the UW Sustainability blog
This spring, the UW Earth Day Committee - made up of passionate and driven students - was the driving force behind a dynamic week of programming that celebrated sustainability in all forms. Through weekly planning meetings with my supervisor Emily and coworker Kellie, we co-created interactive and educational events that raised visibility for intersectional sustainability and highlighted the importance of environmental action.
Cornell University and the University of Washington are both national leaders for sustainability movements on college campuses. In fact, they both made The Princeton Review’s 2017 Green College Honor Roll, in which schools must receive a score of 99 (the highest possible score) in a Green Rating tally.
It’s no secret that waste is a big problem in some areas of the UW Greek Community, as well as other areas north of campus. This problem turns from big to BIG in the month before school starts (late August and early September) and the month after school ends (June). Students are on the move, transitioning between houses, apartments, dorms, etc. and in the process a lot of waste gets left behind or abandoned on the street as somebody else’s problem.
UW Environmental Studies majors gathered in Alder Hall last week to present their capstone projects, which ranged from in-depth looks at millennials’ involvement in environmental advocacy to research on improving our connectedness with nature.
“I’m always impressed by students,” said capstone instructor Sean McDonald. “They apply their environmental degree to the professional world.”
The student group UW EcoReps works with the Greek community at UW to promote sustainability. EcoReps has created a Green Greek representative program to bring students from houses across the Greek community together to find opportunities in houses, on campus and beyond. Check out this video for more information on UW's Green Greek representatives:
Two sustainability-focused groups at the University of Washington, UW-Solar and the Green Greek Representative Program, are collaborating on a project that has sunny prospects and dazzling potential. Essentially, the two groups will be working together to determine opportunities for solar power in the UW Greek Community.
Tali Haller has been a student at the University of Washington for less than two years, and she's already won two Husky Green Awards – an accomplishment no one else has achieved.
"It's very motivating, and it also gives some validity to the things that I'm doing," she said about the Husky Green Award wins. "It's really nice to be recognized for work that I'm doing on campus."
Tali has already been able to make a big impact promoting sustainability in the UW Greek system, as well as being involved in many other environmental and sustainability projects on campus and off.
By Tali Haller
After a few wild days of recycle basketball, trash Minute-To-Win-It, sustainability trivia, and green pledging last weekend, the 2016 Green Greek Competition was a success. More than 180 students signed a Green Pledge and 29 Greek Chapters participated.
EcoReps is continuing its Green Greek Representatives blog segment with Danny Maier from the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, who wrote a piece on his chapter’s new Sustainability Chairman position:
Recently, my fraternity made a huge stride in going green by adopting a new house position called the 'Sustainability Chair.' Serving on this chair requires you to fulfill 5 major duties. These duties are as follows:
EcoReps is continuing its Green Greek Representatives blog segment with Dylan Reynolds from the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, who discussed the new waste fines:
