Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (Credit: Adam Elmquist)

Want to help support the Great Swamp Watershed Association AND imbibe a few cocktails at the same time?  Meet Great Swamptails.  On Wednesday night, join other Great Swamp supporters at a happy hour at George & Martha’s in Morristown.  For just $20 at the door, you can enjoy 2 cocktails (or “swamptails” as they’re calling them…yum!) and hors d’oeuvres from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.  Head over after work and play some trivia, win a give-away and meet like-minded folks within the community.  If you’re planning to attend, you can pre-register, but there’s no need.  You’re welcome to pay at the door.  Hope to see you there!

If you’ve heard of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI – or better known as “Reggie”), you might know that NJ pulled out of the 10 state cap-and-trade program last year.  Governor Christie deemed the program a failure and felt the state’s energy plan would  be better without the commitments to cap greenhouse gas emissions required by the program.

Matt Polsky, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Enterprise and a former sustainability leader at the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, suggests that RGGI is good for NJ, and wants to get the state back into the program.  His argument, made in a paper called The RGGI Bill: Returning to Where We Started, and Building on That: Part One,  boils down to three main points:

1. Climate change policy had bi-partisan support in NJ, and bringing back RGGI shows bi-partisan support on this issue is possible.
2. It’s a business friendly program.  A cap-and-trade program provides a market mechanism that gives companies the incentive to invest in sustainable technologies and innovation.  Knowing that they may, at some point, have to pay for their carbon emissions puts a fire under companies to reduce their energy usage or find cleaner sources.
3. It can change energy producers’ behavior.  Just as it provides an incentive for businesses, putting a price on carbon encourages producers to invest in their renewable energy portfolio and upgrade to more efficient technologies.

For a more in-depth argument, check out Polksy’s two-part series.  It’s written in a very accessible way and is only four pages long.

This weekend, Kean University is hosting the Garden State Green Fest!   Here’s the information I have on the event:

The 5th Annual GARDEN STATE GREENFEST: NJ’s Largest Environmental Celebration Harwood Arena, Kean University, Union, NJ Friday, March 23: 9am-2pm Saturday, March 24: 9am-5pm Special Guests: Robert Kennedy, Jr., Science Bob Pflugfelder (seen on Live with Regis and Kelly, Live with Jimmy Kimmel, and The Dr. Oz Show), Leslie Reichert (Author of “The Joy of Green Cleaning”). Green Exhibitors & Speakers, Upcycling Crafts, Special Environmental Programming, Workshops,Kids Musical Preformance, and book reading/ book signing, Kids GECKO Area College Students (with student ID) and youth 18 and under FREE ADMISSION Seniors (62+) FREE ADMISSION on FRIDAY Tickets $7 in advance and $10 at the door For more information about exhibiting, volunteering, and ticket sales go to: www.gardenstategreenfest.com

Also this weekend, help Grow It Green Morristown prepare the beds at the Urban Farm at Lafayette for planting!  Their work day is on Sunday, March 25.

Those of you waiting with bated breath for another Morristown Green Drinks have probably passed out by now, but fear not!  Another exciting evening of drinks, conversation and conservation await us all.  Join us on Thursday, March 1st from 6 – 9 p.m. at the Morristown Hyatt and meet with other sustainability-minded folks in the community.  There will be complimentary hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar and free on-site parking (note: walking encouraged whenever possible).  Beyond that, you’ll have the chance to learn more about Morristown’s re-certification with Sustainable Jersey, and those interested in particular subject areas can volunteer to join the various Action Teams (i.e. Energy & Climate Change, Local Economies & Food, etc.).  I’ll be there helping out, and I hope to get the chance to mingle with all of you!

Most people involved in the sustainability scene have heard of sustainable business visionary Ray Anderson, who sadly passed away last year.  Anderson was known for revolutionizing the carpeting business into a closed-loop system.  Rather than the traditional route, where carpeting is laid in one large piece, stapled down and later torn up and landfilled, Anderson developed carpet tiles where individual, worn-out tiles could be replaced without needing a whole new carpet.  At the end of the tile’s life, the nylon fibers (top) could be separated from the rubber backing (bottom), and both could be recycled into new carpet tiles.  Sheer genius!

So when Hurricane Irene hit us hard last summer and took our basement carpeting with her, I knew we had to take this opportunity to at least consider installing FLOR carpet tiles.  We investigated several other options for the basement, including outdoor carpet, rubber tiles, ceramic tiles, paint and cork, keeping in mind that the basement could flood again someday.  While there were several cheaper options, watching the FLOR how-to installations, I was able to convince T that if our basement ever flooded again, we could lift up the tiles, let them dry and then re-install them.  It proved to be a powerful argument, and we finally decided to order 3 different sample FLOR tiles.

