NYU is celebrating the 47th anniversary of Earth Day with a month-long program of events, titled “NYU Earth Month 2016.” The month will feature several events focused on eco-friendly activities students, faculty, and staff can partake in, as well as several festivals and fairs to celebrate and promote sustainability. Most events are free and open to the public. The month-long string of events also serves to highlight several green initiatives being implemented at NYU. Earth Month kicked off on Monday, Apr. 4, with a screening of the movie “Catching the Sun” followed by a Q&A session with the film’s director Shalini Kantayya, and a talk on legal, regulatory and market factors impacting the industry and the role of natural gas in the clean energy economy. Other events throughout the month included a panel on the overexploitation of marine species, a talk on endangered species and wildlife trafficking, a panel on climate adaptation planning in the developing world, and screening of movies “Cowspiracy”, “Racing Extinction” and “Divest!” among others. The “iAnimal Virtual Reality” program also provided students with the opportunity to experience the lives of farm animals from their perspective, and the Earth Day Shower Demo, which focused on environmentalism and sustainable water use. The Fair Food Fest, featured on Monday, Apr. 18, was a festival of food-related organizations providing free food and education on urban agriculture and food politics. NYU New York (NYUNY) also joined NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai in the Go Green Week Challenge on Apr. 18, encouraging students at the square to take the pledge to follow a plant-based diet for a week. Then on Friday, Apr. 22, NYU participated in NYC’s one-day initiative “Car Free Day” to raise awareness about public health and street safety, and the impact single passenger car use has in the city. Several roads in Manhattan include many surrounding Washington Square Park were closed for street festivities, during which EarthMatters@NYU hosted their annual Earth Day Street Fair. The fair featured information tables, free food, and giveaways among other Earth Day-themed activities. Events have been scheduled from now until Wednesday, Apr. 27 – a full list of events can be found here and at the end of this post. You can also follow NYU Office of Sustainability’s Sustainablog for updates on Earth Day events and other green initiatives happening at NYUNY and other schools in the Global Network. Earth Week at NYU is sponsored by the Earth Week Planning Committee, the NYU Office of Sustainability, Earth Matters!, the Environmental Studies Department, NYU Program Board, NYU Food Studies, and the Environmental Studies Club. NYU Shanghai also recently celebrated Earth Day with Go Green Week!, which was organized by the student organization Green Shanghai. Students had the opportunity to pledge to being vegetarian, vegan, or raw vegan for the period of one week. The week concluded with the NYU Shanghai Sustainable Development Conference.

This article was written by Lathika Chandra Mouli. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: NYU Green