Tag Archives: education

April green & sustainable actions, training, events

Calendar treeCheck back for updates throughout the month.

Green Drinks 3 meets in Newark, Paterson-Clifton and Hackensack

Elly faceGreen Drinks are events – not a type of drink. They’re informal gatherings where people get together and chat about green and sustainable issues in our communities. Everyone is welcome and there is no admission fee. Pay for the food and drinks you order at the restaurants where we meet.
Green Drinks Newark 1st Mondays
(01 April 2013 @ 7-9pm)

Rio Rodizio
1034 McCarter Highway, Newark, NJ
Green Drinks Hackensack 2nd Mondays
(08 April 2013 @ 7-9pm)

Choripan Restaurant
76 Main Street (corner of Bergen St. aka Bridge St.), Hackensack, NJ
Green Drinks Paterson-Clifton
3rd Tuesday Lunch (16 April 2013 12-1:30pm)

Sultan Restaurant
429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton, NJ

Bergen CC NAACP screens Half the Sky

Half the SkyTuesday 29 April @ 11:45am
Bergen Community College
400 Paramus Road, Paramus NJ
Room A-104 in the Student Center
Read about it

27th Annual Stand Up for New Jersey Conference: Fighting for Clean Water, Air & Land

Stand Up for New Jersey! Learn about the most pressing environmental issues facing New Jersey in our exciting workshop sessions. The day also includes coffee and continental breakfast, environmental awards, lunch and a wine & cheese reception.
Saturday 06 April 2013 @ 8:30am-5pm
Georgian Court University
900 Lakewood Avenue, Lakewood Township, NJ
Tickets only $25 if you register now!

Featured Speaker: State Senator Barbara Buono

Workshop Sessions

  • Occupy Main Street, Occupy State Street with Tracy Carluccio of Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Clean Water Action’s national board chair David Tykulsker.
  • Climate Change Hits Home with Dr. Laumbach, MD of EOHSI and Dr. Kennish, PhD of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University.
  • We All Live Downstream with Brick and Jackson Township Municipal Utilities Authority.
  • NJ’s Green Energy Future with Stephanie McClellan of the Atlantic Wind Connection.
  • Sustainable Water & Green Infrastructure with Meishka Mitchell from the Camden SMART Initiative and Cooper Robertson’s Earl Jackson, IV and William Kenworthey.
  • Zero Waste with zero waste consultant Priscilla Hayes and Laura Petit of New Paltz, NY.
  • “Just Say No” Environmental Justice workshop with Henry Rose of the NJ Environmental Justice Alliance and Dylan Hawkins, Senator Weinberg’s legislative director.
  • Sustainability Tour of Georgian Court University (GCU) with GCU’s Director of Sustainability Dr. Louise Wootton and the Bus for Progress.

Statewide immigration reform rally at Jersey City State Park

Brothers and sisters Come with us, join us, and send this message to the President and the Congress “that we are united workers fighting for a Humane Immigration Reform that keeps family together! There will be a march on Liberty State Park in Jersey City to make our collective voices heard, this means that all New Jersey will be participating. Working People of NJ, from East and West, around North and South, all will be marching to demand that President Obama and Congress act quickly and pass a fair immigration reform package this year. We must make a single voice and stay strong to win this fight.

Saturday 06 April 2013 @ 12pm
Jersey City State Park
Directions by public transportation:
PATH subway to Pavonia/Newport or Hoboken.
Then take the Light Rail to Liberty State Park.

For more information
Elizabeth NJ: Rev. Ramon Collazo 908 209 0335 | Maritsa Loaiza 848 203 4310
Morristown area: Morris County Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce 973 818 2666
SEIU NY & NJ

Strategy meeting for actions to stop Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Join Food and Water Watch Bergen/Passaic Group and our allies for the next meeting to stop the Tennessee Gas Pipeline! We’ll be discussing important campaign updates, planning next steps and continuing to build our local movement for a livable future. New members are always welcome!
Sunday 07 April 3:30-5pm
St. Mary’s Church, 25 Pompton Ave, Pompton Lakes NJ (Ground Floor of the School Building)
Who: You, your family, friends and neighbors!

For more info contact Matt Smith, North Jersey Organizer of Food & Water Watch 201.321.1967

Film: 
The Highlands Rediscovered

Presented by the New Jersey Highlands Coalition and the League of Women Voters of Ridgewood
Thursday 11 April 2013 @ 7-8:30pm
Lester Stable, Maple Avenue, Ridgewood
Free and open to the public!

