Plant Futures may be the newest club on Northwestern’s sustainability scene, but it’s already making big moves. See how founder and president Sam Rappin combines passion with profession to make a difference in the world of plant-based food.

Feel your hay fever worsening when you’re on campus? Northwestern’s selective tree-planting practices may be to blame. Find out more about “botanical sexism” and what it means for urban environments.

This week… 31,000 acres of public land returned to the Penobscot Nation in Maine, an inadequate climate financing deal at COP29, and protests across Aotearoa (New Zealand) to protect Indigenous land rights.

This week… the COP29 climate summit kicks off in Azerbaijan, wildfires ravage New York and New Jersey and rising sea temperatures devastate the mussel industry in Greece.

This week… the COP29 climate summit kicks off in Azerbaijan, wildfires ravage New York and New Jersey and rising sea temperatures devastate the mussel industry in Greece.

This week… unusually warm weather in the Chicago area, the carbon footprint of Taylor Swift’s two-year Eras Tour and deadly flooding in Valencia, Spain.

This week… the UN publishes its annual Emissions Gap Report, Pacific Island nations at risk of sinking under the waves and a controversial mega-development on a historic floodplain in South Carolina.

This week… the UN talks biodiversity in Colombia, a Spanish team develops better solar cells and Australian beaches covered in mysterious tar blobs.

This week… Hurricane Milton batters Florida, fossil fuel advertising in sports and heat waves caused by… corn?

Plant Futures may be the newest club on Northwestern’s sustainability scene, but it’s already making big moves. See how founder and president Sam Rappin combines passion with profession to make a difference in the world of plant-based food.

Feel your hay fever worsening when you’re on campus? Northwestern’s selective tree-planting practices may be to blame. Find out more about “botanical sexism” and what it means for urban environments.

How one Northwestern course offers students a chance to tap trees, collect sap and cook their own maple syrup.

During Earth Week, Northwestern’s environmental student organizations host a bevy of events to promote sustainability and mindfulness on campus. Although students can and do take action to reduce their individual footprints, corporations that drive systemic consumerism are the biggest players in the current climate crisis. By working together, we can confront large companies and bring about real change. 

Editor Nicholas Rose explains the ins and outs of surfing the Lake, whether it comes to location, board or gear.