Meetings

Meeting List Spring 2008

Meeting Notes

Tuesday, September 23

Icebreaker
Plugs for upcoming events. We discussed the free screening of Battle in Seattle and the PowerVote tabling on 9/24, the Energy Policy debate on 9/25, and the SCRC/SEAL Prisoner Protest event on 9/26. We also discussed the environmental benefits of withdrawing one's money from Bank of America, due to the company's dangerous environmental practices.
The committees that needed time to meet broke off and discussed their topics. Other members networked with each other.

Tuesday, September 16

Introduction of the e-board. Maggie, Sam, Molly, Alex, Ashleigh, Yuna, Sarah, and Eliza were introduced to the members, and the Green Team was recognized for their dedication.
Icebreaker
We discussed our upcoming events: a debate among the College Dems, Republicans, and Independents regarding environmental issues (taking place Thursday 9/25), our Week of Service lunch contribution on 10/3, free tickets to the movie Battle in Seattle on 9/24, a collaboration with Alan Weisman in November, and Eliza's Radishes and Rubbish event on 9/20.
We broke off into committees, and took a summary of each after 20 minutes.
We brainstormed ideas for the Post-Apocalyptic Prom, to be held on October 23.

Tuesday, September 8

We introduced our two co-presidents for the new year, Maggie Craig and Sam Caravello.
Maggie and Sam introduced the four new committees and their leaders, which are as follows: Community Service, led by Joe Pedro; Everyday Action, led by Kristin Loria; Power Vote, led by Amanda Hass; and Environmental Justice, led by Eliza Kenigsberg. The four leaders talked about their semester goals for their respective committees.
Sarah and Eliza gave a presentation on "Who's Greening NYU" to show how we are currently making a difference.
All members present separated into one of the four committees, and under the guidance of the leaders, wrote down ideas and hopes on recycled cardboard posters
Tim gave a brief presentation on guerilla gardening.
We had a chance to network and eat delicious food!

