Sustainability Case Studies

      • map of india
      • Sep 11, 2019 Global Study Series, India, Part 2: Sustaining, developing, or just surviving?

        During my final semester in Virginia Tech’s Online MNR program, I joined a group of students and faculty from the Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability on the Spring 2019 Global Study. Our transformative, eye-opening journey to the eastern Indian state of West Bengal began in Kolkata.The effects of planetary environmental crises are already being felt in India. Heat waves, such as the one currently impacting India, have only been increasing in frequency and intensity, leading to summer high temperatures that are growing unbearable.

      • Woman by a body of water
      • Aug 13, 2019 Global Study Series, India, Part 1: Preserving East Kolkata Wetlands

        As a student in the Online Master of Natural Resources program at the Virginia Tech Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability, Kasey Fioramonti has had a chance to witness the enormous environmental challenges affecting one of the most populous countries in the world—India. Kasey’s International Field Experience (IFE) to India in February 2019 offered her a rare opportunity to see how to recognize a community’s sustainability issues early on and address them at the grassroots level; how individuals and families are affected by pollution; and how difficult combating these issues through policy can be.

      • Geneva Motorshow
      • Feb 07, 2019 Sustainable Smart Mobility (Part II)

        [In Part I of this two-part series, Online Master of Natural Resources student Marshall Distel explored transportation infrastructure innovations and the potential role of autonomous vehicles in sustainable development and urban mobility. In this final installment, Marshal delves deeper into connected and autonomous vehicles, their impact on transportation, policy, and sustainability.]

      • Times Square traffic
      • Jan 31, 2019 Sustainable Smart Mobility (Part I)

        [In Part I of this two-part series, Online Master of Natural Resources student Marshall Distel explores transportation infrastructure innovations and the potential role of autonomous vehicles in sustainable development and urban mobility.]

      • Songdo South Korea
      • Jan 24, 2019 Green Building for a Better World

        Ten years ago, when the term “sustainable development” was just starting to gain traction in Korea, I was beginning my career as an international “green building” specialist. The timing was perfect. I was new to the field, and as part of my role with a major construction project, I had the opportunity to complete a professional certificate in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Little did I know that it was the first step in a much longer journey that would literally take me around the world, including to the United States and India.

      • Sunset on dunes of Thar Desert
      • Jan 17, 2019 A Living Nexus of Global Sustainability

        Dust coated my hair, lined my throat, and stung my eyes while an open Jeep transported me deeper into the Thar Desert. The one-way sandy trail was unforgiving; dunes bounced me around while the sun beat a steady cadence across my back, and I contemplated how people managed to live in such a desolate place.

      • Homer et al Morocco
      • Jan 10, 2019 Sustainable Urban Planning

        Online Master of Natural Resources (Online MNR) graduate, Allison Homer, is among the first employees at the brand new DC branch of EXP, an international firm which offers environmental planning, civil engineering, transportation, architecture, infrastructure, and sustainability services. Each day, Allison uses her experiences from the GMNR program courses, international field experiences, and her previous work to plan and implement sustainable transportation, environmental, and city planning solutions for the Mid Atlantic region.

      • Phnom Penh slum children
      • Dec 24, 2018 Slums of Hope (Part II)

        [In Part I of this two-part series, published on December 17th, Master of Natural Resources (MNR) student Janet Kirkton discussed the definition of the word “slum,” along with the hope and despair inherent in both the word and the living conditions in these informal settlements. In Part II, Janet calls attention to increasing migration from rural lands to urban centers, as well as the opportunities and challenges these migrants face.]

      • Miss Kathputhli
      • Dec 17, 2018 Slums of Hope (Part I)

        Today, more than half the world’s population lives within an urban area, and of those living in cities, approximately a billion people live within settlements often referred to as slums (Nuissl and Heinrichs, 2013). The developing world accounts for more than 90 percent of this urban growth, which equates to one out of every three people living in cities lives in a slum (Agrawal, 2014).

      • polar bear
      • Dec 10, 2018 Reviving Our Environmental Connection

        Concepts of sustainability have been around for millennia and passed down from generation to generation. Folktales and religious scriptures contributed to this inherited sense of environmental stewardship. As seen through the example of Inuit culture, survival in many cases depended upon a balance between man’s needs and the environment.

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