The Sustainability Review Narrative

8/17/2019 The Sustainability Review Narrative

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A compilation of Sustainability stories

Na rra t i v e


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tSR Editorial Staff


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This past Monday, I presented my Master of Sustainable Solutions applied project to policymakers, planners,

business leaders, and environmental activists in Indianapolis. I took my audience on a rapid journey through

the images and visualizations of the city’s energy and transportation system, stopping periodically to recap

how the information connected with the values and goals of Indianapolis stakeholders.

After the presentation, I opened the floor to questions and called on a hand raised to my right. The

owner of the hand talked briskly, keeping his eyes peeled to the 20-page report that summarized my research,

while slowly turning each page to ensure he did not miss a detail.“While you provide a lot of good information, I think this report misses the opportunity to frame how

your research fits in the larger picture of the city-wide carbon reductions and community benefits that will re-

sult from implementing your policy solutions.”

For me, capturing the larger picture of my research is a major challenge. As sustainability scientists,

we seek to achieve solutions based in academic rigor. All the time, we discuss studies that use faulty method-

ologies or insufficient amount of data to make “illegitimate” claims. But, rarely do we debate articles that

overload the content with methods, data, and jargon to the point that the larger picture or the “so what” mo-

ment is lost.

At the Sustainability Review (tSR), we believe that academic articles need to strike an appropriate bal-ance between applying academic rigor and identifying the larger picture. While the public, decision-makers

and leaders want to gather information from credible sources, at the end of the day they want to use that infor-

mation to better their communities. They cannot use the information if they do not understand it or cannot re-

late its findings to their work.

With our first annual Narrative, the tSR editorial staff challenged five sustainability scientists and

scholars to capture the larger picture of their research. After reading this publication, we hope you understand

the important role fossil fuel divestment plays in the fight against climate change through a personal investiga-

tion into the expenditures of the Arizona State University Foundation. We explore the tireless work required

to protect the endangered loggerhead sea turtles by following a day-in-the-life of a “turtle girl”. We expose

you to a first-hand account of the different cultural perceptions that nuclear weapons elicit across the globe and

explain the need for nuclear disarmament. We describe the complexities faced by Arizona farmers and the in-

novations they employ to overcome them to deliver food to your table. Finally, we introduce you to the deep-

rooted planting method that could potentially reduce erosion and bring life back to the desolate urban desert

landscape in Central Arizona, if it was only given it a chance.

We want to hear your reactions and thoughts after reading this Narrative, as sustainability science and

research can only progress with an open conversation. Please share with us through social media, in face-to-

face conversations, and, maybe, even add your voice in next year’s Narrative. At tSR, we are all ears.

Sincerely,

Ryan Anderson

tSR editor-in-chief


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In the mid-1980s, resistance to apartheid in South

Africa reached critical mass, becoming one of the

most pressing international issues of the period. It

began when black South Africans protested the

1983 South African Constitution, which included

racially segregated Parliaments. In response, the

South African government, Apartheid, sent thou-

sands of troops to quell the protests, as millions

around the world watched on television.

The events in South Africa galvanized

college students across the United States to start

campaigns and pressure their universities to di-

vest from companies directly related to the South

African regime. The movement spread, with 55

campuses eventually divesting, and more than 80

cities, 19 counties, and 25 states taking some

form of binding economic action against compa-

nies connected to the Apartheid.

While this campaign did not single hand-

edly end Apartheid, South African Archbishop

Desmond Tutu noted, “it could not have been

achieved” without “the use of non-violent means,

such as boycotts and divestment” that “encouraged

their governments and other corporate actors to re-

verse decades-long support for the Apartheid re-

gime.”

The actions taken by the college students

against apartheid represented the first major divest-

ment campaign. Divestment, which simply means

getting rid of unethical or morally ambiguous

stocks, bonds or investments, has since grown to

become a prominent strategy in the fight against

climate change.

Large institutions such as the Rockefeller

Brothers Fund, more than 30 U.S cities, and a

growing number of American Universities and reli-

gious institutions have taken the steps to divest

from fossil fuels, but the movement requires more

participation to become an agent of social change.

To date, the nation’s largest university, Arizona

"Moral Cents: The Ethical and Financial

Case for Fossil Fuel Divestment at Arizona

State University"

Nick Di Taranto


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State University, has yet to divest its endowment from

fossil fuels.

Arizona State University takes climate change

seriously. The University has the nation’s first School

of Sustainability, established in 2006. Tens of millions

of dollars fund tremendous amounts of research and

practical solutions to sustainability challenges in Ari-

zona and around the world as part of President Crow’s

New American University vision, while educating a

new generation of sustainability scholars and practitio-

ners.

One would expect that a leader in sustainability

would take the lead in divestment, but after research

and multiple conversations with the ASU Foundation —

the organization that handles ASU’s endowment— I

found that to not be the case and took it upon myself to

understand and unwind the complexities that prevent

the Foundation from taking action against fossil fuel

companies.

Divestment: a grassroots campaign to combat the

climate crisis

For my Masters in History, I focus on envi-

ronmental policy, so naturally, a global grassroots

campaign peaked my interest. Three numbers stuck

with me — 2 degrees Celsius, 565 gigatons, and 2,795

gigatons. These numbers form the foundation for the

divestment campaign and were first brought to promi-

nence by environmental activist Bill McKibben three

years ago.

The first number comes from the 2009 Copen-

hagen Conference, where 167 countries recognized

the “scientific view that the increase in global tem-

perature should be below two degrees Celsius.” To

keep temperatures below that threshold, global car-

bon emissions cannot exceed the second number, 565

gigatons. The problem lies with the third number,

2,797 gigatons, or the amount of carbon already con-

tained in proven fossil fuel — coal, oil, and gas —

reserves worldwide. In other words, the carbon we


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plan to burn short of any action to curb either its

extraction or use.

Despite the overwhelming scientific evi-

dence supporting anthropogenic climate change,

few political solutions exist to curb carbon emis-

sions. Meanwhile, fossil fuel interests continue to

spend large sums of money to fund climate denial

research, lobby policymakers, and explore options

for extracting more oil, gas, and coal from the

ground. In 2013, fossil fuel companies spent $213

million dollars lobbying U.S. and European offi-

cials, an OxFam International study reported. The

study also concluded that fossil fuel companies

spent nearly $700 billion on exploration and de-

velopment projects in 2012.

To combat the influence of fossil fuel in-

terests, McKibben’s non-profit, 350.org, called

for a grassroots movement to break the power of

the top 200 fossil fuel companies — 100 oil and

gas and 100 coal companies — by bankrupting

them, not financially, but morally, and, in doing

so, pressuring political officials and businesses to

take action that curbs emissions. Since 2012, pub-

lic, private, and individual investors with collec-

tive assets worth more than $50 billion have

pledged to drop their fossil fuel holdings.

My interest in divestment stems from

McKibben’s passion, energy, and earnest activism,

but there was something more than that. The politi-

cal process often seems inaccessible and climate

change is a problem too “wicked” for individual

action to have a meaningful impact. The divest-

ment campaign seemed like something I could sup-

port and maybe make a difference. I began follow-

ing campaigns around the nation and researching

the arguments for and against divestment to deter-

mine if it was a worthwhile cause for Arizona State

University to pursue.

