WEBVTT

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Yeah,

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sustainability, some people think it's
just an overused word, but I don't

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think so, I think it's important for
me, it means living and developing

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systems and businesses that can
continue into the future and harmony with

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nature because we all know that we
absolutely require a healthy

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environment to be able to survive and
thrive. And this focus of

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sustainability essentially is allowing
that to happen for diversity and

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growth. It really starts with an
individual, everybody feels like they

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have to have a big idea and in order
to make something happen and it's

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important to have a vision, but I
always go back to the feet in the mud,

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what are we doing personally to take a
responsibility

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to affect our outcomes within our own
home, within our own lives, within

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our own house, within our own
community. The fantastic thing about rob and

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Melanie Walton is the way that they
approach philanthropy. So uh it's a

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family that's engaged in um world
changing things, but in a way where they

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try to bring everybody together, so
they are highly unusual among

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philanthropists in the sense that they
focus on how to design a

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differentiated outcome, not for a
university or for a company or for a not

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for profit, but for society, rob and
Melanie have a laser beam focused on

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making sure that their philanthropy
has a significant impact and I think

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they show that certainly through ASU
and their investments in a suit, but

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throughout their investments in the
community and I admire their passion

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and commitment to this community
greatly. I think the sustainability

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initiatives within geos and within the
Alton sustainability solutions

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initiatives that we've supported are
all a part of that. It's very

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exciting for us. Rob Walton joined the
board for sustainability early on

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as it was growing and building the
foundation for our work today through

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his leadership and Melanie's work at
women and philanthropy, they have

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built up a collaborative effort within
the university focused on

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sustainability outcomes from the city
of phoenix perspective. I think

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because of the Waltons we have been
able to get a good understanding of

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sustainability from the city of
phoenix perspective as it relates to a

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goal that has been set by mayor and
council to divert 40% of trash from

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the landfill by the year 2020. And to
do that we do need the partnership

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and the help from W. S. S. I, which is
the Walton sustainability solutions

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initiative, the Waltons gift to
Arizona State University specifically for

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these global institute of
sustainability has been enormously important to

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us because it gave us the opportunity
to begin exploring a number of areas

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that we knew were important to
sustainability, but where we really didn't

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have the internal resources to do so,
I think ASU has taken on the the

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challenge of educating our young
people connecting with the community and

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supporting the community, both our
local community, the state and way

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beyond. So we're just proud to be
associated with a shoe and with its very

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ambitious programs, you know, finance
becomes a lot of different forms and

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uh rob and Melanie in in my opinion or
what I call strategic

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philanthropists, they integrate their
philanthropy across everything they

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do and this is something that that rob
and Melanie are very passionate

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about their passionate about the
environment, sustainability and to

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integrate their passion across
everything they do is just again, a great

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example of how they're making a
contribution to society. The Waltons, both

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rob and Melanie are intimately
involved, they're intellectually involved

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there

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emotionally involved that is there a
part of how do you make this work? So

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it's fantastic what I call engaged,
highly transformative design oriented

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philanthropy, rob's father created
walmart and with the vision of save

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money live better. And that's really
the tagline in tomato and and I

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really think sustainability is part of
that plan. If you save nature,

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we're going to live better if nature
doesn't thrive, we're not going to

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thrive or survive. So, so really it's
in our best interest in everyone's

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best interest to save nature to live
better. Yeah,