UW Sustainability's blog

As a major research institution, the UW has a global impact, and many faculty and staff members regularly travel by air. Just how far, and the carbon impact of all that travel, was until recently something the UW could only estimate. Over the past year, the Sustainability Office has been working with student teams to gather the UW's travel data, quantify our air travel carbon footprint, and make recommendations. The student teams also interviewed faculty and staff to learn about campus attitudes towards travel.

What does global warming sound like? UW atmospheric science graduate student Judy Twedt provides an answer in this video, which turns the measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide over several decades into music. As the carbon dioxide levels rise, so does the pitch of the music. It can make for an unsettling listen:

Ever wanted to ride an electric bike? Interested in Sustainability Jobs? Want to learn more about sustainability at the University of Washington?

The creators of JikoPower found their great idea. The team (formerly known as FireBee) won the 2015 Environmental Innovation Challenge and the 2016 UW Business Plan Competition with their product to generate sustainable energy for people without electricity.

Wednesday in the SustainableUW Festival includes a wide variety of events on campus.

Students interested in green building and sustainable design can take a LEED Green Associate training course on campus next Wednesday, October 26. LeadingGREEN is offering the evening training course in Loew Hall room 102 from 6-10 p.m. The course is $300 ($200 for current full time students) and satisfies the eligibility requirements to take the LEED Green Associate exam, which is seperately administed by the US Green Building Council. 

To register for the course and for more information, visit leadinggreen.com/uwseattle

Tuesday's main event is the Sustainable Exhibitor fair in the HUB Ballroom! From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., dozens of exhibitors who put sustainability first will be on Red Square to inform the UW community about their efforts. Sample sustainable snacks and enjoy entertainment on the Cultural Sustainability stage while you learn about sustainability at UW and beyond.

The SustainableUW Festival is kicking off with a full day of events! Check out Monday's highlights below - for more information and the full calendar of events during this festival week, visit sustainability.uw.edu/festival/events.

Cornell University and the University of Washington are both national leaders for sustainability movements on college campuses. In fact, they both made The Princeton Review’s 2017 Green College Honor Roll, in which schools must receive a score of 99 (the highest possible score) in a Green Rating tally.

Fall quarter is officially underway, and that means a full slate of sustainability events on campus. Some of the week's highlights are listed below, and find many more on our full Sustainability events calendar, which is the best place to find the most up-to-date listings and details on all events. If you know of any events that should be added to the calendar, please let us know. And if you'd like to get a weekly email of all the upcoming sustainability events, subscribe here.