In Our Nature

This week, get your hands dirty at a pair of volunteer events with the Society for Ecological Restoration - UW Chapter, learn how climate change is also changing our soil and what that might mean for future food production, or get a selfie with Dubs while checking out great deals at UW Surplus!

We highlight the top sustainability-related events across UW each week so you can quickly find the ones you're interested in. We also always have a full, comprehensive list of all campus sustainability events on our calendar...

The UW American Indian Studies Department and Na’ah Illahee Fund invite Individual, Panel, or Workshop abstracts for the “Living Breath of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ” Indigenous Foods Symposium to be held on May 1 & 2, 2020 at the University of Washington’s wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Intellectual House.

Submissions are due on January 20, 2020.

The 2020 theme is “Food is Resistance! Water. Soil. Seeds.” The symposium is seeking abstracts that focus on maintaining and revitalizing Indigenous food systems that resist colonization and center...

There are tons of events happening around the University of Washington. Each week, we'll highlight the top sustainability-related events across UW so you can quickly find the ones you're interested in. We also always have a full, comprehensive list of all campus sustainability events on our calendar. You can even subscribe to get weekly emails to keep up to date on all the sustainability events happening around UW.

This week's events include:

Sustainability...

Join us on Thursday, January 16 at 12 p.m. in Allen Auditorium for the first in the Sustainability Stories @ UW series! UW Recycling and UW Surplus will present on their work reducing waste at the UW. Learn more about what both groups are doing to help keep our waste out of the landfill, followed by time for Q&A and networking.

UW Recycling will give information on the SCRAM (Students Cleanup, Recycle and Moveout) program, which encourages students to donate unwanted items when moving out of residence halls. Last Spring, the program...

The Environmental Chemistry and Hydrology Lab at UW Tacoma hosts undergraduate research projects with an emphasis on freshwater ecosystems, along with a long term Superfund project looking at metal contamination in water and organisms in local lakes. As a result of their environmental health related research, sustainability is at the forefront of the minds of the lab's researchers.

Lab manager Erin Hull notes that in keeping sustainability in mind at work, many researchers make it a habit at home too. Their UW Green Laboratory Gold Certification...

Residents of the new North campus dorms may not notice the many sustainability features of their buildings. If they take a closer look, they’ll find the residence halls are rich with hidden touches that save energy and make living easier. 

All residence halls on North Campus are LEED certified, meaning they were built with sustainability in mind. Students, though, might not be aware of some features that Housing & Food Services (HFS) implemented.

Capital Planning and Sustainability Manager JR Fulton said HFS considered budgeting,...

UW Medicine is one of eight founding members in the Washington Health Care Climate Alliance. The alliance aims to bring health care’s expertise, experience, and trusted voice to the legislative and regulatory process for climate-smart policies related to energy, transportation, food, waste, infrastructure, and community resilience.

In addition to UW Medicine, the alliance includes CHI Franciscan, Kaiser Permanente, MultiCare, Providence St. Joseph Health, Seattle Children’s,...

The Molecular Information Systems Lab (MISL) located on the UW Seattle campus specializes in DNA data storage and DNA computation. As a Gold Certified Green Laboratory, sustainability has always been part of the lab's operation, a mindset lab manager David Ward (pictured) credits to being a part of the environmentally conscious Seattle culture.

Ward explained that getting Green Certified was a natural next step for his lab. "We're interested in anything that's an indicator to add or promote sustainability, especially to other labs and buildings," he...

The UW EarthLab will be hosting a three-part quarterly public lecture and workshop series, aimed at starting a much-needed cross-disciplinary conversation on the question of "What does it mean to center equity and justice in environmental work?" This new EarthLab Salon designed to highlight expertise and leadership on this subject in the UW-wide community, especially among students. We hope to build a foundation of shared understanding, values, and language among participants and foster opportunities for a new cross-cutting community to connect and collaborate on shared interests.

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Winter break and the holiday season are in full swing, leaving most people wishing for a white winter. What if you made it a green winter instead? From gift ideas for someone special to cleaning up after the new year, here are five tips for being more eco-friendly this season.

All wrapped up: Gift wrap can contain non-recyclable materials, meaning a portion of it ends up in the garbage. You can reduce waste by wrapping gifts with reused materials like fabric, brown paper, and newspapers. Make the switch from adhesive tape to washi tape, which is often reusable. For...