In Our Nature

Coming up on May 6 and 7, the UW Botanic Gardens invites you to join our 2016 BioBlitz at the Washington Park Arboretum! A BioBlitz is an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species within a designated area. Groups of scientists, naturalists and community volunteers conduct an intensive field study over a continuous time period. Sign up this year and help us look for bats, birds, insects, lichens, weeds,...

Office Depot is one of the UW’s main office suppliers, and the company offers many products with sustainability in mind. In fact, the company offers more than 12,000 products that have above-average environmental benefits compared to other products in their category. These benefits include reduced energy use, chemical use, and waste. Office Depot’s ball point pens, binders, and 100% recycled copy paper can be found in administrative offices and classrooms throughout the University of Washington campus. Because of its industry leadership in sustainability, Office Depot was named to the...

The UW Botanic Gardens is hosting the 8th annual Urban Forest Symposium on May 17: "Sustaining the Urban Forest During Densification."

Explosive population growth is underway in the Puget Sound Region. The 2016 Urban Forest Symposium will explore approaches to sustaining the urban forest in the face of this rapid densification. Speakers will introduce the tenets of Smart Growth initiatives which have been widely adopted by policy makers, influencing land use decisions and the urban forest in Seattle and around the...

There is a secret and unassuming energy hog lurking throughout our campus, consuming vast amounts of electricity. They are out of sight, but can be found in our buildings’... server rooms. Wilson Waldrop, IT Director of the Department of Physics, has been working with his team to make the Physics server room dramatically more efficient. 

As Wilson put it, leaving a server on is like “leaving a car running”. Not only are they always plugged in, but the room has to constantly be cooled to keep the servers from overheating. Many servers, like the one that hosts the department’s website...

Jessica Kaminsky is an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Washington. A scholar of engineering projects and organizations, she conducts research on infrastructure for developing communities with a particular interest in topics of social sustainability. As part of the UW's Earth Day celebration, she gave a talk on how cultural values impact sustainability. Read the text below:

My name is Jessica Kaminsky; I am a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering. Welcome to our Earth Day Celebration! And another...

UW Earth Club president Aaron Tam introduced the club's "Tap That" campaign during the Earth Day celebration, a project that is working to reduce the use of plastic water bottles on campus. Tam is a currently a senior at the University of Washington studying Environmental Science: Wildlife Conservation and Political Science. He's passionate about environmental and socioeconomic justice, and is proud to have contributed greatly to climate action in Washington and campus sustainability efforts. As President of Earth Club, Aaron...

The UW Society for Ecological Restoration's Native Plant Nursery is hosting a Native Plant Sale this weekend. On Sunday, May 1, come out to the Douglas Research Conservatory at the Center for Urban Horticulture from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and support your local, student-run nursery. They will be selling a variety of native plants, including Douglas Fir, Vanilla Leaf, Salmonberry and many more!

Barbara Clabots of the Seattle Surfrider Foundation was the introductory presenter at the University of Washington's Earth Day celebration. Clabots is a social scientist focused on improving ocean conservation. Locally, she serves the community as Seattle Surfrider's Volunteer Coordinator to improve water quality in the Puget Sound, leading a program to eliminate cigarette litter. When she's not in the water or in the mountains, you can find her on Twitter ...

The UW Recycling Office has an opening for a part-time student Waste Diversion Coordinator. This position could begin as early as June 13, 2016 and continue for the duration of the 2017 academic school year. This is a great opportunity for a qualified, dedicated student interested in environmental issues, primarily recycling and composting education and general sustainability topics, to help build upon their skills and experience.

To view the full job description and apply, interested and qualified candidates should sign in to Husky Jobs (...

By Mishu Pham-Whipple

Nearly all of Tacoma’s energy comes from renewable hydroelectric power, making the UW Tacoma campus a relatively green one. However, the overwhelming majority of students commute to campus, making transportation the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. To target the largest source of emissions, a team of researchers at the Tacoma campus received funding from the Green Seed Fund to understand the barriers to student use of public transportation. The Husky Lines team - comprised of Dr. Britta Ricker, Surtida Shelton, Alexa Brockamp, Elizabeth Leaf...