In Our Nature

By Mishu Pham-Whipple

Investing in buildings to save energy and money has become the norm across institutional and residential domains. As part of an energy conservation effort, the University of Washington has retrofitted light fixtures across campus and measured significant energy and cost savings. What has yet to be measured, however, is how lighting retrofits improve occupant satisfaction and productivity.

Funded by the Green Seed Fund, a research team at UW - consisting of Amy Kim, Scott Bybee, and James Lew, along with support and permission from Facilities...

Update 4/18: The Native Plant Nursery was named one of the seven 2016 Husky Green Award winners.

The Society for Ecological Restoration's UW Chapter has been working to restore native plants to areas around campus, with the help of their native plant nursery. 

The nursery allows SER-UW to restore areas on campus by increasing native species biodiversity and creating open spaces for students to engage with the natural world just steps from their residence halls. The plant nursery is on the grounds of the ...

Green Husky Award nominee Katie Corp is working to make clean energy accessible.

As a graduate student, Corp is researching new materials to use solar energy in splitting water. As a Clean Energy Ambassador with UW's Clean Energy Institute, she connects with high school and middle school students to share her passion for science and clean energy. Her leadership in the program led to her being nominated for a Husky Green Award.

The Clean Energy Institute has a story on their website detailing Corp's work as a Clean Energy...

Today (Friday, April 8) the student group EcoReps wants to help you freshen up your wardrobe while getting rid of your unwanted clothes without tossing them in the trash.

The EcoReps are hosting a clothing swap on Red Square today from 2-5 p.m. Bring your gently-used clothes and swap them for new-to-you items - help reduce waste while revamping your wardrobe. Just look for the EcoReps tables on Red Square to start swapping clothes.

And remember, if you can't make it to the clothing swap there's still no need to throw away those old clothes, even ones that are torn or stained...

The UW Botanic Gardens and the Student Conservation Association have teamed up to host a work party at the Washington Park Arboretum on Saturday, April 23.

Individuals and groups from UW are invited to join us for this opportunity to dig in and help support the health of our planet. Come get your hands dirty and celebrate Earth Day with us - the first 400 volunteers to register will also receive free lunch and t-shirts!

Register now

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The Tobacco Action Group (TAG), UW American Lung Association (ALA), and Students Expressing Environmental Dedication (SEED) are hosting Huskies Kick Butts, a campus-wide cigarette butt cleanup that will raise awareness of the tobacco industry's impact on climate change and the need for UW to adopt a tobacco-free campus policy. At last year's event, 50 participants collected approximately 8,000 cigarette butts. Participants for this year's event are encouraged to form teams, and should individually...

Reducing water usage for a building the size of the UW Tower is no easy task. It took the Tower's operations staff nearly a year to replace every toilet and urinal in the tower with new, low-flush units, but it was well worth it. The project is estimated to save up to 37 million gallons of water over the next 15 years.

The move to newer toilets not only saves water and money for the university, but by standardizing all the fixtures throughout the Tower the operations staff was able to reduce the amount of spare...

The University of Washington recently joined two membership organizations focused on climate change and carbon reduction.  The UW is now a signatory to CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) and a member of CERES' Investor Network on Climate Risk.

These memberships are part of the UW Treasury Office&'s Global Climate Change Initiatives, approved by the Board of Regents in November 2013. Treasury's Climate Change Initiatives include an initiative to explore opportunities for shareholder advocacy on climate change.

CDP works with companies and cities to disclose their...

Update 4/18: The Salvage Wood Program was named one of the seven 2016 Husky Green Award winners.

The Salvage Wood Program at the University of Washington is working to make sure any trees which need to be removed on campus can have a second life.

The program, run by Grounds Management and made possible by a Campus Sustainability Fund grant and help from the UW chapter of Engineers Without Borders, turns those removed trees into lumber for projects on campus such as benches and tables.

Check out the...

The EcoReps student group has been working on several campus projects to further sustainability at UW.

The UW EcoReps clothing swap will be held on Friday, April 8, in Red Square from 2-5 p.m. This project helps address the current issue of textile waste in the United States. In order to promote a change in social norms surrounding textile consumption, we are offering a fun, sustainable event for students to come together and exchange their gently used clothing. 

Another project EcoReps is focusing on is the Environmental Stewardship...