In Our Nature

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...

The Department of Applied Mathematics in Lewis Hall offers programs in applied mathematics and computational finance and risk management (CFRM). The department began to sharpen its focus on sustainability as a result of the UW's increased promotion of environmentally friendly behaviors, and is a Gold Certified Green Office.

Laurie Feldman, CFRM program manager, has taken on the role of keeping the office sustainable to her own workload, filling out the past three Green Office Certifications...

This year’s Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) national conference was held in Spokane on October 28-29. Several students, staff and faculty from the University of Washington traveled east to take part in the conference as presenters and attendees, joining about 2,000 people who gathered to discuss sustainability challenges and efforts.

UW Sustainability Director Claudia Frere-Anderson emceed the conference’s closing, recognizing the efforts of the many people who worked to make the conference...

Hi everyone! My name is Annika and I’m joining the UW Sustainability team as the communications intern. I’m currently a freshman in Engineering, hoping to also explore writing along the way. I grew up with a green thumb, where I developed a passion for nurturing plants and admiring the beauty of nature. Once I worked on a science project about honey bees, I realized that the self-sustainability of plants and organisms fascinates me to no end. From there, I knew I wanted to pursue environmental stewardship to greater depths.

My other interests include learning about...