BoroGreen is a loosely knit community of residents, businesses, congregations and likeminded organizations who want to contribute to a more sustainable community in and around Hillsborough, NJ.
The goals of this self-governing organization are:
to help members understand how to adopt sustainable practices and encourage others in the community by partnering with organizations, businesses, experts and government.
to provide a communication network for people who believe that sustainability should become the norm.
coordinate with other interest groups that share the same or similar goals.
More About Hillsborough
This month’s meeting: Thursday, April 25th, 2013 at 4 Ivy Lane, 7:30 p.m.
Anyone welcome at our monthly BoroGreen night. This month:
Storyteller Kathryn W. Kathryn W. is a professional storyteller and also teaches workshops on multi-sensory storytelling. She acknowledges the challenge for BoroGreen, to not only improve our techniques for speaking, but how to engage others and to speak in a polarized environment.
Hillsborough’s green activities by local residents
A local video project to celebrate Earth Month by the Hillsborough High School Interact Club, National Arts Honor Society and BoroGreen demonstrates various things Hillsborough residents do to help the environment. Through the Hillsborough Patch, by email or by using BoroGreen’s Facebook page, Hillsborough residents contributed 30 photos, 11 comments, 13 Facebook likes, and 2 tweets of their activities . Hillsborough High School Interact Club member Zoe Zylowski compiled these into the slide-video below to celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd, 2013. It’s very encouraging to see the impact we make in our corner of the world. THANK YOU EVERYONE!
Some Earth Day 2013 activities to consider:
Earth Day, Monday April 22 1:30 p.m. Raritan Valley Community College in the College Center
Climate Reality presentation by Nadine Kadell Sapirman at Raritan Valley Community College in the College Center at 1:30pm. It is open to the public. Nadine is a local Hillsborough Climate Leader, trained by the Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project in 2012.
Earth Day, Monday April 22 3:30 p.m. Cook Campus Center - MPR C
This Earth Day, Author and global warming activist Mike Tidwell, a hurricane expert, will discuss how extreme energy extraction methods -- tar sands oil, mountaintop removal for coal, fracking for natural gas, and deepwater drilling for oil-- are increasingly driving the extreme weather events now besieging America, from droughts to Hurricane Sandy. He will also explain how common sense energy development in the mid-Atlantic region can help provide climate solutions, from electric cars to offshore wind power along the Jersey shore.
Earth Day, Monday April 22 6:00 p.m. Douglass Campus Center - Trayes Hall
(Thin Ice) Panel and Dinner 8:00 p.m. (Switch) Rutgers Initiative on Climate and Society: Thin Ice a geologist and now film-maker shows us how scientists come to know what they know about the global climate change. A panel of our own Rutgers climate scientists will join us after the screening and provide context for this film over dinner. Switch, a look at the changing energy landscape. This film promises it is an "agenda-free energy documentary, embraced across political lines."
Ongoing for Spring 2013 - BoroHarvest workers needed
Bring your own shovel & rake. Work for an hour. Feel good. Volunteers needed during Spring to prepare and maintain our community garden at Duke Farms. You can even sign up for more days if you’re really as excited as are. Contact Christoph if you have any questions. The Duke Community Gardens are located on the Duke Estate. Once you find your way there (see map), park your car and walk to the gardens to the right. BoroGreen’s is at the corner of Cucumber and Pear Lane, plot number 28E.
About BoroHarvest
BoroHarvest is the name for BoroGreen’s community garden at Duke Farms. Through our community effort, we’re growing organic vegetables to benefit the Hillsborough food bank, as well as some rain garden plants for our rain garden initiatives. BoroGreen has been granted the same 30x15 plot we had last year. The Garden officially opens on March 31-April 1. The estimated time commitment for a plot of our size is about 4 hours per week, to be shared between us.
Organic Gardening Seminars
There are several "Organic Gardening 101" seminars in March and beginning of April, one of which is mandatory to attend for some BoroGreeners. This is an excellent, free, seminar to help anyone who is getting into gardening. Please contact Christoph if you're interested in attending one.