Tuesday, April 15

We passed around sign-up sheets for Earth Week events.
We held elections! Here are the officers for next year:
- Co-presidents Maggie Craig and Samantha Caravello
- Vice President Molly Anderson
- Treasurer Ashleigh Lewis
- Secretary Alex Neinast
- PR/Publicity Chair Yuna Park
- Webmaster Sarah Henderson
- Inter-club Liason Eliza Kenigsberg
Tuesday, April 8
- We have ordered bottles for water tabling and are currently working on the logo.
- We will also do tabling for "ask me about the environment," where students will answer questions about climate change and other environmental issues. To work at that table, send an e-mail to Maggie at mec415 at nyu.edu.
- We are looking for people to come by and help out at the street fair on April 22nd from 10:30-2:30.
- We are having e-board elections on April 15th.
- We passed around a slip to sign up for volunteering for the Earth Week concert (April 19th), street fair (April 22nd) and Swap-O-Rama-Rama (April 27th). E-mail nyu.earthmatters at gmail.com to sign up!
- A couple of weeks ago, we spoke to Sarah Boll from NYU recycling, and we just wanted to emphasize that you should e-mail her at sarah.boll at nyu.edu if you hear of any place on campus that does not recycle; she will take care of it.
Tuesday, April 1
- We talked about tabling for water bottles and doing an environmental info booth. We have Monday through Thursday in front of Weinstein during Earth Week (4/21-4/25) and Friday (4/25) from 12-6 in the Kimmel lobby. To sign-up to man the table and answer questions about climate change, contact Maggie at mec415 at nyu.edu.
- April 11th from 2-5:30 will be a "find the tree" game at the University Settlement (this will be an environmental education activity for children).
- The Bare Energy Frolick will be on on April 3rd at noon, starting in Washington Square Park - alert the media and everyone you know.
- We spoke about hosting Power Shift next year. We would host students from all over New York. More details to come at a later date.
Tuesday, March 25
- Dianne and Sarah came from the NYU Recycling Center and gave a short presentation on what they are currently providing and working on, including:
  - They recycle paper, cans/bottles, ink/toner, CDs (technoscrap), plastic bags, batteries.
  - If textbooks are not reused at the bookstore, then they are recycle; moving boxes are also reused.
  - They divert about 30% of NYU's waste from landfills.
  - What can you do?
    - Carry your own water container
    - No take out, delivery, and lessen your laundry
    - Say no to plastic bags and buy local
    - Examine everyday activities, in general: washing dishes, teeth, etc.
    - Energy Usage: change light bulbs to CFLs, turn lights off, use computer hibernation, minimize AC usage, and buy local
Tuesday, March 11
- Stephanie talked about the energy challenge in the dorms and how they are going to be monitoring the energy output of each dorm through the month of April. If you live in a dorm, tell your RAs to post energy tips on the bulletin board on your floor. There will be a party at the end of April for the winning dorm that will be a party in the dark with glow in the dark decorations.
- We went over Earth Week details; so far (these are just some of many Earth Week plans):
  - there will be a 320 foot vegan hero (world's longest) at the street fair;
  - Tim will present our case for a street fair permit to the community board in the upcoming week; and
  - We have Paul Steely-White (executive director of Transportation Alternatives) as a speaker for the environmental dinner.
- We went over water tabling and decided on having Nalgene bottles and getting started on Green Action Heroes, so start taking pictures of people doing "green things" for posting on the website and other places.
- On March 25th, we are having Dianne Anderson come and speak; she is in charge of construction management at NYU and works with recycling water resources and initiatives at NYU.
Tuesday, March 4
- Water discussion: we debated between getting aluminum or nalgene bottles. Also, PLEASE post on the Earth Matters Group facebook wall to start a running factsheet about water use.
- Shaun spoke about his water green grant. He is looking at putting up water bottle fountains and signs to catch peopleís eyes with facts about water use. Is looking for help researching, look for that e-mail with his contact information coming soon.
- Ryan from Urban Design at NYU: They are working on planning a trip to an organization in Costa Rica for Christmas break of next year (December). They also do tours of commercial green buildings in the city. Coming up is a tour of a landfill around the city.
- Amanda Hass-working for recycling department talked about how 90% of the trash that comes out of NYU is compostable.
- March 29th we will be going to work on an orchard near Whole Foods on Bowery, so look out for more about that in an e-mail.
- We might volunteer with Housing Works... maybe we could do a book drive with them?
- We talked about Julie's ìGreen Action Heroesî project, during which we would randomly take pictures of people doing ìgreen thingsî and they would get posted on the website.
Tuesday, February 26
- We watched the "Story of Stuff;" here are some facts from the movie:
  - 80% of original plants in the world are gone
  - 200,000 people a day are moving from environments that can sustain them to cities
  - 4 billion pounds of pollution (toxic chemicals/year by U.S.) and that is what they admit to
  - Revealed something called "planned obsolescence" where companies make stuff break quick enough so the consumer keeps buying or "perceived obsolescence" where companies change the way stuff looks often enough so the consumer thinks they need it, like fashion fads.
- We then worked on a group project to compile what everyone wants to see in the future from EM.
- Harrison brought up working with the Funding Factory for recycling ink cartridges and cell phones in residence halls. We will be obtaining boxes and decorating them for placing in our halls.
