News & Blog
The Program on Climate Change presents: Climate Justice in Your Classroom – a new, justice-centered educational resource
As the impacts of climate change become increasingly devastating, they will also become increasingly inequitable. Already, much of the burden of climate change is felt by people and nations that were low historical emitters while extreme historical emitters avoid the direst consequences. Thus, it is vital that we implement justice and equity into our strategies to understand, mitigate, and adapt to climate change.
Read moreHeat 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 morePCC Undergraduate Cohort Hosts Professional Development Workshop!
Although tourists were flocking to the Quad to see the Sakura trees in bloom on a gorgeously sunny day, members of the PCC Undergraduate Cohort were there for a different reason. During a sunny afternoon on 4/2, the UCo gathered on the third floor of Smith Hall, a room with a lovely aerial view of the cherry blossoms that certainly enhanced the atmosphere of the professional development workshop they were hosting.
Read morePCC Postdoc Channing Prend is honored as a Fulbright Scholar!
Channing Prend, a post-doctoral student in the School of Oceanography and fellow of the NOAA Climate & Global Change program, is one of three UW researchers to be honored as a Fulbright Scholar! As part of the highly prestigious award, Prend will be hosted by the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, researching the “Regional Variability of Air-Sea-Ice Interactions in the Southern Ocean.” This will build off his work using a combination of observations, numerical models, and remote sensing to investigate the role of the ocean in the climate system, especially in the Southern Ocean, as well as his experience in communicating climate science. Congrats, Channing!
Read more here!Solutions 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 morePCC Stewardship of Climate Research Gift at UW
From the Interim Director, LuAnne Thompson The Program on Climate Change is the steward of three gifts that are making a difference for University of Washington graduate students and Assistant Professors studying climate and climate change from a variety of perspectives. Six graduate students will receive support from these awards; these students are enrolled in programs across campus including the School of Oceanography, the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, and the Biology Department.
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