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Student capstone and applied projects from ASU's School of Sustainability.

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Mindiac: Mindfulness for the Sustainability Professional

Description
In recent years, contemplative discourse has guided fields as diverse as psychology, medicine, and spiritual practice. With sustainability’s emergence as a caring profession, we believe mindfulness can contribute to the conversation. Exercises that develop skills such as active listening, preventative self-care, and self-awareness are explored through the five facets of…

In recent years, contemplative discourse has guided fields as diverse as psychology, medicine, and spiritual practice. With sustainability’s emergence as a caring profession, we believe mindfulness can contribute to the conversation. Exercises that develop skills such as active listening, preventative self-care, and self-awareness are explored through the five facets of mindfulness: non-reactivity, observing, acting with awareness, describing, and non-judging of experience (Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietmeyer, & Toney, 2006). Thus, we have created an online publication called Mindiac that utilizes the five facets of mindfulness to help sustainability professionals develop and refine intangible skills that will help them solve sustainability problems. Through interviews, framework identification, research, and online publishing software, fifteen articles on mindfulness were created. The six-part publication will equip sustainability professionals with tools to navigate complex situations in applied settings.
ContributorsAyotte, Kaylin (Author) / Burdge, Isabel (Author)
Created2019-05-15
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A Healthier Future: Replacing Plastics in Healthcare

Description
This paper recounts a project journey that was taken to explore how replacing plastics with less harmful materials can drive positive environmental impact. The project examined the scope and impacts of plastic pollution attributable to healthcare delivery and the adverse impacts it has on population health. Identifying potential options to…

This paper recounts a project journey that was taken to explore how replacing plastics with less harmful materials can drive positive environmental impact. The project examined the scope and impacts of plastic pollution attributable to healthcare delivery and the adverse impacts it has on population health. Identifying potential options to replace plastics was accomplished by obtaining access to one of the world’s leading materials databases. This access enabled identification of several alternative materials with documented uses as plastic replacements. Evidence of successes that have been achieved in replacing plastics with less harmful materials was gathered by conducting interviews with international materials experts and senior executives from several different industries. These examples are combined with the research findings on alternative materials to construct a case that taking action can yield financial benefits while doing less harm to people and the planet. The completed project presents a framework that can be followed in future efforts to replace plastics. While the scope of the project focused on the plastic pollution problem from a healthcare perspective, the framework that was created is portable and can be adapted for use in any organization or industry seeking to replace plastics and drive change to create a healthier future.
ContributorsO'Brien, Patrick (Writer of accompanying material)
Created2019-12-03