Tuesday, February 12
- We shared our opinions about the H2O exhibit at the AMNH that we visited this past weekend.
- We went over some of the Earth Week events we are planning. Further info on getting involved can be found on the Earth Week page.
- We talked about getting mugs or water bottles and having paper insert with facts such as where you can get a discount for bringing your own container and how many cups you are saving.
- We discussed doing a program called Funding Factory. The company will help us earn money by collecting cell phones and ink cartridges in boxes and mailing them back. Hopefully, will be setting this up soon in residence halls.
- For the budget next year we talked about more money for better speakers and money for a TV recycling drive, as they will be going obsolete in 2009 and will need to be properly disposed of.
Tuesday, February 19
Student Energy Action Coalition came and spoke and helped us develop our organizational capacity.
Tuesday, February 5
- Hayley from NY Audubon came to speak to us about the organization's background and some of its work in New York City. She works in the education department, which teaches elementary school kids about birds and gets them out into New York City's environment. Visit our Enviro Ed page for more info.
- We talked about Green Grants and what members of our club are proposing:
  - Molly: ideas for "Sprucing up the Green House", including composting, a green roof, green education library, teachers/speakers and a rainwater harvesting system. If you have any other ideas for it, please e-mail Molly at mea305 at nyu.edu.
  - Shaun: Reducing water bottle use with an emphasis on education. He is working on getting real number values to help people understand the concert and wants to implement water bottle fountains with stats and notes about tap water around it.
- Maggie brought up a possible camping trip idea of going to a community-support agriculture program 1.5 hours away and picking and cooking our own dinner and then camping.
Tuesday, January 29
- Reminder: Green House applications are due
- We talked about ideas for the upcoming semester:
  - Advocacy- to give people ideas on how to live greener, we might create an NYU TV commercial for the TVs in Kimmel and start a podcast.
  - Amanda Hass mentioned an organization she will be working with to engage the youth environmental movement.
  - Work on getting rid of plastic water bottles and handing out resuable bottles. Talked about possibly getting a Green Grant for it for water coolers from the tap and education about the positives of tap water.
  - Planning a trip to the AMNH and a vegan brunch on some Sunday.
  - There is an Energy Challenge in April. It is an energy competition amongst dorms for the entire month that has a live website to show how much energy is being used at that instant for each dorm.
- Reminder: Recycling bins can be retrieved from the recycling center at 7 E. 12th (by the card center)
- Upcoming: Cecil from the Sustainability Task Force will come in to speak in a couple of weeks about what they are working on.
Tuesday, November 27
- We talked about things to do for Earth Week, including: teaching kids about the environment, garden projects, having tote bags instead of t-shirts, bike workshops with Times Up!, clean up parks, plant a tree, earth concert, Swap-o-rama-rama, and the street fair. If you have any more ideas or want to join the GoogleGroup, e-mail Sam at s.caravello at nyu.edu.
- We're thinking of working on a joint grant to apply for NYU Sustainability, not due until March, so ideas are welcome.
- Different ideas for the branches of the Greenhouse were proposed, we're thinking: activism branch, science branch, community service branch, media branch and more.
- We're also looking into hosting people from a biofuel tour, hopefully next semester because we couldn't raise the honorarium in time for this one.
- Some ideas for next semester were proposed, such as hiking, camping and ice skating/brunch.
Tuesday, November 20
Watched "The Day After Tomorrow" and ate pizza at an impromptu pre-Thanksgiving Break meeting.
Tuesday, November 13
Tim from the Rockland County Park Department came and gave a great presenation about the Palisades. He also donated a book on the history of the Palisades to EM (possibly to be giving to the new Green House library?).
Tuesday, November 6
- Organizers of PowerShift spoke about the upcoming event, and almost every school in NYC is going to be there.
- We went over ideas for the Greenhouse: building a roof-garden, remodeling the common room, hosting green-oriented events, having sub-committees on each floor and having a professor affiliate.
- We're starting to plan the 4/26 Eco-concert (although it will now probably be on 4/20). It will be the culmination of Earth Week, at a park, and hopefully co-sponsored by other school's program boards.
- We talked about ice skating this upcoming weekend and showing Bio-Dome in the coming weeks.
Tuesday, October 30
We finalized our plans for the November 3 Step it Up rally, getting together lists of volunteers and costume ideas. We also made signs to use at he event.
Tuesday, October 23
- A possible t-shirt design was discussed for an EM t-shirt, we were hoping pricing would come out to around 5 dollars. EDIT: Price actually came out to $11...
- Gabrielle from Greenmarket (they put on farmers markets all around the city, including the one in Union Square) came to discuss what they do at Greenmarket.
- Gabrielle showed us a quick movie by the Sierra Club called "The True Cost of Food." Watch the movie yourself! A few fun facts from the movie:
  - The cost of meat comes out to $851/lb due to the costs of the thousands of gallons of water/feed and gas needed to fuel the processing and shipping of the meat.
  - 15% of American kids are overweight, and that number will triple in 50 years.
  - 17 times the fuel cost is saved by buying local.
  - Most grocery stores carry local foods; all you have to do is ask.