Duke Volunteering
In addition to our own plot, Duke Farms requires that each plot owner volunteer 4 hours per year for the whole Garden. This can be in the form of being on a committee, doing maintenance on monthly garden days, or volunteering in the 2 "Giving Gardens" which sound very similar to what we are doing, only on a larger scale. When you have time to volunteer for any of this, let Christoph know. He will schedule your commitment through the Duke website and BoroGreen will get credit for it. Christoph will not personally do all of the volunteer hours for Boro Green - it needs to be a group effort.
Seasons
Different parts of the season will require different kinds of work: ◆ soil amendment, laying out the planting beds, building raised beds ◆ planting season ◆ weeding and watering season ◆ harvest season Of course, there will be a fair amount of overlap. We'll try to minimize the need for frequent watering by mulching heavily. That will require some muscle power, so volunteers are really needed at the beginning of the season.
Central Jersey Green Teams Best Practices Conference
Sustainability efforts are expanding throughout our communities. Many of these endeavors face similar challenges, such as coordinating community/municipal efforts, getting volunteers or leveraging state/federal incentives. This conference will explore Best Practices to help our local and regional initiatives.
The conference revolves around three main themes: Energy, Transportation, and Recycling. Keynote speakers are Carolyn Ehrlich, Chief of Staff for Woodbridge Township (2009 Sustainability Champion Award) and Albe Zakes, the VP of Media Relations from Terracycle to encourage participants with their sustainable efforts.
After the keynote presentations, participants will break out into topical learning circles where they will hear Best Practices from a Green Team/Municipality. A moderator will lead the discussion on how to implement in your own town. Learning Circles topics include presentations and discussions about the NJ Clean Energy program, electric cars, Walking School Bus, lighting retrofits and efficiencies, and recycling improvements.
Participants will be able to download files presented during the learning circles via www.borogreen.org after the conference.
This workshop is sponsored by Sustainable Hillsborough, BoroGreen and Sustainable Jersey.
REGISTER and WIN a PRIZE Registrants to the conference will be eligible for a drawing to receive the following services from some of the presenters/exhibitors at the conference. There is a 150 person maximum and we would like to close registration early in order to better organize the conference.
Prizes are:
Rain barrel workshop in your town courtesy of Rutgers Water Resources Management Department (presentation is free of charge and participants will pay for rain barrels and material)
Landscape evaluation courtesy of Clare Liptak, Retired Somerset County Agricultural Agent, Master Gardener Trainer, and BoroGreen Board Member
Walk through and free ROI for lighting efficiencies from Cooper Electric
Sustainable Landscape Plan courtesy of Landscape Better, an environmentally friendly landscaping company in Hillsborough
Green Maps & Tutorial
A Green Map plots the locations of a community's natural, cultural and sustainable resources. A short overview of the possibilities was held at on Wednesday 5 October at the Hillsborough Public Library in collaboration with BoroGreen. One goal is to help create a regional bike corridor from Hillsborough through Montgomery, Princeton, and ending in Lawrence Township. Through a Dodge Foundation grant and Sustainable Jersey, these 4 towns have sent representatives to learn how to create Green Maps http://www.greenmap.org/ and are now joining forces so that cyclists can bicycle locally more easily. Tutorial files can be found on the Green Map website.
BoroGreen - One Year Later It’s been a year since BoroGreen began. Since then, the grassroots organization has provided its members with a place to bring their passions, talents and skills to work together for a sustainable future. On Oct. 10, 2010, BoroGreen joined people from all over the world to be part of a movement to reduce carbon emissions from 390 ppm to 350 ppm (www.350.org). Our contribution was to help create the Prall Road rain garden.
The township’s Public Works Department had identified the Prall Road detention basin as a difficult place to mow. Creating a rain garden eliminates mowing costs, provides a habitat for wildlife, and re-introduces native plants that absorb and filter rainwater so effectively. We are adding a birdhouse and flowering perennials on September 11 and invite residents to join us at Prall Road at 11 a.m. Bring gloves and a shovel to help us beautify this detention basin.
We met at Green Drinks at Pheasant’s Landing and Maestro 206. These opportunities bring business to local restaurants while providing a fun environment to talk about issues that concern our members. We will host future Green Drinks so we can meet more folks and help you make your ideas a reality. Visit www.borogreen.org for dates or the events page at www.hillsboroughpatch.com.
