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Zone 16
No. 13 Vol. 11
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www.mypaperonline.com
June 6, 2017
Lincoln Park Goes Green As Part Of Healthy Initiative
By Anya Bochman he Borough of Lincoln Park is taking steps towards “Living Green” and one initiative helping the town achieve this goal is the Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign. As part of a larger program of recycling, reducing the town’s carbon footprint and being generally environment-friendly, the town is also concerned with helping residents eat fresh, organic and healthy foods while simultaneously supporting local farmer’s markets. Kathleen Skrobala, Lincoln Park’s health officer/
public health nurse, explains that the initiative is part of a bigger program and aims to make people healthier through alerting them to better food choices. Through building walking trails, involving local farms and restaurants - as well as Lincoln Park’s Shoprite the town hopes to provide healthy and nutritious food alternatives to its residents. The effort towards health and green living is also part of the borough’s participation in Sustainable Jersey, an initiative that supports “community efforts to reduce waste, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and improve
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environmental equity.” Lincoln Park is currently “silver-certified” through Sustainable Jersey, a pointbased system which indicates the highest level of certification. Kristy Ranieri of Sustainable Jersey stresses the dedication necessary for a town to achieve silver certification, which crosses all lines of sustainability - including contributing to a dedicated civil society, supporting local economies and practicing environmental management and conservation. To accomplish Lincoln Park’s level of certification, the borough also had to establish a mandatory green team. “Being silver-certified is hard work,” Ranieri says. “So if Lincoln Park achieved it, they must have done a lot of necessary actions.” The documentation for Lincoln Park’s certification through Sustainable Jersey awards it 10 points for its “Buy Fresh Buy Local”
campaign, which credits the borough with encouraging consumers to purchase “the healthiest, freshest and most nutritious products available.” The town is also commended for providing a weekly farmer’s market in 2015 in collaboration with Montville, with the goal of using local farms primarily in Morris County. Steps towards a healthier environment, both for residents and the planet, necessitate smaller farms and markets, which can better manage the green lifestyle while reducing the borough’s carbon footprint. There is, of course, also the added bonus of boosting town economy by encouraging residents to shop locally. Participation from both the green farms and residents is dependent in part on advertising campaigns using the borough’s official website, as well as print and social media, to spread awareness of local farms and markets.
Tom Cottrell, an employee of Lincoln Park’s Department of Public Works, helped transform this once-overgrown patch of land into a flowering garden. Photo courtesy of Kathleen Skrobala.
“It’s about letting people know that this is better for the environment and your town,” Skrobala says. Drew Borinski, owner of Borinski Farms, which has been selling fresh produce in Lincoln Park since the 1920s, understands the importance of buying green.
“What people are looking for is fresher, better quality produce,” Borinski says. “They want something that’s been picked that day.” Lincoln Park’s efforts to “live green” can be seen on all levels of government, with Tom Cottrell of continued on page 2
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