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While going green may be a relatively new calling card for many American universities, the University of Arizona has been going green since its inception in 1885. UANews is showcasing the connection that our long and proud legacy of environmental stewardship has with our growing status as a global leader in advancing environmental sustainability.
Sustainability at the UA is grassroots movement embraced by our students, employees, alumni and supporters.
Special Reports
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Sustainability Along Border and Tribal Lands |
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Faculty across the UA are providing scientific, policy and cultural expertise in an effort to balance sustainability, security and tradition. |
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Biosphere 2 Studies Sustainability |
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Biosphere 2, built in the 1980s, is the largest attempt ever to create a natural environment. The UA College of Science assumed management of the facility in 2007. |
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Climate Change Research a Team Effort |
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University climate research involves scholars in fields ranging from Earth science to engineering, law and social sciences to public health, and agriculture to the humanities and art. Collaboration has improved the University's public outreach efforts. |
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Students Leading the Way |
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University of Arizona students are pushing to make the campus – and the surrounding community – a greener place to study, work and live. |
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Sustainability in the Classroom |
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Student and faculty interest in sustainability courses is growing, helping to make the University of Arizona a hotbed for study and implementation. The UA currently offers more than 160 courses with a focus on sustainability |
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Achieving Sustainability Through Agriculture |
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Long before there was a green movement, the UA was making extraordinary advances in sustainability. For more than a century, the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has been conducting innovative research, developing new technology and educating the public on how to preserve the planet's precious natural resources. |
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A Sustainable Campus |
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The UA campus has been a model of environmental sustainability long before the green movement. Even as it grows, innovative projects are minimizing the University's environmental footprint. |
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Sustainability Through Engineering |
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Engineering students and faculty are developing innovative methods to reduce the environmental footprint of semiconductor manufacturing, copper mining and solar power generation. Their efforts have already had extraordinary impacts on industry. |
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Sustainable Architecture and Landscapes for the Desert |
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Desert dwellers can look to innovative UA architecture students and faculty for a more energy-and-water efficient built environment. They design, construct and test affordable dwellings and landscapes suited to the beauty – and the limitations – of our arid land. |
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Leading the Way in Water Research |
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UA water researchers across dozens of disciplines are tackling fundamental questions regarding water availability, quality and use. |
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Bringing Solar Power to the Masses |
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Researchers throughout The University of Arizona are involved in innovative efforts to make solar power an affordable energy alternative to fossil fuels. |
Project Sage Videos
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Sustainability News
- Algae could soon become a valuable biofuel resource, according to research at the UA.
- The first all-electric car to come to a university campus will be added to the UA's car-sharing program through a partnership with Connect by Hertz on Earth Day.
- Coordinated by the UA's Office of Sustainability, special events include a lecture series, Campus Arboretum tours, open houses, exhibits, film screenings and more.
- A new 1.6-megawatt array located in the UA Science and Technology Park's Solar Zone will offer solar energy to Tucson Electric Power customers. The system's output will be sold through TEP's new Bright Tucson Community Solar Program.
- The funding will support the "energy telescope" project, headed by famed UA astronomer Roger Angel. Through the use of optical mirrors, sunlight is concentrated on high-efficiency photovoltaic cells.
- A 60-year drought like that of the 12th century could be in our future, indicates new research by UA scientists.
- Students in the UA Honors College presented dozens of ideas on ways to boost campus sustainability the same day the University's Green Fund opened a campus-wide call for funding requests regarding sustainability-related efforts.
- UA professor Dean Lueck has co-coordinated a symposium that is drawing law and economics experts from around the nation and Australia to discuss and develop research papers to help improve policy around wildfire management.
- The center, fueled with a $3.1 million, five-year grant, will address the current and future effects of climate change on the region's natural and cultural resources.
- Relationships among organisms, or mutualisms, might be more important to global ecosystem health than previously thought, argues a research team involving UA professor Judith Bronstein.
