2019 Mercer Green Fest Highlights

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Get into green living this coming weekend at the Mercer Green Fest. More than 100 ecofriendly businesses, organizations, and schools will be offering information and incentives to help you go green and save money at the Mercer Green Fest on Saturday March 16, 2019 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. in the Rider University Student Recreation Center, which is located on the main campus, 2083 Lawrenceville Rd, Lawrenceville, NJ.

The Mercer Green Fest, which promotes green living for Mercer County families, is presented by Mercer County Sustainability Coalition. All Mercer county residents are invited to join in on having fun going green! Bring the whole family and invite your neighbors.

The fair is free and open to the public, rain or shine.  Visitors can learn about a wide variety of sustainability issues and exciting community projects such as:

  • energy efficiency
  • largest electric car display in NJ so that you can inform your next car purchase.
  • health, exercise, and wellness
  • walking and bike trails
  • food waste recycling programs
  • science fair and robotics projects from area schools and groups

Featured Family Entertainment

  • Ewing’s own, Miss Amy, our local GRAMMY Nominated Artist Author/Educator, musician and Fitness Pro, will rock and roll with the kids at this year’s Festival
  • Eyes of the Wild: Traveling Zoo will once again introduce the kids to the natural world with their traveling wildlife show.
  • Lyle Rowling, owner of Advanced Solar, AKA Solar Man will show kids how solar energy is made with a solar panel.

Local Food

An indoor farmers market will feature a great variety of locally produced fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and pickles as well as flowers, plants, herbs, and artisan food products. A family friendly lunch celebrating locally grown and seasonal ingredients from Terhune Orchards will be available for purchase all day.

The Mercer Green Fest is organized by the partners of the Mercer Sustainability Coalition: the Ewing Green Team, the Hopewell Valley Green Team, Lawrence Environmental Resources & Sustainability Green Advisory Committee (ERSGAC), Sustainable Lawrence, Sustainable Princeton, the West Windsor Environmental Commission, and the Mercer County Office of Economic Development and Sustainability.

Wild About Ewing to Host Part II of Our Gardening for Wildlife Series – Gardens with Buzz

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Wild About Ewing! is extremely excited to announce that they will sponsor Part II of an introductory series to the National Wildlife Federation’s Community Wildlife Habitat Project and how gardeners in Ewing are providing much needed wildlife habitat while getting credit for both themselves and their community at the Ewing Branch Library, 61 Scotch Road, Ewing on Monday, March 25th at 7 pm.   Mary Anne Borge, a local naturalist, writer, photographer and educator, will tell you what you can you do to attract birds to your garden and which plants are best to entice bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects to make their homes with you.  She will also share maintenance techniques that are the most hospitable for these garden visitors and residents.

Mary Anne Borge is a naturalist, writer, photographer, and educator. She is the Associate Editor for Butterfly Gardener magazine, a publication of the North American Butterfly Association; an instructor and naturalist at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope, Pennsylvania; a Pennsylvania Master Naturalist, and the team leader for Lambertville Goes Wild. Her photographs have been featured in numerous publications.  She shares her love of nature through her writing and photography at the-natural-web.org.

Part 1 of the series, entitled Gardening for Wildlife in the Suburban Landscape, was presented to the community on February 25th and we were thrilled to see so many interested Ewing gardeners.  We hope that this will be start of a great gardening season for wildlife this spring and for the future!

To learn more about gardening for wildlife and the Ewing Community Wildlife Habitat Project (or Wild About Ewing!) please go to ewingwildlifegardens.com

Date:  Monday, March 25th
Time: 7pm
Location: Ewing Branch Library, 61 Scotch Road
Cost: Free and open to the public

2018 Annual Sustainability Report

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The Ewing Green Team announces that their 2018 Annual Sustainability Report is now available for viewing on the Green Team’s website www.ewinggreenteam.org.

The Ewing Green Team was established in 2009 to inspire and engage those in our community who are passionate about environmental issues with the goal of fostering sustainable behaviors for the benefit of ourselves and future generations.  The team also has the primary responsibility for pursuing Sustainable Jersey certification for Ewing Township.

This report reflects the accomplishments of the Team in building upon the successes of previous years in fulfilling the community mandates in our 2014/2015 Strategic Plan and working the Sustainable Jersey program.   Since our last Green Team report we have focused our efforts in five key areas:  Community Building, Education and Outreach, Energy Conservation, Natural Resources, and Waste Management (recycling).

