Jennifer Atkinson and Warren Gold receive Husky Green Awards
IAS faculty member Jennifer Atkinson and retired faculty member Warren Gold have received 2022 Husky Green Awards.
The Husky Green Awards recognize individuals and groups across all University of Washington campuses who lead the way for sustainability at the University of Washington. This is the 13th year the awards have been awarded by the UW Environmental Stewardship Committee as part of the UW's Earth Day celebrations.
The Husky Green Awards are given to students, faculty and staff from the Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses who show initiative, leadership and dedication.
Husky Green Award winner: Jennifer Atkinson
Jennifer Atkinson’s work as a climate educator targets the mental health impacts and well-being of students and those in our communities. Eco-anxiety is ever present in many of our students, with many experiencing grief, fear, hopelessness, overwhelm, or “pre-traumatic stress” in response to our climate crisis. By focusing on the internal struggles of her students and podcast audience, Jennifer seeks to understand a facet of climate change that is not often acknowledged in higher education. Jennifer’s pioneering podcast "Facing It", along with her UW Bothell course on Climate Grief and Anxiety, have been featured nationwide and prompted students and other audiences to take the emotional dimensions of climate change seriously. In addition to teaching, Jennifer also writes articles and speaks publicly about eco-grief and emphasizes the importance of considering these impacts when addressing climate change strategies.
Husky Green Legacy winner: Warren Gold
Warren Gold has been a member of the UW Bothell faculty since 1998, and was instrumental in creating UW Bothell’s Environmental Science degree and the revision of that degree into Conservation and Restoration Science. He has developed and taught a wide range of engaging and challenging environmental courses, and mentored hundreds of students through those course experiences. He also helped found the UW Restoration Ecology Network (UW-REN), which was an outreach of the wetlands restoration on the UW Bothell campus that he helped guide through its successful early development. UW-REN brought together people from all three UW campuses in many different disciplines interested in ecological restoration. UW-REN created a structure for existing courses to engage students in hands-on restoration work in collaboration with community partners. Gold has served as co-director of UW-REN since its inception, and in those 21 years it has completed 166 projects with 905 students representing 31 different academic majors and worked with 50 different community partners from Whidbey Island south to the Nisqually River.
Gold has gone above and beyond throughout his career in his dedication to students, making sure they have access to things like personal advice, equipment, transportation and opportunities needed to succeed. He has also been instrumental in advancing sustainability on the UW Bothell campus, including serving as Co-Chair of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for Environmental Sustainability (CACES) and as the Campus Wetland Advisor for 21 years, advocating for a UW Bothell Sustainability Coordinator position and helping to create the UW Bothell Sustainability Action Plan.