In Our Nature

Penguins in Argentina got some good news this month. On December 3, the local province legislature established a new marine protected area off Punta Tombo, Argentina, which is currently home to over 500,000 Magellanic penguins.

UW biology professor Dee Boersma has been studying penguins in this area for more than 30 years, and is excited to see the area protected. The protected area will help save marine...

Thank you to everyone who helped make 2015 a great year. We're looking forward to an even better 2016!

Salina Abraham was one of a group of UW students who traveled to Paris this month to be a part of events around the 2015 Climate Change Conference. As the head of the International Forestry Students' Associaton (IFSA) International Processes Commission, Abraham addressed the Global Landscapes Forum in Paris on the power of youth to discover...

If you have a great idea for an innovation that will contribute to a healthier planet, there is $50,000 in funding available to help you build a prototype. Don't wait - the deadline to apply for funding is this Sunday, Dec. 20.

Apply here: https://app.reviewr.com/site/EIC

The funding is available for student teams who want to build prototypes for the Alaska Airlines...

Gov. Jay Inslee joined students at the University of Washington - and several other campuses around the state via videoconference - for a conversation on climate change this week.

The event, which allowed students to pose questions to the governor, was hosted by the College of the Environment and Dean Lisa Graumlich. Inslee had recently returned from the COP21 Climate Change talks in Paris, which led to an international agreement to combat climate change.

"What happened in Paris is a chance for us to succeed. It's not a done deal. It's set the stage for what we have to...

The UW Tower Data Center has been ENERGY STAR certified for the third year in a row - one of just 14 data centers in the country to have been certified each of the last three years.

The UW Tower Data Center provides managed space, power and cooling of critical infrastructure supporting IT departments campus-wide. It is one of only two university data centers to have ever earned ENERGY STAR...

Suzanne Zitzer is committed to sustainability! She was one of the driving forces (along with a former colleague) behind getting the College of the Environment Dean's Office certifed as a Green Office back in 2013 and has been focusing on green office practices ever since.

Before the College of the Environment Dean's Office was green certified, Suzanne noticed the office was using a large amount of paper and printing single-sided, as well as leaving lights on in the office kitchen. Since going through the certification process, the office has...

By Lindsey Boisvin, Facilities Services’ Sustainability Communications Intern

The Burke-Gilman Trail is swamped with puddles and leaves, but that isn’t stopping Ride in the Rain bike riders.

Beginning Nov. 1, UW students, faculty, and employees created teams to take on one of the rainiest months of the year as part of the Ride in the Rain challenge. Each individual logged trips longer than 0.25 miles online to attempt to meet 50,000 trips across all teams.

Facilities Services staff have taken on the challenge for the past few years. This year, employees within...

EcoReps is continuing its Green Greek Representatives blog segment with Dylan Reynolds from the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, who discussed the new waste fines:

"Family households will face small fines for infractions, only $1 per can found to contain recyclables and compostables. However, larger properties such as apartments -- or greek houses -- will face a $50 fine per infraction. Previously this issue was a moral one, based on whether or not you chose to lead a sustainable lifestyle. Now, it appeals to a much higher power: financial reasons. And any honest member of...

The UW Farm is currently gauging interest and seeing which time slots would work best for an Agroecology Reading Group in Winter 2016, led by Professor Jennifer Ruesink.

This will be a weekly seminar in which students, staff and/or faculty read and discuss articles covering various aspects of agroecology. Agroecology represents the interaction of farming with the environment, in which "environment" can be variously defined in terms of how much of the human environment is included. The scope of "environment" covered by the readings will be modified according to participant interest....