environment
November 24, 2023
Forest chorus
Byron Au Yong, ’96, went to the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island to sing with the trees at an outdoor, participatory research event.
September 2, 2023
Compostable plastic
UW researchers have developed new bioplastics that degrade on the same timeline as a banana peel in a backyard compost bin.
June 4, 2023
Down to earth
Blending her own story with tales of climate crisis negotiations, Brianna Craft shows us the world in her memoir.
May 28, 2023
Our part for the planet
A UW workshop showcases how climate change innovations on campuses can benefit surrounding communities and beyond.
September 2, 2022
Environment’s friend
Philanthropist Harriet Stimson Bullitt’s advocacy for Earth knew no bounds.
December 4, 2021
Unleashing dogs’ power
The UW’s Conservation Canines calls on dogs’ noses to find answers to pressing environmental questions.
March 4, 2021
Our climate future is now
Scientists spent decades warning us about what would happen during the 2020s and 2030s. Now we see it.
June 10, 2020
The ultimate puzzle
Doctoral student Emily Rabe loves puzzles. Now she's working on one with high stakes—one that could have a significant impact on our planet’s health.
March 12, 2020
Fishing for arsenic
Researchers study the movement of water and heavy metals’ impact on aquatic life in lakes near Tacoma.
October 22, 2019
Plea for the planet
Tenacity led Jim Anderson, ’66, the 2019 Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus, to help save the ozone; he's not about to give up.
September 2, 2019
Warming sea
A die-off points to a larger-scale, longer-term problem with the food supply caused by warming seas.
August 26, 2018
Sharks spin a tale
Great white sharks dive deep into the Atlantic’s clockwise-spinning warm-water whirlpools.
September 1, 2016
Exposing Flint
A Michigan city’s drinking water was poisoned, and government officials refused to admit it. Desperate for answers, an ailing family didn’t know where to turn. Then they found Marc Edwards. Now they have a chance.
September 1, 2015
High volume
Recordings by current and former UW researchers in fjords show that melting at glacier edges in the narrow rock-edged canyons are some of the noisiest places in the sea.
December 1, 2014
Soil sage
A chef-turned-professor digs into a new crop — turning recycled waste into better soil, better food and better health.
September 1, 2014
Tide turner
Tidal power holds tremendous potential, especially here in the Evergreen State, because of the sheer volume of water moving in and out of Puget Sound each day.
Spreading his wheels
Landscape architecture alumnus Steve Durrant is helping Seattle take a big step by unveiling the city’s first bike-sharing program.
June 1, 2014
Deep into oceans
The chemistry of the ocean has changed dramatically over the decades that Terrie Klinger has been studying her beloved West Coast waters.
Robot observers
This fall the UW will complete installation of a massive digital ocean observatory. Dozens of instruments will connect to power and Internet cables on the sea floor, but the observatory also includes a new generation of ocean explorers: robots that will zoom up and down through almost two miles of ocean to monitor the water conditions and marine life above.
September 1, 2012
Tree-sized benefits
Professor James Lutz, UW research scientist in environmental and forest sciences, is the lead author of the largest quantitative study yet on the importance of big trees in temperate forests.
June 1, 2012
Culture and cleanup
Decades of industrial and urban waste have badly contaminated South Seattle’s Duwamish waterway, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will determine the long-awaited, final cleanup plan of this Superfund site later this year.
Green light
More than 40 UW students from a variety of disciplines are building a car for the future as part of the EcoCAR 2 competition.
A patent success
Catching up with Robert Charlson, ’64, professor emeritus of Atmospheric Sciences and Chemistry, and co-inventor of the first UW-held patent that brought royalties to the UW.
March 1, 2012
Slick job
Two UW alums who helped devise a better way to ameliorate oil spills were part of a team that won a $1 million prize for its ingenuity.
December 1, 2011
Green giant
The Sierra Club honors the UW as the most environmentally minded college in the nation.
Purple, gold and green
In August, the Sierra Club named the UW as the nation’s most environmentally friendly university in its ranking of the nation’s “Cool Schools.”
Biofuel: a poplar idea
The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the University of Washington a $40 million grant to turn woody biomass—mainly poplar trees—into biogasoline and renewable aviation fuel.
March 1, 2011
Sink to Sound
Researchers are using a new method for collecting old-fashioned data: They are employing real people—citizen scientists—to study changes in the environment.
December 1, 2010
Bay keeper
Half of the West Coast’s oyster supply and roughly one in 10 oysters harvested in the U.S. comes from Willapa Bay. Ensuring the bay will remain productive, without compromising its overall health, has become the mission of Jennifer Ruesink, ’96, an associate professor with UW Department of Biology.
