Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

The Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) supports emerging leaders concerned about sustainable development in New Jersey. Starting in April, they are offering a six-session training course called “Leading Green” which will focus on a variety of public policy issues, including sustainable development, preserving open space, brownfields remediation, stormwater management, air quality, and other environmental health issues.

The course includes an overnight retreat, Saturday sessions, and field trips. For a complete course schedule and application visit their website, or call (973) 539-7547.

Applications must be postmarked by Saturday, March 21.

We were excited to receive the news that the grand prize winner of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s contest “Beneath the Waves: Protecting Marine Wildlife” is a New Jersey teacher.

The judges agreed that Kathy Pina, a 4th grade teacher from the Jackson Avenue School in Hackensack, did a a fantastic job integrating IFAW’s “Beneath the Waves” curriculum into her own classroom while also encouraging her entire school to become more environmentally conscious. As the winner, she gets to take an Earthwatch Expedition to Matura Beach, Trinidad to study and help preserve the leatherback, green, and hawksbill turtles that journey there from all over the Atlantic Ocean to nest.

The “Beneath the Waves” contest is a part of IFAW’s “Animal Action Week” to raise aware for improving animal welfare and conservation around the globe. The International Fund for Animal Welfare, a Dodge grantee, started four decades ago as a group of concerned citizens fighting the commercial hunting of white coat harp seals in eastern Canada. Since then, IFAW has grown to a worldwide animal welfare organization with more than a million contributors and offices around the world.

Photo courtesy Marcio Scatrut

Hey! Our Biowall was featured in Sunday’s Star-Ledger, and online with this accompanying video.

Since 2005, Green Depot, a Brooklyn-based supplier of environmentally-friendly and sustainable building products and services, has been offering ways to make green living accessible and affordable to all. This week, they opened their flagship retail store on the Bowery in New York City, where you can find cleaning products, light fixtures, rugs, books, and an entire section for your green nursery, among many other items.

What makes products “green” according to Green Depot? Their five criteria are: improves indoor air quality, conserves resources, stimulates the local economy, saves energy, and is manufactured responsibly. Green Depot developed an icon system to give shoppers a better understanding of what they’re buying:

Don’t live near New York City? No worries. Green Depot has all of their products on their beautiful and comprehensive website, in addition to showrooms in Brooklyn, Newark, Philadelphia, Boston, Greenport, Chicago, Albany (2009) and Newark, DE (2009). They also offer services to design and building professionals, and tips for how to green the rooms in your house.

To visit the Green Depot flagship store:

222 Bowery
New York, NY 10012
212.226.0444

Photo courtesy Apartment Therapy.

For poetry fans who can make it to Fanwood tonight, the Dodge Foundation’s longtime Poetry Director and now consultant Jim Haba will be reading his poetry at the Patricia Kuran Arts Center starting at 8 p.m., as part of the Carriage House Poetry Series.

The Kuran Arts Center is on Watson Road, adjacent to Fanwood Borough Hall, and the reading is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow the featured performance.

For information call (908) 889-7223 or (908) 889-5298.

For online directions and information, visit:
www.carriagehousepoetryseries.blogspot.com