Category: News

UW–Madison earns second Silver rating in campus sustainability assessment

The University of Wisconsin–Madison has completed its second comprehensive sustainability report through the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS), which is administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). UW–Madison earned a Silver rating for its efforts to steward resources and advance sustainability education and research. The updated STARS …

On Bill Nye and our search for a savior against climate change

We learned to love his character. He was Bill Nye the Science Guy, dressed in a bowtie and cornflower blue lab coat, telling jokes, playing out skits, parodying songs, putting on demonstrations and at-home experiments. He spoke to our love of discovery in the world and in ourselves, and it was impossible not to sit …

“Who killed the truth?” Archon Fung speaks on climate change, COVID, and democracy

Archon Fung began this semester’s final installment of the Weston Roundtable Lecture Series with what he called  “a whodunit.” “Who killed the truth?” he asked. Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Democracy at the Harvard Kennedy School, which works to “improve public policy and leadership so people can live in societies …

Global Health Symposium celebrates interdisciplinary approaches to climate change and health

On Tuesday, April 19, the Global Health Institute (GHI) partnered with the Office of Global Health to host the 2022 Global Health Symposium, “Making Connections: Health, Climate & Equity.” The event celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the GHI. Since its inception, it has introduced an undergraduate major in global health and undergraduate, graduate, and professional …

Diving into divestment: panel discussion at UW–Madison probes a tricky topic

“Fossil Fuel Divestment: Climate Action or Climate Distraction?” was one of the major events of UW–Madison’s fifth annual Earth Week, which was held from April 18-24, 2022. Divestment means selling shares invested in fossil fuel companies. It is at the center of impassioned debates at college campuses across the country: students are calling for institutional …

Resilience Spotlight: Class-led workshop brings together students and experts to discuss sustainable transportation

Students in Associate Professor Carey McAndrews’ “Climate Action Planning: Sustainable Transportation” class held a workshop that brought together experts to discuss the future of transportation infrastructure on campus and in the City of Madison. The class presented their initial research and goals, shaped by their vision for an accessible, multi-modal campus. Students and experts conducted …

Chalk It Up to Earth Day

Project Round-Up: The Students Behind Green Fund Lighting Initiatives

When we mention sustainability, we often reference the large-scale solutions that our climate catastrophe necessitates: global recycling systems, wind farms, solar power, electric cars, even ambitions to relocate our refuse to the moon. Not many of us speak of lighting retrofits. There is no poetry to staring at the ceilings of tired buildings and replacing …

Where Are They now? Nina Delgadillo interviews Will Awve

In our “Where Are They Now?” series, current student interns interview former interns about their experience at the Office of Sustainability, and in particular how that experience has helped them since graduation. In the following entry, Nina Delgadillo relates her conversation with Will Awve. Since graduating from UW–Madison in May of 2021, Will Awve has …

UW–Madison participates in “Worldwide Teach-In on Climate and Justice”

At the end of UW–Madison’s “Teach-in on Climate and Justice,” Nathan Jandl, the Assistant Director of the Office of Sustainability, spoke of the present. “What I see here is the immense potential on campus,” he said. “We have incredible research; we have fantastic students; we have dedicated, interested staff; and we have this willingness to …