As world leaders prepare for Rio+20, the Global Environmental Summit, in New York City future leaders met in Professor Shagun Mehrotra’s Climate Change and Cities class to explore risks and responses in global cities—Dakar, Delhi, London, Melbourne, São Paulo, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Toronto. Click on the cities to listen to podcasts of the work presented at the [...]
The Food Movement and Social Change
By Annie Moss In this commentary, Annie considers what today’s growing “food movement” actually represents. Anyone with a finger on the cultural pulse of the United States can sense that there’s something happening around food. And to foodie insiders and outsiders alike, it is becoming less and less radical to implicate oneself as a part [...]
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Report on Recycling in Beirut
By Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli We discard waste without realizing the value that it holds, often unconsciously having an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality. While in Beirut, Lebanon, this summer with the New School’s International Field Program, I helped to reverse this mentality by developing a zero-waste program for Tawlet, a restaurant bordering the downtown [...]
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Big Win for Empowerhouse in Solar Decathlon Competition
Congratulations to the Empowerhouse team for recently taking top honors in the Affordability Category in the 2011 Solar Decathlon, a biennial international competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The competition brought together an interdisciplinary dream team of students and faculty from Parsons The New School for Design, Milano School of International Affairs, Management [...]
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Field Trip! Recycling at the New School
By Alison Schuettinger Earlier this semester, I accompanied Gwen Kilvert and Josh Cohen on a field visit to Action Carting and Royals Waste recycling sites. Action Carting is currently the school’s landfill, recycling and composting company. Because the New School doesn’t own many of its buildings, we also share our waste with the city and [...]
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VIDEO: Cities Respond to Climate Change Book Launch
On October 21, we celebrated the New York book launch of Climate Change and Cities: First Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network, co-edited by EPSM’s own Assistant Professor Shagun Mehrotra. Shagun was joined by all of his co-editors, Cynthia Rosenzweig, of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Sciences, CUNY’s William D. Solecki, [...]
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Empowerhouse Collaborative: How a State-of-the-Art Energy-Efficient Home Can Be a Model for Affordable Housing
The U.S. Department of Energy sponsors the biannual Solar Decathlon in which school teams compete to build state-of-the-art solar-powered houses. In Oct. 2011, “The Empowerhouse” won first place in the Affordability Category in the competition held on the National Mall in Washington, DC. In this special guest post, members of the “Empowerhouse Collaborative” share the financial analysis [...]
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Prof. Nevin Cohen Guest Blogs on the NYTIMES on NYC’s Green Infrastructure
Nevin Cohen, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at the New School, and Kubi Ackerman, of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, recently co-authored an opinion piece for Mark Bittman’s blog in The New York Times on green infrastructure in NYC. If you missed the piece, check it out here!
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Bangkok: Living with Floods
by James Mannarino Since mid-October, monsoons have caused the worst flooding in Bangkok in over 50 years. As much as 4 million acres are inundated and nearly 500 people have died as a direct result of these events. Thailand’s economy has also suffered—the total [...]
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Climate Risks and Responses in Global Cities
As world leaders meet in Durban for COP17 climate talks, in New York City future leaders met in Professor Shagun Mehrotra’s Climate Change and Cities class to explore risks and responses in global cities—Dakar, Delhi, London, Melbourne, São Paulo, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Toronto. Urban climate resilience was analyzed in transportation, energy, and water sectors of [...]
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Melbourne: Adapt to Climate Change Through Telecommuting
By Michael McClenathan Although the central city has a residential population just under 100,000 people, over 771,000 people access the City of Melbourne every weekday, and that number is expected to grow to over one million by 2020 (City of Melbourne, 2009, p. 32). Most visitors come from Melbourne’s surrounding metropolitan area, from which 46% access [...]
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Melbourne: Addressing Climate Change Impacts on Water Supply
By Erin Fairbanks Melbourne is a coastal city sharing a border with Port Phillips Bay and home to three major waterways, the Yarra and Maribymong Rivers and the Moonee Ponds Creek. Water conservation and storm water management are major city priorities but are overseen by separate programs at both state and local government levels, [...]
