The measures that the City University of New York has and will take to combat the Enviromental Crisis in New York City
The City University of New York, or CUNY as we know it, is the largest urban university system in the country, comprising of 24 separate institutions. 24 individual, well oiled, machines that through New York State and New York City funding, which burn through various resources. Which, according to the 2012-2013 budget request, amount to about 2.8 billion dollars. In recent years, Mayor Bloomberg, along with executives in CUNY and the Department have taken various steps to ensure that the applications of this budget are green, or are taking steps to become green. These various plans will be outlined in this page, as well as the future of CUNY’s response to events such as superstorm Sandy:
Contents
1. Coping with Disaster
2. “30 in 10” Challenge
3. CUNY Sustainability Task Force
4. Brooklyn College – Ten Year Plan
5. Institute for Sustainable Cities
6. A Perspective from International Universities
7. Citations
Coping With Disaster
The need for Adaptation has become ever more present. Hurricane Sandy, which ravaged New York in late October 2012, proved devastating to the infrastructure of the CUNY system as well.
“30 in 10 Challenge” – The Mayors Office
In 2007, in a cooperative effort between the Mayors Office and University officials, Private and Public universities on NYC set to exceed the goals of PlaNYC by reducing carbon emissions by 30% in 10 years. The challenge was taken on by 9 universities on over 30 different campuses. These universities are:
-Barnard
-Colombia
-Cooper Union
-CUNY
-Fordham
-NYU
-Pratt
-St. John’s
-The New School
In a press release regarding the challenge, Mayor Bloomberg stated the following:
“I want to applaud these universities for accepting our challenge. Universities are really the right group to lead the charge on climate change…They are in the business of shaping the leaders of tomorrow – which means they have a huge stake in the future. These schools own a significant number of buildings throughout the five boroughs. Together, NYU, Columbia, and CUNY alone occupy about 38 million square feet of space – the equivalent of 43 Yankee stadiums, they are helping to make a sizable dent in the City’s overall emissions.”
The Mayor committed $80 Million in 2008 to begin funding the cooperation which will go to the retro-commissioning of buildings, energy audits, and an assessment of operations and maintenance practices. Individual university’s are responsible for all applications and measures taken on their respective campuses, most of which have organized committees to oversee the process. For example, the CUNY Sustainability Task Force.
CUNY Sustainability Task Force
In 2007, Allan Dobrin, Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer of CUNY, organized the Task Force to maintain and ensure adherence to the challenge, and encourage and foster cooperation between the 23 CUNY campuses involved. The task force calls for a University wide change in infrastructure by, according to the CUNY Sustainability Project Website, “integrating sustainability into the curriculum, supporting research and partnering with civic and business leaders to achieve a more Sustainable CUNY/Sustainable New York.”
In partnership with this committee, CUNY has set up the CUNY SustainableWorks Program. The program set up an investment fund and built two facilities to research and develop green technology. The program, with cooperation from students and faculty researchers from 23 Campuses, as well as innovators and entrepreneurs, is pushing for a large scale integration of its technologies into the industry of New York.
CUNY SustainableWorks Locations (cuny.edu)
Over the past 5 years, the Task Force has overseen the the appointment of a President to carry out the individual actions of his or her campus. With student and faculty engagement, each CUNY campus drafted an individual plan to cut their emissions by 30% or more. Since that time, and over the next five years, the Task Force will serve as a “resource” for these campuses, meanwhile, measuring the progress of each individual campus focusing on conservation, preventative maintenance, awareness, and data gathering. The funding for this project comes from a 5 year capitol plan.
Ten Year Plan – Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College’s 10 Year plan is a small part of the much larger, Cuny-wide Sustainability Project. The potential of the project prompted Executive Vice Chancellor and Cief Operating Officer Allan Dobrin to create the CUNY task Force on Sustainability.
There are seven goals set for BC’s 10-Year sustainability plan:
Waste Management and Recycling
This pillar connects the larger aspirations of the sustainability plan with the everyday lives of students and teachers. By creating initiatives designed to reduce the amount of waste produce by CUNY, waste management and recycling can become a crux for campus awareness. Partnering with NYC Dept of Sani and Metro Food Service further promotes plastic and metal recycling and created interconnectedness with other organizations.