Where does the New American University stand?:

weighing divestment at ASU

Choosing to divest requires navigating an

institutional bureaucracy. Endowments consist of

money or other financial assets donated to a univer-

sity or organization. Most often, donors gifts’ come

with strings attached, meaning the university must

use the donation to achieve an end goal designated

by a donor. According to its 2014 Financial Audit,

the ASU Foundation manages $626 million in the

New American University’s endowment. The Foun-


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dation consists of six voting board members, who

steer the overall strategies of the organization’s

investment policies. Approximately, fifty different

firms make the actual investment decisions,

though, each of whom invest in about 300 to 500

companies based on their own investing strategies.

Initial attempts to learn how the Founda-

tion invests the University’s endowment through

financial reports provided vague answers: 40 per-

cent goes into global equities, 10 percent in global

fixed incomes, 20 percent in private capital and so

forth. Moreover, due to its status as an independent

and private organization, the Foundation has no

legal obligation to make more information avail-

able. So, I started contacting people at the Founda-

tion. I sent multiple e-mails that eventually led to a

meeting with Virginia DeSanto — known in the of-

fice as “Ginny”—the Foundation’s vice president

of finance, CFO, secretary and treasurer and Lisa

Jacobson, the assistant treasurer.

Ginny sat with a note-filled legal pad in

front of her, which signaled she took me seriously,

and she started things off by introducing herself

and explaining that the Foundation is “an inde-

pendent tax-exempt organization from ASU that

exists solely to support ASU.” Then, after intro-

ducing myself, I proceeded with my questions.

Ginny and Lisa explained that divestment

could result in financial losses that prohibit the

University from meeting its fiduciary obligation to

donors. Moreover, the Foundation focuses on

achieving the best possible return on investment

for donors. Ginny noted that large oil and gas com-

panies have the finances and ability to make large-

scale changes in energy infrastructure, so divesting

from those companies may actually undermine di-

vestment campaigns’ goal of reducing carbon

emissions. For instance, ASU collaborates with

Shell in its “Gamechanger Program.” Yet, the

theme this year implores students to come up with

innovative ways to take oil out of the ground more

efficiently; meanwhile Shell and other oil and gas

companies are abandoning their renewable energy

investment projects.

Well, OK, I thought, but how much of the

endowment is tied into fossil fuel companies? Nei-

ther Ginny nor Lisa knew. They cited the difficulty

of tracking hundreds of investments that that any

one of the fifty investment managers may trade on

a given day. They explained the Foundation


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would not likely disclose individual stock invest-

ment information because some managers con-

tractually forbid that type of disclosure since it

could risk weakening the investment manager’s

competitive edge in investing.

When asked how the New American Uni-

versity values such as being socially embedded,

globally engaged, and aspiring to transform soci-

ety influenced investment strategies, Ginny ex-

plained that the Foundation has no policies in the

investment strategy that specifically includes or

excludes any particular environmental, social or

governance concept. She mentioned, however,

that the Foundation was considering setting up a

separate sustainable investment fund for inter-

ested donors to invest. The Foundation, also, re-

cently held a sustainable investing conference that

included 30 to 40 universities from across the

U.S.

She transitioned into explaining that the

New American University values guided some of

the ways the Foundation spent its revenue,

through public outreach, scholarships and by re-

ducing its carbon footprint from operations. Still

though, the Foundation had no clear or well-

defined sustainable investment strategy and it cer-

tainly was not seriously considering divestment. It

remained unclear if, or how, those values guided

investment strategies.

The meeting lasted roughly 45 minutes.

Ginny wished me luck on finishing school, told me

to e-mail her if I had any other questions, and

showed me out. On the walk home, I plugged in my

earphones and began digesting the conversation.

Ginny and Lisa answered my questions to the best

of their ability and provided important context to

how the ASU Foundation operates. Still, the lack of

specific answers nagged at me.

A few days later, I flew home to Philadel-

phia for Spring Break where I mulled over my next

steps. I decided to look into some of the barriers to

divestment mentioned by Ginny to see if I could

find potential solutions. Google proved to hold a

wealth of information. To Ginny’s first point about

financial loss, I found some studies that supported

her claim — albeit funded by fossil fuel interests —

but most put forth evidence that demonstrated that

divestment makes financial sense.

Investment is about managing risk and the

concept of “stranded assets” makes investment in


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fossil fuel investments dangerous. An Oxford Uni-

versity study defined stranded assets as “assets that

have suffered from unanticipated or premature

write-downs, devaluations or conversion to liabili-

ties.” Coal, oil, and gas risk becoming stranded

assets due to potential regulatory policies that limit

carbon emissions through a carbon tax, emissions

trading program, or some other regulatory mecha-

nism that internalize the cost of carbon pollution.

Carbon pricing schemes cover more than one-fifth

of global emissions, with the European Union and

23 U.S. states under some form of carbon regula-

tion policy. A larger proportion of emissions will

likely come under regulation after the U.N climate

talks in Paris this December.

Mainstream financial institutions provide

some of the most compelling evidence in favor of

divestment because it can result in financial gain.

For instance, a research team from Standard and

Poor (S&P) modeled the performance over the

past decade of the S&P 500 index stripped of its

fossil-fuel stocks. A $1 billion endowment in-

vested in carbon-free S&P 500 companies would

have yielded an additional $119 million in profit

through 2013. Studies from other investment firms

yielded similar results.

I also discovered that on average, U.S. uni-

versities have only two to three percent of their

endowment invested in fossil fuel companies.

Based on the average, ASU has between $12.52

million and $18.78 million invested in fossil fuels.

While that seems like a lot of money, it represents

only a drop in the bucket of the $12 trillion total

market capitalization of fossil fuel companies.

Last, I looked at divestment commitments at other

universities and found a wide range of options.

Pitzer College, for example, committed to divest-

ing 99% of its endowment from fossil fuels, while

the University of Sydney created a plan to reduce

investments in fossil fuel companies by 20% over

the next three years and then reassess its situation.

Armed with this information I decided to

take Ginny’s offer for follow up questions and af-

ter a few e-mail exchanges I headed back to the

ASU Foundation to meet Ginny, as well as Rick

Shangraw, CEO of the Foundation.

Prior to his appointment as CEO in 2011,

Shangraw served as the director of the Global In-

stitute of Sustainability. He demonstrated both


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knowledge of and engagement with sustainability

issues as he went through my questions in a

power point presentation he made for the meet-

ing, taking care to stop when I asked for further

clarification, and expressing personal frustration

with the political apathy toward the climate crisis.

I found that we shared an admiration for McKib-

ben and his public outreach on climate change,

although he was less enthusiastic about the target-

ing of University endowments. He seemed on my

side, and even if he disagreed, I liked him because

he listened patiently to my perspective and took

care and consideration in explaining his.

Shangraw agreed that getting to a carbon

free investment portfolio was a desirable goal, but

also a journey, one ASU had just begun. He gid-

dily described a new investment opportunity or

tool that tracks companies’ behavior for socially

responsible indicators

such as human rights,

treatment of labor, and,

yes, carbon emissions.

