News & Blog
Ready, Set, Curb! A challenge for young students to act on climate
“Learning about climate change can sometimes be scary—terrifying, actually.” The thought crossed my mind while out on a run during my first quarter of graduate school. Overall, I thought to myself, I’m really enjoying my program, but sometimes… sometimes the weight of studying climate science can become heavy. It gets even heavier when you really start to examine the impacts on people and ecosystems, as I found myself researching that quarter.
Read moreWOMEN IN STEM PART 4: CELEBRATING THE IN(DI)VISIBLE WOMEN OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Alex Stote and Zoë van Duivenbode, SMEA graduate students, friends and colleagues, combine their voices to highlight and celebrate women across the planet leading in climate.
Read the article in SMEA's "Currents: A Student Blog"Generating Hope: Washington State Ferries Plans To Decarbonize Their Fleet by Switching To Electric Power
Alexandra Stote details the long range plans for electrifying Washington State Ferries, at a time when the federal government is falling short on climate policy and action, in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs (SMEA) Student Blog. Alex is a SMEA graduate student and member of the Program on Climate Change Graduate Student Steering Committee (P-GraSC).
Read the article in SMEA's "CURRENTS: A STUDENT BLOG"2018 Graduate Climate Conference, hosted by UW PCC students, is largest yet
The Graduate Climate Conference (GCC), now in its twelfth year, represents a rich tradition tied to the history of the PCC. First held in 2006, the GCC has grown and evolved while remaining true to its core mission of highlighting student-led work at a conference run by graduate students for graduate students. Hosting responsibilities have alternated each year between students in the PCC at UW and students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Program on Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate.
Read more80% Ice Covered, Greenland is 100% Worth the Visit
Stepping on the tarmac of Greenland’s lone international airport in Kangerlussuaq, it’s difficult to anticipate what awaits in this remote, cold, and isolated place. Yet, this territory covered in over 1,700,000 square km of ice and a population of just under 60,000 is filled to the brim with stories and excitement. Even more amazing than the sights were the professors and students who accompanied me on the UW Greenland Exploration Seminar, providing a diverse array of perspectives that allowed me to understand such a foreign place.
Read moreResponding to the National Climate Assessment Report
When paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould heard from his doctor that he had a rare and serious stomach cancer, he went straight to the medical library and devoured the scientific literature on his condition. He tells this story in his essay The Median Isn’t the Message. “The literature,” he writes, “couldn’t have been more brutally clear: mesothelioma is incurable, with a median mortality of only eight months after discovery.” The prognosis, the science, and the statistics helped Gould understand the nature of the disease, but after sitting in shock with the information, his realized that the most statistically likely life expectancy wasn’t up to chance alone.
Read morePCC Researchers and Graduate Students Build Partnerships to Address Wildfire Smoke Health Risks
After two summers in a row of several statewide smoke events in Washington, addressing the health impacts of wildfire smoke on communities has never been more urgent. While many scientific questions about wildfire smoke remain unanswered, answers to questions about risk communication and public health interventions are among the most pressing needs for impacted communities. With that goal in mind, a team of PCC faculty, researchers, and graduate students came together to plan a collaborative, interdisciplinary symposium around wildfire smoke risk communication.
Read moreUnderstanding and Advancing Natural Resource Management in the Context of Changing Ocean Conditions
By Nyssa Baechler and Katie Keil The ocean is easy to take for granted一every day the tides roll in and out like clockwork, salmon return each season to their natal streams, and the ocean provides essential resources to sustain life around the globe. However, changes are happening at an unprecedented rate and the magnitude of the consequences of these changes is largely unknown.
Read moreMindfulness Practices as a Tool for Climate Change Communication
I’ve practiced nature-based spirituality in one form or another for more than twenty years. But spiritual or religious practices are not something that most scientists, particularly those in the “hard sciences,” talk about. This is perhaps a natural consequence of the idea that science needs to be unbiased. Personally, however, I feel a strong connection to the ocean generally and the Puget Sound region specifically.
Read moreCommunicating Sea Level Rise to Coastal Washington Communities: Opportunities, Challenges, and Concerns
-by Diana Perry, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs Graduate and Graduate Certificate in Climate Science Recipient, Spring 2018 The beach on Cape Cod where I grew up exploring looks different—a thinner, steeper backshore and steeper nearshore leading to a larger shallower point—than it did when I first stepped foot on it. In a few decades, it may not exist, or at the very least, will look dramatically different.
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