April 2020 Green Office Certification Newsletter View this email in your browser

Office Spotlight: Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST)

COASST team

Our latest spotlight goes to the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), a Gold certified Green Office. COASST is a beached bird and marine debris monitoring program based out of the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. Faculty, staff, and students train and support over a thousand volunteers to collect valuable data during beach surveys, from California to Alaska. The office then processes and analyzes the data and disseminates it in the form of publications and community outreach.

As a group that monitors the environment, COASST has always had an interest in protecting it. They chose to become Green Office Certified to gather ideas for how to improve their sustainability efforts while also setting an example for other offices around campus. One of these improvements came in the form of moving away from paper to digital forms of communication, a change that took some adjustment at first but ultimately ended up being more efficient.

COASST also has their own sustainability innovations. Their major one is their creation of a quarterly environmental improvement project, which involved a group outing such as tree planting or invasive species removal on campus in partnership with SER-UW (the UW chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration). They cite this project as a great way to work together to reduce their carbon footprint and do something more tangibly "green" for their surroundings.

Learn more about COASST on their website.

Green Office and Lab Certification Status

In light of the recent COVID-19 development and the closure of the UW campus, UW Sustainability is putting a momentary pause on certifying offices and labs. We hope to bring back our certification process in the Fall. We thank you for your commitment to sustainability, especially in times such as these.

Bothell Spotlight: School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

The School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at UW Bothell works with students on course scheduling, advising, fiscal management, events and community outreach, and much more. Jennifer Keene, the administrator for the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, notes that UW Bothell campus has always had a focus on sustainability and eco-consciousness, which makes being a Green Office that much easier. The School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences found out about the Green Office program through a UW email newsletter. The office felt that the opportunity to Green Certify was a great way to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability, and to learn about suggestions where they can improve their green practices. In regards to suggestions the office has for other workplaces that may be struggling to become more sustainable, Keene suggests taking the perspective that every little bit counts. The School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences comes up with their own ideas and changes to enact in their office, to continue to improve their sustainability. Their next steps to a more sustainable workplace include developing a team to lead the Green Office process by meeting quarterly to work through suggested areas of improvement provided from certification results.

Learn more about the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.

2020 UW Earth Day online

With the onset of COVID-19 the UW 2020 Earth Day programming has shifted to an online model, with events happening throughout this week and beyond. We would love for you to participate!

See all the details and the full event calendar on our UW Earth Day website.

50 for 50 plege

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the UW College of the Environment and UW Sustainability have created the 50 for 50 Pledge. This pledge contains a list of 50 actions individuals can take around climate justice. Each participant can choose the activities which are appropriate for themselves, or use the list as a starting point for your own ideas.

Take the pledge at green.uw.edu/50for50

Winter Quarter Certifications

History Main Office

School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST)

In Our Nature Blog

If you want more content on sustainability at the UW, check out UW Sustainability's blog, In Our Nature. Below is a sample from a post on UW Solar by Annika Prom to give you a sneak peek at the types of posts on our blog.

"With no signs of slowing down, UW Solar is looking to carry out two major projects this year that will encourage the use of alternative energy at the university. The first is a campus-wide plan assessing more than 300 buildings and 36 parking lots to determine their solar capacity. From there, the members will recommend locations and best practices for applying more solar power across UW. Faculty adviser Jan Whittington, Associate Professor of the Department of Urban Design and Planning, says the club is on track to complete the campus-wide solar plan by Spring 2020.

Another big UW Solar project is working with UW Transportation Services to create a strategy to electrify their parking services and fleet of vehicles. This plan would transform the UW's transportation offerings almost entirely off fossil fuels over about a 12-year span."

Click here for the rest of the post!

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