In Our Nature

By Lindsey Boisvin, Facilities Services’ Sustainability Communications Intern

Although Halloween is just around the corner, UW Sustainability has been meticulously organizing their own series of events – without the "tricks," and pumpkins guts.

From Oct. 26 until Oct. 31, the SustainableUW Festival will highlight sustainable leadership opportunities, contributions made to make campus green, and showcase a range of programs. Activities spread throughout the week range from lectures, to meet and greets, and even a few pre-...

From reusing dog blankets to shipping lab waste to a special recycling center, one UW lab is going the extra mile to make sustainability a priority in the workplace.

The Center for Conservation Biology is unlike most labs at the UW. For one, it tests wildlife feces that a crew of dog detectives have collected. From the samples, researchers are able to identify what types of pressures certain populations are facing,...

EcoReps has a large presence in the UW Greek Community, and we would like to highlight chapters that are making exceptional efforts to be more sustainable. This week we'll shine the spotlight on the Sigma Kappa sorority.

Nationally, Sigma Kappa has a huge focus on sustainability as is apparent with their Inherit the Earth program which encourages members to live greener lifestyles, so it makes perfect sense that their UW chapter is one of the first chapters to install a Sustainability...

Chester takes in the view of the Pyrenees Mountains in Southwest Europe before venturing out to locate brown bear poop. Photo courtesy of the Conservation Canines program

From orcas to caterpillars, a few dogs at the University of Washington can find nearly any animal you'd want to find - by looking for what they've left behind.

Since 1997, the UW Conservation Canines program has been training former strays - shelter dogs too aggressive or feisty to be adopted - to protect endangered species. Their...

A group of UW architecture students and faculty traveled to the Phillippines this summer for a study abroad program "Architecture Philippines: Building with Bamboo." The students worked with local students and learned about the potential of bamboo as a building material and a cultural symbol.

Bamboo is a historically important building material in Filipino culture, and can be a sustainable building material as a native, fast-growing plan in the Phillipines....

It's jolly good time for the UW's first Tweed Ride A Tweed Ride? Why, the concept is simple. Attire yourself in something timeless and tweedy and then tour around our rustic campus by bicycle. Join us for a unique mid-day sojourn which should not be missed! We will stop in select places to admire the finest campus buildings, enjoy sipping hot chocolate, hear tales of the past, and make photographs of our dapper cohort. Meet on the southern face of Hansee Hall just before noon on Thursday, October 15.

Open to all, especially...

We here at EcoReps hope that your first couple weeks of school have been going excellently! For those of you who have not yet heard, let us give you a little update about where we are right now. This summer we have been hard at work, overhauling our program to change our focus to project development with the aim of making the UW campus more sustainable.

The idea for our program revision came from a realization that we function excellently as an organization when we are working on projects, such as the Green Greek Competition, so why not extend this to aid projects outside of...

This Tuesday, UW Sustainability co-hosts Seattle GreenDrinks along with the UW Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, the Alaska Airlines Environmental Innovation Challenge, UW Surplus, UW Professional and Continuing Education, and UW Bothell's School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.

Seattle GreenDrinks' monthly social networking events have a simple goal: to create a space that fosters connections and good times shared among people working in, or interested in,...

Throughout October, be sure and use your reusable mug for coffee on campus. Not only will it cut consumption and waste - you'll also help UW move the national leaderboard!

During the month of October, the University of Washington is part of the national "Kill the Cup" University Challenge, a campaign to reduce waste from disposable coffee cups by promoting reusable cups. The schools which have the highest rate of reusable cup use and social awareness will earn grants for sustainability projects on campus.

Using your own cup also saves...