In Our Nature

There is a secret and unassuming energy hog lurking throughout our campus, consuming vast amounts of electricity. They are out of sight, but can be found in our buildings’... server rooms. Wilson Waldrop, IT Director of the Department of Physics, has been working with his team to make the Physics server room dramatically more efficient. 

As Wilson put it, leaving a server on is like “leaving a car running”. Not only are they always plugged in, but the room has to constantly be cooled to keep the servers from overheating. Many servers, like the one that hosts the department’s website...

Jessica Kaminsky is an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Washington. A scholar of engineering projects and organizations, she conducts research on infrastructure for developing communities with a particular interest in topics of social sustainability. As part of the UW's Earth Day celebration, she gave a talk on how cultural values impact sustainability. Read the text below:

My name is Jessica Kaminsky; I am a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering. Welcome to our Earth Day Celebration! And another...

UW Earth Club president Aaron Tam introduced the club's "Tap That" campaign during the Earth Day celebration, a project that is working to reduce the use of plastic water bottles on campus. Tam is a currently a senior at the University of Washington studying Environmental Science: Wildlife Conservation and Political Science. He's passionate about environmental and socioeconomic justice, and is proud to have contributed greatly to climate action in Washington and campus sustainability efforts. As President of Earth Club, Aaron...

The UW Society for Ecological Restoration's Native Plant Nursery is hosting a Native Plant Sale this weekend. On Sunday, May 1, come out to the Douglas Research Conservatory at the Center for Urban Horticulture from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and support your local, student-run nursery. They will be selling a variety of native plants, including Douglas Fir, Vanilla Leaf, Salmonberry and many more!

Barbara Clabots of the Seattle Surfrider Foundation was the introductory presenter at the University of Washington's Earth Day celebration. Clabots is a social scientist focused on improving ocean conservation. Locally, she serves the community as Seattle Surfrider's Volunteer Coordinator to improve water quality in the Puget Sound, leading a program to eliminate cigarette litter. When she's not in the water or in the mountains, you can find her on Twitter ...

By Mishu Pham-Whipple

Nearly all of Tacoma’s energy comes from renewable hydroelectric power, making the UW Tacoma campus a relatively green one. However, the overwhelming majority of students commute to campus, making transportation the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. To target the largest source of emissions, a team of researchers at the Tacoma campus received funding from the Green Seed Fund to understand the barriers to student use of public transportation. The Husky Lines team - comprised of Dr. Britta Ricker, Surtida Shelton, Alexa Brockamp, Elizabeth Leaf...

Are you committed to being "green" in your office? Are you the person who always turns off the lights in the conference room after people have used it? How about the one who goes through the trash and sifts out the compost and recycle? OK, you probably don’t take it that far. But if you find yourself thinking about small ways to reduce your environmental impact in your office you should take the initiative to certify your workplace as a Green Office and you can become a Paper Reduction Pro!

Why become a...

Hundreds of community members and students gathered on red square in honor of the 46^th anniversary of Earth Day at the University of Washington.

"It's important to spread awareness about how involved the UW is in making our campus more environmentally friendly," said junior Itzel Medina, one of the many students who came to celebrate the event. "Sustainability really matters."

The day's events were powered by the Northwest Solar Rover, a trailer-sized solar station that provided energy to a live performance by the band...

The Green Office Certification Program encourages and recognizes environmentally-friendly behavior in UW office spaces. It also exists to facilitate sharing of best practices between offices. The main goal of the program, however, is to simply get office members thinking more frequently about their environmental impact.

This quarter, we had great participation in the program, with offices throughout campus applying. In fact, 13 offices either certified for the first time or re-certified. On average, offices scored 77% overall on the Green Office...

Project Tap That is a student campaign to educate UW students about the harmful effects of plastic bottles and promote the use of reusable bottles with tap water.

They'll be kicking off their education and outreach campaign during the Earth Day celebrations on Red Square. Stop by the UW Earth Club or UW Sustainability tables to learn about the benefits of using a reusable water bottle instead of buying bottled water, and you might have a chance to pick up a Tap That reusable water bottle of your own!

Tap That is organized by UW Earth Club and was...