Last week, NYU’s Office of Sustainability packed their bags and headed down south-to San Antonio, Texas. We attended an annual conference put on by AASHE, which stands for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
There were dozens of events at each hour, some catered to students, some to administrators, and some to both. Some of the sessions were led by our staff members! Each of our attendees visited many sessions on their own, and hope to bring back some of the information and knowledge gained. We wanted to share some of our favorite sessions!
Many of our staff enjoyed discussions related to Sustainability intersecting with other aspects of student life and social issues. “The Diversity panel was really important because it made me realize the green community has a duty to create a sustainable environment through ensuring no one experiences discrimination,” our Communications Coordinator, Jenny, described. “We have a long way to go before the community is inclusive of people from different socio-economic backgrounds can contribute their experiences to foster an united sustainable environment.” Dylan, one of our EcoReps Coordinators, enjoyed a session entitled Social Justice Through a Sustainability Lens. He said “it made a lasting first impression on me. Many people had had really inspiring stories to share and it was very moving.” Kristen, our Programs Coordinator attended the Sustainability and the Arts session and learned a great deal about how different universities used the arts to communicate environmental issues. “It featured panelists from different universities who discussed the ways they used art projects to bring awareness to environmental issues,” she said. “The student panelist from Colgate University described an art project she constructed: a volumetric representation of the amount of carbon dioxide an average person at Colgate emits every two days! I thought this was an awesome way to make an abstract concept more tangible.” (If this sounds interesting to you, consider submitting art to our Zero-Waste Week Art Exhibition!)
Aryn, our Events Coordinator and Edin, our Student Government Liaison, had lots to say about food and waste. Aryn said, “My favorite session was on food service providers and campuses working together to source more local food. . . It’s important for us to have models for using locally-sourced food in university dining as we research and advocate for ways that NYU can support the local food system.” Edin attended a similar session regarding food waste: “I went to a session on reducing waste from outside catering vendors for events on campus. The program was demonstrated by Emory University, and it helped streamline their purchasing system and increase sustainability across all campus events.”
Rae, an EcoReps Coordinator, attended a session called Using Contemplative Practices to Cultivate Resilient Students and Social-Ecological System.“It involved taking reflective moments and being conscious of the materials presented in most day-to-day environmental classes. . . by having these moments of contemplation and reflection, we ideally better sustain ourselves as environmentalists to better do our work.” Feeling equally contemplative and motivated, our other EcoReps Coordinator Nico went to a session called Organizing for Sustainability. “[I] left with a renewed sense of what needed to be done to improve campus sustainability. After several rousing speeches by students of various Universities, the room was energized and itching to create some tangible goals and solutions to the problems we face.”
Sophie, our fantastic programs supervisor, loved hearing from the meaningful speaker, Heather
Hackman at the keynote, “Heather Hackman is a teacher, leader, and expert on social justice and her presentation brought a social justice lens to campus sustainability in a tangible and applicable way,” said Sophie, “It was a great way to close the conference and reflect one last time on the theme of Stronger in Solidarity.”
Our team absolutely loved attending the conference and we are excited to bring the ideas we learned back to NYU’s campus. Our feelings are perfectly put by Sophie: “I’m looking forward to building more and stronger coalitions with our campus partners and determining how we can continue to deepen our commitments to ensuring a more sustainable and just community; at NYU and beyond!”