- The campus sustainability trio: the President's Advisory Council on Environmental Sustainability, the Office of Sustainability and the student-led Green Fund Committee.
- The project's goal is to better understand how humans impact the environment in arid region stream corridors and to give stakeholders the knowledge they need to make decisions beneficial for their land and the environment.
- The Southwest Climate Change Network website now includes a blog and other features aimed at sparking more discussion and knowledge on climate in the Southwest.
- UA physicists have discovered a new way of harvesting waste heat and turning it into electrical power. Taking advantage of quantum effects, the technology holds great promise for making cars, power plants, factories and solar panels more efficient.
- Through design and practice, the UA Student Recreation Center expansion has achieved the highest level in sustainable design and construction – a LEED platinum certification.
- While not posing the immediate danger of extinction, the fence could mean the end for some wildlife travel south or north of the border.
- A new protocol, now under review, could lead to a better understanding of the border fence’s impact on natural resources.
- Energy and water use are natural resource topics facing indigenous policymakers who seek to make development decisions that respect culture and community.
- The facility, built in the 1980s, is the largest attempt ever to create a natural environment.
- Facility researchers are finding ways for cities to more effectively monitor and manage water and energy use.
- Hillside solar project at the facility near Oracle could lead to new renewable energy sources that could cut carbon emissions.
- University climate research involves scholars in fields ranging from Earth science to engineering, law and social sciences to public health, and agriculture to the humanities and art. Collaboration has improved the University’s public outreach efforts.
- Sushi-quality, sustainable seafood is the focus of Eller graduate Martin Reed's company, I Love Blue Sea.
- A group of UA students wants to do something beneficial with the 2,000 tons of compostable waste produced at the University of Arizona each year.
- University of Arizona students are pushing to make the campus – and the surrounding community – a greener place to study, work and live.
- Members of the Students for Sustainability Garden in the Desert want to offer the opportunity for UA students and others to grow their own food.
- The Arizona Journal of Environmental Law & Policy is among the most recent UA-student run publications to be launched.
- Student and faculty interest in sustainability courses is growing, helping to make the UA a hotbed for study and implementation.
- Learning about sustainability goes outside the classroom activities for some UA students.
- A livable laboratory for developing and testing new sustainability technologies and techniques could become a learning opportunity for UA students.
- UA researchers believe that algae will be providing fuel to power vehicles within the next five years.
- The UA's Santa Rita Experimental Range has served as an important outdoor laboratory for more than a century for researchers investigating sustainable grazing practices.
- For more than 80 years, the Arizona Cooperative Extension has used classes, seminars, workshops and other methods to bring research-based information to farmers and ranchers throughout the state.
- Marcia Neugebauer has received two prestigious awards for her research into the nature of the solar wind.
- The "Solar Zone" is slated to be an interdisciplinary hub for education and industry in the development of renewable energy research.
- The National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts, of which the UA is a member, has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy totaling more than $44 million for algal biofuels and bioproducts research and development.
- The composition of the desert's spring wildflower display is changing, according to research from the UA's Desert Laboratory at Tumamoc Hill.
- The UA campus has been a model of environmental sustainability long before the green movement. Even as it grows, innovative projects are minimizing the University's environmental footprint.
- The UA Campus Arboretum, as the oldest continually maintained public green space in the state, is Arizona's premier destination for rare specimens.
- Those involved with the Associated Students of the University of Arizona have initiated a composting program, and are involved in a range of other efforts on campus to promote sustinability efforts.
- Sharon Megdal chairs a task force charged with identifying possible solutions to the diverse and growing demands for agricultural water.
- Research meets industry as two Tucson companies and UA professor Ray Kostuk have been awarded a three-year grant to investigate holographic optical collectors in solar technologies.
- Work at the UA's Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing is leading to to advancements in reducing water and energy consumption.
- The new Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources is charged with making the process of extracting copper more sustainable and energy efficient.
