The climate crisis can seem overwhelming for any one person — or even one organization — to feel like they can make a difference for our planet. But Earth Month is a reminder that collective problems require collective solutions, and that little things can add up in big ways.

At the American Red Cross, many regions — including Greater New York — have established Green Teams, which are worker-led groups that identify, plan, and implement sustainability solutions to help reduce the ecological impact of the work of the Red Cross. These teams' work is supported by a micro-grant program to help implement sustainable practices in each region.

The first 15 months of the Greater New York Green Team largely focused on tackling the most straightforward sustainability challenges, such as stocking kitchen areas with washable dishes and cutlery to reduce waste from disposable items. From January to December 2023, the first full year of implementation, this initiative is estimated to have reduced consumption throughout the Greater New York region of 29,000 paper cups, 7,000 paper plates, 8,000 pieces of plastic cutlery, and 2,000 wooden stirrers. The Green Team has also worked on initiatives such as participating in ‘Fix a Leak Week’ to help identify and repair water leaks in Red Cross offices; using technology to better regulate when energy is being used at offices; and securing a micro-grant to install water bottle refill stations at the soon-to-be renovated chapter headquarters in Mineola, NY.

For year two, a set of new leaders on the Green Team has their eyes on more challenging sustainability projects to work on.

Buthaina Al Zubair recently joined the Green Team as a Volunteer Partner and Co-Lead, where she is excited to work on sustainability practices at an organizational level after finishing a graduate school program focusing on corporate sustainability.

“I kept seeing this climate trend and how it’s actually impacting us, not just here in the west but in the Middle East, where I’m from, and in the global south and the rest of the world,” said Buthaina. “Seeing how the climate crisis impacts every single person on this planet, even if people refuse to believe in it, that got me into sustainability.”

Biana Lupa is the Disaster Program Manager for Staten Island. She is a founding member of the Green Team and now serves as Co-Lead alongside Buthaina. One of the projects they are working on is to address textile waste generated by the Red Cross.

“My goal is to reduce our textile waste for the organization,” said Biana. “A clothing swap is one methodology for that, but it’s not the sole idea. It’s overall, how do we reduce our carbon footprint through textile waste.”

The duo is now working on hosting clothing swaps at each chapter office in the Greater New York region and engaging potential partners to process textiles that are no longer wearable in their current form. They are also collaborating with colleagues to ensure that sustainability efforts are not conflicting with core mission values to provide humanitarian relief.

“Taking care of the people in need comes first, definitely,” offered Biana, about how to balance sustainability with the demands and rigor of helping people affected by disasters. “But as we organizationally adapt to a more green approach, the strategy is to adopt a culture of mindfulness when it comes to sustainability. How can we incorporate some of these initiatives, like collecting plastic bottles for recycling?”

“When it comes to disasters and responding, the matter of sustainability is an interesting one,” added Buthaina. “The priority is to make sure that people affected by a fire or a flood are being cared for, and so we want to make sure that responders aren’t distracted from their core mission. We want to make it so that the easiest thing for people to do in any given moment is to act in a sustainable way.”

To learn more about the work of the American Red Cross on the climate crisis, visit www.redcross.org/climate.