New York University
EN-3: Student Life

NYU currently has more than a dozen active student organizations directly involved in sustainability issues. The oldest, Earth Matters (established 1989) is described below.

Earth Matters is the premier outreach club at NYU dedicated to issues of the environment and sustainability. They blend events on campus or workshops in the community with activist campaigns in coordination with national organizations. The group is open to all and everyone is welcome to attend meetings.

CLUBS

• EarthMatters - NYU's premier campus-wide environmental club (see above)

• Citizens Climate Lobby - educating students on campaigning for climate-related policies

• Animal Welfare Collective - bring awareness to and advocating for animal rights

• Community Agriculture Project - educating on urban agriculture and tending to the community garden in Washington Square Village

• Oxfam America at NYU - raising awareness of sustainable solutions to poverty, hunger, and global inequality

• Share Meals at NYU - eliminating food insecurity and social isolation at NYU

• SproutUp - providing free, youth-led environmental education program to 1st and 2nd grade students in NYC

• Stern Net Impact - a mission-driven community of students passionate about using their business background to generate positive social change

• Two Birds One Stone - delivering hot, edible food that is leftover from NYU dining halls to homeless shelters around NYC

• Decarbonize NYU - a sub-campaign of NYU Divest working to align NYU’s climate mitigation initiatives with the imperatives of Climate and Environmental Justice, and to extend NYU’s ambition beyond emissions reductions towards the just transition to 100% renewable energy

• New York Water Environment Association (NYWEA) - NYWEA is an organization of water quality professionals founded in 1929 to serve the public interest by promoting sustainable water quality management through science, education, and training

• Nutrition Without Borders - a student-led organization dedicated to multidisciplinary involvement in domestic and global nutrition issues

• Alliance for Environmental and Social Justice - focusing on the exploration of social and environmental issues such as public health and well being, development, sustainability, politics, rights, social justice, environmental justice, and social movements.

• NYU Anthropozine - curate and publish works online that align with a sustainable, forward-thinking environmental theme that can inspire the NYU community

• CHEFS for School - enrich the lives of people in the NYC and NYU community by offering nutrition education and instructions for affordable, healthy meal preparation, while spreading awareness about food access inequalities and environmentally-conscious food choices.

• Future Fashion Group - Dedicated to raising awareness of the social and environmental consequences of textile manufacturing by producing pop-ups, panels, documentary screenings, gatherings, and in house publication FFZINE. 

• Greener By Default - coalition of campus organizations in pursuit of more sustainable, inclusive, and compassionate food access across New York University's campus.

• Renewable Energy Club - Empower the next generation of clean energy and climate leaders at NYU

• Sunrise NYU - Sunrise NYU focuses on connecting NYU students to NYC-wide social and climate justice actions and fighting for environmental justice within NYU

• Climate Reality Project -  focused on climate change education and advocating for climate solutions, particularly in terms of an energy transition

SCHOOL-SPECIFIC STUDENT GROUPS

• Environmental Law Society - for NYU Law students interested in protecting the environment, exploring nature, promoting environmental justice, pursuing environmental law and more

• Gallatin Greening Committee - convening Gallatin students and faculty interested in supporting sustainability initiatives at Gallatin School of Individualized Study

• Stern Social Impact & Sustainability Association - NYU Stern School of Business MBA students dedicated to using the power of business to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world.

• Tandon Sustainability Solutions Committee (part of Tandon's Undergraduate Student Council)

• Wagner Alliance for Climate Change and Environment - NYU community members advocating for the inclusion of emerging issues in key courses and curricula at Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service 

• Wagner Food Policy Alliance - (WFPA) is a coalition of individuals and organizations across the NYU community who are working towards a just and sustainable food system

• Environmental Law Journal - Interested in furthering scholarship in the evolving field of environmental law, one of the leading environmental law journals in the nation.

• Gallatin Alliance for Environmental Action - Aims to gather Gallatin students interested in environmental sustainability in participating in campus sustainability activities.

https://www.nyu.edu/life/sustainability/action/student-organizations.html

NYU has several ways for students to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems. The primary way is through the Community Agriculture Club. This is a student run club that is focused on learning the theory and practice of urban agriculture. The club grows seasonal fruits and vegetables in cold-frames in Washington Square Village and hosts agriculture related events, including talks, sustainable cooking parties, community service days, film screenings and more

Students can also get involved via the Urban Farm Lab which is the first urban agriculture project in the City of New York on a Landmarked site. The Lab is run by the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development's Food Studies program and the Silver Towers Tenants Association (NYU Faculty Housing). The Lab was originally funded by an NYU Office of Sustainability Green Grant. The Lab grows food in a series of small, intensive cold frame boxes on a lawn near the Washington Square Village Apartments.

https://meet.nyu.edu/life/club-spotlight-community-agriculture/

https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/departments/nutrition-and-food-studies/department-labs/nyu-urban-farm-lab

Two Birds One Stone is a student-run enterprise that collects food waste from NYU dining halls and brings it to a local homeless shelter. The goals of the initiative are to:

- Reduce the amount of food that is wasted each night at NYU dining halls and redistribute this food so that the hungry and homeless populations may access healthy, nutritious meals.
- Raise the awareness with NYU dining hall staff and management as to the amount of excess food that is prepared each night so that measures may be put in place to limit the amount of food that goes to waste.
- Facilitate community involvement and empower students to take action against food injustice, environmental degradation and poverty.
- Educate the NYU community on food, poverty and environmental issues.
- Foster the sense that NYU is truly “in and of the city” by building partnership and ties to New York City community based organizations and populations.

