the City College of New York Campus Climate Action Plan

Educational, Research and Community 4
Outreach Efforts
While the steps we are taking to reduce the
College’s greenhouse gas emissions are important,
the most significant impact on climate
change we can have as an institution is
through engaging and educating our students
and neighbors, and through the knowledge
being acquired through the solutions and
knowledge generated by our scholars.
The goals that have been set for the areas of
Student Engagement, Research, Curriculum
and Community Outreach are intentionally
established as short term, to be assessed and
renewed as necessary to maintain momentum
during the next decades.
Student Engagement
Student participation and education are essential
for achieving the goals of the climate
action plan and for becoming a “green”
campus. These actions create an important
connection between what they learn in the
classroom and the lab and their impact on
their physical environment.
Student engagement has emerged as a
vibrant source for the implementation of
sustainable ideas and outreach to the college
community. Students have organized
the training incoming freshman in campus
policy and offer them the opportunity to
participate in activities to promote more
widespread awareness of their behaviors:
from their choices in food, to their recycling
habits and their curriculum.
They are having an impact on the resources
used by students. For example, students requested
that library copiers have flash drive
attachments to give the option of scanning
rather than printing textbook reading
excerpts. Students brought forward the idea
of offering the student handbook electronically
as downloadable files to smart phones.
Supporting these efforts to reduce consumption
and waste by students will be several
outreach efforts to increase environmental
awareness and knowledge. These include efforts
to promote greater participation in student
environmental organizations, expanded
support for the annual Earth Day celebration
and an annual survey to assess and track
students’ environmental consciousness.
Goals and Responsible Office:
• Use annual Earth Day celebrations to
educate incoming students about and renew
commitment to the climate action plan
(CCNY Green Task Force)
• Decrease student paper consumption
(Procurement)
• Increase use of reusable water bottles
(AEC vendor stats)
• Improve effectiveness of campus recycling
program (Facilities tracking)
• Increase visibility of campus environmental
clubs and student participation in
them and their activities (Student life and
leadership)
• Engage students in sustainability issues,
assess their awareness of these issues as foundation
for developing module as part of core
undergraduate curriculum (Cross campus/
Environmental Science Consortium)
Research
Fundamental changes are taking place in the
environmental and social sciences as well
as in the world of architectural design and
regional planning. We have embraced our
responsibility to study these problems as
an academic institution and assist in finding
solutions to them. Our faculty members are
providing the necessary leadership on these
issues and forging scholarly partnerships that
capitalize on the interdisciplinary strengths
of CCNY and of CUNY.
Much of the research being conducted at
CCNY relates to sustainability and the environment;
we anticipate this will be an area
of growth. As CUNY’s flagship campus for
science and engineering, CCNY has a strong
base of research relating to sustainability,
the environment and energy. Our campus
is home to several established research
institutes that investigate issues in these disciplines
as listed in Table 4.1. Additionally,
dozens of faculty members have research
interests in these areas and are recognized
scholars.
Expanding research in environmental science,
with a focus on climate change and
remote sensing, and sustainable energy is
a high strategic priority. CCNY’s newly
granted status as a Ph.D.-granting institution
and the construction of the CUNY Science
Research Centers on our campus position
CCNY to compete more vigorously for
new faculty, graduate students and research
funding. A new Assistant Vice President for
Research, who will start in the fall, will support
these efforts.
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