****PEQ Workshops and Other Events coming to a Neighborhood Near You ...Save the Dates! 

                --Energy Savings Workshops October 19^th & 26^th, and November 9^th

                --Free Tour of Eastampton Sustainable Apartment Complex, October 23^rd

--�Nature and Spirit� Seminar on Religion and the Environment Begins Oct. 16

--Environmental Roundtable, October 16^th, 5:30-9:00 pm at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark Center

--How Technology Can Put the "Smart" in New Jersey's Growth�One-day workshop on October 20^th at Stevens Institute of Technology

 

****Environmental News

--Is cost what�s keeping you from purchasing a hybrid car?  Toyota Says Hybrids Can Be Inexpensive to Manufacture

--Involving everyday citizens in water-quality monitoring:  Michigan Creates Volunteer Corps to Monitor Waterways

--Still undecided about whether or not to attend the Eastampton tour?  Here�s an article about affordable Eco-friendly homes

 

 

Save the Dates!

Upcoming Tours and Workshops

PEQ Workshops: Partners for Environmental Quality has already scheduled for this autumn several workshops to help congregations conserve energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and save money on their energy bills.  At every workshop, everyone from all faith persuasions is welcome!!  Here is the early information for three of them:

  

Sunday, October 19^th, 2:30-5:00 PM at the Grace Lutheran Church in Camden (4^th and State Streets)

 

Sunday, October 26^th, 11:30-2:00 PM at St. Paul�s Episcopal Church in Chatham (200 Main Street)

 

Sunday, November 9^th,  11:45 - 2:30 PM at the Christ Episcopal Church in New Brunswick (5 Paterson Street)

 

Free organic fare and compact fluorescent bulbs will be available to all participants.  More details are forthcoming�. please call Eric at (609) 394-1090 or email [email protected] if you have questions, or would like to participate on a steering committee or to help promote an event.

 

 

Tour of Sustainable, Affordable Apartment Complex in Eastampton, NJ�Thursday, October 23rd: Come tour the Eastampton Town Center, an affordable-housing apartment complex in Burlington County designed with an eye towards sustainability.  The complex incorporates extensively a variety of energy-saving technology and sustainable building methods, including high-efficiency appliances, lighting fixtures, and heating and cooling systems. Storm water is collected to irrigate landscaping and gardens, and solar hot water heaters supply the common laundry facilities. The positioning of the buildings was even changed to take maximum advantage of the sun. Trees shade buildings in the summer and increased window area on the south side take advantage of winter sun.  The tour will take place Thursday, October 23^rd from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.  Spaces are limited, so call now!! Contacting (609) 394-1090 or [email protected] will reserve you a spot on this illuminating tour.

 

�Nature and Spirit� Seminar on Religion and the Environment Begins Oct. 16

Increasingly, religious leaders and people of faith are linking religious belief and practice with environmental concerns.  To engage this important development, the Newark School of Theology, with co-sponsors Partners for Environmental Quality, the Interweave Center for Holistic Living, and Calvary Episcopal Church, announce �Nature and Spirit,� a fifteen week course exploring the relationship between world religions, their teachings and the environment.  The course will be held at Calvary Episcopal Church in Summit, NJ on Thursday mornings from 9:30-11:30 a.m.  Course dates are below.  The Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of Partners for Environmental Quality and a faculty member of the Newark School of Theology, will teach the class.  To register, contact the Newark School of Theology and 973-297-0505 or the Calvary Church office at 908-277-1814.

 

This course offers students the chance to learn about the theological and ethical resources within a wide range of religious traditions that relate to issues of environmental spirituality, stewardship and justice.  Participants will learn about religious resources on the environment from native/indigenous traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Bahai, and from nature writers whose work contains spiritual or religious themes.  In addition to the traditional theologies of each tradition, participants will explore the writings from feminist, liberation, black, and other contemporary theological perspectives.

 

Fall Semester sessions will focus on native and indigenous traditions and eastern/Asian traditions.  Spring Semester sessions will focus on Western monotheistic traditions and contemporary theologies of the environment.

 

Tuition for the full class is $450.  Tuition for the fall semester is $210, and for the spring semester $240.  For further information on the class, contact PEQ at 609-394-1090 or [email protected].