SproutUp NYU is a student-led organisation that focuses on primary school environmental and sustainability education. It endeavours to promote such with activities such as:

• Providing education to first and second grade students in the NYC area through engaging with programming in schools

• Involve educators and school administrators in creating and spreading sustainability-based curricula,

• Providing opportunities for NYU students to participate in the community through sustainability-oriented volunteering, both in and out of school settings

• Hosting and running various sustainability-themed events around the city to engage the wider community

The Renewable Energy Club is an emerging student-run organization that aims to  support the next generation of talent in the renewable energy and clean energy spaces within the NYU community. This includes activities such as:

• Connecting students with opportunities in the renewable energy industry through mentorship and networking opportunities,

• Fostering discussion within the NYU community about energy sources, developments in clean energy, and the energy transition through panels, roundtables, and other community endeavours,

• Engaging with clean energy through a multifaceted lens to promote environmental, social, and economic development through renewable energy efforts,

• Broadening access to energy education within the NYU community and the wider community

https://www.nyu.edu/life/sustainability/action/student-organizations.html

The Leonard N. Stern School of Business offers the following social impact initiatives to help students develop socially, environmentally, and fiscally responsible skills.

Experiential Learning Seminar: Social Impact Consulting
This course provides Stern undergraduate students with an opportunity to apply lessons learned in the Social Impact Core Curriculum. It is structured as an experiential learning laboratory involving consulting-based projects and collaboration among students, faculty and nonprofit organizations.

Social Solutions Project Lab
The Social Solutions Project Lab provides a small group of freshmen who have an interest in social entrepreneurship with an opportunity to research and develop business ideas that can create triple-bottom line value. It augments the Social Impact Core and is one of two opportunities available to Stern freshmen who are enrolled in Business and Society.

Social Impact Curriculum

The Social Impact Curriculum is a four-course sequence beginning in a student’s first year with the Business and Society course, which combines lectures with small group discussion sections to introduce you to the interconnections between business, society, markets, politics, art, culture, and life. n addition, students may complete a series of courses to fulfill a secondary concentration in Sustainable Business. Students pursuing the co-concentration will gain a greater understanding of: the environmental and social challenges that are shaping business strategy, the current state of sustainable business practice, and how to lead organizations that create economic, social and environmental value

NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business

The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business (CSB) was founded on the principle that sustainable business is good business, and is proving the value of sustainability for business management and performance at a time when people and the planet need it most. CSB aims to help future and current business leaders embrace proactive and innovative mainstreaming of sustainability, resulting in competitive advantage and resiliency for their companies as well as a positive impact for society.

https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/about/departments-centers-initiatives/centers-of-research/center-sustainable-business/about-csb 

NYU's Office of Sustainability convenes programming across the University for New York Climate Week in September and Earth Month in April. Both of these initiatives feature conferences, speaker events, and panel discussions. See below for examples of recent events.

Climate Week 2024:

• NYU CIEH Plastics and Human Health Symposium: The NYU Langone Health Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards (CIEH) kicked off Climate Week NYC with a two-day in-person scientific symposium on Plastics and Human Health at NYU. The second day had a heavy translational emphasis and an eye toward the Global Plastics Treaty.

• Mass Transit and Climate Change: Transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for about 28% of the U.S. total. Of that, public transportation contributes little, but it plays a critical role in enabling mode shift. With excessive flooding and extreme heat on the rise, climate change is challenging our transportation networks. The NYU Rudin Center for Transportation presented an expert panel to discuss strategies that will enable our transit system to adapt and expand.

• NYU Stern and Law Student Real Estate Conference: Powering the Future: The symposium explored various facets of electrical power by engaging diverse stakeholders such as government policymakers, utility distributors, developers, and investors.

Earth Month 2024:

• Urban High-Technology Zones with Ahoura Zandiatashbar: NYU CUSP hosted its annual Research Seminar Series, featuring leading voices in the growing field of urban informatics. The seminars examined real-world challenges facing cities and urban environments around the world.

• Middle East, Law, & Practice: NYU Law School’s Middle Eastern and North African Law Students Association hosted its inaugural spring conference: Middle East, Law, and Practice, which featured a session focused on environmental law in the Middle East.

