Sustainability at Baruch

Reusable bottles given to students on convocation day.

Over the past couple of years, environmentalism and sustainability have become more of a main focus in society. Both local communities and global communities have made pushes towards education on the importance of sustainability as well as creating environmental projects. One local community we are all familiar with is Baruch College.

At Baruch, sustainability is important. The school makes sure to educate all students about its importance and impact on the environment. Incoming freshman are taught about Baruch’s sustainability program the first day of school, during the convocation. This year, students were shown a short video that quickly but thoroughly summarized what sustainability is, why it’s important, and how Baruch supports sustainability programs. The school has several clubs and organizations that focus solely on helping the environment. There is a Baruch College Task Force on Sustainability that wants to, according to the Task Force’s blog page, “create a culture within the Baruch community – students, faculty, and staff – which understands, values, and practices sustainability, and seeks to solve local, regional, and global sustainability challenges.” There is also a Sustainable Business Club. In addition, the school offers a Sustainable Business major and an Environmental Sustainability minor. According to the Baruch College website, the Environmental Sustainability minor develops “a critical understanding of interactions between human society and the broader global ecosystem. The program emphasizes economic, legal, and philosophical issues of environmental sustainability.” Baruch also offers several classes that teach about sustainability such as MGT 3800 Management and Society, MKT 4520 Green Marketing, and MGT 4864/4969 Social Entrepreneurship.

The Baruch College Task Force on Sustainability focuses on various different “Green Initiatives.” According to Task Force’s blog page, the most recent project they have taken a part in is the recycling program. This program aims to make recycling more easy and accessible to everyone at Baruch by having clearly labeled receptacles for paper, bottles and cans, and landfill. Another “Green Initiative” they have taken part in is one focused on making changes to Baruch’s facilities to make them more environmentally friendly. These changes include the recycling and reuse of furniture and carpeting, energy efficient elevators, and eco-friendly cleaning materials.

Sustainability at Baruch. Baruch college implements many different green activities that they do, but theres one that I love the most. Every floor in the vertical campus has recycle bins for specific materials. One for paper, another for landfill and another for bottles and plastic. Baruch even took it a step further. I noticed that none of the classrooms have garbages, at first I wondered why. I have realized that they basically forcing us to put our garbage in the correct places. If they were to have garbages in every room, less people would use the recycle bins. Sustainability at Baruch is remarkably successful.

If we want the concept of “Sustainability” to flourish it can’t just be something that is centered at Baruch. If we recycle everything at Baruch and then as soon as you step out of one of the buildings, everything goes into a trash bin nothing will ever change. The idea of sustainability at Baruch has to be a movement. It has to be a movement, that starts with us and continues with us. And then as we see more and more students at Baruch doing it then we will begin to affect those in the area around us (Flat iron District, Gramercy district) and then finally all of NYC. We need to lead a movement! A movement that starts with Baruch and ends with the rest of the world.

-Jamie Gallagher, Max Cohen, Wilsa Albert, Samuel Shamah

Natural gas pipeline in Colorodo

Studies Say Natural Gas Has Its Own Environmental Problems by Tom Zeller Jr. April 11, 2011

This article talks about the effects of natural gas on the environment. Natural gas has a better effect when burnt and used as oppose to other fossil fuels such as coal and oil. There are many places in the United States that are releasing these natural gases into the air, and we are losing the opportunity to benefit from them. President Obama stated that natural gas is now included in his vision for America.

-Samuel Shamah

Recycling Drop-Off Point in Nantucket

Nudging Recycling From Less Waste to None by Leslie Kaufman October 19, 2009

This article speaks about the importance of recycling on a global scale. The main focus of this article is that we need to create a global movement in order for the idea of recycling to be effective. Now there is technology where the foam cups are made with a compound that literally can just be heated to melt it, and then reused. We see a few major leaders in the race to recycle, however of majority of people do not care about where they throw their garbage. Everyone continuously dumps stuff into the trash but no one wants a landfill near their house or in their community. We have to think logically and create a global movement. How would you feel if every time you threw something away it ended up in a landfill behind your house? We ultimately have to be educated and rewired.The question should never be: “ Should I recycle?” but instead: “How can I recycle?”

-Wilsa Albert

Harapan Rainforest in Indonesia

In Indonesia, Environmentalists See a Disaster in the Making by Sara Schonhardt October 11, 2013

In Aceh, a region in Indonesia, loggers have begun to develop what is supposed to be protected forests and land.  These lands contain “one of the world richest ecosystems” where endangered orangutans, tigers, and elephants live. In addition to protecting endangered species, the forests also helped prevent natural disasters such as landslides. According to the article, local officials have issued unauthorized permits for mining and palm oil plantations “have affected more than 520,000 hectares, or 1.3 million acres, of protected forest in Aceh.” The Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program’s rehabilitation center, which was “built to accommodate about 25 animals, currently has double that number, largely because of the increase in forest clearing.” Government officials say that the protected land is hindering the growth of the local economy. Although the land is protected, Aceh’s governor Zaini Abdullah has proposed a land-use plan, which would turn some of the protected forestland into production forests. The plan is supposed to allow for the local communities to grow but still protect the environment.  

-Jamie Gallagher

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/12/world/asia/in-indonesia-environmentalists-see-a-disaster-in-the-making.html?

Fracking Rig

France Upholds Ban on Hydraulic Fracturing by David Jolly October 11, 2013

This article focuses on the ban in France of hydraulic fracturing, also known colloquially as “fracking,” that was initially passed in 2011 by former President Nicolas Sarkozy. This ban is in the news again because on Friday October 11th, the constitutionality of this ban was brought up to France’s highest court, and was deemed constitutional, and therefore was upheld. The ruling on this ban was beneficial for current French President François Hollande, who, with elections coming up next year, looks to maintain the support of the Greens party. This story relates to our topic of environmentalism and sustainability because France, along with other European countries, are trying to move towards more sustainable means of acquiring resources, which includes moving away from fracking, and, as mentioned in the article, moving away from nuclear power in the was that Germany has.

-Max Cohen