Sustainability

Brooklyn Atlantis | Tandon
Brooklyn Atlantis is a citizen science project that monitors the environment of the Gowanus Canal. As part of the project, a robot collects data on the water quality of the canal, which citizens help analyze. Brooklyn Atlantis is a project within the Tandon School of Engineering and receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

College Cohort Program | CAS
As part of the College Cohort Program within the College of Arts and Science (CAS), each year more than 1,400 first-year students help the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation clean and maintain parks and street trees in East New York, Brooklyn, providing nearly 6,000 hours of service.

The Daffodil Project | Office of Grounds Management
Every November, volunteers from around NYU plant thousands of daffodil bulbs as part of the Daffodil Project, organized by New Yorkers for Parks as a living memorial to the events of September 11. The daffodils bloom each spring along Mercer Plaza at 251 Mercer Street and along Bleecker Street between LaGuardia Place and Mercer Street. NYU has been participating in the Daffodil Project since it began in 2001.

FloodzoneData.us | Law and Wagner
FloodzoneData.us, a project created by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, is an interactive map with downloadable data that illustrates which housing structures are located within the US floodplain, allowing US residents and organizations to better understand the risk of flooding in their area. The Furman Center advances research and debate on housing, neighborhoods, and urban policy and is a joint center of the School of Law and the Wagner School of Public Service.

Each year, 1,400 first-year students in CAS’s College Cohort Program complete 6,000 hours of service cleaning and maintaining street trees and parks in Brooklyn.

Green Apple Move Out | Office of Sustainability and Office of Grounds Management
Every year for over a decade, NYU students have donated more than eight tons of gently used, reusable items to the Goodwill Industries of Greater NY and Northern NJ (Goodwill NYNJ), such as books, clothing, shoes, linens, bicycles, and small appliances. Green Apple Move Out is a program of the Office of Sustainability and the Office of Grounds Management.

Green Grants | Office of Sustainability
Since 2007, the Green Grants program has awarded more than 100 grants to improve the University’s operational environmental performance, foster environmental literacy and community engagement, advance applied research and design, and demonstrate the viability of best practices and technologies for sustainability.

Green Space | Office of Grounds Management
NYU maintains urban landscapes in New York City that feature a wide variety of plants, with approximately 61 species of trees. One of these urban landscapes is the Native Woodland Garden in Schwartz Plaza, which is a re-creation of a woodland area that would have existed on Manhattan Island before 1600. The plant list for the Woodland Garden was created in collaboration with the Welikia Project, an organization that aims to uncover the original ecology of New York City.

Marion Nestle Food Studies Collection | NYU Libraries and Steinhardt
With more than 60,000 volumes and pamphlets, the Marion Nestle Food Studies Collection documents the evolution of world cuisines and food practices since the 1600s. The collection is open to researchers working in the field of food studies and adjacent disciplines.

NYU students donate more than 8 tons annually of gently used, reusable items to the Goodwill Industries of Greater NY and Northern NJ.

Sandy Child and Family Health Study | GPH
In collaboration with the State of New Jersey and research-based institutions in NYC, School of Global Public Health (GPH) researchers interviewed 1,000 New Jersey residents who had been in the path of Hurricane Sandy as part of the Sandy Child and Family Health Study. Ultimately, the study helped the state evaluate the impact of Hurricane Sandy on its residents, especially families and children.

Two Birds, One Stone | Center for Student Life
Founded in 2006, Two Birds, One Stone, a student-run club within the Center for Student Life, recovers leftover food from student dining halls and eateries that would have been thrown away. The club collects more than 5,000 pounds of food each year, and delivers it to the New York City Rescue Mission.

Researchers at NYU and other institutions interviewed 1,000 New Jersey residents to determine the impact of Hurricane Sandy.

The Urban Farm Lab | Steinhardt
The Urban Farm Lab is an outdoor classroom dedicated to the study of urban agriculture in New York City. Located at Houston Street and Wooster Street, the Urban Farm Lab is under the leadership of two professors at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. It periodically hosts events that are open to local residents.

Waste_World | Gallatin
Undergraduate students in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study’s Architecture and Urban Design Lab course created Waste_World, a green infrastructure made entirely of compostable paper and plastic coffee cups. The exhibition was intended to raise awareness around the large number of non-compostable cups that go directly to landfills every day in the United States.

Sustainability and the Environment Centers and Institutes | University-wide
Approximately 11 programs at NYU are devoted to the environment and sustainability, funding research on urban life, infrastructure, and sustainable practices in New York City and beyond.