Planet Blue Begins with You

Discover how you can make an impact in U-M sustainability efforts

Living, learning, discovering.

A more sustainable, healthier world won’t just happen by itself. It’s going to take people, ideas and action. That’s what Planet Blue is all about. Helping you and our campus make a difference. There are many different ways to get involved: take a course, conduct research, volunteer, join a student group and support our campus sustainability efforts.

Planet Blue Begins with You

Discover how you can make an impact in U-M sustainability efforts

Autonomous “smart” technologies for aging stormwater systems are being developed at the U-M to lessen the impacts of flooding—potentially saving lives and billions of dollars in property damage. Through a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Branko Kerkez, an assistant professor in the U-M Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is leading a national team of researchers from three other institutions to investigate how “smart” stormwater systems — outfitted with autonomous sensors and valves — can reconfigure urban watersheds in real-time to reduce flooding and improve water quality.

The grant is one of three in the nation funded at this level and it’s among 38 projects just announced under NSF’s new, $19.5 million Smart & Connected Communities program.

Planet Blue Begins with You

Discover how you can make an impact in U-M sustainability efforts

The Graham Sustainability Institute awarded nearly $500,000 to support four sustainability-related and cross-disciplinary research projects that include U-M researchers, external partners, experts from other universities and colleges, tribal agencies and non-governmental organizations. The projects investigate sustainable diets in Kenya and Vietnam, climate adaptation strategies of indigenous tribes in the Great Lakes region, climate-related health disparities among marginalized communities, and climate adaptation strategies for vulnerable communities along the northern coast of Ecuador.

Planet Blue Begins with You

Discover how you can make an impact in U-M sustainability efforts

A U-M ecologist and colleges from several institutions forecasted a larger-than-average “dead zone” in Chesapeake Bay. Last summer’s Chesapeake Bay hypoxic or “dead zone,” an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and aquatic life, was expected to be approximately 1.89 cubic miles — nearly the volume of 3.2 million Olympic-size swimming pools.

Planet Blue Begins with You

Discover how you can make an impact in U-M sustainability efforts

A five-year, $20 million grant from the federal government will support research focused on sustainable management of the Great Lakes. The Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research will focus on four themes in line with research areas at NOAA’s Ann Arbor lab: observing systems and advanced technology, invasive species and food-web ecology, hydrometeorological and ecosystem forecasting, and protection and restoration of resources.

Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the institute represents a partnership between nine universities across the Great Lakes region, as well as multiple nongovernmental organizations and private businesses.

Planet Blue Begins with You

Discover how you can make an impact in U-M sustainability efforts

In an innovative, bullet-shaped car, the U-M Solar Car Team took a historic second place finish in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, an 1,800-mile race across the Australian Outback, marking their most successful finish at this international event in team history. Clouds, high winds and overnight thunderstorms added to the challenge and excitement of the team’s five-day, cross-continental journey where they were the first American team to cross the finish line.