NYU ranked #3 on the Princeton Review’s 2024 Top 50 Green Colleges!

Princeton Guide to Green Colleges Top 50 Logo

NYU ranked #3 on the Princeton Review’s 2024 Top 50 Green Colleges!

This green rating provides a comprehensive measure of “superb sustainability practices, a strong foundation in sustainability education, and a healthy quality of life for students on campus,” and is selected based on “a combination of school-reported data and student opinion,” via both institutional and student surveys.

NYU continues to develop pathways to achieve climate neutrality by 2040. The university has undertaken several projects, including placing solar panels on the rooftop of Bobst Library, achieving LEED certification for 17 buildings, signing the Coolfood Pledge to reduce food-related greenhouse emissions, adding organics bins across multiple dining halls, offering bicycle programs, and offering sustainability-related degrees. 

The Passive House retrofit of the historical Rubin Hall is an example of a current, major sustainability project, which is on schedule to reopen for student living in the fall of 2024. 

Thank you to all our community members who work to support our sustainability goals and strive to make NYU one of the greenest urban campuses!

Eco-Friendly Tips to Make Your Halloween Spooktacularly Sustainable!

Halloween is synonymous with tricks, treats, and ghoulish fun! But lurking behind the shadows is a chilling fact: the monstrous waste produced during this festive season. This is your green Halloween guide to make this holiday both fun and sustainable. 


For Costumes: 

DIY Your Costume Magic! Don’t let those old clothes gather ghostly dust. Dive into your wardrobe and create a nifty costume from scratch and if you’re feeling a little uninspired, there’s always the classic sheet ghost or the countless DIY ideas on the web. 

Costume Swapping Soiree! Arrange a Halloween Costume Swap party with friends. Eat spooky treats, blast some eerie tunes, and exchange costumes from past years. Sometimes it is not just about finding the right outfit but also the memories you will create and carry! 

For Decorations: 

Upcycle & Haunt Your House! Before purchasing new Halloween decorations, see if there are items begging for a second life in your garage or storage rooms. Repurpose used cardboard into creepy wall decorations or craft spiders from old magazines. Pinterest, TikTok, and YouTube are full of upcycled creepy crafts inspirations!

Pumpkins: Go Local or Go Home! Seek local pumpkin patches instead of big retail stores. Not only does it help local farmers, but you also get the freshest pick for your pumpkins. Don’t forget to use the insides to make delicious dishes like pumpkin pie or roasted seeds for friends and family to share. Once the season is over, remember to drop off your pumpkins and gourds for composting, preventing unnecessary waste on Wednesday, November 1st. 

Composting times are the following: 

  • 12:00 pm-2:00 pm at Weinstein’s & Third North’s outside entrances

For Treats: 

For candies, shop for organic, fair-trade Halloween treats and choose options that will give you the most candy for the least amount of waste. You could also consider alternatives like Halloween-themed pencils, mini coloring books, or bookmarks that are relatively low-waste.

The Not-So-Terrifying Treat Bag! Ditch the one-use plastic bags, and instead, reuse a tote for trick-or-treating. Jazz it up with some DIY spooky designs to make it a bewitched bag for the exciting day! 


While Halloween might be about spooks and scares, the environmental impact doesn’t have to be. With these tips, you can celebrate in eco-style and prove that going green can be just as fun, if not more so, than the usual ghostly waste!

Celebrate Biketober 2023

Happy Biketober! Join us for a month-long celebration of biking this fall. Whether you want to join us for a group ride or explore the city by bike on your own time, there are several ways to get riding this fall. 

And, if you’re an avid cyclist, share your #BikeStory with us on our Instagram @nyu_green, email sustainability@nyu.edu, or even comment below! We’re featuring Bike lovers on our Instagram page. Reach out to have your #BikeStory included. 

Stay tuned for more events that will be added throughout the month. 


Office of Sustainability Events:An NYU student learning to ride a bike.

Free Bike Lessons & Used Bike Sale on Friday, October 20th  October 27th*
* Please note that this event has been rescheduled due to rain. The event will now be held on October 27th.

@ Metrotech Walk (outside of 5 MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201)

Biking Accessories Giveaway

  • Enter for a chance to win through October 31st!