- We watched "The Rebirth of Farmers Markets in NYC," a video that was made in 1976 by students. The movie showed market-goers' reactions to how great and fresh the products were.
Tuesday, October 16
Those that went to Bear Mountain recapped what they did, including leveling the ground to prepare the building of the Bear Mountain Zoo Amphitheatre and cleaning up "invisible garbage" at highest point in Lower Hudson River Valley. Tim, their enthusiastic guide, is coming to give a speech on what everyone at EM can do to make a difference on November 13th. We discussed ideas for Step It Up, including dressing up ideas, having a mass phone call, and many more. Some possible ideas for future events were also discussed, such as: a Relay for Life team; a possible ski trip; and ice skating.
Tuesday, October 9
Speaker John Shegerian from Electronics Recyclers, a California electronics recycling company, came to talk to us about electronics recycling and other issues pertaining to the environmental movement. John was an inspiring speaker overall, and a great addition to our fall recycling advocacy campaign. After learning about the great harm that is being caused by improperly disposed of electronic waste, EM members expressed interest in having an electronics recycling drive, so we will be looking into that.
Tuesday, October 2
- We discussed ideas for Step It Up!, such as a booth where you can call or mail your federal representatives right from the park, big scrolls that people can sign to send to candidates, and we will be contacting other clubs about putting up tables around Washington square. If you have any more ideas, e-mail earthmatters at nyu.earthmatters at gmail.com
- For our hiking trip, we plan to go to Bear Mountain to spend the night on Saturday, October 13, and then help build their "Bear Mountain Zoo Amphitheatre" on Sunday. The campsite has also been reserved for Friday night, but we will all be taking a train up together and then a van on Saturday, so if you want to go early, you need to find another method of transportation to the campsite. It will altogether cost around $20 (including transportation and food).
- Even though Patricia from the NYU recycling program will not be able to make it out to one of our meetings, Cecil from Sustainability will come talk...and he even founded his own ecovillage!
- We discussed the second POM recycling event (it happened Wednesday, October 3rd), and POM offered to donate $700 to EarthMatters for working with them on the event. We are currently deciding how to use the money, and we are trying to come up with a design for an EM t-shirt, so if you are good at art, draw up a design and bring it to the next meeting or send it to our e-mail.
- We are now thinkin about planning a big December event; possible ideas include getting a school-wide speaker to come and lecture or a fundraiser with bands, like an "eco-concert". Send any ideas to our gmail account, or bring them to the next meeting!
Tuesday, September 25
- Chris from Solar One came and spoke to us about an annual campaign they are helping set up in Washington Square Park, Step It Up 2007. This year, around election day, they plan on holding a gathering that will involve showcasing politicians who have agreed to support reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 and to have a moratorium on building coal-burning plants (and seriously pressuring those who haven't yet agreed to this). EM is definitely going to get involved with planning this event, and we'll follow up with contact and meeting info as it becomes available. In the mean time, check out the Step It Up website.
- We discussed the POM event last Wednesday and Thursday and how successful it was on getting recycling on NYUer's minds. We recycled over 2000 bottles (176 lbs) and 84 lbs of cardboard, making NYU POM's most successful drive participant school! They want to come back next week, and this time around EM will be more in charge and really use the opportunity to get more information out there about recycling (magnets, recycling info sheets, etc.)
- Last week, when we split into committees, the recycling group suggested a petition that we could have students sign about getting recycling bins on every floor in those dorms without them (and possibly have it at the POM event). We are also looking into selling tote bags and cups, there are now tote bags made of corn that are an option.
- One EM member, Amanda Hass, mentioned an event she was helping plan, Power Shift, an environmental conference for change in MD, check out the website if you're interested. Amanda's contact info is coming soon!
- We set a possible date for the hike, October 17th, and discussed making it a camping trip. We will decide on a location date for next week, so bring ideas!
- E-board members Sam and Alex will be leading a team of volunteers to start an environment club at an elementary school on the Lower East Side. Get involved by e-mailing Sam at s.caravello at nyu.edu or Alex at alexnein at nyu.edu.
Tuesday, September 18
We kicked off the meeting with a representative from Rainforest Action Network, who spoke about their current activism campaigns and the possibility of collaborating wiht EM at some point later this fall. Everyone really enjoyed the presentation and discussion. We then broke down into committees to get started on planning events and campaigns for this year!
Monday, September 10
We had an extremely successful first meeting, with lots of discussion about our fall recycling campaign, as well as new advocacy campaign suggestions focused on everywhere from the NYU campus to the nationwide climate change debate to the oil industry in Africa! We also talked about possible hiking trips, movie screenings, and guest speakers. Hopefully we'll get the Enviro Ed program off the ground this semester as well. Best of all, we had such an incredible turnout that we couldn't even fit in the room (and we had an equally incredible amount of FREE food...). Next week, we hope to break into committees and start outlining strategies so we can make this year amazing!