University of Arizona Institute of the Environment Annual Report by Andrea Brooks Visual Communication

UNIVERSITY O F AR IZO NA I

NS TIT UT E

E E

IR V N NT E M N O

ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15

GREETINGS FROM THE DIRECTORS

MINDING THE CLIMATE GAP

ACHIEVEMENTS

CLIMAS FELLOWS

HELPING VULNERABLE SOUTHWESTERN COMMUNITIES ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE

MISSION AND VISION

STEWARDSHIP OF THE WEST

WEBSITE SHINES LIGHT ON RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES

UA INVENTION SLOWS WATER EVAPORATION, GENERATES ENERGY

A FRAMEWORK FOR STEWARDSHIP: IDENTIFYING LANDS WITH HIGH CONSERVATION VALUES

TRAINING A NEW KIND OF CLIMATE SCIENTIST

A SPLASH OF CLIMATE INFORMATION WITH THAT COFFEE

STUDYING RESILIENCE IN SOUTHWESTERN FORESTS

ASSESSING CLIMATE CHANGE RISK AND ADAPTABILITY ON DOD FACILITIES

NAVIGATING ROUGH WATER

TACKLING THE GROWING DROUGHT CHALLENGE IN THE SOUTHWEST AND BEYOND

UA POLL: ARIZONANS CONCERNED ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

HELPING WESTERN CITIES BOUNCE BACK FROM CLIMATE EXTREMES CLIMATE: A RISKY BUSINESS

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

GREETINGS

CLIMATE

CONTENTS

PLAYGROUND GAMES– NETWORKING FOR A MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS TUCSON

UA-HAURY PARTNERSHIP FOCUSES ON ENVIRONMENT, SOCIETY, AND SOUTHWEST

FORMER PRESIDENT OF IRELAND URGES PEOPLE-CENTERED CLIMATE SOLUTIONS

MEET MOLITA YAZZIE: THE FIRST HAURY NATIVE AMERICAN/ FIRST NATIONS OXFORD SCHOLAR

CARSON SCHOLARS

HOOKED ON FISHING CAT CONSERVATION

IN MEMORIAM: RAFE SAGARIN

SEEKING SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR SOCIETY

UNITED UA RESEARCHERS BATTLE GERMS TO IMPROVE PUBLIC HEALTH

STAFF & PUBLICATIONS

ENR2

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY

ARTS & ENVIRONMENT 20

SUSTAINABLE SLUG IS ALL ABOUT FUN AND FUNCTIONALITY

WELCOME TO THE UA’S NEW ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES 2 BUILDING

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

IE STAFF

PUBLICATIONS

BUILDING COMES ALIVE WITH INLAYS

NEW BUILDING, NEW LOOK

COVER PHOTO CIRCLING THE DESERT PHOTO CREDIT: ALEXANDER SCHALLER.

INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

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GREETINGS FROM THE DIRECTORS

It is once again a pleasure to report that the University of Arizona’s Institute of the Environment has had an excellent year. For this we thank our friends, colleagues, supporters, and wonderful staff. Our team’s work has been intense at times, but the payoffs have been visible in countless ways. This annual report provides an overview of our accomplishments. The 2014–15 academic year launched with a major, transformative partnership between the estate of dedicated philanthropist Agnese Nelms Haury and IE, the Colleges of Science and Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the UA Foundation. The result, the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice, which IE administers, supports scientific and cultural studies rooted in the environment and social justice, especially in the American Southwest. The program’s inaugural event brought Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and a U.N. special envoy on climate change, to campus to speak about climate justice before nearly 1,000 audience members. IE further reflected the interwoven nature of the environment and social justice over the past year through our flagship climate programs. The Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions has led efforts in collaboration with the Climate Assessment for the Southwest and the Southwest Climate Science Center to build higher profile partnerships focused on empowering Native Nation and Hispanic communities to participate in the growing conversations and actions involving climate adaptation. At the same time, our International Research Applications Program, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Agency for International Development, has expanded our climate collaborations efforts to include vulnerable communities in the Caribbean and South Asia. Our long-term efforts to spearhead a powerhouse climate science and adaptation capability for Arizona, the Southwest, and beyond has become highly visible as unprecedented drought took hold not just in California and the Colorado River headwaters, but also in multiple other places around the globe. Close

to home, our detailed study of Arizona attitudes on climate reveals that a majority of our state’s citizens understands the Earth’s climate is changing due to humans and the mounting costs likely justify government action. Fascinating findings! In keeping with our survey results showing Arizonans’ support for renewable energy, the UA Renewable Energy Network, housed within IE, continues to work with energy companies and researchers to seed new energy-efficient technologies and transform the nation’s energy foundation to one that is much cleaner for the atmosphere and our health, more friendly to our climate, and thus critical to ensuring secure water resources and healthy ecosystems into the future. IE is doing more than ever to support students’ research and help engage and train them to become better science communicators. The Climate Assessment for the Southwest program offered Climate and Society Fellowships to its second round of outstanding graduate students whose work focuses on the nexus of climate research and decision making. And with additional support from the Agnese Nelms Haury Program, the Carson Scholars Program is continuing to build a network of talented early-career environmental scholars. That said, all of our news is not good. The IE community suffered a tremendous loss in May 2015 when close colleague, Carson Scholar mentor, and renowned naturalist and author Rafe Sagarin was killed by a pickup truck while biking near Biosphere 2. Words cannot do justice to Rafe or to this tragedy, and our hearts go out to his family. Looking toward 2015–16, Co-director Diana Liverman will be back from her year sabbatical and all IE staff will be together under one roof in the new Environment and Natural Resources 2 building. We look forward to having you join us on the gorgeous “green” roof of the building and invite you to browse our many other achievements chronicled on the new and improved IE website, WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE BROADER UA ACHIEVEMENTS THROUGH THE UA’S ENVIRONMENTAL PORTAL. WWW.PORTAL.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU

Diana Liverman CO-DIRECTOR

Institute of the Environment 520 626 2910 liverman@email.arizona.edu ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/ DIANA-LIVERMAN

Jonathan Overpeck CO-DIRECTOR

Institute of the Environment 520 626 4364 jto@email.arizona.edu ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/ JONATHAN-OVERPECK

PHOTO CREDIT: HOLLY FAULSTICH

INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

ACHIEVEMENTS 2014-15 THESE HIGHLIGHTS REPRESENT THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS STAFF AND NOT OF THE LARGER ENVIRONMENTAL ENTERPRISE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA.

IE WAS AWARDED $10.2 MILLION IN ACTIVE SPONSORED PROJECT GRANTS AND FEES FOR SERVICE. OF THAT TOTAL, THE INSTITUTE RECEIVED $2.1 MILLION IN 2014–15 FROM THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, U.S. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, TUCSON ELECTRIC POWER, TOHONO O’ODHAM NATION, CITY OF LAS VEGAS, AND ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE.

319K $ 119K

ARTICLES CHAPTERS REPORTS

IE STAFF WROTE OR PUBLISHED 72 JOURNAL ARTICLES, GUEST COLUMNS, REPORTS, BLOGS, AND PODCASTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND ADAPTATION, DROUGHT, WATER MANAGEMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, ARTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT, AND OTHER TOPICS.

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

TUCSON ELECTRIC POWER

TO FACULTY

TO STUDENTS

IE AWARDED $319,000 TO FACULTY AND $119,000 TO STUDENTS AS SEED GRANTS, TRAVEL AWARDS, SALARIES, AND FELLOWSHIPS TO ADVANCE ENVIRONMENTAL, ENERGY, AND PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH.

TOHONO O’ODHAM NATION

10.2 Million

50+

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY

ACTIVITIES

IE SPONSORED AND CO-SPONSORED MORE THAN 50 CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY EVENTS, INCLUDING A PERFORMANCE BY “THE WORLD’S FIRST AND ONLY STAND-UP ECONOMIST” YORAM BAUMAN; PLAYGROUND GAMES, A FUN AND FAST-PACED ART-SCIENCE COLLABORATION; SCREENINGS OF MERCHANTS OF DOUBT AND PLANETARY; AND THE FIFTH ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL GRAD BLITZ. IE ALSO CO-HOSTED A VISIT BY MARY ROBINSON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF IRELAND AND A U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY ON CLIMATE CHANGE, WITH THE AGNESE NELMS HAURY PROGRAM IN ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.

CITY OF LAS VEGAS U.S. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

322K

PRIVATE FUNDING AND DONATIONS IE RECEIVED MORE THAN $322,000 FROM THE ESTATE OF AGNESE NELMS HAURY AND DONORS WHO SUPPORT THE CARSON SCHOLARS PROGRAM. HAURY FUNDS INCLUDED SUPPORT FOR THE NEW ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF AND OFFICE OF THE AGNESE NELMS HAURY PROGRAM IN ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.

160

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS TOPICS: CLIMATE AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION, WATER, ENERGY, RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL URBAN PLANNING, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, DEFENSE, AND MORE IE STAFF DISCUSSED ENVIRONMENT-RELATED TOPICS DURING MORE THAN 160 SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, SHARING THEIR EXPERTISE WITH MORE THAN 3,600 PEOPLE.

Mission The mission of the Institute of the Environment is to advance innovative solutions to environmental challenges in Arizona and around the planet. We embrace the significance of our location in the desert Southwest and harness the collaborative expertise at the University of Arizona and among its partners to help societies,

PROJECT GRANTS and Fees for Service

especially those in dry regions, make the best-informed decisions for a sustainable future. We invest in creative scholarship and

WEBSITE DOMAINS

IE MANAGED 60 DOMAINS (URLS) LINKING VISITORS TO ONLINE INFORMATION ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND RESOURCES.

60+

NEWS STORIES

TOPICS: CLIMATE, CLIMATE CHANGE AND ADAPTATION, DROUGHT, ART AND SCIENCE, FOOD GOVERNANCE, AND MORE IE STAFF WERE QUOTED OR REFERENCED IN MORE THAN 60 NEWS ARTICLES AND RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTS.

cutting-edge research, promote the environmental enterprise of the University, and train students and faculty alike to convey their insights to the world.

Our Vision The people of Arizona, the United States, and countries around the globe are enjoying economic prosperity, health, and a reliable supply of food, water, and energy while protecting our planet’s natural systems and biodiversity.

INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

CLIMATE Through its research, CLIMAS has helped draw the academy closer to community initiatives and members, an exercise, above all, in quietly listening and affirming.” Madeline Kiser

Focus Areas CLIMATE RENEWABLE ENERGY STEWARDSHIP OF THE WEST ARTS & ENVIRONMENT

Minding the Climate Gap When UA geographer Margaret Wilder began researching the effects of climate change on minorities and people of low socioeconomic status several years ago, she found little data for her local community. Knowing that southern Arizona and New Mexico have both an increasingly hot climate and high levels of poverty, Wilder wants to raise awareness about the unequal impacts of climate change on low-income populations, a concept known as the climate gap, so that social service providers, climate scientists, and others are better equipped to help vulnerable populations in the future. “Our initial interest was in exploring the relationship between climate and poverty in the Southwest U.S.,” said Wilder, an investigator with the Climate Assessment for the Southwest program (CLIMAS), which is based in IE and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We wanted to step back from a lot of the research that has been focused on this issue in the developing world, and say, ‘No, this also an issue in advanced industrialized countries.’” Ethnicity in itself is not a risk factor for climate, Wilder said. Rather, in the Southwest, a large demographic of Hispanics and Native Americans live at or below the poverty level, and it is the lack of financial resources and inadequate physical infrastructure in some neighborhoods that can place minority communities at higher risk. On the other hand, some ethnic groups may have higher intrinsic levels of coping abilities—referred to as adaptive capacity— due to their tighter social networks, relative to the Southwest population as a whole. “I think there’s an idea that climate affects all of us equally, because we’re all living in the same extremely hot climate,” said Wilder, an associate professor of geography and Latin American studies. “But if you’re already concerned about how you’re going to pay your energy bill, you can’t just turn up the A/C if it gets hotter.” PHOTO CREDIT: ZACK GUIDO.

