Despite the sobering news about global climate change and other environmental problems in the news today, I’m optimistic – in part because of what’s happening here in Middletown.
Recently, Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger joined more than 600 other mayors in the United States and 76 mayors in New Jersey in a pledge to reduce heat-trapping global warming pollution in their cities. By signing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, Mayor Scharfenberger has taken the first step towards making Middletown a “cool” city.
The good news is that the commonsense energy solutions that we need to put into place in Middletown are up and running using the mayor’s Green Initiative. His green initiative puts him in the ranks of other forward-thinking mayors around the nation. The city of Charlotte, N.C., for example, is converting its municipal fleet to hybrid cars. Salt Lake City is upgrading its traffic lights with more efficient bulbs, saving 500 tons of heat trapping carbon dioxide, and over $50,000 a year on the city’s energy bill. In Twin Falls, Idaho, local officials are making the city’s 11 schools more energy efficient and saving taxpayers $3.5 million in energy costs.
Cool cities are also on the cutting edge when it comes to investing in renewable energy. The local utility in Waverly, Iowa, is paying farmers to install wind turbines on their land.
Fort Collins, Colo., has committed to meeting 15 percent of its energy needs with renewables by 2017, mainly with wind power, resulting in nearly $7 million in total cost savings over 20 years.
In our state, redevelopment of New Jersey Transit stations across the state has improved their appearance, convenience, and use. The transit station in Maplewood has a concierge service to take care of errands for commuters and ensure a safe and friendly transit environment.
And in Middletown we have a good start with the mayor’s green initiative. Middletown will be creating a baseline to quantify the emissions output of Middletown municipal buildings. Dr. Patrick Hossay, professor of environmental and political science at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, will be performing energy audits of the municipal buildings to see where we can save energy, tax dollars and carbon dioxide emissions.
To meet the green initiative goals and derive the full benefits of the mayor’s agreement, we need to support Mayor Scharfenberger in his efforts to help the environment and save the taxpayers money. We can and should – as the green initiative says – “green” the city’s vehicle fleets with hybrid and other cleaner engines, modernize city building with money saving energy efficiency technology, and invest in clean and safe renewable energy.
As more cities take action, literally re-energizing our nation, you can help us do our part in Middletown to solve global warming one city at a time.
For more information, see the Sierra Club’s Web site at www.coolcities.us.
Faith Teitelbaum
Long Branch N.J. Sierra Club Cool Cities co-chair