Shangraw explained that

this tool could help move

the Foundation toward

sustainable investing. He emphasized that the Foun-

dation planned to provide new options for donors,

such as a sustainable investment fund, which —

along with a sustainable investment statement —

will be voted on at the next Investment Committee

meeting.

Additionally, Shangraw mentioned the need

for groups like 350.org to reach out to donors to

encourage them to push for sustainable options as

an important step for moving this topic forward

with similar investment organizations. Yet most of

the discussion focused very little on the endow-

ment. In Shangraw’s opinion, the endowment repre-

sented only one of the University’s and the Founda-

tion’s “sustainability levers” and he expressed the

need for a more holistic approach to moving the

needle on sustainable investing. While I never got

the impression the Foundation was seriously con-

sidering divestment, they made it clear that they


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were pursuing other sustainable investment strate-

gies.

Conclusion

The facts are simple and clear: humans are

changing the climate by releasing carbon dioxide

and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere

and the main source of those emissions come from

burning fossil fuels. To prevent the most catastro-

phic impacts of climate change, we need to keep

fossil fuels in the ground. Divestment campaigns

aim to pressure businesses, institutions, and or-

ganizations into stopping the flow of finance to

these companies, not to inflict financial harm, but

as a value statement: it is wrong to ruin the earth’s

climate and therefore wrong to profit from it.

If the ASU Foundation for A New Ameri-

can University’s sole purpose is benefitting the

University, then it should be held to the same val-

ues and standards. Climate change is a social, eco-

nomic, cultural, and political problem, pervasive at

the local, national, and international level, that is

largely attributable to burning fossil fuels. Divest-

ment from fossil fuels and the message it sends

could not fit more perfectly with the University’s

aspirations to become a force for societal transfor-

mation, embedded socially and connected with

communities, to encourage innovation, and to ad-

vance global engagement.

ASU and the Foundation should commit to

combating climate change through all its sustain-

ability levers. While the University has a Carbon

Neutral Plan that covers many “sustainable lev-

ers,” investment strategies are notably missing.

Still, ASU and the Foundation do not operate in an

ideal world and as with other climate-related chal-

lenges and any large institution, solutions are often

more difficult to implement in the real world and

change will likely occur slower than one might

hope. The Foundation is indeed moving in the

right direction, but it can do more.

To fully realize its goals and mission,

ASU should divest from fossil fuels. First, the

Foundation should assess the greenhouse gas emis-

sions embedded in its investment portfolio. Many

companies already disclose emission information

due to EPA greenhouse gas reporting regulations

and the push for corporate social responsibility.

Next, ASU and the Foundation can discuss to what

extent they want to divest from fossil fuels. Again,

options abound as many universities and other in-


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stitutions have already divested or partially divested from fossil fuels. Last, ASU and the Foundation can work

together with their current investment managers, or seek out new ones, to develop a low carbon investing strat-

egy that does not jeopardize the University’s fiduciary obligations. For instance, Morgan Stanley Capital and

other investment firms offer sustainable or low carbon investment strategies. Fossil fuel companies comprise

only 11 percent of the S&P 500 so divestment hardly restricts investment strategies.

The University’s endowment is one quiver in the arrow, but when our society is dealing with a chal-

lenge as pervasive as climate change, it needs all the arrows available. When considering divestment, Univer-

sity and Foundation officials should reflect not on my words, but ASU President and Foundation board mem-

ber Michael Crow’s: “Do you replicate what exists, or do you design what you really need?” ASU has already

changed the university model through its interdisciplinary approach and it is time that kind of reevaluation take

place concerning the University’s endowment, to create what Mr. Crow calls the “maximum societal impact.”

End Notes

“What is Fossil Fuel Divestment,” Fossil Free, http://gofossilfree.org/what-is-fossil-fuel-divestment/ (accessed February 1 2015). For a full list of commit-ments, see ibid, “Divestment Commitments.” For Tutu

quote, see “Divesting From Injustice,” Guardian 13June 2010. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/desmond-tutu/divesting-from-injustice_b_534994.html (accessed April 1 2015).

See the School of Sustainability website at https://schoolofsustainability.asu.edu/about/school-of-sustainability/The numbers come from Carbon Tracker Initiative, a project of the non- profit Investor Watch. It’s reporthas been utilized by several large investment firms and

banks, including Standard & Poor and HSBC, to cal-culate risk to carbon exposure. The total reserves donot include shale gas. See, Bill McKibben, “Global

Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” Rolling Stone Au-gust 2 2012. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719?page=2 (accessed March 3 2015).

See OxFam International , Food, Fossil Fuels, and Filthy Finance (October 17 2014, 4. The Figureadapted from European Climate Foundation http://www.europeanclimate.org/documents/nocoal2c.pdf

See OxFam International , Food, Fossil Fuels, and

Filthy Finance, 2-3.

For the board of directors, see http://www.asufoundation.org/about-us/board-of-directors.

Personal Correspondence with Virginia DeSanto, Feb-ruary 18, 2015. For figures on ASU’s endowment, see Arizona State University Foundation for a NewAmerican University and Affiliates, Consolidated Fi-nancial Statements and Additional Information (July30, 2014), 5.

For the Gamechanger Program., see http://

www.asushellchallenge.com. For more information

on Shell and other oil and gas companies withdrawal

from renewable energy sources, see Tom Bergin.

“Shell goes cold on wind, solar, hydrogen energy,”

Reuters 17 March 2009. http://www.reuters.com/

article/2009/03/17/us-shell-renewables-

idUSTRE52G4SU20090317 (accessed March 28 2015);

http://gofossilfree.org/what-is-fossil-fuel-divestment/http://gofossilfree.org/what-is-fossil-fuel-divestment/http://gofossilfree.org/what-is-fossil-fuel-divestment/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/desmond-tutu/divesting-from-injustice_b_534994.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/desmond-tutu/divesting-from-injustice_b_534994.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/desmond-tutu/divesting-from-injustice_b_534994.htmlhttp://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719?page=2http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719?page=2http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719?page=2http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719?page=2http://www.europeanclimate.org/documents/nocoal2c.pdfhttp://www.europeanclimate.org/documents/nocoal2c.pdfhttp://www.europeanclimate.org/documents/nocoal2c.pdfhttp://www.asufoundation.org/about-us/board-of-directorshttp://www.asufoundation.org/about-us/board-of-directorshttp://www.asufoundation.org/about-us/board-of-directorshttp://www.asushellchallenge.com/http://www.asushellchallenge.com/http://www.asushellchallenge.com/http://www.asushellchallenge.com/http://www.asushellchallenge.com/http://www.asufoundation.org/about-us/board-of-directorshttp://www.asufoundation.org/about-us/board-of-directorshttp://www.europeanclimate.org/documents/nocoal2c.pdfhttp://www.europeanclimate.org/documents/nocoal2c.pdfhttp://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719?page=2http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719?page=2http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719?page=2http://www.huffingtonpost.com/desmond-tutu/divesting-from-injustice_b_534994.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/desmond-tutu/divesting-from-injustice_b_534994.htmlhttp://gofossilfree.org/what-is-fossil-fuel-divestment/http://gofossilfree.org/what-is-fossil-fuel-divestment/


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Stone 14 January 2015. http://www.rollingstone.com/ politics/news/the-logic-of-divestment-why-we-have-to-kiss-off-big-carbon-20150114 (accessed March 142015).

