Make sure to attend the Community Presentation for WIN 2014 ENVIR 480! Come learn about the information discovered and the recommendations made by the class participants.
Save the Date! Student presentations on ‘Green Investing and the UW’
When: Thursday, June 6th, 2013
12:30pm-1:30pm (Presentation and Q&A),
1:30pm-2:00pm (Light Refreshments and Social)
Where: PoE/Wallace Hall Commons
Who: Presentations by the ENVIR 480 Sustainability Studio students
What: This quarter, students explored challenging questions related to sustainability and investing, and incorporating discussions of values and action: Should the UW’s endowment be a tool for pursuing environmental goals? Should the UW be investing in fossil fuel companies?
These are important questions – and yet we found, via surveys, that very few students know much about UW’s investments or green investing. Come hear ENVIR 480 students share what they have learned and also evaluate the challenges and opportunities of various green investing strategies for UW including:
- Divestment from fossil fuel companies
- Shareholder activism
- Disclosure requests
- Green revolving loan funds, and
- Campus-wide education
Questions? Contact instructor Megan Horst at horstm@uw.edu
For more information on ENVIR 480, see the class blog at http://envir480.tumblr.com/ and the course website, including past reports, at http://depts.washington.edu/poeweb/undergraduate_programs/courses/sustainability-studio.php
Come hear about innovative efforts by ENVIR 480 Sustainability Studio to achieve a Zero Waste campus!
The University of Washington has established a goal to divert 70% of waste by the year 2020. In 2012, about 57% of waste was diverted through composting and recycling. This Winter Quarter, Program on Environment ENVIR 480 students engaged in their own Zero Waste experiments and initiated innovative projects to help the UW meet and exceed its waste diversion goals. Please join us on Thursday, March 14th 2013 for the class final presentation.
The University of Washington has established a goal to divert 70% of waste by the year 2020. In 2012, about 57% of waste was diverted through composting and recycling. This Winter Quarter, Program on Environment ENVIR 480 students engaged in their own Zero Waste experiments and initiated innovative projects to help the UW meet and exceed its waste diversion goals. Please join us on Thursday, March 14th 2013 for the class final presentation.
What: Final Class Presentation and Q&A
Time: March 14th, presentation from 11:00am-12:00pm, followed by a reception with light snacks and refreshments until 12:30pm.
Place: Wallace Hall 1st floor Commons, on the corner of NE Pacific and Brooklyn
Topics include: Educational Videos to Promote Waste Diversion, Inventory of Composting Infrastructure on Campus, Encouraging “Ave” Businesses to Reduce Waste, Promoting Reusable Coffee Cups at Suzallo Cafe, and a Business Plan for Soap from the UW Biodiesel Co-op
Partners include: UW Recycling, Housing and Food Services, Garbology project, UW Biodiesel Co-op, and others.
Hope to see you there!
For more information, please see http://envir480.tumblr.com/post//come-hear-about-innovative-efforts-by-envir-480 or email the instructor Megan Horst at horstm@uw.edu.
In Fall 2012, ENVIR 480 students supported the UW Green Laboratory Certification program by engaging in student-designed, hands-on, project-based work. Specific project topics, and some highlights, included:
- A comparison between LED and non-LED growth chamber lights.
- Installation of sink aerators in Oceanography labs to reduce water waste, including a proposal for funds from the Campus Sustainability Fund.
- Waste diversion and signage- graphics have been adapted for use in the official Green Laboratory Certification program (and seen here).
- Electricity monitoring and usage patterns in the Simpson, Kerr, and Klavin labs- results were shared with lab managers.
- Green purchasing guide for labs to be used by UW Purchasing.
Class partners included individual labs, the ESS Office, UW Recycling, UW Facilities, UW Purchasing, and others. To learn more and to access class deliverables including the final newsletter and presentation, please visit the ENVIR 480 class blog at: http://envir480.tumblr.com/post/42286725867/greenlabs
And check out the UW Green Laboratory Certification!
In fall 2012, the ENVIR 480 class focused on the challenging and important topic of Green Laboratories. The eleven students learned a lot about laboratories on campus, and identified both challenges and opportunities to make them more environmentally sustainable. Building off of great partnerships with staff from individual labs, the ESS Office, UW Recycling, UW Facilities, UW Purchasing, and more, the students completed projects about topics including:
- Sink Aerators
- LED Lights
- Green Purchasing
- Electricity Monitoring and Consumption, and
- Waste Diversion (the above graphic was designed by this group!)
