Environmental Writing 2015

Ramapo College campus, May 2015    (photo: Jan Barry)

College is a great opportunity to explore the world around us, starting with things that catch our eye in a class, on a field trip, or out and about in our lives. Here are some fascinating, infuriating or plumb thought-provoking interactions of people and the elements that sustain us or endanger us that caught the attention of 10 student-journalists in the Spring 2015 Environmental Writing course at Ramapo College.

Their feature stories, field trip notes, and a variety of other writings throughout the semester convey the essence of the eco-explorations in this course, posted on our class website: http://ramapolookout.blogspot.com/. 

Field trip with Prof. Chuck Stead    (photo: Jan Barry)

Topics in the excerpts below range from the historic drought in California, and what can be done about it, to various environmental issues and movements in New Jersey and across the nation. The full essays and other writings follow. 

“United States culture is fast-paced, and as a result Americans have become accustomed to an “on the go” lifestyle. Americans have developed habits that help them adapt to this fast-paced culture, including relying on single-use plastic water bottles as their main source of hydration throughout the day.

“According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute, the average person in the U.S. uses 167 plastic water bottles annually; the annual spending on bottled water in the U.S. is $11.8 billion, with 30 billion bottles of water sold per year.

“This inclination to buy bottled water has negatively impacted the environment. A majority of the negative environmental effects of single-serving plastic water bottles occur before the bottle even gets into the consumer’s hand. Manufacturers use more than 47 million gallons of oil a year in order to supply plastic water bottles to American consumers, according to The Environmental Magazine…

“Once the plastic water bottle is produced it still needs to be transported; according to The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the entire process of manufacturing and transporting a single-serving plastic water bottle to store shelves takes about 5.6 to 10.2 megajoules, which adds up to a lot of energy use. This means that about 33 cents of every dollar spent on a bottle of water from abroad goes to transportation costs, according to The Huffington Post.

“Unfortunately, the life of a single-serving water bottle does not end after consumer use. According to the Container Recycling Institute, of the 30 billion single-serving water bottles purchased by Americans each year, more than 85 percent end up in landfills or incinerators. Meaning, only about 14 percent of the plastic water bottles purchased annually are recycled….”

-- from “’Just Tap It:’ Campus Movement Grows to Reduce Environmental Damage of Plastic Water Bottles” by Candace Mitchell

 Water bottle filling station   (photo: Jan Barry)

“Chipotle Mexican Grill announced on April 27 that it will only use non-GMO ingredients in its food, making it the first large U.S. restaurant chain to make a bold statement against genetically modified ingredients.

“On its website, the company posted: ‘A farewell to GMOs: When it comes to our food, genetically modified ingredients don’t make the cut.’

“This is not the first time the Tex-Mex food company has made headlines.

“In 2013, Chipotle became the first restaurant chain to label items that contained GMOs, which helped fortify a decade-long food movement in the U.S. that has health advocates questioning whether GMO foods are safe for consumers….”

-- from “Chipotle Cuts GMO Ingredients from its Menu” by Vanna Garcia

Ramapo Reservation trail    (photo: Jan Barry)

“The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference recently got a new home in Mahwah across the road from Ramapo College and next to the Ramapo Valley County Reservation. After looking at the organization’s website, I went to the building and interviewed a man who works there. Gary Willick, the Fulfillment Coordinator for the coalition of hiking clubs, gave me insight about what the trail conference does and a bit of its history.

“The trail conference, which includes numerous individual memberships, began planning to move to its new location in the Darlington Schoolhouse about ten years ago. Their old location was in a small office building down the road on Ramapo Valley Road closer to Suffern. They raised money, received several grants and finally were able to restore the old schoolhouse and construct a new wing without jeopardizing its history to be a place of business and educational value to those looking to learn more about hiking trails.

“’The new location is great,’ said Gary, a Ramapo College grad. ‘I get out of work at 5:30 and then go right over to the trail and hike.’”…

-- from “NY-NJ Hiking Clubs Have a New Headquarters” by Matthew Salerno

Fracking drilling rig   (photo: Jan Barry)

“Fracking has become a well-known and often discussed issue in recent years.  Fracking or hydraulic fracking is a technique where rock is fractured by pumping pressurized liquid composed mostly of water, along with sand and some chemicals.  The fluid is injected to create cracks in deep rock formations, thus allowing natural gas, petroleum and brine to flow up pipes to the surface. 

“Fracking has been around far longer than most people know.  The first experimental fracking began in 1947, and the first commercially successful fracking came in 1950.  As of 2012, 2.5 million fracking sites have been performed worldwide on oil and gas wells, according to Wikipedia.  Over one million of those jobs have been performed in the United States. 

“While fracking allows us to access natural gas and oil at an extremely convenient rate, it has come with a lot of controversy.  While the economic benefits of fracking are sky high, the environmental results are devastating.  Environmentalists argue, and scientists have proven that fracking often leads to the contamination of ground water, the depletion of fresh water, the degrading of air quality, air pollution, surface pollution, and the increase of potential earthquakes….”

-- from “Earth’s Fracking Epidemic” by Brian Writt

“Over the course of the past four years, the state of California has been experiencing a drought of record proportions.  In fact, the winter of 2015 is the driest winter in the Golden State’s history with the current snowpack water content reading at 1.4 inches, or 5% of the 28-inch state average.  

“But what are the dangers associated with such a severe drought?  Water is the source of life on earth, so the list of negative effects of drought is long.  Such effects include damage to agricultural production, destruction of wildlife and habitats, increased danger of bush fires and forest fires, and drop in groundwater levels as well as groundwater pollution…

“Work is being done to explore new methods of water filtration and allocation.  Several desalination plants are under construction, but many fear this is not a feasible means to securing the future of drinking water.

“Research and experimentation is also being done to explore the possibility of deriving clean drinking water from raw sewage, with promising results.  But at the moment, California is facing a devastating drought with very real consequences.  The situation on the West Coast should be an alarming wakeup call that we need to care for our environment and create a world we can continue to live in.”

-- from “California Drought Is a Wake Up Call to America” by Eric Christiansen

“According to a report from the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, around 80 percent of water in California is used for agriculture. While a percentage of this water goes to growing crops, the bulk is used in the animal agriculture industry, according to National Geographic. Not only do these animals consume ‘virtual’ water in the form of the water used to grow their feed, but excess water is also needed to hydrate animals and keep factory farm facilities and slaughterhouses clean.

“California is the country’s leading dairy producer, and a dairy farm can use up to 150 gallons of water per cow per day, solely to keep that cow’s stall clean. Added to the water needed for feed and hydrating the cows, it has been estimated that the average farm uses 3.4 million gallons of water a day, according to the EPA. To put this in perspective, the water needed to produce one gallon of milk is equivalent the amount used by an entire month’s worth of taking showers.

“Meat production uses even more water. According to the Water Education Foundation, every pound of California beef requires 2,464 gallons of water to produce. In shower scale, that’s around six MONTHS worth of water.

“So, while taking short showers is always a good practice, this action pales in comparison to simply eliminating consumption of animal products….”

-- from “California Drought: Fracking and Animal Farming Add to Water Woes” by Samantha Bell

Walker's Pond     (photo: Erik Lipkin)

“His given name was Elwood Walker, but for those who were lucky enough to live in the same town as him he will always be remembered as ‘Woody.’  In the town of North Caldwell, NJ “Woody” Walker was a legend.  He built a ranch house on a 17-acre plot of land and lived there from 1949 until his death in 2013…

“However, for many young kids in town, now most of them in their mid-to-late 20s, Walker will be remembered for something else: Walker’s Pond.  Those 17 acres that Walker lived on included about 7 acres of wetlands, where Walker’s Pond rested peacefully.  In winter when it got cold enough, Walker would open his pond to the town for ice skating, free of charge, and there was always a thermos of hot chocolate to be found nearby…

“After his death, the town of North Caldwell discussed buying the entire 17 acres of land and turning it into nature area while dredging and breathing new life into the pond.  This would have been a beautiful area in the center of North Caldwell and the perfect legacy for North Caldwell’s ‘First Citizen,’ as Mayor Joseph Alessi often referred to him as…

“Unfortunately, only a few years after his death, the dream of turning Walker’s Pond into a  nature area is dead.  Luckily, the pond will be saved and given new life; the rest of Walker’s property however, was not so lucky.  The wetlands of Walker’s 17 acres will remain untouched but the rest of the property will be used to build houses.  In the already cramped town of North Caldwell, new housing is not needed.  But someone will make money off of it, so houses are sure to be built….”

-- from “Suburban Developments: Pushing Out the Spirit of a Man Named Woody” by Erik Lipkin

Eco-friendly gym entrance   (photo: Brianna Farulla)

“The gray, concrete warehouse sets itself apart from neighboring facilities in its industrial Essex County location. Vibrant multi-colored flags and illuminated signs on the 50,000 square foot building make it nearly impossible to miss.

“Signature Fitness of Belleville, NJ strives to be more than just a gym. Aside from providing members with the typical necessities for a workout, it offers holistic products and an eco-friendly environment…

“Signature Fitness takes pride in the type of setting that it promotes. There are recycling bins in various corners, hypoallergenic carpeting and billboards advertising the IQ air purifiers that are throughout the fitness facility. Management made the decision to go paperless just months ago, as well….”

-- from “Environmentally Conscious: More than Just Fitness” by Brianna Farulla

“The media is constantly telling us what is and what isn't safe to eat. The topic of healthy food has even come up as an environmental issue. A person can't read a magazine without seeing this week's healthy recipe featured, or go to the gym without hearing their trainer talk about the importance of healthy eating, or even walk down the produce isle at the local grocery store without wondering what really is in that apple or in that strawberry.

“In health and food related media you will most likely find the acronym GMO, and somewhere else on that page the word organic is there too. Are there any possible health risks that may come from consuming the GMOs? How do we know which of our foods are made using GMOs? There are so many questions. Now, let's find some answers….”

-- from “Are Genetically Modified Foods Safe to Eat?” by Edith Carpio

“Just Tap It”: Campus Movement Grows to Reduce Environmental Damage of Plastic Water Bottles

Ramapo College students consumed more than 58,000 bottles of water in a recent year. Chances are that nearly half of that water in pricy plastic bottles came from municipal water supplies—in other words, tap water. 

Water bottle filling station        (photo Jan Barry)

By Candace Mitchell

United States culture is fast-paced, and as a result Americans have become accustomed to an “on the go” lifestyle. Americans have developed habits that help them adapt to this fast-paced culture, including relying on single-use plastic water bottles as their main source of hydration throughout the day.

According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute, the average person in the U.S. uses 167 plastic water bottles annually; the annual spending on bottled water in the U.S. is $11.8 billion, with 30 billion bottles of water sold per year.

Environmental Impact

This inclination to buy bottled water has negatively impacted the environment. A majority of the negative environmental effects of single-serving plastic water bottles occur before the bottle even gets into the consumer’s hand. Manufacturers use more than 47 million gallons of oil a year in order to supply plastic water bottles to American consumers, according to The Environmental Magazine. To put this in perspective, the amount of oil used to make each water bottle would fill a quarter of the water bottle. Along with oil, the production of a plastic water bottle requires more water than the water bottle itself is actually capable of holding, according to Kelowna Capital News.

Once the plastic water bottle is produced it still needs to be transported; according to The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the entire process of manufacturing and transporting a single-serving plastic water bottle to store shelves takes about 5.6 to 10.2 megajoules, which adds up to a lot of energy use. This means that about 33 cents of every dollar spent on a bottle of water from abroad goes to transportation costs, according to The Huffington Post.

Unfortunately, the life of a single-serving water bottle does not end after consumer use. According to the Container Recycling Institute, of the 30 billion single-serving water bottles purchased by Americans each year, more than 85 percent end up in landfills or incinerators. Meaning, only about 14 percent of the plastic water bottles purchased annually are recycled.

The result of this plastic waste is air, land and water pollution. When the plastic that ends up in landfills or incinerators is burned it releases toxic chemicals causing air pollution. If the plastic is not burned, it takes hundreds of years to break down, and never completely biodegrades.

