A Home That You Love Video Series!

Hello Everyone,!

Imagine that you came home tonight to find your home transformed.

The house is clean. There’s a place for everything, and everything is in its place. You know exactly what you’re cooking for a delicious healthy dinner. The space is set up and equipped for however your family spends your evenings. And you are comforted by the fact that you have take a series of steps which provide a sustainable household that makes a positive impact on your family and community.

Sound like a pipe dream? Then you must check out A Home You Love, a free online show dedicated to helping you create a functional, peaceful and sustainable home now and into the future. Get access to the video interview series here.

‘Home’ is not only a place but a state of mind and we can gain much from new knowledge and tips about how to transform both the space we live in and our lifestyles. That’s why I want to invite you to access this free online show that I’m a part of, A Home You Love.

Host Tamara Templeman is a mom of 3 and has co-owned a home renovation company, Houseplay Renovations, with her husband Niall for the past 10 years. Tammy will be interviewing 21 amazing guests (including me!) about how to create a home you love and how to integrate some lifestyle changes that improve the quality of your life, including sustainable living practices.

A Home You Love video interview series went live on Tuesday, February 12, and is airing 21 daily interviews of professionals who will help you to transform your living space and your lifestyle in practical and purposeful ways.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this series:

• Strategies to manage clutter and mess (even when you’re outnumbered)

• Tips for integrating color, pattern and beauty into your space

• Inspiration for designing your home to transform your life, including the way you eat.

• Ideas for creating an environment conducive to rest, relaxation and deep sleep

• Natural alternatives for cleaning and wellness

• Sustainability practices that provide simple ways to protect the environment and positively impact your family and community.

If you miss any of these interviews (you have 48 hours after each one to view), at the end of the series you can gain access to all 21 interviews to view at your pleasure. To access these just sign up here.

Warm regards,

Deb Italiano

Founder, Sustainable JC

Sustainable Success at McNair Academic High School!

Guest Blogger - Harshal Agrawal, Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School Senior and Local Activist

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I am a senior at Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School here in Jersey City interested in making change at the intersection of environmental engineering and public policy. Back in September, I petitioned the Jersey City Board Of Education (JCBOE) to install lead filters on water fountains in public schools citywide. Similar to a lot of kids in our city, I have been attending Jersey City Public Schools (JCPS) ever since 1st grade and at most schools in our city, all water fountains have been shut off for drinking use due to lead contamination from old, lead-soldered pipes. Unfortunately, a lot of students are taught from an early age in JCPS to not drink from the water fountains.

Elkay water fountains at McNair high school that have been turned off indefinitely until the water becomes potable again.

One day last year after soccer practice, I needed water, but the school had once again run out. The frustration I felt at this moment ultimately motivated me to find a solution. After some preliminary research, I found that due to state regulations, JCBOE was required to shut off all fountains where they found unsafe levels of lead and either provide alternative water sources to students or fix the pipes. Opting for the former, JCBOE put water coolers in each of these schools and according to publicly available board docs, currently ships in 5 gallon water jug replacements from a company in Birdsboro, PA (over 110 miles away) at $3.75 per bottle [1]. Almost the entire school district of more than 30,000 students and approximately 40 schools relies on this bottled water for daily consumption.

Plastic trash at McNair High School Water Cooler.

These water coolers are neither environmentally nor economically sustainable. Trash cans throughout schools citywide are filled to the brim with single-use, non-recycled plastic cups. Gallons of fuel are consumed annually for the transportation of water jug replacements. Students tend to bring plastic bottled water to school because they are not allowed to refill their water bottles, thus producing more non-recycled plastic garbage. Worst of all, schools often simply run out of water jug replacements and students have to spend the entire day without drinking water as I had to after my soccer practice that day. It's very hard for students to focus in class on such days without having any water to rehydrate, especially after coming back from phys ed. Lastly, instructional time is often wasted on such days when water is running low as "search parties" of students navigate the halls, going from floor to floor in search of non-empty water coolers.  

When I started brainstorming solutions, I knew that replacing all the lead-soldered water pipes was not a feasible option. I did some research and instead, found commercially available water filters that can be installed on existing water fountains to bring lead within safe-to-consume levels. Elkay, the company that manufactured most of the old, currently installed water fountains in our school district, makes these compatible filters.

Using McNair HS as case study, JCBOE sanctioned a water testing at the school which found that the lead levels at many of the water fountains throughout McNair HS are not drastically higher than EPA acceptable levels (<15 ppb) [2]. By attaching lead water filters to these fountains, it is very likely that their lead levels will be brought to within safe drinking levels. Once installed, these filters, which cost $80, last for up to two years and require little to no maintenance [3]. In the long run, these filters provide a cheaper and greener alternative to constantly refilling water coolers with replacement jugs.

Lead water filter on City Hall’s Water Cooler.

