New Year’s Resolutions for Bloomfield
by John Palomaki

I’m sure most of us are happy to give 2009 a swift kick out the door. The economy, jobs, war, healthcare, and climate crisis would be enough challenges for a lifetime. We’re losing trust in our elected officials and institutions. At a time when we need to work together, divisive rhetoric is pushing us apart. We’re losing the middle ground in our economy and in the ability to work together to find solutions.

Fortunately, 2010 is a new year, and all of us in Bloomfield can make some New Year’s Resolutions to think and act in ways that will benefit us all in the long-term, economically, socially, and environmentally, without causing new problems along the way.

By the way, that’s the definition of SUSTAINABILITY. While often used to refer to the environment, it’s just as important to think about sustainability in terms of thriving financially and socially. It’s often called the “triple bottom line” where we measure success not just by someone’s wallet, but on how we all do:  “People, Planet, and Profit” (they’re not mutually exclusive). We just need the will to discard our old unsustainable ways and create newer more sustainable habits and practices.

So, here are a few resolutions we should make for Bloomfield. If you have more ideas, write a letter to the editor or add your comments on www.GreenerBloomfield.org.

1. Build greater civility and seek common ground. Say “Hi” to your neighbor, or even have a nice conversation. Hold the door, apologize when you bump someone, offer to help answer a question or give directions or shovel the snow. We can keep our voices calm, listen, acknowledge and try to understand another’s perspective, and show respect for others, even if we disagree. On virtually every issue, there’s something we all can agree to, and we can seek win-win solutions.
2. Work for change. It’s easy to complain, anonymously write a nasty letter or blog post, or rely on someone else to do it. But change only happens if we work for it. Go to meetings, speak your mind, write letters, and have discussions, but talk about the solutions, how you’d fix the problems or make them better. Volunteer to help, even if it’s just an hour, on any issue you feel passionate about.
3. Set a good example. Someone is always watching what we do, whether it’s a neighbor, a co-worker, a stranger on the street, or a child. Young people especially need positive role models. A good attitude, a good deed, careful words, and even a smile can go a long way toward showing someone there’s a better way.
4. Make a commitment to health. Eat a balanced and varied diet of less-processed and more natural foods, exercise regularly, and spend more time outdoors. Help your kids develop healthy habits. Diabetes is the biggest health issue for children, and limiting sugars and encouraging exercise and more diversity in diets can go a long way to prevent it.
5. Support local efforts. Shop, eat, and play locally, give to local charities, and participate in local events. You’ll use less gas. You’ll be supporting local jobs. You’ll help businesses stay here or start here, which in turn support local organizations and contribute to Bloomfield’s tax base. And you’ll make Bloomfield a more vibrant place to be.
6. Turn your car off. We have great mass transit, from the Bloomfield shuttle to the many buses and trains that go through town. We have bikeable and walkable streets. Leave your car at home or take fewer trips. If you have to drive, don’t idle! Turn your car off after 10 seconds if you’re stopping for 30 seconds or more, while you’re waiting to pick up or drop off your kids at school, when you’re “just running in” to the convenience store, post office, or dry cleaner, or warming up your car on a cold morning. You’ll save gas, save money, keep our air cleaner, and keep our more vulnerable kids and seniors safer from asthma and other respiratory diseases.
7. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Do we really need all the “stuff” we buy? The first step is to buy less, so less stuff is manufactured, packaged, shipped, and discarded. Use reusable coffee mugs, water bottles, grocery bags, recycled paper, and “pre-owned” goods from garage sales and vintage shops. Take advantage of Bloomfield’s top-notch recycling programs, with curbside pickup of all papers, plastics, bottles, and cans and depot drop-off of electronics and clothing each Saturday at Grove Street (recycling even earns our town some money).
8. Support sustainable building, land use, and resource protection. As a township that’s already over 90% built out, we must be careful about how we use the property we have. We need to build and renovate our properties for greater energy, water, and resource efficiency. We need to preserve open space to regenerate air and water quality, provide scenic beauty and recreation, protect habitats for wildlife, and save the Township money (since open space uses fewer costly resources like schools, infrastructure, and services). We should encourage (green) mixed-use development, low-and mixed-income housing, and complete streets programs adopted for the new Downtown Redevelopment and extend them throughout the township for their economic, social, and environmental benefits.
9. Make hard but long-lasting choices. It’s going to be an extremely tough year for municipal and school budgets, with increasing costs (especially salaries and benefits) and decreasing revenues (less state aid and lower tax collections). We must encourage and support our elected officials in making tough but wise choices with a long-term view, just as we have to in our households. All sides need to work together. People may have to sacrifice a little in salaries, benefits, conveniences, and services, so we can have employment levels, budgets, and taxes that we can sustain over a longer time with less dependency on the state. We can insulate buildings better, buy more energy-efficient equipment, and make other capital changes that will reduce annual operating costs. We can use more fuel-efficient vehicles, or use the vehicles we have less. We can turn down the thermostats in the winter. We can print less, print on both sides, make fewer copies, and do more electronically.  We can share or outsource services with other neighboring towns and businesses. We can step up our efforts to find new revenue sources, including grants, property sales and leases, solar access leases, and selling services to other municipalities. We all need to accept and contribute to a new way of thinking sustainably in our school and government operations, as well as in our homes.
10. Celebrate! Celebrate our successes, our family and friends, our diversity, and our heritage. They give us the capacity to understand each other better and make the world a better place.

