Cool New Jersey

A Guide to Climate-Friendly Policies in Your Community

(This entire guide can also be downloaded in a printable form as the Cool New Jersey Handbook)

Preserving Local Agriculture

Our food purchases are often far more energy intensive than they should be. A simple head of iceberg lettuce, for example, contains only 50 calories or so, but it may take up to thirty-five times that amount of energy to grow, harvest, transport, and refrigerate that head of lettuce until you buy it. So, promoting small, local agriculture not only helps preserve green spaces, it’s an integral part of a climate-friendly community.

Certified organic produce or dairy ensures the product was produced without the excessive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. Because all of these additives are produced with the use of fossil fuels, organic agricultural products are more climate friendly. Moreover, organic methods lead to more effective trapping of carbon in soil. And, because organic produce is generally grown on a smaller scale, it is often also more closely tied to local farms and lower use of large machinery and energy intensive methods. As a result, organic agriculture is significantly less greenhouse gas intensive than its conventional equivalent.

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♦ Ensure that municipal purchasing agreements define preferences for locally grown produce.
An obligatory preference for Jersey Fresh produce can be established for all food purchases by municipal offices and schools. Additional preferences can be established for certified organic foods.

♦ Make municipal parking lots or parks available for local farmers markets.
Farmers markets help preserve open space and promote the consumption of local agriculture. Often, all that is needed is some simple coordination and a well-located site to promote a successful market. There are over eighty farmers markets in New Jersey helping to support local farmers and preserve open space. With municipal support, these markets and new ones can grow.

Community gardens thrive throughout New Jersey, like this one in West Windsor.

Seattle’s P-Patch program provides community garden space for thirty-five neighborhoods and nearly two thousand plots on twelve acres of land.

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♦ Make small grants and resources available for the development of community gardens in brownfields or underutilized parks.
Often, simply the availability of municipal equipment and support for a short period can help transform an underutilized space to a vibrant community garden. A grant of as little as a few hundred dollars may be all the community needs to create a new garden. (Brownfields must be thoroughly tested before they are used to grow food, and this costs money.) The municipality is well placed to either provide needed services or coordinate with state authorities to do so.

♦ Protect local farmland from development pressures.
There are several state programs that can help a municipality protect local farmland. Municipalities can work with local nonprofits to receive state grants for up to 50 percent of the fee simple or development easement on farms to provide for their permanent preservation. Planning incentive grants are available for the purchase of development rights to protect large areas of farmland in certain areas. And state funds are available for soil and water conservation projects that help support local farmers.

♦ Conduct an inventory of municipal lands suitable for agriculture.
Small-scale agriculture can often be fostered on disturbed, underutilized land that is not suitable for reforestation. Potential lots need to be carefully evaluated for water and soil quality concerns before proceeding. Use of such lots can be made available to local farmers at a discount in exchange to the adoption of climate-friendly practices; a smaller parcel might be made available to a community garden group of school agricultural project.

Thanks to Isles, a nonprofit community development and environmental organization in Trenton, there are currently about two dozen community gardens and beautification sites in the state capital. With support from municipal policymakers, such community groups can make a real difference in the lives of urban families and in the climate impact of the city.

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♦ Provide resources to community garden organizations.
Low or no cost soil, compost, water, and other resources can be made available to community and school gardens and parks.

♦ Municipal resources and staff can help develop community gardens and farmers markets.

Local farmers markets can be a vital resource for local farmers, and a pleasant and healthy alternative for local consumers.

Preserving Urban Trees, Forests and Landscapes

The preservation of trees and urban forests is a central element of a climate friendly community. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, and so act as ‘sinks’ for this carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere, and thus easing climate change A medium size tree removes roughly twenty-five pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year. Trees also help localized cooling by reducing the heat-island effect in urban areas; and, the shading can help reduce building cooling energy demands. The presence of trees has also been shown to reduce crime and promote better mental health.

American Forests works to protect, restore and enhance the trees and forests across America. The organization offers valuable resources to communities trying to define urban canopy targets and asses the value of their urban forest.

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♦ Adopt Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
IPM relies principally on non-chemical means to control rodents, insects and other pests. Practices that focus on controlling environmental factors, food sources, and building entry points, can usually effectively prevent infestation or pest damage. Because IPM relies less on chemicals derived from fossil fuels, and because it is far less damaging to the surrounding flora, it is significantly more climate friendly. In addition, by not using potentially dangerous chemicals near our homes and schools, IPM is a better option for the health of our children and pets.

♦ Establish a municipal tree planting program.
Several sorts of programs can encourage the planting of trees in public spaces. Programs might include grants for the purchase of trees by local homeowners or businesses or a municipal nursery that makes low cost or free trees available to residents.

♦ Plant native trees around municipal facilities, including parking lots.
Planting trees around parking lots has a double benefit: the trees absorb carbon dioxide and thus help mitigate climate change, and they help shade paved areas, reducing the flow of heated runoff when it rains on hot pavement. Overly warm runoff can raise the temperature in surrounding waterways, killing sensitive flora and fauna, and making ecosystems more vulnerable to the changes brought on by global warming.
Using native trees reduces the need for watering, pesticides, and herbicides.

♦ Installation of green roofs on new municipal buildings
Vegetated roofs, or ‘green roofs’, have multiple advantages. Among them, they help sequester carbon dioxide and thus help reduce climate change; and they reduce the heat island effect that can be intensified with global warming. They also provide habitat to animals and plants, help storm water retention, reduce dust and smog, and can provide beautiful roof gardens. The International Green Roof Association can provide more information.

♦ Make tree planting a mandatory part of street construction and improvement projects.
Purchasing, planting, and managing a tree for the first year normally has a total associated cost of between $40-150. This is not a major cost to a developer or a municipality. In fact, trees are one of the best investments a community can make. For a modest investment, they reduce energy use, reduce crime, increase commerce, and help with storm water management.

Sacramento California provides free shade trees and information on caring for trees to any homeowner that wishes to plant trees on the east, west, or southern exposure of their home, where the heating effect is greatest. Falls River, Wisconsin, has a more modest program that grants homeowners $50 for each tree planted.

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♦ Provide developers and property owners with information on green roofs with incentives for their use.
As we saw in the previous section on green buildings, municipalities can do a lot to encourage private builders to adopt green technologies. Encouraging green roof development is a sound investment. Roof areas that cannot be vegetated for structural reasons should be manufactured with high reflectance roofing materials to reduce energy use.

♦ Conduct a municipal tree inventory.
A tree inventory should gather information on the diversity, health, location, and numbers of species in the urban forest. A good inventory is a necessary starting point to any conservation or forest expansion plan. Forested areas can be evaluated and ranked, based on biodiversity and carbon storage capacity, to help set conservation priorities.
An inventory can also help identify problems, like a prevalent pest or common hazard. It can help prioritize conservation efforts; and in the long run, it can save money by helping to make municipal conservation efforts and street crews more efficient and effective.

♦ Planting municipal lawns in attractive natural state, including trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.
Manicured lawns can be significant contributors to environmental degradation. Inefficient engines on trimmers, leaf blowers, mowers, and the other machinery used to maintain a lawn dramatically increase their carbon footprint. Hour for hour, a lawnmower emits more than ten times the hydrocarbon of a typical car; and an inefficient two-stroke engine on a leaf blower emits three times more per hour than a lawnmower. Frequent watering is energy intensive as well; and the fertilizers and pesticides require a great deal of energy for their production. These fertilizers and pesticides can also endanger public health and contaminate local waterways. Moreover, because these laws are usually shallow-planted turf, they are ineffective at managing storm water runoff and do not contribute to the watershed.
Naturalize plantings of shrubs, trees, native grasses and wildflowers can provide a beautiful, unique setting, without the intensive use of fossil fuel. They require less, if any, watering; and minimal chemical inputs. They will require periodic maintenance; but no more than a manicured lawn.

