Solar panels. (Unsplash / Chelsea Photo) Seattle-area tech giants Amazon and Microsoft were global leaders in clean energy power purchase agreements made by corporations last year. Amazon held the top spot for the second year in a row with energy purchases totaling 6,212 megawatts (MW), or 6.2 gigawatts (GW). Microsoft was a close second with…
Category Archives: Impact Series
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TisBest shoppers can customize their charitable gift card, whether they choose the digital version or biodegradable hard copy. (TisBest Image) “If this was an ordinary tech startup being done just for the money,” Erik Marks said, “this would have been put in the grave in ‘08.” But TisBest isn’t, so it wasn’t. Fourteen years later,…
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Unfortunately, emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases aren’t this easy to visualize, making it challenging to figure out rigorous systems for calculating and reporting the pollution. (Matthias Heyde Photo / Unsplash) More than 683 companies, 136 countries and 234 cities have made pledges to reach net-zero carbon emissions. But for those goals to…
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In the most wholesome scenarios, social media allows families to connect with friends and loved ones, sharing their kids’ milestones, as well as snapshots of daily life. Or it can be a way for families to find each other and share experiences. But what happens when a family’s video blog or “vlog” morphs into something…
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A cougar on Western Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. (Mark Elbroch / Panthera Photo) A young cougar is hardwired to leave mom and venture out to establish a new territory. But cougars born on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula have limited options. Interstate 5 runs the length of the state, creating a barrier to the east; Columbia River isolates…
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PNNL researcher Ashley Bradley practices her lab work using a non-fentanyl substance. Bradley is part of the team working on the library of fentanyl variants. (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory / Andrea Starr Photo) Nationally, fentanyl-related overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans age 18 to 45. The drug killed almost twice as many…
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(Maria Lin Kim Photo via Unsplash) COVID-19 caused society to re-envision how we shop, work and interact. But some of those changes, such as improved and expanded conveniences such as grocery shopping online and widespread use of delivery services, skipped over people who are low-income or experiencing poverty. Two years into the pandemic, some of…
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New apartments rise in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Amazon on Tuesday announced that it has allocated $42.5 million to help pay for the construction of 318 affordable apartments near two light rail stations in the greater Seattle area. The projects are being done in partnership with Sound Transit, a local public…
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Dandelion seeds. (Олександр К Photo from Unsplash) Thanks to its feathery fluff, a dandelion seed riding the wind can cover more than half a mile. While disheartening for many gardeners, this marvel of passive travel was an inspiration for scientists at the University of Washington. The UW researchers have created tiny devices that are dispersed…
Seattle tech workers with Ukrainian roots help build website to ease donation process for aid groups
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A rally in support of Ukraine at Seattle Center. (Photo courtesy of Natasha Fedo) The prospect of sending money to somehow help Ukraine deal with the mounting consequences of the Russian invasion can seem overwhelming. Where to donate? How to donate? Who to trust? A new website that launched Friday morning called Pledge Ukraine, built…