We signed up with www.viridian.com/borogreen so that we could have a steady income stream while utilizing electricity sources that are 20% or 100% renewable. Residents are welcome to switch from their current electricity supplier to Viridian through BoroGreen. We can answer questions you may have if you email info@borogreen.org.
Bill Dondiego, one of our board members, ran a Home Energy Workshop in January at the Hillsborough Library that was co-sponsored by Sustainable Hillsborough and Sustainable Montgomery. The workshop helped residents learn about the efficiency of air sealing homes and using renewable energy.
The BoroGreen community garden at Duke Farms is led by Marty Oostveen, who has shared the bounty with the Food Bank (BoroHarvest). Anyone interested in helping her can contact Marty at her website www.martysgarden.us
Several BoroGreen members have been promoting TEACH (Teaching Energy Awareness with Children’s Help) at Woodfern and Hillsborough High School. As a result, staff and BoroGreen members participated in a TEACH workshop last June. Stay tuned for exciting programs this fall!
We partnered with the Hillsborough school district to run a wildly successful contest with 667 families pledging online to stop idling. Clare Liptak, who retired after 27 years as a Somerset County horticultural agent, was instrumental in reaching out to Scout troops and managing the project. Two schools tied for the highest amount of participation of 37% of their school population. Triangle received a bench that was donated by Lowes of Hillsborough and then assembled by members from Boy Scout Troop 489. Woods Road will receive a cherry tree that was donated by Ambleside Garden. Other generous donations were provided by Petrock’s, Rita’s, Applebees and Dunkin’ Donuts. BoroGreen is seeking prize donations for a YouTube video contest to remind students and their families not to idle.
We also pursued a Sustainable Jersey grant for which Nick Chaya, a recent Landscape Architect graduate, created the plans for a Discovery Trail at Longfield detention basin.
BoroGreen will be hosting a Central Jersey Green Teams Best Practices conference at Duke Farms on Saturday, Nov. 5. Go here to register. This is co-sponsored by Sustainable Jersey and Sustainable Hillsborough. Energy, Transportation, and Recycling are the 3 main themes of the conference. Keynote speakers are Carolyn Ehrlich, Chief of Staff for Woodbridge Township (2009 Sustainability Champion Award), and Albe Zakes, the VP of Media Relations from Terracycle, to encourage participants with their sustainable efforts. Ridewise of Somerset County will lead a Learning Circle to encourage walking to school. Cooper Electric and a representative of the Board of Public Utilities will speak at the Energy Learning Circles.
BoroGreen members are from many different walks of life and a wide age range. We continue to have new members and welcome many more so that we can build a sustainable community together with you. Please contact info@borogreen.org to join or check for meeting dates at www.borogreen.org.
Thuy Anh Le
Latest News: BoroGreen Elections
HILLSBOROUGH, May 2011 – Hillsborough's loosely knit "green community" held its first ever elections for its Board of Directors on Thursday April 28th 2011. Using truly democratic plurality voting and without any campaigning or self-nominating, BoroGreen members cast their vote by private ballot to choose seven from amongst themselves whom they felt would best serve the goals of BoroGreen for this year. Elected to the first Board of Directors of BoroGreen were (in alphabetical order): John Beggiato, Bill Dondiego, Thuy-Anh Le, Clare Liptak, Judd Mandell and Pieter Ruiter.
Officers were established at the first board meeting in May: Thuy-Anh Le, President; Pieter Ruiter, Vice-President; Clare Liptak, Secretary; John Beggiato, Treasurer.
BoroGreen was started as grass-roots initiative in 2010 by Ms. Thuy-Anh Le, recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Women in Somerset County Award for Environmental Initiatives. This past year, members of BoroGreen were involved with: • Planting two rain gardens for Hillsborough to ameliorate runoff, in collaboration with the Rutgers Cooperative Extension • Starting the community vegetable garden BoroHarvest at Duke farms, • Initiating the anti-idling campaign, adopted by the Board of Education to reduce idling, especially at Hillsborough schools, by having schools compete by obtaining parents pledges to not idle. Lowes and Ambleside Nurseries in Hillsborough donated a tree and a bench as prize for the winning school. • Implementing the TEACH/Green Schools program at two participating public schools to reduce energy consumption by evaluating energy usage in school buildings plus “hands-on” tools to educate students about the importance of energy efficiency • Providing hillsborough.patch.com with a periodic column on sustainability.