Remember, it’s not just about us, it’s about our children, our planet, and future generations.

(John Palomaki is a Bloomfield homeowner and the co-founder and coordinator of Greener Bloomfield, a community organization that works toward sustainable living, working, and community in Bloomfield NJ. Greener Bloomfield coordinated actions with the town government and community to be one of the first 34 towns in New Jersey to receive Sustainable Jersey certification. For more information, go to www.GreenerBloomfield.org.)

1. Skip the throwaways: So much of what we buy is destined for the landfill almost as soon as it passes the checkout scanner. Aim to buy gifts and decorations that last, or can be handed down.
2. Put the brakes on driving: We live in a very pedestrian-friendly town. Shops and convenient services are within walking distance of most neighborhoods. It might not be possible to do all your holiday errands on foot, but with so many stores conveniently located, it may be surprising how much you can get crossed off your list within steps of your front door.
3. Satisfy the Foodie: Whether it’s Mexican, Italian or Thai, Bloomfield has some suberb restaurants, many of them offering gift certificates. A meal out is a welcome treat for almost anyone, and is one gift that won’t end up in the trash.
4. Pamper Mom (Dad, Teacher or Pet): Everyone can use a little extra TLC during the winter months. Spa’s such as Flic Spa on Broad Street can be a tropical oasis and offer special packages. If you’re looking for pampering lotions, natural remedies for skin and hair, or a holistic calming spray for your pet, Topical Solutions on James Street has the answer. All of their products are developed and hand-made right here in Bloomfield.
5. Power Down: When helping kids with a wish list, encourage the idea of some gifts that don’t require batteries: books, trips, and old-fashioned board games fan the flames of imaginative, open-ended play.
6. Get Healthy: A membership to one of the many gyms, yoga or dance studios in town gives the gift of total wellness and supports local businesses at the same time. (Garden State Yoga is one you might want to try.)
7. Come Together: Try to carve out some time with friends and family to just be together and remember the “reason for the season.” It can be the perfect recipe for recharging everyone during what is for many the busiest time of year.
8. Freecycle and Recycle: Whatever your circumstances this season, there’s a chance what you need can be had for free on Freecycle.org. This national non-profit has an Essex County group that costs nothing to join. List an item or post an ad for an item you want. Chances are, someone nearby has what you need or can use what you don’t.
9. Make it Personal: A gift certificate of your time, whether it’s two hours of babysitting for a busy parent, or an offer to run errands for an elderly neighbor, is eco-friendly and can be more meaningful than anything store-bought.
10. Have fun!

Contributed by Erin S. Ihde, MA, a mom of two and a pediatric environmental health researcher who lives in Bloomfield.

The conference currently taking place in Copenhagen, attended by 192 nations, is the most important climate conference in world history. Unfortunately, the U.S. position is very weak – only calling for 4% reduction of C02 and other greenhouse gases below 1990 levels, when what is called for is at least 25% – 40%.

If you want to keep up with this 2 week conference, a good website is www.democracynow.org which usually broadcasts from New York, but will be reporting from Copenhagen during the entire conference. You can listen Mon – Fri from 8 – 9 a.m. at 99.5 FM or watch it on line at any time.