In 2018 the Green Team continued its efforts to increase citizen engagement through the publication of its new Welcome Guide and community events promoting sustainability such as the annual Scarecrow Contest (recycled materials and the Arts) and Ewing Fall Spin (health, bike safety and trails).   Education and outreach on sustainability topics remains a high priority for the GT and we held numerous outreach events throughout the year, as well as conducting electronic outreach via regular and frequent updates via Facebook and the web.

Energy generation and consumption is perhaps the most crucial issue to be addressed regarding global climate change and the Green Team worked to assist local businesses in reducing energy consumption through educational programming about grant opportunities available to aid them in making needed energy improvements such as the Direct Install program.  In addition, we have continued our work in recognizing businesses in town that exemplify the best in sustainable business practices.

The Green Team has a particularly robust partnership with the Ewing Environmental Commission to affect changes to the natural environment.  We coordinate actions to protect and increase the tree canopy, promote sustainable landscaping practices to protect biodiversity and vanishing wildlife and beautify our community.  We also support the Ewing Community Gardens.  Finally, our last major area of concentration is Recycling Education.  The GT spent considerable resources in educating and outreach to residents.  Our Trash Toss events enabled one-on-one education.  Flyers, such as Trash Talk and the Recycle Right campaign on plastic bags and pizza boxes were aimed at the two biggest recycling mistakes.  We also continue to update our Ewing Recycles website

We extend our thanks to Mayor Steinmann and Business Administrator McManimon who have been key partners in helping us attain our goals, and Township Council for their support.  We look forward to continuing our work with our partners in the Township and regionally in the coming year and to including more individuals, businesses, and community-based organizations in our efforts and for the future.

Wild About Ewing! Gardening for Wildlife in the Suburban Landscape

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Wild About Ewing! will sponsor an introduction to the National Wildlife Federation’s Community Wildlife Habitat Project and how gardeners in Ewing are providing much needed wildlife habitat while getting credit for both themselves and their community at the Mercer County Library, Ewing Branch, 61 Scotch Road, Ewing on Monday, February 25th at 7 pm.   Joanne Mullowney, Chair of the Ewing Green Team and lifetime gardener, and Glenn Steinberg, Chair of the English Department at TCNJ and long-term wildlife gardener, will introduce the National Wildlife Federation’s program, explain how to work the program to certify your garden, as well as how Ewing as a community is working the program.

Why We Need to Bring Nature Home to Our Own Backyards

Sixty percent of the world’s wildlife populations have been lost in just over the last forty years. SIXTY percent!  That is the estimate from the latest Living Planet Report[1] published recently by the World Wildlife Fund.  We have also personally taken note of the loss of local wildlife. Where are the boundless flocks of migrating birds that filled the autumn skies of our youth, the omnipresent lightning bugs that lit up our backyard summer evenings, the bug-splattered windshields from our driving trips, the butterflies, the bees, the bats…?

Habitat loss from suburban expansion and industrial agriculture are key. Suburban neighborhoods have exchanged healthy native habitats for vast stretches of manicured lawns which contribute little of ecological value.  Industrial agriculture also plays a heavy role in unsustainable loss of habitat while also promoting synthetic chemicals and monocropping. We depend upon wildlife for critical ecosystem services and we wonder if we are destroying our planet’ s ability to support our way of life.

Joanne Mullowney states: “As a life-long gardener, my garden has always brought me a great deal of enjoyment and peace.  Since I’ve started “re-wildling” my garden, I’ve realized what a sterile environment I’ve provided in the past.   Gardening for wildlife has given me a truer enjoyment of the natural world and created a deeper connection to nature.”

How You Can Help

If you too are alarmed about the extent of this crisis and wonder what you can do to ensure that your children and grandchildren will be able enjoy the natural world as we did, we invite you to follow the example of members of Wild About Ewing, volunteers from Ewing’s Green Team and Environmental Commission  who work to promote wider use of native plants and sustainable gardening practices, key components required to certify Ewing as a Community Wildlife Habitat recognized by the National Wildlife Federation.  To become certified in the program, Ewing needs to accumulate 250 points in certified gardens from private properties, public spaces and schools.  Each garden should support our native birds, insects, small mammals… by providing the essential life sustaining requirements of food, water, cover and places to raise young.

Members of Wild About Ewing are taking action for vanishing wildlife species and all Ewing property owners are encouraged to “bring nature home” on their own properties and join them in making a difference.

Wild About Ewing is conducting a public outreach campaign to property owners in Ewing to encourage them and assist them in certifying their properties.  More information is available on the group’s website, http://ewingwildlifegardens.com/ and the Ewing Green Team and Environmental Commission’s Facebook pages.

[1] Living Planet Report – 2018: Aiming Higher. Grooten, M. and Almond, R.E.A.(Eds). World Wildlife Federation, Gland, Switzerland. 2018.