Wilder’s research team, which also includes IE Co-director Diana Liverman, UA assistant professor Tracey Osborne, and UA graduate student Laurel Bellante, held a stakeholder workshop and conducted interviews with various social service and environmental organizations to determine the area’s ability to mitigate the impacts of climate change on low-income populations. “What we found is that there’s already a huge amount of mobilization going on,” Wilder said. “A lot of organizations that work with low-income communities are already involved with tree-plantings, park accessibility, creating green space for getting outside when it’s hot. Although climate is probably not at the top of the list of vulnerabilities, it’s being increasingly recognized by social service providers.” Wilder suggests this research might be of greatest importance for climate researchers, who will need to include these social service organizations among their affected stakeholders in future climate conversations. “CLIMAS research around climate and poverty in the Southwest supports the growing environmental justice or resiliency movement taking shape in our region, linking efforts as diverse as poverty reduction, youth development, reentry programming, and water and food security, among others,” said Madeline Kiser, a community activist in several sustainable development organizations. “So much of this work, at this point in time, is about creating parity: developing equal partnerships among people from very diverse backgrounds, forming a common language,” Kiser added. “Through its research, CLIMAS has helped draw the academy closer to community initiatives and members, an exercise, above all, in quietly listening and affirming.” WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/NEWS/MINDINGCLIMATE-GAP

Climate Assessment for the Southwest

A NOAA RISA TEAM

WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

CLIMATE CLIMAS Graduate & Society Fellows

The goal of CLIMAS’ Climate & Society Graduate Fellows Program is to train a group of students to cross the traditional boundaries of academic research into use-inspired science and applied research. In 2014, CLIMAS awarded four one-year fellowships to UA graduate students whose work connects climate research and decision making. The fellows each turned their $5,000 award and guidance from members of the CLIMAS research team into results-packed work. Sarah Truebe is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geosciences whose work focuses on helping scientists and stakeholders connect about best practices for extracting climatic information from stalagmites. Given that stalagmites provide a wealth of paleoclimate data, but are a nonrenewable resource, Truebe wants to develop sustainable methods for procuring samples from these ancient mineral deposits. She surveyed scientists and stakeholders across the globe to build a framework that will guide researchers wanting to conserve, and also learn from, these caves. Ling-Yee Huang is a master’s degree student in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and a researcher at the Water Resources Research Center. Her interests in both environmental science and policy led her to create the curriculum for a course that she taught at the UA’s James A. Rogers College of Law. The course, Achieving Scientific Literacy in the Classroom: A Climate Science and Law Curriculum, focused on teaching law students to think critically and scientifically about the data they encounter in climate change policy discussions. Soil scientist Rebecca Lybrand, who earned a Ph.D. from the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science in 2014, sought to give an engaging voice to the soil she studies. Lybrand is interested in the effectiveness of different communication strategies when presenting science to students. To put storytelling to the test, Lybrand shot two short films about her research in the Santa Catalina Mountains. The first film follows a traditional, objective documentary approach, but the second is a first-person, personal-experience narrative. She plans to write and carry out student pre-tests and surveys to test each video’s effectiveness, then publish her findings to the science outreach community. Chris Guiterman, a Ph.D. student working in the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, worked closely with the Navajo Forestry Department (NFD) to address the needs of the tribal nation’s forests in the face of climate change. Guiterman and the NFD shared knowledge extensively over the course of the project to quantify and assess the effects of climate change in the Chuska Mountains. As a result of the CLIMAS fellowship, Guiterman received funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to continue the project. WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/BLOG/2014-CLIMAS-CLIMATE-SOCIETY-GRADUATE-FELLOW

MARIANA PANUNCIO OF THE WORLD WILDLIFE FUND AND UA FACULTY MEMBERS MARGARET WILDER, KATHY JACOBS, AND GREGG GARFIN FIELD QUESTIONS AT THE CLIMATE CONVERSATIONS WITH HISPANIC LEADERS GATHERING HELD AT THE UA IN NOV. 2014. PHOTO CREDIT: NICKY SUNDT.

Helping Vulnerable Southwestern Communities Adapt to Climate Change The IE-based Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions (CCASS) launched an initiative in fall 2014 to help Hispanic and Native American communities in the U.S. Southwest understand and adapt to climate change. Climate Conversations is a series of discussions involving more than 75 community leaders to date. The conversations focus on how climate change will affect water resources, health, emergency management, agriculture, land management, and traditional practices in more vulnerable populations in southern Arizona and Mexico and how to best prepare for those impacts. “These conversations are guiding our efforts to engage these communities in discussions about preparing for climate change impacts,” said CCASS Director Kathy Jacobs. CCASS kicked off the initiative in November with Climate Conversations with Hispanic Leaders, a forum at the UA that was co-hosted by the World Wildlife Fund. Nationwide, nearly 40 million Americans speak Spanish at home, motivating the center to network with Hispanic leaders and provide online Spanish-language materials on adapting to climate change. In collaboration with the Haury Program’s Native Nations Climate Adaptation Program, the center expanded the dialog in March 2015 to include Native Nations, which share some of the concerns of Hispanics but also face other challenges. Impacts from climate change threaten Native peoples’ health and homelands as well as access to and viability of traditional foods and crops, which have provided sustenance as well as cultural, economic, and medicinal contributions for generations. Arizona’s population is 30 percent Hispanic and 5.3 percent Native American, according to the 2013

U.S. Census. In Pima County, Hispanics constitute 35 percent of the general population, and Native Americans make up 4.5 percent. Representatives from the Tucson City Council, Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Tohono O’odham Nation, Pima County Community College, the Consulate of Mexico in Tucson, Pima County Health Department, Pima Association of Governments, the Border Environment Cooperation Commission, Arizona Bilingual, the UA, and others attended one or both of the discussions. “Our meetings with leaders are helping us identify issues of most consequence to these communities so that we can target informational sessions and talks that will have the most relevance for the broader community,” Jacobs said. Drought has gripped the southwestern U.S. for more than a decade, and average temperatures are rising: four of Tucson’s six warmest years on record have happened in the past six years, with 2014 topping the list. Extreme heat particularly impacts those who work outdoors, forces others to stay indoors and limit their physical activity, reduces the efficiency of evaporative cooling, and raises electric bills and demands on the power grid. Other predicted effects of climate change include poorer air quality from increased dust and wildfire smoke, which exacerbates asthma; the spread of vector-borne diseases such as Dengue fever; and impacts to agricultural crops and rangeland practices. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/NEWS/HELPING-VULNERABLESOUTHWESTERN-COMMUNITIES-ADAPT-CLIMATE-CHANGE

CCASS.ARIZONA.EDU INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

CLIMATE

A Splash of Climate Information with that Coffee

It’s enough to give coffee farmers, buyers, and drinkers the jitters: a yellow powder that appears on the leaves of coffee plants, causing defoliation and reduced yields. The culprit, a fungal disease called Hemileia vastatrix, more commonly known as coffee leaf rust, cost Central American growers about $345 million in losses in the 2012–13 harvest season alone, and worldfamous Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee calculated losses of more than $1 million. Now, University of Arizona researchers and a team of other scientists are steeped in an effort to document whether climate information and communication, tailored and reformulated to meet specific needs and circumstances, can help the Jamaican growers stem the spread of the disease and deliver their cups of joe. “Coffee leaf rust hit livelihoods hard,” said Zack Guido, a program manager for the International Research and Application Project (IRAP), which is leading the research and is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Agency for International Development. “This project is looking at whether climate information can help improve the management of coffee leaf rust and whether we can quantify that.” Coffee is one of Jamaica’s most important agricultural exports after sugar. The country exported more than $13.8 million in coffee beans in 2012, according to the Jamaican Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. After coffee leaf rust spread to Jamaica in 1986, growers used chemicals to keep it in check. Experts suspect that when coffee prices began to decrease several years ago, growers saved money by cutting back on chemical sprays and fertilizer. That left many COFFEE FARMERS IN MAFOOTA VILLAGE, JAMAICA, ARE ORGANIZED INTO A COOPERATIVE AND SUPPLY THE HOTEL SECTOR IN THE ST. JAMES AREA. PHOTO CREDIT: FRANCESCO FIONDELLA, INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE AND SOCIETY.

plants more vulnerable to the fungus. In 2012, a particularly active year for coffee leaf rust, about 35 percent of the plants were affected. The research team includes scientists from Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society and local partners like the Jamaican Coffee Industry Board, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, and the University of the West Indies at Mona. Representatives from each group met in Jamaica for three days in February 2015 to talk to farmers, agricultural extension services, and coffee buyers to learn more about the coffee leaf rust problem and potential management solutions. “Climate information has the potential to help inform management decisions, but its application does not occur in a vacuum,” said Jim Buizer, director of the climate adaptation and international development program at IE and a co-director of the IRAP project. “It is important to understand what farmers currently do to manage coffee leaf rust in order to get a better sense of how climate information can be helpful.” From the meetings in Jamaica, the team brewed up a three-step plan that involves identifying the best climate information that farmers can use, ensuring that information is a good fit for the farmers, and evaluating the impact of the climate information on coffee yields and networks that pinpoint the effect the co-developed climate information has had on managing coffee leaf rust. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/NEWS/TAKING-SPLASHCLIMATE-INFORMATION-COFFEE WWW.IRAP.ARIZONA.EDU/

LANDING CRAFT UTILITY BOATS LOWER THEIR RAMPS ON THE BEACH AT NAVAL AMPHIBIOUS BASE CORONADO. PHOTO CREDIT: MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 3RD CLASS MIKE LEPORATI.

Assessing Climate Change Risk and Adaptability on DoD Facilities On the U.S. Naval Base Coronado near San Diego, a thin strip of land called “the strand” supports a road with beaches on either side. As sea levels rise, that strand could disappear, making travel and other daily operations on the base nearly impossible. That is why IE co-investigators Gregg Garfin and Jonathan Overpeck, principal investigator Rafe Sagarin (see page 29), and other UA researchers spent the year working with managers there and at other U.S. Department of Defense facilities in the Southwest to assess the potential impacts of climate change. “A key goal of this project is to raise awareness about climate-related risks at these defense installations and the ways in which climate interacts with other factors,” said Garfin, IE’s deputy director for science translation and outreach. “Imagine managing all of the weather and climate-affected systems in a small city, like transportation, water resources, emergency management, and you get an idea of the complexity of the issues at hand.” Now in its last year, the $1.2 million, three-year project, funded by the Department of Defense, involves assessing the best methods for responding to regional climate and ecological conditions, using forecasting models, and developing new strategies for adapting to these changes. The U.S. Southwest is already seeing impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures; increased severity of droughts, floods, and fires; and rising sea levels—all of which can impact troop readiness, site infrastructure, environmental compliance on military installations, and the lives, public health, and

property of surrounding communities, Garfin said. The research team, which also includes the British consulting firm Acclimatise, delivered a detailed report on sea level rise to Naval Base Coronado personnel and modelled current and future wildfire at the base’s inland training facility, Camp Michael Monsoor. In Arizona, the researchers similarly focused on wildfire modeling with managers at Fort Huachuca, and convened climate adaptation workshops at the Barry M. Goldwater Range, East and West. “Our interactions with our DoD colleagues have taught us that when we focus on the missions of these installations—their day-to-day training, operations, and activities—people warm up to discussions about climate change,” Garfin said. “When they reflect on the ways in which historic weather extremes have affected troop training or electric power, they can imagine ways in which plausible climate changes can affect their ability to fulfill missions in the future.” The scientists are submitting a paper for publication that details findings from the project. Among the conclusions, Garfin said, is that the action-oriented attitude of all branches of the Department of Defense can help personnel rapidly identify and adopt solutions to key climate challenges. Another point, he said, is the department can help build partnerships with other federal and state, tribal, and local agencies that manage neighboring lands to adapt to climate change in a more cost-effective way. “The DoD has been out in front in terms of being proactive in climate change planning at the agency level and is in a good position to lead at the regional level, as well,” Garfin said. INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

CLIMATE Tackling the Growing Drought Challenge in the Southwest and Beyond The big—and growing—climate focus in the U.S. has been drought in the West. IE researchers are studying the unprecedented drought in California and also are keeping a close eye on the worsening situation in the Colorado River Basin and elsewhere, which could adversely affect water supplies in the region. Two major efforts are bringing much more interdisciplinary science to focus on the looming Colorado River water crisis.

decades and how well we can simulate drought risk using the nation’s best Earth system climate models. This collaborative effort with the National Center for Atmospheric Research and others has a global focus on regions with a notable—and likely growing—risk of decades-long drought. These regions include the Mediterranean, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Australia, the Amazon, and the Southwest U.S.