Seeing them in person was really helpful, and gave us a better handle on which would work best for our needs.  We chose the “Checkered Past” tile because it was the thickest and provided the most cushion, and it also more closely matched the  existing carpeting on the stairs.

Once the order was placed, the tiles arrived in about a dozen pizza-like boxes via UPS.  They literally invaded our kitchen for a few weeks until we could get our act together.  We bought enough for our space and extras in case any are ruined by…say… red wine (?) and need to be replaced.

T went to work finding the center of the room and devising a pattern in which to lay the tiles directly on the cement basement floor, sticking them all together with the signature FLOR dots.  Bit by bit, over the course of 3 afternoons, the carpet came into place.  The tiles around the outside of the room were easy to cut (exacto knife), and any tile scraps we have can be sent back to FLOR.  I’m happy to say that our room is completely transformed, and I think it looks fantastic!  Take a look at the progression, and please excuse the mess!

I don’t work for FLOR, I don’t get commission, and we certainly didn’t get a free carpet, but I did want to share my experience with the product.  I encourage all of you to see if FLOR is an option for you the next time you’re looking for carpeting or area rugs.  We’re now brainstorming different ways we can use the tiles to warm up some of our hardwood floors!

I’m leaving town for the week, but there are several upcoming events I’d like you all to enjoy in my absence!  They are:

• Winter’s Day on the Farm – February 5: Fosterfield’s will show you what life was like on a farm in the 1920s during the winter months.  12-4 p.m.
• Slow Food Winter Market – February 11: This event is a great way to stock up on locally-produced foods during the winter months.  Numerous farms and artisans will be exhibiting and selling their goods.  Don’t miss it! 12-4 p.m. at the Morristown High School. $3 admission.
• Snowshoe Clinic and Hike – February 11: Schiff Nature Preserve and BaseCamp Adventure in Basking Ridge are teaming up to present a snowshoe hike – snow or no snow!  Let’s hope for snow.  8:30-11:30 a.m.
• Gasland Screening – February 12: The Bernardsville Green Team is showing Gasland, The Movie, on February 12 at 2 p.m. at the Bernardsville Library.  Sign-up required; email bernardsvillegoesgreen@gmail.com.

I’ve been using my free time lately to organize a few closets around the house and streamline everything.  The most daunting of all was the closet where I’ve been keeping old gift bags, wrapping paper (brown paper scraps) and other shipping materials in the hopes that they find a new purpose someday.  I found one box full of bubble-wrap and two more full of packing peanuts (the dreaded classic stryofoam variety).  Not wanting to throw them out previously, I tucked them away until I found a new use for them.

Well, I guess I don’t ship things as much as I had anticipated, and I no longer wanted to hold onto these items.  Before throwing them in the trash, I figured I’d google search “recycling packing peanuts.”  Here I found an unexpected and interesting website called the Plastic Loose Fill Council.  On this site is a searchable database of different places you can drop-off old packing materials for re-use.  As it turns out, Morris County is lucky enough to have a place that participates!

Pack Ship ‘n More in Madison will not only take your old styrofoam peanuts and bubble wrap, but they’ll also accept old ink and toner cartridges, batteries and old cell phones.  By bringing my packing stuff there, I no longer have to hold onto the clutter, but I also don’t have to worry about throwing it all in the garbage.  Ok, so it’s not life-altering, but it sure made me happy, and I just had to share!

For those interested in learning more about Green Vision, the nonprofit I covered on the blog recently, buy a copy of the Daily Record today.  You’ll find my story featured on the front page!  It’s the article titled ‘Green Transformers.’

Daily Record

We’ll have to wait another week for the online version!

The hardest part about recycling with Green Vision was finding the place.

Earlier today, I set off to visit Green Vision, a non-profit organization that trains and employs adults and adolescents with autism to disassemble electronic waste for recycling.  A savvy ecoMotown reader had sent me an email to let me know about the organization.  It sounded like a worthy cause, and I was in need of a place to take my defunct printer and router, broken camera and archaic laptop (the thing is at least 3 inches thick).

Exhibit A

I loaded up  my car and headed north on Speedwell Avenue and then east onto E. Hanover Ave.  My destination: 60 E. Hanover Avenue (in between Speedwell and Ridgedale).  I definitely missed the turn in to the facility, which I found out later, is not an uncommon occurrence for first-time visitors.  After a little misguided adventure in a corporate park, I found Green Vision, Inc.  I unloaded the items from my car, and the team there wrote me a receipt for my tax-deductible contribution.  It was that easy.

Tim Butler, President of Green Vision, and Kevin Davidowich, Vice President, in their workroom.

Founders Tim Butler and Kevin Davidowich were both teachers at The Allegro School, working with children and adolescents with autism, when Tim came up with the idea to combine his love of kids, tools and recycling into what became Green Vision.  The organization provides training and part-time employment for adolescents and adults with autism, most of whom learn basic tools skills at The Allegro School.  After operating within the school for several years, Green Vision moved into its own facility on E. Hanover Avenue in January 2011.  Since opening, they’ve recycled nearly 300,000 pounds of materials.

