EPA Honors New Jersey Environmental Leaders (NJ)
(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it has honored 10
individuals or organizations from New Jersey with Environmental
Quality Awards for their achievements protecting public health and
the environment. EPA also recognized a student from Delanco
Township who is one of ten students selected from across the
country to receive the President’s Environmental Youth Award.
EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck was joined by Congresswoman
Nydia Velázquez to present the awards to this year’s
recipients at a ceremony at EPA’s offices in
Manhattan.
“These honorees work tirelessly to protect
the environment and to ensure that all of us can look forward to a
cleaner, healthier world,” said Regional Administrator Judith
Enck. “We can all be proud of what they have accomplished and
the example they set.”
EPA presents Environmental Quality Awards
annually in conjunction with Earth Day to individuals, businesses
and organizations in EPA Region 2, which covers New Jersey, New
York, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight
federally-recognized Indian Nations. The awards recognize
significant contributions to improving the environment and public
health in the previous calendar year. For information about the
Environmental Quality Awards in EPA Region 2, visit http://www.epa.gov/region02/eqa/.
EPA’s annual President’s
Environmental Youth Award program encourages young people to study
the environment and better understand their relationship to it. The
national competition is open to students from kindergarten through
12th grade who actively participate in noteworthy environmental
projects. Out of the hundreds of competitors, one winner is chosen
from each of EPA’s 10 regions and several others are chosen
to receive honorable mentions. For more information on the program,
visit http://www.epa.gov/enviroed/peya/index.html.
Attached is a list of the award
winners.
2011 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AWARD
WINNERS
Individual Citizen
Jane Nogaki, Marlton
Jane Nogaki has been an environmental advocate
in New Jersey for over 30 years, where her involvement has ranged
from helping to establish mercury reduction policies to solving
local pollution problems. Ms. Nogaki worked with the pest control
industry to pass a state-wide law requiring integrated pest
management trainings, as well as with Rutgers University and the
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to train over
5,000 school facility managers and principals. Currently, she is
striving for the adoption of state policy that will make all New
Jersey schools, parks and daycare centers “pesticide free
zones.”
Andrea Ferich, Camden
Andrea Ferich is the Director of the Camden
Center for Environmental Transformation, an organization created by
the Heart of Camden. Founded in 1996, the Center works on
environmental justice issues in the Waterfront South section of
Camden City. Ms Ferich’s accomplishments with the Center
include engaging in real working relationships with longtime
Waterfront South businesses to create solutions to pollution issues
as well as the creation of several urban gardens that are used for
educational purposes and which provide access to fresh produce to
the children and families in Camden.
Carol Johnston, Newark
As an active community member from the Ironbound
District of Newark, Carol Johnston has been part of countless
environmental initiatives. She is co-chair of the Passaic River
Community Advisory Group, was one of the principal architects of
the Ironbound Master Plan, the Ironbound Recreation and Open Space
Plan and the Gateway Park Plan. Further, she was instrumental in
bringing the Superfund Jobs Training Initiative to the Diamond
Alkali Superfund site cleanup effort. Carol takes every opportunity
to advocate on behalf of the poor, the disadvantaged and those
without a voice.
Syd Mandelbaum
Syd Mandelbaum founded the non-profit
organization Rock and Wrap It Up! as a means to recover food for
agencies fighting poverty. The organization collects prepared but
untouched meals following rock concerts, sporting events and school
functions, and delivers them to local food banks and charitable
agencies. Since 2010, Mr. Mandelbaum has worked with the Buffalo
Sabres, New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils
hockey clubs. Following the Rock and Wrap it Up! Sports Wrap!
model, over 11,000 meals have been recovered through the efforts of
these hockey teams, keeping four tons of solid waste out of
landfills and 29,333 pounds of CO2 out of the
atmosphere.
Press and Media
Kirk Moore, Tuckerton
Kirk Moore’s coverage of the environmental
issues facing the Barnegat Bay for the Asbury Park Press served as
a foundation for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s 10
point action plan for the Barnegat Bay in December, 2010. His
week-long newspaper series “Barnegat Bay Under Stress,”
and subsequent news pieces, prompted numerous calls to the Asbury
Park Press from individuals offering help and asking to be notified
of educational and volunteer opportunities. In response to public
concern, local legislators and decision-makers focused their
efforts on legislation and other initiatives to achieve real
improvements for the Barnegat Bay.
Federal, State, Local, or Tribal
Government or Agency
Ocean County Soil Conservation District,
Forked River
Ocean County Soil Conservation District’s
(OCSCD) involvement in conservation has expanded over the years and
presently has a strong focus on education and public outreach
programs and the research and development of techniques to improve
soil health and water quality. As an active member of the New
Jersey Natural Resources Program, OCSCD has established itself as
an integral part of local and regional conservation initiatives,
ranging from stormwater basin restorations to rain, garden and
outdoor classroom development.
Non-Profit Organization, Environmental or
Community Group
Sustainable Jersey, Ewing
Sustainable Jersey is a certification program
for municipalities in the state that want to go green and sustain
their quality of life. Currently 57 percent of towns in New Jersey
have registered to become certified, 67 municipalities have
received certification, and 49 towns completed energy audits for
municipal buildings. Additionally, over half a million dollars have
been distributed by Sustainable Jersey to New Jersey communities to
support local sustainable projects.
Oyster Research and Restoration
Project
In 2010, a special partnership of scientists,
non-profit groups and government agencies began the first stage of
a research effort to determine if oysters can once again flourish
in the New York Harbor. This partnership, led by the Hudson River
Foundation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NY/NJ Baykeeper, the
New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program and the Urban Assembly
New York Harbor School, has worked to develop a multi-phase plan to
address the question of where and how sustainable oyster
populations can be reintroduced in the New York Harbor and Lower
Hudson.
The Musconetcong Watershed Association,
Asbury
The Musconetcong Watershed Association (MWA) is
a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and improving the
quality of the Musconetcong River Watershed and its natural and
cultural resources through public education, water monitoring,
sustainable land management and community involvement. MWA is at
the forefront of removing obsolete dams that impede water flow,
degrade water quality, and block fish passage, and has been
instrumental in the removal of two such dams. Furthermore, their
River Resource Center is the first U.S. Green Building Council
Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum
certified building in Warren County.
Bayshore Discovery Project, Port
Norris
Bayshore Discovery Project (BDP) began as an
initiative to renovate a Delaware Bay oyster schooner. The goal was
to motivate people to take care of the environment, history, and
culture of New Jersey’s Bayshore region through education,
preservation, and example. This year they began the final phase of
restoration to their historic shipping sheds, which will house a
developing Delaware Bay Museum and Folklife center, and which will
use sustainable appliances. In 2010 alone, BDP reached
approximately 45,505 people through programming
efforts.
2011 PRESIDENT’S ENVIRONMENTAL YOUTH
AWARD WINNER
Miranda Pawline
In 2008, Miranda Pawline founded D.R.O.P.
(Delanco Recycles Our Plastic) Bags, a program designed to recover
plastic bags and recycle or reuse them. Because plastic bags are
not part of the Delanco Township public recycling program, Miranda
set up drop-off sites for plastic bags. Thanks to her initiative,
recycling buckets are now located in township schools, as well as
the town library and municipal building. To raise awareness about
the program, Miranda advised residents through notices, the local
paper and on the township website.
For more details, visit: http://www.epa.gov/region02/eqa
11-045