Sustainable Ewing Green Team

Keep the Green Theme on St. Paddy’s Day Weekend at the Mercer Green Fest

March 8, 2017March 10, 2017Leave a comment

The Mercer Green Fest – Promoting Green Living for Mercer County Families (latest updates)

The Mercer County Sustainability Coalition suggests that you keep the green theme on St. Paddy’s Day weekend and attend the Mercer Green Fest on Saturday, March 18^th! The Ewing Green Team invites all Ewing residents to join them at the 11^th annual green fair in the Mercer County area, the Mercer Green Fest, formerly called the Living Local Expo! The festival will be at Rider University’s Student Recreation Center located on the main campus in Lawrence Township. It is free and open to the public and will run from 11 am until 4 pm. The event will feature live entertainment, local sustainable businesses, sustainable community groups, and a farmer’s market, local fresh food at our lunch café, demonstrations, and speakers throughout the day. There will be fun for the whole family!

More than 70 eco-friendly businesses and organizations will be offering information and incentives to help you go green and save money. Visitors can learn about a wide variety of sustainability issues and exciting community projects such as bike trails, food waste recycling programs, energy efficiency, electric cars, health, exercise & wellness, and science fair projects from area schools. Don’t’ miss the Ewing schools, represented by the Ewing High Robotics Club and the Antheil Garden Club.

Entertainment

The event will feature entertainment for the whole family:

Miss Amy, Ewing’s own GRAMMY Nominated Artist Author/Educator, musician and Fitness Pro, will rock and roll with the kids at this year’s Festival from 11am -12 noon.
Eyes of the Wild: Traveling Zoo will take the stage from 1 pm – 2 pm and introduce children of all ages to a selection of exotic and touchable animals.
The Grand Falloons will put on their recycling and a science show with juggling, magic, comedy, song and dance from 2 pm – 3 pm.

Local Food

The local farmers will be on hand and have a great array of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as flowers, plants, herbs, and artisan food products for sale. A family friendly lunch celebrating locally grown and seasonal ingredients will also be available for purchase all day.

Speakers

This year’s Green Fest is a celebration of what we can do locally to advance our neighborhoods’ environmental quality and sustainability. You can help reduce the negative impacts of global climate change by acting locally in how you use energy in your home and business. This will also save you money in your energy bills over the long run. This year’s speaker program will highlight energy sustainability as well as provide a couple of thoughtful additions on climate change and fracking.

Saving money and energy at home through New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program.
Princeton Air will present on Home Energy Audits that can give you a plan of what to address first in your home or business to be more energy efficient
Three presentations on going solar for your home or business.
The science of Climate Change
The Consequences of Fracking.

We encourage Green Fest visitors to attend these short presentations and stop off at a table to learn more. Then turn these suggestions into actions!

The Arts

Art is an important part of a sustainable community! Everyone can have fun with our Art all Day area designing creative art and crafts. Art Has No Boundaries, a Ewing art organization dedicated to promoting the arts in our community, will insure a great time for all at the crafts table.

Giveaways

The Rider University Schimek Family Fitness Center will be open and some lucky visitor will get a free year membership!

Bring your whole family, meet your neighbors, enjoy the afternoon and learn how Mercer County area residents and businesses are building sustainable communities. For more information about the Mercer Green Fest go to mercergreenfest.org.

The Mercer Green Fest is organized by the Mercer Sustainability Coalition, a partnership of green teams, environmental commissions and sustainability organizations in Mercer County. The Ewing Green Team is a founding member. For more information contact the Ewing Green Team at ewinggreenteam@gmail.com.

Date: Saturday, March 18
Time: 11 am – 4 pm
Location: Rider University Student Recreation Center
Cost: Free and Open to the public

Mercer Green Fest – Fun for the Whole Family!

March 1, 2017March 2, 2017Leave a comment

The annual Mercer Green Fest, formerly called The Living Local Expo, invites all Mercer residents to join us at the fair and have fun going green! The festival will be at Rider University’s Student Recreation Center located on the main campus in Lawrence Township. It is Free and Open to the Public and will run from 11 am until 4 pm. The event will feature live entertainment, local sustainable businesses, sustainable community groups, a farmer’s market, local fresh food at our lunch café, demonstrations, and speakers throughout the day. There will be fun for the whole family!

The Rider University Schimek Family Fitness Center will be open and some lucky visitor will get a free year membership! Learn more about the Fitness Center.

The event will feature entertainment for the whole family:

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 from 11am -12 noon.
The Green Planet Band recycle rock n’ roll one song at a time from 12 pm – 1 pm.
Eyes of the Wild: Traveling Zoo will take the stage from 1 pm – 2 pm.
The Grand Falloons will put on their recycling and a science show with juggling, magic, comedy, song and dance from 2 pm – 3 pm.
Solar Man will arrive and provide interactive fun experimenting with solar energy between 3 pm – 4 pm.

