Four students from UW Environment honored in 2022 Husky 100
Congratulations to four College of the Environment students recognized in the 2022 Husky 100!
The Husky 100 actively connect what happens inside and outside of the classroom and apply what they learn to make a difference on campus, in their communities and for the future. Through their passion, leadership and commitment, these students inspire all of us to shape our own Husky Experience.
San Diego, CA
B.S., Environmental and Forest Sciences
“My Ho-Chunk name is JāJā̜p here ga, “He who is Lightning” and through the power passed down from my ancestors I have succeeded in making a positive impact in my community. With the support of my family and friends I have persevered through the challenges I have faced in my college career and I am forever grateful for them showing me the strength I didn’t know I had. In life, you will take Ls and Ws no matter what you do. It is up to you to decide whether those Ls stand for losses or lessons.”
Hanna Lester
Woodinville, WA
B.A., Program on the Environment
“My time at UW has taught me how to approach ideas with an open mind and an interdisciplinary lens. Through my studies of both economics and the environment, I have learned of the many ways that our human and natural systems are interconnected. I hope to become an advocate for the sustainable and equitable conservation of our world and its vital natural resources. I want to create a future in which both people and planet can thrive, and economic, environmental, and social justice prevails.”
Nasra Mohamed
Auburn, WA
B.A., Program on the Environment
“As the daughter of Somali immigrants, I strive to amplify the voices of marginalized communities. As a future physician and researcher, I look forward to applying the knowledge and skills I’ve gained in advocacy, health education, and the School of IAS to promote health equity among refugee and immigrant communities. My UW experience has allowed me to foster mentorships across the UW campuses, helping me to explore my passion for research and community engagement.”
Lillian Williamson
Shoreline, WA
B.A., Program on the Environment
“My Husky experience has taught me my potential as a leader, an activist, and a scholar. I study the intersections between issues of injustice and the climate crisis, and have spent my time at the UW working to make tangible change for my communities as a lobbyist, a sitting Commissioner for the City of Seattle, and the Director of the ASUW Queer Student Commission. I plan to continue this work by pursuing a law degree with a focus in environmental law after I graduate.”
Joel Thornton named new Chair of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences
The UW College of the Environment is pleased to announce that Professor Joel Thornton has agreed to serve for a five-year term as director of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, effective July 1, 2022.
Thornton is an atmospheric scientist who studies the impacts of human activities on air quality and climate through changes to the atmosphere’s composition and chemistry. His focus is on the processes which regulate the formation and removal of short-lived greenhouse gasses such as methane and ozone, and the formation and growth of airborne particulate matter. He also has extensive leadership experience within the Department and the College, serving as the Department’s Graduate Program Coordinator, representing the Department as a Faculty Senator and serving on the Program on the Environment Advisory Board.
The Search Committee highlighted the overall high level of satisfaction of respondents in being a member of the Atmospheric Sciences community and noted that common descriptors used for the Department culture were “collaborative,” “collegial,” “supportive,” “cooperative,” “dynamic,” “excellent breadth and depth,” and “high caliber research.” In particular, they noted that students expressed a feeling that they were being empowered to excel.
“I was pleased to see that there is justifiable pride in the Department’s reputation and I look forward to working with Joel and all of you to help maintain the excellence of the Department within a culture that welcomes and supports all faculty, postdocs, staff and students,” said Dean Maya Tolstoy.
The members of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences Advisory Search Committee are: J. Michael Brown, Professor in Earth and Space Sciences (Chair), Terrie Klinger, Professor in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, Fred Averick, Assistant Director of the Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies and Lyatt Jaeglé, Professor in Atmospheric Sciences.
“Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank Cecilia Bitz for her service as the outgoing Chair,” said Tolstoy. “Cecilia has held this role since 2019 and in the short time I have worked with her, I have appreciated her insightful and thoughtful leadership, and her commitment to maintaining the strength of the department, including advocating for the whole community – students, post-docs, faculty and staff.”
"The stars have moved": how climate change is impacting the planet at multiple scales
Situated on an Arctic barrier island along the northwest coast of Alaska is the village of Kivalina, an Iñupiaq community of about 500 people. Colleen Swan, city administrator and coordinator of its volunteer Search and Rescue organization, is an advocate for her community and has always taken concerns about Indigenous health, environment and identity seriously, and works to seek out solutions. Recently, she was approached by a curious neighbor with a perplexing observation.
“An elder in the community has gone outside every night of her life to look at the stars,” Swan says, “and she told me one day, years ago, that the stars have moved. How could that happen? What could cause that?”
