It's Earth Week!

Earth Day is this Friday, April 22, but our planet deserves more than just a day. There are events happening throughout this week across campus, all gearing up to our Earth day celebration in Red Square on Friday. I've detailed the events hosted by UW Earth Club and UW Sustainability - check out our Earth Day events page for the full list of campus events.

Tuesday, April. 19 - UWS will be hosting an open house for all UW faculty. Stop by our office in...

There are thousands of light bulbs on campus, which use energy and regularly burn out or fail. The UW's maintenance electricians are addressing both issues with a program to upgrade campus lights to LED bulbs, which are more efficient and longer-lasting than traditional lights.

The team recently swapped out more than 200 lights on the IMA's squash and racquetball courts, which will reduce power consumption by 78%. Kane and Meany halls have also gotten LED upgrades. 

You can read more about the...

Update 4/18: Melanie Wade was named one of seven 2016 Husky Green Award winners.

UW fans know Melanie Wade for her contributions to the Husky volleyball team, including All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention nods her junior and senior year. Off the court, she's worked throughout her career to implement sustainability initiatives within the UW athletic department and across the campus as a whole....

Update 4/18: Aaron Tam was named one of the seven 2016 Husky Green Award winners.

UW student Aaron Tam is no stranger when it comes to environmental stewardship and advocacy. He is actively involved with several organizations on campus, including Carbon Washington, Earth Club, and UW Recycling.

As UW campus coordinator for Carbon Washington, Tam has led many community service projects in habitat restoration and petition gathering. He was also the only UW undergraduate student to collect over 1,400...

UW Bothell graduate student Alison Schmidt has volunteered all over Seattle. Most of her volunteer experiences have been with Seattle Tilth, where she focused on community engagement and education on recycling and composting and local farming and student learning gardens. She has also done ecological restoration with community partners like Mountain to Sound Greenway and Friends of North Creek Forest. Recently, she began participating in the kayak cleanups with Puget Sound Keepers on Lake Union.

Before pursuing her degree in environmental studies, Jansen spent 14 years working for...

As the manager of Cultivate, James Windau makes sustainability a top priority. The on-campus, full-service restaurant works to incorporate local and seasonal food, including serving produce grown on the UW Farm. Windau and Cultivate have recently signed up for Smart Catch, a chef-driven, sustainable seafood program. The program works to support environmentally sustainable fishing practices.

UW Housing and Food Services works to ensure the food and dining experiences on...

Update 4/18: Confronting Climate Change was named one of the seven 2016 Husky Green Award winners.

In the spring of 2015, the student group Confronting Climate Change - also known as Divest UW - celebrated a victory when the University of Washington's Board of Regents voted to divest from coal companies. 

The move was one that the group had fought for. In 2012, Divest UW delivered a petition to then-UW president Michael Young requesting fossil...

This past December, Salina Abraham was one of four University of Washington undergraduates to attend the Global Landscapes Forum in Paris. At the Forum, more than 3,000 people came together to forge solutions to the planet’s greatest climate and development challenges through sustainable land use. Abraham’s speech is featured in the video below.

“I was honored to be able to share solutions developed by youth and share our sentiments,” said Abraham. “...

Carolyn Hartman has worked diligently to promote environmental education and campus sustainability in numerous leadership capacities throughout her time at UW.

For the past three years, she has represented environmental student groups as an ASUW student senator. Last school year, she impressively leveraged her involvement with both the ASUW Senate and SEED, the HFS-affiliated environmental student group, to pass a resolution in support of increasing composting programs in the residence...

The UW International Forestry Students' Association (IFSA) was created just a year ago, but it's already grown into a robust community of environmental sustainability leaders, with more than 10 officers and 43 active members.

The UW arm of IFSA came into being when a group of students wanted to create a connection between UW students and the international environmental community. Since then, the student organization has traveled to the International Forestry Students' Symposium in the Philippines and the Global Landscapes Forum in...