Collin Macilwain, “The Arizona Experiment,” NatureVolume 446 No 26 (April 2007), 968.

President Crow uses this phrase often and is a corevalue of the New American University. For examples,see Michael M. Crow. Ed. A New American University Reader: Selected Writings On University Design And

Related Topics (2011). The Phrase appears in numer-ous articles within this text and within other cited byCrow in the forward.


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TURTLE TALES

H O W S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y P R I N C I P L E S C A N T R A N S L AT E T O

B I O D I V E R S I T Y C O N S E R V AT I O N

H A L E Y R A N D E L L

Stressed and devastated, we sprinted through shallow cold

waves that soaked our pants. Seagulls picked off silver-dollar

sized sea turtles for morning snacks. A late-hatch led these

little ones to face their attackers in the

daylight.

We sprang into action, divvying up the

rescue efforts for the turtles by

screaming and yelling to each other

and at the murderous birds. Frantic-

ally, we ran around collecting turtles

and swatting gulls, “I’ll go after the

birds, you get the turtles!!” Those vul-

ture-esque seagulls always seemed to

emerge out of the sand scavenging for

easy pickings, especially unattended

turtles and Sun chips. “Ash! Can you

tell how many have been taken??” Not

the best day of turtling on Cumberland Island.

Cumberland Island hides off the southern coast of Georgia,

only accessible to man by boat and intends to stay that way.


17/36

The sereneness is like nothing I’ve experienced

before. While taking long walks through the miles

of Spanish moss lined beach and forest, I searched

for skittish armadillos that always seemed to be

digging their head in the ground. Other times, I

might stumble upon a new-born wild horse. But

it’s the 700 sea turtle nests and 52,309 hatched

baby turtles in 2012 that define this wildlife

heaven for me.

I started the day like any other turtle girl would,

busy before sunrise, loading up the Park Service

truck with blank white wooden posts, old fencing

screens, and ever-enticing Texas Pete-filled turkey

sandwiches for lunch. I’d only been turtling for

about a week at this point, but it was still complete

madness.

The uninhabited beach is 17 miles long, a perfect

spot for those egg-filled Caretta caretta —

loggerhead sea turtles — to nest. My two fellow

turtle girl partners-in-crime ran a tight ship keep-

ing track of the turtle nests during the first half of

the nesting season, as high numbers of mama tur-

tles landed upon the shore to lay their eggs.

We bet on the number of turtles that had hatched

the night before during our two-minute, bumpy

and sun-glaring drive to the shore. Surprisingly,

we found indications of a new nest upon arrival…

a good sign for the turtles!

Though new to finding

freshly-laid nests, counting

hatched eggs, and everything

that goes along with turtling,

I felt that I had the procedure down. After all, it’s

not rocket science to dig up eggs and count them,

right? Marking new nests may not be the most

glamorous part of the job, but it protects incubat-

ing turtles from nest thieves like hogs and coyotes.

We would hop out of our truck, barefoot and sun-

tanned, and just dig, careful not to get too much

sand under our fingernails and especially not to

slip our fingers through an eggshell, an event that

is equal parts sad and gooey. But the feeling of a

freshly laid endangered sea turtle egg is unimagin-

able. If we missed a nest because wind erased the

tracks or we just couldn’t find it, more often than

not the wild hogs, ghost crabs, or raccoons on the

island would sniff out the nest and dig up the eggs

for an aphrodisiac-y meal.

It’s almost 7am now and only a half -mile or so

down the beach we see another turtle crawl! New

“..we foundindications of a

new nest upon

arrival… a goodsign for the turtles!


18/36

crawls looked like if a tourist set down one of

those monstrous coolers and dragged it from the

ocean to the tanning spot and then back to the

ocean, not an easy task. Realizing last night could

have been a good night for turtles to get busy and

lay nests, we mentally prepared for more new

nests or crawls to dig up.

Not every turtle sighting means eggs. Almost half

the time a turtle drags

her 300 pound body to

the dunes but does not

like the area and turns

away to try another

locale. Mistaking real

nests for these ‘false

crawls’ can be frustrating, since conservationists

will not take measures to protect incubating eggs

in unmarked nests, thus increasing the chance of

predators gobbling up the nest.

We pulled up to the hatched nest. It was still early

in the morning; the sun hadn’t made it to the

‘scorching hot’ angle yet so the long shadows em-

phasized the tiny baby turtle marks. Looking from

the hatched nest toward the ocean, you will ob-

serve what looks like an explosion out of the sand.

There are about 100 eggs in each loggerhead nest

and if there are not any lighting distractions —

housing lights, bonfires, traffic lights, etc. — then

all hatched turtles crawl in the direction of the

ocean.

Light to a sea turtle is like a Black Friday deal to a

mother of five, they cannot turn away. Baby turtles

pop out of the sand and follow silvery reflections

of moonlight toward the ocean where they know

food awaits. Those animal instincts are some of

the best in the animal kingdom! So, a distraction

like a bonfire on the beach often causes the turtles

to scurry as fast as possible down the coastline in-

stead of to the ocean. This puts the turtles at risk

to death from starvation, predation, or exhaustion.

To prevent this risk, conservation organizations

have created ‘lights out’ campaigns on nesting

beaches, to ensure the turtles end up in the ocean

and not someone’s backyard.

After recording the nest and hopping back into the

sandy truck, we barely traveled any distance be-

fore finding a new nest! “What is it, we hit 600

nests?”

It was highly unusual to have this many new nests

so late in the season. Once August hit, just about


19/36

all the activity was supposed to be baby crawls to

the ocean, maybe a couple lagging nests here and

there. Loggerhead nests sit in the ground for about

60 days on Cumberland so anything late in the sea-

son is vulnerable to cold water or ground tempera-

tures, another factor to add to the survival of this

species.

Young grasshopper, me, took the reins for this new

nest and with the help of the team dug all the eggs

up, marked the GPS location, and broke one egg

open for DNA analysis. The University of Georgia

keeps track of the locations that the turtles lay their

eggs and if the mama turtles chose nesting sites

close to the place they hatched, which happens of-

ten. Recent research has found that chemical cues

left by the little ones struggling down to the ocean

helps to memorize the location for the future. Re-

turning back to the same beach may actually in-

crease parasite resistance, which is why it’s impor-

tant to not ‘baby’ the turtles by carrying them to

the ocean from the nest, as adorable as that is.

The DNA collection makes the work feel very sci-

entific and substantial, as well. Wearing neon blue

gloves, we piled out of the truck, pulled out our

vials, cut through the sacrificed egg and took the

shells in to custody. The first couple of times it felt

wrong harming incubating eggs, but the technique

is important and actually getting your hands dirty

by handling eggs and turtles and fighting off hogs

bare-handedly — maybe that one is just in my

head — makes the work feel immediately meaning-

ful. Like most wildlife protection, sea turtle con-

servation is a long-term process, but witnessing the

process of nesting and hatching elicits an emo-

tional reaction and a deeper

understanding of the plight of

the turtles that researchers and

conservationists can share with

the public.

