126855-Thumbnail Image.png

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

Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
Filtering by

Clear all filters

126600-Thumbnail Image.png

Sustainability at the Indigenous—West Boundary: The Case of a Boundary Organization Working With the Waorani of the Pastaza Province

Description

The Woarani of the Pastaza Province in Amazonian Ecuador face complex pressures both externally and internally to develop. While there are both positive and negative impacts associated with this transition, it remains a problem that development solutions designed external to the system they’re meant to impact risk imposing asymmetries on…

The Woarani of the Pastaza Province in Amazonian Ecuador face complex pressures both externally and internally to develop. While there are both positive and negative impacts associated with this transition, it remains a problem that development solutions designed external to the system they’re meant to impact risk imposing asymmetries on that system. This research explores the case of a culturally and historically embedded boundary organization operating at the nexus between Western academics and two communities of Woarani in the Pastaza Province of Ecuador. Through unstructured and semi-structured interviews, field- observation and social and historical research, this study seeks to understand: 1) the pathways to development for the Waorani, what and why they choose what they do and, 2) in the context of the I-W boundary at the field school site, the elements of development that are critical for sustainable scaling. Key findings include eight elements that explain development at the field school and situate the school as a boundary organization. Another important finding is the support for sustainable scaling, that in this context, sustainable scaling is modeled by organic growth along known networks of relations.
ContributorsCurtis, Emily (Author)
Created2020

USA Triathlon: A Race Toward Sustainability

Description
The staging of sport events occurs over a fixed duration of time, requiring an influx of resources and human involvement. This situation can result in environmental issues such as excess greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation. Furthermore, economic outcomes are not always equally shared amongst local host communities, and unequal…

The staging of sport events occurs over a fixed duration of time, requiring an influx of resources and human involvement. This situation can result in environmental issues such as excess greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation. Furthermore, economic outcomes are not always equally shared amongst local host communities, and unequal access to participation can manifest in unforeseen ways from the event organizer's perspective. Sports organizations are recognizing the potential for operation related negative impacts, yet most efforts to mitigate these adverse outcomes lack theoretical grounding and holistic approaches aligned with principles of sustainability. 

USA Triathlon (USAT) is not exempt from the challenges faced in sustainable event management. With 400,000 plus members, USAT has the largest membership of any sport's governing body in the country. Through managing five owned events and sanctioning over 4,300 on an annual basis, the combined potential for a negative footprint is significant. To temper the potential impacts of USAT events, this project focused on an overarching sustainable event strategy to equip management, operations, and race directors with a suite of resources to manage and mitigate the overall sustainability footprint of events toward desired outcomes that adhere to principles of sustainability.
ContributorsBoyle, Brian (Writer of accompanying material)
Created2020-05-13

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