You are on page 1of 4

This past Monday, I presented my Master of Sustainable Solutions applied project to policymakers, planners,

business leaders, and environmental activists in Indianapolis. I took my audience on a rapid journey through
the images and visualizations of the citys energy and transportation system, stopping periodically to recap
how the information connected with the values and goals of Indianapolis stakeholders.
After the presentation, I opened the floor to questions and called on a hand raised to my right. The
owner of the hand talked briskly, keeping his eyes peeled to the 20-page report that summarized my research,
while slowly turning each page to ensure he did not miss a detail.
While you provide a lot of good information, I think this report misses the opportunity to frame how
your research fits in the larger picture of the city-wide carbon reductions and community benefits that will result from implementing your policy solutions.
For me, capturing the larger picture of my research is a major challenge. As sustainability scientists,
we seek to achieve solutions based in academic rigor. All the time, we discuss studies that use faulty methodologies or insufficient amount of data to make illegitimate claims. But, rarely do we debate articles that
overload the content with methods, data, and jargon to the point that the larger picture or the so what moment is lost.
At the Sustainability Review (tSR), we believe that academic articles need to strike an appropriate balance between applying academic rigor and identifying the larger picture. While the public, decision-makers
and leaders want to gather information from credible sources, at the end of the day they want to use that information to better their communities. They cannot use the information if they do not understand it or cannot relate its findings to their work.
With our first annual Narrative, the tSR editorial staff challenged five sustainability scientists and
scholars to capture the larger picture of their research. After reading this publication, we hope you understand
the important role fossil fuel divestment plays in the fight against climate change through a personal investigation into the expenditures of the Arizona State University Foundation. We explore the tireless work required
to protect the endangered loggerhead sea turtles by following a day-in-the-life of a turtle girl. We expose
you to a first-hand account of the different cultural perceptions that nuclear weapons elicit across the globe and
explain the need for nuclear disarmament. We describe the complexities faced by Arizona farmers and the innovations they employ to overcome them to deliver food to your table. Finally, we introduce you to the deeprooted planting method that could potentially reduce erosion and bring life back to the desolate urban desert
landscape in Central Arizona, if it was only given it a chance.
We want to hear your reactions and thoughts after reading this Narrative, as sustainability science and
research can only progress with an open conversation. Please share with us through social media, in face-toface conversations, and, maybe, even add your voice in next years Narrative. At tSR, we are all ears.
Sincerely,
Ryan Anderson
tSR editor-in-chief

You might also like