The question wasn’t rhetorical, but was directed towards P. Joshua Griffin, jointly appointed assistant professor at the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and American Indian Studies department, and his team of graduate researchers. The group, known as the Engaged Ethnography Lab (EEL), is collaborating with Swan, her brother Reppi, and other community members on a UW EarthLab-funded project to create a hazard assessment for the village as it faces drastic climate change impacts. As part of the ongoing collaboration, the members of EEL set about investigating the question asked by Swan and her community.
“I’ve had the privilege to work on environmental projects in Kivalina for the last eight years,” says Griffin. “One of the first things I learned — and it was Joe Swan Sr. [Colleen’s father] who taught me this — is how important it is to address climate change in ways that support the long-term goals and values of the community, as diverse as they are.”
After talking to Reppi for years about his work responding when a hunter falls through the ice, or putting sandbags around critical infrastructure during severe storms, Griffin and Swan started the project as a way to support Kivalina’s efforts to build organizational capacity while investigating whether the technical resources of UW polar science could be applied to questions on the ground. “We call the project ‘Polar Science at a Human Scale,’” says Griffin.
Some of these community-level climate challenges facing Kivalina can be traced back to broader Arctic changes. Loss of sea-ice extent and thickness, glacial retreat and thinning, loss of snowpack, permafrost thawing, ice sheet melting and warming of ocean water near outlet glaciers (which leads to ice loss from both ocean and atmospheric warming) have all contributed to shifts in the cryosphere.
The cryosphere, a term which encompasses all areas of Earth’s surface covered in frozen water, has many components, all of which are experiencing some type of change. Because the role of each component in the earth system is different, the impact of those changes vary as well. The trend towards a shrinking cryosphere paired with a warming ocean has already had diverse impacts on food security, water resources, water quality, livelihoods, infrastructure, transportation, tourism and recreation around the world.
Colleen’s question about the stars has been posed by Inuit people from other communities as well, but was often ignored or discarded by Western researchers in the past. However, it turns out that these changes in the cryosphere leading to melting ice, along with alterations to water storage distributions at different latitudes, are contributing to a shift in the way the planet wobbles on its axis which effectively alters where the constellations normally appear overhead.
Earth has always moved on its polar axis, and in the past that movement was guided by natural factors like Milankovitch Cycles, ocean currents and magma convection. However, in 1995 the North Pole turned away from its predicted migration facing Canada and instead began moving towards Russia. Even more alarming than the about-face in direction was the rapidity of change: over the next 15 years the pole accelerated 17 times faster than had been observed over the 15 years prior.
Greenland alone has lost more than 270 trillion kilograms of ice a year on average since the early 2000s. Because liquid water is denser than frozen water, these massive melting events have led to changes in the distribution of weight on Earth, causing the poles to tilt in a different direction. Overall, scientists have found that loss of ice has altered the direction of the planet’s polar movement by some four meters since 1980. In addition, the influx of cold, fresh water has been found to cause the Beaufort Gyre, a major Arctic current, to become faster and more turbulent.
These statistics highlight the impact that humans, particularly those in developed, wealthier countries, have on the planet on a grand scale. Yet perhaps more concerning than the sheer size of the issue in the natural environment is the degree to which climate change-induced loss is affecting daily life for frontline communities as well. In the Arctic, people are experiencing a lack of access to stable and existing sea ice for hunting and transportation. Thawing permafrost is compromising infrastructure like roads, buildings and traditional food storage systems, as well as accelerating greenhouse gas release. At both polar and mid-latitudes, glacial loss is impacting freshwater supplies, and reduced snowpack is altering regional reliance on snow and water supplies as well. Sea-level rise presents a critical challenge to the many coastal communities around the globe, as adapting is costly and can take time. What’s more, we currently don’t know how quickly or impactful sea-level rise caused by the ‘ice-sheet instability’ process — when grounded ice from major ice sheets moves directly into the ocean rather than melting on land first — will be.
The list of impacts from a changing cryosphere goes on. From invasive species range expansion to altered storm frequency and intensity to disrupted bird and mammal migrations, each of these changes is not isolated but indicative of a globally interconnected web of challenges facing communities at all latitudes.
Human-driven environmental change has implications for everyone, but the people who contribute least to the problem, such as Indigenous communities, are the same people facing disproportionately large consequences. Colleen and her family in Kivalina are one of myriad communities fighting to maintain where and how they live, working to protect cultural practices like subsistence hunting while also combating the growing problems associated with climate change and ice loss.
“I think a lot about the John Keats quote, ‘nothing ever becomes real ‘til it is experienced’,” says Swan. “We have to figure out how to save ourselves because the effects of climate change are going to get worse, especially in a place like Kivalina. We have to go out and document these changes to show people that it’s the 11th hour, and that we have to come up with solutions now.”
