Author: NYUGreen

Help NYU students support Puerto Rico after María

Contributed by Mónica Rivera-Rosado

We are a group of NYU Environmental Conservation Education Students and Alumni who are spearheading a relief effort to Puerto Rico along with support from NYU’s Department of Teaching and Learning faculty and staff. We are launching this effort to help alleviate the crisis in some of Puerto Rico’s most remote and hard-hit communities, while promoting sustainability and building resilience.

A service member distributes supplies to Puerto Ricans. Courtesy of: media.defense.gov

The aftermath of Hurricane María in Puerto Rico has resulted in loss of power to the entire island, leaving 3.4 million U.S. citizens in the dark, without electric power or drinking water and no effective means of communication. As environmental educators, we recognize the importance of fostering human health, environmental protection, and resiliency. Our relief effort will focus on providing high-need communities with solar charging devices and water purification kits.
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Arts & Science in Action: NYU’s Student Sustainability Project

by Erica Tom

photo courtesy of Robin Nagle

In 2015, New York City announced its goal to reach “Zero Waste” by 2030, meaning the city will send absolutely no waste to landfills. Can you imagine that? This seems like an impossible feat, but what if it isn’t? This summer I had the opportunity to pilot a new class, along with about 16 College of Arts and Science and Liberal Studies students, focused on the very topic of zero waste. This class-internship-hybrid, called “Arts & Science in Action,” delves into the world of zero waste and green infrastructure, specifically at NYU. How could I pass that up? Hailing from San Francisco, arguably the pioneering city in the zero waste movement, I have always been curious to learn how to reduce my carbon footprint. As a psychology major, I wasn’t expecting the class to have any crossover with what I have been studying. Yet, I found that environmental work is rooted in understanding human behavior. To enact change, we must first grasp why it is we do what we do.
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201 7 Sustainability Summit: Best Practices of Urban Environmentalism

by Opheli Garcia Lawler

©NYU Photo Bureau: Creighton

How can one be an environmentally conscious in a city that seems so at odds with nature?  The 2017 Sustainability Summit focused on answering this question by providing speakers, workshops, and and discussion centered around environmentalism in New York City. The Keynote speaker, Erika Lindsey, Senior Policy Advisor for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency, focused her presentation on the historical context of environmentalism in New York, and explained connections between race, poverty, and the negative effects of an urban environment. Perhaps the most compelling part of her presentation was when she connected the dots between poorer neighborhoods and the high levels of pollutants in the air and water in those neighborhoods. Read more

Setting the Stage: Retrospect on Film Screening in Lipton Hall

by Dongeun (Don) Kim

One can get absolutely swamped with what a search engine like Google has to offer at times. But I was lucky with my search for a climate change documentary. It took me only a few clicks to find Before the Flood, and it only took a few more clicks to be convinced that it had to be shared with fellow Lipton Hall residents.

Before the Flood is a climate change documentary distributed by National Geographic, and it features Leonardo DiCaprio’s journey across the world to meet with scientists, activists, and leaders to discuss the impact of climate change and possible solutions.

Before the Flood movie

But as much as I was excited about the documentary, I knew it wouldn’t be enough to attract busy college students to take time out of their day to attend a film screening. In keeping up with the goals of NYUnplugged, I decided to get food from the popular vegan restaurant, byCHLOE. Read more

Eager Environmentalism in a Concrete Jungle: An EcoRep Reflection on NYUnplugged

by Natasha Rubright

The New Jersey Pinelands was the country’s first National Reserve, and my hometown is right on the edge of it. The difference between a National Park and a National Reserve is not necessarily in value, but in use; a Reserve can be used for commercial purposes as long as those purposes are responsible and do not harm the biosphere. This difference is clear to the people in my town. Our elementary schools take trips down roads covered in packed sand to cranberry bogs run by Ocean Spray, not 27 miles from the Jersey Shore. There my classmates and I picked our own cranberries and learned about the pockets of fresh water called aquifers that fill up the bogs. Talk to any third grader at Milton H Allen Elementary School and they’ll be able to tell you about how the ocean used to cover our town and left it covered in sand and blueberry bushes. People call us Pinies; these woods are part of who we are. Read more