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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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Cryospheric Hazards and Risk Perceptions in the Mt. Everest Region, Nepal

Description
Multiple studies have reported potential risks posed by a rapid expansion of glacial lakes in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. People’s perception of such cryospheric hazards can influence their actions, beliefs, and responses to those hazards and associated risks. This paper analyzes local people’s perceptions of cryospheric hazards and…

Multiple studies have reported potential risks posed by a rapid expansion of glacial lakes in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. People’s perception of such cryospheric hazards can influence their actions, beliefs, and responses to those hazards and associated risks. This paper analyzes local people’s perceptions of cryospheric hazards and risks using a social survey dataset of 138 households in the Khumbu and Pharak areas of the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. A statistical logit model of categorical household data showed a significant positive correlation with the perceptions of cryospheric risks to their livelihood sources, mainly tourism. Local people’s GLOF risk perceptions are also influenced by their proximity to rapidly expanding glacial lakes and potential flood zones located in Dudhkoshi River basin. The emergency remediation work implemented in the Imja glacial lake by the Government of Nepal in 2016 has served as a cognitive fix, especially in the low lying settlements in Pharak. Uncertainties of cryosphere that exist in the region can be attributed to a disconnect between how scientific knowledge on GLOFs risks is communicated to the local communities and how government policies on climate change adaptation and mitigation have been limited only to awareness campaigns and emergency remediation works. A sustainable partnership of scientists, policymakers, and local communities is urgently needed to build a science-driven, community-based initiative that focuses not just in addressing a single GLOF threat (e.g., Imja) but develops on a comprehensive cryospheric risk management plan and considers opportunities and challenges of tourism in the local climate adaptation policies.
ContributorsSherpa, Sonam Futi (Author) / Shrestha, Milan (Contributor) / Boone, Christopher (Contributor) / Eakin, Hallie (Contributor)
Created2018-04-18