Environment
May 3, 2012
Increasing speed of Greenland glaciers gives new insight for rising sea level
Changes in the speed that ice travels in more than 200 outlet glaciers indicates that Greenland’s contribution to rising sea level in the 21st century might be significantly less than the upper limits some scientists thought possible, a new study shows.
May 2, 2012
Handful of heavyweight trees per acre are forest champs
Big trees three or more feet in diameter accounted for nearly half the biomass measured at a Yosemite National Park site, yet represented only 1 percent of the trees growing there.
April 25, 2012
Wind pushes plastics deeper into oceans, driving trash estimates up (with video)
Decades of research into how much plastic litters the ocean, conducted by skimming only the surface, may in some cases vastly underestimate the true amount of plastic debris in the oceans, according to a University of Washington oceanographer publishing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
April 20, 2012
UW awards six Husky Green Awards for 2012
Winners of the third annual Husky Green Awards were announced Friday during Earth Day activities.
April 12, 2012
Annual campus Earth Day events April 20 during HuskyFest
The annual campus observation of Earth Day Friday, April 20, coincides this year with HuskyFest.
April 11, 2012
Space weather forecast: Sunspotty, with an increasing chance of solar storms
Electrical engineering professor John Sahr gives his read on the increase in solar activity, and how it relates to his research.
March 30, 2012
Bigger, bolder, greener: The 2012 UW Environmental Innovation Challenge (with video)
The fourth Environmental Innovation Challenge was the biggest yet. The winning team proposes to replace concrete lane dividers with ones made from recycled rubber tires. Other student teams presented their prototypes for emergency shelters, rooftop gardens, nonstick cookware and other green businesses.
March 20, 2012
Web tool, phone app pinpoint tsunami dangers, quick getaway routes
A new online portal and smartphone app lets Washington and Oregon residents enter the addresses of their homes, schools, workplaces or kids’ day care centers to check if they’re in harm’s way should a tsunami hit. The tool, being publicized on the heels of the one-year anniversary of the Tohoku tsunami, was developed by researchers at the Applied Physics Laboratory.
March 19, 2012
D.C. cherry trees: Blooms won’t wait in warming world, UW research finds
Cherry trees in full bloom in our nation’s capital could be as much as four weeks earlier by 2080 depending on how much warming occurs. So says an analysis conducted at the University of Washington that relied on the UW’s own cherry trees as one test of a computer model used in the project.
March 12, 2012
Bellingham roadway with recycled toilets is world's first official 'Greenroad'
Greenroads, a rating system developed at the University of Washington to promote sustainable roadway construction, awarded its first official certification to a Bellingham project that incorporates porcelain from recycled toilets.
March 7, 2012
Facilities Services receives $1 million for energy conservation
Facilities Services is continuing a long-standing energy conservation partnership with Seattle City Light in an agreement for the utility to fund energy conservation initiatives on campus.
March 6, 2012
UW played major role in telling story of Japan quake
From Seattle to Japan, University of Washington faculty had an important role in providing information about the aftermath of the March 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami.
March 1, 2012
UW students to design alternative-fuels vehicle for EcoCAR 2 competition
Over the next three years, a team of UW students will convert a 2013 Chevy Malibu into a fuel-efficient, low-emissions vehicle that still meets consumer demands for a driver-friendly car. The UW is one of 15 schools participating in the EcoCAR 2 contest, sponsored by General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy.
February 24, 2012
Kids can explore icy worlds with scientists at Polar Science Weekend (with video)
Learn about polar bears and penguins. Center a two-foot tusk on your forehead and imagine youre a narwhal exploring your icy-ocean home. For these activities and more, grab the kids and head for Polar Science Weekend, March 1 to 4, sponsored by the UW’s Applied Physics Laboratory and Pacific Science Center.
February 23, 2012
Stop putting the squeeze on tiger territory, says UW alum, now chief scientist with World Wildlife Fund
The plight of the tiger – none of the worlds 350 protected areas in the tigers range is large enough to support a viable population – is the subject of the UWs “Sustaining our World” lecture March 1. Eric Dinerstein, the World Wildlife Funds chief scientist and a UW alum, will speak on “All Together Now: Linking Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species Conservation and Local Livelihoods” at 6 p.m., in Kane 220.
February 22, 2012
AAAS Notebook: Faculty views range across natural world, human health, more
Last weeks American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Vancouver, BC, included 11 speakers from the University of Washington on topics including marine protected areas, the myth of black progress, womens reproductive health and how undergraduates learn best.
February 17, 2012
Models underestimate future temperature variability; food security at risk
Climate warming caused by greenhouse gases is very likely to increase summer temperature variability around the world by the end of this century, new UW research shows. The findings have major implications for food production.
February 2, 2012
Scientists coax shy microorganisms to stand out in a crowd
University of Washington scientists have advanced a method that allowed them to single out a marine microorganism and map its genome even though the organism made up less than 10 percent of a water sample teeming with many millions of individuals from dozens of identifiable groups of microbes.
January 26, 2012
Commentary in Nature: Can economy bear what oil prices have in store?
The economic pain of a flattening oil supply will trump the environment as a reason to curb the use of fossil fuels, say two scientists, one from the University of Washington and one from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Nature.
January 25, 2012
USDOT awards $3.5 million for UW-based regional transportation center
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a grant of $3.5 million to a multi-university, regional transportation center led by the University of Washington. The newly established Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium, or PacTrans, will focus on safe and sustainable transportation systems.
