Sustainable practices called for in forum

Prep school hosts The Greening of Lawrence.

By: Lea Kahn
   Lawrence Township has always been a progressive community in preserving its natural assets. It is one of the first towns in Mercer County to participate in the farmland preservation program, and it also has been named a Tree City USA.
   So it’s not much of a leap that Lawrence could follow in the footsteps of many towns and cities in Sweden — and some communities in this country — that have adopted sustainable practices, such as using wind turbines to generate energy or building schools with nontoxic materials.
   That was the theme of a special conference held at The Lawrenceville School on Saturday. The Greening of Lawrence Township was co-sponsored by the Lawrence Township Community Foundation and the preparatory school.
   Following a presentation by keynote speaker Sarah James, who is a Cambridge, Mass., based planning consultant, the audience sampled four workshops on topics directed toward homeowners, community government, business and education.
   An advocate of sustainable communities, Ms. James urged the audience of about 100 people to adopt the concept in Lawrence. She created The Natural Step system, which helps guide communities seeking to be environmentally friendly places to live and work.
   Sustainable communities are ones that have taken steps to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, extracted underground metals and minerals, for example. They also have reduced their dependence on chemicals and other manufactured substances that accumulate in nature.
   Ms. James said she became aware of the concept of sustainable communities in the 1990s. Three years ago, she visited several communities in Sweden that have adopted sustainable practices — a visit that was so exciting that she wrote a book about it, she said.
   At the global level, there are several troubling trends, Ms. James said Saturday. The earth has lost about half of its forest cover. In about 25 years, two-thirds of the world will have trouble getting adequate water. There are the problems of soil erosion and species extinction. Consumption of natural resources is growing at an alarming rate, she said.
   But small towns and large cities alike in Sweden have taken on the challenge of preserving the environment, Ms. James said. For example, one Swedish town has replaced its oil-fired boilers in municipal plants with plants fueled with wood chips or pellets that are the byproduct of the local lumber industry.
   Another Swedish city built an elementary school that does not contain plastics or synthetics, she said. It was built entirely with natural materials. It has reported an improvement in the health of students, staff and teachers, she added.
   And another city features an eco-park, Ms. James said. The four buildings on the site — including a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant, a car dealership and a gasoline service station — feature sod roofs that reduce stormwater drainage issues, and nuts and bolts rather than nails that allow for easier disassembly.
   Some communities in the United States have taken a cue, and adopted environmentally friendly practices. The city of Hull, Mass., operates its own energy department and uses windmills to operate turbines that create electricity, saving $60,000 annually in fossil fuel costs, Ms. James said.
   In Detroit, Mich., a group of citizens saved a building that was about to be demolished and created affordable housing units in it, she said. The concrete and other building materials would have made their way into a landfill — but the building was saved and it is being used for another purpose.
   The common thread that runs through all of those initiatives is, where does the community want to be in five years and how is it going to get there, Ms. James said. One key prerequisite is that it requires broad community involvement.
   Creating a green community calls for the involvement of municipal officials and citizens alike, she said. If they are involved, the conversion from a conventional community to one that adopts sustainability can occur, she said.
   While it may seem like a daunting challenge to adopt the concept of sustainability, it’s just a matter of involving municipal officials, she said. If they are involved, they are more likely to implement steps to create a green community.
   "Why are the Swedish communities valid models for American communities," Ms. James said. "Life in Sweden is different, but there is something in common. No matter what the government says, it is up to every town to adopt and implement its own plan.
   "I believe we can do this. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible. I have seen it done," Ms. James told the group before the members broke up to attend the workshop sessions.
   In the government workshop, township planning consultant Philip Caton explained that sustainability permeates all government — from the manner in which the Department of Public Works handles road salt to the town’s land use policy.
   At the state level, New Jersey approved legislation that allows for the transfer of development rights, Mr. Caton said. This means that one town can transfer the number of units that would have been built on a parcel or parcels to another town. The land in the first town would be permanently preserved as farmland.
   Lawrence Township is ahead of the curve, he said. In the last 10 years, it has preserved 1,800 acres of land —much of it in the northern part of the township, but some acreage has been preserved in the southern end of the town, he said.
   Anne Demarais and Elaine Mills of the Lawrence Township Greenway Committee offered a slide show presentation on portions of the Greenway Trail that meanders through the township.
   Ms. Demarais and Ms. Mills also outlined future projects, such as a trail through the Drexel Woods property, off Drexel Avenue near Notre Dame High School, and a trail that would begin near Colonial Lake and terminate at the Lawrence Senior Center.
   Gray Russell, who is the environmental coordinator for Montclair, discussed his community’s efforts to become a sustainable community — starting with its adoption of a mandatory recycling program in 1978.
   More recently, Montclair’s Environmental Commission wrote a Sustainable Montclair Planning Guide, which municipal officials use in decision-making, operations and purchases, Mr. Russell said.
   The educational workshop focused on steps being taken by The Lawrenceville School and the Lawrence public school district. The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey also made a presentation.
   Josh Hahn of The Lawrenceville School said it is important to plant the seeds for a sustainable community in the schools. For example, students followed the path of some items from the school to the dump. The school negotiated a contract with vendors to reduce the amount of packaging in which packages arrive on campus, he said.
   Michael Winka, who is vice president of the township Board of Education, said that while the state government has mandated that all new school construction must be designed to be energy efficient, sometimes those efforts are stymied.
   When the school district put new roofs on some of its buildings, black roofing material was chosen rather than white material, Mr. Winka said. The black material has a 25-year warranty, but the white material has a 15-year warranty — even though the white roofing material would be more energy efficient because it reflects heat in the summer, he said.
   David Azer, a Lawrence High School sophomore and a member of the school’s Environmental Club, said the students want to encourage their classmates to recycle. Club members are working to educate their classmates to recycle paper in special buckets in the classroom, and not to indiscriminately discard garbage in the recycling cans.
   Mikey Azzara, the outreach coordinator for NOFA-NJ, outlined the organic farming programs that he has implemented in the school district and at the Lawrence Neighborhood Service Center on Eggerts Crossing Road. Students grow their own vegetables and then prepare meals, using the produce.