Green Politics New Jersey

Keep It Green

2009-02-23T11:40:00.005-05:00

I'm honored to be joining the New Jersey Audubon Society in a part-time capacity as Conservation Advocate, so I won't be resuming full-time blogging on www.GreenPoliticsNJ.com in 2009. Instead, I'll work ardently for New Jersey Audubon's crucial goals to conserve land and wildlife for the health and well-being of everyone in our state. On top of nearly everyone's to-do list: renew state funding

Calendar Updates in Progress

2009-02-18T18:36:00.002-05:00

After a several-week project offline, I'm beginning to update some of GreenPoliticsNJ's functions, including the extensive NJ Green Calendar.If I haven't already highlighted your event, please let me know: joe [at] greenpoliticsnj [dot] com.

NJ Green Update: 1/22/09: Environmental Group News

2009-01-21T20:17:00.019-05:00

Today's update looks mainly at recent developments by NJ's green non-profit groups and educational institutions -- as a result of my scanning roughly 150 of the websites listed in my LINKS section. My goal was to apprise you of developments since my last post on the subject: 1/8/09. Note that the LINKS section contains many other categories on NJ green organizations.(I've also updated the NJ

Sea-Level Rise and NJ: New EPA Report

2009-01-20T01:06:00.009-05:00

The EPA has just released a report titled, "Coastal Sensitivity to Sea-level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region." The report details some of the devastation that our state faces. If you're really short on time, open the full report and scroll for the maps on p. 26, 122, 124, 214, 221 (plus numerous NJ photos later on) and the diagram on p. 192.Hopefully you don't still think of sea level

Recycling Trouble Mounting in NJ and Beyond

2009-01-08T19:51:00.004-05:00

On December 24, I began a post titled "NJ Recycling Advocates, Get Ready," this way: Municipal recycling programs have a way of weakening and disappearing during times like these. As a result, local recycling advocates had better stay particularly engaged with municipalities, lest they find out decisions have been made that could unwind years of progress.The impetus to that blog post was building

NJ Green Update: 1/8/08. Bigger Solar; Coast; Rail; More...

2009-01-08T15:13:00.016-05:00

Bigger (and Bigger) Solar. On December 27 I commented on news that a businessperson is planning to transpose a 10-acre Williamstown lot into potentially the biggest solar farm in NJ. The developer, SolarWorks NJ, is searching for financing. Now there's news of an even bigger project in the works: The Press of Atlantic City reports, "Preliminary plans involve covering the 16-acre Hamilton

NJ Green Update: 1/7/08, ctd: Green Jobs, Transit, Meadowlands, Stewards...

2009-01-07T10:55:00.016-05:00

NJ Warming. Today's stakeholder meeting (2 of 6) for NJ's Draft Global Warming Response Act was postponed due to the weather. (Unfortunately, many participants showed up anyway because of the DEP's late cancellation.) The next GWRA stakeholder meeting -- on the topic of Terrestrial Sequestration and Agriculture -- will be held on Friday. NOTE: I've also published my notes from yesterday's

NJ Green Update: 1/7/08. NJ DEP, Transportation, NJ/D.C., "Smart Growth?", Shore, More

2009-01-07T01:10:00.022-05:00

My lead article today provides Highlights from Stakeholder Meeting #1 for NJ's Draft Global Warming Recommendation Report (see post immediately below).Also...Transportation. The NJ Public Interest Research Group issued a press release highlighting "New Study: Red Flags in State's Transportation Wish List." "A new study of the state Department of Transportation (DOT) wish lists, recently

Highlights from Stakeholder Meeting #1: NJ Global Warming Report - Green Buildings

2009-01-07T00:22:00.004-05:00

I spent the afternoon at the DEP in Trenton attending the first of six stakeholder meetings for NJ’s Draft Global Warming Response Act Recommendation Report. The final report will be a resource for policymakers for years to come. The current draft report pulls together existing recommendations and provides new recommendations for the primary goal: meeting NJ’s requirement to reduce emissions to

NJ Green Update: 1/6/09: Water, NJ Warming, Rally, Emissions, More

2009-01-05T23:32:00.025-05:00

Although New Year events have limited my NJ Green Updates in the past few days, here are some nuggets that have caught my eye:[But before beginning, don't forget to check the NJ Green Calendar, a terrific resource. And feel free to email me your events! joe at greenpoliticsnj dot com.]Water Resources. In "Should towns control the tap?" The Record's Giovanna Fabiano compares the costs and

Star-Ledger Misses Point About "Green Consumers"

2009-01-02T20:09:00.005-05:00

Although there are some interesting factoids in Kathleen O'Brien's Star-Ledger article today titled, "For green consumers, it's the fiscal blues," the article misses the essential point: less consumption is the greenest consumption of all. It's a point that gets overlooked by almost every news organization every day.The article offers anecdotes about how demand is softening for things like

NJ Green Update: 12/31/08. NJ Warming, Wind, Recycling, More

2008-12-31T08:16:00.017-05:00

Air of Confusion, an editorial in the Ledger yesterday broaching the NJ / Global Warming topic, is mostly helpful. It points out something I keep hearing from NJ environmental experts: the state is pretty good at drawing up progressive green guidelines for the global warming era, but bad at turning them into reality. For instance, the article points out that the NJ Dept of Purchasing is accepting

