Awards & Recognition

Henry Milander has always held an interest in sustainability. He spends many Saturday mornings with hands in the dirt, removing invasive plant species and cleaning up local parks through UW Rotaract. Social issues are well on his radar, too; Henry often volunteers his time at organizations that train disadvantaged individuals in culinary arts, and others that alleviate food insecurity.

With Earth Day festivities behind us, we're back to our regular weekly sustainability event posts! The sustainability events calendar is always packed with new events, but below we've listed a few of the top options for this week. Also, check out our calendar for a comprehensive listing of events. You can even subscribe to get weekly emails to keep up to date on all the sustainability events happening around UW!

The University of Washington Department of Athletics was one of two university winners of the 2018 Environmental Innovators of the Year awards by the Green Sports Alliance. 

The University of Washington has earned recognition from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for its sustainability performance, with special recognition in the food & dining and transportation categories.

Judy Twedt credits two things in fostering her interest and love for the natural world: the Pacific Northwest and a scholarly interest in philosophy.

Growing up in the PNW, Twedt loved the powerful mountain landscapes, the bounty of trees and the cold, salty grey water of the Puget Sound. She also remembers having an early interest in the people of the region, something which led her to leave her home of Tacoma to pursue a degree in philosophy at Colorado college.

The new Green Dawgs program at the University of Washington encourages student groups to make their meetings, events, and member practices more sustainable. The program launched this fall, and is looking for a student Program Outreach Ambassador volunteer.

The outreach ambassador would work up to five hours a week to contact and inform student groups about the Green Dawg Certification program.

Though our city isn't known for sunny weather, solar arrays are still a highly viable source of energy for the PNW, and solar panels are starting to appear on rooftops across campus. Solar power installations can be found on the roofs of many West campus residence halls, including Mercer, Elm and Alder.

Shelby Cramer's path to the Husky Green Award started with a simple question.

"I was walking with my little sister, and she randomly asked me what this tree was, this tree that was outside our house for years and year and years," Shelby said. "I didn't know what to tell her because I didn't know what that tree was, and that was kind of a light bulb moment. I felt a weird sense of shame in not knowing my own place."

In 2009, a small group of students started a grassroots campaign to create a student-powered green fund at the University of Washington. The idea quickly gained wide support, and today the Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF) has granted more than $2 million to student-created sustainability projects, giving UW students a chance to shape the future of campus.