News & Blog
Heat Waves and Urban Flooding in Seattle: The Application of a Climate Communication Toolkit for Urban Planners in Puget Sound
Written by: Rachel Chen Rachel created a “Climate Communication Toolkit for Planners in Puget Sound, WA” as part of her thesis for the Master of Urban Planning program. To incorporate the capstone project for the UW PCC Graduate Certificate in Climate Science, she conducted a focus group to discuss her findings with planners who work throughout Puget Sound and to discuss the climate science behind heat waves and urban flooding in Seattle to demonstrate how to utilize the strategies in her Toolkit.
Read moreConnecting Chemistry and Climate Science: Empowering High School Students to Take Action
By: Kat Husiak As the urgency of climate change becomes increasingly apparent, it is essential to equip young minds with the knowledge and tools to understand and address this global crisis. In May of 2022, I responded to a request from Newport High School looking to supplement their sophomore chemistry curriculum with a guest speaker. As a result, I developed a 50 minute guest lecture to Newport High School sophomores in Bellevue, WA as part of my capstone project for the Graduate Certificate in Climate Science.
Read moreThe First Annual Spring Welcome: The Best of Both Worlds
The Program on Climate Change (PCC) community came together on the evening of Wednesday, April 5th for a Spring Welcome event, a combination of our Winter Welcome and Spring Symposium. Over 90 students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty, and staff turned out for the event to socialize, talk about research, and listen to a set of short talks by graduate students and postdoctoral scholars over refreshments.
Read moreSolutions to Climate Change: “UW Grad Students in Hot Pursuit" Schooner Series draws a full house at Bickersons Brewhouse
The PCC Graduate Student Steering Committee (P-GraSC) hosted a winter Schooner Series event in collaboration with Cascadia Climate Action focused on climate solutions at Bickersons Brewhouse in Ballard on March 8, 2023. The Schooner Series started as an offshoot of the popular Climate Science on Tap from Cascadia Climate Action, a member of the regional CascadiaNow! nonprofit family. This month’s Schooner featured three presentations and a subsequent panel discussion under the theme “Solutions to Climate Change: UW Grad Students in Hot Pursuit”.
Read moreImproving park access and health co-benefits in Tacoma using a “Green Schoolyards” approach
By Nolan Kitts Who doesn’t love a good park? Especially in urban areas, public green spaces give us opportunities to move around outside, find some quiet, and enjoy a more natural setting. Researchers have established many benefits of urban park access, from increasing physical activity to improving mental health. With a changing climate, urban parks have become even more critical. Park trees can decrease the impact of “urban heat islands” through evapotranspiration and providing shade.
Read moreTackling climate change denial, one stage at a time
By Raven Capone Benko “Climate change is happening, there’s no disagreement there. I just don’t think it’s going to be as bad as all the scientists say. I mean, look at the last fifty years since scientists started making catastrophic claims about climate change… nothing has happened.” In my sister’s living room over cups of tea and the remnants of our white elephant gift exchange, her partner – an engineer for an oil refinery – and I were in a deep discussion about green energy, environmental ethics, and of course, the legitimacy of climate change.
Read moreConsidering Pathways to Net-Zero Emissions at the 2022 PCC Summer Institute
The release of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report in 2021 re-emphasized the need to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in order to stabilize the climate and stop global warming, putting pathways towards net-zero on center stage. Thus, it was not surprising that members of the climate science community attending the annual PCC Winter Welcome voted for “Pathways to Net-Zero Emissions” as the topic for the PCC’s first in-person Summer Institute (SI) since 2019.
Read moreBaba Brinkman's "Rap Guide to Climate Chaos" Climate Communication from COP27 to the PCC
When someone says the words “climate change,” you might think of the devastating global effects, the politics behind action or inaction, or even personal impacts on your life from a changing environment. It is extremely unlikely that your first thought was about rap. Yet, the hyper-specific niche of climate rapping is what Baba Brinkman, performer and activist, has chosen to inhabit, and for a very specific reason: the need to connect to the masses.
Read morePCC Undergraduate Cohort: How to Get Involved with Climate Science Research
Getting involved in research is perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of becoming an undergraduate at UW. Yet, finding these opportunities can be extremely daunting, especially if you don’t have contacts, past experience, or knowledge of where to look. At the PCC Undergraduate Cohort (UCo), we are highly aware of these issues, and we know how helpful it can be to have access to resources, advice, and a place to ask questions about research.
Read moreLake Forest Park, WA: Community Solar Precedent Review
As part of an ACORN project beginning in a time marked by bleakness due to COVID and lockdowns (mid-2020), representatives from Lake Forest Park’s People for Climate Action chose to prioritize hope for the future of their community and of the world. Partnering with an early-career graduate student and a representative from Seattle Public Utilities, they hoped to investigate community solar energy as an opportunity to bolster sustainability and equity and their own community.
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