Feb 3 Meeting: Snow Outside, Enthusiasm Inside
Despite the snow and the date change, an enthusiastic group participated in the Greener Bloomfield meeting on Feb. 3. Most of the discussion centered around the Sustainable Jersey program, a certification system for municipalities going green, which officially launches on February 26. We also discussed ideas for an Earth Day event. You can also read the Independent Press article on the meeting.
Sustainable Jersey is “a certification program for municipalities in New Jersey that want to go green, control costs and save money, and take steps to sustain their quality of life over the long term.” It identifies actions a town can take, provides toolkits for each action, and identifies funding and other resources available to help achieve the steps. Points can be earned in 13 categories of tasks, such as “Community Partnership and Outreach”, “Energy Efficiency”, “Sustainable Planning”, and “Waste Reduction and Recycling”.
John Palomaki outlined the program goals and the steps, and the group agreed that several of the actions could be easily achievable, and points could be earned for many other steps with some focused attention. Greener Bloomfield will work with the Township Council on a resolution to register with the program and develop a plan to gain certification.
For Earth Day 2009, officially on April 22, the group brainstormed several ideas for an event to be co-sponsored with the Bloomfield Recycling Committee somewhere around that date, hoping to avoid conflicting with the Essex County Environmental Center’s Earth Day 2009 event on Saturday, April 18. Some of the ideas include:
- Set up a “Green Fest” of tables for green non-profit organizations and local green businesses
- Sign up members and volunteers for Greener Bloomfield
- Encourage greater recycling with information from the town and Waste Management’s truck, giveaways, and robot
- Offer home composters to residents, using the DPW’s discount program
- Kick off a Project Porchlight campaign to encourage people to change to more energy-efficient lightbulbs
- Offer 20-minute discussions on the half-hour on topics such as:
- Clean energy program – homes
- Town Forester – tree planting
- Bloomfield Center Redevelopment’s sustainability plans
- Sponsor a School Clean-up Day
- Use resources at StopGlobalWarming.org
Additional discussions will be held with the Bloomfield Recycling Committee on dates and venues. People wishing to volunteer for the Earth Day Committee should please post a note to this entry.
