Topic: Sustainability

Dr. Gregg Marland, a professor at the Research Institute for Environment, Energy and Economics at Appalachian State University, is quoted in this Associated Press news story on Amazon's 15% increase in its carbon footprint despite launching initiatives to reduce its harm on the environment.

Dr. Rajat Panwar of the Walker College of Business shares his research findings on corporate sustainability spending during times of financial crisis — including the 2008 recession and COVID-19. He said some companies cut back on their green spending during difficult times, especially those that haven’t built sustainability into their core business models or corporate identities.

Appalachian State University geologist Dr. Sarah Carmichael discusses the latest explanation put forth regarding the cause of a mass extinction 252 million years ago — a warming climate that depleted the earth's ozone layer.

Dr. Joseph Cazier, director of the Center for Analytics Research and Education, discusses the new World Bee Count app released by Appalachian State University and SAS. He describes it as “citizen science” and the first step toward building a global repository of shareable data.

Appalachian’s Dr. Joseph Cazier,director of the Center for Analytics Research and Education, is mentioned as having spoken at the UN's virtual celebration for World Bee Day.

Thousands of years ago, some of humankind's prehistoric ancestors walked across a field in what is now Tanzania — and left footsteps that are now part of the largest fossil footprint site ever found on the African continent. Appalachian’s Dr. Cynthia Liutkus-Pierce led a research project at the site and is seen in this video footage with her undergraduate students.

Appalachian’s Dr. Cynthia Liutkus-Pierce describes the site where she led a 10-year research project to examine footprints preserved within an ancient volcanic mudflow produced by the nearby Oldoinyo L’engai, a still-active volcano in the East African Rift. She is a sedimentologist and paleoenvironmental scientist in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. She also directs the university’s environmental science program.