Because new constructions compacts the soil with heavy machinery, and places only a few trees and shallow sod over densely packed, low permeability soil, the surrounding property of even low density development is largely lost to the watershed, despite the apparent open space.

Secaucus has established an ‘adopt a block’ program that allows small business owners to sponsor tree planting along a roadway in return for public recognition. In addition, whenever a tree is removed from a property right of way, the property owner must pay $100 for a replacement tree; and for the same amount, the town will plant a new tree in a right of way at the property owner’s request.

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♦ Establish municipal ordinances mandating the protection of existing trees.
Municipal tree ordinances typically specify protection and preservation obligations based on categories of tree and property type. Often, a native tree list or protected tree list can be used to specify obligations for environmentally important species. Any such policy must also address indirect threats to trees such as damage to root systems, compaction of soil, or changes to existing grade that could adversely affect growth.
Before obtaining a building permit for new constructions or additions to existing homes or commercial buildings, a tree inventory can be required. If construction threatens a protected tree, a tree protection plan can be required or designated replanting can be obligated.
A more general ordinance can protect any tree of a designated size (for example, 32 inches in circumference at the base of the trunk). Anyone who wishes to perform an act upon a protected tree can be required to obtain a permit. Fines for illegally removing a tree can range to over $500 plus the cost of planting a replacement tree.
Such an ordinance should be coupled with incentives for planting of native species and naturalized landscapes.

♦ Establish a minimum vegetation ordinance.
Landowners and developers can be required to replant cleared sites with native trees, shrubs, grasses, and other vegetation. Anywhere from five to fifty percent of a cleared lot can be obligated for replanting. Developers should not be allowed to select the area of replanting or the species without guidelines and final approval by municipal officials.

The cities of Oroville, California, Salem, Oregon, and several others require 50% shading or more from tree canopies 15 years after parking lot construction. This climate-friendly initiative also helps reduce the heated storm water that can flow from exposed impervious surfaces and harm aquatic life.

♦ Institute tree conservation officials with enforcement powers.
A well-implemented tree conservation plan necessitates clear guidelines and enforcement. In larger municipalities, such a program requires a full-time staff of trained officials who can answer questions, educate the public, and help guide private management and development decisions. Smaller municipalities may simply need to train the existing inspectors in tree care and conservation. To be truly effective, these officials should have the power to require compliance and fine violations.

♦ Develop pocket parks throughout the municipality through minor land acquisition.
Small parks can make a big difference; and the acquisition of odd shaped small lots that are otherwise unable to be developed can be cost effective for a municipality.

♦ Encourage residents to replace existing lawns with native, natural plantings.
The economic, esthetic, and environmental value of native plantings can be made clear to homeowners through a municipal education campaign. Property-tax-based incentives can help sweeten the deal and encourage local landowners to adopt a climate-friendly yard and garden. Even a small property tax credit for replacing a lawn with native species can inspire change.

Research by American Forests has found that tree cover in the Atlanta area has saved residents nearly three million dollars each year in energy costs.

♦ Require that new constructions adopt climate-friendly landscaping.
Newly developed properties and significant redevelopments can be obligated to incorporate water efficient, natural landscaping and native trees. Often, developers can be given the option of replanting an area themselves or paying a set fee to have the planting done by an agent of the municipality at the end of construction. A fee of $300 per tree is typical.

♦ Establish a native plant nursery.
Using plants that are native to a locality is important for the preservation of local habitat and the conservation of local species. In addition, because native plants are adapted to the local weather conditions, precipitation, soil type, and many local pests, they require less use of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and watering. This makes them a clear choice for climate-friendly landscaping.
However, local native species are often difficult to find in commercial nurseries. Municipalities can help address this problem by providing a modest nursery of native plants to local homeowners and businesses. This can be managed as a public-private enterprise. Alternatively, because municipalities often maintain nursery facilities for municipal landscaping, they might provide private purchasing opportunities as a valuable public service with very little if any additional costs.