Water
Over-consumption and misconsumption seem to be the themes of the pillar of water. By limiting the consumption of water, there will be a lessened weight on the city’s water supply in addition of decreased water refuse.
Energy
1% of NYC’s energy usage is CUNY. Through energy evaluations and carbon-emission assessment, Brooklyn College is looking to how to reorganize energy usage throughout its school to ensure efficiency. Beyond that however, Brooklyn College is also looking to make use of more renewable energy.
Procurement
Procurement remains a hot topic when considering the fiscal impact of sustainable initiatives. Brooklyn College represents that the perspective that going green is going broke is unwarranted and false. Though initial investment may be high, the subsequent savings over time proves to be beneficial and worthy. Also, expanding the objectication of spending forced Brooklyn College to revaluate the value of their purchasing power as an institution.
Food and nutrition
One of the major problems behind sustainable dining is that the majority of food ingredients have to be shipped in or drove in from far places. Brooklyn College is investigating the opportunity of creating more sustainable university food by looking at the purchase of local foods from local farmers. This initiative, beyond decreasing the carbon footprint of the school’s food sources, also helps promote the diversification of agriculture and farms.
Transportation
By considering transportation as a venue through which viable “green” initiatives may be explored, CUNY must acknowledge the indirect carbon emissions it causes by being a place of learning and employment. Brooklyn College does so. In recognizing their role in the carbon footprint of others. Brooklyn College is fighting to promote alternative modes of travel that include carpooling and bicycling.
Outreach and Education
Outreach and Education is perhaps the most important aspect behind any sustainable initiatives because it is through these programs that the passion, fervour, and popular momentive is created that catapults these topics into everyday classrooms and everyday mentality. It is through pedagogy of peace” where everyday actions can help students develop a deeper understanding of the cumulative and interconnected nature of climate change and the environment.
Some of the notable achievements of this program have been:
-5 percent of the college’s food budget is spent on local/organic food,
-10 percent of the college’s energy is derived from renewable sources,
-30 percent of the college grounds are maintained organically, and
-80 percent of the college’s cleaning products are green certified.
The Leonard and Claire Tow Center for Performing Arts will be Brooklyns first LEED-certified building.
The Institute for Sustainable Cities – CUNY
What makes the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities (CISC) unique is that which qualifies it for CUNY, its focus on cities. These urban environments, which most take to be an inherent threat against the utopic thoughts of green living, serves as the fulcrum from which the CISC wishes to not only sources its data but also exact its change. With 50% of the world’s population living in cities, it is reckless and irresponsible to not take the unique potentials of cities into consideration when attempting to reach goals in favour of the environment. The CISC argues, “how do we meet not only the basic needs of this new urban world, but actually surpass them, creating vibrant, sustainable and strong communities?” Their plan incorporates cities as unique spectrums of environmental and ecological data that, when given the above statistic, may prove to be more useful for the future of “green populations.”
The CISC has a set of three programs that are their Core Programs. These interdisciplinary studies, usually done by working groups and groups of scholars, look at three distinct areas where cities and the environment collide: Cities by the Coast, Consumption Cities, and Climate Change and Cities. Though interrelated, the specialisation of these groups allows for more efficient study and analysis of ways by which we may push policies forward in order to achieve changes in cities toward sustainability. Two other projects that are run by the CISC are the City Atlas and the Urban Sustainability Extension Service (USES)
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CSIC Hunter Bike Project; Pushing for the use of emission free transportation (http://www.cunysustainablecities.org/)
Both of these other projects serve as direct connections between the work being done at the institute and other parts of CUNY, students, communities, and abroad. The City Atlas is a guide to creating and fomenting the sort of development we want in this city and is reflected by the participation of the community itself, New Yorkers. The USES is neighbourhood scale initiative currently seeking to develop a model of sustainability in East Harlem. By beginning at this small scale, USES pushes to examine whole cities as parts composed of smaller ecosystems with the potential for restoration and solution.
A Perspective from International Universities
Our Northern Neighbors: University of Toronto
The guiding principles of the University of Toronto’s Environmental Protection Department is to minimize negative impacts of the environment, conserve and use their natural resources and respect and preserve bio diversity through their facilities and services on campus as well as through research and education.
