Cool Training News

Some Monmouth County mayors, their staff, and environmental commissioners attended a March 8 Sustainability Roundtable in Middletown sponsored by the Monmouth County Cool Cities Partnership. The purpose of this roundtable was to introduce everyone to the Cool Cities Campaign (http://www.coolcities.us), talk about different aspects of climate change and discuss tips on building sustainable cities in New Jersey.

On May 17 we will present a follow-up workshop. The morning session again will be for mayors and staff and will include sessions on green building, green purchasing and the process to create a Climate Action Plan. We will also discuss the necessity of forming "green teams" in each town. The green team, a combination of city staff, citizens, church groups, and others will work together to find ways to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from your town.

You are invited to participate in the afternoon session and become a part of the "green team" in your town. Your participation on the green team would include attending the carbon inventory training May 17 from 1-4 PM. This informative session will be given by Professor Patrick Hossay, Associate Professor of Political Science, Sustainability, and Environmental Policy at Richard Stockton College. You will learn how to help your town collect data to determine how many tons of carbon dioxide your town puts into the air every year. That will establish your carbon baseline. Once your baseline is established, the town can decide where to start to lower the emissions.

We hope you will come join us and feel the power of democracy that is generated when citizens and community staff work together.

If you think you might be interested in joining us in our campaign to reduce carbon emissions locally, please send an e-mail to info@coolnewjersey.org by May 1 and we'll send you the details.

Thank you,

Faith Teitelbaum, NJ Cool Cities Campaign Sierra Club.