Sustainability Office

Explore Sustainability at the U

UNCOVERING SUSTAINABILITY

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Originally posted April 2, 2018 in @theU. By Bianca Greeff, graduate assistant, Sustainability Office. Sustainability is much more than just environment. In 2011, the University of Utah began incorporating sustainability more broadly into its curriculum. Today, faculty across campus are enhancing education by implementing the big ideas of sustainability—equity, economy, and environment into their courses […]

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Melding Perspectives, Finding Solutions

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Originally posted on March 19, 2018. In Utah, the second driest state in the country, water is a critical issue. Our water systems are interconnected with human systems, and as our population expands and the climate changes, protecting and sharing this resource equitably will require collaboration between researchers, practitioners and decision makers. When it comes to collaborative water […]

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Exploring the Politics of Space

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Bianca Greeff, Graduate Assistant. Growing up in Los Angeles, Sarah Kanouse was aware of the ways Los Angeles transformed from a desert community to a bustling city by building water and power structure. Later, when Kanouse found herself in “small college communities surrounded by cornfields,” she began to realize that rural landscapes are not as […]

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Using Time as Our Guide

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By Bianca Greeff, Graduate Assistant. Both urban and rural areas around the world rely heavily on groundwater to support agriculture, energy, residential, and industrial use. This demand for groundwater—from a global population of over seven and a half billion—combined with impacts of climate change places more stress on these systems. In order to sustainably manage […]

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Re-Imagining Relationships

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Bianca Greeff, Graduate Assistant. Climate change threatens everything about our social organization. But that shouldn’t immobilize us. Instead, Kari Norgaard, associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oregon, encourages us to view climate change as an opportunity to re-envision our social, political, and economic systems. Norgaard will show how climate change […]

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USING NATURE AS OUR GUIDE: FIVE PLANTS THAT IMPROVE INDOOR AIR QUALITY

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Katie Stevens, Sustainable Utah Blog Writing Intern. Living in Salt Lake City, we are no strangers to air pollution and its harmful effects.  Breathing in toxic air can cause a range of health concerns including increased asthmatic symptoms, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and more. It is no surprise that we often retreat into our […]

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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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TAKING THE LEED

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Origninally posted in @theU on Oct. 23, 2017. By Shawn Wood, communications specialist, University Marketing & Communications The University of Utah announces its first Athletics building to be LEED Gold certified. The Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Basketball Facility, home to both men’s and women’s basketball, is officially a leader in sustainable design and energy […]

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CLEAN ENERGY FOR ALL

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Originally posted in @theU on Oct. 10, 2017 By Liz Ivkovich, University of Utah Sustainability Office Medical equipment that helps treat and cure hospital patients, big data computer servers critical to research, hundreds of classrooms lit and climate-controlled – carrying out the mission of University of Utah requires a lot of electricity. Soon, 50 percent of […]

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