Author: NYUGreen

10 Actions For a VIRTUAL Earth Month

virtual earth month 2020

As we practice social distancing and find ways to reach out and check in with our neighbors, we are being called to consider how our actions affect the most vulnerable among us; is that not the very same collective action the climate crisis demands?

To that end, recent reports have examined how social distancing due to the spread of the coronavirus may have unexpected consequences for climate change. Many of the actions people are taking during this time from reducing air travel to consuming less could significantly reduce one’s carbon footprint.

Though in-person gatherings in honor of Earth Day at 50 have been cancelled or postponed, there are still ways to mark this occasion even in self-isolation. Here are 10 things you can start doing during this unique moment to stay healthy and safe while honoring the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and committing to a more sustainable life now and into the future. Read more

Announcing the February 2020 Green Grant Recipients

The following projects have been awarded a Green Grant from the Office of Sustainability. 

Environmental & Climate Justice Curriculum

Project co-leader: Kiersten Blake, ‘20 (Liberal Studies) and Alexia Leclercq, ‘20 (Gallatin)

This project seeks to build up the knowledge base of youth using a city/state/national politics lens to view, discuss, and address issues as they pertain to the students’ environment and community in the Bronx and Harlem. The lessons will include both teacher-led instructional learning and project-based learning through hands-on activities, field trips that will supplement lessons, and guest speakers who will share their expertise.

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Green Grant Update: Air Quality Monitoring

by Caspar Lant

This past summer, I flew to NYU’s Shanghai campus for two weeks. This was the culmination of a nearly two-year long project to develop a prototype of a low-cost air quality monitoring network. Ironically, the project both culminated and originated at NYU Shanghai. A few years back, I did a study abroad there. I was in the Cafeteria and started chatting with a fellow student about some circuit diagrams I had seen over her shoulder. She told me they were for an independent study class she was taking with a visiting professor (Kevin Cromar, now my advisor on the Green Grant project). As she explained it, the diagram was an existing design for an air quality monitor, which over the course of the semester she would be building from the ground-up with the rest of the class. I rushed to the professor’s office to ask if I could take the course as well.  Luckily, even though it was a week after the enrollment deadline, he obliged! Read more

Green Grant Update: Sustainability in Tisch Film Productions

Sustainability in Tisch Film Productions was focused on discovering and creating a guide for Tisch Film students to use to make their film sets sustainable. As the Executive Producer of Mary and the Mob, an Advanced Television Pilot that was filmed in the Fall of 2018, it was my goal along with Bradley Sachs, the Sustainability Supervisor and Vanneeda Keowmang, the Sustainability Producer, to create a fully sustainable set. The end objective was to not only create our own sustainable set, but to create a documentary and guide that provided students with an easy-to-follow outline on how to make their own sets sustainable. Before encountering this project, we found that there was no guide for a set of our scale as larger scale sets in the industry are slowly implementing the practices themselves.  Read more

#GreenAbroad: NYU Berlin

In response to student organizing and a demand for more sustainable infrastructure, NYU Berlin began implementing a multi-phase action plan to ‘green’ their campus in 2011 . NYU Berlin hosts plastic-free and zero-waste events, providing organic, locally sourced food and increasing their plant-based and meat free options. Off campus, NYU Berlin only utilizes trains and buses for student travel, hosting travel workshops every semester to encourage students to visit more train-accessible locations. NYU Berlin makes the program accessible to the community by inviting refugees and local high school and college students to join their day trips and extracurricular activities. In addition to reducing their carbon footprint, these trips allows students to deepen their cultural understanding, and fully appreciate Berlin’s diverse communities and perspectives.

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