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U. of Washington to create big eco-college

Posted at 4:36 PM on 15 May 2008

The University of Washington is planning to create the largest environmental college evah. The proposed College of the Environment would become the 5th-largest of U-Dub's 17 colleges, combining its current schools of forestry, fishery sciences, atmospheric sciences, earth and space sciences, marine affairs, and oceanography. "Certainly, higher education in general has a responsibility to tackle challenges that threaten the well-being of the planet," says the proposal. "The UW is strongly positioned to truly advance the contributions of academia to the very concrete problems of the world around us." The college is scheduled to open in fall 2009, and its graduates will no doubt solve the world's environmental problems shortly thereafter.

source: The Seattle Times

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Comments: (4 comments)

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Now, if only they could clean up the Sound...

Nice that they are making "Green Buildings".

They certainly aren't doing anything about cleaning up the effluvia ridden "toilet" that Washingtonians have turned the Puget Sound and Lake Washington into...

by jabailo at 6:52 PM on 15 May 2008

U. of Washington creating Green College

I hope this is more than just hype. I don't think you need to create a Green College to use the brain power of U.W. It seems a paradox that with all the brain power in Seattle (Boeing, Microsoft, Yahoo, U.W. etc.) that they can't solve the huge traffic congestion in the city (e.g. Interstate 5) nor even the traffic congestion on the streets that lead to the University. And, this has been that way for many, many years. Thus, I am skeptical about the new "Green College" and suspect that it is more of a publicity stunt to attract new students to "U dub".

Steve Miller

by nanaimo at 7:43 PM on 19 May 2008

Green College

Wow--cynical much? Actually, I can understand the skepticism, but let's look at it globally. How can the UW solve the congestion problem? They can't create space where it doesn't exist. What they can do is try to educate more people and bring more attention to the issues. If we're going to alleviate traffic congestion in the Puget Sound area, we need to get cars off the road, plain and simple. Nothing will change if the people do not demand it, which is really at the heart of our government, don't you think? I don't mean to sound like I'm attacking, but everyone seems to expect someone else to fix the problems around us. A "green college" may be a perfect "publicity stunt" to get interested people into a collaborative environment in order to begin effecting change.

by helpmegogreen at 9:00 AM on 20 May 2008
[ Parent ]

Traffic is not the only problem

I think it's fantastic that UW is pulling these departments together; as a UW grad student I know that there is a lot of collaboration going on already and this will just working together that much easier.

Keep in mind that these departments are not the ones who would be working on the traffic problem. As it is, the Department of Urban Planning, the Evans School of Public Policy, and Engineering are all concentrating on the issue and doing internationally renowned work, but when dealing with local politics there is only so much that can be done in so much time. (Particularly when we have the "Seattle Process".)

It's great that some people support transit alternatives, but instead of yelling at environmental scientists to solve the problem, start talking to your neighbors and elected officials to make a change where it will matter.

Also, nothing wrong with a publicity stunt if it brings higher quality students, professors, and grants to the area.

by pendragon23 at 10:13 AM on 20 May 2008

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