The Commons – September 2022

  • Three Ho-Chunk paddlers guide a dugout canoe, flying the Ho-Chunk flag, across Teewąąšikhomįik (Lake Mendota). Photos courtesy of Jessie Conaway

    Living History

    On June 20, 2022, a small flotilla could be seen off the southwest shoreline of Teewąąšikhomįik, He Who Lies There (English name, Lake Mendota). The air was still, as was the water, while the group …

  • Ashok Sarkar

    Creating a Cleaner Future

    Sustainability came into Ashok Sarkar PhD’97’s consciousness on a roof on a New Delhi summer night.

  • Robert Ribe

    Sharing Credit Where Credit Is Due

    When Robert Ribe was 17 years old, his mother handed him a book.

  • Margaret Krome

    The Connector

    Margaret Krome finds connections everywhere.

  • Wisconsin Communities Along Mississippi River at Risk from Climate Change

    Mississippi River communities and habitats in Wisconsin are at risk due to the increasing variability in river flows caused by changes in precipitation, snow melt, storm intensity, and land use.

  • One of Nehls lasting legacies on campus is the Sustainability Move Out program, which collects refuse and donations to be properly recycled and distributed.

    Leave No Trace

    Every summer, typically at the start of August, downtown Madison’s sidewalks transform into junkyards — or, perhaps, thrift stores for the Hippie Christmas devout.

  • Trish O'Kane

    From the Catbird Seat

    Megan’s special place was a tree. It was a big, old elm in Warner Park, where she spent the afternoons with Bird Buddies, her after-school group.

  • Keefe Keeley

    In the Shadow of the Old

    “We’re building the new in the shadow of the old,” Keefe Keeley MS’14, PhD’21 mused as we meandered about the fields and woodlands of the Savanna Institute’s North Farm, five miles from Spring Green, Wisconsin.

  • Becky Larson

    New Faculty Q & A: Becky Larson

    It’s a messy business, manure, but it’s one that Becky Larson tromps through with grace.

  • Grove enjoying a hike in Alaska. Photo credit: Evan Bodfield

    Making Freight Sustainable

    Nelson Institute undergraduate student Zebulon Grove sees a hopeful future for sustainability in business practices.

  • Director’s Cut

    I am writing to introduce myself as the new director of CHE. It is a very great privilege to take over responsibility for an organization that plays such a vibrant role in the life of …

  • Jim Miller

    Introducing: The Jim Miller Graduate Scholarship

    “Water is fundamental to all life,” states the leading sentence on the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies’ water resources management (WRM) program website. It’s a short and simple sentence, but one whose importance cannot be …

  • Notaro Teaches AOS 100 Class

    It was a summer of firsts for Nelson Institute Center for Climate Research Director and scientist Michael Notaro and the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Summer Collegiate Experience (SCE) program.

  • EC/EOI cohorts

    EC and EOI Cohorts Finish 15-Month Programs

    As summer comes to a close, so does the 2021–22 Environmental Conservation (EC) and Environmental Observation and Informatics (EOI) cohorts. 

  • Heat Wave Warriors

    Two Nelson PhD candidates are working to keep Wisconsin communities safe from heat waves.