See the text box below for some highlights and take action by joining the #UBYO Campaign or get your office certified through our Green Office Program.

Waste wins at the U

The U has identified some new priorities for managing its waste based on a recently completed study. These include an overhaul of signage, a food waste collection pilot program and the development of a more effective system to incentivize waste reduction and recycling.
Since the launch of the Green Office Certification program in 2017, ecofriendly purchasing of general office supplies has increased from 35% to 53% and ecofriendly paper purchasing has increased from 38% to 79%.
Each year, the Sustainability Office coordinates U Recycle Day, an electronic waste drive which diverts tons of waste from the landfill.
The annual housing moveout donation drive (aka WAGACA – What Goes Around Comes Around) diverts food, clothing, blankets, and more from the residence halls each May.
The University Carpenter Shop is committed to creative reuse. They reclaim materials from buildings that are being demolished or remodeled and repurpose them. The desks below are made of marble from OSH and wood from basketball courts and harvested from trees (sycamores) displaced by new construction.

Humans of the U: Piper Christian

November 22, 2019

This article was originally published in@theu on November 14, 2019.

“At the age of 16, I had the opportunity to travel to Paris during the COP 21 climate accords. As a junior correspondent for a Utah news station, I was tasked with reporting the events of the accords back to my home state. I wanted to know, ‘How are ordinary people confronting environmental threats in meaningful ways?’ To answer this question, I interviewed dozens of strangers throughout the city.

By the end of my project, the stories I gathered spanned six continents. My favorite story came from Melati Wijsen, a student who, with her younger sister, Isabel, convinced the governor of Bali to ban plastic bags when she was only 12 years old and Isabel was 10.

When I returned to Utah, I collaborated with students statewide to pass a climate change resolution through the Utah State Legislature, in 2018. Utah was the first predominantly Republican state in the country to acknowledge climate change in this capacity.

As an adolescent, I was troubled by the fact that Utah’s leaders were not speaking about climate change despite the threat it posed to our state. As we experience warmer winters, our yearly snowpack is shrinking, which not only hurts our world-renowned ski industry but also reduces our water supply that we depend on as one of the driest states in the country.

As a student, I believe that I, and others, can and should pressure our leaders to take action since ultimately my generation and generations to come will carry the greatest burden of climate impacts.

Looking to the future, I hope to pursue environmental law, serve as a city planner or study environmental economics.

Currently, I am the vice president of a new club on campus called Utah Climate Advocates. Our club focuses on projects pertaining to climate action and environmental justice. We have been meeting with congressional staffers to discuss climate policies, and we are exploring environmental justice projects in the Salt Lake area.

This semester, I helped organize the University of Utah’s involvement in the Global Climate Strike. On Sept. 20, more than 100 U students walked out of class to demand global action to address climate change. We guided students to the City and County Building, then marched with a crowd of over 2,000 to the state capitol.

While I’m daunted by the future of our planet, it is the stories of my fellow climate activists that help me persist.”

—Piper Christian, U student double majoring in Environmental Studies and Political Science

We’ll be featuring Humans of the U and sharing their stories throughout the year with the university community. If you know someone with a compelling story, let us know at ThisWeek@utah.edu.

Greening your office

November 22, 2019

This article, originally published in @theu on November 7, 2019, was written by Kate Whitbeck, communications, sustainability office.

Every office has that one person who pulls things out of the trash and puts them in the recycle bin. The same person goes around and turns off the lights that aren’t being used. Sometimes it is a couple of people and sometimes those people make up the majority of the office.

These people are part of a growing force that is transforming our campus. They recognize that the choices we make in our work environment impact the natural environment, our health and our future quality of life. They also recognize that these are issues that are important to our students. These values also happen to fit into the university’s broader mission to promote responsible stewardship of our resources, reduce the impact of the U on the environment, and ensure the long-term success and viability of the institution.

There are currently 45 offices, centers and departments that are either Green Office certified or in the process of getting the certification. Coordinated by the Sustainability Office, the Green Office program helps provide the tools, support and guidance to institutionalize these changes. Departments and offices on campus represent a large portion of energy and material use and waste production on campus. Working through the Green Office checklist is an easy way to reduce energy, waste and emissions through smart purchasing, transportation choices and simple changes to common office practices.

So, how do you go about getting Green Office Certification? We talked to a local expert who has shepherded her office through the process. Ally Marringa is the Academic Advising Coordinator for the College of Social & Behavioral Science.