January 18, 2012
New oral history of William Ruckelshaus, key figure in environmental policy, now online
An oral history of the career of William D. Ruckelshaus, the first and fifth administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, whose career parallels the growth of the environmental movement in the United States, is now available in three locations in the state of Washington.
January 9, 2012
Crab sagas yield insight into sustainable fisheries
Decades of wild swings in crab populations dramatize the myriad issues surrounding questions of sustainable fisheries, said David Armstrong, director of aquatic and fishery sciences, in his talk “Claws, causes, climate and corps: A cavalcade of true crab sagas.”
January 6, 2012
UW staffer zeros out daily commute costs, carbon footprint
Staff member Bob Edmistons quest was to cut both the time and cost of his daily commute.
January 4, 2012
Russian river water unexpected culprit behind Arctic freshening – with video
A powerful combination of data from NASA satellites and traditional sampling has led to the discovery of a new pathway of freshwater in the Arctic Ocean. Jamie Morison, Applied Physics Laboratory, is lead author of paper in this weeks Nature.
December 21, 2011
To turn up the heat in chilies, just add water
Hot chilies growing wild in dry environments produce substantially fewer seeds than non-pungent plants, but they are better protected against a seed-attacking fungus that is more prevalent in moist regions.
December 19, 2011
Upper atmosphere facilitates changes that let mercury enter food chain — with video
New research shows that the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere work to transform elemental mercury into oxidized mercury, which can easily be deposited into aquatic ecosystems and ultimately enter the food chain.
December 15, 2011
Nitrogen from humans pollutes remote lakes for more than a century
Nitrogen derived from human activities has polluted lakes throughout the Northern Hemisphere for more than a century and the fingerprint of these changes is evident even in remote lakes thousands of miles from the nearest city, industrial area or farm.
December 12, 2011
Fisheries lands a Ray Troll – with slideshow
Some 99 species of fishes glide and snake across a supersized 15-foot mural by Alaskan artist and confessed fish groupie Ray Troll, unveiled last month at the University of Washington.
December 6, 2011
Tropical sea temperatures influence melting in Antarctica
New research shows accelerated melting of two fast-moving glaciers that drain Antarctic ice into the Amundsen Sea Embayment is likely in part the result of an increase in sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
November 9, 2011
Carbon mitigation strategy uses wood for buildings first, bioenergy second
Pacific Northwest trees grown and harvested sustainably can both remove existing carbon dioxide from the air and help keep the gas from entering the atmosphere in the first place. Thats provided wood is used primarily for such things as building materials, instead of cement and steel, and secondarily that wood wastes are used for biofuels.
November 2, 2011
Wavechasers condemn gummy bears to crushing ocean depths
Follow the serious science – and the development of novel “Will it crush?” segments inspired by the YouTube hit “Will it blend?” – as University of Washington Wavechasers work in the South Pacific near Samoa.
October 19, 2011
Beyond ecological insubordination: Speaker urges us to rethink invasive species
Ignoring the potential beneficial roles of non-native species is no longer a valid option, says UWs Julian Olden. His public talk Oct. 25, “Invasive Species: Exonerating Crimes to Envision a New Global Future,” is the annual deans lecture from the College of the Environment.
October 13, 2011
Improving the physics of grocery store display cases to save energy
Aeronautical engineers are devising ways to boost the efficiency of open-air refrigerated cases, which are increasingly common in supermarkets. Results could lower the energy use of existing cases by up to 15 percent — potentially saving $100 million in electricity costs each year.
October 12, 2011
Bioblitz volunteers to catalog living things in arboretum Oct. 21-22
Naturalists, kayakers and other volunteers – including University of Washington students, faculty and staff – are needed to look for as many birds, plants, insects, mammals and fungi as possible during the 24-hour Bioblitz 2011 at the Washington Park Arboretum.
October 10, 2011
Summit helps mark first anniversary of Campus Sustainability Fund
Learn about some of the inaugural projects by students, faculty and staff using money from the student-funded Campus Sustainability Fund as part of the second annual Sustainability Summit on campus Oct. 26.
September 28, 2011
NW biofuels coming of age with $80 million in separate projects led by UW, WSU
The University of Washington and Washington State University are leads for two separate grants of $40 million each that will use Pacific Northwest woody biomass to expand whats been a Midwest-centric biofuels industry into Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana and northern California.
September 26, 2011
Is your office green enough to be certified?
The Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability (ESS) office has created a Green Office Certification Program.
September 14, 2011
Salmon and other fish predators rely on ‘no guts, no glory survival tactic
The phrase “no guts, no glory” doesnt just apply to athletes who are striving to excel. Salmon and other fish predators take the adage literally.
August 25, 2011
Ocean acidification science, societal needs meld in new training program
Students already knowledgeable about the science behind ocean acidification and warming will learn more about the challenges those ocean changes pose for tribes, shellfish growers and other sectors of society – as well as helping seek solutions ¬– under a just-announced National Science Foundation grant of $3 million.
August 24, 2011
Scented laundry products emit hazardous chemicals through dryer vents
The researcher who used chemical sleuthing to uncover whats in scented products now has turned her attention to the air wafting from household laundry vents. Air from laundry machines using the top-selling scented liquid detergent and dryer sheet contains hazardous chemicals, including two that are classified as carcinogens.
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