Tap Water: The Alternative

Buying water in single-serving plastic water bottles is a waste of money and resources, as the state already spends money to clean our public water supply system. U.S. water utilities supply one billion gallons of tap water an hour to Americans, according to GreenFILE. Christopher O’Brien, the sustainability director at American University, explains the frustration of this waste of tap water: “we have been working for 10,000 years in human civilization to create great, safe drinking water for the public, and we have succeeded, and now we are throwing it out.”

The general fear of tap water is that it is not safe to drink, but this common misconception is simply not true. Both are regulated, though they are regulated by different administrations. Tap water is regulated by the EPA and bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, which inspects bottle plants only once every two years and has “a poor record of protecting consumer health and safety,” according to the “Take Back The Tap” campaign.

Furthermore, nearly 50 percent of bottled water came from municipal tap water supplies, “Take Back The Tap” found in 2009.

Reusable Water Bottles

There are other options for Americans to obtain their daily drinking water aside from bottled water. The simplest being the gallons of clean tap water supplied to them by U.S. water utilities that can be used to fill reusable water bottles, which can easily function “on the go.” And, according to the Huffington Post, this would save Americans money, as bottled water is 240 to 10,000 times more expensive than tap water.

Many companies produce reusable water bottles that are free of phthalates and Bisphenol-A. There are many options for reusable water bottles, including top brands like Sigg, Camelbak, Brita and Bobble, that could save Americans $260 per year, considering the average $5 a week that Americans spend on bottled water, according to iSustainableEarth.

College Campaigns

College campuses are some of the first communities to take the initiative to break the habit of buying plastic water bottles. Colleges across the United States have taken steps to cut the sale of single-serving plastic water bottles on their campuses. These college campaigns range from  handing out reusable water bottles to installing hydration stations, to colleges, like Seattle University, that have banned the sale of single-serving plastic water bottles on campus altogether.

Ramapo College has taken some initiatives towards a campus that is free of bottled water, but not enough to impact the sale of plastic water bottles by dining services.

More than 90 schools are participating in movements to either ban or restrict the use of single-serving plastic water bottles. Some schools are taking simple initiatives like putting a stainless steel reusable water bottle in the welcome packs of freshman to encourage them to use the available hydration stations. Other schools, like Linfield College, set up tables with tap vs. bottled water stations and created a documentary titled “Tap That” to help engage students in the movement to ban bottled water on their campus. Other colleges, like American University, are holding symposiums to educate students on the harmful effects of the production and use of bottled water using movies like “Tapped” and “Flow.”

National movements like “Ban The Bottle,” “Take Back The Tap,” and “Just Tap It” assist schools with their catchy slogans and campaign ideas to help schools take initiative to ban or restrict the use of bottled water on their campus. “Take Back The Tap,” for instance, was created by Food & Water Watch, an independent public interest group, that allows colleges to sign up with them for tools on how to launch the “Take Back The Tap” movement on your campus.

“Take Back The Tap” is currently working with over 60 campuses. The organization assists colleges by helping them meet or talk with other campuses that have had success with the “Take Back The Tap” movement. They also provide colleges that sign up with them with fact sheets, films and how-to guides, and teach campuses to promote the movement through campus media outlets. “Take Back The Tap” has also created an app that helps you find and share water-filling stations, track colleges that are trying to reduce bottled water consumption and take a pledge to reduce your own use of bottled water.

Ramapo College

Hydration station  (photo: Jan Barry)

Ramapo College has taken some small initiatives to reduce the use of single-serving plastic water bottles on campus, but has not taken action to ban the sale of bottled water. According to Ramapo College Enactus or Ramapo SIFE, a student club at Ramapo, Ramapo currently has three hydration stations on campus and Ramapo College Enactus is working on adding two more in high traffic areas of campus. The club explained that the purpose of the hydration stations is to encourage the use of reusable water bottles, which the Ramapo College Enactus club supplies.

According to Ramapo Enactus, the initiative began when the project leader of their sustainability project wanted to help Ramapo become a greener campus by reducing plastic water bottle use. The first hydration station was installed two years ago and has been successful.

Nonetheless, Ramapo currently sells single-serving plastic water bottles in the Atrium, Convenience Store and the Curtain Call Cafe. Ramapo also sells convenience packs, which include 12 bottles of water, and gallons of water in the Convenience Store. Ramapo catering services also supplies bottled water to clients who request it.

Between July 2011 and July 2012 Ramapo College sold 58,536 bottles of water and this number does not even include convenience packs of water or gallons of water sold in the Convenience Store, according to Jeff Dannhardt, a Rampo Dining Services employee.

Ramapo Dining Services is currently under contract with Sodexo. According to Dannhardt, the contract is “an umbrella type contract, selling convenience items is part of it.” Sodexo is also under contract with Coca-Cola, and therefore Ramapo is obligated to buy a portion of their items as well, including Dasani, a brand of bottled water that is owned by Coca-Cola. In addition to Coca-Cola, Ramapo College also buys products from several other vendors, including Pepsi.

Jeff Dannhardt explains that other universities have found success in banning bottled water through college initiatives rather than through dining services. In order to ban the sale of bottled water at Ramapo the change would have to come from administration and dining services would then accommodate to these changes. However, as of now dining services purchases are based on demand and currently there is a demand for bottled water.


Candace Mitchell is a senior at Ramapo College of New Jersey. She will be graduating with a BA in Communication Arts: Journalism and Literature, and a minor in Spanish. After graduation, she will be working as a web producer for Northjersey.com. 

Chipotle Cuts GMO Ingredients from its Menu

By Vanna Garcia

Chipotle Mexican Grill announced on April 27 that it will only use non-GMO ingredients in its food, making it the first large U.S. restaurant chain to make a bold statement against genetically modified ingredients.

On its website, the company posted: “A farewell to GMOs: When it comes to our food, genetically modified ingredients don’t make the cut.”

This is not the first time the Tex-Mex food company has made headlines.

In 2013, Chipotle became the first restaurant chain to label items that contained GMOs, which helped fortify a decade-long food movement in the U.S. that has health advocates questioning whether GMO foods are safe for consumers.

In the U.S., eight genetically modified crops are grown: corn, soybeans, cotton, alfalfa, sugar beets, zucchini, squash and papaya. More than 90 percent of the country’s agriculture come from seeds that have at least one genetically engineered trait, according to Gregory Jaffe, director of biotechnology at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Genetically modifying food happens when scientists take a gene that controls the desired trait in one plant and add it into a different plant. The results can vary, but this practice makes for the production of more food items, which keep the prices of everyday foods reasonably low. Pro GMO users also argue that scientists can create crops that contain more vital nutrients than those that are naturally harvested.

The other side of the debate argues that the long-term effect of adding new genes to common foods can be harmful to consumers, a claim that, on numerous occasions, has been unfounded or disproven by the FDA. Those against GMOs also worry that foods made to resist disease will linger in our bodies or create “superweeds” that will not react to pesticides and herbicides.

Many other people have taken to social media to voice their disapproval for Chipotle’s decision.

People have claimed that the food giant’s “fog and smoke” gimmick, which many feel is an advertising stunt by the company to attract health conscious consumers, is not really about being healthy at all since Chipotle will continue to sell sugary drinks that contain genetically modified ingredients such as corn syrup, which is almost always made from GMO corn.

For several years, several chains have been called out for high fat and poor quality menu options, leading to fast food giants like McDonald’s and Burger King to revamp their menus. But Chipotle has always touted its commitment to serving “food with integrity” by using locally sourced ingredients that are free of additives and hormones and preparing ingredients by hand.

Chipotle’s health conscious decision will come at a cost, however.

It is uncertain if other major restaurant chains will follow Chipotle’s lead, since other companies realize the difficulty in obtaining and maintaining the amounts of non-GMO ingredients. Unlike its competitors, Chipotle only uses 68 ingredients, including salt and pepper, whereas other companies use around 81, according to an article published by The New York Times.

The possibility that we will see other companies change to non-GMO ingredients is unclear and unlikely, at least for now.

“Say that to live up to the promise of being non-GMO, you need a non-GMO ingredient that accounts for just 1 percent of your formula,” Nicole Bernard Dawes, founder and chief executive of Late July Snacks, said in the Times article. “If you have a supply shortage in that ingredient, you can’t produce your product.”

In the past, Chipotle has had a shortage of beef, and last December, the company announced that it could not supply all of its stores with the pork needed for carnitas, a specialty item on the menu.

Due to the high costs of maintaining non-GMO items on its menu, Chipotle consumers will likely see increased menu prices between three and five percent. Chipotle sources grass-fed beef, but finding non-GMO raised chicken and pork will be a challenge for the fast food giant, since there is not enough non-GMO feed.

Despite all the speculation, Chipotle continues to stand by its decision to promote healthier eating habits by offering even more ways to stay healthy.

The company includes a nutrition calculator on its website that measures the nutritional intake of all its menu options, which consist mostly of burritos and tacos.

The connection between how food tastes and how it is prepared has a lot to do with each other, Chipotle’s website says.

For more information:
www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/business/chipotle-to-stop-serving-genetically-altered-food.html


Vanna Garcia is a senior at Ramapo College. She is a Communications major concentrating in journalism with a sociology minor. As an editor for The Ramapo News, she uses her campus presence to voice the concerns of the student body. Vanna hopes to become a global activist through her writing by delivering real and accurate portrayals of worldwide sociocultural issues that affect us all. 

Student Journalists Mentored in a World Class Newsroom

By Vanna Garcia

The New York Times’ annual student editors’ workshop took place this year on Thursday, April 16, and I was pleased to attend on behalf of The Ramapo News, the Ramapo College student-run publication.

The event included a complimentary day of learning from editors and reporters at the Times, which was put on by Kathleen O’Connell, the national education director, who specializes in higher education.

O’Connell spoke on the Times’ ability to reach out to college students of all backgrounds in order to cultivate a growing diverse pool of student journalists. Naturally, as a first generation LGBT college woman of color pursuing a journalism degree, I was delighted to hear this.

The event featured guest lectures by Associate Managing Editor Marc Lacey, who gave us the inside scoop on working for the newspaper giant; Associate Editor Richard Jones, who spoke on editing; Business Correspondent Barry Meier, who lectured on investigative reporting; Senior Staff Editor for Digital Projects Emily Rueb, who educated us on web journalism; and Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal, who taught us about Op-Ed reporting.

Of all the wonderfully talented speakers, I was most captivated by Rosenthal, who I was able to relate to the most being that I oversee the opinion column in our very own campus publication.  

Rosenthal spoke on the backlash he faces when writing about controversial topics.

Opinion writing can be politically or socially charged; and it can be especially challenging when writing about certain issues. Still, Rosenthal spoke on the significance of writing to challenge the status quo. He said that rather than allow themselves and others to become indoctrinated by systemic beliefs, journalists should reflect on and challenge values that may or may not coincide with dominant institutional forces.

This certainly hit home for me.

My feminist critiques of institutional forces that promote systemic oppression for historically disenfranchised people is the exact reason that I was first drawn to the idea of opinion writing.

It is not difficult to see why careers in journalism are highly sought after when they are marketed as opportunities to travel and meet fascinating people, but there are still under-reported issues on poverty, crime, injustice and discrimination that live in our own backyard that barely get news coverage or attention within our own communities. As a student journalist, my plan was always to provide a public service by observing, documenting and reporting on the human condition, as gritty as it may be, through fair and accurate coverage.

In many ways, my role as the viewpoints writer and editor has helped me become a more fair and accurate news writer, since doing so has developed my data gathering and research abilities, which enables me to showcase all sides of a controversial topic.

This is a view that Rosenthal and I share, since he also spoke on his ability to shed light on issues that help promote progressive views in our society.

On April 16, I saw Rosenthal’s passion to pursue visibility, awareness, advocacy and allyship in everyday communities. And on that day, I was reminded of the need for people like him and me in the journalism industry.

NY-NJ Hiking Clubs Have a New Headquarters

NY-NJ Trail Conference photos  (www.nynjtc.org)

By Matthew Salerno

The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference recently got a new home in Mahwah across the road from Ramapo College and next to the Ramapo Valley County Reservation. After looking at the organization’s website, I went to the building and interviewed a man who works there. Gary Willick, the Fulfillment Coordinator for the coalition of hiking clubs, gave me insight about what the trail conference does and a bit of its history.

