UW Sustainability - "In Our Nature"

Adam Fehn, Program Coordinator with UW Recycling, joins us for a discussion on how to properly recycle and compost, as well as waste reduction goals and efforts at the University of Washington.

We're back! We're re-launching the podcast by talking to the new director of UW Sustainability. Lisa Dulude joined the UW Sustainability office in May 2022. Prior to starting at UW, she served for 12 years as the Energy and Sustainability Manager for Snohomish County. In this episode, Lisa talks about her sustainability background, some of the big sustainability opportunities at UW and ways for students, faculty and staff to get involved.

On this episode of the CSF Spotlight, we are joined by UW Sustainability director, Claudia Frere-Anderson. Claudia joined the University of Washington in 2009 and she has led huge Sustainability efforts since then, working as a pioneer of sustainability. Listen to learn about University of Washington's history in sustainability advancements and the critical role Claudia played in it, and to hear about her successes in the sustainability space. As well as, join us to say a warm goodbye to Claudia as she is parting with the university after 12 years of service. In her new endeavors, Claudia is taking on a position with ISOS Group, a woman-owned sustainability consulting firm focusing on environmental, social and governance work with corporations. 

You can reach out to us via email at uwcsf@uw.edu

Daimon Eklund and Toren Elste of UW Sustainability are joined by UW Bothell's Alexa Russo and UW Tacoma's Allan Cortina to answer questions about sustainability on all three UW campuses.

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On this episode of the CSF Spotlight, we were joined by Stella and Ryan from the University of Arizona’s Green Fund program. Tune in to listen to our conversation about university green funds and the different roles they play. We exchanged some great feedback and ideas. We hope you can learn as much as we did from this very fruitful conversation!

On today's episode, Yahia Ali is joined with David Frantz. David is a senior at the University of Washington and is the current CSF Committee Chair. During the talk, they discuss both of their experiences coming from rural towns to Seattle, how David went from not attending CSF meetings to now being the chair, and how the Associated Students at UW (ASUW) is structured. You won't want to miss out on this discussion!

On this episode of CSF Spotlight, Yahia Ali and Fotima Ibrokhim interview Ronnie Fang, A former UW Environmental Studies student and current Seattle Outreach Specialist at Waste Management. Ronnie is a part of the Interactive Biogas Foodcart project team which received $21,176 from the CSF in 2016-2017. This project incorporates a vast variety of disciplines such as Mechanical Engineering, Communications, Environmental Engineering, and Biology to create a cool way to reduce waste on campus. Listen to this episode to learn more about biogas, the present and future of renewable energies, waste management practices, and how the Biogas Foodcart works. It's a great informative episode to listen to, so don't miss out!

UW Sustainability student intern Annika Prom talks with Ursula Valdez, a faculty member in UW Bothell's School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences. Ursula Valdez is a 2020 Husky Green Award winner for her work promoting sustainability and conservation on and off the UW Bothell campus. She  actively encourages students and other researchers to document avian diversity and natural history in urban spaces and educates them on how to restore these habitats. She also created a “Sustainability on a Student Budget” course to teach students how to embrace affordable, sustainable practices for everyday life.

Outside of the university, she co-founded the Tambopata Center for Education, Science, and Conservation (CECCOT, acronym in Spanish), an organization that promotes the conservation of tropical diversity in the Peruvian Amazon.

In this week’s podcast, we have guests from the Africa Now Project. Tune in to hear from Program Director Michelle Mvundura and ANA Board Member Kemi Akinlosotu about their experience working with Africa Now . In the past 3 years of collaboration, the Africa Now team has been awarded over $48,000 in CSF funding. On an annual basis, Africa Now mobilizes a community of passionate and active young professionals that are committed to building a sustainable future for Africa and enriching their global perspective through panels, workshops, resource fairs, and networking. The conference exists to educate, organize, and mobilize youth to imagine and create a sustainable future for the global African community.

On this episode of CSF Spotlight, Fotima and Yahia talk to Aaron Flaster, the project lead for the Anaerobic Digester project and current Research Study Coordinator at UW. This project was funded twice in 2018 for a total of $45,000 and received a $5,000 class gift from the College of the Environment. On the podcast, Aaron talks about how working on a horse ranch inspired them to pursue this project, the struggles they had during the process, and how today they are focused on the sustainability of this project.

In the first episode of “CSF Spotlight”, the Campus Sustainability Fund’s student staff members Fotima Ibrokhim (Outreach Coordinator) and Yahia Ali (Project Development Specialist) discuss their individual journeys to the CSF, what their personal experience has been with CSF, and how their views on sustainability has evolved through their experiences. Tune in for more episodes in the future to hear about CSF projects from the students who lead them, as well as hear from other people in the sustainability world at UW.

Each year, millions of people around the globe take the Plastic Free July challenge and choose to refuse single-use plastics. UW Recycling was leading the charge this month to provide the UW community with resources, encouragement and tips to reduce plastic use.

We talk with UW Recycling Manager Liz Gignilliat about why it's important to reduce plastic consumption, the state of plastic at UW and why increased recycling efforts isn't the answer to our plastic problem, followed by a discussion (starting at 15:10) with UW Recycling Program Coordinator Adam Fehn, who took a personal challenge to cut his plastic consumption for the month.

As part of the University of Washington's recognition of Earth Day's 50th anniversary, Provost Mark Richards and VP of Facilities Lou Cariello spoke about current and future sustainability efforts at the UW, including the newly-released Sustainability Strategy.

Katy Folk-Way, Director of Creative Communications, and Steven Roberts, Assistant Director of Mailing, Safety and Building Services, join us. The discussion starts with information on how Creative Communications integrates sustainability into its printing and copying operations, and then we talk about how the Mailing Services team has moved toward delivering almost all campus mail via electric-assist cargo bikes instead of trucks.

The University of Washington's Green Greek Representative Program works to engage UW fraternity and sororities on topics of sustainability. Members work on projects to improve sustainability in the Greek chapters as well as promoting sustainability in the community.

On this podcast, Green Greek Director Shelby Carroll and Vice President of Membership Bibi Contreras discuss the Green Greeks program, some of the group's projects and how UW students can get involved.

Students and executive leaders from Washington and Oregon shared perspectives on integrating social sustainability across academic systems in this opening plenary at the 2019 Washington & Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC), hosted by the University of Washington on February 26-27. For more information on WOHESC: http://wohesc.org/program/

UW College of the Environment Dean Lisa Graumlich gave the opening keynote at the 2019 Washington & Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference, hosted at the University of Washington on February 26-27. She was introduced by Scarlett Foster-Moss,  Swire Coca-Cola, USA Vice President of Public Relations and Government Affairs.