SUSTAINABILITY ADVOCATE PROGRAM

1. SUSTAINABILITY ADVOCATE PROGRAM Training and Orientation

2. What is Sustainability? • Meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. • Having the ability to recognize and respect nature's limits. • Striving for social, economic and ecological solutions.

3. What does sustainability mean at NYU? Making our offices and classrooms more pleasant for the people who work and study here… …while lessening our impact on the ecological systems that support us

4. Sustainability at NYU: Goals • Create a comfortable environment for staff and students • Improve NYU’s operational performance • Mitigate climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (PlaNYC/2017) • Continue positioning NYU as a leader and model for urban sustainability • Bolster an economy of green jobs and growth • Educate colleagues and students, whose behaviors and life decisions will define the future

5. Advocate Program: Goals Local • Build a sense of community • Enable staff, and faculty to play a direct role in the campus’ sustainability efforts • Generate new ideas Global • Develop research and hone best practices that can be shared globally • Scale up our institutional decisions to solve complex global environmental problems

6. Advocate Program: Responsiblities • Implement ways to green departments • Coordinate with colleagues to continually improve sustainable operations • Serve as a conduit of information and teach others to improve sustainability at every opportunity ACT TRACK EDUCATE

7. Act: Maximize Recycling • Make sure recycling bins are always paired with trash bins and labeled correctly • Ensure all staff have a purple desk side recycling bin. Note: staff members are responsible for emptying their own bins into larger blue bins • Check if technoscrap bin is available and if not place order with FCM x81001 recycling@nyu.edu • Ensure that your office purchases recycled paper (at least 30% recycled content)

8. Act: Optimize Environmental Purchasing • Refer to Environmental Purchasing Guide (www.nyu.edu/sustainability/purchasingguide) when purchasing office supplies • Refer to Asset Management (www.nyu.edu/asset) when your office is moving or upgrading furniture and supplies • Before you purchase office furniture, such as file cabinets, desks, etc., check to see if Asset management have any similar surplus items in stock

9. Act: Conserve Energy + Resources • Ensure that your colleagues all have their computers correctly set up to auto hibernate and print double-sided (check shared computers too) • Remind your colleagues to shut down their computers at the end of each work day • Ensure your colleagues are using power strips for computers, speakers, telephone chargers, etc., and encourage them to shutdown strips at the end of each day • Optimize lighting with CFL bulbs, occupancy sensors in common areas, and turn off lights not in use

10. Act: Reduce Water Use and Packaging • Organize your office to stop purchasing bottled water or to switch from five gallon jugs to filtered water • If your office has regular events, talk to the organizing staff and request alternatives to bottled water like ice tea and water served in pitchers • Report leaky faucets and fixtures to the appropriate facilities staff

11. Act: ImproveAir Quality and Comfort • Ensure your office is not overheated or overcooled • Set manual thermostats to 74°F for cooling and 68°F for heating • If your office is overheated/overcooled, put in a work order request; CC advocate.help@nyu.edu

12. Act: Innovate • Wherever possible ensure that your office is using green cleaning supplies www.goodguide.com is a good resource (Method andSeventhGenerationproductsconsistently get high ratings) • Ifyou have anideaabouthowto make NYU greener, applyfor a Green Grant • Encourageuse of stairsandalternate transport

13. Track: Let us know how you are doing • Log onto the SAP’s interactive website and input details about your implementation • Give us feedback and stay in touch about what is working for you and what resources you would like us to investigate • Identify new and innovative ways to green your department; share these ideas with us

14. Educate: Engage your Colleagues • Email colleagues with info about sustainable office procedures and offer to answer any questions; ask them to share green ideas • Raise environmental issues at a staff meeting • Implement university-wide policies that apply to office operations • Implement changes based on new ideas and new information

15. Educate: Grow the Sustainability Culture • Throw an environmentally friendly party! • Ensure new employees receive training about the recycling system, energy efficiency and other sustainability initiatives. • Make sure that every office area in your department or division has an Advocate • Identify even more ways to green your department

16. Responsibilities: Where to Focus Easy Training and educating colleagues about achievable improvements: ie recycled paper, lights off, recycling, double-sided printing, etc 40% Prioritizing mid-level projects: ie water filter coolers, adjusting temperature set-points, composting 30% 2 – 4 hours per month Learning about environmental problems and solutions in and outside of NYU 20% Raising awareness for long-term projects 10% Hard

17. For more information… http://www.nyu.edu/sustainability/advocates/