- The assignment for the first class of the Practice School of Sustainability is to design a cogeneration system that combines a solar photovoltaic array with water cooling.
- Experts at a two-day workshop and seminar will discuss how solar would likely impact water supplies.
- Leading weather experts will give Saturday talks about their research on lightning, hurricanes, air quality and monsoon storms.
- As the Solar Decathlon winds down, UA students can now celebrate a successful competition, which has garnered the team praise from thousands of visitors and national recognition.
- The chief executive officer of a power company, the head of a solar company and a member of Congress joined hundreds of visitors at the UA's Solar Decathlon house.
- The Sustainable Endowments Institute's "College Sustainability Report Card 2010" again lists the University as one of the most environmentally sensitive campuses in the nation.
- UA researchers will study the hydrologic cycle's "living filter," the zone from the top of trees to the bottom of the groundwater table.
- Scientists find new application for an existing technology to measure soil moisture, a factor in local weather.
- Rafe Sagarin, an assistant research scientist with the UA's Institute of the Environment, advocates the use of observational methods and involving the public in research.
- UA biologist Matthew Sullivan coordinates science that will sample Earth's oceans for viruses.
- A variety of activities are geared toward getting students to learn more about sustainable practices.
- Salinity is just one of the many questions water researchers across dozens of disciplines are tackling at the UA.
- The study of tree rings, a science invented at the UA, has been instrumental in increasing the understanding of drought patterns in the Southwest.
- Researchers at the UA's Water Village are working to ensure ways to prevent contamination of our water supply.
- SAHRA, which stands for Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas, is one of the lead interdisciplinary groups studying water issues at the UA.
- The UA invites the community to the first-ever public tours of its visionary Solar Decathlon house, talks about its major solar energy projects and first-ever performances and views of solar-inspired art.
- The first, and largest, project to mount photovoltaic and solar thermal collectors atop five campus buildings is rapidly nearing completion.
- Five professors from the UA have received $2 million from the National Science Foundation to research water reuse and supply systems.
- Research at the UA could one day lead to photovoltaic materials thin enough, flexible enough and inexpensive enough to go not only on rooftops but in windows, outdoor awnings and even clothing.
- Famed UA astronomer Roger Angel is redirecting his talents toward a new goal, changing the nature of electric generation in America.
- The UA is partnering with Tucson Electric Power on a program to monitor the efficiency of solar panels at TEP's test yard.
- Robert Glennon, who has spoken throughout the nation about his newly published book, "Unquenchable," will be interviewed this week by "The Daily Show."
- Changes in the Earth's climate already are taking a toll on the poor, a UA professor wrote in a new report by the international organization Oxfam.
- The UA Cooperative Extension is seeking applicants for the Phoenix Master Watershed Steward Program to become volunteers who share their knowledge about water issues.
- The UA's Jonathan Overpeck is among the lead authors of the national report that details risks from warming, as well as ways to adapt to future conditions.
- UA’s Tumamoc: People and Habitats uses reconciliation ecology to enhance Tucson neighborhoods.
- Jonathan Overpeck, co-director of the UA Institute of the Environment, told visiting Congressmen how human and natural events might well lead to protracted droughts in the region.
- The School of Sustainable Engineered Systems will coordinate faculty and research from five departments in the college.
- In an upcoming episode of "Life After People," Kristine Uhlman is among those who will offer their expertise on the fate of Phoenix in the absence of humans.
- Biosphere 2 is in the process of building three hillslopes to be part of a new experiment to test and better understand how water, soil and vegetation interact.
- Scientists from three departments were given the Partners in Conservation award by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
- Researchers will work to develop flexible, ultra-thin photovoltaic collectors that can be easily and cheaply installed.
- Entries focus on ways to save lives and the environment.
- Thomas W. Swetnam, UA's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research director, is a co-author on a report published today in the journal Science.
- Mona Hymel, a James E. Rogers College of Law professor, recently addressed the International Environmental Tax Conference.