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Sustainability Case Studies

  • Article Item
    Stefano Boeri Architetti's Forest City
    Vertical Forest City: China’s sustainable urban development , article

    Historically seen as one of the world’s worst polluters, China is emerging as an environmental leader, with a long-term vision and political will to carry it out. Author and recent XMNR alumna Karen (Songyi) Zhang uses the example of Italian-designed Vertical Forest City in the southwestern city of Liuzhou, as a vivid illustration of that commitment.

    Date: Mar 09, 2021
  • Article Item
    barn photo
    Leading climate adaptation in rural America , article

    Rural economies and environments are being eroded by climate change, but many communities lack the political will and resources to respond. Dr. Bruce Hull shares the work of several sustainability professionals who are leading climate adaptation efforts in rural communities across the country.

    Date: Jan 19, 2021
  • Article Item
    Virginia Beach, VA. Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District, United States. Wikimedia Commons
    Virginia Beach: bracing for local impact of global climate change , article

    “Climate change is a global phenomenon, but its effects reflect local and regional conditions. Developing and selecting adaptation strategies that reflect geographic idiosyncrasies, as well as the needs and values of multiple stakeholders, isn’t always easy,” writes Jennie Hoffman, marine ecologist and one of the newest XMNR faculty members.

    Date: Oct 13, 2020
  • Article Item
    Green infrastructure: construction, communication, and community
    Green infrastructure: construction, communication, and community , article

    Operating in Prince George’s County, Maryland, the Clean Water Partnership (CWP) is one of the most innovative green infrastructure programs in the country and a great example of a successful Community Based Public Private Partnership or CBP3. Students in our Executive Master of Natural Resources (XMNR) program have an opportunity to meet with and learn from the partners during their coursework on advanced leadership skills, such as building partnerships and cross-sector collaborations.

    Date: Aug 20, 2020
  • Article Item
    book cover image
    Leadership: it’s wicked important, according to new book by CLiGS faculty , article

    Virginia Tech faculty take on pervasive sustainability challenges in a new book Leadership for Sustainability: Strategies for Tackling Wicked Problems, slated to be released in the fall by Island Press. CLiGS Founding Director and one of the book’s authors Dr. Michael Mortimer emphases its timeliness during the COVID pandemic, pointing to “the deep polarization and politicization, disregard for salient facts, distrust of established expertise” that exacerbate so many of today’s environmental challenges and require leadership that can bridge these chasms.

    Date: Aug 04, 2020
  • Article Item
    Leadership and Purpose by Kathleen Miller Perkins
    The Blueprint to Business with a Purpose , article

    Dr. Kathleen Miller Perkins's new book brings together business and environmentalism to provide a blueprint for how companies can improve internally to make a positive impact on the world around them. Her models of corporate sustainability and evidence-based explanations of sustainable values demonstrate the symbiotic relationship these types of organizations can have with the environment.

    Date: Oct 08, 2019
  • Article Item
    map of india
    Global Study Series, India, Part 2: Sustaining, developing, or just surviving? , article

    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.

    Date: Sep 11, 2019
  • Article Item
    Woman by a body of water
    Global Study Series, India, Part 1: Preserving East Kolkata Wetlands , article

    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.

    Date: Aug 13, 2019
  • Article Item
    Geneva Motorshow
    Sustainable Smart Mobility (Part II) , article

    [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.]

    Date: Feb 07, 2019
  • Article Item
    Times Square traffic
    Sustainable Smart Mobility (Part I) , article

    [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.]

    Date: Jan 31, 2019

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