Political Environmentalism 101

(today’s update by Jay Lassiter of Cherry Hill)–

Community and sustainability were on display Tuesday night at the Cherry Hill Library for our Environmentalism 101 session. Over fifty-five people showed up to hear short talks given by writer/lobbyist Frank Brill, Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt and Freeholder Jeff Nash. (see pic, l-r with Lori, our fearless leader)

We wanted to get several perspectives on environmentalism’s political side to educate the community about how a bill gets shepherded through the process — from the original draft to the Governor’s desk for a signature. Making laws ain’t easy, as anyone who grew up on Schoolhouse Rock knows. (for a nostalgic trip, see video clip below.)

So the idea was to bring together a trio that represented state + county government plus our friends from the Environmental lobby to see the process from multiple angles. That way — as activists– we’re armed with the know-how to fight in Trenton and Washington to determine whether the policies from our capitals are good for the environment. Or not.

MEET OUR GUESTS

Frank Brill is more than a pretty face. He’s the brains behind the popular website EnviroPolitics, “a daily compendium of political and environmental news for New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York.”

His expertise and lobbying experience is an invaluable tool for anyone — or any organization — fighting for greener policies. Like we do! (You can follow Frank on Twitter here. Still not tweeting? maybe this is a good time to start?)

Pam Lampitt represents Cherry Hill in Trenton but her leadership on sustainability make her a leader for the whole state and region. Likewise, Jeff Nash’s efforts on Camden’s freeholder board are supplemented by his work on the Delaware River Bridge Commission.

The DRPA manages our region’s ports and bridges + mass-trans connection between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. A Cherry Hill native, Freeholder Nash wants to ensure our state’s port expansion projects incorporate sustainability into the original design. It sounds like a no-brainer, but to build a new port from scratch with sustainability in mind from day one is actually a very radical idea. And it’s an idea that — thanks to stakeholders like Jeff Nash — may see the light of day sooner than later. Maybe even down the road in Paulsboro, NJ were a huge port is slated to begin construction very very soon.

A COMMUNITY, A CAUSE

If you missed this event, fear not. Sustainable Cherry Hill has a host of cool stuff on tap this summer and we always welcome new members from the area. Our name says Cherry Hill, but our mission goes well beyond our town. We LOVE to cross-pollinate with folks from other communities. And basically we love to meet new people.

When the program closed at 9pm, the spillover crowd lingered for another 1/2 hour until the guards finally (gently) tossed us out….. at which point we took our lively conversation into the parking lot. It’s obvious that the passion for this issue runs broad and deep in Cherry Hill.

And from a personal standpoint, I remain most grateful for the broad range of diversity that continues to show up for SCH events. We get folks of all ages, from middleschoolers to retirees; we get folks from all political and religious persuasions and (most importantly) we get a good cross section of our community from Brooks Brothers to Birkenstock and back.

Which is exactly the way we like it.