Why did you initiate the Green Office program in your office?

I really didn’t know much about sustainability when I first started working at the U. I quickly noticed that it is super important to my students. We wanted to make sure that we were upholding our students’ values. If we are trying to be role models and teach them that you can make a difference no matter what you are doing then this is a small way we can start.

What are some of the unique things you have done in your office to make it greener?

We have incorporated green office practices into how we advise—using laminated sheets and dry erase markers rather than a single paper sheet for each student. We use online fillable tracking sheets so students can plan out courses a semester by semester. We try to make the process as paperless as possible.

How did you get started?

When we got the check-list, half of it was done already. So that was the easiest part. In terms of stuff, we needed to put more time into what we purchase. Like when we need swag for tabling we find recyclable material to use now. When we need to get T-shirts for students or materials, it’s just thinking about taking the extra time to look at whether the product is sustainable, where it comes from, and all of those different things. Some of it can be pricier. So, it’s being choosy about what we get to buy.

We brought in plates and mugs for people to use in our breakroom (they have a dishwasher). They were all pretty for it. It was pretty easy for us. It is mostly just slowly getting other people to buy in and share ideas on how they can do things differently.

What was surprising to you?

We checked off half of the things on the checklist just because we are in a LEED-certified building. So it was making little tweaks. In our meetings we have presenters send out flyers electronically instead of providing printed handouts. That way we can post on Canvas, listservs or other tools instead of using physical handouts. Sometimes you just need one copy to hang in a central location.

What is your next goal?

We want to hit Gold. One of the next goals is to increase our supply of reusables or work with Chartwells to use reusable china so that our larger events are zero waste. Holding green events would have a big impact on students. We need to make sure these practices are visible—that we are modeling these values.

What would you tell an office that is considering certification?

It is super easy. I think most offices are doing these things. It’s just seeing what other people are doing, what other universities are doing, and how the Sustainability Office can help makes it easy. It’s just talking to your team. “This is something we are considering doing. Do you agree? What are the non-negotiables and what can we do differently?”

Oh, and I love the webpage. I use it a ton. The info is good. Use the library guide. Be sure to sign up for the Sustainability Office’s newsletter and follow social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).

For more information on the Green Certification program, email Karren Fultz at karren.fultz@utah.edu.

Print & mail recognized

November 22, 2019

This article, originally published in @theu on August 9, 2019, was written by Corinne Smart,
University Print & Mail Services.

In an industry based on using paper, sustainable practices are an ongoing challenge for organizations like University Print & Mail Services. But taking that challenge on has proved successful for the department, which has just been awarded bronze certification in the Sustainability Office’s Green Office Program.

Conscious of the resources that it uses daily, Print & Mail felt compelled to follow best practices for sustainability and help support the university’s mission and goals. This commitment started the department down the path toward achieving the Green Office Certification and completing the requirements was the next step.

The Sustainability Office observes how campus work environments negatively impact our natural environment. To instigate change, they created the Green Office Certification, a program to teach campus ways to integrate sustainability practices into the workplace through sustainable choices. The Green Office Program has three tiers of certification: bronze, silver and gold. Once departments register, they receive a Green Office Checklist as a guide for success. To celebrate certifications, the Sustainability Office advertises the newly certified department’s achievements on their social media outlets.

Over the course of many months, the Print & Mail team worked to identify areas of improvement and correspondingly, began to check off boxes from the sustainability certification list. Some items were as simple as posting stickers to remind colleagues to turn off office lights at the end of the day; others took more effort, requiring continuous dedication from the entire Print & Mail team to carry the effort forward.

The Green Office Program has done more than just help Print & Mail conserve energy and reduce waste, it has influenced Print & Mail’s team to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. Team members have been seen bringing in office plants, making special trips to the recycle bin, using multi-use water bottles instead of disposables and taking public transit to work instead of driving.

For those considering joining the certification program, Print & Mail’s Green Office Educator Wendy Covert has some advice: “Come up with a Green Team. It is much easier to get buy-in from the department as a whole if other people are invested.”

At Print & Mail, every team member had a part to play in being more sustainable, from the department purchaser being willing to buy green supplies to printing staff remembering to put scraps in recycling bins. The support and willingness of Print & Mail’s entire team were vital to the department’s success in acquiring bronze certification.