First, UA scholars teamed up this year with other notable experts from the Southwest to establish the Colorado River Research Group. The group’s website (WWW.COLORADORIVERRESEARCHGROUP.ORG) has a growing number of regular policy reports that are intended to provide an independent, scientific voice for the future of the Colorado River, and the group works closely with others interested in safeguarding the services the river provides to Arizona and the other six states and Mexico that receive allocations from it.

“Unfortunately, one of our first big findings is that our state-of-the-art Earth system models all underestimate the risk of multi-decadal megadrought,” Jonathan Overpeck said. “Moreover, as global warming continues, this megadrought risk goes up significantly.”

At the same time, IE scientists continue to coordinate a large National Science Foundation project aimed at understanding the risk of prolonged drought in coming ELEPHANT BUTTE LAKE, NEW MEXICO. PHOTO CREDIT: ZACK GUIDO.

Combined with other work recently published by IE scientists, this means that Arizona’s water supply and forest health are significantly more threatened by ongoing warming than previously thought. Sober news, but thanks to these new results, Arizona and the rest of the Southwest have the opportunity to get out in front of a looming climate and water crisis.

The University of Arizona has done a great service by using the science of survey research to give state residents an opportunity to express their beliefs about what has been happening to the Earth and what they want government to do and not do on this issue.”

Jon Krosnick

TUCSON, AZ

UA Poll: Arizonans Concerned About Global Warming A large majority of Arizona residents believes the world’s temperature has been rising and that global warming will be a serious problem for the nation if nothing is done to curb it, according to a survey conducted by IE and Stanford University.

The survey also found that more than 70 percent of Arizonans support government action to reduce global warming, and a majority of state residents believes people are at least partly to blame for the planet’s warmer temperatures. “The survey findings show that the people of Arizona are aware of and interested in climate change and that they understand there are policy decisions that can be made to address it,” Jonathan Overpeck said. According to the poll, more than half of Arizonans believe global warming has caused more droughts and storms around the world, and more forest fires and heatwaves in the state. The survey of 803 adult Arizona residents was conducted to better understand Arizonans’ views on climate change and how those views vary depending on age, gender, ethnicity, and political affiliation. The goal, the researchers said, is to use the information to better tailor UA research and outreach to the concerns and needs of Arizona residents. “There have been quite a few national surveys on climate change, but their samples have been too general to provide detailed results on attitudes within Arizona,” said Diana Liverman, who co-wrote the survey with Jon Krosnick, professor of communication,

political science, and psychology at Stanford University and an expert on such surveys. Gregg Garfin was another co-author. “We were able to ask questions specifically relevant to Arizona to examine responses from different groups within the state, and we provided the option to respond in English or Spanish,” Liverman said. Hispanics are more concerned about the impact of global warming, and they more heavily favor policies such as cap and trade and government action to limit emissions. More agreement was found across political parties than might be expected. Democrats and independents (82 percent and 76 percent) are more likely than Republicans (59 percent) to believe the Earth’s temperature has been going up over the last century. In addition, 91 percent of Democrats, 75 percent of independents and 59 percent of Republicans believe the federal government should limit greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. businesses, and they express similar views about whether the Arizona government should limit greenhouse gas emissions from state businesses. “The University of Arizona has done a great service by using the science of survey research to give state residents an opportunity to express their beliefs about what has been happening to the Earth and what they want government to do and not do on this issue,” Krosnick said. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/CLIMATE-SURVEY

INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

CLIMATE Helping Western Cities Bounce Back from Climate Extremes

IE’s Gregg Garfin and Sarah LeRoy are helping 15 western communities better prepare for five types of extreme climate events that can threaten lives, property, public health, and even tourism: extreme heat, floods, drought, wildfire, and wind.

The researchers were contracted by the Western Adaptation Alliance, a knowledge-exchange consortium led by urban sustainability directors, planners, and program managers in Aspen, Boulder and Boulder County, Denver, Ft. Collins, and Lakewood, Colorado; El Paso, Texas; Flagstaff, Tucson, and Phoenix, Arizona; Las Cruces and Santa Fe, New Mexico; Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah; and Las Vegas. “Climate challenges faced by municipalities in the Intermountain West differ greatly from the headlinegrabbing hurricanes, storm surges, and sea level rise faced by coastal cities in the U.S.,” Garfin said. “Often the Intermountain West’s challenges are slow onset or persistent phenomena, like drought and multi-day storms or heat waves, or indirect effects of climate and

weather, like wildfires.”

Garfin and LeRoy are collecting information on on-theground impacts the cities have experienced and what steps they have taken in response. The goal is to help alliance managers communicate with key constituencies in their communities to broaden support for action on climate adaptation and improve preparedness. “We are connecting the dots between the way the cities in the region are affected,” Garfin said. “They learn from each other, and that has the potential to save them millions of dollars by being prepared instead of reacting to the aftermath of a natural disaster.” The researchers have developed a database that catalogues impacts from the five climate extremes. The team is also developing communication tools, including interactive, user-friendly websites for decision makers, community associations, and the general public that tells the cities’ climate challenge stories using nonacademic narratives, images, maps, and hyperlinks.

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA.

CLIMATE: A RISKY BUSINESS

Five UA researchers are combining their expertise in climate science, public policy, renewable energy, and business to help companies assess the risks associated with climate change. The Arizona Business Resilience Initiative took off in April 2015, when Tucson Electric Power (TEP) agreed to pilot the program. The utility will help the UA team develop and refine their strategies for integrating climate risk assessment and management into corporate business plans. “The University of Arizona has a long history of working with TEP on research-related projects, but this will be the first time we are introducing the UA’s extensive regional expertise in climate and environmental sciences to a complex set of business practices,“ said Ardeth Barnhart, director of the UA Renewable Energy Network (REN) and member of the team. “Working directly with TEP on identifying specific risks posed by ongoing environmental change and the potential solutions and new opportunities has been an important learning experience for all of us.”

For now, the project is innovative and experimental, focused on collaborative research with a business partner, while also revealing more about how this process works. The research team has identified four areas of concern—climate extremes, air quality, water availability, and wildfire—and is assembling research teams of UA experts to assess the specific threats each category might pose. “Properly assessing the business risks associated with climate change is a critical component of sustainable economic growth,” said Erick Bakken, senior director of Transmission Strategy, Land and Environmental Services for TEP. “We’re happy to partner with the UA to support the development of this important initiative.” The other members of the research team are project leader Andrea Gerlak, who is also a senior policy scholar from the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, Jaron Damery-Weston, a graduate student in the Eller College of Management and the School of Natural Resources and the Environment, and Madeline Ryder, a graduate student in the School of Geography and Development.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

SVERI DEVICES 3X: THE WEB PORTAL WAS DESIGNED TO BE AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING ON A VARIETY OF DEVICES. PHOTO CREDIT: CALS - COMMUNICATIONS AND CYBER TECHNOLOGIES DEPARTMENT.

Website Shines Light on Renewable Energy Resources UA researchers and a group of partners have developed a tool that will help utility companies better understand the long-term impact of renewable energy on the power grid and provide insight on how to integrate these resources in the future in the most costefficient and reliable way for consumers. The tool—a web portal—gathers, analyzes, and displays real-time data from eight southwestern utility companies, painting a broad picture of energy sources and use across the region. The information will help companies determine what actions to take for backup power planning over the next several years as the percentage of renewable energy usage grows. By 2025, Arizona utility companies are required to generate 15 percent of their energy from the sun, wind, biogas, biomass, geothermal, and other renewable resources. But the power generated by some of these renewable resources is variable. “Integrating solar and wind resources onto the grid while maintaining the total load and resource balance is the challenge for balancing authorities such as TEP,” said Sam Rugel, Tucson Electric Power’s director of systems control and reliability. “This tool will help quantify and communicate that challenge in a more efficient and effective way for us and our customers as we move forward.” Part of the portal is accessible to the general public, marking the first time in the Southwest that so many utility companies have coordinated their efforts to allow this amount of near real-time data to be publicly available.

The project began in 2012, when the IE-based UA Renewable Energy Network (REN) brought together UA researchers and regional utility companies to provide a more complete picture of the challenges that affect energy production and demand. The companies are part of the Southwest Variable Energy Resource Initiative (SVERI), which was formed in 2012 to study the impact of variable energy resources on the grid in the Southwest. The SVERI Public Access Data Portal displays a variety of graphs designed to provide a better understanding of the mix of renewable and traditional energy generation in the Southwest. Funding for the project is provided by SVERI and managed by REN. “The UA Renewable Energy Network has helped link important leading research in renewable energy power production forecasts at the University of Arizona to realworld applications by the Southwest regional electric utility companies,” REN’s Ardeth Barnhart said. “The models of near real-time data in the UAREN SVERI portal will support planning decisions for the increased use and integration of renewable energy into a complex electrical grid.” WWW.SVERI.UAREN.ORG WWW.UANEWS.ORG/STORY/WEBSITE-SHINES-LIGHT-ONRENEWABLE-ENERGY-RESOURCES

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RENEWABLE ENERGY UA Invention Slows Water Evaporation, Generates Energy

A new technology invented at the UA with seed funding from REN offers a positive environmental impact by slowing evaporation from bodies of water such as mining tailings ponds and reservoirs, while simultaneously generating solar energy.

The invention, called Hexocover, consists of floating hexagonal plastic panels that sandwich 4-inch balls linked together to form a cover to prevent evaporation. The panel design addresses the need for mobility through the inclusion of a propulsion system as well as GPS, so the panels can be built to be remotely configurable. When configured with solar cells, the panels can generate electricity. The cover minimizes water evaporation, the high cost to replace that water, and mine energy costs. And, in the end, it minimizes the overall environmental impact of such operations. With such features, the market possibilities grew to address similar needs for other types of bodies of water, such as reservoirs and swimming pools. HEXOCOVER CONSISTS OF FLOATING HEXAGONAL PLASTIC PANELS THAT SANDWICH 4-INCH BALLS LINKED TOGETHER, FORMING A COVER TO PREVENT WATER EVAPORATION.

“Mining activity typically requires a lot of energy, and this technology is a great example of how original ideas that develop the use of solar energy to transform industrial processes can have immediate and transformative effects on water and energy use, create positive environmental impact, and provide direct benefits to our economy,” Ardeth Barnhart said. Developed by Moe Momayez in the UA’s Department of Mining and Geological Engineering and Nathan Barba, managing partner at RePower Design, Hexocover is the result of their effort to find ways to conserve water in mining tailings (remediation) ponds. The company worked with Tech Launch Arizona, the unit of the UA that commercializes inventions emanating from University research, to execute an exclusive license to bring the invention to market. WWW.UANEWS.ORG/STORY/UA-INVENTION-SLOWS-WATEREVAPORATION-GENERATES-ENERGY STORY BY PAUL TUMARKIN, TECH LAUNCH ARIZONA

STEWARDSHIP OF THE WEST

BLACK MOUNTAINS, AZ. PHOTO CREDIT: SOREN JESPERSEN, THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY.

