News & Blog
How can sea otters help mitigate climate change impacts?
Kelp, urchins, carbon, indigenous participation, and reintroduction are part of the answer. Read about my event of short engaging lightning talks in fulfillment of the UW PCC Graduate Certificate in Climate Science. Written by: Amy Olsen Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are a small mammal in the weasel family. They are a keystone species, which means they have a big impact on keeping their ecosystem balanced.
Read moreIntersection of climate change and human health: PCC Winter Seminar Series videos now posted
A collection of recordings from the Winter 2021 PCC 586 Seminar Series is now available on our website, and Youtube (attached below). The UW Program on Climate Change (PCC) and Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE) organized a seminar series in Winter 2021 that focused on the intersection of climate change and human health. The goal for this series was to bring together researchers in the two communities to discuss how climate change has and will impact human health.
Read moreAlexander and Hess in "3 Ways Climate Change Affects Your Health"
This past Earth Day (April 22nd) PCC Director Becky Alexander and Dr. Jeremy Hess of UW Medicine were interviewed for “3 Ways Climate Change Affects Your Health” produced by the UW Medicine digital publication, Right As Rain. The article touches on the three things climate is changing; more frequent and extreme weather events, snow and ice melt, ocean acidification and higher sea level, but primarily focuses on how climate change affects our health.
Read moreDon’t ask officials what they think of global warming — ask if they want a warning
Professor Dale Durran, past chair and current professor for the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, has recently published an article through the Washington Post, titled “Don’t ask officials what they think of global warming — ask if they want a warning”. The article mainly focuses on the issue of warning the public about events exacerbated by climate change, as our continued use of fossil fuels will only further drastic weather events.
Read moreUW PCC Stakeholders! Add your voice-by May 3
The UW Program on Climate Change is developing a strategic plan to guide priorities for the next 5 years. Integral to the process is looking back at 20 years of the PCC alongside opportunities moving forward as a new Dean embarks on their journey of defining the College of the Environment. As part of this process we are soliciting input from stakeholder groups to inform discussions that will take place during the month of June.
Read moreThicker-leaved plants may thrive due to climate change, which may help temper climate change's effects
Work by a team of scientists including Abigail Swann, who serves on the PCC executive board, and Marlies Kovenock, a former PhD student of Swann, looked into how tropical forests may be adapting to changing climate and how these adaptations have the potential to mitigate the effects of climate change. Tropical forests are currently responsible for absorbing a large amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but information on how plants and ecosystems may respond to the rising CO2 levels is not abundant, making this research critically important.
Read moreA look at the 2021 PCC Annual (virtual) Winter Welcome
During the week of March 15, PCC welcomed 16 new faculty, research scientists, postdocs, and graduate students to the UW climate community and awarded Graduate Certificates in Climate Sciences to four graduate students who completed their capstone projects in the last year. Given the impact that the pandemic-related restrictions have had on us all, it is heartening and inspiring to see all of the progress and milestones that have been achieved over the last year within the PCC community.
Read moreStanding with Asians and Asian Americans to Advance Justice, Equity, and Inclusion
The recent violence targeting Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders reflects the deepening of many of the divisions and increasing acts of violence that have arisen since the pandemic began. Six of the eight killed in the Atlanta-area shootings were of Asian descent and seven of them were women. As an organization that promotes and celebrates community and inclusion, the UW Program on Climate Change (UW PCC) stands with the University of Washington and educational institutions across the country to decry recent and racially motivated attacks.
Read moreReduce: Experiences & Insights
Written by Billy Henshaw, Graduate Student, UW Atmospheric Sciences I had always wanted to be a part of a startup focusing on “greentech”, innovative technological solutions to adapt to climate change or solve the climate crisis; I am intrigued by climate change as a social and political problem. Thus, I viewed climate solutions with a lot of curiosity and excitement. When I learned that Reduce, a greentech startup hoping to curb unsustainable consumerism, was looking for UW graduate students, I hopped on the opportunity.
Read moreHuman-driven climate change found to increase risk of flooding in the Peruvian Andes, and other glacial lakes
A recent study published by a team of scientists from the University of Oxford and the University of Washington shows, for the first time, a direct connection between human-driven climate change and an increased risk of glacial lake flooding. The study focused on Lake Palcacocha, a glacial lake in the Peruvian Andes, and demonstrates how human-induced global warming has increased flood risk, due to the lake's growth as the glacier that formed it continues to retreat. This study will be important evidence in an ongoing court case in which a resident of the town most at risk from increased flooding is suing a German electricity producer for its role in worsening global warming. Additionally, this process can be expanded to other glacial lakes across the world, serving as an instrumental piece in understanding the consequences and risks associated with global warming in affected areas it results in the growth and creation of glacial lakes worldwide. A key researcher in this study was UW professor of Earth and Space Sciences Gerard Roe, whose participation in the study and previous work in creating a method that can determine if an individual glacier's retreat can be directly linked to anthropogenic climate change was instrumental to the study. Roe is also a member of the PCC Executive Board.
Read more at UW News