Today marks the beginning of the king tides season, a period where the Puget Sound overflows its banks, drawn by the combined pull of the sun and the moon.  Like the ‘aqua alta’ of Venice, these tides are predictable yet not always convenient, as waves lap at roadways and crash into buildings along Oregon and Washington coasts.  Yet with climate change and attendant sea level rise, these effects will become more common throughout the year.  

In the Introduction to Interaction Design, Art 381, the assignment Tad Hirsch gave his students was straightforward: Design a way to improve access to fresh local food on the UW campus.  Read more about the ideas they came up with! 

The Society of American Foresters (SAF) recently released “Managing Forests Because Carbon Matters: Integrating Energy, Products and Land Management Policy”.  This report, published in the Journal of Forestry, summarizes and analyses the most recent science regarding forests and carbon accounting, biomass use and forest carbon offsets.  Read more about this report, in which SFR’s Elaine Oneil participated. 

Sierra Club named University of Washington as a leader in sustainability practices.  This article in Columns, the UW Alumni magazine, discusses how UW works hard to reduce its footprint, and extend its lead in conservation and environmentalism.  From garbage management to transportation, and gardening to green building, UW is consistently recognized as a national leader in sustainability. 

This piece in the New York Times’ Sunday Opinion Pages, by POE environmental economist Yoram Bauman, discusses the relationships between students taking economics classes and donating money to various organizations.  A fascinating read!