Hi! I'm Toren, and I'm excited to be part of the UW Sustainability team as the Events and Outreach specialist! As a proud UW alum, I'm excited to be back on campus and working with UW Sustainability. The environment has always been something I have been passionate about - I think it began at an early age with my love of the outdoors, which turned into degrees in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Science. After college (and not ready to get a "real" job yet) I spent time living in Kona, Hawaii working in Ocean Conservation with the best co-workers ever: Dolphins! (Which became...

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Members of the Green Husky Coalition sit at the edge of a stage.

Green Husky Coalition logoEcoReps is proud to introduce the Green Husky Coalition! The Green Husky Coalition is a revision of the Green Tea Party and aims to bring environmentally focused student groups together to facilitate conversation about campus sustainability. In addition, by creating a place for groups to meet, they will be able to better help each other in projects and goals outside of those set by the...

Category: Student Organizations
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A hand holding a plastic bag from the University Bookstore.

For over seven years, the University Book Store has been supporting campus sustainability through its plastic bag recycling program. Although standard plastic bags are banned in Seattle, the University Book Store uses bags made with a thicker plastic, which is allowed. The plastic in the book store bags is at least 2.25 mil thick (one mil is equal to one-thousandth of an inch), which allows the bags to be more easily reused and eventually recycled.

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Category: Recycling, Compost & Waste
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The University of Washington has joined schools across the country in signing on to a White House climate pledge.

The American Campuses Act on Climate Pledge is part of the Nov. 19 White House and Higher Education Climate Day of Action. The White House and the State Department will bring together leaders from higher education institutions to call for action on climate change and encourage a strong agreement at the upcoming Paris Climate...

The ASUW Student Food Cooperative's Autumn Humble Feast is Monday, November 23, at 6 p.m. in the HUB North Ballroom. The theme for the meal will be a Pacific Northwest Thanksgiving, and the menu will feature vegan and gluten-free seasonally-inspired food, as well as a panel of local food justice organizations. Panelists will speak about their role in the food system and the importance of sustainability and locality in consumption/production practices.

The night will end with square dancing and a live band. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 on the...

Category: Events | Food | Student Organizations
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The 2015 SustainableUW Festival celebrated sustainability across the University of Washington with many events across campus during the week-long festival.

Departments and groups across the UW hosted events throughout the week. The UW Sustainability staff wasn't able to get to every event, although we appreciate everyone who participated. The wide range of listings on the calendar serves to showcase the breadth and depth of the ongoing sustainability efforts on campus.

UW Sustainability...

Category: Events
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It's time for the annual One Thing Challenge!

The One Thing Challenge is a competition between residence hall students at UW and Washington State University to see which campus is committed to being the greenest. The school with the most participants will gain bragging rights and the ceremonial awarding of the One Thing Cup - a trophy made from recycled materials.

The competition runs this week through Nov. 20. If you live in a residence hall, all it takes is a few clicks: Just...

Category: Events | Residence Halls | Student Organizations
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Each quarter, the UW Farm hosts a "Farm Lunch" seminar for students interested in learning more about urban agriculture. The informal seminars can be taken for a credit, although all are welcome to join in the discussion.

For the upcoming 2016 Winter Quarter, the Farm Lunch seminar will will highlight a mix of local farmers, policy makers and deep conversations about the work of building a resilient food system. The seminars will meet Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in Wallace Hall 120. 

If you'd like to register for the...

Category: Academics | Food | Gardens & Farms
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Long before Seattle existed, this area was home to Native Americans with deep knowledge of the abundant natural food resources of the area. This video, part of the Burke Museum's "Salish Bounty" project, shows what archeologists learned about traditional Coast Salish food from looking at 130 archaelogical sites in the area and talking with local tribal members.

For more information on the project, including recorded stories from tribal members, see burkemuseum.org/salish_bounty   

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Category: Food
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By Lindsey Boisvin, Facilities Services' Sustainability Communications Intern

To recognize the efforts of the University of Washington campus community, UW Sustainability hosted a Sustainability Leadership event on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Campus sustainability leaders met in Odegaard Undergraduate Library to celebrate national recognition of UW's sustainability efforts and other successes on campus.

In the past few months alone, UW was ranked one of the top 10 greenest schools by the Sierra Club magazine, won the Green Honor Roll award within the Princeton Review’s Green...