In Our Nature

Feedback from the University of Washington community on the UW’s draft Sustainability Strategy and proposed actions has been published.

The draft Sustainability Strategy was released on Earth Day, April 22. All members of the UW community were invited to take a survey to provide input on the draft - including the guiding principles and targets - and proposed actions.. Those survey results and comments have been compiled and are available as a PDF document.

The feedback has been presented to the...

For Emma Wilson and Anya Gavrylko, sustainability is about more than just the environment.

As the co-leaders of the Sustainability Curriculum Coalition (SCC) student group, the duo shares a passion to advance and redefine sustainability at the UW.

"There is the three pillars approach that is environment, social, economic, which is sort of like level one sustainability," Anya said. "It's understanding how one action impacts everything throughout those other actions and having everyone understand that they have a role to play."...

The 2020 Environmental Justice Conference, hosted by the College of the Environment's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion office, works to bring awareness on environmental and climate justice initiatives, as well as to create a space for dialogue across scales, affiliations, and worldviews. This is the third annual version of the conference, and the first to be held entirely online. The conference...

This is a guest post from 10-year-old Sharda Shah, the daughter of Mauli Shah who works in UW Medicine’s IT Department. As they have been looking for projects at home, this Earth Month they found a solar cooker sitting unused in their shed and decided to try it out. Here are Sharda’s thoughts on using a solar cooker, and how it shows solar energy can be useful even at small scales.

It is difficult to regain our motivation and desire to try new things during these new and unprecedented times. We all want life to go back to normal, and thus fall into unhealthy routines...

Gabrielle Coeuille and Pooja Kumar are bringing a new perspective to sustainability with their presentation as part of the Washington Higher Education Sustainability Coalition (WAHESC) Digital Earth Day Seminars. Both are currently interning with UW Recycling: Gabi is the Waste Diversion & Reduction Intern and Pooja is the Waste Diversion Assistant.

This pair will present together on environmental justice and education in local indigenous communities, topics they both researched for their senior projects. The Digital...

What an unconventional year for RecycleMania! UW Recycling planned several campaigns including events encouraging reusable mug/tumbler use and a clothing repair workshop. However, these events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Washington. As the competition wraps up, let's take a look at the successful events this year:...

Guest post by UW Farm manager Perry Acworth

Wearing calf-high rubber boots, knit hats, gloves and full foul weather gear - overalls and hooded jackets - two farmers, keeping 6 feet apart if not more, commence transplanting hardened-off, 2-inch high multi-colored Swiss chard. Rain, and then hail, falls the entire day from gray, swiftly moving, cloudy skies. Two times the sun managed to come out, offering a brief break in the downpour.

The farm located at the Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH) is one of three growing sites for...

As part of RecycleMania, UW Recycling hosted a Trash Art Contest where UW students and staff submitted art pieces made of trash, recyclable and salvage materials. Three winners were chosen based on the criteria of: originality/creativity, theme of sustainability, material usage and relevance to personal and/or UW campus waste.

The UW Recycling selection committee was blown away at the art pieces that were submitted. The team was impressed at how the winning art...

Reducing the amount of waste we produce and diverting material to recycling and compost is a major aspect of sustainability.  Although you don’t have access to all the campus resources, you can still stay sustainable while teleworking.

Due to COVID-19 health and safety precautions, waste reduction hasn’t been so easy. With bulk sections in grocery stores being closed, bring your own container initiatives being limited, and dine in options at restaurants no longer being available, it makes reducing waste tough. Despite these difficult and necessary changes, use these tips to help...

For almost a decade, UW Solar has made impacts by generating power and energy all across campus. Since getting solar panels installed on the roof of Mercer Court in 2014, the group has grown and worked with campus partners to add solar to several West Campus residence halls and the new Life Sciences Building.

With no signs of slowing down, UW Solar is looking to carry out two major projects this year that will encourage the use of alternative energy at the university.

The first is a campus-wide plan assessing more than 300 buildings and...