Two UW Environment faculty named fellows of Ecological Society of America
Two University of Washington professors have been honored by the Ecological Society of America for their knowledge and contributions to the field of ecology.
Julian Olden, a professor in the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, has been named a 2022 fellow of the Ecological Society of America. Fellows are elected for life, and the honor recognizes scientists who advance or apply ecological knowledge in academics, government, nonprofits and the broader society.
Olden studies the structure and function of freshwater ecosystems in response to environmental change. Olden seeks to integrate science-based approaches with on-the-ground management decisions, and he actively engages in science communication and community science efforts.
Brian Harvey, an assistant professor in the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, has been named a 2022 early career fellow, an honor for researchers who are within eight years of completing their doctoral training.
Harvey’s research focuses on understanding forest disturbances — fires and insect outbreaks — and how forests are shaped by these disturbances, along with climate. For the last decade, Harvey has conducted research on the disturbance ecology of forests in the Pacific Northwest, the Rockies and coastal California.
“I’m delighted to see these two exceptional faculty recognized by the ESA,” said Maya Tolstoy, Maggie Walker Dean of the UW College of the Environment. “Julian and Brian each bring innovative approaches to research, teaching and community engagement that are outstanding within their fields, and further the essential work of understanding human impacts on our planet’s ecological processes.”
According to the Ecological Society of America’s April 12 announcement, Olden was elected for “pushing the frontiers of invasion ecology and deepening the understanding of freshwater sustainability through environmental flows management, for tireless science communication and for his dedication to training the next generation of freshwater ecologists and conservation biologists.”
Harvey was elected for “deepening understanding of the effects of natural disturbances, especially fire and insect outbreaks, on resilience and management of forests in the U.S. West; for excellence in science communication and outreach; and for outstanding teaching and mentoring at all levels from undergraduate to advanced graduate.”
Ice shards in Antarctic clouds let more solar energy reach Earth’s surface
Clouds come in myriad shapes, sizes and types, which control their effects on climate. New research led by the University of Washington shows that splintering of frozen liquid droplets to form ice shards inside Southern Ocean clouds dramatically affects the clouds’ ability to reflect sunlight back to space.
The paper, published March 4 in the open-access journal AGU Advances, shows that including this ice-splintering process improves the ability of high-resolution global models to simulate clouds over the Southern Ocean – and thus the models’ ability to simulate Earth’s climate.
“Southern Ocean low clouds shouldn’t be treated as liquid clouds,” said lead author Rachel Atlas, a UW doctoral student in atmospheric sciences. “Ice formation in Southern Ocean low clouds has a substantial effect on the cloud properties and needs to be accounted for in global models.”
Results show that it’s important to include the process whereby icy particles collide with supercooled droplets of water causing them to freeze and then shatter, forming many more shards of ice. Doing so makes the clouds dimmer, or decreases their reflectance, allowing more sunlight to reach the ocean’s surface.
Cultivating community and tradition among the crops at the Native Garden
Tucked into a corner of the UW Farm at the Center for Urban Horticulture, within the moist compost and woven through the tendrils of beans, a community flourishes. The wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Native Garden is a unique space where crops and people grow in harmony. Informed by traditional farming practices, the Native Garden serves as a space for Indigenous students to connect with their culture and share it with the broader community.
“We are trying to share Indigenous food ways, ways of farming and food sovereignty with anybody who is interested,” said Sarai Mayer, the Native Garden’s food sovereignty liaison. “We are trying to spread awareness and get people involved in the process of working the land and allowing access to food. Everyone benefits when Indigenous people are allowed access to the land.”
Beginning in 2018, a range of foods, plants and medicines are grown at the Native Garden, including several types of corn, squash, beans, Wapato, rare potatoes, amaranth and ceremonial tobacco. Growing corn, beans and squash uses the traditional “Three Sisters” method, where the runner beans grow up the corn stalks, using them as structural support; the beans help fix nitrogen in the soil to keep it healthy; and the squash offers shade to keep the soil moist and free of weeds. The fallen squash leaves even serve as compost. Amaranth or sunflowers can be used as a fourth sister because their fibrous roots hold the mounds of soil together. Once harvested, eating corn, beans and squash is a complete diet full of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals.
As the University of Washington is increasing conversations around diversity, equity and inclusion, the Native Garden is a place where those values are put into action. According to Perry Acworth, the UW Farm manager, there’s something to be said about “going outside, putting your hands in the dirt, and visibly making a physical change. It’s an actual space where you can make a difference in a very short period of time.”