To learn more, check out the ENVIR 480 class blog. There you will find the final class newsletter, the final presentation, a green purchasing list, and up-to-date information on the class right now (the current topic if Zero Waste)!
Also keep your eyes open for more coming soon from the ESS Office about the forthcoming Green Labs Program.
Spring 2013 ENVIR 480 Sustainability Studio– 5 credits
Topic: Greening up UW’s investments
Can UW’s investments be green? Earn course credit and gain professional experience while contributing to a hot topic among universities across the country. In Spring 2013 ENVIR 480 Sustainability Studio, students will engage in applied research about the environmental and social impacts of their personal investments, as well as provide analysis and insight to a UW discussion about the topic.
Did you know…the UW has an investment portfolio of over two billion dollars? This includes endowment investments of almost $13 million in sustainable industries and almost $200 million in sustainable forest lands. The UW encourages ethical considerations in its investing decisions, and investing in Sudan or in tobacco companies is prohibited. Should environmental impacts be considered? Meanwhile, there is discussion at UW about establishing “greener” options including a sustainability revolving loan fund for faculty and students to research campus sustainability solutions.
In ENVIR 480, we will explore potential green investing strategies, and their social and economic implications, for the University of Washington. Possible questions for student research projects include:
- What strategies have other institutions used to green up their portfolios?
- What are the likely financial, environmental and social consequences, both pro and con, of fossil fuel divestment? (a question being pushed by Bill McKibben, see http://gofossilfree.org/)
- What are financial implications for low-income and minority students?
- What are the possible financial returns of a sustainability revolving loan fund?
- How can more innovative sustainability initiatives be funded?
Students will partner with high-level financial administrators at the University of Washington, such as the Treasury Office, as well as environmental economics experts.
SLN: 13747
Class Date/time: Tues/Thurs afternoons
Taught by Megan Horst, Teaching Associate in POE and pre-PhD in Urban Design and Planning
Open to all majors/no prerequisites- Only an interest in sustainability. Capped to maintain small class size.
To view past class reports and topics, please visit: http://depts.washington.edu/poeweb/students/fyi.html
For questions, please contact instructor: horstm@uw.edu
ENVIR 480: Sustainability Studio students take on the sustainability of UW Laboratories!
Did you know laboratories use 5 to 10 times more energy per square foot than an average office building? Labs also use a lot of water and generate (literally) tons of waste. Meanwhile, lab facilities make up about 13% of square feet at UW- altogether almost 2.4 million square feet.
Save the date for THIS THURSDAY for the presentations about student-led projects to foster Green Laboratories at UW:
December 6th, 11:00am-12:00pm, followed by a short reception.
- Poplar Hall Commons, corner of Brooklyn Ave and NE Campus Parkway (and home to a Sustainable Living Community).
- Topics include: Green Purchasing, Waste, Sink Aerators and Growth Chambers, and Energy Use.
- Clients include: various UW labs, Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Office, UW Facilities, Purchasing and Procurement and more.
The student projects are a springboard to a formal UW Green Labs program, being launched by the Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Office.
Hope to see you there!
ENVIR 480: Sustainability Studio students take on the sustainability of UW Laboratories!
Did you know laboratories use 5 to 10 times more energy per square foot than an average office building? Labs also use a lot of water and generate (literally) tons of waste. Meanwhile, lab facilities make up about 13% of square feet at UW- altogether almost 2.4 million square feet.
SAVE THIS DATE for a presentation about student-led projects to foster Green Laboratories at UW:
Thursday, December 6th, 11:00am-12:00pm, followed by a short reception.
- Poplar Hall Commons, corner of Brooklyn Ave and NE Campus Parkway (and home to a Sustainable Living Community).
- Topics include: Green Purchasing, Waste, Sink Aerators and Growth Chambers, and Energy Use.
- Clients include: various UW labs, Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Office, UW Facilities, Purchasing and Procurement and more.
The student projects are a springboard to a formal UW Green Labs program, being launched by the Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Office.
Hope to see you there!