Interview with J.D. Hill, co-founder of Recycled City

J.D. Hill is the co-founder of Recycled City LLC a business devoted to building a revolving relationship within the local food economy by limiting food waste. His business provides materials to create compost out of waste materials for residential customers and business. J.D.’s goals with his business are to inspire the community to participate in their local food economy, promote activism, focus on building farm land, and encourage a green economy in the Valley area. He is an ASU grad with degrees from the School of Sustainability and the W.P. Carey School of Business. This knowledge has shaped his view toward the ability of green businesses to flourish in the Phoenix area.

Interview with Mr. Arnott Duncan, owner of Duncan Family Farms, Inc.

Arnott Duncan is the owner of Duncan Family Farms. Farming runs in Arnott’s veins. He is a third generation farmer who has developed a deep connect to his local economy. However, interacting with Arizona food systems is not his only goal. Arnott also is actively engaged with educating the community about local produce. His farm provided U-Pick opportunities to the local community to provide people with in engaging experience toward food. The many years Arnott spent in the food industry has taught him that food, family, and community change the way we think but what we choose to do with that makes the difference in how we shape the world.

For decades, understanding the complexity of behaviors, motivations, and values has interested researchers across various disciplines. So much so that there are numerous terms, frameworks, theories, and studies devoted to understanding these complexities and how they interact and evolve into actions. However, little research has examined how employee behaviors translate into the work environment, particularly regarding perceived organizational success. This study advances research by quantitatively assessing how a greater number of individual employees’ pro-environmental behaviors are related to the perceived success of environmentally sustainable workplace activities. We have concluded that the more pro-environmental behaviors an employee embodies, the more positively they perceive the success of their local government's sustainable purchasing policy. Additionally, other factors matter, including organizational behaviors, like training, innovation, and reduction of red tape.

BACKGROUND: The City of Phoenix initiated the HeatReady program in 2018 to prepare for extreme heat, as there was no official tool, framework, or mechanism at the city level to manage extreme heat. The current landscape of heat safety culture in schools, which are critical community hubs, has received less illumination. HeatReady Schools—a critical component of a HeatReady City—are those that are increasingly able to identify, prepare for, mitigate, track, and respond to the negative impacts of schoolgrounds heat. However, minimal attention has been given to formalize heat preparedness in schools to mitigate high temperatures and health concerns in schoolchildren, a heat-vulnerable population. This study set out to understand heat perceptions, (re)actions, and recommendations of key stakeholders and to identify critical themes around heat readiness. METHODS: An exploratory sequential mixed-methods case study approach was used. These methods focused on acquiring new insight on heat perceptions at elementary schools through semi-structured interviews using thematic analysis and the Delphi panel. Participants included public health professionals and school community members at two elementary schools—one public charter, one public—in South Phoenix, Arizona, a region that has been burdened historically with inequitable distribution of heat resources due to environmental racism and injustices. RESULTS: Findings demonstrated that 1) current heat safety resources are available but not fully utilized within the school sites, 2) expert opinions support that extreme heat readiness plans must account for site-specific needs, particularly education as a first step, and 3) students are negatively impacted by the effects of extreme heat, whether direct or indirect, both inside and outside the classroom. CONCLUSIONS: From key informant interviews and a Delphi panel, a list of 30 final recommendations were developed as important actions to be taken to become “HeatReady.” Future work will apply these recommendations in a HeatReady School Growth Tool that schools can tailor be to their individual needs to improve heat safety and protection measures at schools.

The original intent of the project was to attempt to mitigate the complex sustainability issue of systematic food waste via creating a guide that would educate users how to create a food saving organization that prevents edible food from ending up in landfills. The guide was going to be based on a nonprofit organization my family and I founded called Epic Cure, that has activated programs that serve to relieve community food insecurity, encourage community connectedness, support environmental health, and empower youth with entrepreneurial opportunity. The development of the guide was going to be based on my personal experience developing and running the organization, as well as my understanding of sustainable systems and frameworks. However, the original scope and plan of this project has shifted considerably since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. I have decided to put the guide on hold so that I can step into a space of agency via working in real time, to adapt my organization so that we can continue to operate when we are most needed. This shift is a response to the health and economic crisis that continues to unfold daily. In order to sustain the wellbeing of communities, the adaptation of a food aid service in the time of the crisis is an imminent need. This project shift not only serves to provide emergency relief, but also to identify gaps in the food distribution system and the supply chains that NGOs like Epic-Cure rely on so that we might be more resilient in the face of future shocks to the systems.