Category: Office of Sustainability
NYU Receives Award from the Sustainable Purchasing and Leadership Council
NYU was recognized by the Sustainable Purchasing and Leadership Council (SPLC) with an Outstanding Case Study Award on the NYU IT Sustainability Initiative along with 10 other honored institutions during the 2021 SPLC Leadership Awards.
Students Helping Students Reduce Waste from Move-out
by Patrick Varuzza
Patrick Varuzza (he/him) is a Masters student at NYU Tandon and is building a circular economy startup called Hubbub designed to help other students in NYC. In this blog, Patrick shares resources where you can learn more about consumer waste problems and some background about Hubbub!
Do you recall the movie, WALL-E? It was a PIXAR film that followed a solitary robot on an uninhabitable and deserted Earth, left to clean up garbage. Though fictional, that version of the world seems increasingly realistic as humans are burning through resources so quickly that we’d need 1.5 Earths to sustain our current rate of consumption.
The Season of (Sustainable) Giving
by Lily Kunkel
Lily Kunkel (she/they) is the Waste Education Coordinator at the Office of Sustainability, and an avid gifter. In this blog, Lily shares tips and creative ideas for showing you care, while reducing waste.
With the fall semester coming to an end and the holidays upon us or approaching, the excitement of traditions and celebrations is just around the corner. Part of many people’s holiday season, gift-giving can be a last-minute panic or the big opportunity you’ve been saving for.
Still, many people wish that the holidays were more meaningful and less materialistic. Although “reduce” is the most impactful first strategy, it’s particularly hard to do when holidays carry so much sentimental value – Personally, I love to give and receive gifts!
So here’s some tips and suggestions to make your gift-giving more sustainable without sacrificing the sentiment and excitement.
A More Sustainable Holiday Season
The holiday season inspires many to show gratitude through celebrations, gift giving, and traveling to visit loved ones. Unfortunately, these activities can generate waste and contribute to our growing carbon footprint. In the United States, household waste increases by 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year’s and 33% more food is thrown away. That’s more than 25 million tons of extra waste.
At NYU, we can do our part to change the consumptive-culture around the holidays and reduce our impact.