State Press podcast transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. The official record for State Press podcasts is the audio. Please listen to the audio as this transcript may only contain summary forms of the given episode.
Abby Bessinger:
Welcome back to season three of the podcast!
Tyler Abrams:
With new voices and even more striking coverage.
Abby Bessinger:
This week, we cover how ASU excels in its sustainability efforts.
Tyler Abrams:
And a new round of legislation for the new year spurs action from Palestinian organizations.
Abby Bessinger:
I'm Abby Bessinger.
Tyler Abrams:
And I'm Tyler Abrams. And this ... is State Press Play.
Abby Bessinger:
ASU sustainability efforts have gained recognition with the University being ranked number one in the United States and second globally in 2023. State Press multimedia director Alexis Heichman is here to break down as US achievements. Hello, Alexis.
Alexis Heichman:
Hi!
Abby Bessinger:
So what is the system that can determine how sustainable a university is?
Alexis Heichman:
So, it's kind of something that ASU opts into it, you don't have to do it. But basically, the university throughout the entire year will kind of keep records of the sustainability efforts that they're doing. And so that's like, our water usage, our energy usage, stuff like that. And they compile all that data. And they sent it off to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. That organization has this little rating system, and they kind of decide where everyone falls after people submit to them. And that's called the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System. And basically, it rates off of like five different categories. So that's going to be academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration is the fourth one, and then innovation and leadership is the last one. ASU scored 91 out of 100 points this past year. So yeah, it's super cool. We have the platinum record, which not a lot of universities do. We're one of 10, which is pretty cool to me, I think.
Abby Bessinger:
So you spoke with Marc Campbell, ASU's Executive Director of Sustainability Practices, and he described as ASU's efforts by making a comparison to traffic lights. Can you break down Campbell's analogy?
Alexis Heichman:
Yeah, of course. So he was like really adamant in like saying that sustainability is a journey and not an endpoint. So like, we're doing great now. Obviously, we have like that 91 out of 100. But there's so much more we could be doing.
For the green light, he gave that to our transition to electric vehicles. In the past like year or so we've gotten a lot more charging stations on campus. And then we're also starting to transition like our fleet of vehicles, like ASU's company vehicles -- so like our busing systems, the ASU police cars, stuff like that.
And then yellow was given to energy use and circular resources, energy to use obviously, I think a lot of people on campus have seen we use a lot of solar power, stuff like that. And then circular resources. I don't think a lot of people understand what circular resources are.
Abby Bessinger:
Could you explain it to us?
Alexis Heichman:
Yeah, of course. So like circular resources is pretty much making a foundation for businesses to kind of like start and end with the earth. So like repurposing is like circular resources. So on the polytechnic campus, we have a Circular Living Lab, which is super cool. One of the program directors, Tyler Eglen, super cool guy, I talked to him about it. And they have like, you can toss your plastic all around campus into the recycle bin and some of that plastic, the Circular Living Lab will take that and they will repurpose it into stuff that ASU then uses. So like tabletops or skateboards, stuff like that. But that's all circular living.
At red is water optimization. Like I said earlier, we're in a desert. It's hot all the time. So, you know, finding ways to optimize our water usage. It's always kind of been a problem out here. So in the upcoming year, we're really hoping to focus on that.
To hear more from Heichman, please tune in to State Press Play
READ MORE: ASU’S STEPS TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY IN 2023
Tyler Abrams:
On January 8, several pro-Palestinian organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine at ASU, gathered outside of the state capitol building to condemn a concurrent resolution supporting Israel that was going to be voted on by the Arizona House of Representatives. Maya Osmonbekov was on the scene at the event. Thanks for coming on the podcast, Mia.
Mia Osmonbekov:
Thanks for having me!
Tyler Abrams:
So, Mia, despite the press conference, the Israel-supporting resolution was adopted unanimously by the House. However, what were the grievances that the coalition and others had with resolution?
Mia Osmonbekov:
Yeah, so in the press release that was issued by the Arizona Palestine Network to inform journalists that there was going to be a press conference and it framed the event as this like interfaith Coalition, meeting a bunch of organizations that support Palestine, were there kind of to show their solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. And so I guess the grievances were more that they were upset at the state government for continuing to support Israel, with this resolution. Basically saying that Arizona as a state, supports Israel's right to self defense and to exist as a state. And all the organizations were basically there to call for a ceasefire. They even had this giant white "ceasefire" banner. And so Ahmed Ewaisha is an associate professor at ASU and chairman of the Arizona Muslim Alliance was there. And he spoke about how Muslims in Arizona are quote "fed up with election officials not calling for a ceasefire and continuing to support Israel."
Ahmed Ewaisha:
This pro-Zionist resolution means that our elected officials do not care for the voices of their constituents.
Mia Osmonbekov:
And then there's also the organization Students for Justice in Palestine at ASU. And they also talked about how they felt like their freedom of expression has been attacked or like they've been pressured by both public officials and by ASU.
Finn Howe:
My name is Finn Howe, President of Students for Justice in Palestine at Arizona State University. On December 12, the Arizona legislature held a committee meeting, where most of the invited speakers called for restrictions on SJPs right to freedom of expression, including calls to our universities, for our chapters to be de-chartered as official student organizations and defunded. SJP was not invited to this hearing. And the legislature has never extended an invite to our organization to hear from us directly about the work we do ...
To hear more from Osmonbekov, please tune in to State Press Play.
READ MORE: PALESTINE ADVOCACY GROUPS DENOUNCE RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF ISRAEL AT STATE CAPITOL
Abby Bessinger:
And that’s all for this week’s Episode of State Press Play. I’m Abby Bessinger.
Tyler Abrams:
And I’m Tyler Abrams. State Press Play is produced and mixed by our podcast desk editor, Gabriella Fernbaugh.
Our original music is by Ellie Willard and Jake Leroux.
Special thanks to our managing team, Alexis Heichman and Morgan Kubasko.
You can check out all these stories and more on statepress.com.
Abby Bessinger:
See you next week, Devils.
