Green City

The Raritan River is a resource that belongs completely to New Jersey, with a 1200-mile watershed. It covers 100 municipalities and seven counties, serving over one million people.

In spite of this, there was no joint planning by the many governments involved, and there were no common goals for the river until the Sustainable Raritan River Initiative began. Individual groups did take on their own projects, but no one looked at regional planning.

Next Tuesday evening, May 10th from 6 PM to 9 PM at Highland Park High School, spring brings the third annual joint event celebrating healthy living in Highland Park.

The combined personal / environmental health fair -- dubbed 'Healthy People, Healthy Planet 2011' -- will include home energy savings, healthy cooking, dancing, bicycle repair, massage, edible gardens, preventive health screenings, and more.

That was then, this is now.

 

It is a common refrain from politicians explaining a shift in positions, but it essentially summed up an appeals court ruling affirming the diversion of $158 million in clean energy funds to plug a hole in the current state budget by the Christie administration and the legislature.

 

As the growing year winds down and the last of the green tomatoes are being pickled and put up, the Highland Park Edible School Gardens Project is celebrating their first year of growing food and minds with volunteer recognition and continuing garden-based activities.

It may have seemed a long time coming to some, but the "Sprout Spot" at Irving Primary School, the "Lettuce Grow" garden at Bartle Elementary, and the Highland Park Middle & High School's "Garden of Eatin'" are in full swing. Teachers, students and the community are enjoying the fruits (or veggies!) of their labor.

At the middle school/high school garden, Dara Botvinick often holds class surrounded by the lettuce, spinach, peas, beans, nasturtium, and tomato and squash plants. "I really enjoy the impact of the garden on the students,” says Botvinick.

Religious groups have always provided guidance on a range of issues, but historically, the environment hasn’t been one of them. Global warming seems to have changed all that, as leaders and followers of faith traditions contemplate our impact on the planet and on ourselves, and how we might change it.

While the Reverend Billy and the Church of LIfe after Shopping have been taking their environmental campaigns to the streets, with guerrilla theater protesting consumer culture, Reverend Fletcher Harper, executive director of Green Faith, has taken it to the Internet. Early this winter, as Congress considered the American Clean Energy and Security Act and the world geared up for the Copenhagen summit, the national faith-based organization hosted a webcast on "Green Jobs, Climate Justice."