September 1, 2010
Elephant vs. bird
Elephants may be the biggest factor in the impending disappearance of a tiny bird.
June 1, 2010
Innovative idealism
Student teams from across the University of Washington and other state schools heralded their inventions of clean, green technologies at the second annual UW Environmental Innovation Challenge.
Greener roads
A UW team has helped develop the world’s first system to rate the sustainability of road construction and maintenance projects.
March 1, 2010
MRSA digs in
Dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria are gaining a foothold in the natural environment, suggests recent research from the UW School of Public Health.
December 1, 2009
Peak cleanup
Brent Bishop, ’93, grew up in a climbing family and knew Mount Everest was dirty. At 27 years old, he was determined to do something about it.
March 1, 2009
Sneaker swim
Curtis Ebbesmeyer recalls the event that first turned him on to flotsam: the Great Sneaker Spill of 1990.
December 1, 2008
Clean and green
If, in 15 years, you’re driving a car powered by pond scum, you’ll probably have Rose Ann Cattolico to thank. The UW biology professor thinks algae is the most promising source of alternative energy out there.
September 1, 2008
Sick from cleaning
According to a study by Anne Steinemann, a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs, many of today’s top-selling dryer sheets, detergents and plug-in deodorizers contain toxic chemicals.
Environmental focus
With environmental expertise that comprises more than 400 faculty members on three campuses, extending across 18 fields of study-from the geosciences to natural resources, and from climate dynamics to environmental policy — the UW is launching a new college.
March 1, 2008
Sea levels on the rise
Melting glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica, combined with other effects of global climate change, are likely to raise sea levels in parts of Western Washington by the end of this century.
Shade crusade
It's time to abandon the hard-edged urban landscape, says Kathleen Wolf. Trees, shrubs and plants not only help the environment, they also make us feel — and behave — better.
September 1, 2007
Woes of Kilimanjaro
UW researchers say global warming has nothing to do with the decline of Kilimanjaro’s ice, and using the mountain in northern Tanzania as a “poster child” for climate change is simply inaccurate.
June 1, 2007
Ocean blues
Since the Industrial Revolution, Earth’s oceans have swallowed nearly half of all fossil-fuel carbon emissions. Damage could be reaching the tipping point.
Call and response
While the University of Washington is a leader in researching this and other aspects of carbon emissions, it is doing more than just studying this problem.
December 1, 2005
Discovery island
Environmental science took a decisive turn on an obscure island off the northwest corner of Washington. The way we look at — and try to save — our world has never been the same.
March 1, 2004
Green acres
The early settlers used it for log flume and then turned it into a dairy farm. Now UW Bothell is tackling the biggest wetlands restoration project in our region.
June 1, 2003
Legal aid for Earth
The natural habitats of the Pacific Northwest will receive more vigorous protection with the establishment of a new clinic in the UW School of Law.
June 1, 1999
Green vision
A personal loss drove Jim Ellis toward a life of civic activism that made our lakes clean, our buses keen and our landscape more pristine.
June 1, 1998
The world of 2088
Looking ahead, UW experts envision internet implants, a colony on Mars, obsolete books and the end of the United States.
December 1, 1997
Cool car
UW Professor Abe Hertzberg and his colleagues set out to create a better alternative to grandma's gas-guzzling Gremlin.
September 1, 1996
Inventions made for war adapted to heal people and help the planet
Figuring out how to provide aid during the critical "golden hour" has been the impetus behind a number of projects.
March 1, 1996
Some global warming may be natural, researchers say
As much as one-third of the climate warming since 1975 may come from natural variability in weather patterns, particularly the El Nino effect, say UW scientists.
December 1, 1995
Environmental scientist joins faculty, thanks to gift from alumnus
Mary Lidstrom, who joins the UW faculty thanks to the Frank Jungers Endowed Chair in Engineering, studies bacteria that can help clean up soil and water contaminated by toxic spills.
June 1, 1995
Cleaning Everest
Brent Bishop's five-member team orchestrated the removal of more than 5,000 pounds of garbage from Mount Everest.
June 1, 1993
Trampling Paradise
Minor rule-breakers are causing much more damage to national parks than intentional vandalism, as much as $100 million, researchers say.
March 1, 1993
Risky business
Peanut butter or bacon is more dangerous than a glass of juice from Alar-treated apples, say UW experts, who want to clear the air about environmental risks.
June 1, 1992
Hot stuff
How do you sweep 65 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste under the sagebrush of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation?
December 1, 1991
Born to be wild?
With some fish near extinction, experts debate the merits of wild runs vs. hatchery breeding.
December 1, 1990
Timber trouble
A way of life is being torn up by the roots, while the rest of the nation vilifies logging practices.