Feb 5, 2015

Climate Impact Group’s director recognized as White House Champion of Change

Amy Snover, director of the Climate Impacts Group at the College of the Environment, has been named a White House Champion of Change. The Champions of Change program celebrates Americans who are doing extraordinary things in their community, and for Snover it focuses on her work to enhance climate education and literacy in classrooms and communities across the country. She traveled to the White House for a ceremony on February 9th, and wrote a blog post for the honor titled Building Climate Resilience through Action Today.

Three UW conservation scientists awarded new Wilburforce Fellowship

Three members of the UW College of the Environment — Jonathan Bakker, Meade Krosby, and Lauren Urgenson — are among the first 20 recipients of a Wilburforce Fellowship, a new year-long training for conservation scientists in Western North America. The year-long program provides communication and leadership training to help build a community of conservation scientists and encourage them to reach beyond the scientific audiences.

Members of the College community recognized at Seattle Aquarium

Every year, the Seattle Aquarium recognizes outstanding individuals who work and make a difference in the marine environment. This year, two individuals from our College of the Environment community were honored: Terrie Klinger, Professor and Director of the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, and Martha Kongsgaard, member of the Dean’s Advisory Board and Chair of the Puget Sound Partnership’s Leadership Council.

UW raising funds to replace research vessel

Students after a research cruise on the Barnes.

The College of the Environment’s School of Oceanography and a network of partners are working to raise funds to replace the aging and soon-to-be decommissioned Clifford A. Barnes. The research vessel is nearly 50 years old, and has limited capabilities to help scientists and students really understand what’s going on in our local waters–like the Puget Sound, Salish Sea, Lake Washington, and the Columbia River.

Could brighter clouds offset warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions?

Brighter clouds can increase reflectivity

Atmospheric Sciences’ Tom Ackerman and Rob Wood recently contributed to a proposal that would test the effectiveness of spraying sea-salt particles into marine clouds in order to make them brighter. According to The Economist, cloud physicist John Latham hypothesized that brighter clouds could cool the Earth enough to compensate for increased warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions in 1990. Several decades later and with the help of the two UW scientists, field tests on the subject could come to fruition.