In addition, Ted Glick is participating in a climate justice fast with others around the world. You can find out more about this by going to www.climatejusticefast.com where you can read his blog and the blog of others who are making this sacrifice to call attention to the urgency of the crisis that our planet faces.

“This application is the culmination of months of work from many members of Greener Bloomfield, the Bloomfield Recycling Committee, the Mayor and Council, and the Administration,” Palomaki said. “It’s been a group effort, and now our town is one of the leaders in New Jersey in sustainability.” Registration in the program provides Bloomfield with some priority in grant applications, and certification could bring additional funds for sustainability projects in the Township.

Bloomfield submitted actions worth 140 points, with only 100 required for certification. Only five towns in Essex County have applied. Bloomfield submitted documentation for the following actions: Green Team, Community Education and Outreach, Green Fair, Green Design for Buildings, Anti-Idling, Sustainable Land Use Pledge, Natural Resource Protection, Water Conservation, Recycling, Waste Reduction, and an Innovative Demonstration Project for its Paperless Council system.

“New Jersey is the first state in the nation to have a sustainability program that links certification with strong state and private financial incentives, and a fully resourced program of technical support and training,” according to the press release. “The Sustainable Jersey program is now the accepted benchmark for evaluating a municipality’s progress.”

The Sustainable Jersey Awards Luncheon is open to the public for $35 per ticket. To attend, see www.njslom.org.

• Project Porchlight resolution – declares August 15 Project Porchlight Day, when volunteers will go door-to-door, and encourages residents to save money and electricity by changing a standard light bulb to a more energy efficient one. (More volunteers needed!)
• Anti-Idling resolution – declares September “Anti-Idling Month” to focus attention on the issue, warns of the dangers to health (especially asthma), wasted fuel, greenhouse gas emissions, engine wear, and NJ’s state law and $250 minimum fine for idling more than 3 minutes. It also encourages residents to idle no more than 10 seconds and supports anti-idling education, targeted enforcement of the law, and establishment of “idle-free zones”.
• Sustainable Land Use Pledge resolution – resolves to take a number of steps in land use decisions and include them in the next Master Plan resolution, such as facility siting, housing variety, open space, transportation choices, mixed use, green design, regional cooperation, and sustainable parking regulations.
• Grass “Cut It and Leave It” resolution – encourages residents to leave their short grass clippings on the lawn where it will help mulch and fertilize, rather than bagging it for fuel-hogging, polluting trucks to pick up.
• Anti-Idling Ordinance – copies the NJ state laws restricting vehicle idling to less than 3 minutes and sets penalties of $100-$2,500 (with a few exceptions for emergency vehicles, etc.).
• Water Conservation Ordinance (draft) – encourages protection and conservation of water, limits residents and businesses from watering more than 2 days per week (except for new plantings and other exclusions), and establishes procedures for water/drought emergencies.

[From the Slow Food Northern NJ invitation] Every four to five years and opportunity arises for all concerned with the health of our nations children to evaluate, defend, and improve federal Child Nutrition programs. Child Nutrition Act is the federal policy that allocates funds and regulations for all school feeding programs- this year the Child Nutrition Act is up for reauthorization.

In 2004, the National Farm to School Program was established as a section of CNA but no money was allocated in the end. The time is ripe to implement policies that include locally and regionally grown foods in national meal programs, and we need advocates to make this happen.

The National Farm to School Network works with schools, farmers, food services, children, parents, and communities, providing direct technical assistance to get farm to school programs off the ground. They represent millions of Americans supporting policy solutions:

• Restore the right of all children to access good food in school
• Educate and inform communities about healthy food and its impact on the wellbeing of children; and
• Connect farmers, school districts, food service companies, and great ideas to the food system delivering school lunch

In celebration of the new growing season in NJ, the Montclair Township Environmental Affairs office & Community Green are pleased to present an eye opening film about food and farming, THE FUTURE OF FOOD, on Wednesday, June 3, 7:00pm at the Montclair Public Library Main Branch! There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America – a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat. Sign up to see it!

THE FUTURE OF FOOD, a film by the award-winning Deborah Koons Garcia, offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. This film gives a voice to farmers and citizens whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.

The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today.

Wednesday, June 3rd at 7:00 pm 
at the Montclair Public Library’s Main Branch, 50 So. Fullerton Ave.
Please sign up at Meetup.com!