After Superstorm Sandy, when most of lower Manhattan was dark, NYU stayed warm and lighted from its cogeneration plant. We learned then the value of building resilience. Combining sustainability with resiliency brings in many more benefits. Insulating and air sealing buildings keeps them warm longer if a power outage occurs in freezing weather. Energy efficient lighting and appliances extend the runtime of generators’ fuel tanks. And reducing our carbon footprint helps mitigate global climate change that makes natural disasters more common to begin with.
I was baffled when I saw the first slide of Professor Zeidan’s presentation: a video about bacteria mutating and spreading through a petri dish of increasing concentrations of antibiotics! What could this possible have to do with sustainability in finance and business? However, as he explained, it became clear that humans need to adapt and become resilient like the mutant bacteria, and take small steps to achieve larger goals in sustainability.Read more
This article is the first in a series on Green Grants: The People Behind the Projects. Below is an interview with Jason Pessel (NYU Stern MBA ’15), who received a Green Grant for his project, Reefill. Reefill is a network of stations that gives members access to cold, filtered tap water throughout NYU’s campus and the greater NYC community. This year, Reefill memberships are free to all NYU students.
Jason Pessel (Stern MBA ’15), Co-founder of Reefill
GG: Where did you get the idea for your Green Grants project?
JP: It started as an idea when I was walking through Manhattan. There’s no water fountains that you can find or anything–they just don’t exist in the middle of Manhattan. So I bought bottled water, and I was with my cousin and he started screaming at me, saying “That’s tap water! What are you doing? You are making all this waste!” So I started researching and realized that like 50% of bottled water is tap water, and disposed water bottles lead to problems with plastic in our oceans. In doing that research, before I was even at NYU, I realized when we buy bottled water, we are just buying tap water–it’s chilled and filtered, and then they are putting a fancy label on it and we are spending a lot of money on it and it is creating all this waste. But tap water is pretty much everywhere, so why couldn’t we find another way to make chilled and filtered tap water on-the-go that’s easier for people to access? So that kind of became the idea.
Step into the world of the mountain gorilla. NYTimes says, “wrenches a startlingly lucid narrative from a sickening web of bribery, corruption and violence.” Read more
Right around the corner of NYU, The New School is hosting a series of phenomenal speaker events open to the general public. Dubbed the Nth Degree, they are bringing in “thinkers, visionaries, and creators” who are making a positive impact on society, from prison reform to ethical business practices to environmental justice. On September 26th, they hosted speakers from the Impact Finance Center in an event titled, “Social Impact Investing for Sustainability.” While not explicitly part of the Nth Degree series, the night shared the same values: how to navigate the real world—the world as it is—and steer it to the right path.
Now, I’ve been a giver for a large part of my life. It’s a character trait/flaw that’s influenced what I study, where I work, how I spend my time, and what I love. Whenever money enters the conversation, I start to feel guilty; I sometimes compensate for that feeling by undercharging people or working overtime for free. Even when I know my clients can afford it, I deflect these conversations. And I imagine that I’m not the only person who does this; we sometimes think that profit somehow cheapens or mis-motivates our work. Read more