After recording the number of

eggs at the new nest, we as-

sessed the surrounding area.


20/36

Sometimes a mom lays a nest too close to the

high tide line of the intense, seven-foot tides of

Cumberland. If the nest gets soaked in water, they

often fail to incubate and hatch. Instead, the eggs

sit underground and rot; the smell is unbelievable

but the texture is even worse.

If we feel a turtle laid her nest in an unsafe part of

the beach, we do not hesitate to relocate a nest to

a higher or safer part of the beach. Some find the

practice controversial, as Mrosovsky (2006) sug-

gests that the long-term handling and relocating

of nests distorts gene pools. The question then

remains: which is better, leaving a nest untouched

and increasing the risk of a deadly wash-over or

relocating and creating sea turtles with different

genes than

mom in-

tended? The

priority on

Cumberland

is hatchling

success and

relocation is

an impor-

tant aspect.

During that day on the beach, August 6th 2012,

there were five new nests laid, eight nest hatches,

and four inventoried, previously hatched nests. For

a day in August, that’s very unusual. Turtles nest

every two to three years, so I can’t help but wonder

if 2015 will be another crazy season in the East

Coast or if 2012 was a fluke?

Since the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the

Loggerheads have received a lot of money and pub-

licity for conservation efforts. Still, 42 years later

researchers know little about what the turtles do

between hatching and returning to breed. So the

best way to protect these crazy reptiles is to help

them on the beaches. And that is exactly what has

been happening since it became illegal to even

touch them. A recent study reported that the age

until sexual maturation for a loggerhead is 23.5 to

29.3 years. So if you take into account the time it

takes to get the turtle programs funded and actually

making a difference in the number of hatchlings

making it to the breeding age, 40 years sounds

about right to see substantial results.

Long before it was ‘cool’ to care about sea turtle

conservation or to ‘save the whales’, Richard Nixon

signed the Endangered Species Act to give rights to


21/36

wildlife. This lead to the creation of conservation

groups to ‘hit the beaches’ as they say; to be turtle

protectors. Although it’s not a perfect system and

it seems an impossible task to fight the dozens of

extinctions per day, the law made a huge differ-

ence for sea turtle populations and worked because

it hit the sustainability triple bottom line right on

the head: People, Profit, Planet.

Cumberland Island is a national seashore and thou-

sands of tourists visit the beach each year to spot a

sea turtle either laying eggs or hatching, both

equally magical in my opinion. This experience is

once in a lifetime for many people and instills love

and respect for nature as societal values. Turtling

is an incredibly dirty job where volunteers learn

about human-wildlife conflicts, but it is also, usu-

ally, a fun time that makes it more likely volun-

teers will share their experiences with friends and

potentially recruit new turtlers. In addition to so-

cial and environmental benefits of this activity, the

National Park Service profits — more or less — from

visitors to the island. Although this island was

once inhabited by wealthy plantation owners, it

shows that with the right mindset and governmen-

tal support, it is possible to revive an environment

and even educate others to do the same.

You can ask any turtle volunteer and they’ll tell

you that it’s tough work but completely worth-

while! You can get that instant gratification that

everyone needs these days. Once a nest hatches

you can actually

watch the little ones

struggle and race to

the ocean. You can

even give them a lift,

but don’t tell the bossman about it. It’s even more

gratifying when you check in on a nest and can tell

that something had tried to dig into it but the pro-

tective screen stopped them and all that hard work

paid off!

On that abnormal day of turtling I did not make the

connection between the ‘triple bottom line’ princi-

ples. I was just another nature nerd trying to do my

part. It was not until I started my Master of Sus-

tainable Solutions at Arizona State University that

I understood the full effort and years of transfor-

mational work that had been accomplished for

those 700 nests to occur.

But where did it all start? Did the destruction of

the turtle’s habitat begin as an unintended conse-

“I was just anothernature nerd trying

to do my part. “


22/36

quence of the industrial revolution? Was it the

Endangered Species Act that made citizens under-

stand that there are limits to nature? Was is the

turtle girls quietly and religiously taking action to

protect the species? Does it really matter where it

started? While I do not know the answer to all

these questions, I am developing the analytical

skills, principles, and methodology of sustainabil-

ity so that I can seek to answer those questions.

Although a Master of Sustainable Solutions may

sound like a degree in energy efficiency or green

politics, we learn that sustainability principles can

be applied to almost any situation. On the surface,

sea turtle conservation seems to only touch upon

the environmental aspect of the term sustainability

and should be left to the researchers to solve. But

we can put a sustainability lens on this field to cre-

ate an even more engaged public and supportive

government.

References

Casale, P., Mazaris, A., & Freggi, D. (2011). Estimation of

age at maturity of loggerhead sea turtles Carettacaretta in

the Mediterranean using length-frequency data. Endan-

geredSpeciesResearch,13, 123-129.

Cumberland Island Sea Turtles Conservation Program Ac-

tivity Log. (2012) Retrieved November 16, 2014.

www.seaturtle.org

Hoarau, L., Ainley, L., Jean, C., & Ciccione, S. (2014). Inges-tion and defecation of marine debris by loggerhead sea

turtles, Caretta caretta, from by-catches in the South-West

Indian Ocean. MarinePollutionBulletin, 84, 90-96. Re-

trieved November 10, 2014. www.elsevier.com/locate/

marpolbul

Lamont, M., & Fujisaki, I. (2014). Effects of Ocean Tem-

perature on Nesting Phenology and Fecundity of the Log-

gerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta). JournalofHerpetol-

ogy, 48 (1), 98-102. Retrieved November 10, 2014. http://

www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1670/12-217

Phillips, K., Mansfield, K., Die, D., & Addison, D. (2014). Sur-vival and remigration probabilities for loggerhead turtles

(Caretta caretta) nesting in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

MarineBiology, 161, 863-870. Retrieved October 8, 2014.

The Extinction Crisis. Center for Biological Diversity. Re-

trieved November 16, 2014.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/

elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/

http://www.seaturtle.org/http://www.seaturtle.org/http://www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbulhttp://www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbulhttp://www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbulhttp://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1670/12-217http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1670/12-217http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1670/12-217http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1670/12-217http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1670/12-217http://www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbulhttp://www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbulhttp://www.seaturtle.org/


23/36

As a child, I was in awe of nuclear weapons.

They made me feel safe and strong. I remember at 9

years old during the Indian Independence Day, my

father turned on our television to the national news

and my entire family stayed glued to it for hours.

People on the screen dressed in the saffron, white or

green, colors of the Indian tricolor flag stood still, de-

spite the cold wind, saluting the flag and singing the

Indian national anthem. My heart soared with pride

when our Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Bihari Va-

jpayee, gave the nation hope for the future of the coun-

try.

The event was broadcast live from New Delhi to tele-

vision screens all over the country, including our

home in Mumbai.

After the speech, the televised parade began. The mili-

tary marched to a brass band. Then the crowd ap-

plauded with great pride as the Indian army began pa-

rading the nuclear Agni missiles past them.

Although I had no clue what those long colossal cylin-

ders were capable of, I was thrilled and convinced that

nuclear weapons were good for my country. This

filled me with a sense of power and supremacy over

our arch-rival Pakistan.

