Impact Series

Fired from Amazon for her activism, Maren Costa is calling for climate action at Microsoft

by Lisa Stiffler on January 13, 2023January 13, 2023 at 8:05 am

Microsoft shareholders recently voted on a proposal calling on the company to disclose the climate impacts of its employee retirement funds. As You Sow, a nonprofit supporting shareholder empowerment, spearheaded… Read More

‘The billionaires are in charge’ – here’s who is spending the most on climate change efforts

by Lisa Stiffler on January 4, 2023January 4, 2023 at 12:37 pm

Climate change is starting to receive the funding and attention that some activists, scientists and policy makers have sought for decades. And a cadre of ultra-wealthy individuals are helping lead… Read More

How do you recycle plastic? Startups and scientists are trying to make it easier

by Lisa Stiffler on December 23, 2022December 23, 2022 at 10:09 am

Each week, Ridwell workers fan neighborhoods in six cities around the country picking up canvas sacks stuffed with plastic bags and packing waste. The plastic film is sorted and sent… Read More

Companies are making bold climate pledges – but where are the workers needed to reach them?

by Lisa Stiffler on December 14, 2022February 12, 2023 at 4:44 pm

Some 3,900 companies worldwide have made pledges to cut their carbon emissions. But many, or perhaps most, lack the skilled workers needed to reach those goals. “I commonly find a… Read More

Amazon adds another $150M for affordable housing in Seattle area

by Lisa Stiffler on December 12, 2022January 4, 2023 at 1:52 pm

Amazon will provide $150 million to build and preserve 1,700 units of affordable housing in Seattle and neighboring cities. The new funding, announced Monday at a press conference with Seattle… Read More

How technology is helping remove racist language in Washington state property deeds

by Lisa Stiffler on November 28, 2022November 28, 2022 at 11:10 am

If you live in a home built before the 1950s, there’s a chance that lurking in its property records is racist language. For decades in the first half of the… Read More

Go inside the invite-only, climate tech summit in Seattle hosted by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy

by Lisa Stiffler on October 21, 2022October 21, 2022 at 11:32 am

Inside a Seattle waterfront center cloaked in wildfire smoke, climate tech innovators and investors came together this week at the Breakthrough Energy Summit. The event was a chance to share… Read More

Bill Gates ‘amazed at how far we’ve come’ as he opens inaugural climate tech summit in Seattle

by Lisa Stiffler on October 18, 2022October 21, 2022 at 11:28 am

Breakthrough Energy, the Bill Gates-led effort to stoke innovation in climate technology, is holding its inaugural summit this week in Seattle. It kicked off its program on Tuesday with a… Read More

How much solar and wind power is out there? A Microsoft effort using satellites, AI aims to find out

by Lisa Stiffler on September 22, 2022September 22, 2022 at 9:03 pm

In the race to curb climate change, solar panels and wind turbines are being installed across the planet — but no one knows exactly where and how much renewable power… Read More

New Seattle innovation center in a historically Black neighborhood will support entrepreneurs, arts, tech

by Lisa Stiffler on September 15, 2022September 15, 2022 at 11:34 am

Friday afternoon will mark the grand opening of the William Grose Center for Cultural Innovation, a hub for entrepreneurs, creative endeavors, community, education and the sharing of resources in Seattle’s… Read More

Gut check: Seattle Aquarium scientists simulate a whale stomach to test plastic alternatives

by Lisa Stiffler on September 7, 2022September 29, 2022 at 1:00 pm

You cannot deliberately feed plastic to a whale, even in the name of science. So researchers at the Seattle Aquarium created a clever alternative. They’ve designed a simulated gray whale… Read More

This Seattle high schooler is leading a nonprofit to help refugees and immigrants learn English

by Sonali Vaid on August 26, 2022August 26, 2022 at 11:30 am

When 16-year-old Subha Vadlamannati isn’t playing the piano or digitally drawing Anime characters, she’s helping refugee and immigrant students learn English using her passion for computational linguistics. The Seattle-area high… Read More