A Framework for Stewardship: Identifying Lands with High Conservation Values In the face of rapid global change, how can land managers better determine which lands are most suitable for conservation? Sound science helps. A research team, supported by the IE-based Southwest Climate Science Center (SW CSC), recently created a framework to identify lands with high conservation value in the West and elsewhere. Protected lands such as wilderness areas and national parks often have been created to protect scenic beauty and other social values. Creating a system of beautiful places has been insufficient to stem the long-term loss of biodiversity. Developing a protected area system that will secure the nation’s natural heritage and biodiversity in the face of global change may require prioritizing the conservation of land on the basis of ecological factors. The research team conducted a systematic analysis of Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-administered lands in 11 contiguous western states. The BLM is responsible for managing more public lands than any other federal agency, and some 70 percent of BLM lands are found in these 11 states. Seven ecological indicators were mapped to identify those lands with high biodiversity, potential resilience to climate change, and substantial landscape connectivity. This study specifically examined contiguous roadless BLM lands that are larger than 5,000 square acres and outside of existing special land-management designations, including national

monuments, wilderness areas, and wilderness study areas. Almost 17,000 square miles of land with relatively high conservation value and 117 potential conservation priority areas were identified. Overall, these potential priority areas had higher species richness, vegetation community diversity, topographic complexity, and surface water availability than existing BLM protected areas. In total, the 117 potential priority areas represent some 240 square miles of BLM lands primarily located in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, and Nevada. “This study represents the type of research that Climate Science Centers were created by the Department of the Interior to provide,” said Jonathan Overpeck, the university director of the SW CSC. “Identifying the most ecologically valuable lands is one step toward ensuring the stewardship of the West’s wildlife and natural systems.” These conservation priority areas represent a diverse set of places that present substantial opportunities for conservation. Land managers, policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and citizens can use the results of this study to inform landscape planning and conservation efforts. The methodological framework developed as the result of this research is readily applicable to other regions within the United States and beyond.

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STEWARDSHIP OF THE WEST Training a New Kind of Climate Scientist Like our understanding of climate change, climate science and its practice are evolving. Today, climate science is not only about scientific research or making projections, but also requires translating research findings into information, tools, and techniques that can be used by on-the-ground managers. Christine M. Albano is one of a new breed of climate scientists doing just this. Albano joined the SW CSC in January 2012 as a research associate with the John Muir Institute of the Environment at UC Davis, which is a key SW CSC partner. She was selected because, in addition to her competency as a biologist, Albano was interested in the social aspects of translating conservation science into policy. “I want to make a difference, and I believe this involves first understanding the management challenges and questions and drawing on these to develop practical science questions,” Albano said. “Like many other early career scientists in this field, I am more interested in the nexus of climate science and application than traditional academic research.” CHRISTINE M. ALBANO, WATERPOCKET FOLD, CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK, UTAH. PHOTO CREDIT: BRETT DICKSON.

Albano’s SW CSC research has examined empirical issues such as the degradation of rangelands, post-fire grazing, and conservation priority areas in addition to conceptual and methodological issues. This position also has afforded Albano the opportunity to work with stakeholders, particularly natural resource managers. She was instrumental in the development of SW CSC’s stakeholder consultative groups, which are helping to focus the center’s efforts in decision support and information transfer. Albano is involved in helping managers develop climate-adaptation strategies; recent work includes producing a new approach that uses geophysical diversity, including topography and soils, to identify lands in the Southwest that offer the best opportunity to protect biodiversity in the face of climate change.

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The consequences of this are huge. We’re looking at the significant loss of forested areas, the wholesale conversion of many southwestern ecosystems.” Donald Falk

Studying Resilience in Southwestern Forests UA researcher Donald Falk and his students are studying hundreds of plots in mountain ranges in Arizona and New Mexico to understand why some forests bounce back from devastating wildfires while others give way to grassland and shrubs.

The goal of his project, he said, is to provide guidance to park and forest managers faced with restoring postfire landscapes, or allowing other species to move in. “Typically in the past, after a disturbance event, land managers would try to direct the landscape back to its original state,” said Falk, an associate professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment. By asking big questions about resilience—the ability of an ecosystem to recover to its pre-disturbance state—Falk and his team are out to determine whether this approach is still ecologically appropriate, or even possible. “We want to understand the characteristics of a species that enable resilience and understand what determines the point of no return,” he said. “Land managers are looking to science for guidance.” Drought has gripped the southwestern United States for more than a decade, and average temperatures are rising. In combination with warmer temperatures and less precipitation, disturbances such as wildfire, forest die-off caused by insect infestations, and diseases can unhinge an ecosystem in a matter of days or weeks. “Overlay climate change and a large disturbance and

you have a recipe for very, very rapid change,” Falk said. “A few decades ago, 50,000 acres burned was huge for fires in Arizona. Now they are 400,000 acres and larger. When big events like that occur amid a multi-year drought, you have a potential tipping point moment for the entire ecosystem.” Post-fire soils can become inhospitable to the very seedlings trying to take root and restore the forest, and different vegetation moves in. “The consequences of this are huge,” Falk said. “We’re looking at the significant loss of forested areas, the wholesale conversion of many southwestern ecosystems.” To better understand what governs the transformation of an ecosystem, Falk and his team are using computer simulations and empirical observations— what vegetation grew there before a fire and what is there now—in the Catalina, Chiricahua, and Jemez mountains. His team has started to interpret the first round of results with more to come later this year. Falk got the project off the ground in fall 2014 with a Udall Center Faculty Fellowship, awarded jointly by IE and the Udall Center. “The release from teaching responsibilities was a great asset and allowed me to concentrate on moving this work forward,” he said. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/NEWS/STUDYING-RESILIENCESOUTHWESTERN-FORESTS WWW.UDALLCENTER.ARIZONA.EDU/PERSONNEL/FELLOWS.PHP

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STEWARDSHIP OF THE WEST Navigating Rough Water Randy Gimblett is a mediator for the natural world. After the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington was removed in 2011, several different groups, humans and piscine, began vying for the recently opened section of the river. Within a month, the endangered Chinook salmon returned to a 15-mile stretch of spawning habitat that had been closed off to them for nearly 100 years. In addition, the Yakama Nation, which holds rights to net the salmon, and the boating community, whose livelihoods and recreation depend on the river, began settling in to the new stretch of water. Gimblett, a UA professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment, knows the importance of research in conservation planning, and he wanted to provide the community with concrete data to make informed decisions about resource management and regulations. “This study could inform decommissioning dams in the future,” he said. “It’s an issue of endangered species on a river and no recovery plan in place.” Gimblett and Christopher Scott, co-investigator and a UA professor of water resources policy, received funding from an IE Faculty Exploratory Research Grant to conduct research during the summer of 2014. “No one had a clue about the level of river use or its impact on the salmon,” Gimblett said. “The theory is when boats float over the salmon, the fish get spooked and leave their beds. The frequency and intensity of the boats on the river could cause the salmon to leave hatching beds permanently.”

In a river system, warmer global temperatures can lead to decreasing water levels, later seasonal peak flows, and increased levels of sediment at the river bottom. “In order to prepare this recovering ecosystem for potential future degradation by climatic changes, it’s crucial to reduce non-climatic stressors such as over-use,” Gimblett said. Accordingly, the Yakama Nation has agreed not to net salmon until 2016. Based on his research, Gimblett predicts a period of two to three weeks during the late summer during which the river might see upwards of 100 to 150 rafts in a single day. During that time of year, river levels are at their lowest annual level, which could draw the boats down even closer to salmon spawning beds. Although current studies find little overlap between the largest spawning beds and the sections of river that see the most use, the fish are still in the process of returning to the recently opened area of the river. Gimblett hopes this phase of the study, which was completed in spring 2015, will help seed the protection of salmon species, foster an ecosystem that is resilient to climate change, and take into account the human river runners and tribal rights. “Because so many different groups use the river, it’s a tough case,” Gimblett said. “Our challenge has been how to create open, meaningful dialogue that makes them the stewards of the river.” WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/NEWS/NAVIGATING-ROUGHWATER WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/FERG-AWARDS

This study could inform decommissioning dams in the future. It’s an issue of endangered species on a river and no recovery plan in place.” Randy Gimblett

PHOTO CREDIT: RANDY GIMBLETT

ART AND ENVIRONMENT

JUDGES GREGG GARFIN FROM IE; JAVIER DURAN, DIRECTOR OF CCI; AND ROBERTO BEDOYA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF TUCSON PIMA ARTS COUNCIL. PHOTO CREDIT: JOHN NOFS.

Networking for a More Environmentally Conscious Tucson Call it matchmaking, with a social and environmental cause. Promising an evening of fun, funk, and fruitful partnerships, IE and the UA’s Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry (CCI) divided more than a dozen UA faculty members into four groups to vie for two $1,000 grants. Gathered on the rooftop of the Playground Bar and Lounge in Tucson for a playful mix of game show and speed-networking, each group had 45 minutes to conceive a socially and environmentally conscious project and five minutes to pitch their idea to a panel of judges. Faculty members who are part of the UA’s Art and Environment Network, a loose interdisciplinary collaborative convened by IE, had mentioned they wanted more opportunities to learn about each others’ work and to collaborate, said Gregg Garfin.“What better way than through a playful event?” Garfin said. CCI Director Javier Duran and Roberto Bedoya, executive director of the Tucson Pima Arts Council, also judged the pitches from the gold, red, green, and silver teams. The 16 faculty participants hailed from social sciences, humanities, physical sciences, architecture, and the arts. Eight different departments were represented in the two winning groups, red and gold. “Each discipline contributed different perspectives on environmental knowledge,” Garfin said. “Collectively, through interdisciplinary collaboration, we can find new ways of knowing and communicating about our environment, our science, and important issues about the stewardship of our planet.”

The red team created STEMM (Sustainable Transportation Environmental Memory Module), a compact tree planter that doubles as a module that provides public education on local climate change to people waiting at the public Sun Tran stops in Tucson. The team combined community education, urban landscape, and sustainability into their project to address climate change, said Margaret Evans, assistant research professor at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. The team also included Leila Hudson, associate professor of Middle Eastern and North African Studies; Katherine Morrissey, associate professor of history; and Linda Samuels, project director for the Sustainable City Project. “I was really struck by the synergies of the teams,” Evans said. “I don’t think I would have met these people, ever. The event was effective in getting us to know each other.” The gold group’s concept, The Heat is On! Adventures in Community Mapping, will create a map that blends science and art to increase the community’s understanding of where heat island hotspots—areas that are warmer than surrounding rural areas—are located in Tucson. The masterminds behind the idea were Ben Champion, director of the UA Office of Sustainability, Eyal Oren, assistant professor of epidemiology; Joellen Russell, an 1885 Society Distinguished Scholar and associate professor of geosciences and planetary science; and Karen Zimmermann, professor at the School of Art. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/NEWS/NETWORKING-MOREENVIRONMENTALLY-CONSCIOUS-TUCSON WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/ARTS-ENVIRONMENT

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CAMPUS & COMMUNITY UA-Haury Partnership Focuses on Environment, Society, and Southwest In partnership with the estate of dedicated philanthropist Agnese Nelms Haury, the UA established a program focused on environment, society, and the Southwest in September 2014 to benefit the UA and community partners. In honor of Haury’s life and interests, the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice supports scientific and cultural studies rooted in the environment and social justice, especially in the American Southwest. Mrs. Haury had long been concerned about the critical challenges facing the planet and its peoples, including the preservation and understanding of valued cultures, ecosystems, and landscapes; human rights and international relations; environmental change; and issues facing immigrants and indigenous peoples. “This partnership supports work on environment and social justice that is critical to a sustainable and just future and where the University of Arizona can be

an international leader in scholarship, teaching, and outreach,” Diana Liverman said. IE administers the program, and coordinates some of its competitive scholarships and other initiatives that address issues such as cooperation in an increasingly global and interconnected world, especially where there are growing risks of environmental change and the loss of natural and cultural diversity. The program encompasses chairs, faculty and visiting fellows, student scholarships and experiential learning opportunities, and a Native American scholarship at Oxford University. It also provides support for programs such as the Native Nations Climate Adaptation Program, the Consortium for Arizona-Mexico Arid Environments, Southwest Center publications, Arizona Center for STEM Teachers training, and Edgemakers, a company launched to empower teenagers who want to be innovators and make a difference.

THROUGHOUT HER LIFE, MRS. HAURY CONTINUED TO PARTICIPATE IN ARCHAEOLOGY AND OTHER FIELD TRIPS WITH UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA EDUCATORS SUCH AS DAVID YETMAN AND GARY NABHAN. HER SUPPORT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA CONTINUES TO MAKE UNIQUE PROGRAMS THRIVE. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AGNESE NELMS HAURY TRUST.

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Mary Robinson is the perfect choice to honor Mrs. Haury’s interests in environment and social justice and her commitment to international cooperation. Mrs. Robinson has been a tireless advocate for human rights and a role model in international leadership, most recently on climate change.” Diana Liverman

MARY ROBINSON AT UA’S CENTENNIAL HALL. PHOTO CREDIT: JOHN NOFS.