The trail conference, which includes numerous individual memberships, began planning to move to its new location in the Darlington Schoolhouse about ten years ago. Their old location was in a small office building down the road on Ramapo Valley Road closer to Suffern. They raised money, received several grants and finally were able to restore the old schoolhouse and construct a new wing without jeopardizing its history to be a place of business and educational value to those looking to learn more about hiking trails.

“The new location is great,” said Gary, a Ramapo College grad. “I get out of work at 5:30 and then go right over to the trail and hike.”

The NY-NJ Trail Conference is now able to better handle two different sectors, according to Gary, thanks to the large amount of space available inside their new building. Gary is part of the financial side that brings in income. There is also a program side that is in charge of maintaining and building trails, as well as running events to help educate people.

Gary explained how the programming team builds, maintains and organizes trails under their watch. There is a small team of paid employees who have jobs to organize the more than 1400 volunteers that the trail conference has. Volunteers maintain all trails by traveling them at least three times per calendar year and reporting/fixing any problems necessary such as overgrown brush, falling trees and  missing/worn trail sign markers. Gary also described how they sometimes build new trails, which requires a lot of skilled and hard manual labor; the trail conference supplies training to its volunteers, which is free or for a fee in some cases.

The trail conference also does a significant mapping of trails in the surrounding region, including the Ramapo Reservation. Gary explained that program volunteers carry high-tech GPS tracking devices while hiking specific trails in order to gather data on the location. The technology is used to help map out exactly where the trails are, and even is able to show how steep the route is at each particular spot. Gary hikes many routes himself and often takes notice if trails need to be maintained.

There are a few new improvements that the trail conference has coming to the area that would be very interesting and beneficial to Ramapo College students. As many students who have gone the Ramapo Reservation have noticed, walking there can be quite dangerous along Rt. 202, with traffic traveling at high speeds and no sidewalks. There is currently a back trail that extends from the schoolhouse to the trails, but this still leaves a gap where hikers must walk on a small shoulder on Rt. 202 in order to reach that point.

Gary informed me that plans are in the works for a new trail in place that will lead from the traffic light by the commuter lot at Ramapo College directly to the Reservation trails. This means that students walking to the Reservation will no longer have to risk their lives and brave Rt. 202’s speeding cars but instead can walk behind the trail conference headquarters and arrive safely. They will be installing a bridge in order to get across a stream and wetlands and aim to have the project done as soon as possible, he said.

When the trail conference finds land that it wants to preserve and use for new potential trail sites it buys it up and then sells it to the state; this way the state can legally protect the land from being developed.

Gary also talked about work done under the science director, which involves eradicating evasive plant species from potential trail sites. The stewardship program uses interns to map out the sites and identify any foreign plant species that are damaging the natural landscape. The NY-NJ Trail Conference then takes measures with its interns and volunteers to get rid of the unnatural plant species, where practical, and restore the area to its natural vegetation.

The program is looking to take some interns, and encourages Ramapo College environmental/science majors to look into these opportunities.

For more information: http://www.nynjtc.org/


Matthew Salerno is a Ramapo College Journalism student graduating in May of 2015. He is currently working on his portfolio and looking for a local reporting job after his college career comes to a close.

Earth’s Fracking Epidemic

Fracking drilling rig  (photo: Jan Barry)

By Brian Writt

Fracking has become a well-known and often discussed issue in recent years.  Fracking or hydraulic fracking is a technique where rock is fractured by pumping pressurized liquid composed mostly of water, along with sand and some chemicals.  The fluid is injected to create cracks in deep rock formations, thus allowing natural gas, petroleum and brine to flow up pipes to the surface. 

Fracking has been around far longer than most people know.  The first experimental fracking began in 1947, and the first commercially successful fracking came in 1950.  As of 2012, 2.5 million fracking sites have been performed worldwide on oil and gas wells, according to Wikipedia.  Over one million of those jobs have been performed in the United States. 

While fracking allows us to access natural gas and oil at an extremely convenient rate, it has come with a lot of controversy.  While the economic benefits of fracking are sky high, the environmental results are devastating.  Environmentalists argue, and scientists have proven that fracking often leads to the contamination of ground water, the depletion of fresh water, the degrading of air quality, air pollution, surface pollution, and the increase of potential earthquakes.

Increases in seismic activity following the hydraulic fracturing along the faults are many times a result of the deep injection of hydraulic fracking and its “flow back,” which is the byproduct of hydraulically fractured wells.  The combination of all these dangers has brought fracking global scrutiny.  Some countries have banned fracking all together.

Fracking uses between 1.2 and 3.5 million gallons of water per well, with larger projects use up to 5 million gallons.  According to an Oxford Institute for Energy Studies report, greater volumes of water are required in Europe due to the fact that they often need to go 1.5 times deeper than the US to access the wells.

Surface water is often contaminated from fracking when spillage or improperly constructed waste pits are used.  Ground water can be contaminated if when the blasting is performed and the water/sand/chemical concoction is able to escape the rock formation, usually due to fractured wells, or when the waste is returned and it dissolves into the earth.  Less than half of the water used to blast through to fracture the formations is recovered. 

There is no secret that fracking has many dangers that put people’s lives, as well as the wellbeing of the planet, in jeopardy.  One example of that is in a small town in Louisiana, called Belle River.  A community made up of 107 households, the majority of the residents make their living on the water.  Their livelihoods are at risk at the hands of fracking, according to a news report aired on Aljazeera America.

Fracking results in an immense amount of toxic byproducts in which are taking up a ton of space, raising the question ‘what are they doing with all the waste?’  Unfortunately for the people of Belle River, their home may turn out to be a toxic waste dumping ground for the fracking companies.

“This is no place to dispose of toxic chemicals,” said Dean Wilson,  the head of the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper grass-roots environmental group.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what the FAS Environmental Group has been doing as far back as the mid 1980’s.  The company retrieves the waste from fracking wells, which contains high levels of methanol, chloride, sulfates and other substances.  The waste is loaded into a truck, then is transferred onto a shuttle barge for two miles on the Intracoastal Waterway to the company’s injection well.  After it arrives there it is injected deep into the ground where it is meant to remain forever. 

