Environmental Studies Department

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Volcanoes Sparked an Explosion in Human Intelligence, Researcher Argues

Vast lava flows may have provided humans with access to heat and fire for cooking their food millions of years ago, one researcher has proposed. That, in turn, would have enabled the evolution of human intelligence, Michael Medler, a geographer at Western Washington University, said at the…

2016-01-04
Christmas counters find 28,000 birds, hawk among rarer finds in Western Pa.

Mark VanderVen marveled as a bald eagle soared across a river Saturday near a housing development in Squirrel Hill.

A few miles away in Schenley Park, a friend of his spotted an rarer species: the northern harrier, which is a type of hawk.

2015-12-28
Forest Service wants more controlled burns in state

The U.S. Forest Service wants more controlled burns in Washington forests to help make them more resistant to summer wildfires.

But rules administered by the state Department of Natural Resources are a roadblock to this fire prevention approach in Washington, the The Seattle Times…

2015-10-12
Western Today Q&A: As it rebuilds from the earthquake, how can Nepal construct safer schools? 2015-09-30
Sustainability studies minor to begin this fall

A new minor will be available for Western students seeking to study sustainability, which is the ability to preserve economic, environmental and social systems.

Sustainability studies, an environmental studies minor, was created by the WWU Sustainability Academy. The faculty involved meet…

2015-07-21
Salazar, Abel, Robert have research published 2015-06-24
Campus tour: Environmental Studies building 2015-06-09
Meet the 2015 Tribeca Filmmakers #53 : A Directing Quartet Boards America's Busiest Train for 'In Transit'

Numerous documentaries have attempted to create a diverse portrait of the United States of America, but none has ever achieved this solely by boarding our country's busiest long-distance train, the Empire Builder. In the documentary "In Transit," filmmakers Lynn True, Nelson…

2015-04-21
Local wins Bellingham Bay’s Rough Water Race

Three months after undergoing hip replacement surgery, 52-year-old Mike Medler was fit enough to win the short course title in the fourth annual Bellingham Bay Rough Water Race.

So what does Medler plan for an encore?

2015-03-16
Canada, Seattle’s neighbor to the north? Nope, better check your map

A CENTURY AGO, during America’s expansionist heyday, no one ever saw author and “Manifest Destiny” cheerleader Horace Greeley point across the sweeping expanse of America and urge his eager charges: “Go north, young man!”

Yet, many of us did. And to this day, most…

2015-02-17
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