This nonprofit is showing how rigorous data analysis can dramatically curb youth homelessness

by Lisa Stiffler on August 11, 2022August 11, 2022 at 1:06 pm

A Washington state organization is using data and analytics to help solve a crisis that is both unconscionable and has seemed intractable: the challenge of kids and young adults experiencing… Read More

Melinda French Gates shares new data to stoke innovation and awareness in $648B ‘care economy’

by Lisa Stiffler on August 9, 2022August 9, 2022 at 10:04 am

Caregivers who provide for children, elderly people, and those who are sick or disabled are operating in an antiquated system that’s ripe for innovation, experts say, and worth an estimated… Read More

Boeing pledges $10M for new UW engineering building that will house AI Education Institute

by Lisa Stiffler on August 4, 2022August 3, 2022 at 3:51 pm

The University of Washington is breaking ground next month on its Interdisciplinary Engineering Building. The new facility should help the UW’s College of Engineering better serve its growing enrollment: since… Read More

Seattle nonprofit aims to expose underrepresented youth to space industry careers

by Sonali Vaid on July 29, 2022July 29, 2022 at 7:27 am

From Boeing to Blue Origin, the Seattle region is a bustling aerospace hub. Now a Seattle-based nonprofit wants to help expose underrepresented youth to the industry and potential careers. iUrban… Read More

Microsoft demos clean energy breakthrough for data centers that keep the internet humming

by Lisa Stiffler on July 28, 2022July 28, 2022 at 5:40 pm

Data centers packed with millions of servers provide the backbone of the internet, dishing up everything from cat videos to financial transactions to online gaming when and where you need… Read More

High school students in Seattle educate community on how to identify and combat misinformation

by Sonali Vaid on July 24, 2022July 25, 2022 at 10:36 am

The world is overwhelmed with contradictory data and claims. High school students in Seattle want to help. Last month Ballard High School hosted MisinfoNight, an event inspired by MisinfoDay, an… Read More

Video

We visited the world’s biggest carbon capture plant, which just signed a 10-year deal with Microsoft

by Lisa Stiffler on July 13, 2022July 13, 2022 at 7:58 am

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A short drive from Iceland’s capital, on a lava plateau blanketed with moss and grass, the earth exhales plumes of steam. In most places in the world,… Read More

New tsunami warning to those in Seattle: If the earth starts shaking, get to higher ground ASAP

by Lisa Stiffler on July 7, 2022July 8, 2022 at 4:58 pm

If a really big earthquake hits offshore from Seattle, the city’s shorelines could be struck with massive tsunami waves within a matter of three minutes. In a worst-case scenario, the… Read More

‘I wouldn’t be an engineer without it’: UW program supports underserved STEM students

by Charlotte Schubert on June 27, 2022June 27, 2022 at 4:39 pm

A University of Washington program to support STEM students from low-income and underserved backgrounds is now nine years old. And it aims to spread the model to other institutions. The… Read More

Microsoft helps build data hub to track disabilities as part of effort to close ‘disability divide’

by Lisa Stiffler on June 15, 2022June 15, 2022 at 6:57 am

There are lots of sources for global data on economic indicators, population sizes, infectious diseases, sustainability — the list goes on. But missing in the lineup has been a comprehensive,… Read More

Testing a new time-traveling VR experience that explores sea level rise in Seattle

by Lisa Stiffler on June 14, 2022June 14, 2022 at 10:00 am

The Seattle Public Library and the University of Washington have created a virtual reality experience for teens and families that explores climate change and its impacts on sea level rise… Read More

Seattle U students tackle real-world computer and engineering projects for Amazon, F5 and others

by Lisa Stiffler on June 4, 2022June 4, 2022 at 7:06 am

Technology moves so fast, it can be difficult to teach computer science and engineering students the very latest in their fields. So Seattle University tries to make sure its grads… Read More

Meet the Seattle-area teen geeks that just won awards at an international science fair

by Lisa Stiffler on May 21, 2022May 20, 2022 at 9:27 pm

The bleak and all-too-common spectacle of roadkill was upsetting to Vedant Srinivas — particularly when his uncle and cousin’s beloved German Shepherd-Rottweiler mix was fatally hit by a car. More… Read More