College ‘Green Teams’ Tackle Pressing Environmental and Climate Challenges
Montclair hosts students from 30 universities to partner with communities, companies to solve sustainability concerns
College students from 30 universities are tackling pressing environmental and climate challenges at 十大博彩推荐排名州立大学 this summer as part of the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies’ annual “Green Teams” program. These challenges include inequalities exacerbated by climate change, notably food insecurity in Paterson, flood mitigation in Washington Township, and the impact of replacing natural sports fields with artificial turf in Verona.
“我们想得很远大, 我们考虑的是长远的, 我们考虑的是本地问题,艾米·图宁加说, the institute’s director during the program’s launch on May 30. “We’re thinking through an environmental justice and a social justice lens.”
自2016年以来, the Green Teams program has been a platform for launching students into internships, 绿色就业和研究生项目. Community partners sponsor teams of undergraduates who provide research, analysis and marketing to shift corporate culture. 到目前为止, that has included 290 real-world projects, with 370 students overall assisting 50 local communities, nonprofits and national and global companies advance their sustainability projects.
For corporate and nonprofit partners, this summer’s projects will include creating a plan to influence land-use laws in Northern Jersey as part of an environmental justice initiative, evaluating the effects of greenhouse gasses and aviation and detailing how a hospital could reduce emissions by introducing a fleet of electric vehicles.
A newly funded program will send students to Kansas State 大学 to study agricultural technology to mitigate the food security crisis.
“This is a program about solutions,” said Montclair 总统 Jonathan Koppell during his opening remarks to the students selected for Green Teams, 捐助者, 企业和社区伙伴, parents and 大学 faculty and staff. "通过提出解决方案, you’re showing that all these problems that seem intractable, 这似乎不可能, 看起来没希望了, 都能解决吗?.”
在接下来的11周内, the program will introduce the 50 undergraduates to subject-matter experts, professors and leaders addressing the world’s most difficult challenges, including improving health conditions, 环境和经济风险, and the persisting impacts of climate change.
“Environmental justice has to be at the center of all of the work we do when it comes to environmental topics and issues, 包括气候变化,” said keynote speaker Marccus Hendricks, 大学 of Maryland associate professor of Urban Studies & Environmental Planning and director of the Stormwater Infrastructure Resilience and Justice Lab. “如果不是的话, we do a disservice to the work itself and we’ll never get to where we need to be in terms of curbing the trajectory of global climate change.”
The undergraduates bring a variety of perspectives, coming from 40 different academic programs at colleges throughout the country, including historic Black and Hispanic-serving institutions. Final presentations of their work will take place on August 7.
克里斯蒂安娜禅, Fordham 大学 professor of Fresh Waters, 环保价值与道德, encouraged the students to think about goals they hope to achieve, both for the project they’ve been assigned and for the world they perceive. “What kind of civic and corporate responsibility do you want to encourage?她问.
The Green Teams are supported by corporate foundations and federal sources, 包括PSEG基金会, 星座, 美国国家科学基金会, U.S. Department of Agriculture and NASA. To learn more about Green Teams, visit PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies.
The program is part of a comprehensive summer schedule of learning experiences at 十大博彩推荐排名州立大学. In the coming weeks, hundreds of high school students will learn about college life as part of the Hispanic Student College Institute 和扩展 大学预科暑期课程 (which offers a variety of courses, including animation, acting, cybersecurity, sportscasting, pre-medical professions and Wall Street investing). Additionally, incoming freshmen will get a head start on earning credits through the 夏季桥梁学者计划 and the 教育al Opportunity Fund’s 夏季学院.
特约撰稿人报道 玛丽莲·乔伊斯·莱伦. 摄影:大学摄影师 迈克•彼得斯.
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