Green Vision accepts materials from companies, municipalities and individuals alike, and the business model that Tim created assumes that everything they receive is junk.  Because their employees don’t possess refurbishing skills, newer (yet broken) computers are often given to partner companies to repair for resale.  The facility, which has 36 paid employees, recycles 99.8% of the components of the equipment it receives (with the other .2% being things like foam or treated wood for speakers).

When I asked where most of the materials go, Tim said the precious metals and wires stay on the East Coast, and the plastics are sent to China (to a recycling facility monitored by the US Environmental Protection Agency).  Because they can’t disassemble CRT monitors (older, box-like TVs and computer monitors), they have to send them to a special facility in Ohio for recycling – at a fee of $5 per monitor.  For that reason, they charge $5 for each big box monitor/TV they accept.  Otherwise, all recycling is free, and they’ll take anything with a plug.  If your item is old enough, it could end up in their unofficial museum (I was told my laptop was a contender).

Throwing your e-waste in with your municipal trash in NJ is now illegal.  Green Vision provides a sustainable option for recycling your items, while addressing environmental, social and economic needs within the community.  The organization will be at an electronics and clothing waste drive at the VFW hall in Morris Plains this Sunday, December 18 from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at an event supporting Operation Homefront.  You can also drop off goods at Green Vision Inc. at 60 E. Hanover Ave. in Morris Plains, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Wires fresh from disassembly.

The last time I wrote about my chickens, I shared the story of how I learned that a hen is not a hen when it is a rooster.  Please read my tale of stupidity here.   Since last September my six hens were reduced to three when I let them forage outside of their run for a few too many hours, and then from three to two as the run was again penetrated by a raccoon.  Sadly, I think the two remaining hens were suffering from PTSD and spent very little time outside as a result.  They were not laying regularly, and we found ourselves asking other chicken farmers for eggs.  Something had to be done, so I started to look for more pullets.

After unsuccessfully scouring Craigslist for a little while, I called the farm where I purchased my original hens.  They said they still had plenty of birds that were about 16 weeks old (they start laying at around 18-20 weeks), which was perfect.  A friend of mine was actually looking for more birds as well so we headed down there together.  I got four more birds and he got ten.  We each got one Black Star hen and the rest were all Rhode Island Reds.

It was dark by the time we got back, which, as I have read, is a good time to introduce new chickens into a flock.  The older chickens will be more accepting if they wake up with the new chickens as opposed to throwing them together during the day.  Of course my two older birds  were establishing the new pecking order the next morning.  This is a noisy and painful looking ordeal.  Lots of chasing, feather pulling, and general bullying which makes you feel bad for the new birds.  I tried removing the two older birds for a while to calm them down and added a head of cabbage for distraction, but I think it was mostly time that calmed down the bullying.  It was also helpful that there were four new hens to the existing two hens.  The new ones weren’t outnumbered, and the bullying was spread out among the four.

Sadly what happens next is another lesson in backyard farming: sometimes you get sick chickens.  Unfortunately the owner of the farm where we got the new birds was not in when we picked up the chickens.  She later told my friend and me that we should have quarantined them and given them antibiotic before adding them to an existing flock (my flock of two, and my friend’s flock of 25 birds).  We  both had introduced the new birds directly to our flocks only to realize later that they had given our flocks a bug.

The birds displayed a range of symptoms including lethargy, head shaking, snotty beaks, watery eyes, and in the extreme case of one of my hens rattled breathing and gaping for air.  My friend feared it was gapeworm, a type of parasite that causes difficulty breathing due to the worms hanging out in the bird’s airway.  That usually kills them, but could be treated with a dewormer.  My birds displayed very little gaping, and I thought they had a cold.  I was able to talk to a vet friend of mine who told me he would give me an antibiotic that would help clear up their upper respiratory infection.

Well, it was probably a couple days too late as I ended up losing one of my older birds.  She was the hen who had the worst symptoms, though I thought she had turned the corner and was getting better.  The hens are all recovering nicely with the help of the antibiotics they are getting through their water.  They are all outside all day eating scratch and showing healthy appetites.

Another lesson learned and, unlike my friend who lost almost a third of his flock, I only lost one bird.  Thankfully the owner of the farm said she would replace the birds that my friend had lost.  While we weren’t too keen on using antibiotic at first, it was the only way we saw to keep them alive.  Aside from learning a valuable lesson, the other good thing that came out of the situation is that while the older bird is still at the top of the pecking order, she is much more relaxed about her bullying.  The hens are all getting along very well.  Here they are on their outdoor perch enjoying a sunny December day.  Now hopefully they get to laying some eggs.

Ladies enjoying the sunshine