External Programming:

Group Rides:

Giveaways:

  • Bike Lights Giveaway
    • Tuesday, October 10th, 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
      • Queensboro Bridge North, Queens
      • Dean St & Hoyt St, Brooklyn
    • Wednesday, October 11th, 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
      • Barclays Center, Brooklyn
    • Monday, October 16th, 4:00 – 7:00 PM
      • St. George Terminal, Staten Island
    • Tuesday, October 17th, 4:00 – 7:00 PM
      • Pelham Parkway Greenway (Williamsbridge Road), Bronx
    • Friday, October 20th, 4:00 – 7:00 PM
      • Van Cortlandt Park Greenway (Golf Course), Bronx
    • Tuesday, October 24th, 4:00 – 7:00 PM
      • 181 Washington Bridge (McNally Plaza), Manhattan
    • Wednesday, October 25th, 4:00 – 7:00 PM
      • 125th St & Riverside Drive Greenway, Manhattan
  • Free Helmet Fitting & Distribution
    • Saturday, October 14th, 11:00 AM – 2:30 PM
      • Sol Bloom Playground (West 91 St & Columbus Ave), Manhattan
    • Sunday, October 15th, 11:00 AM – 2:30 PM
      • Stuyvesant Town Playground 9 (East 18th St & 1st Ave), Manhattan
    • Sunday, October 22nd, 7:00 – 11:00 AM
      • Tour de Bronx (161 St & Grand Concourse), Bronx

Bike Repair Classes:

  • Outdoor Bike Repair Class, Sunday, October 7th, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
    •  La Plaza Community Garden, East 9 St & Ave C, Manhattan

Bike Riding Lessons:

Mandatory Composting is Coming to NYC!

A curbside composting program is expanding across all five boroughs in New York City! This program, which is expected to be enforced for all New York residents in the Spring of 2025, began in Brooklyn this week with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions related to food waste. As the city prepares for our participation in curbside composting, it is important that we understand what to do.


Why should I compost?
When food waste is dumped into landfills, it produces methane, which is one of the biggest contributors to global warming. Reducing methane emissions would have a significant impact on our environment as the IPCC suggests that this gas is responsible for 30-50% of the global temperature increase. Composting reduces landfill waste, which in turn reduces this potent greenhouse gas. And it’s an easy solution to implement in our daily lives as nearly ⅓ of NYC’s residential waste stream is made up of material that can be composted. 

What is curbside composting?
In June 2023, the New York City Council approved a bill that requires New Yorkers to separate their food waste from regular waste, similar to how we do with recyclable items. What this means is that all residential buildings on every block in every borough will have the ability to place their composting curbside in a separate bin on their recycling day for pickup. 

Brooklyn and Queens residents currently have this option, which will come to the Bronx and Staten Island in March 2024 and then to Manhattan in October 2024. Composting will then be enforced in Spring 2025.

How is that different from composting at NYU?
It’s not much different – the City just set a policy that mandates composting rather than having composting continue on a voluntary basis. Here at NYU, we already collect organics at most of NYU’s dining halls, the Kimmel Center, and at Washington Square Village and Silver Towers residential buildings. These bins are marked with a green organics label, and will accept all food and food soiled paper, compostable cups and cutlery, and coffee grounds, filters, and tea bags. These bins will not accept plastics or styrofoam.

As we gear up for the rollout in Manhattan in October 2024 and then enforcement in Spring 2025, NYU will follow this City requirement. 

What will curbside composting accept?
You can place all food scraps, plant waste, and food-soiled paper in any of the city’s curbside composting bins. No need to overthink this – if it’s something that you can eat or grow, you can compost it!

What should not go in the compost bin?
Do not compost anything that should be recycled, like metal, glass, plastic, cartons, and cardboard, or other trash items like wrappers, pet waste, medical waste, diapers, foam, or hygiene products.

Where can I compost before curbside composting is enforced?
In addition to the locations at NYU, the City has installed 400 smart compost bins across the five boroughs. These bright-orange bins are available 24/7, accept the same scraps as curbside composting, and require an app called NYC Compost, which can be downloaded here. This link will also bring you to a full list of drop-off sites across all five boroughs!

How can I store my compost at home?
Compost can be stored in a freezer at home between pickups and dropoffs. DIY compost storing bins can be made of brown paper bags – like the ones from Trader Joes. Compost can be also stored in empty jumbo mayonnaise or peanut butter containers as well as ziplock bags because they are easy to clean and reuse after being emptied in a communal bin.

Critical Voices: A Student Analysis

Portrait of Elizabeth MillerBy Nicki Miller

This analysis was written by Elizabeth (Nicki) Miller (pictured on the right). Nikki holds a Master of Public Administration with a specialization in Policy Analysis from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Connecticut.

 


ERJ Activism in Dominican Republic 

Last fall I attended the virtual Environmental and Racial Justice Network (ERJN) Fall  Summit that focused on Teaching at the Margins by Centering Critical Voices in Environmental and Racial Justice in Academic Teaching and Learning. I attended the summit with the intention to hear and learn more about work regarding environmental and racial justice (ERJ). The summit 

consisted of keynote presentations on ERJ-related topics, followed by facilitated breakout sessions. Though I wish I could have attended all the breakout sessions, the fourth topic on ERJ Activism caught my attention because it related to the Dominican Republic (DR).  

