By Jerry James Stone •
August 10, 2009
The number of large-diameter trees in Yosemite National Park have declined 24-percent between the 1930s and 1990s.
The findings are based on a study done by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Washington. Scientists compared tree densities from 1932-1936 to those from 1988-1999 where large-diameter trees are those with a diameter greater than three feet.
Along with large-diameter tree loss, they also found a shift to fire-intolerant trees. Amazingly, this shift was experienced in areas that hadn’t seen a wildfire in nearly a century. Trees changed from fire-tolerant ponderosa pines to fire-intolerant white fir and incense cedar. In burned areas, however, the pines remained dominant.
By Dave Tyler •
February 3, 2009
It’s a decidedly low-tech way to deal with a 21st century problem, but a newly published paper argues that the world can cut carbon dioxide emissions up to 15 percent a year by taking the crop waste leftover after the harvest and dumping it into the deep ocean.
Stuart Strand of the University of Washington and coauthor Gregory Benford of the University of California at Irvine argue in the journal Environmental Science & Technology that such a reduction is possible by dumping 30 percent of world crop residues at least 1,500 meters deep in the oceans. The method would lock up the carbon in the crop waste deep underwater for thousands of years, the authors said.
By Amy Stodghill •
March 29, 2007
Move over Oprah: the University of Washington has started their own book club (of sorts), The Common Book program. The next book on the list is Elizabeth Kolbert's Field Notes from a Catastrophe
, a journalistic examination of the effects of global warming.
The UW began the Common Book program last year. They give incoming freshman a free copy of a chosen book during summer
[...]
By Amy Stodghill •
March 10, 2007
Students at the University of Washington have recently launched a campaign to raise environmental awareness on campus.
Stickers saying, "Sustainability is Sexy" are meant to encourage people to bring their own mugs to campus cafes to reduce the use of paper cups. The UW goes through about 5000 paper cups a day. Small incentives are also being offered to encourage the use of travel mugs such as charging $1 for regular drip coffee [...]
