Paid Summer Environmental Education Opportunity at Islandwood

Are you interested in gaining experience working with kids in an environmental education setting? Does living and working on the beautiful Bainbridge Island for the summer sound like a dream? Check out open positions for summer camp instructors at Islandwood, an environmental education nonprofit providing children across the Puget Sound with nature-based learning experiences.

If you’re a student who will be completing a capstone experience this summer, Islandwood has partnered with the Program on the Environment to host ENVIR 491 internships in the past and would love to do so again this summer. This would be a great opportunity to conduct an environmental education focused internship and research project, while getting paid to be a camp instructor! 

Check out open positions here: https://islandwood.org/about-us-an-environmental-science-nonprofit/careers-and-culture/#current-employment-opportunities


Virtual Open House: PoE Director Search

The Program on the Environment (PoE) is launching the search for their next director, and is seeking input from the program’s campus-wide community in the process. We are hoping that you can support our search by providing feedback in one of two ways: attend a virtual open house, and/or complete this short survey.

Virtual open houses will take place on Zoom (link here). Please note these dates on your calendar and join us for either/both:

  • Monday, February 12, 4:30 – 5:20 pm 
  • Wednesday, February 14, 9:00 – 9:50 am

These meetings will provide our search committee with vital feedback on our community’s expectations for the role, define the key characteristics and experience of an exceptional director, and identify potential candidates. We welcome feedback from a wide group of constituents: our faculty colleagues, current PoE students and alumni, College of the Environment staff, and members of the public.

Drop-ins are welcome (no RSVP needed), and attendance for the full hour is not required.

If you are not able to join the open house, we still welcome your thoughts through the survey. If you are able to join us, you may fill out the survey before or after the open house. The survey will close on February 28, 2024 at 5 pm.

Please consider sharing your time to help PoE fill this important role that guides our distinct interdisciplinary program — and our work to empower students to address complex environmental challenges in an interconnected world.

Questions? Contact Courtney Peetz (cpeetz@uw.edu).


Spring Course: ENVIR 495 F, Talking Animals in Global Lit. and Env. Studies

Humans have been imagining what animals tell each other and what they would say to us if they could from the first cave paintings to the viral pet videos of today. There have also been times when humans have insisted that animals are incapable of any kind of communication. This course explores the literary, political, and scientific significance of nonhuman talking animals.

ENVIR 495 F has no pre-requisites–all are welcome! Learn more about the course here or by emailing eringil@uw.edu with questions. If this doesn’t fit with your Spring schedule, register for it under ENVIR 495 A in the Summer quarter.


Spring Course: ENVIR 497 A, Honors Microseminar in Environmental Justice

This spring, ENVIR 497 A is offered as a 2-credit microseminar on the Quest for Climate & Environmental Justice. This small form, discussion-based course culminates with an in-person visit and public lecture by distinguished EJ scholar Dr. Bullard on April 9th. Register for this unique opportunity to engage in a dialogue with your peers and faculty members and learn best practices for EJ advocacy.

All are welcome to learn more about the class by visiting the course webpage. Environmental Studies Departmental Honors students are especially encouraged to check out this opportunity to fulfill 2 credits of your Honors seminar requirement!


EFS Study Away: Reconnecting Food Roots on Lopez Island

Interested in food and its link with environmental health, community health, and human health? Check out this newly-launched Study Away program on Lopez Island, WA that’s accepting applications now for Early Fall Start 2024! Join other students and focus on experiential activities through the meeting of fishermen, farmers, and food makers. This program has a particular focus on Land, Air, and Sea, for which you’ll spend one week harvesting food from the sea including smelting, oyster farming, procuring salmon from reef net boats, and observing the process of growing, processing, and milling grain to bake bread. See the flyer below for more information, and be sure to stop by an upcoming information session for more details!


Kitsap County Seasonal Internships

Applications for Kitsap County Public Works’ Summer Employment Program are now open. All the details are in the link below. Applicants must be 18 years old by May 1, 2024, and the season is May – September 30.

https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/kitsap/jobs/4297976-0/summer-employment-program-seasonal-positions

While many college students take advantage of this program, returning each summer for up to 4 years, several of our summer help employees have also been able to transition into permanent employment with Public Works. Positions are available in Road Maintenance/Flagging; Equipment Services; Sign Shop Maintenance; Stormwater or Sewer Utility Laborers; Clerical Assistant; Survey Engineering Assistant; Solid Waste Clean Kitsap Program; Solid Waste Facilities; Stormwater Water Quality Assistant. Some positions require union membership.


Council on Environmental Quality Summer Internships

Calling all policy people! If you’re looking for a way to gain valuable experience in the realm of environmental policy research and writing or want to experience the government sector, this is a great opportunity to check out. The White House Council on Environmental Quality is accepting applications for its Summer Internship Program. It is open to current undergraduate and graduate students. Applications must be submitted by February 23, 2024.

Explore areas such as environmental justice, sustainability, climate resilience, and more. For more information, visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/internship-program/.


CHID/LARCH Paris Study Abroad: The Modern Invention of Nature

From the 18th century through today, Paris has been at the center of European and global re-visioning of nature and of our human relations with it. Scientific, intellectual and political revolutions that began in the later 18th century gave rise to intense debates about both the “nature” of nature and about human beings’ historical and biological place within it.

This program offers students a chance to explore this modern invention of nature from three different perspectives–historical-scientific, urban sustainability-public health, and literary-artistic. Each class will focus on a different segment of this trajectory, the late 18th/early 19th century, the later 19th century, and the early to mid-20th century. All three classes will include exploration of Paris’s urban-natural landscapes, its gardens, its museums, and its architecture, as well as literary and visual representations of the shifting imagination of nature.

Visit https://chid.washington.edu/study-abroad/2024/autumn/environmental-paris-modern-invention-nature to learn more and apply!