My paternal family is from San Pedro de Macoris – a municipality on the southeastern portion of Hispaniola – so I had a bias towards this session. Like most families in San Pedro, my family’s roots in that area date back to the late 19th to early 20th centuries when former slaves and workers of African Descent migrated from the Lesser Antilles to DR to work in the sugar cane fields and the sugar mills (ingenios). I have always been interested in how my family’s history was intertwined with the sugar cane industry in DR, but for a long time, I thought DR’s larger economy had shifted its dependence away from natural resource extraction. However, the session on ERJ  Activism quickly dispelled that belief.  

Alejandra Torres – a Masiyiwa-Bernstein fellow at the Global Justice Clinic at NYU  School of Law – facilitated the discussion – Extractivism in the Dominican Republic:  Environmental Impacts, Community Drama of Daily Life, Contractual Irregularities, and the  Mining Industry’s Violation of Human, Social, Cultural, Economic, and Environmental rights. 

Research professor and Coordinator of the Dominican Observatory of Public Policies at the  Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (ODPP-UASD – Spanish acronyms), Fernando Peña,  discussed the plight communities surrounded by multinational mining projects face. These mines include Barrick Gold‘s open pit gold mine, CORMIDOM‘s underground gold mine, and  Falcondo’s ferronickel mines in Bonao.  

“The Dominican Republic’s fertile soil and warm tropical climate give birth to bright green vegetation and trees. But for the villages around the mine, shrunken black and moldy fruits dangle  helplessly from barren limbs.” – Jaclynn Ashly, Jacobin  

Professor Peña elaborated on ODPP-UASD’s activism in response to the undeniable impacts mining activities and mining policies have on mulatto, campesino, and impoverished populations and water sources. The impacted communities constantly express their opposition to mining operations that not only have economic or environmental impacts, but physical impacts as well associated with skin lesions, nausea, stomach problems, rashes, high rates of cancer, and miscarriages. The main concerns relate to toxic waste and water reservoirs which make safe drinking water inaccessible. Over 36 water services have disappeared because of the pollution of water activities. There is also a looming fear and threat that mining companies want to transform the island into a huge gold mine which puts the Dominican Republic and Haiti at risk of becoming a desert because of plans for mining in areas with fresh water.  

Professor Peña laid out what steps have been taken or must be taken to address Extractivism in DR. He started with the root issue – the weak management by the government regarding the environment and laws governing mining practices are byproducts of weakened institutions abused by mining monopolies. In response to this ODPP-UASD has worked directly with impacted communities to get a better understanding of their current water crisis and how their rights have been violated. This research includes training community members in reporting violations made by mining companies.  

Secondly, mining activities’ compliance with human rights and environmental considerations must be mandated by the government. This can be advanced through grassroots movements and informing communities. These actions will help enhance the resistance to these projects to protect the island from special threats the mining industry poses (1), raise awareness, and help improve reporting and transparency of mining practices.  

Lastly, ODPP-UASD has developed a permanent intervention in the communities directly affected by the mining companies and their tailings dams, empowering them to push back against the system in which these mines operate in. However, to truly effect change, Professor Peña says these communities and ODPP-UASD need worldwide attention and political solidarity on this issue to urge the Dominican government to implement mandates concerning mining activities.  

It is important to realize that every place with an abundance of natural resources whether in the Caribbean or somewhere else in the world faces a constant tension between ERJ and profit – a central tenant in a capitalistic system. This tension should not result in a zero-sum game where some communities suffer in the long run just in the name of profit and economic growth in the short run. Unfortunately, it does especially in a context without rules, regulations, or safeguards to protect the most vulnerable communities and environments.  

When I was contemplating applying to NYU for graduate school, the rhetoric around  “Making an Impact” drew me to apply and ultimately choose Wagner. Over time I have realized that making an impact, whether domestically or internationally, involves working within a context shaped by historical, social, and environmental circumstances. Because of this context, any conversation revolving around making a positive impact must include a critical component of  environmental and racial justice for two reasons — 

(1) According to Professor Peña these threats include environmental threats, social poverty threats, discrimination threats,  watercourse/reservoir threats, exploitation threats, and racial threats. 

Firstly, to empower members of marginalized and minority groups who have faced the legacies of racism and colonialism.  

Secondly, to ensure that these marginalized groups in any area or country have the same access to activate laws and policies that ensure their safety and mitigate (if not eradicate) environmental damage.  

We cannot talk or learn about making an impact without considering the triple bottom line and all stakeholders involved in policy conversations, locally or abroad. Spaces and forums like ERJN advocate for considering the intersection of social, environmental, and racial justice. I look forward to seeing these considerations incorporated more into Wagner’s and the broader NYU course curriculum.  

For more on mining extraction in DR see below: