The new college, approved by the regents two years ago, started offering courses last fall. It incorporates some of the UW's marquee divisions, including the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, and the School of Forest Resources.
The University of Washington's new College of the Environment is one-year-old and now has its first dean, who says the next big challenge will be to understand and improve the way that ecosystems, societies and economies interact.
Check out a video produced by students in Evans School Professor Ann Bostrum's Climate Change Communication class in Fall 2009: "Hey World - Sign the UW Sustainability Pledge." The video was created for University of Washington PB AF 595B to increase climate action self-efficacy.
Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uhwhXflRfU
A research group at the University of Washington will get as much as 100 million dollars to team with the federal government to study a range of environmental issues. The UW's Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean was chosen to continue working with federal scientists on climate change, fisheries and more.
Creating a new ASUW enterprise is no easy feat, as Matthew Steele, co-chair of the UW Student Food Cooperative has found. He has been working on the project, which would bring low-cost, nutritious food to campus, since fall quarter.
June 3, 2010
Kane Hall 130, 6:30PM
Zensi, a research startup that uses simple technology to monitor home electricity and water use, has been acquired by electronics company Belkin International Inc. The startup was based on technology developed by Shwetak Patel, a University of Washington assistant professor in the departments of computer science and engineering and electrical engineering.
When the HUB shuts down for renovation over the next two years, workers will install a new heating system that will reduce the building’s carbon emissions by 90 percent.
Jon Lebo, interim director of Student Life projects from the Capital Projects Office, said water-to-water heat pumps will draw the heat out of the central cooling water (CCW) system, generating hot water that would be circulated to provide warm air for the ventilation systems and the radiators under the windows.
Even as you read The Daily today, the worst environmental disaster in recent memory is unfolding: Oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at an alarming rate.
There are certainly many lessons to be learned from this crisis, the most important of which is that the sooner America (and the world) can transition away from oil, the better.
Biofuels are increasingly popular, but also controversial. Ethanol from food crops has been criticized for raising food prices or displacing forests. In some cases, biofuel feedstocks must be transported many miles from where they are grown to where they are used, burning energy along the way.
For the past two and a half years researchers at the UW have been working with local Native American tribes on a different approach. They are developing locally produced bioenergy that makes sense for the Pacific Northwest.
Among the rows of neutral-color houses that line 18th Avenue Northeast is a big blue house with a rainbow-colored flag. On the front porch, three individuals sit on a large red couch watching one play the guitar. The flag above their heads has the Italian word “pace,” meaning peace, emblazoned upon it. In this house, 14 people cooperatively share the work, cost and responsibility of living together. They try to make their home a safe space and strive to minimize sexism, transphobia, ableism, homophobia, racism and other oppressive actions and language.
A new pool of nearly $340,000, created through the sustained work of student activists, will fund student, faculty and staff projects that help make the UW more sustainable.
The Campus Sustainability Fund, created as a result of more than 1,000 volunteer hours collecting 5,511 student signatures and soliciting 53 student organization endorsements, is funded through the Services and Activities Fee paid each quarter by students. The UW joins a growing list of colleges and universities that have similar funds, although the UW's will be one of the largest.
Members of the Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF) celebrated the fund’s establishment yesterday [May 18th, 2010], after the Services and Activities Fee (SAF) Committee granted half of its initial request Monday. With $339,805, the group now must decide on guidelines for how to allocate the funds.
Although Earth Day 2010 is now a distant memory, there is still cause to celebrate environmental responsibility on campus as the The Princeton Review’s Green Honor Roll awarded the UW a Green Rating of 99, the highest possible score.
Earlier this school year, SIERRA Magazine ranked the UW No. 2 on its top-20 “Coolest Schools.” Universities were ranked based on efforts to curb global climate change and reduce waste.
An audit conducted by the Husky Neighborhood Assistants (HNA) north of Northeast 45th Street in January found that four streetlights were flickering, 14 were burnt out and 15 were missing bulbs altogether. In an effort to address streetlight concerns in the area, Seattle City Light will be replacing or repairing all malfunctioning streetlights in the U-District through the end of the summer.
...
The Princeton Review, famous for its rankings and guides to colleges, has included the UW in its newest release, “Guide to 286 Green Colleges,” released at the end of April.
Among institutions such as Harvard and Yale, the UW was one of 15 schools to earn a spot on the “2010 Green Honor Roll.” Just seven public colleges made the list, while 697 institutions were rated.
While many on campus may not have noticed, four Transportation Services units -- Commuter Services, Transportation Improvement, Shared Services and Transportation Administration -- moved into a new home at the end of March. The new consolidated space, called the University Transportation Center (UTC), is located in the bottom of the new Portage Bay Parking Facility on NE Pacific Street and 15th Avenue Northeast.
Throughout the 2009-10 academic year, EPA’s Green Power Partnership tracked and recognized collegiate athletic conferences with the highest combined green power purchases in the nation.
Just in time for Earth Day, the UW has been rated one of the 15 "greenest" colleges in the country by Princeton Review.
The rating, which appears in The Princeton Review's Guide to 286 Green Colleges, ranked schools based on 10 data points:
It's decision season for high school seniors trying to decide where to go. And Earth Day is right around the corner -- and we all know how much college students *love* anything with the word "green" in the title.
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