I knew of the tensions between India and her

neighbors Pakistan and China. Nuclear weapons

would keep our enemies at bay, I thought as a child. I

believed in nuclear weapons for years, until I joined a

Buddhist organization, Soka Gakkai International, a

few years ago.

The society taught me about the agony of nuclear war

and the terrible consequences that could result from

nuclear weapons. About 105,000 people perished in

Hiroshima and Nagasaki after atomic bombardments

by the United States during World War II. The moth-

ers who survived the Japan bombings gave birth to

children with disabilities. Seventy years later, survi-

vors still suffer from radiation sickness.

Nuclear war and a sustainable future

A nuclear war would prevent a sustainable future,

Nuclear Options

Do nuclear weapons threaten the human species

Does anyone at ASU care

Siddhanth Paralkar


24/36

writes David Krieger, a founder of the Nuclear

Age Peace Foundation, a non-profit global or-

ganization that opposes nuclear weapons and con-

sults with the United Nations. “A sustainable

world is a necessity for the people of the future

who are not yet here to speak and act for them-

selves. It is the responsibility of those of us now

living to speak for them and to do what we can to

pass this planet on intact to the generations that

follow us,” Krieger writes.

Braden Allenby is an American environmental

scientist, environmental attorney and a Professor

of Civil and Environmental Engineer-

ing, and of Law at Arizona State University.

“The biggest threat to sustainability,” he told me,

“remains nuclear weapons. It’s not climate change,

it’s not changes in biodiversity, it’s not nitrogen,

and it’s not phosphorus – its nuclear weap-

ons.” Nuclear war, he said, is the only

“planetary system” that could potentially destroy

life as we know it.

The problem is that almost 70 years since

the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, “people are

forgetting about it.”

While in the military during the Cold War,

Allenby worked with nuclear technology. He un-


25/36

derstands that the geopolitical incentives to pos-

sess a nuclear force are strong. He added

that most nuclear weapon states will not give up

their nuclear arsenals in fear of losing status, pres-

tige, and bargaining power with potential adversar-

ies.

When asked whether the world will ever be free of

nuclear weapons, he explained that nuclear weap-

ons can be managed but will not be whisked away.

“We can’t push that genie back in the bottle,” he

told me.

Uncertain outcomes

Barely 30 years after the Japan bombings,

amidst the Cold War, India conducted its first un-

derground nuclear test. My country deployed her

first nuclear missile “Prithvi-I” in 1994. Currently,

India has around 75-110 nuclear capable missiles.

In response to India's second nuclear test

(Operation Shakti), Pakistan detonated five nuclear

devices in 1998.

Today India and Pakistan both have more than 100

nuclear weapons and are continuously expanding

their arsenal. As political and military tensions be-

tween the countries fluctuate, there is a high possi-

bility of a nuclear war.

The people in both these nations live in fear of a

terrorist attack or a major blitzkrieg attack at the

borders of India and Pakistan, either of which may

escalate to a nuclear confrontation.

Will bilateral or multilateral talks between the na-

tions help mitigate these fears or will such talks

further add impetus to the competition?

The outcomes are uncertain.

Meanwhile, the nuclear arms race has taken on an

unprecedented pace across the rest of the world,

with more than 16,000 nuclear warheads reported

by the Federation of American Scientists.

Although today the tensions between the US and

Russia have decreased and chances of a nuclear

war seem quite low, the risk of accidents or illegal

use of the huge nuclear stockpiles is persistent.

An informal survey of ASU students

Now, as a student at ASU, when I tell my fellow

students about the nuclear-themed Independence

Day parade in India, they seem amazed. They

have never heard of such an overt display of nu-

clear power, and they seemed fuzzy on the history

of nuclear weapons.

Late in the fall of 2014, I decided to conduct a de-

cidedly informal survey on campus by designing a


26/36

questionnaire to gauge just how aware ASU stu-

dents are of nuclear weapons.

When asked about the exact number of nuclear

warheads in the world, only 19.4 percent of the 37

respondents gave the correct answer.

Fifty percent believe that the abolition of nuclear

weapons is possible.

While a little over half of the students said they

were taking actions to improve world peace, only

a third of the students said they wanted to get in-

volved in activism to abolish nuclear weapons.

“I really don’t know where Hiroshima and Na-

gasaki are and have no clue of when the bomb-

ings took place,” one student told me.

Unending tensions

In India, we are acutely aware of nu-

clear weapons. Pakistan and China continue to

geopolitically pressure India, and so the nuclear

arms race continues.

Being in the United States, though, I feel I

have the resources and foundation to at least

make younger generations aware of what nuclear

weapons can do, so we can live in a world with-

out them.

My Buddhist organization, Soka Gakkai Interna-

tional, started a 2011 campaign called, “Our New

Clear Future.” With the primary goal of complete

nuclear weapon abolition by 2030.

Since the program’s inception, members of the or-

ganization have conducted 176 anti-nuclear confer-

ences, events and exhibits in different states. In

2010, atomic bomb survivors from Japan shared

their experiences during a conference aimed at

deepening motivations to achieve world peace.

Soka Gakkai International has also collaborated

with movements like the International Campaign to

Abolish Nuclear Weapons, initiated by Interna-

tional Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear

War. The way to lasting peace can only be achieved

through sincere and compassionate dialogues. Thus

the students of Soka Gakkai International in the

United States have been spurred to create a ground-

swell of public consensus toward nuclear abolition

by 2015, when the next Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Treaty Review Conference is due to be held.

We hope to achieve the complete abolition of nu-

clear weapons by 2030.


27/36

Scott Tollefson farms melons in the Harquahala

Valley desert west of Phoenix. The valley is an

oasis of lush green farmland juxtaposed against a

brown and red landscape peppered with sharp and

thorny vegetation.

Years of farming have left a permanent mark on

Tollefson, the manager for Del Monte Farms in

Arizona. His hands are calloused and gritty. His

face is lined with wrinkles, which highlight his

animated blue eyes. He smiles warmly from be-

neath his grey moustache.

He’s a man of the desert, an innovative farmer.

It seems counterintuitive to farm in a desert that

receives a meager average of 13 inches of rain

each year. Available groundwater and the com-

plex surface-water irrigation systems established

by the Central Arizona Project and the Salt River

Project have compensated for much of the rainfall

deficit, but those systems are constantly under

pressure from population growth and severe long-

term drought.

Tollefson’s family hails from the Midwest,

where many of his kin were farmers. Tollefson,

though, spent his early years in Washington D.C.

His father, a man who loved the world of politics,

worked directly for Ezra Taft Benson, the under

secretary of agriculture for farm and foreign agri-

cultural services during the Eisenhower admini-

stration. Though he spent his childhood in the na-

tion’s capital, Tollefson was apathetic to politics

and yearned for the land.

He eventually

ventured west to attend

the University of Ari-

zona, where he earned

both an undergraduate and graduate degree in agri-

culture. Scott fell in love with the desert.

When his studies came to a close, Tollefson re-

mained with the university to work with the

school’s cooperative extension service. He

The Desert Farmer

With a well-managed water strategy, Scott Tollefson grows

melons and hope in the Harquahala Valley.

