The UW Botanic Gardens and the Student Conservation Association have teamed up to host a work party at the Washington Park Arboretum on Saturday, April 23.

Individuals and groups from UW are invited to join us for this opportunity to dig in and help support the health of our planet. Come get your hands dirty and celebrate Earth Day with us - the first 400 volunteers to register will also receive free lunch and t-shirts!

Register now

...

Read more
Category: Environment | Events
Tags: Washington Park Arboretum | Earth Day | Botanic Gardens | volunteer

The Tobacco Action Group (TAG), UW American Lung Association (ALA), and Students Expressing Environmental Dedication (SEED) are hosting Huskies Kick Butts, a campus-wide cigarette butt cleanup that will raise awareness of the tobacco industry's impact on climate change and the need for UW to adopt a tobacco-free campus policy. At last year's event, 50 participants collected approximately 8,000 cigarette butts. Participants for this year's event are encouraged to form teams, and should individually...

Read more
Category: Events | Recycling, Compost & Waste | UW Seattle
Tags: Earth Day | Huskies Kick Butts
Photo of a person installing a toilet in the UW Tower.

Reducing water usage for a building the size of the UW Tower is no easy task. It took the Tower's operations staff nearly a year to replace every toilet and urinal in the tower with new, low-flush units, but it was well worth it. The project is estimated to save up to 37 million gallons of water over the next 15 years.

The move to newer toilets not only saves water and money for the university, but by standardizing all the fixtures throughout the Tower the operations staff was able to reduce the amount of spare...

Read more
Category: Awards & Recognition | Buildings & Grounds | Water | UW Seattle
Tags: UW Facilities | UW Tower | Husky Green Awards | HGA16

The University of Washington recently joined two membership organizations focused on climate change and carbon reduction.  The UW is now a signatory to CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) and a member of CERES' Investor Network on Climate Risk.

These memberships are part of the UW Treasury Office&'s Global Climate Change Initiatives, approved by the Board of Regents in November 2013. Treasury's Climate Change Initiatives include an initiative to explore opportunities for shareholder advocacy on climate change.

CDP works with companies and cities to disclose their...

Read more

Update 4/18: The Salvage Wood Program was named one of the seven 2016 Husky Green Award winners.

The Salvage Wood Program at the University of Washington is working to make sure any trees which need to be removed on campus can have a second life.

The program, run by Grounds Management and made possible by a Campus Sustainability Fund grant and help from the UW chapter of Engineers Without Borders, turns those removed trees into lumber for projects on campus such as benches and tables.

Check out the...

Read more
Category: Awards & Recognition | Buildings & Grounds | Campus Sustainability Fund | Recycling, Compost & Waste | UW Seattle
Tags: Salvage Wood Program | UW Facilities | Husky Green Awards | HGA16

The EcoReps student group has been working on several campus projects to further sustainability at UW.

The UW EcoReps clothing swap will be held on Friday, April 8, in Red Square from 2-5 p.m. This project helps address the current issue of textile waste in the United States. In order to promote a change in social norms surrounding textile consumption, we are offering a fun, sustainable event for students to come together and exchange their gently used clothing. 

Another project EcoReps is focusing on is the Environmental Stewardship...

Read more
Category: Events | Student Organizations
Tags: EcoReps | clothing swap | IMA | First Year Programs
Two images. Left: a closeup of a person in a shirt and tie with a plant in the breast pocket. Right: the Green Office logo.

The Green Office Certification Program encourages and recognizes environmentally-friendly behavior in UW office spaces. It also exists to facilitate sharing of best practices between offices. The main goal of the program, however, is to simply get office members thinking more frequently about their environmental impact.

This quarter, we had great participation in the program, with offices throughout campus applying. In fact, 14 offices either certified for the first time or re-certified. On average, offices scored 77% overall on the Green Office...

Read more
Category: Green Certifications
Tags: Green Office

The UW Future of Ice Initiative is hosting the university's first Polar Day, a day of talks by faculty and students who work in the polar regions, with time for questions and discussions. 

The event starts at 9:15 a.m. at the UW Club's Yukon Pacific Room, but attendees are welcome to arrive starting at 8:30 a.m. for coffee and pastries. The first 50 people to arrive will receive a free lunch.

The UW Polar Day Schedule is below:

Category: Climate Change | Events | Research
Tags: Polar Day | Future of Ice

Course poster: ENV H 439

ENV H 439: One Health: Human and Animal Health in a Changing Environment is open to all students who have taken biology 180 or an equivalent course. If you have not taken biology 180 but are still interested in the course, email Trina Sterry at tsterry@uw.edu

In this class,

  • Students will explore the One Health concept, through a case based approach.
  • Topics include emerging zoonotic infectious diseases transmitted between humans...
Read more
Category: Academics
Tags: Sustainability Courses | Environmental Health | DEOHS

Course poster: ENV H 205

ENV H 205: Environmental Health in Media is open to all students in all majors. Watch popular films that explore environmental health topics then discuss the ethical, legal, social and scientific issues they raise.

In this class,

  • Students will explore how perspective of filmmakers and documentaries can influence the public's interpretation of environmental health issues.
  • Students will also examine the science and cultural norms that support both sides of...
Read more
Category: Academics
Tags: Sustainability Courses | Environmental Health | DEOHS