Columbia Student Union for Sustainable Development

Join us for our annual panel and lunch session on Monday, Feb 10th featuring this year's theme, "Breaking into Climate Venture Capital". Hosted by Columbia's Sustainable Finance Group and Columbia Student Union for Sustainable Development, the panel will feature speakers from leading climate venture capital firms including Zacua Ventures, Remarkable Ventures, ADL Ventures and Clean Energy Ventures. If you're a Columbia student interested in the intersection between Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital and Sustainability, register at: https://lnkd.in/dPNkMgUe. We look forward to seeing you there! #investingintomorrow #sustainablefinancegroup Aditya Jain Una Oljaca

One week ago, SUSD had the privilege of hosting Dr. Dustin Partridge, the Director of Conservation Science at NYC Audubon, in our recent Coffee Chat series on Monday, April 1st! During our conversation, students interested in conservation and environmental science had the opportunity to delve into Dr. Partridge's wealth of experience. He illustrated the balance between fieldwork and research in the day-to-day life of a conservation practitioner. Different from doing conservation science in academia, working in the industry requires one to focus on “science for impact”, using the end result of each conservation project to evaluate success. Relating to his background in urban bird conservation, Dr. Partridge shared his work on bird-friendly window stickers to avoid bird deaths from collisions, as well as building green roofs to provide habitats for as many as 350 species of migratory birds in New York City. On the greater scope of urban design, he also discussed the benefits of wetlands over floodwalls in absorbing storm surges in Rockaway, Queens. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Partridge for sharing his expertise with us. Stay tuned for more coffee chat opportunities to learn from leaders in the future! ????

At SUSD, our mission is to encourage and create opportunities for exploration of climate and sustainability across all majors and interests. On Thursday, March 21st, we held an Undergraduate Panel, which was a great success! We talked with six amazing juniors and seniors studying climate system science, civil engineering, political science, human rights, and more. Some advice we were left with: "Don’t try to change the world. Instead, do one thing a day that tangibly makes it better." "Focus on building your friendships and relationships for these 4 years." "Major in something you enjoy. Balance classes that allow you to learn skills with those that energize and interest you." Conversations like this amongst the undergraduate community are important, especially within the intensity of campus culture. As we look forward, we hope to continue creating spaces to learn from and uplift each other and build a community of sustainability-minded people. Thank you again to our panelists Jocelyn Fahlen, Charitie Ropati, Claudia Sachs, Alonso Velasquez, Charlotte Biocchi, and Liliana Funes for generously sharing their experiences. Thank you as well to the students who attended, stay tuned for more open conversations and snacks with SUSD!