Category: Undergraduate student

Student Intern Column: Reducing Meat Consumption Lowers Your Carbon Footprint

Katie Piel is a rising senior studying environmental studies and communication arts with a certificate in business. She began her internship for the Office of Sustainability in January 2018 as part of the Green Office team, which trains offices around campus in sustainable practices. She believes in the power of individual action in the fight …

Meet the Office of Sustainability’s New Interns!

As summery June weather arrived in Madison, the Office of Sustainability welcomed a talented new group of student interns to work on campus sustainability projects over the course of the 2018-2019 school year. The eleven students joining the Student Intern program come from a variety of backgrounds and majors, but they all share a passion …

Simulating the Challenges of Climate Change Negotiation in the Classroom

It has become commonplace to categorize climate change as a “wicked problem”. It is “wicked” because, in addition to its profound complexity as an atmospheric phenomenon, preventing climate change from causing catastrophic damage will require unprecedented global cooperation. Sadly, it is also commonplace to feel doubtful that world governments will succeed in this feat of …

From Copenhagen to Madison: The Progress of Sustainability

This marks a new series of newsletter articles penned by our own Office of Sustainability interns. Our first article is by Carolyn Hamburg, who is a rising senior studying political science and environmental studies with a certificate in education policy. During Summer and Fall 2017, she worked as an Office of Sustainability intern, and will be …

Great World Texts Program Revisits “Silent Spring” and the Legacy of Rachel Carson

On a Monday in early April, hundreds of high school students from across the state of Wisconsin woke up early and took buses to Union South for an entire day of discussion about Rachel Carson’s famous book, Silent Spring. They read papers, performed skits, displayed original art work of all descriptions, and interacted with Dr. …

Earth Week 2018 Explores a Spectrum of Sustainability Topics on Campus

Earth Week 2018 at UW–Madison, which ran from Monday, April 16 to Monday, April 23, successfully engaged hundreds of students, staff, and community members with a dynamic series of events on campus. A rich array of organizations collaborated, including the Office of Sustainability, the Sustainability Committee of the Associated Students of Madison, the Multicultural Student Center, F.H. King …

Earth Week Celebrations Return to the UW

The Office of Sustainability is celebrating the 48th annual Earth Day with a dynamic week of events. And they aren’t doing it alone: several organizations on campus are working together, including the Sustainability Committee of the Associated Students of Madison, the Multicultural Student Center, F.H. King Students for Sustainable Agriculture, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc., …

Badgers Use Sustainability to Empower Women in Costa Rica

When Maria Castillio, a 2017 graduate of UW–Madison and former Office of Sustainability intern, scored the opportunity to take a Semester at Sea (SAS) in 2015, she built a lasting relationship with Nicol Chinchilla from Costa Rica and Sasha Drumm from Michigan. Together, they created UpTica, which is an organization in Costa Rica that aims …