In the Media

Tuesday, January 10, 2023 - Daily Kos

Marco Hatch, an associate professor of Environmental Science at Western Washington University and a member of the Samish Indian Nation, works in the Pacific Northwest with regenerative clam gardens. He spoke about the systems at play in “eco-colonialism,” which highlights the interconnected ecosystem and why regenerative practices are so important.

“Eco-colonialism is typically defined as extra territorial pollution impacting indigenous people in their practices. You can think of this as upstream from a tribal community there’s a large industrial facility dumping toxins into the water that are flowing to that reservation community.”

Wednesday, January 4, 2023 - NPR

About a quarter of all white Bostonians who had estate inventory taken between 1700 and 1775 owned enslaved people, according to Western Washington University history professor Jared Ross Hardesty, who is quoted in the resolution. At the peak of slavery in Boston in the mid-18th century, Hardesty estimates more than 1,600 Africans were enslaved in Boston.

Monday, December 19, 2022 - NPR

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

You've heard of white snow, maybe even gray snow, but what about pink snow? High up in the mountains across the U.S., rapid growth of algae, or algal blooms, are turning melting snow pink. They further darken the surface of the snow and make it melt more quickly, and scientists are trying to understand what's causing them and how they impact water levels in drought-prone areas. One of those scientists is Robin Kodner, an associate professor of environmental science at Western Washington University. And she's here to talk with us today. Welcome to the show.

ROBIN KODNER: Thank you.

Monday, December 19, 2022 - Cascadia Daily News

Professor Steven Hollenhorst of Western Washington University's College of the Environment wants outdoors people to acknowledge their contribution to climate change and then take measures to decarbonize society.

Hollenhorst has promoted “locavism,” the idea of creating outdoor adventures at home. But we all know how difficult it is to forgo international travel or even stop driving to Artist Point to hike to Ptarmigan Ridge or Lake Ann.

Hollenhorst gets it. Really. He does.

“It is so beguiling because it looks sustainable,” Hollenhorst said of wilderness recreation. “We’re out there human-powered, moving ourselves up the mountain or skiing. Pull away the veil and you see right away that the entire enterprise is fossil-fuel driven.”

Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - KING 5 TV

It’s the most northwestern university in the mainland U.S. and it sits right under the nose of a major mystery.

“We have these active volcanoes right in our backyards,” said Susan DeBari, PhD, Professor of Geology, Western Washington University.

Western Washington University hosts a geology program dedicated to putting together the puzzle of what makes up some of the most dangerous volcanoes in the United States.

Friday, December 9, 2022 - Axios

Last week, the rule-making arm of the Democratic National Committee approved a new draft plan for which states will vote first in 2024. Washington didn't make the cut.

That's likely because the Evergreen State is too politically left and too geographically west, Todd Donovan, a political science professor at Western Washington University, told Axios.

Monday, December 5, 2022 - Seattle Times

For Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University, these partnerships are a reason for optimism.

“I think we are uniquely positioned to build on our region’s incredible talent,” she said. “We have a history of being collaborative, and the Cascadia Innovation Corridor is proving that collaboration is driving success.”

Thursday, December 1, 2022 - Mount Baker Experience

New research published by Western Washington University’s Border Policy Research Institute (BPRI) shows cross-border news sources and advocacy groups’ impact on efforts to prevent mining in the Skagit River headwaters.

Derek Moscato, BPRI faculty fellow and associated professor of journalism at Western, looked at media outlets’ — in Washington and B.C. — focus on the Skagit watershed due to B.C.-based Imperial Metals pending application since 2019 to gold mine in an area that became known as the “Donut Hole.”

Thursday, December 1, 2022 - WGBH, Boston NPR

Nearly a decade ago, Boston’s Old North Church opened a Colonial-themed chocolate shop named for Captain Newark Jackson, a prominent early member of the historic church and a pillar of Boston’s lucrative chocolate trade with the British in the 1700s.

For years, Colonial re-enactors in traditional costumes at Captain Jackson’s Historic Chocolate Shop would grind cacao by hand and tell tourists stories of the chocolate trade.

What those re-enactors never said was that the chocolate trade was built on the backs of enslaved adults and children. Now, as the historic church uncovers and reckons with its past, it's not hiding those grim details. And it's welcoming students to study and reflect on the paradox of a landmark church dedicated to freedom whose members prospered from the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

In 2018, historian and author Jared Ross Hardesty's team of researchers discovered Jackson bought slaves in Barbados and traded them to plantation owners in Suriname for cacao beans to bring home, which he documented in the book "Mutiny on the Rising Sun."

“Essentially we found an entire smuggling ring,” Hardesty said. “And a central part of the way this entire smuggling operation worked was around the exchange of human beings.”

Wednesday, November 30, 2022 - Mother Jones

The team’s work is part of the small but growing field of snow algae research. The scientists hope to figure out what allows snow algae to thrive, and where it’s most likely to live. The Living Snow Project, a citizen science initiative created by Western Washington University researchers, asked skiers, climbers and hikers to help collect pink snow samples. Scientists have also converged on surging algal blooms in the French Alps.