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NGM Exclusive: Habitat Map Goes Global & Launches New Website
Photo Credit: habitatmap.com
Habitat Map was started in 2006 by Brooklyn activists documenting the links between the built environment of New York City neighborhoods and the health and well being of the people who live, work, and play in these neighborhoods. While Habitat Map got its start in Brooklyn, our platform is now open to participants and contributions from around the globe. Today marks the official launch of our redesigned community mapping and social networking website. So wherever you are, Habitat Map invites you to sign on, get involved, and join our campaign for livable cities and healthy communities.
The Record: Christie consultant blasts Highlands Council as 'disaster' to landowners, tax-starved towns
Eileen Swan and Mayor Art Ondish Highlands Council
Photo credit: NJslom.org
A report by Governor Christie’s transition team calls the Highlands Council “a disaster on multiple levels” — and recommends either drastically reducing the water-protection agency’s powers over local zoning, or eliminating it altogether.The report says the Highlands Council has added “extra layers of government bureaucracy” that have “punished landowners” in the 893,000-acre region, which supplies water to more than 5 million New Jersey residents. Those “extra layers” of environmental regulation threaten to strangle future economic development and are unnecessary because the state Department of Environmental Protection already oversees water quality, the report says.
Inquirer: Judge OKs Delaware River dredging
Chesapeake and Delaware entrance
Photo Credit: answers.com
It's a go for deepening the Delaware River shipping channel an additional 5 feet.U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson in Wilmington yesterday denied Delaware's request to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from starting the 102.5-mile deepening, in a stretch of water off Delaware.Robinson rejected Delaware's arguments that if the Corps proceeded without a state permit, Delaware would suffer significant and irreparable environmental harm. She also rejected a state's-rights argument, the notion that Delaware would be harmed if its role in regulating waters off its shore were tossed aside. The court, while allowing the deepening to 45 feet to start immediately from the Chesapeake and Delaware Channel to a point just south of Wilmington, indicated she expected the Corps to work closely with neighboring states - Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania - on future stages of the project.
Triplepundit.com: Six Ways the NFL Is Greening Super Bowl XLIV
Photo credit: triplepundit.com
Sure, companies like Audi and GE like to take advantage of the Super Bowl’s huge viewing audience to promote their latest “green” message. Even Pepsi threw its hat in the game by saying it wasn’t going to advertise in this year’s game. But, just how sustainable is the event itself? Is the NFL taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of the Super Bowl? What is the league’s view of sustainability, in general?
APP: N.J. DEP comes under fire in Christie administration report
Chris Christie
Photo credit: Asbury Park Press
The state Department of Environmental Protection takes a beating in a series of state government critiques released today by the Christie administration, which will use the 19 reports to formulate its vision of a revamped Trenton in the coming weeks DEP regulations are mentioned with disapproval in a number of transition task force committee reports — such as a review of the Department of Agriculture, which mentions how that agency's farming constituency feels besieged by DEP demands. The review of environmental policies and enforcement is itself withering.
Dodge Blog: Nominate Your Volunteers for 2010 Governor's Jefferson Awards
Photo credit:grdodge.org
Most non-profits could not exist without their volunteers. If you’re a New Jersey non-profit – or simply know someone who selflessly gives to their communities – here’s a wonderful way to recognize and honor volunteers: the 2010 New Jersey State Governor’s Jefferson Awards.
The Star-Ledger: N.J. environmental groups urge Gov. Christie to expand use of renewable energy
South Plainfield solar panels
Photo credit: Star Ledger
Several environmental groups urged Gov. Chris Christie today to expand New Jersey’s use of "renewable energy," such as windmills and solar panels, calling his transition team’s report on energy "troubling."Environment New Jersey, the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club and the Eastern Environmental Law Center condemned a transition team recommendation last week to switch the Office of Clean Energy from control by the Board of Public Utilities to the Economic Development Authority. The transition team questioned whether the program’s $269 million annual budget, derived from surcharges on ratepayers, is "being used most effectively."
Tribune: Health food store owner follows father's footsteps
Photo credit: agriculture.gov.ie
Jack Lapidus grew up in the health food business.Lapidus, of Iselin, said his father, chiropractor Irving Lapidus, opened a natural food store in Westfield in the late 1940s or early 1950s.That store existed until about eight years ago, when his father retired and that store was closed.Jack Lapidus said that's when he decided to expand his Jack's Health Food Country at the Inman Grove shopping center. The store was formerly known as Inman Health Foods.
Press of Atlantic City: Nature may help kids with ADHD
Photo credit: gailnagele.com
Nature writers, myself included, have long promoted a walk in the wild to clear the mind and lift the spirits. Having found something valuable - and free - we wish to make others aware of the pleasant, relaxing effect of immersing oneself in the world of plants and animals. But we probably have another motive, too. If more people use and enjoy natural settings, the constituency for preserving them gets bigger and more effective. We accept as a given that the natural experience is beneficial - many have said so, going back to the romantic poets and philosophers of ancient Greece. But what evidence is there?
Star-Ledger: N.J. Highlands Council stresses environmental preservation to Gov. Chris Christie
Fall foliage at Monksville Resevoir West Milford
Photo Credit: Star Ledger
The state Highlands Council wants to engage in constructive dialogue with new Gov. Chris Christie on how to best preserve the environmentally sensitive North Jersey region while also protecting the interests of its land owners, officials said today.Council members at the board’s first meeting of 2010 today said they hope the Christie Administration pays attention to Highlands issues. They want him to quickly fill board vacancies, decides the fate of holdover members, name a council chairman and work towards eliminating bureaucratic red tape that hampers timely council action.