DEP Releases Agendas for NJ Global Warming Act Meetings

2008-12-30T12:55:00.004-05:00

I've been writing a lot about the NJ's Draft Global Warming Response Act Recommendation Report, and the upcoming stakeholder meetings, because the Final Report will be a blueprint for many NJ leaders in the coming years (for better or for worse -- it's up to us).The DEP has just sent out an email containing the agendas for the six meetings. I don't see the agendas on the website yet, which means

NJ Green Update: 12/30/08: NJ Warming, Corzine's Roads, Jersey City, More

2008-12-30T07:31:00.013-05:00

Climate Catastrophe - More Science. The scientific community is producing extremely alarming reports almost daily regarding the rapid onset of global warming. The latest report by a top scientist (summary here) says industrial nations' (and thus states') emissions will need to be cut 80-90% in the next 40 years.Comment: Implications would be clearly devastating for NJ. We'll need to increase

NJ & Global Warming -- Sharpen Our Response

2008-12-29T23:41:00.007-05:00

While several people have published opinions on NJ's crucial Draft Global Warming Response Act Recommendation Report, released December 15, leave it to Sierra Club NJ to provide the broadest overview of ways to sharpen the Recommendation Report during the public feedback period. Sierra Club NJ's Director, Jeff Tittel, published what is probably an outline of his formal feedback on the plan in

NJ Green Update: 12/29/08. Bigger Solar, Global Warming/NJ, Transportation, Green Drinks

2008-12-27T23:29:00.024-05:00

NJ Green Calendar. I've just added about 30 more events to the Calendar, so feel free to take a look if you haven't recently.Solar. Big project in the works, writes Jeremy Rosen for the Courier Post Online. "Mantua, NJ resident David Sharrow, partly fueled by concerns for the future of his eight children in a degenerating environment, has reached a $14 million agreement with a solar energy

NJ's Coastline Gets a Second Life

2008-12-26T09:26:00.016-05:00

[Note: see also my chock-full NJ Green Update 12/26/08, just below]NJ's Alliance for a Living Ocean has gotten a new life! I was disappointed to read an article a few days ago in the Asbury Park Press that the Alliance for a Living Ocean said it would disband in January if it didn't find additional volunteers to carry out programs. There are so few non-profit groups whose explicit mission is

NJ Green Update 12/26/08: Global Warming/NJ, Redistricting, Energy Efficiency, Much More

2008-12-26T06:24:00.032-05:00

Global Warming and NJ. NJ Plan to Cut Emissions is Too Vague, according to an op-ed piece in the Daily Record by Peter Kasabach, executive director of NJ Future. "Glaringly absent from the Greenhouse Gas Plan [NJ's Draft Global Warming Response Act Recommendation Report] is any mention of the existing governmental body responsible for directing statewide land-use policies: the State Planning

NJ Recycling Advocates, Get Ready

2008-12-24T18:27:00.004-05:00

Municipal recycling programs have a way of weakening and disappearing during times like these. As a result, local recycling advocates had better stay particularly engaged with municipalities, lest they find out decisions have been made that could unwind years of progress.As Hugh Morley explains very well in yesterday's Record, prices for recyclable materials have plunged. I fully expect haulers

NJ & Hydro Power: Still "Perfect Together"

2008-12-24T15:17:00.007-05:00

Despite the ubiquity and untapped potential of hydroelectric power in the U.S. and worldwide, I think it's still an unheralded renewable power source. But that is changing rapidly. Look, for instance, at yesterday's Star-Ledger story about Sparta's plans to convert a spring-fed quarry into a significant source of hydro power. I expect to hear more announcements like this -- municipalities (and

NJ DEP Memo: Quant

2008-12-23T10:03:00.004-05:00

The NJ DEP has made some laudable strides this year, but its year-end feel-good memo is a whistle to the graveyard when I consider what's really happening to the climate. Nowhere does the memo mention what we're up against and the significant increase in efforts needed to halt the climate devastation we could face. The memo was an opportunity for new DEP head Mauriello to hint at a vision he'll

NJ Green Update: 12/22/08. Pallone, Recycling, Pollution, Action

2008-12-22T11:05:00.011-05:00

Rep. Pallone Keeps Subcommittee. "U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) will remain as the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health after an agreement announced [Dec. 18] by Henry Waxman and John Dingell. Dingell had hinted that he might challenge Pallone for the powerful subcommittee post after losing the full committee chairmanship to Waxman last month" wrote

The Single Most Effective Way to Green NJ...

2008-12-22T10:09:00.005-05:00

...is to remove Rep. Scott Garrett from the NJ Congressional Delegation in 2010. I write this today after "Retire Garrett" blogger Mike Simonson has posted another factually devastating article about Garrett's environmental record. The fifth district and our entire state is sending someone to D.C. to systematically unwind the green-prosperity movement's victories for human health and economic

PSE&G Double Talks on Highlands -- Surprise

2008-12-21T19:48:00.003-05:00

In a letter to the NJ DEP, The NJ Highlands Coalition has "strongly objected" to PSE&G's Highlands power line plan, according to NJ Herald, in what sounds like an even stronger opposition than the Coalition's 11/18/08 press release which "asks the DEP to carefully review the power line expansion plan."What really raises my ire is that PSE&G is telling residents attending its "information sessions

"Grant Proposal Writers Wanted" in NJ!

2008-12-20T12:50:00.003-05:00

Obama is going to keep NJ's governments and green organizations very busy in the next four years working to influence -- and get a piece of -- what could be the biggest-ever federal movement toward science. I've linked to the tip of the (thawing) iceberg in this article, which will also take you to Obama's "landmark radio address" today.