• Environmental and Racial Justice Network (ERJN) Spring Summit: The ERJN Spring Summit invited the NYU community to hear from Jasmine Davenport, the Senior Advisor for Climate Justice at the EPA, and Dr. Robert Bullard who is credited as being the ‘Father of Environmental Justice’. There were a series of panels and discussions around environmental racism and how to push forward positive change and social transformation.

https://www.nyu.edu/life/sustainability/programs/climate-week-at-nyu.html

https://www.nyu.edu/life/sustainability/programs/earth-month/calendar-of-events.html 

• The Climate Opera Project is a collection of four 15-minute operas for Earth Day 2024 that depict unlikely heroes as the planet nears the impending cataclysm of human-influenced natural disasters. From a vengeful polar bear watching its habitat disappear to a water-stealing cactus, The Climate Opera Project tackles the climate crisis with humor and hope. 

• The Discard Studies Festival featured innovative new films in Discard Studies exploring the interconnections between waste and value. Ranging from student shorts to award-winning documentary features, the showcased films creatively explore a range of themes including the politics of waste labor, Anthropocenic environments, urban landscapes of disposal, and geographies of disposability. Panel discussions will bring together filmmakers, scholars, practitioners, and students to raise awareness and foster activism.

• The 2040 Now Film Competition: As part of 2040 Now, NYU, in partnership with the Green Film School Alliance (GFSA), and with additional support from Paramount Pictures and New York WILD Film Festival, hosted an inaugural film competition to encourage filmmakers to use film and ingenuity to create stories that combat climate despair by inspiring us to take action.

https://events.nyu.edu/event/333456-the-climate-opera-project

https://events.nyu.edu/event/334254-discard-studies-film-festival

https://www.nyu.edu/about/university-initiatives/2040-now/participate/film.html 

• Women’s Intensive Leadership Development Program Hiking Excursions: The Women’s Intensive Leadership Development Program, also called the WILD Program, offers wilderness hikes for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and other NYU schools and colleges to develop leadership and team-building skills. Each year, early-career women scientists who participate in the WILD Program form teams and choose one of three different hiking excursions on the Northville Placid Trail, a 143-mile foot trail in Adirondack Park in northern New York state.

• Stern Adventures: Stern Adventures connects members of the community who are drawn to exploring New York City and the great outdoors. Members of Stern Adventures have access to events such as ski trips, group hikes, and kayaking excursions

https://med.nyu.edu/research/postdoctoral-affairs/professional-development/wild-program/wild-hiking-excursions

https://nyustern.campusgroups.com/adventures/home/# 

NYU Reads brings the NYU community together around a single common reading, chosen by a University committee made up of faculty, student, and administrator representatives. Building on our undergraduate schools’ first-year reading programs, NYU Reads extends this dialogue beyond NYU Welcome and opens it up to the entire University community. In the 2021-2022 academic year, NYU chose Braiding Sweetgrass as the NYU Reads book: 

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants is a nonfiction book written by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Published in 2013, Braiding Sweetgrass explores how both scientific and Indigenous knowledge can shape the ways we perceive the environment. In an effort to bring awareness of themes such as sustainability, climate change and Native American history, Kimmerer recounts her experiences and knowledge from the lens of an Indigenous woman and Botanist.

In April 2023, NYU hosted 2040 Now, a weeklong University-wide program to galvanize climate action around NYU’s goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2040. Throughout the week, the NYU community explored how to challenge climate change through more than 70 events and including exhibitions, competitions, and much more held across numerous schools and units. 

https://guides.nyu.edu/nyu-reads/braiding-sweetgrass

https://www.nyu.edu/about/university-initiatives/2040-now.html 

NYU offers two floors of sustainability-themed housing:

First-year Residence College: The Big City, Small Footprint House focuses on natural science, the environment, and climate change. Residents within this community are passionate about living in a space that centers its discussion about the natural world, specifically unification, collaboration, social justice, and sustainability.

Upperclassmen Exploration Community: The Sustainable Living Community looks well beyond reduce, reuse, recycle, and consider sustainability in terms of the environment, social and political movements, economic philosophies, and self-exploration. Potential opportunities for engagement include documentaries and discussions about sustainability, a sustainable food panel, an East Village community gardens tour, a trip to the farmer’s market, a bike repair workshop, and more.

https://www.nyu.edu/students/student-information-and-resources/housing-and-dining/on-campus-living/the-on-campus-experience/the-residential-college.html

NYU's Office of Sustainability employs 4 student employees every year across two roles. The Engagement Coordinators are responsible for coordinating opportunities for students to learn more about and get involved in sustainability programs, events, and groups at NYU. This role liaises with student clubs and organizations, helps plan events and programs, and oversees communications with students. The Communications Coordinators oversee the Office of Sustainability's digital communications and social media accounts. Working closely with the full-time staff and student employee team, this role strategizes and creates content for upcoming initiatives and events through social media, the office blog, and the monthly newsletter.

https://www.nyu.edu/life/sustainability/action/student-employment-.html

The 2040 Now Climate Action Pledge outlines specific, achievable, but highly effective steps toward sustainability. Each action is listed with resources to support students in taking the pledge.

https://www.nyu.edu/about/university-initiatives/2040-now/climate-action-pledge.html