BoroGreen is a loosely knit community of residents, businesses, congregations and likeminded organizations, meant to assist in finding and encouraging like-minded residents to work towards sustainability in a more focused manner. Anyone can attend the BoroGreen monthly meeting, as well as join any existing initiative or start their own project.
Earth Day - 22 April 2011
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. – Native American Proverb
Friday, April 22, 2011 is Earth Day. Since 1970, Earth Day has been held to celebrate awareness and appreciation for our natural environment. Earth Day inspires and mobilizes individuals and organizations in over 175 countries worldwide to demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection and long-term ecological sustainability.
Environmental action begins by taking simple steps where we live. BoroGreen – Hillsborough’s grass-roots environmental community – is challenging all residents to make a difference this year and participate in A Billion Acts of Green® — a campaign that invites pledges from individuals, organizations and corporations to live and act sustainably. Pledges can be submitted at the websites of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Earth Day Network.
Many communities in New Jersey will celebrate Earth Day. In fact, Montgomery Township is hosting their 6th Annual free Earth Day Fair on Sunday, April 12 from noon-4pm at the high school. You can celebrate Earth Day with your children by making poems and crafts or hike in some of our spectacular Somerset County parks. We can take pause, reflect and read some Earth Day quotes. To help the earth, you could plant a tree, start a vegetable garden, or pick up trash in your neighborhood. The possibilities are endless.
Share your Earth Day experiences! Email a short account or picture (or both) to BoroGreen, to be shared on the BoroGreen website. Discovering like-minded people strengthens our collective resolve to make our local environment an even better place to live.
There is a great need for the introduction of new values in our society, where bigger is not necessarily better, where slower can be faster, and where less can be more. – Gaylord Nelson, US Senator, Founder of Earth Day (1970)
BoroGreen is a loosely knit community of residents, businesses, congregations and likeminded organizations who want to contribute to a more sustainable community in and around Hillsborough, NJ. The goals of this self-governing organization are:
to help members understand how to adopt sustainable practices and encourage others in the community by partnering with organizations, businesses, experts and government.
to provide a communication network for people who believe that sustainability should become the norm.
coordinate with other interest groups that share the same or similar goals.
Who are BoroGreen members?
People from all walks of life are growing aware of the vital importance of our environment. BoroGreen is a reflection of this natural diversity and membership is open to all.
But what do you DO?
We work and learn together to build a sustainable Hillsborough. Our diversity naturally means our interests and commitments vary: We learn and share information about:
ways to save energy through home assessments and energy auditing
installing solar panels
geothermal energy use
finding and using alternative green energy providers
reducing our fossil-fuel dependency
recycling
water management and lawn care
minimizing our encroachment on nature
the beauty of our natural surroundings
programs and grants available for those needing assistance to weatherize their homes to make alternative energy sources available to all
We work with public (and private) schools:
to provide extracurricular environmental education (TEACH)
support mentoring programs in schools to energize and educate the future sustainable workforce and to teach leadership in energy efficiency
get kids and youth more aware and more involved in ways to be more sustainable
We get our hands dirty:
growing organic produce at our experimental community garden at Duke Farms
through hands-on composting workshops
planting rain gardens to reduce run-off
walking and biking our kids to school
We organize ourselves, aided by web technologies, to:
provide a central point around which we can work together
encourage neighborhood groups and task forces on a wide range of sustainability topics
try to unify the various stake-holders (business, government, media) toward sustainability
have monthly BoroGreen meetings, task force get-togethers, dinners, coffee, fellowship.
What about the Sustainable Hillsborough steering committee of Hillsborough Township?
BoroGreen is about building a sustainable community and will collaborate with local initiatives wherever possible.
Who pays for all this?
Most BoroGreen projects are or will be local and have proven to be very low-cost and self funding. BoroGreen is a non-profit group that relies mostly on individual contributions, sponsorships and grants for targeted projects.
How can I get involved?
Anyone can attend the BoroGreen monthly meeting, as well as join any existing intiative , or start your own project. BoroGreen is a platform to assist in finding like-minded residents to work towards sustainability in a more focused manner. To learn more, contact us!