The Native Garden exists as a partnership between UW Farm — housed in the College of the Environment — and the wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – (Intellectual House) on the UW Seattle campus. wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ (a Lushootseed word, phonetically pronounced “wah-sheb-altuh”) – Intellectual House is a longhouse-style building meant to serve as a community and cultural gathering space for Indigenous students, staff and faculty.
The Garden serves a similar purpose, and is also a place where students organize and connect with their culture and food systems. Mayer is the first food sovereignty liaison employed through wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House, where she spends a lot of time finding out what people want from the garden. “It’s not my garden, it’s our garden,” she said, “and I’m trying to facilitate what people want and need from that.” The garden provides an opportunity to reconnect with the land and food system, allowing Indigenous students to get involved in a holistic system of planting, harvesting and processing food. “I think there’s a lot to learn from being part of the entire process of planting them, nourishing them and caring for them as they care for us,” Mayer explained.
According to Mayer, it’s not just the Native American community that benefits from having this space on campus; everyone has something to learn from seeing and experiencing it: “we can build this connection not only with the earth, land and plants, but with other people. These connections cross cultures and allow us to be part of a shared humanity.”
Acworth agrees that the garden opens doors for learning opportunities beyond the classroom. “Topics are brought up by class, but they get into really deep discussions while harvesting carrots, while picking kale, because it’s a very organic space. It’s a living laboratory and it’s a classroom with no walls.”
The location and the land on which the Native Garden exists is one of historical significance to many Coast Salish peoples, and has gone through many transformations. It was once home to several Coast Salish longhouses and a fishing weir. “Canoes would have been pulled up here, and it would have been an area with a lot of activity,” Acworth said. “There was a slough, or a creek, that goes up to Green Lake where people would have caught fish. The slough runs along the Union Bay Natural Area, which is adjacent to the farm.” But in the late 1800’s, early settlers connected Lake Washington and Lake Union with a large industrial canal, lowering the water in Lake Washington and Union Bay by several feet. This created marshland thought to be unusable at that time, which soon became the Montlake Dump. After the dump closed in 1966, the University began planning for and using the land in different ways, including what would eventually become the Center for Urban Horticulture. Acworth says that offering space for the Native Garden can be seen as unofficially re-matriating land back to Indigenous peoples, and is one step towards honoring and acknowledging in a physical and symbolic way the original inhabitants.
An important aspect of the garden is that it provides food security to Indigenous students, volunteers and community members. People who volunteer at the farm and in the Native Garden often earn food for their hard work. Excess food grown at the UW Farm is brought to the UW Food Pantry to support food insecure students that are unable to volunteer. There’s an academic benefit to this as well — when students are food insecure, they are half as likely to graduate.
Mayer is hoping to implement community activities that involve more than just food, like hosting workshops to make paper from corn byproducts, dye from sunflowers or dolls from corn husks. The garden also hopes to have a Cultural Kitchen onsite soon, where community members and elders can come to prepare food. Acworth says, “not only will it be a place of food growing, but a place of food consumption and a place of sharing stories, harvesting and eating together.” Mayer also hopes to establish a pathway to get food and medicine produced in the garden to community members and elders that need it, such as ceremonial tobacco.
The Native Garden exemplifies the spirit of UW’s diverse community, and provides an outlet for students to share their culture and values with others. “It really opens the door for people to ask questions to learn about what we are doing, how we are self-actualizing and what it’s like to be Native in a modern sense,” Mayer said. “We are doing real work, and we are here, and we are present and we want people to be a part of that. Just existing and having people see us doing that work, and know that they also have something to gain from it too, is incredibly important.”
The Native Garden has been supported by funding from the Na’ah Illahee Fund, a UW Campus Sustainability Grant and the College of the Environment graduating class of 2021. In addition to Mayer, Kamaka’ike Natalie Bruecher, Magnus Jim and Sierra Red Bow have all been Native Garden food sovereignty liaisons.
To volunteer in the spring and summer, contact Sarah (Sarai) Mayer: slemayer@uw.edu. Everyone is welcome to volunteer.
For more info on ways to get involved and stay up to date, check out:
Adm. Linda Fagan '00 nominated to head Coast Guard, first woman to lead a US armed service
U.S. Coast Guard Vice Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan ’00 was nominated to head the U.S. Coast Guard, as announced by the Biden Administration on Tuesday, April 5th, 2022. Adm. Fagan would become the first woman to lead a branch of the U.S. military.
Fagan is a graduate of the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, completing a thesis entitled “Improving the quality of information in the marine transportation system: an exercise in risk reduction.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas commented, “Within the Coast Guard and across the Department of Homeland Security, Adm. Fagan is admired as a role model of the utmost integrity, and her historic nomination is sure to inspire the next generation of women who are considering careers in military service.”