Tag: Environmental Justice

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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6 green-focused clubs to check out at ClubFest

Feeling overwhelmed about the prospect of having to sort through dozens of clubs’ newsletters? Have a love for the environment?

Luckily, NYU has a thriving eco-community open to all students and faculty that’s easy to join. I’ll sort through all the lists and Facebook groups and give you the best green-focused clubs to join (in no particular order).

  1. EcoReps

EcoReps is a great way to be a leader in your dorm without having go through the hassle of a hall council election. Plan monthly themed events like February’s Unplugged or Zero Waste Month to get residents into recycling and conservation.

I personally love the EcoRep community, you get close with the other EcoReps in your dorm and bond with others as soon as you find out they’re an EcoRep. Read more

What’s In Season? Summer Seasonal Recipes

by Rae Frey

Summer is a wonderful time of year. Besides the warm weather and the beach, one of my favorite things about summer is produce! Summer fruits and vegetables are so vibrant in color and bursting with flavor–not to mention cheap. Money is definitely a huge factor to many students including myself. NYC is expensive enough with school and housing, so buying in-season produce is a double win for
both flavor and my wallet. Don’t believe me? Let’s break it down.   Read more

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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The UN wants us to stop desertification, here’s how we’re gonna do it

Desertification costs around $42 billion per year. You might be asking yourself why are we losing so much money? Whose allowing this to happen? And most of all what is desertification?

Desertification is simply defined by Allan Savory as “a fancy word for land that is turning to a desert.”And when land becomes desert, millions of people are left without food and water, and often forced to flee.

Droughts as a result of climate change and unsustainable farming practices are some of the reasons why 12 million hectares of land are lost each year. We are living in the official United Nations decade for deserts and the fight against desertification (2010-2020). So let’s review the facts. Read more