Despite its roots in printing, Print & Mail has shown that even in the paper business, being sustainable is more attainable than you think. Beyond their commitment to helping the planet, the team is dedicated to helping the campus community by serving as an excellent resource for eco-friendly paper. Print & Mail prints university business cards on 100% PCW recycled paper and can order recycled paper for your department. Visit Print & Mail online or call 801-581-6171.

Efficient Garff Building granted prestigious award

November 22, 2019

This article, originally published in @theu October 24, 2019, was written by Wes Mangum,
communications specialist, Facilities.

The University of Utah is serious about leading the way in energy efficiency and that’s garnering national attention.

The Robert H. & Katherine B. Garff Building was given an award recognizing effort in innovation and teamwork by Engineering News Record (ENR), widely regarded as one of the construction industry’s most authoritative publications. The collaborative effort on the Garff Building’s construction delivered a highly energy-efficient building, in line with the university’s aggressive sustainability goals. The ENR award was presented at a ceremony on Oct. 24.

The award comes just over a year after the Garff Building was dedicated by the David Eccles School of Business. The 150,000-square-foot building houses the university’s Online MBA, Full-Time MBA, Professional MBA and Executive Educations programs. It also supports a Career Services center for both graduate and undergraduate students. The Garff Building was made possible through the generosity of more than 350 donors, including a $12 million donation from the Garff family.

The Garff Building was the university’s first-ever all-electric building and is one of the most energy-efficient buildings on campus. The hearing and cooling of a building are often where most energy is consumed. The Garff Building took a new approach to solve this problem. The secret lies in the building’s air-cooled Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system. This system works to heat and cool the building by extracting and diffusing outside air. The Garff Building’s VRF system is similar to a residential heat pump but on a commercial scale.

University Project Managers Mark Grabl and Michael Beck worked with VCBO Architects and Jacobsen Construction Co. to overcome a series of challenges in the design and construction phases. The Garff Building was constructed around the demolition of Milton Bennion Hall, the previous home to the David Eccles School of Business. In addition, the nearby construction of the Kem and Carolyn Gardner Commons provided a very limited staging area for construction teams.

“We challenged everything to try and arrive at the best decisions possible,” Beck said. “We left no stone unturned.”

University construction officials and Jacobsen Construction Co., along with the various subcontractors on the project, had to rely on an innovative inventory management approach called just-in-time delivery. Rather than delivering and stockpiling materials to be used as the project develops, just-in-time delivery calls for a lean approach that prioritizes the delivery of materials according to the project schedule. This approach required the team to keep an updated schedule and constant line of communication throughout the project.

“All of the partners within the design team and the construction team were flexible in their approach,” Beck said. “They knew that there were going to be changes on the fly that had to be incorporated.”

The Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management (DFCM) assisted Beck and Grabl in meeting the university’s needs for the facility. Taylor Maxfield, a Project Manager for DFCM, listed the design and construction teams’ synergy as a vital element in the building’s success.

“The project was successful due to a very open dialogue between all parties,” Maxfield said. “The team wasn’t shy of calling each other out. We trusted each other and did everything we could to support each other. I believe we tried to understand each other’s processes and work with each other in mind.”

Grabl and Beck placed an emphasis on aligning the Garff Building’s budget value with the university’s values. State-of-the-art technology and an aesthetically pleasing design were important to not only attract top business students but to help propel them to success as they leave the doors of the Garff Building.

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Changing Behavior to Improve the Air

November 21, 2019

This article by University of Utah Communications was featured in @theu on November 19, 2019.

Sometimes even well-meaning people contribute to air pollution (exhibit A: the majority of attendees at the University of Utah’s “The Air We Breathe” symposium arrived by car). So how do you inspire people to change?

Take a look at the way obesity rates have risen even though people know that diet and exercise help, said Robin Marcus, and “we’re quite naïve to think if you just give people knowledge it will change their behaviors.” Marcus, professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training and chief wellness officer at the University of Utah, was part of the symposium’s Environmental Health Literacy panel, moderated by Beth Krensky, U professor of art education.

Of the people who commute to the U, 50% live within eight miles of the campus, she said, yet a very small percent use mass transit. “We’re bringing people to this campus every day contributing to the problem.” As the U’s wellness officer, Marcus said her staff is looking at whether incentives work to bring about change. “Do we incentivize people to not buy a parking pass? Or pay people $2 a day to not drive to campus?”

“We need experts on our campus who are implementation scientists,” she added.

“There’s a big gap between attitude change and behavioral change,” said Danielle Endres, professor in the U’s Department of Communication. Technology alone won’t solve the problem either, she said.

