The Graduate Baruchian

Baruch Alum and Sustainability Analyst and Advocate in the Mayor’s Office — Ibrahim Abdul-Matin

by Helen Serebin, MBA candidate 2013

We all know about PlaNYC 2030, right? (For those of us who don’t, here’s the link to familiarize yourself.

Ibrahim lives, breathes and eats the plan.  He also schlepps them.  He brought each of us a copy of the 2008 report when he visited Business Sustainability 9770 seminar class on Monday, March 14.

Ibrahim’s purview in the Office of Long Term Planning & Sustainability is broad — he guides the City on how to meet the objectives of the plan within the timeframe.  This is a combination of researching and developing the right solutions, achieving consensus among constituencies affected, and implementing the measures.

Ibrahim quizzed us on our knowledge of the City’s sustainability priorities and agency infrastructure that is tasked with addressing the objectives.  We didn’t do so hot.  See how well you do.

1. By what date do City agencies have to comply with energy benchmarks set by PlaNYC 2030? —  a) 2014   b) 2017  c) 2020  d) 2030
2. Is Baruch a City agency/entity that needs to comply? —  T/F
3. What borough and neighborhood has the worst air pollution in NYC? — a) Ozone Park, Queens   b) Corona/Elmhurst, Queens   c) East Side, Manhattan  d) Red Hook, Brooklyn
4. What is the reason? —  a) vehicle emissions   b) jet fuel emissions  c) heating oil #6  d) ozone
5. Does your building or home use heating fuel # 6?
6. What is the largest City agency? Why is it crucial to NYC’s sustainability? a)      DSNY – because it deals with our waste b)  DEP – because it protects  our watershed and Combined Sewer overflow concerns c) DCAS  – because it procures City’s goods and can influence supply chain d) DOT – because it receives Federal funding for transit projects and transportation is #1 emitter of Co2
7. What software is the most widely used to develop predictive models in the Office of Planning and Sustainability?  a) Argus   b) Excel  c) Visual Basic D) MathWorks
8. The chairman of the C40 Cities (the committee of cities dedicated to tackling climate change) is a) Mayor of San Francisco b) Mayor of New York c) Mayor of Chicago d) Mayor of Mexico City
9. The City, in partnership with the EDC, has a pilot compost facility at the Hunts Point food market using pigs to eat the organic waste left from the food vendors.  True/False?
10. NYC sustainability initiatives have nothing to do with worldwide projected increases in global warming? True/False?

Answers: 1)b,  2)T,  3)c,  4)c, 5) That’s your homework, 6)b,  7)b,  8)b, 9)F, 10)F