Committee Leaders
Silas Swanson
SEAS '21 | scs2227
Maria Chart
SEAS '21 | mmc2268
What We Do Living Green @ CU
Living Green is focussed on promoting sustainable living within Columbia University and the Morningside Heights community. Each semester, we organize a number of events according to suggestions from our committee members. In the spring, we host our two flagship events: the Youth Climate Summit and Spring GreenFest. We benefit from working closely with Columbia Housing and partnering with organizations and speakers from the New York City area. Please check out our initiatives to get a more complete picture of our past and current projects. If you have an idea and the drive to see it through, our committee will enable you to make it happen.
Initiatives
Spring Greenfest
Each spring, we bring together dozens of student groups on Low Plaza, the heart of Columbia’s campus, to showcase their sustainable initiatives. This fun, social event includes free food, music, EcoReps’ signature smoothie bike, a variety of activities (organized by the different student groups), and giveaways. It is a great way to bring Columbia’s green community together, and put sustainability at the forefront of our campus consciousness.
the team at greenfest!
roaree on the smoothie bike
Youth Climate Summit
The Youth Climate Summit is a one day conference for high school students from around the NYC area. Our goal is for participants to learn about actionable ways to engage in the climate movement through intimate workshops with experts. The summit concludes with students writing a climate action plan- an outline of a sustainable project that they will implement in their school or community. Students work closely with experts and mentors from Columbia throughout this entire process. Our summit brings in speakers from a variety of sectors, from art to policy to technology and education, so that we can connect with all students present, and teach them how to make a difference in their own way. Our summit is part of an international network of over 70 Youth Climate Summits inspired by the Wild Center, a science museum in upstate New York.
Click here for more information on Columbia's Youth Climate Summit.
Morningside Park Cleanup
In collaboration with Friends of Morningside Park, EcoReps organizes park cleanups. During the first, we filled seven trash bags with litter in just 3 hours! Some of this trash will be used by a Columbia artist to create a sculpture centering around the issue of waste.
Pictures from the 2019 Morningside Park Cleanup :)
Other Initiatives
Beyond the two major events that we host in the spring semester, members of Living Green have great freedom is designing new initiatives and events each semester, all focused on educating members of our campus community on how to live green! We consistently have committee members leading the projects they come up with. Here are some examples of events we have done in just the past two years.
Workshops: Zero Waste Workshop with free zero waste product giveaways, Make Your Own Cosmetics workshop, Pot a Plant workshop.
Campus Engagement: Electric Vehicle Showcase and Panel, Sustainable Cooking Video Series, NYC Thrifting Tour, Sustainable Shopping Guides, and Park Clean-Up.