FAS now wants to build a new facility across the waterway from the already existing injection well.  There they would build a pipeline underground that would connect the new facility to the injection well, which would allow waste to be moved under the waterway, eliminating the need for the shuttle barge system that they have been using.  FAS claims that ending the use of shuttle barges would cut down the risk of accidents on the water, such as a leak of toxins.

The new site, however, which would be located in a residential neighborhood, is not zoned for industrial use, causing FAS to request a local zoning commission to rezone the land.  Their request was denied.  Next they went to the Department of Natural Resources office of conservation, which regulates oil and gas drilling in Louisiana, and applied for a permit.  The decision is believed to be made sometime around the end of June. 

The residents in Belle River are furious over this proposition, and they have had many town meetings regarding the issue.  Many believe that the underground pipeline filled with fracking waste is inevitable.

“Democracy has already failed in Belle River.  In Louisiana a hearing is just a delay in action before they announce they are going to approve it,” said Russell Honore, a famous Louisiana military leader, who came into the spotlight after leading military relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

FAS has had a history of accidents regarding compromises of their waste disposal.  In 2013 an FAS manager was found guilty of allowing 380,000 gallons of industrial wastewater that contained chemicals not permitted to be dumped at the facility in Belle River. 

Guy Cormier, the president of St. Martin’s Parish, who spoke at the town hearing, stressed that although he is not anti-industry, he feels like he has to speak out to protect his community’s health and wellbeing by enforcing the zoning laws.

As fracking continues to be a booming industry in the United States more and more towns will be faced with similar dilemmas as Belle River.  There just simply is not a safe way to dispose of the wastewater that is a product of the fracking.  Along with making the earth unstable, big companies are putting those who have made homes for years in small towns, live in an area where the risk of contamination is never ending, not only putting their lives at stake, but making their homes unsellable. 

For more information:
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/7/biggest-swamp-fracking-wasteland.html


Brian Writt is a senior at Ramapo College majoring in Communication Arts: Global Communication and Media. 

Field Trip to Examine Paint Sludge Dumps

Ramapo College students gather at Ramapo Saltbox Environmental Research Center

Photo Essay by Eric Christiansen

For my CEC project I investigated some of the sites of the industrial paint sludge pollution left by the Ford Motor Company.  This sludge is a major concern of residents about cancer clusters in communities directly exposed to the pollution as well as elevated lead levels in ground and surface water.

Prof. Chuck Stead handling paint sludge

Specifically, I visited the pollution surrounding the Ramapo Saltbox Environmental Research Center on Torne Valley Road in Hillburn, NY and the superfund site at Ringwood mines in New Jersey.

Chips of dried paint sludge

Dried paint sludge on forest floor

Exploring these areas has given me a frame of reference for the toxic legacy of Ford’s pollution.  Growing up in this area, I always heard about the dumping and the environmental dangers associated with it, but this class and this field work has expanded my knowledge and put it all into perspective.

Area where paint sludge is to be removed by Ford

Part of forest cut down for paint sludge removal in Torne Valley

Seeing the paint sludge with my own eyes expanded my understanding of how this pollution affects the immediate environment, local communities, and everyone else.

California Drought Is a Wake Up Call to America

Folsom Lake, July 2011-January 2014  (www.nasa.gov)

By Eric Christiansen

Over the course of the past four years, the state of California has been experiencing a drought of record proportions.  In fact, the winter of 2015 is the driest winter in the Golden State’s history with the current snowpack water content reading at 1.4 inches, or 5% of the 28-inch state average.  

But what are the dangers associated with such a severe drought?  Water is the source of life on earth, so the list of negative effects of drought is long.  Such effects include damage to agricultural production, destruction of wildlife and habitats, increased danger of bush fires and forest fires, and drop in groundwater levels as well as groundwater pollution.

Agriculture

Given the severity of the drought, as well as the extended period of time that it has been affecting California, agricultural production has been drastically impacted.  The Central Valley of California is home to most of the state’s, and a significant amount of America’s, agriculture, specifically almonds and olives.  The water required for the production for these crops currently exceeds the water available to Californian farmers, drastically reducing the crop production rates across the state.  This has serious economic implications.  California produces much of our country’s crops for exports, so the farming industry has taken a serious hit since the onset of this drought, as has the agricultural export profits of the nation as a whole.

Brush Fires

California is known for experiencing devastating brush fires year after year.  With groundwater gradually being depleted to dangerously low levels, brush and other low-to-the-ground plant life tend to dry up and begin to die.  This creates perfect tinder for a small fire to catch and spread.  This coupled with a lack of water for fire-fighting purposes poses a serious problem for California residents.

Groundwater

Groundwater is a primary source for drinking water, as it fills aquifers and wells.  Unfortunately, as precipitation fails to adequately refill groundwater stores and offset the water being used, the groundwater level begins to drop.  This causes shortages in drinking water, which can have fatal consequences.  In areas nearby to the ocean, this can also cause seawater intrusion.  Seawater intrusion is a problem that occurs when the groundwater level drops well below sea level and seawater begins to move into the groundwater supply.  This can cause contamination of groundwater stores and make huge reserves of drinking water unsafe for human consumption.

Impact on Wildlife

Water is vital for survival of all life, not just humans, so while the above problems can severely hinder human life, they can also be devastating to other animals.

California is home to large numbers of fisheries.  Many such facilities are facing problems as water becomes more and more scarce, with the risk of entire fisheries drying up and becoming unusable.  Furthermore, the existence of fish in the wild is also being threatened.  Specifically, salmon are being stranded while trying to swim upstream.  As rivers are drying up, salmon get stuck before they are able to reach an area conducive to spawning.  These fish are dying, but more significantly, they are being prevented from reproducing, which is threatening the existence of the species.

Similarly, animal migration patterns are being disrupted as they must relocate or remain stationary in order to maintain access to drinking water.  This means that breeding patterns and regrowth patterns are being halted.

