By: centraljersey.com
LAWRENCE – Pam Mount attributes her interest in the environment and sustainability to the years she spent as a Girl Scout, growing up in Northampton, Mass., and later – during her high school years – in Princeton.
Or maybe it was the three years that she and her husband, Gary Mount, spent on the one-mile-by one-and-a-half-mile island of Satawal in the Pacific Ocean when they volunteered to serve in the Peace Corps in the 1960s.
Regardless, Ms. Mount was pleased and honored to have received the Leadership Award, bestowed by Sustainable Jersey, at the New Jersey State League of Municipalities’ annual convention in Atlantic City last month.
Sustainable Jersey is a certification program for municipalities that want to go green, control costs and save money, and take steps to sustain their quality of life over the long term, according to its website, www.SustainableJersey.com.
"I just feel it’s the Girl Scout way, which is to leave things better than when you found it," she said. "I certainly think everyone is the product of their upbringing. You try to live life true to your basic core (values)."
Ms. Mount’s interest in nature was renewed when she and her husband signed up to serve in the Peace Corps in the 1960s. They were sent to the small island in the Pacific Ocean, where Ms. Mount was a teacher and her husband was in charge of helping the islanders learn more about agriculture.
"What we learned is that basically, the whole culture (of Satawal) lived in rhythm with the environment," she said. "It was the whole idea of being a self-reliant community. You can’t live on your own. You have to live as a part of the community."
And when the Mounts purchased Terhune Orchards, the knowledge that the environment was critical to their success was reinforced, she said. It is important to take care of the soil so the apple trees grow, for example.
The Mounts also were early supporters of the state’s farmland preservation program, which allows farmers to sell of the development rights to the land and ensures that the land continues to be farmed. Land without development rights has no value to a developer.
"Gary did not want to be completely vulnerable to the top bidder (to purchase the farm for development)," she said. "If you plant a tree, you want to be sure it will have a chance to produce (fruit) for 100 years."
But Ms. Mount knew very little about the sustainability movement, until a chance conversation with Titus Avenue resident Ralph Copleman at a Lawrence Township Community Foundation meeting several years ago. They began the discussion while they were waiting for other LTCF members to arrive.
That conversation led to two meetings in 2005 at The Lawrenceville School. It was decided to create a nonprofit organization to encourage sustainable living, and that’s how Sustainable Lawrence was formed. It was incorporated in late 2005.
Ms. Mount also was instrumental in helping to form Sustainable Jersey and its certification program. She is vice chairman of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities’ Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future, out of which grew Sustainable Jersey. She serves on Township Council and is a former mayor.
And Ms. Mount is one of the founding members of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail, which is a 20-mile-long bicycle and pedestrian path that links Lawrence and Hopewell townships.
Ms. Mount said she has always "shied away" from becoming involved in statewide issues, preferring to focus on her own community. It has been more rewarding to be involved in the local community, she said.
"But when Sustainable Jersey happened, it made sense (to focus on statewide issues). It’s a bit of a departure for me, but I am really driven by the way we have to change how we are living on this planet," she said.
"I am very honored (to have won the Leadership Award)," Ms. Mount said. "There are a lot of people (who have shown leadership) and I am sure it will go on to be awarded to many other people."