The local farmers will have a great array of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as flowers, plants, herbs, and artisan food products for sale.

A family friendly lunch celebrating locally grown and seasonal ingredients will be available for purchase all day.

Art is an important part of a sustainable community! Everyone can have fun with our Art all Day area, designing creative art and crafts.

Time is running out, but it is not too late to secure a spot in our Green Fest through March 10 by contacting Teresita Bastides-Heron of Sustainable Lawrence at (609) 882-6367 or heron45sustainablelawrence@gmail.com or Joanne Mullowney of the Ewing Green Team at (609) 883-0862 or ewinggreenteam@gmail.com.

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.

Save the Date – Mercer Green Fest – March 18th

February 26, 2017February 26, 2017Leave a comment

Ewing Community Gardens Update

February 15, 2017Leave a comment

Spring is not far off and it’s time to start making plans for the 2017 garden year. The Ewing Community Garden Association will meet Wednesday, February 15, 7:00 p.m. at the Ewing Township Senior and Community Center, 999 Lower Ferry Road.

The agenda will include:

Review of the Good Garden Neighbor guidelines
Update or re-approve garden bylaws
Elect Garden Council members
Review of the plot sign-up process for existing gardeners

Registration Details for the 2017 Gardening Season

The 2017 Registration for Garden Plots at the Ewing Community Gardens on Whitehead Road Extension Will Begin in March in the

Office of the Clerk (2nd floor)
2 Jake Garzio Drive
Ewing, NJ 08628

Plots are $5.00 each and you can purchase up to two plots.

Registration Dates

March 1, 2017 Registration will Open for Previous Year Plot Holders

March 15, 2017 Registration will Open for New Applicants

Owners of Plots in 2016 will have an opportunity to reserve their same plots from the prior year.

If there are still plots available on April 15th, 2017 you may purchase additional plot(s). Please call the clerk’s office at (609) 538-7608 to find out if more plots are available.

Requirements

You must be present to buy your plot(s).

Ewing Township residents only (proof of residency is required) No Exceptions!!!

The official opening of the gardens is weather determined and announced later in the season.

For information about the Ewing Community Gardens Association email ewingcommunitygardens@gmail.com. Look for the upcoming ad in the March Ewing Observer.

2016 EGT Annual Report

February 10, 2017February 10, 2017Leave a comment

Hot off the presses – the Ewing Green Team’s 2016 Annual Report has just been published! 2016 was a year of milestone accomplishments and recognition for Ewing Township, its Green Team and sustainability partners. Highlights include:

Sustainable Jersey SILVER certification,
a Sustainability Champion award for medium-sized municipalities,
a $20k grant for Emerald Ash Borer remediation efforts to make significant headway against a regional and national threat to one of the signature tree species of the region, and finally,
our Association of NJ Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) Environmental Achievement award.

These accomplishments reflect the efforts of the team to continue to build on previous years’ efforts and plans. The Ewing Green Team’s Strategic Plan, created during the 2014-2105 Community Visioning process, guided the team in completing those recommended actions for our Sustainable Jersey recertification effort in the first half of 2016. In 2013, Ewing amassed 185 points for Bronze level certification. In 2016, we completed 32 of the rigorous Sustainable Jersey program sustainability actions for a total of 460 points, for Silver level certification. Ewing’s actions are documented in Ewing’s Sustainable Jersey Profile and 2016 Silver Certification Report on Sustainable Jersey’s website.

The Ewing Green Team continues to actively participate in regional sustainability efforts thru the Mercer County Sustainability Coalition, a county-wide coalition that aims to address environmental concerns that span municipal borders. Ewing has been a central figure in the formation and institutionalization of the organization.

None of this would have been possible without the active support of Mayor Bert Steinmann and Township Business Administrator Jim McManimon who have been key partners in helping us attain our goals. Township Council has worked to help us reach our goals throughout this and previous years and our 2016 Green Team council member Sarah Steward was an invaluable part of the Green Team’s recertification efforts. Councilwoman Jennifer Keyes-Maloney also provided aid in completing a number of difficult actions. Township Planner Chuck Latini was responsible for documenting actions worth 75 points, including hard-to-get actions such as Brownfields and Transit Oriented Development Supportive Zoning. Recreation Department Director Ted Forst also worked with us to complete a number of important projects.

We also owe great thanks to numerous other boards, committees and organizations in town with whom we partnered to complete activities including, but not limited to, the Ewing Environmental Commission, the Arts Commission, the Planning Board, the Ewing Township Historic Preservation Society, the Girl Scouts, the TCNJ Bonner Community Scholars, and the West Trenton Garden Club. 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.