Bears and mountain lions are being forced to come into dangerous contact with humans as food becomes scarcer.  Plant growth is diminishing, which causes drops in the population of smaller animals that bears and mountain lions eat.  As this food source becomes hard to find, these predators look to new areas, namely those inhabited by humans, to find food.  Black bears, a species that is in danger in California, is directly impacted by the lack of sufficient growth of their dietary staples (shoots, buds, fruits, nuts).  Other endangered species that California’s drought is threatening include the tiger salamander, the giant kangaroo rat (95% of giant kangaroo rats’ habitat has been destroyed), and the San Joaquin kit fox.

California’s ecosystem is in serious danger.  Animals are approaching extinction and human life is being threatened and fracking continues to drain limited water stores and pollute remaining ones.  Work is being done to explore new methods of water filtration and allocation.  Several desalination plants are under construction, but many fear this is not a feasible means to securing the future of drinking water.

Research and experimentation is also being done to explore the possibility of deriving clean drinking water from raw sewage, with promising results.  But at the moment, California is facing a devastating drought with very real consequences.  The situation on the West Coast should be an alarming wakeup call that we need to care for our environment and create a world we can continue to live in.


Eric Christiansen is a transfer student completing his sophomore year at Ramapo College of New Jersey.  He is a literature major with a concentration in creative writing and, although he is not studying environmental science, his avid interest in the outdoors has drawn him to learn about the world of environmental journalism.  Eric has been a New Jersey resident for nearly twenty-two years and is interested in working to maintain the local environment.

California Drought: Fracking and Animal Farming Add to Water Woes

Farming operations that feed much of the nation consume 80 percent of California's dwindling water supplies. Consumers across America could help by cutting back on eating cheese burgers. 

By Samantha Bell

The drought in California is nothing new, sadly. For the past two years, California has experienced the worst drought on record since record keeping began in the 19th century, according to National Geographic. Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of “drought emergency” and celebrities like Lady Gaga have even taken to the small screen, making PSAs about the importance of conserving water.

Recently, the State Water Resources Control Board unanimously voted to extend and expand its emergency drought regulations, according to the Associated Press. As part of these regulations, restaurants have been told to withhold water unless customers ask - and restaurants are subject to $500 fines for violations. Given the extreme length and severity of the drought, some may wonder that when a faucet is turned on in the state of California dust does not come out instead of water.

While some estimates show that California would need 11 trillion gallons of water to end this period of drought, residents have been able to maintain supplies, thanks to underground stores of freshwater. According to Jay Famiglietti, a senior water cycle scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “It will take about 75 inches of precipitation or about three years of above-average rainfall and snowfall to make up the 11 trillion gallons of water deficit.”

In an average year, around 50 percent of the state’s water sources come from underground supplies, according to the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources. Unlike above ground water stores, such as lakes, streams or reservoirs, groundwater stores, such as aquifers, are located far under the surface of the earth and cannot be replenished once they are drained. This water has often existed in protective pockets below the surface for thousands of years, created as water slowly seeped down through the soil.

As the drought has progressed, people have drilled deeper into the ground to tap into these ancient water stores and new reports show that Californians have pumped so much water from these stores that they are currently drinking the same water dinosaurs once drank! California’s water needs have completely tapped freshwater supplies from recent centuries all the way through the ice age and into the prehistoric era.

Water Troubles

While marketing dinosaur water sounds genius, this is hardly a light-hearted situation. Once these freshwater aquifers are gone, they can never be replenished. Meaning, unless it starts raining in California soon, the state’s days of free-flowing water are  numbered.

Yet, despite distributing tickets for people who “waste” water by washing their cars or hydrating their gardens, California officials have done very little to address two major causes of water shortages in the state: agriculture and fracking.

As two of the major sources of industrial water usage, fracking and animal agriculture have hardly been given the criticism that they deserve for monopolizing precious water supplies.

Livestock Love Water

According to a report from the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, around 80 percent of water in California is used for agriculture. While a percentage of this water goes to growing crops, the bulk is used in the animal agriculture industry, according to National Geographic. Not only do these animals consume “virtual” water in the form of the water used to grow their feed, but excess water is also needed to hydrate animals and keep factory farm facilities and slaughterhouses clean.

California is the country’s leading dairy producer, and a dairy farm can use up to 150 gallons of water per cow per day, solely to keep that cow’s stall clean. Added to the water needed for feed and hydrating the cows, it has been estimated that the average farm uses 3.4 million gallons of water a day, according to the EPA. To put this in perspective, the water needed to produce one gallon of milk is equivalent the amount used by an entire month’s worth of taking showers.

Meat production uses even more water. According to the Water Education Foundation, every pound of California beef requires 2,464 gallons of water to produce. In shower scale, that’s around six MONTHS worth of water.

So, while taking short showers is always a good practice, this action pales in comparison to simply eliminating consumption of animal products.

Fracking Fresh Water

Not only does fracking pose a threat to California’s precious freshwater supplies, but it also threatens overall water quality.

According to Environment America, the process of fracking requires hundreds of millions of gallons of freshwater, which gets injected into the ground mixed with toxic “fracking fluid” chemicals, to push ancient natural gas pockets to the surface.

According to Clean Water Action, California is located over a major region of shale, making it a prime target for natural gas and oil companies. On top of that, Southern California, an area that is already completely parched, has the largest stretches of shale. It is estimated that around two billion gallons of water are used for fracking every year in California.

Once this water has been mixed with fracking fluid and contaminated with heavy metals from the earth’s bedrock, it can never be recovered. The disposal method that natural gas companies use is to inject wastewater into underground waste wells or aquifers, which contain water that’s been deemed unsuitable for human consumption.

However, around seven percent of waste wells leak, compromising nearby watersheds, according to Environment America. They also found that nearly three billion gallons of wastewater have been accidentally injected into aquifers that contained potable water. In a one mile radius alone, a single contaminated aquifer comprised up to 40 different domestic water supply wells.

A Sustainable Solution for California – and Beyond

According to National Geographic, B. Lynn Ingram, a paleoclimatologist from University of California at Berkeley, predicts that California’s current period of drought – which she’s called a “megadrought”– could very well expand into the next 200 years. If this is the case, then California can’t afford to gamble away water supplies on these incredibly resource intensive industries.