 

Fall Semester Classes:  Oct. 16, 23, 30, Nov. 6, 13, 20, Dec. 2

Spring Semester Classes:  Feb. 5, 12, 19, 26; March 4, 11, 18, 25

 

 

The NJ Catholic Coalition for Environmental Justice hosts an Environmental Roundtable, October 16, 5:30-9:00 pm at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark Center

 

Environmental Justice: Land Use Considerations in the Urban Environment

Sponsored by the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC)

and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection

 

Industrial pollution affects many of New Jersey's cities and suburbs. Environmental justice works to correct existing damages and to stop the trend of locating sources of pollution in urban neighborhoods. This session will identify environmental justice issues and explore strategies for local and regional partnerships to prevent further environmental injustices. Participants will learn how to expand local efforts to effect change.

 

Speakers:

�        Ann E. Goode, nationally known researcher from the National Academy of Public Administration in Washington, DC, will provide municipal strategies.

�        A representative of NJ DEP will explain State programs that can aid municipalities as they address land use issues.

�        Michelle Garcia of the Ironbound Community Corp. will offer case studies.

 

There is no charge for this seminar, but reservations are required. A light supper will be served. To register or for more information, or directions, please contact [email protected] by email or call, 973-539-7547.

 

 

How Technology Can Put the "Smart" in New Jersey's Growth : A one-day workshop at Stevens Institute of Technology ,  Monday October 20 

 

Technology must support New Jersey�s Smart Growth initiative and spur the state�s economic growth.  The smart growth technology conference features environmental technologies to address water quality and supply, remediation solutions, and Brownfield redevelopment.  It will provide information on public and private funding options, and vendors will be on hand to provide information on their products.  Conference participants will consider such issues as:

+     Are technologies mature and ready to be applied?
+     How can technology enhance smart growth?
+     Are the technologies economically viable?
+     How can the regulatory structure more effectively support application of innovative technology?

For full details, please check the NJCAT website, http://www.njcat.org/ewebeditpro/items/O56F2735.doc, or call 609-499-3600 x 227.

 

  

Environmental News

 

Is sticker shock preventing you from buying a hybrid?

Toyota Says Hybrids Can Be Inexpensive to Manufacture
Defying conventional wisdom, Toyota unveiled its new hybrid-car production site in Toyota City, Japan, yesterday and sent a clear message to other automakers:  Gas-electric hybrids can be manufactured inexpensively.  Such cars have traditionally been thought of as too costly to be practical, and Toyota and Honda, the only two companies to mass-produce them, were suspected by other manufacturers of selling the cars at a loss.  Now, though, Toyota has significantly reduced the cost of making its hybrid Prius by producing it on the same assembly line used to make conventional sedans.  (One Prius rolls off the line every minute, compared to every eight or 10 minutes in the past.)  By Sept. 24, more than 10,000 new-model Priuses had been ordered in the U.S., even though the cars won't go on sale in the country until later this month.

straight to the source:  Planet Ark, Reuters, Chang-Ran Kim, 03 Oct 2003
<http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=1573> 

 

 

Any congregations out there want to give this a try?
Michigan Creates Volunteer Corps to Monitor Waterways
What do you do if you're a budget-strapped state with no money to pay for water-quality monitoring?  Sign up the seventh graders, of course.  Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) signed an executive order this week to create the Clean Water Corps, which will enlist volunteers, some of them students, to help the state's Department of Environmental Quality monitor the status of lakes, rivers, and streams.  "The DEQ simply lacks the resources to go it alone," said department chief Steven Chester.  Cyndi Roper, director of the Michigan environmental organization Clean Water Action & Clean Water Fund, sees the corps as a mixed blessing.  "It's always good to get citizens involved in monitoring and protecting local waterways," she said -- but not at the expense of making funds for water protection a state priority.

straight to the source:  Detroit News, Associated Press, 03 Oct 2003
<http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=1575>

 

 

And if you�re still undecided about whether or not to attend the Eastampton tour�

Tennessee Valley Authority Sets a New Standard for Eco-Friendly Homes
Adam Indrajaya and Lina Kinandjar have a big-screen TV, a surround-sound stereo system, a DVD player, fish aquariums, and two kids with better things to do than close the front door and turn out the lights.  Yet their household consumes roughly half as much energy as the average American family.  How?  Their home happens to be part of a pilot project for energy-efficient affordable housing, sponsored by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Habitat for Humanity.  The TVA doesn't exactly have an eco-friendly reputation (on the contrary, it's one of the dirtiest utilities in the country), so what gives? 

For the rest of the article, Working to develop the Volkswagen of solar homes -- by Amanda Griscom in Powers That Be
<http://www.gristmagazine.com/powers/powers100703.asp?source=daily>