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NATIONAL TEACH-IN ON GLOBAL WARMING at TCNJ
2/5/2009

TCNJ will be hosting a wide variety of activities on campus as part of the National Teach-in on Global Warming on Thursday, February 5, 2009. The schedule of events for the day follows.

All members of the TCNJ community and the public are invited. More details will be posted to http://www.tcnj.edu/climate/nationalteach.html as they are available. The National Teach-In website is: http://www.nationalteachin.org/.

Times, Activities, and Locations

10 a.m. – 4 p.m. National Teach-In Day Video. ½ hour video shown in multiple venues around campus:  School of Business monitors, Brower Student Center lobbies and residence hall lounges.  Also on TCNJ Cable channel #20

11:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. “Green Fair” in Brower Student Center atrium : green careers, compact fluorescent light bulb distribution, greening IT, recycling at TCNJ, Environmental Studies Concentration, President’s Climate Commitment Committee, Poster sessions and others.

11:30 a.m.– 1:30 p.m. Plate Scrape in Eickhoff , Eickhoff Dining Hall

11:30 a.m. – 12 noon. Plenary Speaker: NJ DEP Commissioner Mark Mauriello, Brower Student Center 202E

12:15 – 2 p.m. Faculty Panel: “Climate Change : Where do we go from here?” Mort Winston (Philosophy), Nate Magee (Physics), Marty Bierbaum (MLUC), Matt Bender (History), Brower Student Center BSC 202E.

12:15 -1 p.m. “Introducing Sustainable Jersey: A Better Tomorrow, One Community at a Time,” Donna Drewes, MLUC, Brower Student Center 210

2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Demonstration test drives in Smart ForTwo Cars, Brower Student Center parking lot 2A

7 p.m. – 9 p.m. TRashion Show: Teams of students will make outfits from trash and compete to win prizes, Forcina Hall 134

Meetings Planned for Stakeholder Input Sought on Global Warming Draft
Report

Stakeholder input on the draft of the Global Warming Response Act
Recommendation Report is critical, and to facilitate this, the State is
conducting six stakeholder meetings between Jan. 6 and Jan. 16, as
listed below. To attend, RSVP by Dec. 31, 2008 via this e-mail:
rsvp-ghg@dep.state.nj.us. Please identify the meeting(s) you plan to
attend. More information and agendas will be distributed before the
meetings. Please share this information with those who might be
interested in participating.

Meeting Schedule

Green Buildings, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the DEP
Public Hearing, First floor, 401 East State Street, Trenton.

Industry, Electric Generation Units, Waste and Water, Wednesday, Jan. 7,
2009 from 9 a.m. to noon, Department of Personnel multi-purpose room,
first floor, 44 South Clinton Avenue, Trenton.

Terrestrial Sequestration and Agriculture, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009 from 9
a.m. to noon, DEP Public Hearing Room.

Transportation (vehicles. fuels and infrastructure), Monday, Jan. 12,
2009 from 9 a.m. to noon, DEP Public Hearing Room.

Land Use/Transportation Planning. Wed., Jan. 14, 2009 from 1 to 4 p.m.,
DOT multi-purpose room, first floor, 1035 Parkway Avenue in Trenton.

Non-CO2 Highly Warming Gases, Friday, Jan. 16, 2009 from 9 a.m. noon,
DEP Public Hearing Room.

To receive more EMP news and announcements, please join the listerv at:
http://nj.gov/emp/home/subscribe.html

New Jersey Energy Efficiency Strategy Portfolio - NEEP Draft Report
Posted for Comment

NEEP will provide an overview of its draft report, “An Energy Efficiency
Strategy for New Jersey: Achieving the Energy Master Plan 2020 Goals,”
at the Energy Master Plan stakeholder meeting scheduled for Thursday,
November 20th from 10:00 to 3:00 in the BPU Newark hearing room. The
report indicates that NJ can offset projected growth in energy and
capacity and other fuels by 2020 through an aggressive initiative that
includes both policy and program.  NEEP is accepting comments on this
initial draft report until December 8. 

You may download this report from NEEP’s website by cutting and pasting
the following link into your browser:
<http://www.neep.org/newsroom/NJreport.pdf>

[It's possible that download traffic on this 5.75 MB PDF file could
generate an error message.  If you get an error message, please wait a
bit and attempt to download again.]

NEEP is accepting comments on the draft report through Monday, December
8, 2008 at noon.  Please send comments to SCoakley@neep.org and be sure
to copy CStanley@neep.org and energymasterplan@bpu.state.nj.us.   NEEP’s
final report is due mid-December.

The Board of Public Utilities has its next EE Strategy Development Meeting on October 30th, at 10 am.

The next presentation by the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership(NEEP) on the development of strategy for the Energy Master Plan will be held on Oct. 30 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 at the offices of the  NJ Board of Public Utilities in Newark (Directions: <http://www.nj.gov/bpu/about/directions/>) instead of on Oct. 7 as originally scheduled. To help formulate the strategies for EE, the BPU  has engaged NEEP to work with the BPU and stakeholders. For information or to find out how to participate in this public process, contact the EMP team.    The call-in number: 1- 877-455-8688.

This was added as our featured event. It will be the major event for the fall sponsored by green31.net and we encourage everyone to get the word out, register and attend. Updates will be posted to the green31.net home page.

Responding to Climate Change in New Jersey

October 28, 2008, 6:30-9:00 pm
At The College of New Jersey’s Library Auditorium 

A panel of speakers from government, utilities and businesses, education, and community groups will present projects that are making a difference in the State’s energy sustainability. Confirmed groups/speakers as of September 19th, include:

 Kenny Esser, Governor Corzine’s Energy Policy Advisor

 John Cusack, Executive Director of The New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability

Pam Mount, Sustainable Lawrence

 Atlantic County Utilities Authority

Additional speakers from business and community groups will be added.

A networking reception will follow the presentations.

The event is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is requested. Register online at www.green31.net

 

Last year, I found out that my hometown of Paramus has been a member of Tree City, USA for 32 years, the longest in New Jersey.  My county freeholder informed me that Paramus and other Tree City members strive to mantain greenery within the growing urban/suburbanization of the town.  Online, Tree City, USA lists the benefits of becoming a member:   http://www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA/benefits.cfm. 

Mercer County has similarly joined Tree City, USA with towns like Princeton and Hopewell leading the way in this area.  It seems quite simple to join.  In fact, there are 4 standards that a town must uphold to become a member of Tree City, USA.

1. Your city must have a Tree Board or Forestry Department .
2. Your city must have a local tree ordinance.
3. Your city must spend $2 per capita.
4. Your city must promote Arbor Day.  

Unfortunately, there are many towns in Mercer County that have not joined Tree City.  Even more, bordering towns like Ewing have ignored this simple step to commit to sustainability and greening.  It seems that with the know-how from bordering towns, Mercer County should strive to push for Tree City it the surrounding areas.  Visit http://www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA/about.cfm for more information.