Western Washington University graduate student Casey Pruitt is like the alchemists of olden times -- scientists who worked to uncover the secret of turning lead into gold. Whereas their toil produced nothing but hundreds of years of failure and frustration, Pruitt is on to something that could be a benefit to both the environment and the economy.
WWU Professor of Environmental Studies Gigi Berardi recently received the silver medal from the Living Now Book Awards for “FoodWISE,” a guide to sustainable food choices. Berardi has described the book as tackling political economy, food psychology and sustainability in a world of constantly changing information.
When plastic is released in the environment and exposed to the elements, it breaks into tiny pieces called microplastics. These bits of plastic can be found everywhere from arctic snow, to the sea floor, and even in human feces. With that in mind, it probably won’t come as a shock that microplastics are also prevalent in the soils that grow our food.
Dear Western Community,
On Monday, October 12 we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a moment that celebrates and honors Native American peoples and commemorates their histories and cultures. I am honored to have a growing community of Indigenous people at Western, including 954 students at all Western campuses who identify in some way as Indigenous: American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders.
Each fall, the waters of Whatcom Creek fill with salmon, swimming upstream from the ocean to spawn. With the flood of salmon comes increasing numbers of seals in search of a feast, threatening the fragile salmon populations.
Geographers read the surface of the earth like historians read books, but Western Washington University’s Patrick Buckley isn’t interested in the boundaries of ancient Rome or the expansion of Genghis Khan’s Mongol empire – he is using a unique set of maps called cartograms to track the spread and growth of the coronavirus as it travels across the United States.
Did you miss Sabah's Fall 2020 Faculty and Staff Convocation on Sept. 17? See a transcript below, and the video of the address is available here.
Dear Western Students and Families,
I hope you and your loved ones are well and that these summer months have afforded you a time to reconnect with family and friends even while we work to keep each other safe through this ongoing pandemic.
The United States has been in a moral quandary about the issue of race from its very inception. The two major documents of the Republic, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, spouted lofty and idealistic platitudes that even at the time seemed contradictory to many of their signers and founders of the fledgling nation. They knew full well that land, class, race and gender would ultimately separate the status and ear mark the beneficiaries of the freedoms espoused by these two wondrous documents.
As summer weather continues, crews have remained hard at work constructing the new residence hall on Western Washington University’s campus. Dubbed “PW746” until administration finalizes a name, this living community will offer increased accessibility and modern amenities upon its completion in fall 2021.