This informative 30-minute documentary, shot beautifully in high-definition, explains the history of the Highlands region and why it became the source of clean drinking water for more than half of New Jersey’s population. The film shows how the ecological functions of the Highlands forests cleanse rain as it percolates into underground aquifers and ultimately, out into surface reservoirs. It also speaks about the challenges the Highlands region faces to retain forests so essential to the state’s health under great pressure to develop the land.
 
Following the film, Erica Van Auken and Elliott Ruga of the NJ Highlands Coalition will host an audience discussion and answer questions. For more information contact: Erica Van Auken 973-588-7190 or erica@njhighlandscoalition.org

State controlled school district advocates hold public meeting

The attack on public education is serious locally,statewide and nationally. Until we all come together and work collectively to stop school closings and gain local control and elect individuals who’s number one agenda is to strengthen and empower the community. Come and join Newark, Jersey City, Paterson and Camden along with other cities. Together we can and will make a change. Light refreshments served.
Saturday 13 April 13 2013 @ 10am-1pm
Africana Institute or Essex County College
303 University Avenue, Newark, New Jersey 07102

RSVP to Sharon Smith Ssmith@Pulsenj.org or Johnnie Lattner Jlattner@Pulsenj.org

Kokokidz Latino Youth Peer Empowerment Group Meetings

Kokokidz meets once or twice a month in north Jersey. If you’re a Latino student junior high school through college age, Kokokidz will help empower you to make positive change happen in your school and community. Young Latinos support each other in the areas of career, education, applying for scholarships, civic engagement, sustainability practices and cultural preservation. We’re also seeking mentors who can interact with Kokokidz members and provide career and education advice.
Kokokidz General Meeting
Sunday 14 April 2013 @ 6-8pm

Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street, Hackensack, NJ
The group will choose an Earth Day activity and look at scholarships, summer internships.
Kokokidz Meets with Mentors and Gets A Finance Lesson
Sunday 28 April 2013 @ 6-8pm

Location TBA
Dennis Bedoya of 1st Jersey Federal Credit Union will give a half-hour presentation about money management and why credit unions can do more for our communities than traditional banks. Mentors will get to know the Kokokidz members.

Kokokidz Contacts
Ivan Wei 201-688-0036 @ivanwei
Luis Ariel Lopez Wei @lalwei

Mentors Needed!
If you’re available as an adult mentor please contact our advisor Kimi Wei via Facebook or Twitter to chat about volunteer opportunities.

Community Service We are looking at different types of community service opportunities. If you have a cause or event you’d like Kokokidz to engage with please share details.

Kokokidz is helping with the movement to Close New Jersey schools on Martin Luther King Jr. Day https://www.facebook.com/pages/Close-NJ-Schools-on-MLK-Jr-Day/276810379041778

Film: Food, Inc. in Paterson

Watch Food, Inc. and learn if Big Ag is putting profits over people
Wednesday 17 April 2013 @ 5pm
Paterson Free Public Library
250 Broadway, Paterson NJ

Sustainable & green training/events – March

Check back for updates.
Calendar treeNewark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency – Apply through 3/15
The Newark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency is an innovative Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program offered at Montclair State University in partnership with the Newark Public Schools. Participants will receive free tuition and a $26,000 stipend. A 3-year teaching commitment is required.

Residents enroll in full-time graduate coursework each semester (summer sessions included) and participate in summer internships with community based organizations in the city of Newark. Applications are currently being accepted for Secondary level (K-12) subject matter certification in mathematics or a field of science. Final Application Deadline extended till Friday, March 15, 2013.

More at http://greenwei.com/blog/free-tuition-stipend-for-msu-masters-urban-teacher-residency/

Is Our Water Safe To Drink?
Public Hearing in East Orange sponsored by Councilwoman Alicia Holman
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 6:30 – 8:30pm
CITY HALL, 44 CITY HALL PLAZA, E. ORANGE
https://www.facebook.com/events/557057327645425/

Newark Kids Count 2013 Forum
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 9:30am – 2:30pm
The Paul Robeson Campus Center
350 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Newark
https://www.facebook.com/events/386113894821185/#

Using an interactive format, we will explore issues that threaten Newark children and identify concrete next steps that we, as a community, can take. We will focus on two broad areas – child and maternal health and early literacy. Special guests include Newark’s Branch Brook Elementary Principal Joseph Cullen, whose students achieve well above city and state averages on reading tests. The event is free, but you must register to attend. A complimentary breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Register at http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8716/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=71612. For more information contact Reggie Dorsey at rdorsey@acnj.org

NJ Land Conservation Rally
One-day educational conference about preserving
New Jersey’s open space and farmland
Saturday, March 9, 2013 9am – 5pm
NJ Institute of Technology
Newark, New Jersey

Online registration will close at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 5. Registration fee will remain at $80 per person for a full day of educational & inspiring workshops, breakfast, lunch and social reception. Register online today! Registration will also be accepted at the door.