Former President of Ireland Urges People-Centered Climate Solutions Policies to address climate change must take a peoplecentered approach because our planet’s environmental problems were caused by humans, said Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, during a talk at the UA’s Centennial Hall in March 2015. “We have to reach a higher ground of human solidarity where we only have one Planet Earth, one Mother Earth, one world,” Robinson said. “It’s almost like the Titanic, where it’s not only those in steerage that will drown. Ultimately if the world becomes unlivable, everybody is affected.” Addressing the nearly 1,000 people gathered to hear her talk, “Everybody Matters: Climate Change and Human Rights,” Robinson lauded the accomplishments of faculty and students in advancing climate justice, adding “I feel very at home in this university because the climate discussion is so people-centered.” Nevertheless, she encouraged society to do more to ensure that policymakers take into account vulnerable populations as they work on adaptations to climate change. In 2005 Robinson was named a “Hero and Icon” as one of Time magazine’s top 100 men and women whose “power, talent, or moral example is transforming the world.” As a U.N. special envoy on climate change and president of the Mary Robinson Foundation– Climate Justice, she seeks justice for those particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change—

especially the poor and marginalized—and to improve the record on human rights and environmental governance around the world. She is a founding member of the Council of Women World Leaders and a member of the Elders, a group of world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela who contribute their wisdom, independent leadership, and integrity to help make the world a more peaceful and better place. Trained as a lawyer, Robinson is also the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama and the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience award. Robinson’s visit—her first to Arizona—was an inaugural event for the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice and was particularly relevant for the Southwest, where climate change is projected to have disproportionate impacts on poor, indigenous, and other often disadvantaged people. “Mary Robinson is the perfect choice to honor Mrs. Haury’s interests in environment and social justice and her commitment to international cooperation. Mrs. Robinson has been a tireless advocate for human rights and a role model in international leadership, most recently on climate change,” Diana Liverman said. “She is particularly concerned about how climate change will affect the most vulnerable and on ensuring an ethical response.”

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CAMPUS & COMMUNITY Meet Molita Yazzie: The First Haury Native American/First Nations Oxford Scholar As the first recipient of the Haury Native American/First Nations Oxford Scholarship, Molita Yazzie will complete a one-year Master of Science in social anthropology at Linacre College, University of Oxford, in England starting in fall 2015. Diana Liverman is a fellow of Linacre College and, with matching funds from Oxford University, helped establish the scholarship for students interested in environment, anthropology, archaeology, refugees, migration, and governance. Yazzie grew up on the Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona, in a dirt-floor shack that had no electricity or running water. As a single mother, she worked fulltime to complete high school and college, earning an Associate of Arts from Scottsdale College and a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in Indian MOLITA YAZZIE AT THE NAVAJO NATION AT CONTINENTAL DIVIDE, NEW MEXICO . PHOTO CREDIT: LEONARD JUDGE.

studies from Arizona State University. She also is poised to complete a Master of Administration in health science at Northern Arizona University. Throughout her education and career, Yazzie has focused on sociology and Indian studies, working directly with those in need by collecting data or evaluating social programs. “My life experience has stimulated my empathies and convinced me to help equalize society in whatever capacity that I am able to achieve,” she wrote. Through her research abroad, Yazzie hopes to share her knowledge to address complex societal issues in the Navajo and Hopi nations. Her goal is to localize services to improve research and evaluation of the needs of both communities.

CARSON SCHOLAR GLORIA JIMENEZ (MIDDLE) CONDUCTS FIELDWORK IN THE GALÁPAGOS. PHOTO CREDIT: JULIA COLE.

Carson Scholars: Promise for an Environmentally Vibrant and Just Future In honor of the vision created by Silent Spring author Rachel Carson, the Carson Scholars Program supports graduate student research and trains scholars to discuss their environmental studies in a way the public finds compelling. The program continues to build a network of students and faculty who push the bounds of knowledge and understanding of our

natural environment. The program is funded by IE, Biosphere 2, the UA Renewable Energy Network, and private donations. In addition, this year, four students were appointed Carson-Haury Scholars through the generosity of the Agnese Nelms Haury estate. Three of those scholars and one Carson alumnus are highlighted on the following pages.

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CAMPUS & COMMUNITY Carson-Haury Scholars his work at the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia, the world’s largest global forum on protected areas. His experience Down Under, he said, was due in part to the funding and training he received as a Carson-Haury Scholarship recipient. “The support that I get from this group is unparalleled. They’ve pushed me in so many different directions that are positive for my work,” Jones said.

Tommy Jones School of Natural Resources and the Environment Tommy Jones’ vision for Native American communities is bright, lit by solar and wind energy. His research addresses the gap between need and potential for renewable energy in Indian Country, home to vast natural resources that can be both sustainable and renewable. His aim, he says, is to help Native Americans develop technology for renewables and improve understanding between them and non-Native American communities on environmental topics.

Gloria Jimenez

As a 2014 summer intern with Sandia National Laboratories, he found that lack of financing and funding, tribal government institutional capacity, and power purchase agreements, among other factors, are obstacles to development on tribal lands, while federal programs and initiatives are important to success.

Department of Geosciences

“My goal with the Carson-Haury Scholars Program is to take the valuable information I am gathering and ensure that all Native Nations that want to develop renewable energy will know how to meet their needs,” said Jones, the first Native American student to receive a Carson Scholarship. “I’ll also be able to continue to communicate my research to a broad audience, especially to audiences outside of Native Nations, to promote greater awareness and legislation that facilitates renewable energy development on tribal lands.”

Looking into the past, the six-and-a-half foot specimen will help Jimenez better understand how a climate phenomenon known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) will respond to climate change. Coral grows in layers with different concentrations of heavy or light stable isotopes, depending on the water temperature when the layers formed. Like a dendrochronologist who reads tree rings, Jimenez can analyze the layers to determine how water temperature, and thus ENSO, has changed over the past centuries.

In September 2014, he wrote a guest blog for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs website, detailing his research at Sandia. In November, he presented his research in person to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. That same month he was selected as a U.S. delegate to present

It takes more than a nasty moray eel bite to deter Gloria Jimenez. She was placing a data recorder for her research in the Galápagos Islands when a toothy eel severed a tendon in her right thumb, but her team still surfaced with a core sample from a 300-year-old coral.

She hopes that learning more about ENSO dynamics will help researchers predict what’s going to happen in the future—important information for the Southwest, where rainfall can be influenced by ENSO patterns. Back on dry land, Jimenez wrote a narrative piece on her research that she hopes to publish as an op-ed. “It turned into something much bigger than I expected: It’s

a meditation on why I am a scientist, and particularly a climate scientist, despite the difficulties inherent in that,” she said. “It’s by no means a typical op-ed— another way in which being a Carson-Haury Scholar is expanding my horizons and pushing me to do new and interesting things.” Since becoming a Carson-Haury Scholar, Jimenez has won several awards, including an Environmental Professionals of Arizona Scholarship and a UA Galileo Circle Scholarship. She also was selected to participate in the Expert Witness Training Academy at the William Mitchell College of Law, where climate scientists are trained to present their work in legal settings.

America Lutz Ley Arid Lands Resources Sciences Roughly 90 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border, a constellation of small villages appears in the Sonoran Desert. The livelihoods of almost 14,000 people there depend on the San Miguel River Basin for raising livestock and growing crops; to them, land, water, and cattle are intrinsically and historically connected to their way of life. But climatic changes leading to reduced water availability in the last few decades have disrupted that socio-ecological system. Enter America Lutz Ley, a native of Hermosillo, Sonora, who is identifying social and policy factors that can help the rural communities adapt to climate challenges and educate themselves about climate impacts in the absence of economic and government support. “For more than a century, these communities have evolved in the midst of aridity and the dynamics of the trans-boundary U.S.-Mexico region. They have provided food for the local and regional markets; they have survived through combinations of traditional and modern techniques,” Lutz Ley said. “However, with

increasing temperatures and less water availability, it is still unknown if their knowledge and actions will be enough for adaptation. My work is about looking for capacity and looking for opportunities in the middle of social-environmental adversity.” With support from the Fulbright-Garcia Robles Program and the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology, Lutz Ley is interviewing local small-scale ranchers and farmers, public officials, and other stakeholders to explore their perceptions on social and environmental change and what enhances their adaptive capacity. “These communities are unique because of their position in the socioeconomic and geographic spaces, but we can learn valuable lessons regarding other arid watersheds,” said Lutz Ley, who is majoring in arid lands resource sciences with a minor in global change. “Around 50 percent of the world’s lands are classified as arid, and we know these places will face important challenges as a result of global climate change.” Through the Carson-Haury program, she said, she has learned how to translate scientific knowledge and jargon on water adaptation into a common language shared with those she is interviewing to help improve decision making at the local level. “Through the Carson-Haury program, you are trained to learn how to engage people through effective communication and how to connect your own academic activities with everyday lives of people,” she said. “I think it’s pretty amazing!”

Through the Carson-Haury program, you are trained to learn how to engage people through effective communication and how to connect your own academic activities with everyday lives of people. I think it’s pretty amazing!” America Lutz Ley, Carson-Haury Scholar

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CAMPUS & COMMUNITY WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR GENEROUS RACHEL CARSON CIRCLE MEMBERS: LEADERS CIRCLE

DONATIONS OF $5,000 OR MORE Diana and David Freshwater Pamela Grissom

RACHEL CARSON CIRCLE AND PROGRAM SUPPORTERS Ellinor and Roger Angel Carolyn Bass

Anna Maria and Giuseppe Biagini David Crown

Gina Murphy-Darling and James Darling Charlotte Hanson

Thomas W. Keating Diana Liverman

Catherene Morton

Molly Stranahan and Tom Curtin Pamela Sutherland

Zuckerman Community Outreach Foundation If you would like information about joining the Rachel Carson Circle, please contact contact Jeffrey Fischer-Smith, IE’s director of development, at JFISCHERSMITH@EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU or 520-626 3231.

The Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice seeks to use Mrs. Haury’s legacy to significantly change the world for the better. The program’s investment in the CarsonHaury Scholars Program will support the establishment of a network of world-class scholars committed to interdisciplinary research and science communication, both critical to solving the environmental and social challenges today. We expect this investment will yield world-changing benefits throughout the scholars’ careers.” Mary Grier, Trustee, Estate of Agnese Nelms Haury

FIFI THE FISHING CAT. PHOTO CREDIT: DEVAN SEWELL, WILD OASIS (WWW.WILDOASIS.ORG). INSERT: ASHWIN NAIDU. PHOTO CREDIT: N. PRADEEP KUMAR.