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Melbourne: Energy Sector Climate Change Impacts
By Eugenia Tchaiko The city of Melbourne, located in the state of Victoria, Australia, has expressed concerns about its energy use. Melbourne–and the country as a whole–relies on fossil fuels for power, primarily black and brown coal. Renewable energy use has been on the rise in recent years, accounting for 33.3% in 2009 -10 [...]
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Dakar: Climate Change and Energy Sector Impacts
By Lauren O’Reilly The Greater Dakar Area, located on the Cap de Vert Peninsula on the western coast of Senegal, is home to 25% of the Senegalese population but contains less than 1% of the country’s land (Wang et al., 2009). This densely populated metropolitan area is a major consumer of Senegal’s energy; two thirds [...]
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Dakar: Climate Change and Water Supply
By Erin Reilley Water Sector Risks Dakar’s freshwater and marine habitat resources as well as its public water infrastructure, already compromised by rapid population growth and unplanned development, are further impacted by climate change-induced coastal inundation, decreasing precipitation, and habitat loss. The Senegalese water infrastructure partnership of Société Nationale des Eaux du Senegal [...]
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Sao Paulo: Climate Resilient Energy Infrastructure
By Alana Gerson Sector Risks Sao Paulo’s electricity generation and transmission is part of a national single line interconnected grid connecting Brazil’s North and South parts. Approximately 85% of Brazil’s electricity is generated through hydropower (GENI, 2009), of which Sao Paulo consumes 17% (The World Bank, 2011). In 2009, Sao Paulo emitted 15 million tons [...]
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São Paulo: Public Transportation Climate Risk Assessment
By Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli Central Policy Issue How can the city of Saõ Paulo adapt its public transit system to changing climate conditions, while reducing the vulnerability of underserved low-income populations in the urban periphery? General Information The public transit-dependent poor live in peripheral hillsides, and the number of commuters to the city center [...]
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Shanghai: Energy Sector Climate Risk Assessment
By Oisin O’Brien Shanghai has developed over the last three decades from a small city into one of the world’s premier industrial and financial centers. This structural transformation has been accompanied by rapid population growth, from under 10 million in 1975 to 16.58 million in 2010 (UN-Habitat, 2010). With growth occurring in both industry and [...]
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Shanghai: Water Sector Climate Risk Assessment
By Lina Fedirko Climate Risks Shanghai’s water infrastructure provides 56.1% of the total water supply to its industry sector, which includes power plants and coal-fired factories, 14.3% to agriculture, and 10.1% to the 23 million residents of its greater municipality (United Nations Environmental Programme, 2010). According to United Nations, Shanghai is “one of six cities [...]
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Tokyo: Water Sector Climate Risk Assessment
By Diana Balmonte Tokyo is the capital city of Japan and is a densely populated megacity located in the approximate center of the Japanese archipelago. The population of Tokyo is 12.989 million (Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 2010). The region of Tokyo is composed of four prefectures: Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and Kanagawa. Once the population of these [...]
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Toronto: Transport Sector Climate Risk Assessment
by Corrine Rodriguez Introduction Toronto’s transportation network includes four major highways, multi-modal railway facilities, the Port of Ontario, and Pearson International Airport. Toronto also boasts the second largest public transit system in North America comprised of bus, subway, rapid transit, and streetcar lines operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area [...]
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Toronto: Energy Sector Climate Risk Assessment
by Paula Silverman Former Toronto Mayor and chair of C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group David Miller made climate change one of his top priorities during his term (2003-2010). Miller’s administration developed several comprehensive action plans to transform the city’s energy sector by transitioning to new sources of renewable power and investing in energy-efficiency. However, these [...]
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London: Climate Change and Energy
By Heather Zanoni The most immediate impact of climate change on London’s energy sector will occur due to higher temperatures caused by the urban heat island effect as well as increased heat waves. Rising temperatures will lead to growing demands on the power supply, especially due to peak cooling loads during high temperatures, which will [...]
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Climate Change and Cities
By Neil Grabois Dean, Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy As world leaders met in Durban for the Global Climate Summit, Professor Shagun Mehrotra’s class on Climate Change and Cities offered solutions for global cities. I was pleased to have the privilege to attend the presentation on London. One of the special [...]
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Tokyo: Energy and Climate Change
By Toby Simpson Tokyo’s energy sector is a system, which relies heavily on imported fuel. The energy sector provides power to a population of 12.99 million (Blanco, 2011) and is vulnerable to climate change. With approximately 10% of the population of Japan (TMG, 2010), Tokyo’s adaptation and mitigation responses to climate change can have a [...]
