University of Wisconsin–Madison
Early in March 2022, at the UN Environment Assembly, diplomats from 175 nations voted unanimously to create a legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution. The Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) called it “the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris accord.” Barbara Hendrie was in the room. She is …
Last year, Natalie Tinsen represented UW–Madison at the Midwest Climate Summit, a collaboration amongst “higher education, non-profit, corporate, and government leaders” to find ways to hasten climate action in the region. At the virtual event, Tinsen, who was then the Sustainability Chair for Associated Students of Madison, met Maddie Miller, who held the same position …
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, Katherine Ackley relates her conversation with Carolyn Hamburg. Even through Zoom, former OS intern Carolyn Hamburg is welcoming and happy …
For the second year in a row, UW–Madison was among the top 30 colleges and universities in the country to be recognized as a leader in clean energy use. The ranking reflects the percentage of green power out of a university’s total electricity use. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Green Power Partnership …
Today’s building specifications are designed for local weather conditions based on historical data. As future weather conditions vary significantly from historic trends due to human-induced climate change, building specifications must be recalibrated away from the weather of the past and towards the weather of the future. Graduate student Gesangyangji is using advanced computer models to …
The University of Wisconsin–Madison, in joint leadership with more than 15 partners across the region, will launch the Midwest Climate Collaborative (MCC) at a virtual gathering on January 28, 2022. The MCC is a cross-sector network of organizations committed to accelerating climate action in the Midwest by leveraging science and research, shaping public understanding and …
Progress Update: Study Abroad has released an update to their Handbook that includes a section devoted to Sustainability. The updated Handbook, which documents the various impacts of international travel and includes tips and opportunities for traveling more sustainably, showcases the tenets of Study Abroad’s Commitment to Sustainability. In addition, thanks to a collaboration between the …
Although it manages arrival times, bus stops, repairs, signage, parking lots, road closures, permits, citations, and special event parking—all the tedious necessary aspects of public transit— Transportation Services also creates experiences. It may seem unusual to consider standing at a bus stop an experience: waiting, pacing, thumbing one’s smartphone, looking for the next ride. But …
During the Spring 2021 semester, five UW–Madison students joined the Zero Waste Atlas Fellowship program. Students performed interviews and gathered information from a variety of campus stakeholders to complete its first zero waste assessment. Scoring UW–Madison’s zero waste efforts According to the Post Landfill Action Network (PLAN), the “Atlas Zero Waste Certification creates a high-level …