Act together, not alone, to help sustain environment, SCRD professor recommends in Earth Day comments

To encourage environmental awareness and action, Mark Roseland joined several faculty members in an April 17 video ASU produced to mark the worldwide celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day. But that’s not the only place the public could learn what he had to say about the future of our planet.

Major media sought out Roseland’s detailed knowledge of sustainability issues this month. His observations on the future of the environmental movement were published April 22, the exact date of the first Earth Day in 1970, in both Discover magazine and The Arizona Republic newspaper.

Roseland is an expert in sustainability policy development. He is a professor in ASU’s School of Community Resources and Development (SCRD) in the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions and a senior sustainability scientist in ASU’s School of Sustainability in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

His research focuses on transportation planning and traffic management, social equity and social mobilization for sustainable development.

Discover’s Leslie Nemo quoted Roseland saying that while much has been achieved during the last half-century, what began as the environmental movement has branched out to include discussion of climate change and the thinking that all humans are entitled to what good comes of a better environment.

“The biggest challenge for the environmental movement 50 years on is to be able to connect to other movements,” Nemo quotes Roseland as saying. Read the Discover article here.

In the Republic story, Roseland made three points to writer Erin Stone: First, that both the COVID-19 pandemic and current calamities in the environment are worldwide phenomena.

“Second, both of them require enormous changes in human behavior and economic activity and third, is that the sooner we begin to adapt, the less they hurt,” Roseland told Stone. “Those are profound similarities, but the differences are, I think, even more important.” Read the Republic article here.

In the “Today I Learned” video, called “How to Save the Environment,” Roseland urged people to work together, rather than alone, with families, co-workers, community and society to build a healthier environment and a more sustainable world. View the ASU Earth Day video here.

Roseland advises communities and government leaders around the world about sustainable development policy and planning. His best-selling book, "Toward Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and Their Governments" is in its 4th edition.