Making Headlines
The following articles reflect our commitment to share sustainability-related accomplishments across the university — representing its colleges, departments, institutes, centers and other units — in the areas of research, student engagement, campus stewardship and collaborations with the public and private sectors.
Bangor Daily News, July 16, 2019
In recent years, the term “microfarming” has buzzed around trendy agricultural circles like a bee in a pollinator garden, leaving many farmers wondering what exactly it means. Microfarming is small-scale, high-yield, sustainably-minded farming, generally conducted by hand in urban or suburban areas. ...
Featured expert(s): Kip Curtis
environmental history
Farm and Dairy, June 14, 2019
Although the stalks and leaves of a corn plant can be turned into ethanol, the high cost of collecting, storing, and transporting the material has limited its use in producing the fuel. Ajay Shah, an agricultural engineer with The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) is testing a method that could cut the cost of collecting and delivering corn plant material for making ethanol by up to 20%. ...
Featured expert(s): Ajay Shah
agricultural engineering; SI affiliated faculty
Columbus Dispatch, June 13, 2019
Ohio State researchers have developed a sustainable alternative to plastic, but it might be some time before it can be used in everyday products. Yael Vodovotz, an OSU professor and researcher, and her team have been working on the plastic for more than 13 years and said her team is now testing ways to make it more recyclable and biodegradable. ...
Featured expert(s): Yael Vodovotz, food science and technology; Katrina Cornish, horticulture and crop science and SI faculty advisory board; and Xiaoying Zhao, post-doctoral researcher
Columbus Dispatch, June 12, 2019
At the recommendation of its Sustainability Institute, the Ohio State University has joined 47 other higher education and private sector entities, including General Mills, Microsoft and Unilever, in asking the Trump Administration to support, and the U.S. Senate to ratify, the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to protect earth’s ozone layer. ...
Featured expert(s): Kate Bartter
executive director, Sustainability Institute
Columbus Dispatch, June 12, 2019
Kris Swartz hasn’t been able to plant a single seed or spray a field this year. “I don’t even have to go out and drive around,” said Swartz, a 58-year-old farmer in Wood County. “Visually, I can tell it’s just too wet.” He’s not alone. As of Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 50% of the state’s corn had been planted — an increase from 33% the week before. But at the same time last year, 96% of the corn crop was in the ground. The delay is the longest on record in Ohio, ...
Featured expert(s): Aaron Wilson, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, SI affiliated faculty; and Ben Brown, manager of the farm management program in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
The Hindu, June 8, 2019
Scientists have created high-resolution maps of points around the globe where groundwater meets the oceans -- the first such analysis of its kind that may help protect both drinking water and the seas. ALSO: Free Press Journal, June 8, 2019 ...
Featured expert(s): Audrey Sawyer
earth sciences
Columbus Dispatch, June 2, 2019
...According to a report released last month by a United Nations panel, we are in the process of removing 1 million species from the planet we have shared with them for millennia. No ecological theory, no complex model can possibly predict the outcome of this ongoing, global, sweeping removal experiment. An educated guess — even an uneducated one — suggests the outcome won’t be good for the species that remain, especially for the one driving this change: Humans. ...
Featured expert(s): Steve Rissing
evolution, ecology and organismal biology
Forbes, May 31, 2019
The Ohio State team won this year's EcoCAR Mobility Challenge competition by coming up with a redesign for a 2019 Chevy Blazer to make it more efficient and better adapted for the new age of the automobile. What this means specifically is that these college students have spent time thinking about ways to "apply advanced propulsion systems, electrification, SAE Level 2 automation and vehicle connectivity" to an SUV like the Blazer while also considering emissions, safety and consumer acceptability. ...
West Bend News, May 29, 2109
The Ohio State University at Lima along with its co-located partner Rhodes State College has completed the 2018-2019 year and earned special recognition in the "Strongest Energy Team" for the campus’ participation in AEP Ohio’s Continuous Energy Improvement Program to improve energy efficiency. ...
Featured expert(s): Tim Rehner
dean and director, Ohio State Lima
World Economic Forum, May 24, 2019
Greenland's ice is melting six times faster now than it was four decades ago. The authors of a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimate that the Greenland ice sheet is now sloughing off an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year. In 2012, Greenland lost more than 400 billion tons of ice. ...
Featured expert(s): Michael Bevis
earth sciences