In Our Nature

You may not have noticed, but as you walk around the UW campus more of those plants and flowers at your feet are species native to Puget Sound.

That’s because UW’s Society for Ecology Restoration student guild (SER-UW) native plant nursery has been working to restore areas on campus by increasing native species biodiversity and creating open spaces for students to engage with the natural world just steps from their residence halls. 

Since 2013, SER has been removing interloper invasive species in Whitman Walk, a north campus site near McCarty Hall and Kincaid Ravine, an urban...

A team from UW’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) used a Green Seed Fund Grant to increase sustainable practices in the department's 20 labs.

To better assess barriers to sustainability, project facilitators encouraged DEOHS labs to participate in UW’s Green Labs Certification program in the spring of 2014. That year, labs averaged a score of 45 percent on their Green Labs application – while other campus labs who took the application averaged a score...

Today and every Friday this summer the UW Farm will have a stand with fresh campus-raised produce for sale from 4 to 7 p.m.

The stand is off the Burke-Gilman Trail across from Gasworks Park, in the parking lot of the Fisheries Supply at 1900 Northlake Way. Each Friday you'll have the opportunity to pick up produce harvested that morning - perfect for stopping by on your way home for the weekend, or to enjoy in a nice picnic at Gasworks Park.

For more information on the UW Farm, go to food.washington.com/farm or their...

How do LEED-certified buildings measure up on indoor environmental quality? UW’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering conducted an investigation, funded by a Green Seed Grant, at the LEED Gold-certified Husky Union Building (HUB) to find out.

Professors Dorothy Reed and Amy Kim, graduate research assistant Stanley Wang, and engineering technician Yiming Liu focused on two spaces in particular – the Student Legal Services (SLS) Office and the Firecracker restaurant in Husky Den. They were able to test indoor environmental quality by...

UW Sustainability is hiring for two open positions, a Sustainability Outreach & Events Specialist and a Sustainability Programs Specialist. Both listings are for full time staff positions with the UW Sustainability office.

As a result of UW Recycling’s annual waste diversion event known as SCRAM (Students Cleanup, Recycle and Moveout), the University of Washington’s Seattle campus donated a grand total of 28.7 tons of reusable items to local charities and non-profit organizations, a 60% increase from 17.9 tons in 2014.

In collaboration with UW Housing & Food Services (HFS), SCRAM donation stations are set up at each residence hall during finals week. ­Bedding, clothing, emergency red backpacks, non-perishable food, small appliances, school supplies and toiletries are collected and sorted...

When his friends were buying cars, UW student Scott Calvert was busy saving money for a better bike.

It's a passion he's sharing with UW by working at the ASUW bike shop - a hub for the UW biking community that's detailed in this video.

"I’ve always liked bikes," Calvert says. "It’s this tiny machine that’s basically an extension of your own body rather than something that encases you and does all the work for you. You’re really connected...

Photo courtesy of Meili Powell, Tali Haller, Dana Chapman, and Mikayla Richardson

Last spring, a group of UW students traveled more than 200 miles to help teach three sixth grade classes about the environment.

"Our overarching goal was to perpetuate love for the environment, but also teach kids how to affect change on the local level," said Tali Haller, one of the UW student teachers.

Since 2000, the UW Pipeline Project has sponsored Environmental Alternative Spring Break, a weeklong...

The University of Washington is one of four finalists for the first Sustainability Award from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USG Corp.

UW was honored for the sustainability aspects of the recent renovation of Husky Stadium. NACDA said the project "looked past the basics of water and energy conservation to enhance infrastructure, reduce the building's impact on the surrounding environment and provide a platform that has allowed UW to promote sustainability to its...

UW's ENVIR 480: Sustainability Studio class in the Program on the Environment presents students with a sustainability topic which they engage in as part of an experiential learning course. The topics change each quarter - this spring, the students researched the UW's environmental history. Over the coming weeks, we'll be publishing some of the information students uncovered. As part of their research, students used archival resources in the Libraries'...