ORANJ
2008 Spring Meeting of ORANJ Devoted to Environmental Issues
The spring semi-annual ORANJ meeting took place on April 16 at Medford Leas. After a brief business meeting, the morning was devoted to a presentation by Solomon Randall, Founder and Executive Director of NJ Sustainable State Institute, a Rutgers University think tank devoted to strategies to enhance sustainability in NJ. “Sustainability” or “Sustainable Development” means protecting the resources and systems that support us today so that they will be available to future generations.
Mr Randall pointed out that we have finite resources, i.e. air and water and that we need to live within these limits. Our consumption of these resources, can be defined as our “ecological footprint.” Thus, Princeton’s ecological footprint requires an area 61 times the size of Princeton itself. The footprint reflects not only the number of acres needed to sustain a person but also by the number of acres lost by the trash generated by each of us. Therefore, we lose 4,000 acres of open space daily in part because each person produces 90,000 pounds of trash in his lifetime.
Even though the US has not signed the Kyoto Protocol, many of the cities, have designed their own plans to deal with global warming. Among the strategies are efforts to decrease pollution by encouraging people to move more closely together and to increase the amount of open space . With higher population density public transportation becomes economically viable and pollution due to car travel decreases. Another set of strategies is the adoption of green building practices, which may be expensive in the near term.
He emphasized that it will be important to engage all sectors of society to bring about environmentally friendly changes in practice, including the public and private sector, the schools etc. But if we neglect such efforts we can expect catastrophic results from global warming. As an example, he pointed out that if the average high temperatures in NJ were to rise 15 degrees we could expect significantly less rain and the earth will become too warm to soak in whatever rain there is. To avoid such a disaster, NJ must mandate energy efficient practices, increase the amount of biomass used for fuel, and levy a carbon tax. He suggested as a target for NJ that 22% of our energy needs will be satisfied from renewable sources by 2021.
To help communities measure their effectiveness in combating global warming, his institute has developed a set of measurable goals, indicators, and actions. However, he pointed out that one of the problems with design of energy policy is that actions that lead to desired outcomes can also have unintended negative consequences. For instance, Brazil gets 50% of its fuel from biofuels but this decreases the food supply available to the population.
The afternoon presentation was made by Fred Profeta, a former mayor of Maplewood, NJ, and currently Deputy Mayor of Maplewood for the Environment. As he put it, “For me, the environment is the number one issue.” But he was optimistic that American ingenuity that is able to put a man on the moon will also be able to tamp down the “doomsday scenario” of the environmental movement.
He pointed out that Maplewood is known as a “green” community and has made great strides in that direction. It has been expensive but it has earned Maplewood a significant dividend. According to the realtors, residential properties in Maplewood have maintained their value despite the drop elsewhere.
He described the new police station as the first public green building in NJ. It has solar panels on the roof which, together with its tinted windows, reduces electricity consumption by 20% . The building also has sensors which turn on the light and respond to motion and to an increase in the amount of CO2 when additional people enter the room. The savings from these strategies more than pay for the extra investments.
In addition, Mr Profeta has persuaded the community to commit to hybrid cars and he hopes that the entire municipal fleet will be green by 2015. Also, the community has instituted jitney service for commuters during rush hours, which, they calculate, will take 300 cars off the roads.
Mr. Profeta pointed out that we cannot yet evaluate all the effects of global warming. For instance, what will happen to our local trees and plants that cannot migrate north when local temperatures rise? What will happen to the ski industry in VT and NH when the snow disappears?
On the other hand, we can try to buy local products to reduce emissions from trucks that transport goods, and could benefit local producers. We can encourage the use of fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescents, build bike paths and place racks where they will provide an incentive to use bicycles instead of automobiles. We can also plant trees, a good CO2 sink and forbid the destruction of trees above a certain height unless they are deceased.
One of the main ways to encourage “green” is to develop the tool kits, such as new books in the “Dummies” series, e.g. “Environment for Dummies,” help to establish criteria to measure whether efforts have been successful, and provide incentives to encourage effective strategies. As Mr. Profeta said, “This is our job. Can we do it? Sure but we need everyone to get aboard.”
-Ellen Handler
