First-time visitors and regulars to Washington Park Arboretum can now learn the names and origins of plants as well as save favorites while strolling through the grounds. A new interactive map for smartphones and tablets shows every plant and tree that’s part of the arboretum’s collection, now numbering more than 15,000. Visitors can pull up the map on their phones, locate themselves, then zoom in to see which plants are nearby.
Read more at UW Today »UW students return from Paris climate talks, advocate for stronger youth voice
Empowered by their experience abroad, a group of College of the Environment students are working toward more youth engagement in global conversations about the planet.
Read more »Fewer than 1 in 25 Seattleites can really eat locally
How many of Seattle’s residents could live off food grown in their city? If abundant P-Patches and backyard gardens teeming with kale come to mind, you’re like many residents who assume urban agriculture in Seattle could support 50, 80, or even 100 percent of the people who live in the city. It turns out that the actual number is drastically lower.
Read more at UW Today »Scientists solve long-standing ecological riddle
Researchers have found clear evidence that communities rich in species are substantially healthier and more productive than those depleted of species, once complicating factors are removed. An international group of scientists, including University of Washington ecologist Jonathan Bakker in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences has solved this long-standing ecological riddle using new scientific techniques for analyzing complex data to answer the question: How do we know that conserving biodiversity is actually important in the real world?
Read more at UW Today »Ocean observatory comes alive
This month, researchers from across the globe gain unprecedented access to data from the U.S. Regional Cabled Ocean Observatory.
Read more at The New York Times »