Hooked on Fishing Cat Conservation A former Carson Scholar and wild cat expert has established a non-profit organization to help save the endangered fishing cat of South and Southeast Asia. Inspired by his colleagues and research at the UA, Ashwin Naidu co-founded the Fishing Cat Conservancy in 2014 to help monitor the cat, Prionailurus viverrinus, and educate the local community about the importance of the animals and their dwindling wetland habitat along the east coast of South India. “Because of fish and shrimp farming and the demand that feeds the national and international markets, most of the habitat that is natural along these wetlands, rivers, delta areas, and mangroves has been destroyed,” said Naidu, a native of Andhra Pradesh, one of the 29 states of India and home to the Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary where the conservancy currently does most of its work. About the size of a bobcat but stockier, fishing cats have partially webbed paws that allow them to swim and hunt their main prey, fish. Their ability to dive and catch fish underwater makes them unusual in the cat world; their affinity for water also makes them sensitive to the destruction of wetlands. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List for Threatened Species has listed fishing cats as endangered since 2008. With an extensive background studying wild cats, Naidu put the communications skills he learned as a 2012 Carson Scholar to work to launch the Fishing Cat

Conservancy and its partner organization in India, the Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society. “I was able to do a lot of education and outreach events after I got the Carson Scholarship because they trained us to do public speaking and science communication,” Naidu said. The data collected by the conservancy have yielded evidence of the presence of fishing cats in a number of areas along the east coast of southern India and revealed that one fishing cat returned to the same place to defecate—the first time this behavior in the species has been documented on camera. “That shows that these cats may be marking their territories and communicating with other individuals with scat at specific locations, which I call ‘scat stations,’” he said. With major support from Wild Oasis, Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, Mohammed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Cincinnati Zoo, Safari West, Idea Wild, Feline Conservation Federation, and several individual donors, Naidu raised about $9,500 since December 2013 to run the conservation program; he hopes to raise at least $95,000 more to fully fund the organization for at least three more years—a nominal, sum, he said, that can go a long way for on-the-ground conservation in India. “The funding may be for a small cat, but it can have a big impact,” he said. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/NEWS/HOOKED-FISHING-CATCONSERVATION INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY In Memoriam: Rafe Sagarin Associate Research Scientist, Biosphere 2 Carson Scholars Mentor

By Julia Cole, Chris Cokinos, and Chris Scott, Carson Scholars Mentors

Rafe Sagarin’s passion and commitment to environmental scholarship found expression in many endeavors, including his dedication to the Carson Scholars Program. Over the past several years, Rafe’s vision helped structure and build the program to serve three cohorts of Carson Scholars. Rafe mentored in part by example, as a fearless interdisciplinary scholar who took on challenges in science, policy, communication, and outreach. His accomplished and diverse resume—an author, a congressional aide, an intrepid field scientist, a visionary architect of an ocean in the desert, a husband and father—lent him a special gravitas in working with the Carson students. For both the scholars and for his fellow Carson mentors (ourselves), Rafe embodied what we are trying to impart through this program— exemplary environmental scholarship and engagement that reaches far beyond academia. He showed our students how to tell accurate and compelling stories about science in the world.

Beyond his personal example, Rafe built a strong individual rapport with the scholars. In our trainings and workshops, he listened closely and offered wise counsel that recognized and elevated the best in each student. In both group and individual meetings, he provided support, advice, and confidence to these students. As the program moves into its fifth generation of scholars, we have shared many ideas about how to improve, to grow without losing the personal touch, and to make the program meaningful beyond the single year of training. Rafe believed strongly that the program’s success requires that we continue to engage and support Carson Scholars as they pass through and beyond the UA. A vibrant network of engaged environmental scholars, created through the Carson program, will be one of his enduring legacies. Rafe was killed in May 2015 by a vehicle while he was riding his bicycle. He and his influence will be deeply missed. WWW.UANEWS.ORG/STORY/REMEMBERING-RAFE-FROM-TIDEPOOLS-TO-THE-STARS RAFE AND HIS DAUGHTERS, ELLA AND ROSA, DURING EARTH DAY WEEKEND AT BIOSPHERE 2 IN 2014.

COLORADO RIVER BEFORE THE HOOVER DAM. PHOTO CREDIT: ROBERT CROW.

Seeking Sustainable Solutions for Society The UA’s Water, Environmental and Energy Solutions (WEES) initiative is developing innovative, practical solutions necessary for water, environmental, and energy sustainability in Arizona and other semiarid regions facing increasing demands on natural resources and the uncertainties of climate variability. This year, $1.2 million in WEES funds managed collectively by IE, the UA Renewable Energy Network, and the Water Sustainability Program were distributed through a variety of grants. “WEES projects are helping to secure adequate supplies of clean water for Arizona’s economic vitality, optimize the sustainable use of Arizona’s lands, and lead the creation of a vibrant renewable energy industry in the state,” said Betsy Woodhouse, IE’s deputy director. The initiative awarded research grants to three cross-disciplinary projects that seek to develop cost-effective and selective recycling methods to ensure a sustainable supply of scarce, strategic elements needed for advanced technology; enhance and integrate ground and airborne observations of drought and ecological responses to current and future climates; and better understand the metabolic

efficiency and adaptive responses of algae, which produce 100 times more oil than traditional crops and are valuable as feedstock for biofuels and ethanol. WEES also funded nearly $500,000 of new equipment purchases for seven research projects. Scientists used the grant awards to buy an ultra-low temperature freezer to preserve the integrity of samples of microbial communities, a high-performance computing cluster to enhance weather forecasts and climate projections, and other equipment essential to seeking practical, real-world solutions to Arizona’s natural resources challenges. In addition to support for new UA faculty, workshop grants, and other funding, WEES also awarded grants to two initiatives focusing on exposure science and risk assessment and ecosystem genomics—scaling biological information from genes to ecosystems to tackle problems ranging from global change to human health.

HTTP://WEES.ARIZONA.EDU

INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY United UA Researchers Battle Germs to Improve Public Health You can’t see them, but they are there. Microbial pathogens—a fancy way of saying germs—lurk on everything from elevator buttons to salad bar tongs, often finding their way into an unsuspecting host and wreaking health havoc. To better prevent the diseases these bacteria and viruses cause, a collaborative team of researchers at the UA’s Environment, Exposure Science and Risk Assessment Center is integrating public health with environmental research to help businesses and communities assess where, when, and why people are likely to be exposed. “What we do as exposure scientists is take data and work with it to see how frequently people are exposed and the magnitude of those exposures,” said Kelly Reynolds, director of the center. “I think we’re going to continue to be seen as leaders in this field, especially now that we’re working as a united force.” Formed in 2013, the center provides a platform for UA researchers from different disciplines across campus to work together to address environmental public health issues. It is one of only a handful of such initiatives in the nation to specialize in exposure science, the study of human contact with harmful agents occurring in the environment.

“When we’re trying to identify a human health hazard that some people are exposed to, the environment for us becomes whatever relates to that source of exposure,” Reynolds said. “So, if it’s an airborne hazard we want to know what the air quality is like for the person in their workplace, their home, and outside.” One project is centered in Yuma, where 90 percent of the nation’s winter lettuce is harvested. In 2013, 94 people who had eaten shredded lettuce at a Mexican restaurant in Arizona became sick from E. coli bacteria. The outbreak underscored a lack of food safety policy on lettuce as a product and sparked a large collaborative effort to address the issue. Interdisciplinary departments on campus measured factors from the natural environment on lettuce, such as crop contamination from birds, deer, and moles that scurry through the fields. They also collected, analyzed, and calculated occupational safety factors, including pesticide exposure, microbial contaminants, outbreaks, and water quality from irrigation from the Colorado River that runs through the canals. The center is partially funded by the WEES initiative, which awarded Reynolds’ team more than $250,000 since the center’s initiation. Marc Verhougstraete, a postdoctoral research associate at the center, said the team quadrupled its primary funding and raised more than $1 million in grants in 2014–2015 by expanding Its collaborations from within the UA to external industry. “Having the WEES support for Marc’s position was instrumental in getting us organized, in being able to think about how we wanted the center to look, grow, and what the goals are for the future,” Reynolds said. “Having that support is really vital in launching these programs and goals that we have.” WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/NEWS/UNITED-UARESEARCHERS-BATTLE-GERMS-IMPROVE-PUBLIC-HEALTH

POST-DOC MARC VERHOUGSTEATE COUNTS BACTERIA FROM ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES. EACH COLONY (COLORED SPOT ON THE PETRI DISH) REPRESENTS A UNIQUE SPECIES. PHOTO CREDIT: ENVIRONMENT, EXPOSURE SCIENCE AND RISK ASSESSMENT CENTER.

GRADUATION CELEBRATION FOR THE COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS AT THE SUSTAINABLE LABORATORY URBAN GARDEN (SLUG). PHOTO CREDIT: LINDA SAMUELS.

Sustainable SLUG is All about Fun and Functionality It was a forgettable dark and narrow dead-end alley, all brick and old, hot, pitted asphalt. Now that dingy urban alcove, tucked between City High School’s two buildings in downtown Tucson, is beginning to gleam as an open-air space for unlimited play, exploration, and learning. A collaboration among Linda Samuels, project director of the Sustainable City Project at the University of Arizona; Chris Trumble, an assistant professor in the UA’s School of Architecture; their students; and students and faculty from City High School and Paolo Freire Freedom School, the Sustainable Laboratory Urban Garden—SLUG—combines functionality with sustainability. “These kinds of spaces are architects’ dreams,” Samuels said. “Because of the strict parameters, everything is really controlled. You have to be extremely creative and conscientious that each cubic foot is used to its maximum potential.” City High School Principal Carrie Brennan said she was excited to have UA partners downtown, especially from the Sustainable City Project. “The alley has always attracted attention from architects,” she said. “We’ve always felt it could be a little urban oasis.” The space includes strategic sun shading and a 17percent permeable concrete surface that is slightly sloped for water harvesting. In addition, the team has been working with IE to install light and heat monitoring equipment and a weather station that measures the urban heat island effect inside and outside the garden

as a learning tool for classes at City High. Plans for the 12- by 125-foot space on Pennington Avenue also include trellises, an aquaponics system for raising tilapia and growing lettuce and herbs, a performance area called the Blob, a steel armature framework system, and long wavy custom-made steel “ribbons” that serve as benches, slides, and tables. “We wanted to make the space as flexible as possible,” Samuels said. “Everything serves multiple functions.” The armature has space for hanging chalkboards and art displays, the Blob will double as seating for the cafeteria; even the drainage holes on the ribbons spell out a secret message in Braille. As part of an Urban Farming and Sustainability elective, City High School students met with UA students every Friday for a month to help formulate the design and also gathered comments from the larger school community. In the future, students taking the elective will play a leadership role in the alley. Brennan envisions an elite “green crew” that would go beyond the elective to participate in the maintenance and development of the space. “Everyone is learning at every level,” Brennan said. “Our middle school students and staff also had input. Because the students who will use the space range from 12 to18 years old, the project was designed to keep alive the spirit of play. It had us all thinking about what it means to play.” The project was funded by a UA Green Fund grant, City High School, and Paulo Friere Freedom School. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/NEWS/ SUSTAINABLE-SLUGALL-ABOUT-FUN-AND-FUNCTIONALITY INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

ENR2 Welcome to the UA’s New Environment and Natural Resources 2 Building The Environment and Natural Resources 2 (ENR2) building is providing a new space for solving some of the world’s most urgent environmental issues. Researchers are using the state-of-the-art facilities to further our understanding of climate change and its impacts, wildlife and land conservation, water resources, renewable energy, and many other complex challenges. Interdisciplinary scholars, staff, and decision makers are meeting to develop innovative solutions that help ensure a vibrant and environmentally sound future. Thousands of students are poised to benefit from the latest audio and video capabilities in meeting rooms and a 600-person auditorium, boosting their opportunities for learning and discovery. Open for business in summer 2015, the building itself incorporates cutting-edge technologies that epitomize the UA’s commitment to sustainability in higher education. Its sister building, the Dennis DeConcini Environment and Natural Resources Building (ENR1) sits next door and houses the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Weather Service. The new building offers a variety of naming opportunities to honor family, colleagues, and friends who made a difference in your life or for your own legacy. To learn more, contact Jeffrey Fischer-Smith, IE’s director of development, at JFISCHERSMITH@EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU or 520-626-3231.

ENR2 at a Glance:

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Home of IE, the School of Geography and Development, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, and part of the Department of Mathematics

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Headquarters for flagship science, climate adaptation, and renewable energy programs

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An interdisciplinary meeting and research hub with auditoriums, a café, and small and large conference rooms that promote collaboration

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A slot canyon-inspired building design that echoes our sense of space, light, and shadow in the Southwest

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Energy efficient heating/cooling systems, rainwater harvesting, recycled construction materials, and other features aimed at LEED Platinum certification

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A rooftop with a state-of-the-art conference room, shaded outdoor space, and plans for gardens

RENDERING OF THE OF THE SOUTH ELEVATION BY CHRISTOPHER KAISER.

ARCHITECT’S RENDERING OF ENR2’S ROOFTOP GARDEN. CREDIT: GLN/RICHARD & BAUER.

