News

EnviroClub is looking to make sustainable changes both on campus and off, and we’d love to explore what changes you’re interested in seeing! Right now, we are starting to investigate decreasing single-use plastic on campus. We also engage in fun activities centered around sustainability and the environment, so stop by! Meetings are usually held every other week on Tuesday at 9-10:30am in GC 4490 (next meeting is April 11).

Boost your career prospects with the prestigious LEED Green Associate designation! LEED is the benchmark for green building certification, and having this accreditation demonstrates to employers and clients that you have a certified expertise in the field. With the LEED Green Associate exam having a less-than-stellar pass rate, the value of having these extra letters behind your name is sure to give you an edge in the job market.

The University of Utah is home to three Edible Campus Gardens (ECG), [located across campus], and managed by a wonderful garden coordinator, Gabrielle James, and team of Garden Steward Interns. The ECG is a food justice-focused program on campus that is student supported and campus oriented. The gardens serve the commitment to campus as a living lab; the goal being to pair academic studies to campus resources, partnered with research, to produce learning activities that additionally give back to the campus community. The gardens have partnered with many student project groups for research and non-research projects, both past and present, such as SCIF Grant students working to create a seed library satellite location, faculty researchers examining the utilization of compost to remediate damage from mining, and a study that tests compostability of marketed ‘compost-friendly’ products and bioplastics in composting bins at the gardens. Beyond research, there are many ways to get involved with the Edible Campus Gardens. Paid Garden Stewardship internship positions are an excellent way to gain experience in sustainable agriculture and food justice, lead volunteer groups, and get to be outside all growing season! These positions are paid, typically hired at the start of the spring semester each year, with some experience preferred but not required. Volunteer shifts are another opportunity in which you can gain beneficial sustainable agriculture and food justice experience and education, while also gaining service hours and interpersonal relationships. Volunteers should sign up for the newsletter on the ECG webpage, and follow the Instagram account @sustainableuofu for information on volunteer shifts. There are also courses that work directly in the garden, like Organic Gardening & Sustainable Agriculture (ENVST 3280), where you learn the importance of sustainable agriculture practices, and are given the tools to implement them into your own garden. There are also courses that have affiliations with the ECG that range from one-time tours, or weekly writing sessions in the gardens themselves. Any interested faculty should coordinate with Gabrielle James to have the Edible Campus Gardens be a component of their course.

ENVST Instructor was awarded the University of Utah's Beacon of Excellence Award for 2021

Dr. Jennifer Watt, the new director of sustainability education, is ready to grow student opportunities and build on education efforts that highlight the relationships between social and environmental issues.

The ubiquity of plastic around the globe, in spite of the science that marks them hazardous, has so far made plastic no outlier to her observation.

Today migratory birds and the Great Salt Lake ecosystem are threatened by industrialization, urban development, global climate change, and pollutants from water runoff. As the Environmental & Sustainability Studies Student Intern for Antelope Island State Park, Matt O'Brien produced a short film highlighting notable species found on and around Antelope Island, and factors that endanger them.

In recent years algal blooms in Utah’s waters, particularly in Utah Lake, have highlighted the problem of eutrophication—a high level of nutrients in water that causes a range of ecological problems. But some of the cascading effects of eutrophication aren’t well understood.

ENVST Senior Andrew Follett publishes in the Hinckley Journal of Politics "Bartering the Public Trust: Assessing the Constitutionality of the Utah Lake Restoration Act"

Sydney Boogaard, ENVST/HSP double major and CSBS ambassador

A study of the Jordan River done by ENVST professor, Jennifer Follstad Shah, published in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association

ENVST advisor Ally Marringa wins 2019 Beacon of Excellence award

ENVST Asst. Prof. Dr. Jennifer Shah is part of an ongoing study examining the effect of climactic factors on river ecosystems.

ENVST and Geography double major got an op-ed published in the Salt Lake Tribune this July. Her piece talks about the Emery County land bill.

ENVST students Jordin Hartley and Mickey Navidomskis presented their research at the Utah State Capitol last week.

Dr. Watt was awarded the Education Integration Award for her unfailing commitment to strengthening her courses and the Environmental & Sustainability Studies (ENVST) program, creating meaningful experiences designed to support all students.

A new study led by University of Utah researcher Jennifer J. Follstad Shah, in collaboration with a team of 15 scientists in the U.S. and Europe, suggests these decay rates may not increase as much as expected.

Imagine a garden in your home that requires no soil. Georgie Corkery, an environmental and sustainability studies and urban ecology major with a minor in design, spent her summer researching this idea, known as hydroponic lighting.

During the course of two transatlantic trips to India, and a semester of intercultural collaboration, University of Utah students discovered that before you can solve, you have to listen.