with the planet our relationship Reshape
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“The most important thing we can have now, in this dark time, is hope.
I think universities have a big role to play in that, because before young minds go out in the world, if we don’t give them hope, we’re doomed.”
— Jane Goodall Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, an ASU partner
Arizona State University is confronting the most pressing challenges Earth faces by leveraging the knowledge and resources required to reshape our relationship with the planet.
Helping our planet stay habitable and healthy is a complex task that will require vision, perseverance and expertise from all angles to achieve. We can only do it together, through transdisciplinary ingenuity and a collective effort to reimagine how Earth and humanity can sustain one another. ASU is convening and engaging the people who will take on our planetary challenges today and shaping those who will carry on saving our planet in the future.
The health and longevity of the planet is in our hands.
This is our moment to change
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By acknowledging and prioritizing our mutual dependency with the Earth, we are taking important steps toward a more sustainable relationship with the planet we call home.
We are doing more than limiting the adverse impact of human activity on Earth. We are exploring all options to reverse damage and preserve planetary wellbeing, while partnering with organizations, industries and communities to ensure that the path forward is pragmatic, humane and just—and that we all have a role in it. We are building a better relationship with our beloved planet, ensuring that its health is strengthened by our presence and that our natural world can sustain and thrive.
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“For us, the biggest challenge is to recognize that we have pushed the limits and to make another set of choices that will get us out of the trajectory we are on, which is strictly nonsustainable. And that means we really have to understand:
What do people see as their future?”
— Peter Schlosser Vice president and vice provost Global Futures Laboratory
“At the highest level, these types of partnerships ensure that university research is salient and relevant to current conservation priorities, and that practitioner organizations have the supplemental capacity and expertise to carry out research.
I also think there is incredible value in exposing university students to the practical skills needed to work in conservation.”
— Elena M. Finkbeiner
Former postdoctoral researcher with ASU
Working together to protect nature and train the next generation of conservation leaders
Collaboration within and beyond the university has long been the key to success at ASU, and this extends to our work to protect the planet. Since 2017, ASU has partnered closely with Conservation International, a leading nonprofit organization that has helped protect more than 2.3 million square miles of land and sea across more than 70 countries. The impacts of this partnership have been profound: Conservation International benefits from the remarkable resources of ASU, and our students gain access to some of the world’s leading researchers and practitioners in conservation.
Together, we are collaboratively researching critical environmental issues to drive progress on a global scale, seeking nature-based solutions to mitigate carbon emissions and educating the next generation on conserving global marine resources.
Pioneering sustainable food systems for Arizona and the world
Faced with climate challenges and water scarcity, Arizona provides fertile ground for exploring innovative approaches to sustainable agriculture.
Transforming leading research into applied solutions, learners and researchers at the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems have illustrated the efficacy of drip irrigation, hydroponics and urban agriculture— practices that have the potential to change food production across the globe.
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“The future is going to require incredible innovation.
[At ASU] I will have the pathways, the resources, the scientific capabilities, the partnerships with industry that are really necessary to come up with solutions to the problems we all know exist.”
Kathleen Merrigan Executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable
Food Systems
“We expect this project to be an important step for the commercialization of a technology that can be scaled to help balance the world’s carbon budget.”
— Pól Ó Móráin Carbon Collect CEO
Reversing the consequences of our changing climate
The accelerating pace of climate change demands that we do more than mitigate the production of carbon dioxide—we must actively reverse its effects. To solve this challenge, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory has partnered closely with Carbon Collect, a company developing scalable and cost-effective solutions for removing CO2 from the atmosphere.
Thanks to this collaborative partnership, ASU is now home to the world’s first “Mechanical Tree,” a transformative technology that removes up to 200 pounds of carbon from the atmosphere each day. The Mechanical Tree may one day be used by industry to capture emissions while also providing a more sustainable source of CO2 for synthetic fuels, food and beverages, and more—eliminating the need for fossil-fuel-derived CO2. This early success paves the path for scalable, commercially viable tools to improve the health of our planet.
A more sustainable, more equitable future for all
As we work to reshape our relationship with the planet, we understand that the benefit of this work is not just for the Earth—it is for the people who call this planet home. Often, the most sustainable solutions are also the most equitable solutions for people as well. Take for example, the work of Cody Friesen, associate professor at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and senior global futures scientist at ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory.
Through his company Zero Mass Water, Friesen is using water and energy technologies to help address the global water crisis. He invented SOURCE Hydropanels: solar panels that generate drinking water from sunlight and air. The technology can make drinking water in conditions with relative humidity as low as 5% and requires no electricity. The result is clean, affordable water and less reliance on bottled water, offsetting the use of more than 3.6 million plastic water bottles in a year. Thanks to Friesen and his team, clean drinking water is available in refugee camps, hospitals, schools and homes around the world.
“Ultimately, the goal of this work is to democratize access to drinking water and deliver water equity for all humans. We’re just getting started.”
— Cody Friesen Associate professor SOURCE founder and CEO
Together we are Changing Futures.
From Arizona.
For the world.
ASU has demonstrated repeatedly that we can leverage our world-class knowledge and tools to tackle the most pressing challenges facing our planet. Changing Futures will enable us to both develop new solutions and bring them to scale, and the work we do will benefit our entire planet and global community.
Through your support for this campaign, you can say yes to a world where we live in harmony with our planet. You can support the problem-solvers of tomorrow and bring next-level ideas to life.
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ASU Charter
ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves