Environment

Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, explains the role of environmental issues in elections.

Amazon is launching a new tool to help shoppers select items that are deemed more environmentally friendly. Products will earn the “Climate Pledge Friendly” label if they have been approved by one of 19 certification programs, including Amazon’s own Compact by Design designation. Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.

"As I write, my city has been invaded. It is the month when Seattle weather normally gleams with clarity, yet my throat burns and the trees at the end of the block are being dissolved by a Martian haze. Across the street, my neighbor’s house appears as if in a grainy sepia photograph. I can only think that the atmosphere has materialized for us what an excess of carbon really feels like," writes Scott Montgomery, lecturer of international studies at the UW.

"How a society handles disasters says a lot about its resilience, character and governance capacities. Disasters can foster paranoia or encourage solidarity. They can bring the country together or tear it apart," write Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs at the UW, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW.

The Department of English has introduced its new “Literature, Language, Culture” Dialogue Series, a series of podcasts and YouTube videos in which UW humanities faculty discuss their research and teaching — “including the ways our work contributes to how we experience and seek to understand this time of global crisis.”

With two months before the general election – and amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – mail-in voting has taken on a greater importance, and drawn more political attention, than in elections past.

Emeritus research psychologist Michael D. Beecher discusses the complex calls of song sparrows.

Center for Conservation Biology orca researcher Deborah Giles explains Southern orca resident presence in the Salish Sea.

Christian Sidor, biology professor, discusses the history of hibernation.

Scott Montgomery, professor of international studies, discusses the silver linings of the post-pandemic energy landscape.

Megan Whitney, doctoral student in biology, and Christian Sidor, biology professor discuss new evidence suggesting a species that roamed the Earth with the dinosaurs hibernated.

Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, discusses outside influences on the Trump administration's environmental policies.

Deborah Giles, researcher from the Center for Conservation Biology, and her dog, Eba, research killer whales in the Puget Sound.

Dr. Deborah Giles, researcher with the Center for Conservation Biology discusses risks to pregnant orcas in Puget Sound.

The Seattle Times gives ideas for busting boredom, including reading spider facts from the Burke Museum.