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London: Climate Change and Transportation
By Kannika Phadoungxath Climate risks London is expected to experience climate-related risks to its transportation system in significant ways. As a result of climate change, London will face increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall, storms, tidal surges, and heat waves (London Climate Change Partnership, 2009). A significant proportion of [...]
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Student Volunteers Help Build Solar-Powered House in DC
Over spring break, DC Habitat for Humanity invited New School students to grab some power tools and help with the final phase of construction of the Empowerhouse, a solar-powered duplex going up in the Deanwood neighborhood in Washington, DC. Empowerhouse is a collaboration between Parsons, the New School for Design, the Stevens Institute of Technology [...]
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Learning to Farm Sustainably
By Sara Esquibel The aroma of bacon and coffee awakens the senses well before the 6:30 am breakfast bell. With half an hour to fill up on farm fresh eggs from Caroline (the name given to all the laying hens), the volunteers and farmers eat their first meal of the day together while discussing [...]
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Earth Week Begins This Sunday!
The New School is celebrating Earth Week this year with it’s first ever series of events, coordinated by the Office for Sustainability. It starts Sunday April 22nd with the Earth Week Festival, which includes a fashion show, concert, and student projects! Takes place from 3pm-7pm at 6 East 16th St, 6th floor. Details on all [...]
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Thought Leadership Forum on the Future of the City
Event: Thought Leadership Forum on the Future of the City Date: Monday, April 23, 2012 Time: 6:30 pm Location: Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, Kellogg Conference Center, International Affairs Building, 420 West 118th Street, 15th Floor Event Description The Journal of International Affairs is pleased to present its Thought Leadership Forum on the Future of the City. Co-organized with the [...]
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Earth Week Events: Free Sustainability Courses at Union Square Greenmarket
Students and faculty from across The New School–including several from EPSM–are offering mini lectures in everything green, from urban farming to sustainable housing, biking, food politics and community-supported agriculture. The New School’s Outdoor Classroom will feature free 20-30 minute discussions on 4/20 and 4/28 at the corner of 15th St and Union Square West. Check [...]
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Book Launch: The Occupy Handbook, edited by Janet Byrne.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The New York Society for Ethical Culture 2 West 64th Street, NYC Please join contributors to the new publication The Occupy Handbook, Bob Buckley of Milano the New School, Martin Wolf of the Financial Times, Jeffrey Sachs, Jeff Madrick, Bethany McLean, Raghuram Rajan of the University of Chicago/Booth School [...]
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UCCRN/UNISDR: From Sendai to Rio – Cultivating a Disaster-Resilient Society for Sustainable Development
UCCRN/UNISDR: From Sendai to Rio – Cultivating a Disaster-Resilient Society for Sustainable Development Wednesday, April 11, 2012 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm Location: Columbia University, Morningside Campus, Low Memorial Library, The Rotunda Contact: For further information regarding this event, please contact Somayya Ali, Center for Climate Systems Research, by sending email tosa2619@columbia.edu or by calling 212-678-5626. [...]
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Audio Technician / Podcast Editor Sought For Project
The Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management (EPSM) program at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy is looking for a student to record and edit audio at the final presentations of its class Global Urban Environmental Policy. The project will encompass the following: Live audio recording of class presentations on two [...]
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New specialization for fall 2012: Food and the Environment
Growing holistically out of the endeavors of students and faculty across the university, Milano is proud to announce a new specialization: Food and the Environment, beginning Fall 2012. For more on this exciting news, head over to the New School’s NEW_S
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UN Internship
Details: POVERTY, MDGS AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INTERN Location : New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Application Deadline : 25-Mar-12 Additional Category Millennium Development Goals Type of Contract : Internship Post Level : Intern Languages Required : English, Spanish Duration of Initial Contract : 6 to 12 weeks Expected Duration of Assignment : May and September [...]
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Earth Week 2012 Festival Call for Projects
The New School’s Sustainability Advisory Committee and the Office for Sustainability are excited to announce that The New School’s Earth Week Festival will be held on Sunday April 22, 2012 in a pre-construction space in 6 E. 16th street. This event is meant to showcase sustainability-related projects by students from The New School and [...]
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