The College Fix

‘Gigantic waste of time at taxpayers expense,’ scholar responds

New York University welcomed students back to campus for the spring semester with a “Climate Action Mixer” and “plant meditation” last week.

The university’s Office of Sustainability and Libraries hosted the event with “plant-based snacks” and a plant giveaway, according to the event page.

The event also included a 30-minute “plant meditation” where students “engage[d] their senses and practice[d] focused attention using plants, offering gratitude to the natural world.”

The Office of Sustainability encouraged students not only to “reflect and meditate with a succulent at hand” but also to “get to know other students who are also interested in activism and combating climate change.”

“Free plants and a climate action yap session? Yes, please!” the office wrote in an Instagram post about the event.

Stephanie Margolis from the Office of Sustainability declined to comment when contacted by The College Fix for details about the event. The Fix also reached out to NYU Community Engagement Librarian Roxane Pickens twice in the last two weeks, but did not receive a response.

However, Anthony Watts, a meteorologist and senior fellow with The Heartland Institute, questioned the purpose of such an event.

Watts told The College Fix that “events like these look like a gigantic waste of time at taxpayers expense.”

Although NYU is private, Watts told The Fix the university still receives state and federal money through grants, loans, and student aid – money that indirectly subsidizes such things.

Watts also has criticized students’ climate change alarmism.

“Climate change is so far off in the distance, most people don’t consider it enough of a threat to do anything about,” Watts, who regularly writes about climate issues, told The Fix in November.

The event last week was only a small part of NYU’s ongoing climate activism.

The university launched a Climate Action Plan in 2021 with hopes of “developing pathways toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2040.”

Then, in 2023, the university agreed to student activists’ demands to stop investing in fossil fuels companies.

This year, NYU intends to “reduce building emissions intensity by 50 percent” – one of several initiatives listed on its “Climate Goals” webpage.

Meanwhile, the university’s law school is leading an initiative to establish rights for living entities such as rocks and trees, The Fix reported.

MORE: Half of Gen Z suffers from ‘eco-anxiety,’ new poll finds

IMAGE: NYU Office of Sustainability/Instagram

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