In September, I made an online petition addressed to the JCBOE to conduct a pilot study of these filters at McNair HS. I got the online endorsement of local parent groups such as Jersey City Together and  Civic Parent. With the help of these partnerships, I spoke at a McNair PTA meeting, BOE meeting, and Citywide Student Council meetings to get 800+ signatures on my petition to install and test lead-filters at the water fountains. As a result of this successful petition, I had the opportunity of meeting with  JCPS administrators to get a pilot study of these filters initially approved at McNair. Since then, I have acquired final approval for the pilot study from the district’s independent water contractor, Tectonics. Just recently, the purchase orders for the filters and pre/post water testing were passed by the JCBOE and now it’s just a matter of district plumbers coming to McNair and installing these filters.

While my petition has so far been successful to enact change at McNair, please still consider signing it here to show JCBOE how big of a problem this is at all our schools. I am currently working on creating a coalition of parents, students, and teachers citywide to continue this water-advocacy after I graduate and install more of these filters at other schools in the city. Many thanks to Sustainable Jersey City for letting me tell my story here and for promising to continue advocating for clean water once I’ve graduated. If you have any questions or would like to support me, please email me at Harshal.agrawal.623@gmail.com or visit my website at HABprevention.weebly.com.

[1] https://www.boarddocs.com/nj/jcps/Board.nsf/files/A7XEGM0DAD76/%24file/Attc%2011.03%20-%20AF23956.pdf

[2] http://www.jcboe.org/boe2015/images/lead_test_results/Lead_McNair.pdf

[3] https://www.amazon.com/Elkay-51300C3PK-Replacement-Filling-Stations/dp/B005IOFGKC

Thank You For Attending 'From Sustainability To Resiliency' - Presentation Material Enclosed

Last Thursday evening’s event ‘From Sustainability To Resiliency’ hosted by the JC Tech Meetup Folks was great ! SJC was pleased to participate and co-sponsor the event, which had a great turn out - sorry if you missed it.

We heard from George Valone, President of Hoboken Brownstone Company, Michael Mazur, COO of Greenspot EV, Matt de la Houssaye of Global Green and Tony Borelli of Bike JC and then had a lively discussion with the audience about various perspectives and ideas that would help drive a greener economy, steps we can take to manage Jersey City better and insights about what will make our lives more adaptive to climate change impacts in the future.

I’m including the panelists presentations from above, and also the presentation from Benoy Thanjan, CEO of Renue Energy who was called out of town at the last minute.

Again thanks for coming and see you next time :-)

Speaker Bios

• George Vallone Materials

  • Hoboken Brownstone - Sustainable Building Science

  • Handout for RELi - NJ Developers’ Green Infrastructure Guide

  • Handout for RELi Action Checklist

  • Sustainable Infrastructure Costs - MA & PA

• Benoy Thanjan Materials

  • Reneu Energy - Major Trends In Solar

• Michael Mazur Materials

  • Greenspot - Sustainability To Resilience

• Matt de la Houssaye Materials

  • Global Green - Sustainability To Resilience

• Tony Borelli Materials

  • Bikes For Sustainability & Resilience

Best,

Deb Italiano

SJC Founder & Moderator for this event

Get To Know Our SJC Green Drinks +ART Sponsors – Wed Dec 5th 2018 @ LITM, 6-9pm

We wanted to write a short post with some reference links about our sponsors, so you get to know more about the terrific work they are doing to make Jersey City greener and more resilient.  Some of their work is close to the ground with building projects they are working on locally and some of their work expands to statewide initiatives and development projects in other countries.

First, Hoboken Brownstone Company, founded in Hoboken in 1980 and headquartered in Jersey City since 2005, HBC has a number of Jersey City projects underway that will create over 2,000 new homes, over three acres of new parks and a significant section of the bike path system under their belt.  As a community centric development company, HBC goes the extra mile to engage community stakeholders in their project initiatives far ahead of finalizing any plans they present to the Planning Board.  Principal George Vallone is also very active in statewide initiatives, having served as President of the NJ Builders Association,  Co-Chair of NJ Future’s Task Force on Green Infrastructure (GI) which produced a NJ Developers’ Guide For GI, and most recently, worked with the US Green Building Council to introduce the RELi Standard (www.USGBCI.org/RELi) a new Resiliency Standard for Greener Buildings, Communities and Infrastructure..  

Second, JMA Jorge Mastropietro Atelier is both an architectural studio and development company, most recently completing the 54 Bright Street PASSIVE inspired project.  With offices in Hoboken and Buenos Aires Argentina, he has completed a number of JC projects with advanced energy efficiency, materials re-use and green infrastructure elements as the main of his structural designs.  More about his philosophy and approach here and recent write-up about 54 Bright Street here.

We’re very excited about this upcoming event and the opportunity to bring professionals from all walks, neighbors and artists together.  Sustainability is a cultural conversation and for that to take flight, folks need to meet each other and start talking about What Sustains Us?  Join us on Wednesday evening Dec 5th downtown at LITM, 6-9pm, for some relaxed conversation -  let’s get to know one another 😊

@LITMJC  @HobokenbrownstoneCo  @jorgemastropietroatelier  @gardencitygrown #LITMJC  #SustainableJC  #SJCGreenDrinks +ART  #Sustainable  #JersecyCity  #HomeGrown

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