Huxley College of the Environment's Rainforest Immersion and Conservation Action (RICA) program has started its fourth season giving students hands-on work in rainforest ecology in the verdant tropical ecosystems of Costa Rica. The program's leader, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Troy Abel, has started a blog about the summer's activities, student projects, local service projects, and more. The first entry from the blog is pasted below; more can be found at http://estu-rica.blogspot.com/.

Western Washington University Assistant Professor of Environmental Science David Shull is researching how climate change and global warming are affecting the Bering Sea, one of the most important commercial fisheries on the planet.

The Bering Sea produces a catch worth $1 billion annually – half of all the seafood taken in the United States each year, according to statistics from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Students in the Sustainable Design Studio class at Western Washington University have investigated the sustainable design of shelters and village communities for Haiti, and they're set to present their sustainable development solution for such devastated communities from noon to 2 p.m. June 3 in Environmental Studies Room 100.

The students' presentation, which is titled "Haiti Housing Relief: Design Book," is free and open to the public.

Bowdoin College Assistant Professor of History and Environmental Studies Connie Chiang will speak on “Nature Behind Barbed Wire: Environment and the Japanese-American Incarceration” as part of Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment speaker series at 3 p.m., Friday, May 28 at WWU’s Communications Facility Room 125.

The event is free and open to the public.

Western Washington University’s Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment will host its annual “Innovative Teaching Showcase Learning Event” from Noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 1, in College Hall 310.

The theme of this year's Showcase is “Planning for Large Classes.” On June 1, community members are invited to meet the featured instructors, view videotaped interviews with those instructors and find out more about teaching large classes at Western.

Bowdoin College Assistant Professor of History and Environmental Studies Connie Chiang will speak on “Nature Behind Barbed Wire: Environment and the Japanese-American Incarceration” as part of Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment speaker series at 3 p.m., Friday, May 28 at WWU’s Communications Facility room 125.

The event is free and open to the public.

In the wake of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States government moved more than 110,000 Japanese Americans from the Pacific Coast to 10 relocation centers in the inland West and Arkansas.  Chiang’s lecture explores how the environment – typically arid and semi-arid landscapes – shaped Japanese Americans' everyday lives and resistance and the federal government's efforts to confine and assimilate them.

University of California at Berkeley Professor of Integrative Biology Tyrone Hayes will speak on “From Silent Spring to Silent Night: A Tale of Toads and Men” as part of Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment speaker series at 3 p.m., Friday, May 21 at WWU’s Communications Facility room 125.

The event is free and open to the public.

Western Washington University’s effort to be more active with its Federal relations agenda is reaping benefits, as the activities of Western’s administration and the leadership of the Associated Students have yielded positive results in Washington, D.C.

Western Washington University will open its doors and campus to alumni and their families, parents and the community for the inaugural Back 2 Bellingham Weekend, Thursday evening to Sunday, May 13-16.

Outdoor adventure, student performances, planetarium shows, a music festival, athletic events, food and talks by distinguished speakers are just some of the more than 100 activities planned.

Western Washington University’s Wayne Landis, professor of Environmental Science, will speak on “Risky Business; Integrating Science-Policy to Manage the Environment” as part of Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment speaker series at 3 p.m., Friday, May 14 at WWU’s Communications Facility Room 125.

The event is free and open to the public.

Paul Stangl (Environmental Studies) recently co-organized a series of sessions titled “The European/Post-Soviet City” at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Washington, D.C. Nineteen papers were presented in the sessions by researchers from nine countries. Stangl presented his paper “Science & Technology in Discourse on City Building” during one of the sessions. He is currently working on co-editing a special journal issue based on the research presented.

New York Times best-selling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize Timothy Egan will present the keynote address at WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment 40th Anniversary Celebration at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 15, at the WWU Performing Arts Center Main Stage, in conjunction with the university’s Back 2 Bellingham weekend.

John Rybczyk (Environmental Science), with five undergraduate co-authors in Huxley College (Stephanie Tetreault, Matt Kurle, Peter Fosmire, Ramon Feskens and Tracey Pennell), had the paper "Total Suspended Solids Removal in a Constructed Stormwater Treatment Wetland in Bellingham, WA." presented at the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Society of Wetland Scientists' annual meeting. Pennell, a senior in the Department of Environmental Science, presented the paper.

John Miles, a professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University, talks about his book "Koma Kulshan" on the television show "ENW with Deb Slater," aired on KVOS TV-12 in Bellingham.

Maury Schwartz (Geology, retired) and Tom Terich (Environmental Studies) had an entry titled "Washington" published on pages 15 to 31 of "Encyclopedia of the World's Coastal Landforms," edited by Eric Bird. Schwartz also has four other entries in this encyclopedia: Virgin Islands, pp. 295-297; St. Martin, pp. 302-304; Libya, pp. 897-898; and Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, pp. 953- 955.