Sean Murray

“Years of farminghave left a

permanent mark onTollefson”


28/36

worked with farmers on solutions to manage in-

sects, disease, crop failure, and soil health. It was

here that Tollefson began to wonder about water.

“The way people were irrigating with flood, peo-

ple were using too much,” he said.

Flood irrigation, the traditional way of watering

crops in the southwest, consists of flooding a plot

of land for an extended period of time in order to

soak the roots of plants. He quickly realized that

wasting a resource as precious as water in a place

like the desert is foolish at best.

Once he came to this realization, Tollefson sought

out others who shared his convictions. After two

years working for the university, he partnered

with Howard Wuertz, owner of Sundance Farms

in Coolidge, Arizona.

Wuertz was inspired by the agricultural practices

of Israeli farmers and their use of surface drip

systems, according to Tollefson. With the aid of

Tollefson and another colleague, he began to look

for ways to implement similar practices in Ari-

zona.

The team designated small plots of land for flood

and drip irrigation. Over the course of a growing

season they measured the amount of water used

along with the yield of the crops. The results

shocked them. The flooded plots of land used up to

nine acre-feet of water, equivalent to filling nine

football fields with water one foot deep. The water

would percolate deep into the ground and the

crop — not having full exposure to the resource —

produced a small yield.

The drip plots, on the other hand, only used 3 acre-

feet of water. More direct percolation produced

four times the yield of the flood plots. These star-

tling differences convinced the farmers to use drip

to water crops.

Drip, however, was not a perfect system. The bulky

and heavy drip tapes used by the Israelis required

large labor crews to roll them up after each use.

Hoe crews easily damaged lines in the field as they

tilled the land. The hot desert sun would degrade

the tape quickly.

With flood irrigation, all one had to do was open a

valve and let the water out. The pipes were laid

deep into the ground where they couldn’t be dam-

aged and rendered labor crews unnecessary.

So, Tollefson and his friends put their lines under-

ground: problem solved. Drip crews became obso-

lete. The lines placed into the ground were pro-


29/36

tected from the sun and monitored with GPS track-

ers to prevent damage from farm machinery.

Other benefits were soon discovered. The bulky

Israeli surface drip lines easily clogged. Every

row of crop would require a drip line on both

sides, making salt monitoring — a crucial factor for

seed germination — difficult to manage. The sub-

surface tape was smaller and didn’t clog. Instead

of using two drip lines only one was needed,

placed under the plant roots. The placement made

monitoring salt levels easier and further decreased

water usage to 1.5 acre-feet. Lastly, because the

new tape didn’t clog, crops could be fumigated

and fertilized through the drip lines. The results:

more quality food, less work, reduced costs, and,

most importantly, reduced water consumption.

Arizona’s arid climate forces water management

Arizona’s arid climate has forced civilizations to

progressively manage water. The prehistoric Ho-

hokam Tribe developed complex irrigation sys-

tems that spanned 500 miles throughout central

and southern Arizona. The Hohokam’s irrigation

systems allowed them to cultivate their desert

landscape successfully during their multi-century

residency. There is broad speculation on what

eventually happened to the Hohokam. When they

disappeared, their

canals remained as

reminders of their

presence.

When the first prospectors came to the Arizona

territory, searching for minerals that would make

them rich, the canals were rediscovered and dug

out like lost treasure. A new civilization was born

from the ashes of the Hohokam civilization.

With flowing water, the modern Arizona began to

take shape. Early in the territory’s history, legisla-

tion was passed that established the doctrine of

prior appropriation: “First in Time, First in Right.”

This enabled landowners to claim rights to water

throughout the state, which set the stage for many

conflicts.

The first half of the century saw explosive

development in water infrastructure. Rivers were

dammed for water management, the most signifi-

cant being the Colorado River. Consistent winter

storms left high snow packs in the Rocky Moun-

tains and the Colorado River flowed at an all-time

high. Unaware of its potential to drop, policymak-

“First in Time, Firstin Right.”


30/36

ers signed complex treaties that allocated high

portions of water to the seven basin states that

laid claim to it.

In the latter half of the century, the climate

of the region began to slowly change resulting in

lower annual flows. As the Colorado River yield

dropped, disputes between states escalated and

led to major lawsuits. An important turning

point, The 1968 Colorado River Basin Project Act

ensured that California would receive its full al-

lotment of water during times of shortages before

any water was granted to Arizona.

The Central Arizona Project (CAP), which

transported Colorado River water through Ari-

zona, was finally under way by 1973. Because of

the growing severity of droughts, the completion

of the CAP canal was a high priority; however,

the Bureau of Reclamation was threatening to cut

funding to the project because of Arizona’s exces-

sive use of groundwater. The state, under pres-

sure, readdressed prior appropriation and enacted

the 1980 Groundwater Management Act. The

Act created urban-based Active Management Ar-

eas that regulated and redefined the rules of

groundwater usage and transportation.

Even with all the conservation efforts, today’s

farmers still have a lot to fear. Heather Macre, a CAP

board member, told me the first cuts go to agriculture

during water shortages. When this happens, farmers

will more than likely return to groundwater pumping

and this could damage the long-term health of Ari-

zona’s fragile aquifers.

Macre has been able to work with farmers and

successfully implement many of the CAP water con-

servation programs. In Yuma, for example, the CAP

and farmers are working on a pilot study in which

farmers would forgo some of their water allotment in

exchange for credit that would subsidize their loss of

production.

Steve Smarik, the state conservationist for the

National Resource Conservation Service, told me the

original plan for Arizona’s development was to com-

pletely replace agriculture with municipalities. Sma-

rik said that prior to the recession urban sprawl was

claiming farmland across the state at a rapid rate.

Even with the economic slowdown, however, he pro-

jects that farms will decrease radically in 50 years.

Farmers not immune to changing climate

Tollefson’s work with Howard Wuertz eventually

came to an end but his experiment with drip irrigation


31/36

has not. The soil on his melon acreage, when com-

pared to the soil of his flood-irrigating neighbors, is

soft and easy for a plant’s roots to penetrate. His

drip lines, almost 20 years old, provide significant

water savings.

But Tollefson is not immune to the changing

climate.

Though he is extremely resourceful, major cut backs

from CAP water have threatened his practice. As he

walked along a melon field, he explained the supe-

rior nature of river water to groundwater. River wa-

ter picks up nutrients and minerals as it flows mile

after mile. Drawn from an underground reservoir,

groundwater lacks many of those nutrients. In his

words, it is the equivalent of giving a baby Diet

Coke.

His algae stations turn the nutrient-scarce

“groundwater into mother’s milk.” The algae con-

tain chemical and biological micronutrients that flow

through his irrigation lines to the roots of his melon

plants.

Tollefson has been able to make well water

work but is aware of its limited availability.

He understands that eventually groundwater may be

depleted.

To Tollefson, the southwest should primarily focus

on water scarcity. In his eyes, it is an issue of na-

tional security. Local food sourcing is key. Outsourc-

ing the nation’s food production to other countries

because we have no water to grow our own food

spells danger to Tollefson.

“If you can’t produce your own food,” he asks, and

the food-supplying nation’s “system collapses… how

are you going to eat?”

