Perspective: CCNY Coming Back to Its Green Glory
Words by Alfonso Di Rocco
Illustrations by Katie Herchenroeder
Weall love to recycle, but do our plastic bottles ever make it to the recyclingplants? These are questions City college students might ask themselves.
Unknownto many, we at CCNY lack a sustainability department and thus lack dedicated,centralized oversight on issues such as water, recycling, procurement,transportation, and so much more. If you look online you'll notice a great dealof information on CCNY Green, our former office who handled all of these areasvery well- but the information is outdated and halted since their close in2015. Since then, CCNY has struggled to provide comprehensive, cohesive,sustainability planning and oversight. I, and many others, want to change thisproblem.
Tobe successful in this endeavor we need policy changes, awareness, action, andeffort. We need students willing to make change, administrators who are willingto listen to us- like President Boudreau who has time and time again showed hisappreciation for this school and its environmental impact- and we need a unitedCCNY. With each step, we become one step closer to our inevitable goal – and Ican promise you it is not a question of if, but of when.
Revivingsustainability at CCNY will not be an easy feat - but in order to be aprogressive school and contribute to change, we need this revamp to bring backour former glory and ensure our future. Making City College a sustainable andenvironmentally conscious school not only benefits the reputation of the university,but also the integrity of our community, city, and planet. Many schools havehigh standards on sustainability, quite a few have goals of being 100%renewable by 2030. We used to have goals like these - such as our 0% carbonfootprint by 2050. until the departmentwas closed and forgotten.
Oneinstance you may have heard about it is the talk of trash, paper recycling, andplastic recycling bins from the NAC being consolidated into one trash. This wasquite surprising to me to hear from one of our very own faculty, ProfessorVolkmann; as I’m sure is the case for most students. Having a propersustainability department on campus would ensure that these problems couldnever become a reality.
Thankfully,NYPIRG has not forgotten about sustainability or City College. I was given theopportunity to restart the campaign of sustainability here and I am so gratefulto bring this amazing goal into a reality.
Currently,we have multiple clubs on campus, including CCNY Green and the Biologydepartment, that are involved with this campaign - not to mention the CollinPowell School, many interested students at the Spitzer school, and our ongoingsupport from NAC goers, as most of you have seen us on campus and many of youpersonally met me. You know we mean business.
Ourvery own President Boudreau has opened up a pallet garden. CCNY’s very ownpresident is showing a great step towards a renewable future and a beautifulone. We hope to open many more gardens on campus and cooperate with other groupsand gardens to give students opportunities to be apart of this fantasticinitiative.
Weare reaching out to City College administration, alternative funding sources,and also USS for help with reviving the Sustainability Department at CCNY. Citycollege was once a sustainable and respectable campus among the environmentalcommunity; however, since the department close some five or so years ago, itseems we have largely lost that credibility.
Thissemester, we are working to bring a land-based garden to the grounds of CCNY. Ihope that when you see this you do not just see plants, but also see a starttowards a renewable future.
Inthe Fall of 2019 we aim to talk to these influencing offices and seek theirhelp in completing our goal of bringing back a sustainability department andoffice locally here at CCNY, eventually expanding it to all of CUNY.
