New York University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Students in the NYU Tisch Opera Lab realized that art provides the NYU community with a visual and often emotional perspective of climate change different from the typical technical forms of climate communication. As a result, they developed a collection of four 15-minute operas that depict unlikely heroes as the planet nears the impending cataclysm of human-influenced natural disasters. With support from the Office of Sustainability, The Climate Opera Project premiered for Earth Day 2024 to engage the community with climate optimism and mobilize individuals to spur positive change. 

For over 30 years, NYU Government Affairs has brought a delegation of students to the State Capitol to advocate in support of expanding and enhancing financial aid and higher education funding, known as NYU Albany Day. In Spring 2023, a sustainability-focused advocacy campaign was developed that mirrored that approach and encouraged students to actively participate in the democratic process in order to create long-lasting, positive change. Through social media and postcard writing advocacy efforts NYUers advocated in support of their vision for achieving a more sustainable and just future. Sample postcards and tweets on reducing building emissions, promoting green transportation, minimizing waste, investing in green infrastructure, and creating sustainable food systems were shared. A week-long in-person center and online resource offered the tools for students to understand the problem, learn what NYU is doing, and how they can help.

In Fall 2024, students in the Real Estate Development program offered by NYU’s School of Professional Services worked with NYU’s Office of Sustainability to develop LEED profiles for buildings that have achieved LEED certification, but do not yet have a public profile.

In Professor Katie Schneider Paolantionio’s “New York Underground” course, undergraduate students interested in environmental justice explore the labyrinth of energy, transportation, and water infrastructure beneath the concrete jungle that is New York City. In 2024, students used a handheld infrared camera to visualize the draftiness of buildings–for instance, how much energy is lost from a building using a regular door versus a revolving door. These students had the ability to earn extra credit by writing a letter to the NYU Office of Sustainability with their findings.  

The NYU Food Lab serves as a hands-on classroom for many courses within the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies and across the University. The goal of the NYU Food Lab is to enable students to make sustainable personal food choices. Students will learn the skills to make delicious, nutritious, and responsibly-sourced meals through hands-on explorations of culinary techniques. Students are also challenged to think about current issues pertaining to nutrition and sustainability from both an individual and global perspective. Projects in the lab have included exploring the intersection of allergen-free cooking, minimizing food waste, and designing culturally-appropriate menus for individuals with swallowing disorders. Findings are frequently shared with the NYU Eats team to incorporate best practices in NYU dining halls.

The NYU Urban Farm Lab is an outdoor classroom, research lab, and community farm. It is a collaboration of faculty, staff, and students from the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, NYU Steinhardt, Silver Towers Tenants, University Plaza Nursery School, and NYU Grounds. At the lab, students i) learn basic horticultural knowledge and techniques to grow edible crops, ii) identify and evaluate different agricultural and horticultural designs for specific food-producing goals in an urban environment, iii) explore how larger themes such as entrepreneurship, food justice, culture, and identify are performed within urban agriculture, iv) identify how urban agriculture is connected within the larger urban food system, and v) demonstrate the ability to create an urban agricultural plan.

In Fall 2023, students in a Sustainability 101 course undertook a research project to identify sustainable office supplies based on actual spend data. Students were given data on the Top 50 items purchased within a year and reviewed whether or not the item was sustainable, researched an alternative if not, and provided an analysis of how the product was labeled and advertised on the supplier’s website in terms of its environmental attributes. The findings have been shared to improve and ideally increase green procurement practices.

In Fall 2022, students in Professor Harry Winer’s Undergraduate Film and Television Department courses at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts adhered to The Production Environmental Actions Checklist for Young Filmmakers (PEACHy) to facilitate the sustainable film productions. This effort culminated in a window display that showcased the difference in waste generated on campus between conventional film production and sustainable productions. Through this effort, the students learned that five bags of waste are generated in conventional productions for every one bag of waste from a sustainable production.

The Gallatin WetLab brings the relatively new discipline of art-science to students and the broader public.” When the historic house at 403 Colonels Row, Governors Island (172-acre island in New York Harbor), became available, they knew they’d found their dream laboratory-gallery - a space that would allow for “messy experimentation.” Faculty members use the space to teach Art of the Anthropocene and Anthropocene Narratives. Together, the two classes explore how artists, activists, and scientists think about this era. Already, the WetLab has played host to four unique exhibitions. In each, interdisciplinary student artists work with atypical artistic materials, such as algae, water, mushrooms, and dirt.

A Sustainability Advisory Group, composed of students, faculty, and administrators from major operational units, convenes at least once a semester to aid in the advancement of sustainability across NYU. The current Sustainability Advisory Group for AY24 consists of 1 dean, 4 faculty, 4 students, and 16 administrators.

 In February 2023, environmental students organized a meeting with the NYU Board of Trustees’ Investment Committee, NYU’s Senior Vice President for University Life, and NYU’s Chief Sustainability Officer. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss NYU’s endowment in regards to climate change. As a result of these students’ year-long efforts that culminated in this meeting, the NYU Board of Trustees affirmed that as of February 2023, NYU i) had no direct ownership of public securities of any company whose primary business is the exploration or extraction of fossil fuels, including all forms of coal, oil, and natural gas; ii) commits to avoid any direct investments in any company whose primary business is the exploration or extraction of fossil fuels, including all forms of coal, oil, and natural gas, and not to renew or seek out any dedicated private funds whose primary aim is to invest in the exploration or extraction of fossil fuels; and iii) will continue to seek out investments in comingled funds that would reduce the endowment's indirect exposure to companies whose primary business is the exploration or extraction of fossil fuels, while maintaining the financial health of the endowment.