Happy International Kissing Day! We have the perfect #PlasticFreeJuly event that will make you want to kiss plastic goodbye!
Grab your significant other, friends, dog or plant for a plastic documentary movie night. Below, we’ll take you through our top 10 films discussing plastic pollution and how to make PLASTIC FREE POPCORN! Read more
Today, the demand for chocolate continues to rise while the effects of climate change threaten to impact chocolate production. Chocolate is sweet, but what about its environment impact?
Cacao production was predominately in West Africa, however, it has expanded to South America to keep up with the market. Some research suggests that cacao farmers clear tropical forests to plant new cacao trees rather than reusing previously used land, becoming one of the leading causes of deforestation.
A study in 2012 investigated the effects of deforestation and found that their sample cacao plantation could store approximately 40 metric tons of carbon per hectare over its production lifetime! The World Resource Institute did the math and if you apply this to a 2,000 hectare planation–YIKES! The net carbon emissions from land-use change will be 0.6 million metric tons (more than 660,000 tons) of carbon dioxide.
by Cecil Scheib, Assistant Vice President for Sustainability
NYU is aspiring to be among the greenest urban campuses in the nation. And we need your help.
How could you better incorporate sustainability into your learning, teaching, and research? What internships or employee training programs would help you grow? How might we lower our environmental impact from food to energy use? What would you like to see throughout the Global Network? Read more
2017 was a great year for films. We got a million different Marvel movies, another Star Wars and finally a Wonder Woman. Besides blockbusters, some of the best documentaries about sustainability were made by passionate environmentalists like Al Gore. So when it’s family movie time, instead of watching Love Actually for the 10th year in a row, why don’t you try one of these fabulous new docs?
What the Health
The controversial film was released earlier in the year made people consider adopting a vegan lifestyle. The documentarian explored links between a meat- and dairy-heavy diet and serious diseases like obesity and diabetes. Some have argued that they may have stretched the truth. You’ll have to watch for yourself and decide what’s the truth.
2017 has been an exciting year for the Office of Sustainability, check out some of our highlights!
Residence Halls Competed in NYUnplugged
For the second year in a row, Lipton Hall saved the most energy and raised awareness about conserving energy through the NYUnplugged residence hall energy competition. Residence halls put sustainable ideas into action by replacing their lightbulbs with LED, lowering their thermostats, and making delicious smoothies with a bike-powered blender.
We #MarchedForScience
Earth Month includes several interesting programs and activities. In addition to our Educating for Sustainability lecture with waste experts Robin Nagle and Dr. Cassandra Thiel, members of our community held events on meat consumption and food justice, religious perspectives on the environment, and urban ecology. Dr. Jane Goodall spoke at an event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Jane Goodall Institute!
On Earth Day, 150 members of the NYU community, representing the Office of Sustainability, students organizations and activists, and President Andy Hamilton packed a DC-bound bus with beautiful posters and a desire to see evidence-based policy through the March for Science. The day was filled with marching, teach-ins, and an event with former EPA employees.