If you live or work in Newark, Rally scholarships are available, thanks to Victoria Foundation. To become eligible: download, fill out and return registration form.

1st Annual Patricia Harris Parent Summit
Saturday, March 9, 2013 9am – 5pm
John F. Kennedy High School
Paterson NJ

Citywide Parent Summit to continue Pat’s legacy of effective parental involvement and engagement in school improvement.
https://www.facebook.com/events/481929115201697/

Kokokidz Latino Youth Peer Empowerment Group Meeting
Sunday, March 10, 2013 5-6:30pm
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street
Hackensack, NJ
https://www.facebook.com/events/427537817332045/

Young Latinos support each other in the areas of career, education, applying for scholarships, civic engagement, sustainability practices and cultural preservation in their communities. Kokokidz meets once or twice a month in Hackensack or another North Jersey town. If you’re a Latino student junior high school through college age, Kokokidz will help you be more effective in your life and learn to make positive change happen in your school and community.

Contacts:
Ivan Wei 201-688-0036 @ivanwei
Luis Ariel Lopez Wei @lalwei

If you’re available as an adult mentor please contact our advisor Kimi Wei on Facebook or Twitter to discuss volunteer opportunities.

Community Service: We are looking at different types of community service opportunities. If you have a cause or event you’d like us to engage with please share details.

Kokokidz is currently helping with the movement to Close New Jersey schools on Martin Luther King Jr. Day https://www.facebook.com/pages/Close-NJ-Schools-on-MLK-Jr-Day/276810379041778

Climate Action Meeting at Cook College
Sunday, March 10 7pm
Cook Campus Center (Rutgers)
59 Biel Road, Room 202, A & B
New Brunswick, NJ

The meeting will begin with a video chat featuring Bill McKibben of 350.org, followed by a discussion of what actions to do next on the local, state and national levels. Come with ideas and bring friends. The momentum depends on each one of us to act now! For a short capsule of the February 17 Forward on Climate rally event go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=anXE46utpo8

Sponsored by Melanie McDermott, Initiative on Climate and Society, Rutgers University and Tina Weishaus, Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War

Transgenic foods, GMOs and clear labelling

I don’t know a whole lot of transgenic foods, but I think there’s something wrong, anyway, in adding salmon fish genes to say, whatever plant my tortilla chips are produced from in order to make those plants not as susceptible to some disease or pest, or more likely to grow in a certain way or at a certain rate of speed. I don’t want to argue with people who say, “You can’t impede commerce and every part of the world has to be somebody’s commercial oyster.” Those people are wrong, but I don’t care to argue with them.

However, I do think that we, the people, should know when weird stuff is implanted in the foods we consume thinking we’re eating something we’re familiar with and that’s naturally derived. I am so not alone in my thinking. By the way, transgenic and GMO are terms for the same practice – modifying the genes of one form of life with a gene from a different life form. U-T San Diego reports,

In a nationwide telephone poll conducted in October 2010 by Thomson Reuters and National Public Radio, 93 percent said if a food has been genetically engineered or has genetically engineered ingredients, it should say so on its label — a number that has been consistent since genetically modified crops were introduced. FDA guidelines say that food that contains genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, does not have to say so and can still be labeled “all natural.”

In California, voters in November will decide on a ballot initiative requiring the labeling of such foods.

In October, an online campaign called Just Label It began collecting signatures and comments on a petition to the FDA, requesting rules similar to those in the European Union, Japan, China, India and Australia, stating what transgenic food is in the package.

and Natural Society’s Feb 1 2012 article shows Vermont is taking the GMO labeling issue seriously as well.

Vermont has taken the initiative against Monsanto and other biotechnology corporations in launching new legislation that would require the labeling of products containing genetically modified ingredients. The bill, known as the ‘VT Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act’, was introduced to the Vermont House of Representatives by Representative Kate Webb of Shelburne on February 1st, 2012. The bill would require the labeling of not only products filled entirely with GMOs, but also for those partially created using GM ingredients.

My friend Lenny Thomas attributes the death of honey bees to genetically modified crops. What do you think, New Jersey, should we get a movement like this started in our state?