In Our Nature

Recent UW graduate Jesus Martinez-Gomez never imagined moving from a small farming community in Ferndale to cultivating his passion for science at the University of Washington.

Over the last four years, undergraduate researcher Martinez-Gomez studied the mutation of genes in flowers. He has received five scholarships, ranging from UW McNair to Excellence in Biology. He has also been a part of seven programs, ranging from UW Undergraduate Academic...

Harborview Medical Center and University of Washington Medical Center have each received the 2016 Top 25 Environmental Excellence Award from Practice Greenhealth. The Top 25 Award recognizes healthcare facilities across the country that exemplify environmental excellence and are setting the highest standards for environmental practices in healthcare. This is the tenth consecutive year for UW Medical Center to receive the top award and the...

There are many Green Laboratories at the University of Washington who practice sustainability every day. The Green Lab Certification program was created to recognize these labs, while providing resources for labs who want to improve their practices. This spring, the Green Lab program gave awards to those certified labs which showed outstanding performance even among the select group of certified Green Labs.

The Greenest Lab award for 2015-2016 went to the ZaP Flow Z-Pinch Lab from the...

Trucks stationed in the middle of Greek Row on Friday afternoon were ready to collect items students couldn't take with them for the summer, including goods like electronics and refrigerators.

UW Recycling, in partnership with Seattle Public Utilities and the UW Office of Regional Relations, is offering free disposal of unwanted items to students moving out of the north campus area as part of the Husky Neighborhood Cleanup. Reusable items are donated to local charities, and things that can't be reused are recycled or disposed of.

"It’s a great program," said David Speed, UW...

Sound Salmon Solutions is seeking two to three long-term Community Stewardship Partners to help with salmon habitat restoration work. Volunteers will help raise public awareness on the decline of salmon populations, water quality problems and solutions.

The Chinook Salmon and Steelhead populations are currently at less than 5 percent of their historic levels in Puget Sound. Without proper habitat restoration and community awareness, these fish populations are at risk of...

UW Environmental Studies majors gathered in Alder Hall last week to present their capstone projects, which ranged from in-depth looks at millennials’ involvement in environmental advocacy to research on improving our connectedness with nature.

“I’m always impressed by students,” said capstone instructor Sean McDonald. “They apply their environmental degree to the professional world.”

As part of the environmental studies major, students can participate in a three-quarter...

The UW relies primarily on freshwater purchased from Seattle Public Utilities to water landscaped areas on campus. A group on campus wants that to change.

A team of students, faculty and staff are proposing to alter the existing irrigation system to distribute rainwater as opposed to fresh drinking water, and they received a Green Seed Fund grant to help make it happen.

"It seems out of order to me that we don't collect rainfall and use it to irrigate the campus," said Leigh Allison, UW graduate student involved in the project. "We're going to...

Spring quarter is nearly over, which means students will be packing up in preparation for summer moves. Often, this means discovering that you have more stuff than you can (or want to) take with you, but don't throw those unwanted items away! UW Recycling is making it easy for students to donate or dispose of unwanted items.

For students in residence halls, SCRAM (Student Cleanup, Recycle and Moveout) provides an opportunity to donate...

At 15 feet tall, the new hoop house for the Society for Ecological Restoration's UW Chapter (SER-UW) serves as a reminder of all the hard work 50 student volunteers put in over the course of six days.

Working eight to ten hour shifts, students from UW’s Construction Management department, Sigma Lambda Chi and volunteers from SER-UW set out to construct a 30 foot by 48 foot hoop house at the Center for Urban Horticulture. Now, the student run native plant nursery has room for about 5,000 plants in the hoop house.

The newly constructed hoop house was one of many goals the...

Over six million gallons of water is used to sustain the assortment of trees and flowers in the Washington Park Arboretum, much of it along Azalea Way, the main pathway through the Arboretum. But a group of UW students, staff and faculty are hoping to significantly reduce the amount of water used.   

In an effort to reduce water, Arboretum gardener Kathleen DeMaria and her team are working to replace the existing irrigation system. To kick-start the project, the Green Seed Fund awarded the team $52,323 for a research project which will give the team information on how to optimize...