Tollefson’s not a pessimist, though. He hopes for a

brighter future for his 14 grandchildren. He believes

that, if people understand the problem, they will pull

together and come up with the solutions needed to

face a growing water crisis.

Before Tollefson came to the Harquahala Val-

ley, the region’s aquifer was nearly depleted from

flood irrigation and the soils were nearly exhausted.

Many of the original growers responsible for the ar-

chaic farming practices had left the valley.

But on a late summer day, as his crews harvested a

rich bounty of melons, Tollefson voiced optimism

about the sustainability of the valley’s water supply.

The desert farmer smiled and said, “With the drip, it’s

coming back.”

To view Sean Murray’s documentary visit:http://vimeo.com/113621753


32/36

I’m drawn to the call of frogs congregating on a

lone desert tree - the only dry anchor they can

find. The tree stands isolated, on an island cut

from recent eroding floodwaters. A muddy river

now separates me from this last tree standing in a

landscape scoured by downed limbs, tumbling

rocks, and long discarded man-made debris.

Yesterday, this expanse of desert in Maricopa

County was silent, dry, and sparsely vegetated.

The natural desert plants must have been cleared

years ago for a farm or perhaps a housing devel-

opment on the edge of Scottsdale. Now it’s barren

land. Had the native mesquite, creosote, palo

verde, rabbit brush, and various cacti been left

undisturbed, the established network of deep na-

tive plant roots may have weakened the recent

torrent’s damage. Unfortunately, damaged land-

scapes like this are common in disturbed desert

environments. But the Flood Control District of

Maricopa County hopes to combat the destruction.

One tree at a time.

An obscure and time-tested solution

The salvation of flood-ravaged desert landscapes lies

in an obscure but time-tested planting method for na-

Tall Pots in a Shallow World

Scientists have figured out how to restore damaged urban desert landscapes with na-

tive plants that use less surface water and prevent erosion. Problem is, the scraggly lit-

tle saplings with long roots just aren’t as pretty as their conventionally grown counter-

parts.

Wayne Warrington

Photo by Erin Gunn


33/36

tive plants. A decade ago, the county embarked on

an experiment to plant native trees and shrubs in

tall pots, hoping to create plants with more robust

root systems better adapted for our arid climate.

Since native plants have a natural propensity to

create root structures that seek ground water doz-

ens of feet below the surface, it made sense to pot

new desert plants in a way that encouraged long

root structures.

Conventional growing methods, conversely, create

unnaturally dense balls of matted roots. While

they may be hearty to start with, they struggle with

a shallow root structure in the harsh environment

of the Sonoran desert. But the rub is that native

plants transplanted from tall pots are not immedi-

ately pretty. During the early growing phase,

plants transplanted from tall pots have reduced fo-

liage, thanks to their long roots.

The longer root structure allows vegetation to an-

chor itself in the desert soil, while reaching for the

water table that may lay dozens of feet below the

surface. Such an anchor provides additional sup-

port for fledgling or established trees in fierce

winds that can occur during the height of monsoon

storms. Anchored plants also hold soil in place

and retain healthy populations of vegetation, al-

lowing wildlife, like chorusing frogs, to remain

dispersed, instead of clinging to islands.

The tall pot nursery

Harry Cooper, the Flood Control District’s land-

scape architect, inherited the tall pot experiment in

2014. His inheritance included a tall pot tree nurs-

ery, an office stocked with bookshelves and file

drawers containing related materials, and a collec-

tion of digital data.

I met with Cooper early on a windy morning in

mid-October, in the Flood Control District build-

ing in the county complex in south Phoenix.

Smells from the landfill directly to the south be-

come noticeable each time the wind picks up.

Cooper’s voice is deep and gravely, and his pro-

fessionally proper greeting reinforces his serious

demeanor. I’m interested in looking at his data,

but he’s eager to showcase the tall pot nursery.

We cross the agency parking lot to a fenced off

plot of land marked “Maricopa County Flood Con-

trol District Tall Pot Nursery”. He unlocks the gate

and leads me to rows of vegetation growing in 30-

inch sections of PVC pipe. Standing amongst the


34/36

scraggly sapling and yearling trees, I wonder

where the notion of incubating native plants in

tall pots began.

The modern development of growing methods

emphasizing elongated roots had originated in

southern California during the 1980s in experi-

ments in arid lands restoration. The tall pot tubes

surrounding Cooper and me were developed from

planting practices started in Joshua Tree National

Park, were improved by research conducted by

David Bainbridge in San Diego, were transported

to Arizona by way of revegetation specialists at

Arizona Game and Fish Department, and were

shared with the Center for Native and Urban

Wildlife at Scottsdale Community College before

ultimately being embraced by Maricopa County’s

Flood Control District. And, while it’s still rela-

tively unheard of today, it boasts an enviously

high survival rate.

Once considered impractical and improbable, arid

lands restoration projects have become examples

of ingenuity and successful persistence.

If climate changes, tall pot plants will fill valuable

role

If monsoon storms continue to intensify and pro-

longed high temperature periods increase, plants

grown with minimal water and robust roots will fill

a valuable role in and around Phoenix.

Richard Adkins, forestry supervisor for the city, is

charged with managing its urban forest. In an inter-

view with azcentral.com, Adkins admits that the

largest challenge he faces is lack of citizen aware-

ness of the existence and benefit of Phoenix’s urban

forest. Surprising and frustrating, since a 2013 in-

ventory documented over 92,000 trees, palms, and

tall cacti within the city. The U.S. Department of

Agriculture says urban forests cool cities, save en-

ergy, improve air quality, strengthen quality of

place and local economy, reduce storm water run-

off, improve social connections, help promote smart

growth, and create walkable communities. With

such tangible benefits directly available from a well

-managed urban forest, public funds should be

pouring into Adkins’ office. Unfortunately, they do

not. As azcentral.com points out, the city designates

funds for the maintenance of established trees in its

urban forest, but not for the planting of new trees,

or even for replacement of lost trees.

In an email, Adkins writes he’s “familiar with the

benefits of tall pots” and “if the opportunity to util-


35/36

ize tall pot material for a project was to arise, I am

certainly in favor of using the material.”

Given the ability of tall pot vegetation to thrive in

arid environments with minimal maintenance and

limited irrigation, the connection between Richard

Adkins, the forestry supervisor, and Harry Cooper,

the flood control district’s landscape architect,

should be an instant win.

Adkins says in an email that public preference dra-

matically favors top growth when selecting plants

for residential or commercial use. Cooper, sur-

rounded by his nursery saplings, emphatically and

disappointedly agrees. Despite the demonstrable

superiority of tall pot trees in dry desert environ-

ments, these plants are not mass-produced because

there’s just not a market for them. They are not as

aesthetically pleasing as conventionally grown

plants when first transplanted.

While tall pot plant use in urban areas may remain

a challenge, their suitability for restoration projects

is being properly utilized. The Flood Control Dis-

trict’s nursery maintains the ability to grow 8,500

trees at a time and typically coordinates two to

three restoration efforts each year in conjunction

with their flood control construction projects.

At least with these efforts I may find myself once

again listening to frogs in the desert after a sum-

mer storm. This time, however, thanks to tall pot

plant restoration, I will hopefully stroll through a

grove of trees, instead of standing staring at just

one.


36/36

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