About

Sustainable Silver works to make the Silver School of Social Work a more environmentally aware and responsible institution by partnering with SSSW administration to reduce the ecological impact of the School itself, encouraging its students to make environmentally conscious choices in their daily lives, and increasing discussion of issues of sustainability and environmental justice, especially as they pertain to social work. Along the way, we wish to cultivate a sense of community in the School of Social Work, and encourage activism around and awareness of the connections between social and environmental justice and social work.

Our mission is threefold:

Greening our School

We wish to help SSSW increase its sustainability in areas such as purchasing, energy use, paper use, and food sourcing for catered events, drawing upon the resources of NYU’s Sustainability Task Force, as well as student groups in other NYU schools.

Greening our Students

We would like to help SSSW students make environmentally conscious and responsible choices in their everyday lives, thereby reducing their individual ecological footprints. We would do this both by raising awareness of the impacts of individual consumption decisions, as well as working to make environmentally decisions easier in a practical way. Central to this aspect of our mission is the importance of cultivating community in the school of social work, which is something we strive to do.

Greening our Minds

We endeavor to engage the SSSW community in a discussion of the connections between social work and environmental justice through events, talks, co-sponsorships, and community service projects. We believe that, as social workers, we must also be advocates for social and environmental justice, and we hope to increase activism and awareness in these areas in the School of Social Work.