Arizona State University (Photo of the Day for yesterday!)

You all know by now that I am a student at Arizona State University (GO SUNDEVILS!) and have been there for just over 4 years. What you may not know is that last year I transferred into a brand new school at ASU, The Global Institute of Sustainability. This school is the very first school of it's kind in the United States offering the very first degrees in Sustainability. This past May, they just had their first graduating class from the School of Sustainability, with a whole 13 people. No other University has done this as of yet. Leave it to ASU to lead the way, and leave it to me to see an opportunity I just could not pass up.

Everyone today is 'going green'. It's all about being sustainable and learning about what encompasses the whole 'reduce, reuse, recycle' saying. It's all about hybrid cars, harnessing the sun's power, hydroelectric and nuclear energy. Green stuff. ASU is no different. In fact they have been named one of the greenest universities in the country by Princeton Review. They are turning to cutting edge technologies, not only with the formation of the new school and in their teachings but also in their research and on campus.

So....some facts about ASU. ASU's School of Sustainability and some of it's faculty members have received awards for environmental education and communication. ASU researchers are studying global climate change. ASU is working in conjuction with the University of Arkansas and Wal-Mart to develop a sustainable product index. New buildings at ASU are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. We have parking garages and buildings that are now powered by solar and wind power, their own power plants so to speak. We have recycling bins and solar compactors all over campus. We have toilets that you can flush two way, up for 'water waste' and down for 'solid waste' and all low flow water fixtures (sinks, showers etc.). They are even planning on installing a grey water system sometime in the future. We have fruit and nut trees and a campus garden that provides many of the eateries with fresh fruits and veggies. They have started a composting initiative and they don't even use leaf blowers on campus! We have Students moving out of residence halls even participate in a "Ditch the Dumpster" campaign at the end of each semester when they are moving out, whereby they donate things that can be used or recycled instead of just throwing them away. ASU is completely and totally going green!

I encourage you to read up about this cutting edge University and all the wonderful things happening at my school. You can find the School of Sustainability at http://sustainability.asu.edu/. Take a look!