On a small scale they have found ways to employ these goals on campus. In 2011 the university installed a cistern to capture rainwater and use it to irrigate their campus. With effective recycling and composting they achieved one of the highest waste diversion rates in the world: 71.4% Another progressive method the university saves energy is by using Steam Traps which collect condensation and filter out non-condensable gases without letting steam escape. This is an effective way to heat their buildings. 2,134mmBTUs are saved annually using this method. They also have a bike lending service system on campus and a Farmer’s Market that specializes in locally grown, sustainable foods.
On a larger scale, students at the university have done a lot of research concerning the environment and climate change. The most recent article on their webpage is a research study conducted on the effects of pine beetles on climate change. The study found that the infestation of pine beetles in forests make the forest one degree warmer than healthy forests because of the lack of “tree sweat”. Another example of a more innovative project is a mission to turn vegetable into auto parts.
This kind of forward thinking shows how prepared the University of Toronto is to turn on its resourceful and sustainable mojo in the face of a changing climate.
Across the Hemisphere
University of Bern | Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research
The University of Bern has a series of seminar talks and conferences centered on the issue of climate change. Past talks have included “Satellite-based solar irradiance for solar energy applications” and “Reconstruction of the Atlantic deep circulation during the Last Glacial Maximum”. All of these talks are given by professionals in the field in Germany or professors at the university.
The center has a very developed research department that is focused on the effects of climate change on society and the economy. They have careful data concerning the long- term development of climate and adaptive and legal strategies for the world that has to cope with a changing climate. This University produces about 35 thesis statements concerning climate change each year and also has a very extensive graduate program for the climate sciences.
A Living Network: CLIMATE KIC
Created in 2010 by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) this organization is committed to finding solutions to 4 key themes of climate change: managing climate drivers, water management, low carbon cities, and zero carbon production. The network is spread through universities all over Europe, each with their own specific initiative to adapt to climate change.
Climate KIC’s Pathfinder Project Graphic: Assesses market opportunity inorder to analyze potential for future products or services(http://www.climate-kic.org/)
Academic core partners include (* indicates host of Climate-KIC co-location centre):
• ETH Zurich*
• Imperial College London*
• Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK*
• Technische Universität Berlin
• Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
• GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
• Commissariat à l‘énergie atomique et aux energies alternatives CEA*
• l’Institut national de la recherche agronomique INRA
• L’Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines UVSQ
• Delft University of Technology*
• Utrecht University
• Wageningen University
Academic affiliate partners include:
• University of Hamburg
• Technische Universität München
• RWTH Aachen University
• Centre national de la recherche scientifique CNRS
• Ecole Polytechnique
• ParisTech
• Météo-France
• AgroParisTech
• Mines ParisTech
• Universite Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris 6
• Provadis School of International Management and Technology
• Technical University of Darmstadt
• Universidad de Alicante
• Instituto Tecnológico de la Construcción (AIDICO)
• Universitat Politécnica de Valencia
• Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU
• Instituto Valenciano de la Edificación
• Instituto Tecnológico de la Energía
• Wroclawskie Centrum Badan EIT+ sp. z o.o.
• Birmingham City University
• Aston University
• The University of Birmingham
• Rothamsted Research Ltd.
• The University of Reading
• Aberystwyth University
• The University of Warwick
• University of Bologna
• University of Wroclaw
• Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences
• University of Debrecen
• Budapest University of Technology and Economics
• Ecole nationale superieure des Ponts et Chaussees
From the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Germany to The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in Switzerland which specializes in sustainable architecture the network is an effort to bring together young and bright minds in order to come up with sustainable solutions.
Around the World
The United Nations: Current Programmes at Environmental Education and Training, UNEP
The U.N. is committed to supporting a worldwide network committed to sustainability. Examples include: Association of African Universities (AAU), United Nations University (UNU) , and ETH Sustainability (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) They also provide financing for projects dealing with the restructuring of cities to cope with climate change.
Citations
http://www.nyc.gov/ (November 26, 2012)
http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/sustainability/about-us/project.html (November 26, 2012)
http://www.cunysustainablecities.org/ (November 26, 2012)
http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/about/initiatives/initiatives/sustainability/about/plan.php (November 26, 2012)
http://www.climate-kic.org/ (November 26, 2012)
