LEARNING ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY AT THE JAVITS CENTER BY POPPY SACHENS

The NY Sun Works event, which took place at the Javits Center in Manhattan on April 30, was an opportunity for students ranging from 3rd to 12th grade to share their ideas and studies related to sustainability science. 

Students created presentations about their experiments focused on a range of topics and ideas to benefit the environment. In this report, I will be sharing a summary of the event, and examples of information given from presentations and interviews.

At the event, the Harbor Middle School had a presentation titled, “How Does the Age of Swiss Chard Plants Affect Their Salt Tolerance?”, shared by students Levi and Hadley. This presentation shared an experiment they did on Swiss Chard, with the goal of filtering the New York Harbor by growing it in a floating water system in the Gowanus Bay. 

The students found the roots of the plant work to filter contaminants in water by using the Nitrogen cycle to travel into local bodies of water, such as the New York Harbor and Gowanus Bay.

Additionally, the CEO of Javits Center, Joyce Leveston, announced the Opening Remarks of the event. In her speech, she highlighted that there was a hydroponics-like farm on the roof with greenhouses growing vegetables, harvesting honey with beehives, and 30 apple trees! 

She shared that she wants children to have access to healthy food, and be able to grow that food. In other words: food justice. The organization also captures rainfall and reuses it for farm use. 

The Javits Center demonstrates how event spaces can put sustainability at the heart of both their architecture and programming, making the world a better place.