BY MONIQUE DUBOS

How can we build long-term capacity to produce sustainable solutions and resilient institutions? How can we foster innovation in engagement and cross-disciplinary collaboration in universities? Carissa Schively Slotterback, IonE resident fellow and associate professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, addressed these questions during the April 24 Frontiers in the Environment seminar, "University-Community Collaboration to Advance Sustainability."

BY FRED ROSE

Over spring break, it's not unusual to go south to get some sun, but I took it to an extreme. I spent the week a few miles north of the equator, in Kampala, Uganda, teaching Makerere University students about social entrepreneurship.

This course at Makerere University is part of the USAID-sponsored RESPOND program, in which the University of Minnesota is playing a major role. RESPOND is creating capacity to strengthen outbreak response for emerging infectious diseases from humans, domestic animals and wildlife.

BY LAUREN WERNER-FOLEY

It always seems that the more extreme the seasons, the more extreme the opinions about them tend to be. Here in Minnesota, as spring arrives and the cold snowy winter says goodbye, we hear a multitude of opinions, ranging from "I love winter!" to "Finally!" to "I wish it were summer all year long."

Then we see changes occurring around us, such as the beginning of mosquito season, flowers blooming, the return of the geese, the end of cold and flu season.

These events and ones like them are part of phenology, or the timing of biological events. People can do more than casually observe phenology when it affects us. Observing phenology in a scientific way is important, because phenology is driven by climate and our climate is changing.

IonE resident fellow Rebecca Montgomery is working to make tracking phenology more accessible to the public through the Minnesota Phenology Network  (MnPN). With support from the Institute on the Environment, she and her colleagues are developing a statewide observing program for scientists, educators and citizens alike. Using observation protocols from the USA National Phenology Network, network participants record observations in phenology of key Minnesota species, such as the common loon and red maple. Those observations then go to scientists who explore how phenology changes in response to climate change.

The MnPN holds a conference in southeastern Minnesota each spring. Anyone interested in phenology (or spending quality time outside in the warmer weather) is invited to come and share in events, such as speakers, discussions, guided nature walks and demonstrations. This year's conference is April 5-7 at the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro.

You can be a part of the event! Sign up here or contact Chris Buyarski at buyar002@umn.edu with any questions.

Lauren Werner-Foley is an editorial intern at the Institute on the Environment. Photo courtesy of stpaulgirl via Flickr | Creative Commons

BY SIMONE ANZION

IonE resident fellow Randel Hanson, a faculty member in the Department of Geography at the University of Minnesota Duluth, is working to create institutional change around food systems. He has developed a 10-acre organic farm to grow produce for UMD dining services. The farm provides dining services with an opportunity to reintegrate minimally processed foods and move toward procuring more produce from area farmers. It also provides students with experiential learning opportunities around food and agricultural systems.

In effort to institutionalize sustainability around food, Hanson has spent a lot of time bringing together the different parts of the University to build a more collaborative, sustainable system. Hanson says, "These entities - administrative, academic, operations, etc. - have evolved rationally to do their job, but they often work irrationally in relation to one another from the viewpoint of sustainability, at cross purposes in carrying out their respective missions, and most often in ways that make each other's work less fluid." He says there remain significant challenges to move from symbolic to more substantive changes as well to institutionalize the project.

Hamburger or hummus? Organic or conventional? Mediterranean diet or McDonald's?

If you're puzzled by which dietary choices are truly the most sustainable when you consider that what we eat affects not just our health but also the environment and the well-being of others, check out Sustainability of Food Systems: A Global Life Cycle Perspective, a new MOOC (massive open online course) developed and taught by IonE resident fellow Jason Hill, McKnight Land-Grant Professor in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

The eight-week course, which begins in May and is offered online at no charge through Coursera, will provide an overview of our global food system and its many impacts, from the individual to the global scale. Participants will gain appreciation of the complex implications of choices that are made along the food supply chain and be challenged to think critically about how the global food system may need to change to adapt to future economic and environmental conditions.

No special background is required for the course. Participants will investigate current topics in food sustainability and have the opportunity to participate in discussions with other participants from all over the world. Case studies, readings and other resources will emphasize that responsible decisions about what to eat require that we consider the entire global food supply chain and its full set of economic, environmental and social consequences.

Like to learn more? Check out Sustainability of Food Systems: A Global Life Cycle Perspective for details and registration information.