The Future: Rooftop Community Gardens The ENR2 roof is envisioned as a learning laboratory for the UA and broader community. The design includes gardens that will absorb heat, insulating the building, and provide a small ecosystem for birds, insects, and plants. Through the UA Community and School Gardens Program, UA and K-12 students from low-income schools will design plant palates with attention to both ecology and ethnobotany. With an executive conference room and shade structure already in place, completion of these gardens will be the capstone to making the ENR2 roof a premier location for gathering, problem solving, and learning. The Institute of the Environment seeks outside funding to bring this concept to fruition. Donations will be used to install and maintain the gardens and provide educational signage; major donors ($10,000 or more) will receive onsite recognition. Donations may be made at WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/ENR2 or by contacting Jeffrey Fischer-Smith, IE’s director of development, at JFISCHERSMITH@EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU or 520-626-3231.

INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

ENR2 Building Comes Alive with Inlays

Long before any researchers or staff moved into their new offices, Gila monsters, desert tortoises, hummingbirds, bobcats, vermillion flycatchers, and pupfish already had moved in. These critters inhabit the new building thanks to members of the UA and broader community, who purchased inlays depicting the animals as well as the hydrocycle, a GIS satellite, solar power, and other environmental images. Set into the concrete floor on each of the five stories, the metal inlays bring the building to life and provide an interesting environmental path for all who visit.

Adopt a Critter!

Inlays are still available. If you would like more information about purchasing a critter or other inlay, please contact Jeffrey Fischer-Smith, IE’s director of development, at JFISCHERSMITH@EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU or 520-626-3231.

INLAYS ON THE GROUND, BIRDS ON THE CEILING Recognizing our appreciation of the environment, the building’s first living resident—a black-chinned hummingbird—took advantage of the new ENR2 habitat, laying two eggs in a tiny nest she built at the end of an overhead data cable. As the chicks—Jack and Jill—hatched and grew, folks around the world obsessively kept tabs on the family’s every move, captured through the live stream HummingBird Cam, which had more than 250,000 views. We wish the hummers many safe returns!

PHOTO CREDIT: DRENNEN BROWN

We express our appreciation to all of those who purchased inlays: Steve Archer Jinwon Bae Carl J. Bauer Greg A. Barron-Gafford, in honor of Evan Crosby Barron-Gafford Paloma I. Beamer Athena A. Bertolino Mary E. Black Scott Bonar Julie V. Brugger James Buizer Christina A. Carbone May W. Carr Andrew C. Comrie Melanie Culver Jim M. Cushing Douglas K. Duncan Barbara J. Eckel Kirsten H. Engel Carolyn, Brian, Senna, and Beck Enquist Lawrence A. Fisher

Anh T. Le Ryan H. Lee, in memory of Thomas Leong and Ronald and JoAnn Lee Sarah R. LeRoy Diana Liverman Michael J. Majewski Stuart E. Marsh Sallie A. Marston Institute of the Environment, in honor of Jaimie Galayda Sharon B. Megdal John D. Moeller Daniel P. Moseke Jacqueline C. Moxley Orhon Myadar Michael A. Ostapuk Jonathan Overpeck and Julia Cole Cynthia Poppe Jessica A. Prosser Jonathan Ramalheira-Tsu Dereka A. Rushbrook Carol B. Schwalbe Cecil R. Schwalbe Christopher A. Scott

Kevin M. Fitzsimmons

Stephanie C. Sklar

Margaret Fusari, on behalf of the Desert Tortoise Council

Molly L. Stranahan Valerie H. Teetor

Gregg M. Garfin

George E. Todd, in memory of his father and namesake

The Gargus Family

Alison M. Toveg

Andrea K. Gerlak

Soil, Water and Environmental Science-Microbial Ecology Laboratory

Anita Govert Howard L. Grahn James A. Harris Delia C. Heck Katharine L. Jacobs Charles M. Jones Jason R. Jurjevich Susan M. Kaleita Mary M. Kleba Nancy and John Koprowski

Willem J. van Leeuwen Charles C. Walker Katherine S. Williams Debra L. Wood Connie A. Woodhouse Betsy Woodhouse WRRC Water RAPIDS Team, in honor of Kelly E. Mott Lacroix Stephen R. Yool INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

ENR2

NEW BUILDING, NEW LOOK Our communications team has given the IE website a complete make-over to go along with our offices in the new Environment and Natural Resources 2 building (see page 33). Easier to navigate and contemporary, the website combines the latest in usability, mobile responsiveness, and eye-catching graphics to more effectively shout out to the world our growing environmental accomplishments and contributions.

ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

MT. LEMMON 12 YEARS LATER. ENTRY, IE’S EYE ON THE ENVIRONMENT PHOTO CONTEST. PHOTO CREDIT: ALEXANDER SCHALLER.

Diana Liverman Carl O. Sauer Distinguished Scholarship Award Diana Liverman is the recipient of the 2015 Carl O. Sauer Distinguished Scholarship Award for her significant contributions to environmental scholarship in Latin America. The award, which was presented in Fortaleza, Brazil, in May by the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers (CLAG), is given to a scholar “leading authorities in specific research topics and geographic areas of Latin America.” Liverman’s work on global climate change in Latin America has led her to be considered “arguably one of the most important and influential geographers engaged in environmental research” in that region, according to the CLAG website. Liverman focuses her research on the human and social dimensions of environmental issues, including vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, environmental change and food security, and international climate and environmental policy. AAG Presidential Achievement Award Liverman also received the Presidential Achievement Award from the Association of American Geographers during the AAG meeting in Chicago in April 2015. Awarded annually, this honor recognizes individuals

who have made long-standing and distinguished contributions to the discipline of geography. Liverman was selected for her extraordinary contributions to understanding the human dimensions of global change, including the impacts of climate on society and issues of equity and climate change, and for her leadership roles in numerous boundary organizations, including Future Earth, that strengthen partnerships with scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders to promote regional and global sustainability.

Zack Guido and Dan Ferguson Congratulations to Zack Guido and Dan Ferguson for defending their doctoral dissertations with resounding success. Guido, program manager and research scientist for the IRAP, earned his PhD from the School of Natural Resources and the Environment (SNRE). For his dissertation, “Informing Climate Adaptation: Climate Impacts on Glacial Systems and the Role of Information Brokering in Climate Services,” he won an SNRE Outstanding Dissertation award. Ferguson, CLIMAS program director, earned his doctorate from the School of Geography and Development with his dissertation, “Transdisciplinary Climate Research to Support Decision Making.”

INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

Staff

DIRECTORS Diana Liverman, Ph.D., Co-director Jonathan Overpeck, Ph.D., Co-director Ardeth Barnhart, M.P.A., Program Director, UA Renewable Energy Network James Buizer, M.M.A., Deputy Director for Climate Adaptation and International Development Daniel Ferguson, Ph.D., Program Director, Climate Assessment for the Southwest Gregg Garfin, Ph.D., Deputy Director for Science Translation and Outreach Katherine Jacobs, M.L.A., Director, Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions Anna Spitz, Ph.D., Program Director, Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice Betsy Woodhouse, Ph.D., Deputy Director

DEVELOPMENT

Jeffrey Fischer-Smith, B.A., Director of Development

OPERATIONS

Christina Gargus, B.A., Program Coordinator, Senior Maggie Heard, B.S., Administrative Assistant

Zack Guido, Ph.D., Program Manager and Research Scientist, International Research and Application Program Sarah LeRoy, M.S., Research Assistant Chad Marchand, M.P.A., Project Coordinator, Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions Ben McMahan, Ph.D., Research, Outreach and Assessment Specialist, Climate Assessment for the Southwest Alison Meadow, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions Gigi Owen, Ph.D. student, Assistant Staff Scientist, Climate Assessment for the Southwest Nancy Petersen, M.S., Project Coordinator, Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice Linda Samuels, Ph.D., Director, Sustainable City Project Lara Schmit, M.A., Program Manager, Southwest Climate Science Center

COMMUNICATIONS David Archuleta, B.A., Web Developer

Anh Le, M.M.F., Research Analyst

Andrea Brooks, B.A. and B.S., Senior Graphic Designer

Claudia Trevino, B.S., Accounting Associate

Angie Brown, B.A., Project and Events Coordinator

PROJECT/PROGRAM STAFF

Mary Black, M.S., M.L.S., Adaptation Program Manager, Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions Julie Brugger, Ph.D., Research Scientist Anita Govert, Grants and Contract Coordinator, Southwest Climate Science Center

Stephanie Doster, M.A., Editor and Communications Manager Eric Magrane, Ph.D. student, Research Assistant John Moore, Web Designer/Developer IE would like to thank student writers Paulina Jenney and Shahrazad Encinias for their valuable contributions to this annual report, and Kimi Eisele for her work highlighting IE’s partnership with the Department of Defense. We also extend our thanks to Fredrick Thomas, the mastermind behind IE’s new and improved website.

Publications by IE Staff

CHAPTERS

A CACTUS FRUIT. PHOTO CREDIT: BENJAMIN BLONDER.

Buechler, S., A. Marie-Hanson, D. Liverman, and M. Gay-Antaki. 2015. Advancing Multi-disciplinary Scholarship on Gender, Water, and Environmental Change through Feminist Political Ecology. In Buechler, S. and A.M. Hanson (eds.). A Political Ecology of Women, Water and Global Environmental Change. London: Routledge. Garfin, G., H.I. Chang, and M. Switanek. 2014. Climate and Hydrology of the Upper Gila River Basin. In Gori, D. and M. Schumann (eds.). Gila River-Arizona Water Settlement Act Ecological Flows Report. The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico, Santa Fe. Liverman, D. 2015. Reading Climate Change and Climate Governance as Political Ecologies. In Perreault, T., G. Bridge, and J. McCarthy (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology. London: Routledge. Overpeck, J. 2014. The Challenge of Biodiversity Adaptation under Climate Change. In Palutikof, J.P., S.L. Boulter, J. Barnett, and D. Rissik (eds.). Applied Studies in Climate Adaptation. Chichester, U.K., John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

JOURNAL ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS Ault, T.R, J.E. Cole, J.T. Overpeck, G.T. Pederson, and D.M. Meko. 2014. Assessing the risk of persistent drought using climate model simulations and paleoclimate data. Journal of Climate 27(20):7529-7549. Brugger, J. and M. Crimmins. 2015. Designing institutions to support local-level climate change adaptation: Insights from a case study of the U.S. Cooperative Extension system. Weather, Climate, and Society 7(1):18-38. Conroy, J.L., D.M. Thompson, A. Collins, J.T. Overpeck, M.B. Bush, and J.E. Cole. 2014. Climate influences on water and sediment properties of Genovesa Crater Lake, Galápagos. Journal of Paleolimnology 52(4)331-347. Donat, M.G., A.D. King, J.T. Overpeck, L.V. Alexander, I. Durre, and D.J. Karoly. 2015. Extraordinary heat during the 1930s US Dust Bowl and associated large-scale conditions. Climate Dynamics. DOI 10.1007/S00382- 0152590-5

Garfin, G. 2014. Opportunities for transforming US CLIVAR basic research to actionable science for managing climate risk. CLIVAR Variations 12(4):13-16. Garfin, G. Fire and Flooding in the Intermountain West. Association of Natural Resources Extension Professionals (ANREP) Newsletter. Fall 2014. Liverman, D. 2015. “Review of Naomi Klein.” Review of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, by Naomi Klein. Human Geography 8(1)99-109. Magrane, E. 2014. “Biosphere 2, Poetry, and the Anthropocene.” Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built + Natural Environments. August 31. WWW.TERRAIN.ORG/2014/COLUMNS/BIOSPHERE-2-POETRY-ANTHROPOCENE-ERIC-MAGRANE/ INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

JOURNAL ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS (CONTINUED) Magrane, E. 2014. “Six Short Movements Regarding Control.” Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built + Natural Environments. September 2. WWW.TERRAIN.ORG/2014/POETRY/ONE-POEM-BY-ERIC-MAGRANE/ Meadow, A., D. Ferguson, Z. Guido, A. Horangic, G. Owen, and T. Wall. 2015. Moving toward the deliberate co-production of climate science knowledge. Weather Climate and Society 7(2):179-191. Otto-Bliesner, B.L., J.M. Russell, P.U. Clark, Z. Liu, J.T. Overpeck, B. Konecky, S.E. Nicholson, F. He, and Z. Lu. 2014. Coherent changes of southeastern equatorial and northern African rainfall during the last deglaciation. Science 346(6214):1123-1227. Rockström, J. et al. 2014. Climate change: The necessary, the possible and the desirable Earth League climate statement on the implications for climate policy from the 5th IPCC Assessment. Earth’s Future 2(12):606611. (D. Liverman is an author). Shanahan, T.M., N.P. McKay, K.A. Hughen, J.T. Overpeck, B. Otto-Bliesner, C.W. Heil, J. King, C.A. Scholz, and J. Peck. 2015. The time-transgressive termination of the African Humid Period. Nature Geoscience 8:140144. Taylor, T., and E. Magrane. 2014. I can only pick up the stones and throw them like my voice. you are here: the journal of creative geography 17:66-67. Wilder, M., E. Magrane, M. Miele, D. Prytherch, R. Schein, M. Ingram, and H. Ingram. 2015. The power of narrative in environmental networks. AAG Review of Books 3(2):99-108.

