CARDINAL BLOG
The Bridgewater Township, NJ Eco-Blast Fair returns this year and will be held on Saturday May 7th from 11am to 3pm. Numerous vendors, refreshments, raffles, and kids activities will take place. This is a great way to support local vendors, and more importantly, have an opportunity to see what sustainability means and how you're community supports these initiatives!!
Governor Christie is tapping into the Clean Energy Fund to balance the New Jersey Budget, with NJ Transit being the big winner by receiving $62 million of the $112 million in the Fund. Apparently this is nothing new, but here are a couple of quick notes about the fund…as a refresher:
When looking at the trends for New Jersey from 2004-2014, our reliance on Coal has dropped significantly from 19% to 4%, but what about our renewable energy? It’s held steady at 2% over ten years? A number of factors have played into this quagmire (e.g. politically), but really folks, we can do better than that.
Here are some industry updates / opinions from Renewable Energy World.
Stay tuned for future updates on this topic. We hope that you find these posts informative, and relatively useful, and your feedback is always welcome. For further information please don't hesitate to contact us at tfrancis@cardinallsrp.com or www.cardinalLSRP.com.
As we enter the final weekend before Christmas and mad-dash for last minute gifts, it’s an ideal time to stress the value in shopping locally. There are many well documented financial benefits to our communities, and to us individually, but there are environmental impacts as well, including:
· Requiring less transportation
· Less sprawl
· Less congestion
· Reduced habitat loss and pollution
Many of us will still use on-line sources as well, but have you ever considered what the impacts are to get that package to your front door? That travel required could amount to thousands of miles and the obvious increased use of fossil fuels (that’s a topic for a different day), and increased emissions. Let’s also not forget how increased traffic, and those poorly maintained vehicles (e.g. leaking oil pans or radiators), are able to affect that that nearby stream.
Several townships and municipalities across the nation, including Bridgewater Township in New Jersey, have recently initiated programs to give property tax credits to homeowners for shopping locally at participating businesses. Kudos to those folks! So for this holiday season, and into 2016, let’s hope more towns join the movement which will ultimately strengthen the economic base of our local communities, and reduce the impact(s) on our environment.
*photo courtesy of Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.
Congratulations to all of this year's winners, and more importantly for going above and beyond the call to protect our environment and futures. The winners include:
Clean Air: Salem Community College, Carneys Point
Water Resources: Raritan Headwaters Association, Bedminster
Healthy Ecosystems: American Littoral Society, Highlands
Innovative Technology: Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, Pennington
Land Conservation: Bloomfield Township
Healthy and Sustainable Business: Wyndham Worldwide, Parsippany
Healthy and Sustainable Communities: Long Beach Township
Environmental Education (Adult-led): Galloway Township Public Schools – Mr. B’s Backyard Classroom
Environmental Education (Youth-led): Connor Señor, Glenwood
Environmentalist of the Year: Wall Township Environmental Advisory Committee
For full details on the Governor's awards, check out the NJDEP's post.
©2015 Cardinal Environmental Consulting, LLC
