Join us for the 2022 Doug Walker Lecture, Climate Crisis: Finding Hope in Action and Community

Two people plant seedlings in the ground.

Faced with countless environmental crises, it can be difficult to see a path to a better world — but change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We can find hope in the relationships we build, the communities we forge, and the power we share when we act together. Join us for the University of Washington College of the Environment’s 2022 Doug Walker Lecture as we explore these topics and more with environmental advocate and educator Jamie Stroble ’10.

UW Botanic Gardens' Miller Seed Vault preserves some of Washington’s rarest native plants

In 2017, nearly half the population of Umtanum Desert buckwheat (Eriogonum codium) was destroyed by a wildfire in Washington’s Hanford Reach National Monument. This unassuming perennial plant is not found anywhere else in the world — meaning catastrophic events such as this could eventually spell extinction for its corner of Washington’s rich biodiversity. How do we protect rare, endemic plants as they come under increasing pressure from intensifying wildfires and habitat disruption?

New direction for UW Botanic Gardens focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion

The New Directions in Public Gardens speaker series started in May and will conclude with the final speaker on Sept. 20.

Botanical gardens historically are exclusive spaces, but the University of Washington is working to change that. Many gardens originated as private spaces for predominantly white and wealthy individuals, said UW Botanic Gardens director Christina Owen. The collections were often curated through a process of stealing and renaming before the gardens were gifted as land to cities and universities. “There’s a history of colonialism in many botanic gardens,” said Owen.

‘Dangerous’ and ‘extremely dangerous’ heat stress to become more common by 2100

Record-breaking heat waves have occurred recently from Delhi to the Pacific Northwest, and the number of these deadly events is expected to increase. New research from the University of Washington and Harvard University gives a range of heat impacts worldwide by the end of this century, depending on future emissions of greenhouse gases. The study was published Aug. 25 in the open-access journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Beach trash accumulates in predictable patterns on Washington and Oregon shores

This litter collected at Devil’s Punchbowl on the Oregon coast in December 2012 shows a mix of bottle tops, fishing gear and plastic fragments. Analysis of larger items collected by volunteers from 2017 to 2021 shows that beaches have “sticky zones” where both organic material and litter tends to accumulate.

Citizen scientists recorded trash on Pacific Northwest beaches, from southern Oregon to Anacortes, Washington, to contribute to the growing study of marine trash. A study by the University of Washington analyzed 843 beach surveys and found that certain beaches, and certain areas of a single beach, are “sticky zones” that accumulate litter. The study was published online Aug. 11 in Marine Pollution Bulletin.