REPORTS AND PAPERS Colorado River Research Group (J. Overpeck, Member). 2014. The First Step in Repairing the Colorado River’s Broken Water Budget: Summary Report. A Policy Report. 4 pp. December. WWW.COLORADORIVERRESEARCH GROUP.ORG/PUBLICATIONS.HTML

Colorado River Research Group (J. Overpeck, Member). 2014. The First Step in Repairing the Colorado River’s Broken Water Budget: Summary Report. A Technical Report. 22 pp. December. WWW.COLORADORIVERRES EARCHGROUP.ORG/PUBLICATIONS.HTML

Colorado River Research Group (J. Overpeck, Member). 2014. Charting a New Course for the Colorado River: A Summary of Guiding Principles. A Policy Report. 4 pp. December. WWW.COLORADORIVERRESEARCH GROUP.ORG/PUBLICATIONS.HTML

Colorado River Research Group (J. Overpeck, Member). 2015. The Case for Conservation. A Policy Report. 4 pp. May. WWW.COLORADORIVERRESEARCHGROUP.ORG/PUBLICATIONS.HTML Ferguson, D.B., J. Rice, and C. Woodhouse. 2014. Linking Environmental Research and Practice: Lessons from the Integration of Climate Science and Water Management in the Western United States. Tucson, AZ: Climate Assessment for the Southwest. CLIMAS. WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/PUBLICATION/REPORT/LINKING- ENVIRONMENTAL-RESEARCH-AND-PRACTICE

Ferguson, D.B., R. Thomas, Z. Guido, L. Ethen, C. Zucker, G. Chorover, and R. Johnson. 2014. Planning for Change in Southern Arizona: A Report from the Southern Arizona Regional Climate Summit for Municipal Leaders. Tucson: Climate Assessment for the Southwest. CLIMAS. WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA. EDU/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/PDFPLANNING-CHANGE-2014.PDF

Guido, Z. 2015. Highlights of the International Research and Applications Project (IRAP) Contribution to the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum. University of Arizona and Columbia University.

Guido, Z., J. Buizer, T. Finan, S. Gavin, A. Gerlak, L. Goddard, C. Greene, R. Johnson, D. Liverman, S. Mason, and A. Muñoz. 2014. An International Research and Applications Project (IRAP) Caribbean Workshop Report: Integrating Climate Information and Decision Processes for Regional Climate Resilience. University of Arizona Institute of the Environment and Columbia University International Research Institute for Climate and Society. 48 pp. Liverman, D., G. Garfin, S. Doster, K. Bao, F. Gladstone, J.A Krosnick, Bo MacInnis, J.T. Overpeck. 2015. Executive Report: Arizona’s Views on Climate Change. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/CLIMATE-SURVEY McMahan, B. 2014. Cones of Uncertainty: The Nature of Business in Hurricane Country. In McGuire, T., D. Austin,and D. Woodson (eds.). Gulf Coast Communities and the Fabrication and Shipbuilding Industry: A Comparative Community Study. Volume III: Technical Papers. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, New Orleans, LA. OCS Study. 241 pp. McMahan, B. and L. Penney. 2014. Risk and Responsibility: Occupational Health in the Fabrication and Shipbuilding Industry. In McGuire, T., D. Austin, and D. Woodson (eds.). Gulf Coast Communities and the Fabrication and Shipbuilding Industry: A Comparative Community Study. Volume III: Technical Papers. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, New Orleans, LA. OCS Study. 241 pp.

OPINIONS AND BLOGS CLIMAS. July 2014 - June 2015. Southwest Climate Outlook. Monthly report. WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/SWCO/ PERIODICALS

Garfin, G. 2014. “Notes from the Field: Thinking Outside the Box with Great Basin Natural Resource Managers.” CLIMAS. July 15. WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/BLOG/NOTES-FIELD-THINKING-OUTSIDE-BOX-WITH-RESOURCE-MANAGERS Garfin, G. 2014. “Notes from the Field: Preparing for Climate Change along the US-Mexico Border.” CLIMAS. October 27. WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/BLOG/NOTES-FIELD-PREPARING-CLIMATE-CHANGE-ALONG-US-MEXICO-BORDER Liverman, D. 2014. “What If Climate Change Triggers Cooperation, Not Conflict?” The Huffington Post. July 18. WWW.HUFFINGTONPOST.COM/DIANA-LIVERMAN/WHAT-IF-CLIMATE-CHANGE-TR_B_5599886.HTML

Liverman, D. 2014. “How to Teach About Climate Without Making Your Students Feel Hopeless.” PostEverything The Washington Post. August 20. WWW.WASHINGTONPOST.COM/POSTEVERYTHING/WP/2014/08/20/HOW-TO- TEACH-ABOUT-CLIMATE-WITHOUT-MAKING-YOUR-STUDENTS-FEEL-HOPELESS/

Liverman, D. 2014. “Women Who Make a Difference: Mrs. Roosevelt, Mrs. Haury and the Pursuit of Environmental and Social Justice.” The Huffington Post. September 22. WWW.HUFFINGTONPOST.COM/DIANA-LIVERMAN/THE- PURSUIT-OF-ENVIRONMENTAL-AND-SOCIAL-JUSTICE_B_5858170.HTML

Liverman, D. 2015. “Paddington and Empathy for Immigrant Children.” The Huffington Post. January 1. WWW.HUFFINGTONPOST.COM/DIANA-LIVERMAN/EMPATHY-FOR-IMMIGRANT-CHILDREN_B_6490442.HTML

Liverman, D. 2015. “Fight Climate Change by Fighting for Women’s Rights.” Pacific Standard Magazine. February 3. WWW.PSMAG.COM/NATURE-AND-TECHNOLOGY/FIGHT-CLIMATE-CHANGE-BY-FIGHTING-FOR-WOMENS-RIGHTS Magrane, E. 2014. “The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change.” Proximities. September 23. WWW.ENVIRONMENT. ARIZONA.EDU/PROXIMITIES/CARTOON-INTRODUCTION-CLIMATE-CHANGE

Magrane, E. 2014. “Proximities on Scale and the Art + Environment Triennial in Reno.” Proximities. November 12. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/PROXIMITIES/PROXIMITIES-SCALE-AND-ART-ENVIRONMENT-TRIENNIAL-RENO

Magrane, E., A.C. Licona, and E.S. Hayward. 2014. “Trans-waters: Coalitional Thinking on Art + Environment.” Proximities. December 17. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/PROXIMITIES/TRANS-WATERS-COALITIONAL-THINKING-ARTENVIRONMENT-ADELA-C-LICONA-AND-EVA-S-HAYWARD

INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

EROSION. ENTRY, IE’S EYE ON THE ENVIRONMENT PHOTO CONTEST. PHOTO CREDIT: ALEXANDER BRAUER.

OPINIONS AND BLOGS (CONTINUED) Magrane, E. 2015. “The Poetics and Politics of Water.” Proximities. February 11. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/ PROXIMITIES/POETICS-AND-POLITICS-WATER

Magrane, E. 2015. “Art in the Tree-Ring Lab.” Proximities. April 10. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/PROXIMITIES/ARTTREE-RING-LAB

Magrane, E., B. Champion, M. Thomashow, and P. Jenney. 2015. “The Ecological Imagination: A Conversation on Art + Environment.” Proximities. April 29. WWW.ENVIRONMENT.ARIZONA.EDU/PROXIMITIES/ECOLOGICAL- IMAGINATION-CONVERSATION-ART-ENVIRONMENT-MITCHELL-THOMASHOW-BEN-CHAMPION-AND

PODCASTS CLIMAS. July 2014–June 2015. Southwest Climate Podcast. Monthly, WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/MEDIA/PODCASTS Guido, Z. 2014. Management of the Colorado River [Episode 1]. 1075′ - Shortage on the Colorado River. CLIMAS. July 15. WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/PODCAST/1075-SHORTAGE-COLORADO-RIVER-EPISODE-1-MANAGEMENT-COLORADORIVER-DOUG-KENNEY

McMahan, B. 2014. Stressors on the River [Episode 2]. 1075′ - Shortage on the Colorado River. CLIMAS. July 21. WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/PODCAST/1075-SHORTAGE-COLORADO-RIVER-EP-2-STRESSORS-RIVER

McMahan, B. 2014. Storage Impacts on the CAP [Episode 3]. 1075′ - Shortage on the Colorado River. CLIMAS. July 29. WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/PODCAST/1075-SHORTAGE-COLORADO-RIVER-EP-3-SHORTAGE-IMPACTS-CENTRAL- ARIZONA-PROJECT

McMahan, B. 2014. CAGRD (Dennis Rule) [Episode 4]. 1075′ - Shortage on the Colorado River. CLIMAS. August 5.

WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/PODCAST/1075-SHORTAGE-COLORADO-RIVER-EP-4-CENTRAL-ARIZONA-GROUNDWATER REPLENISHMENT-DISTRICT

McMahan, B. 2014. Tucson Water & Municipal Water Issues [Episode 5]. 1075′ - Shortage on the Colorado River. CLIMAS. August 12. WWW.CLIMAS.ARIZONA.EDU/PODCAST/1075-SHORTAGE-COLORADO-RIVER-EP-5-TUCSON-WATER- MUNCIPAL-WATER-ISSUES

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INSTITUTE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2014 –15

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AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

NEW BUILDING, NEW LOOK

IE STAFF

BUILDING COMES ALIVE WITH INLAYS

CARSON SCHOLARS

HOOKED ON FISHING CAT CONSERVATION

IN MEMORIAM: RAFE SAGARIN

WELCOME TO THE UA’S NEW ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES 2 BUILDING

MEET MOLITA YAZZIE THE FIRST HAURY NATIVE AMERICAN/ FIRST NATIONS OXFORD SCHOLAR

SUSTAINABLE SLUG IS ALL ABOUT FUN AND FUNCTIONALITY

UNITED UA RESEARCHERS BATTLE GERMS TO IMPROVE PUBLIC HEALTH

SEEKING SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR SOCIETY

FORMER PRESIDENT OF IRELAND URGES PEOPLE-CENTERED CLIMATE SOLUTIONS

TRAINING A NEW KIND OF CLIMATE SCIENTIST

STUDYING RESILIENCE IN SOUTHWESTERN FORESTS

A FRAMEWORK FOR STEWARDSHIP: IDENTIFYING LANDS WITH HIGH CONSERVATION VALUES

UA INVENTION SLOWS WATER EVAPORATION, GENERATES ENERGY

UA-HAURY PARTNERSHIP FOCUSES ON ENVIRONMENT, SOCIETY, AND SOUTHWEST

PLAYGROUND GAMES– NETWORKING FOR A MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS TUCSON

NAVIGATING ROUGH WATER

WEBSITE SHINES LIGHT ON RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES

A SPLASH OF CLIMATE INFORMATION WITH THAT COFFEE

HELPING VULNERABLE SOUTHWESTERN COMMUNITIES ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE

ASSESSING CLIMATE CHANGE RISK AND ADAPTABILITY ON DOD FACILITIES

CLIMAS FELLOWS

HELPING WESTERN CITIES BOUNCE BACK FROM CLIMATE EXTREMES

UA POLL: ARIZONANS CONCERNED ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

TACKLING THE GROWING DROUGHT CHALLENGE IN THE SOUTHWEST AND BEYOND

MINDING THE CLIMATE GAP