Marine heat waves caused mass seabird die-offs, beach surveys show

Deceased seabirds on the beach

Seabirds, from cormorants to puffins, spend most of their lives at sea. Beloved by birdwatchers, these animals can be hard to study because they spend so much time far from shore. New research led by the University of Washington uses data collected by coastal residents along beaches from central California to Alaska to understand how seabirds have fared in recent decades. 

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S1 E8: Maple Syrup Day with Mount Rainier Institute and the UW Bigleaf Maple Syrup Program

A student collects maple sap in Pack Forest

Episode 8 features the Mount Rainier Institute (MRI), an education program at located at the foot of Mount Rainier providing regional schools with in-depth programs focused on forest science and STEM education in an outdoor classroom setting. MRI operates out of the Charles Lathrop Pack Experimental Forest, part of the UW School of Environment and Forest Sciences, which encompasses 4,300 acres of working forestland providing the resources to discover, teach and demonstrate the concepts of sustainable forestry. 

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New report, tool suggest how Washington can better protect against extreme heat

UW Heat Report

In June 2021, the “heat dome” that struck the Pacific Northwest sent temperatures in Seattle to an unprecedented 107 degrees Fahrenheit and set 128 all-time high temperature records across the state. The event was partly due to climate change. As the climate continues to warm, these hotter stretches are projected to hit the region with increasing frequency. Two years after that event — the deadliest weather-related disaster in state history — a collaborative effort led by two University of Washington teams, the Climate Impacts Group and the Center for Health and the Global Environment, or CHanGE, has drawn up recommendations for how people and groups across the state could prevent future heat-related illness and save lives. 

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S1 E7: Tides that Bind with Randie Bundy

ocean waves

Together with #UWEnvironment researchers and educators, we venture from the mountains to the sea in Episodes 7 and 8 of our FieldSound Podcast. Episodes 7 of our FieldSound Podcast features Randie Bundy, a researcher with the University of Washington School of Oceanography. Her complex work looks into the cycling of trace metals in marine environments, how bioactive metals such as iron, copper, and cobalt are acquired by marine phytoplankton and bacteria, and how the organic forms of these metals affect their uptake and cycling in the ocean. 

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Doing our part for the planet

Illustration of a person holding a windmill in a flower pot

At the College of the Environment, we often say that the challenge of climate change requires all hands on deck. The simple fact is that we can tackle the world’s biggest global threat only by engaging every single person, resource and bit of expertise available to us.

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