Some of the things Endres wonders about: “How can our decisions about air quality be as democratic and just as possible? How can we foster broad public participation in air quality decision-making?” She urged conference attendees to remember that “there are many communities outside of academia that have vast stores of expertise.”

One way to change hearts and minds might be to let people see more clearly how bad the air is, and how undemocratically it’s spread across the Salt Lake Valley. That can include providing low-cost PM2.5 sensors to individuals and public schools, said Kerry Kelly, assistant professor in the U’s Department of Chemical Engineering.

“We need dense measurements” that complement existing, sparser measurements supplied by the state, she said. These “community-engaged measurements” can also be a way to bolster STEM education, she added. In one experiment, young students were taught to build their own pollution sensors out of Legos, LED lights, photo detectors and computer fans as a low-cost hands-on way to measure light scattering.

Not everybody absorbs information identically, noted Whitney Tassie, senior curator at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. “Not everybody is inspired by graphs in the same way.” One solution: Art that is visceral—for example, adding smog to whipped egg whites, “so you can taste it.” Tassie is in the research and development phase of a six-month exhibit that will open in January 2021 that she hopes will bring air and air pollution to life.

Policy, Media and the Public: Driving the Agenda for Change

November 12, 2019

By Amber Aumiller, graduate assistant, Sustainability Office

How much impact does the media actually have on policy change? How much impact does the public have? Knowing the answers to these questions is absolutely critical in a global moment where the effects of climate change necessitate a swift environmental policy or regulatory response. Knowing what the components of change are and how they work together is crucial in identifying the intersections of influence needed to pressure government to take appropriate and constructive action. Dr. Juliet Carlisle’s work looks at how the public, media and government officials attend to a slow-moving crisis (like drought, for instance), and how this attention shifts across the slower lifespan of the crisis. Looking at the relationships between corresponding streams of attention can help explain how windows for policy change open. Dr. Carlisle shows that even a crisis that takes years to unfold can capture attention and produce policy change. This underscores the significance of our roles as producers and consumers of media and citizens of a nation.

On Tuesday, January 28th, Professor Carlisle will help explain how the recent California drought captured and sustained attention to yield policy change in her lecture, “Driving the Agenda?: California Drought in the 21st Century,” from 4-5 p.m. in room 210 of the Aline B. Skaggs Biology Building as part of the Global Change and Sustainability Center’s Seminar Series.

Dr. Carlisle is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Environmental and Sustainability Studies Program at the University of Utah. She earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington and both her M.A. and Ph.D., also in Political Science, from the University of California Santa Barbara. She has investigated public attitudes around environmental issues like offshore oil drilling, large-scale solar development and vaccines. Her work seeks to explain the causes and characteristics of public opinions, attitudes, knowledge and behavior regarding politics, the environment and energy development. In this lecture she will focus on the ongoing drought in California over the last two decades, engaging with the interplay of attention given by the government, the public and the media and the corresponding policy change that has occurred.

“Policy is for the most part fairly static,” says Carlisle, “not all problems result in policy change.” Her research, therefore, looks at how and whether politicians respond to environmental crises and what factors explain policy change when it does happen. Sudden, devastating, catastrophic events demand immediate attention from the public. Large-scale tragedies like plane crashes, hurricanes, or earthquakes affect a lot of people instantly, and the resulting attention creates opportunities for policy change. However, slow-moving crises that can take years rather than minutes to unfold tend to be more complicated and are often harder to define. The effects on most people’s daily lives may be comprehended gradually, if at all. A slow-moving crisis gives rise to questions like: Do we even notice a crisis is occurring? Can it capture the attention of the public? To what extent is the media covering it? Does the crisis have the potential to produce a significant policy impact or change? What Professor Carlisle wants to know is how and when policy change is affected for a slow-moving crisis.

Dr. Carlisle looks at how the media’s coverage of the more recent California drought correlates to the public’s views and potential to propel policy change, helping prove that even a slow-moving crisis can shift policy. Her findings point to the need for more research on what types of media stories are most effective in creating urgency around regulatory change. “The public has a lot of power to push change,” Carlisle reminds us. When we are aware and mobilized, the pressure on our political systems can be hugely effective.

To hear her speak and learn more about the co-mingling relationships influencing policy change come by on Tuesday, January 28th from 4-5 p.m. in ASB 210. As always, there will be coffee and treats for you, so bring a mug and enjoy!