We swim in it, the sun sets over it, love songs are written about it and it covers 70% of the earth’s surface, yet we know so little about our deep blue sea. Oceans inspire some of the most puzzling questions and greatest discoveries on earth, and here at UW, researchers from across the sciences are dedicated to better understanding what’s in them, what’s changing about them, and how we can preserve these essential parts of our habitat.
Read more »Fueled by floods: Cambodian people's food security threatened by hydropower demands
Along the Mekong River in Cambodia, UW researchers are racing to determine how hydropower demand will impact the supplies of rice and fish — and the communities who rely on them.
Read more »College contributes to Campus Sustainability Fund project in honor of 2019 graduates
It is graduation season, and with that comes well wishes for our graduates and an opportunity to shine a light on their accomplishments. In appreciation of their contributions to enriching the College of the Environment in numerous ways, the College has decided to jointly fund a project with the Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF). Recognizing our students are the next generation of leaders in environmental science and decision-making, we believe this is a contribution that showcases our collective commitment to the sustainability and the well-being of our Husky Community and our planet.
Read more »Building SciComm skills through lessons from Washington’s coast
The coast of Washington is a remote and wild place, where waves bash the rocky shoreline, whales meander just offshore and tidepools teem with eye-popping displays of life. That wildness is precisely what Zoe van Duivenbode relished about her time as a marine educator stationed at Kalaloch Beach, working for Olympic National Park. She spent her days exploring the coast, taking detailed notes and painting the seascapes in front of her, thinking about ways she could connect the lessons of the sea to visiting tourists on their summer vacation.
Read more »Seismologists seek space on volunteers’ floors and lawns to study Seattle seismic risks
The Puget Sound area is vulnerable to several types of seismic risks. We might fixate on “The Really Big One” – the offshore hazard famously profiled in The New Yorker – but other dangers lurk closer underfoot, and might actually deliver more damage to Seattle. The nature of the ground beneath the city — a roughly 4-mile-deep basin filled with soil and soft rock — makes the urban core especially vulnerable to seismic shaking.
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