These are major uncertainties that can have severe implications for millions of people. As climate change progresses, we are likely to see more extreme droughts like California’s across the world. Currently, Sao Paulo, Brazil is experiencing a similarly devastating drought and entire regions of Middle Eastern countryside have been reduced to deserts. It is becoming very clear that we cannot continue to take advantage of the world’s water if we expect it to sustain humanity into the future.

We can all play a part in helping to conserve water by reducing or entirely eliminating our consumption of meat and animal products. By skipping cheese and milk for an entire year you can save 50,033 gallons of water, according to National Geographic. If you were to cut out meat as well, you could save another 162,385 gallons annually. Can you imagine how much water that would save if everyone in the U.S. got on board?

We all have the power to make conscious choices, not only to help protect our own futures, but also the future of the planet.


Samantha Bell is a senior at Ramapo College of New Jersey. She will be graduating with a BA in Communication Arts: Journalism. After graduation, she will be teaching English as a second language to children in Thailand. 

Suburban Developments: Pushing Out the Spirit of a Man Named Woody

Walker's Pond       (photo: Erik Lipkin)

By Erik Lipkin

His given name was Elwood Walker, but for those who were lucky enough to live in the same town as him he will always be remembered as “Woody.”  In the town of North Caldwell, NJ “Woody” Walker was a legend.  He built a ranch house on a 17-acre plot of land and lived there from 1949 until his death in 2013.

The reason Walker will be remembered so fondly in North Caldwell is because of everything he did for the town.  Walker was crucial in helping build two schools and would come in to the local grade school to talk to kids about the town’s history, complete with pictures and slideshows.  The highlight of that presentation was the revelation that the town once had an amusement park where Grandview School now stands.

However, for many young kids in town, now most of them in their mid-to-late 20s, Walker will be remembered for something else: Walker’s Pond.  Those 17 acres that Walker lived on included about 7 acres of wetlands, where Walker’s Pond rested peacefully.  In winter when it got cold enough, Walker would open his pond to the town for ice skating, free of charge, and there was always a thermos of hot chocolate to be found nearby. 

In his later years and in failing health, Walker was no longer able to keep up with the copious amounts of work on his property and the pond became overrun with weeds.

After his death, the town of North Caldwell discussed buying the entire 17 acres of land and turning it into nature area while dredging and breathing new life into the pond.  This would have been a beautiful area in the center of North Caldwell and the perfect legacy for North Caldwell’s “First Citizen,” as Mayor Joseph Alessi often referred to him as. 

If Walker wasn’t actually North Caldwell’s first citizen, he was certainly one of the most beloved, which is why he would have deserved such a fitting tribute. 

Unfortunately, only a few years after his death, the dream of turning Walker’s Pond into a  nature area is dead.  Luckily, the pond will be saved and given new life; the rest of Walker’s property however, was not so lucky.  The wetlands of Walker’s 17 acres will remain untouched but the rest of the property will be used to build houses.  In the already cramped town of North Caldwell, new housing is not needed.  But someone will make money off of it, so houses are sure to be built. 

Clearing natural areas to build houses has become a disturbing trend in North Caldwell.  The town of North Caldwell once had an area called Hilltop.  Hilltop sat behind some local baseball fields and was once the home of the Overbrook Asylum for the mentally ill and also of the Essex County Jail Annex.  Besides those two complexes of buildings, the area remained largely in its natural state and even had a small farm. 

After the Overbrook Asylum closed, only a few crumbling portions of buildings remained.  It became a place for local children to explore and hike around, many of whom were doing so for the first time.  Despite efforts to keep Hilltop as natural as possible, a place that offered hiking trails and birdwatching in the middle of suburbia, it was not to be.

The Hilltop land was owned by Essex County and portions of it were in North Caldwell, Verona, and Cedar Grove, but after the jail was closed in 2003 the land went up for sale and was bought by builder K. Hovnanian.  Eventually a deal was made that would keep a small portion of Hilltop natural while the rest of the land would be developed for condominiums and houses.   

Go to Hilltop now and it looks like a scarred piece of land with very little, if any, natural beauty.  Houses stand where deer once lived, which has caused a major problem in town; it seems like there are constant traffic accidents in North Caldwell involving deer.  Some people talk about this problem with wonder, while intelligent people realize it is a direct result of clearing Hilltop, which was once their domain. 

The accidents involving deer should only increase once Walker’s property is developed.  As it stands now the 17 acres are a mix of wetlands, woods, and an open grass area.  Drive past the property at any given time and deer, geese, and wild turkeys can be seen, all animals that will have to find a new place to live after the planned houses are built. 

The Spirit of Woody

The spirit of “Woody” Walker may also have to find a new home.  While giving his pond new life is undeniably a wonderful thing, building houses on his property is like a slap in the face.  Certainly, a man who gave so much to such a small town deserves much more in return.  Walker could have easily made money every winter by charging people a small fee to skate on his pond, instead he allowed them to skate for free. 

Every winter, young children would learn to skate on Walker’s Pond while their mothers and fathers watched them from the banks of the pond.  Walker could have easily put up a no trespassing sign, but he was better than that; it would be nice if North Caldwell decided to be better too. 

Walker’s property shouldn’t be developed.  It should be a natural area preserved as a tribute to a great man.  What was once called Walker’s Pond could have easily become Walker’s Pond Park, an area where children could have their first experiences with nature, and perhaps fall in love with it; instead, a lot of the land will become housing that tramples his memory and doesn’t do the town any good.


Erik Lipkin is a junior at Ramapo College pursuing a bachelor’s degree in communications with a concentration on journalism.  He came to Ramapo College from Essex County College where he received an associate’s degree in liberal arts.  After graduation he hopes to work as a sports writer and broadcaster in the sport of boxing.  In his free time he can often be found hiking or fishing, and is on a mission to read every novel written by Jack Kerouac.

World as Classroom: Studying Nature Up Close

By Matthew Salerno

For my CEC for this class, I completed two events outside of class. For my first fulfillment for my CEC, I did hours upon hours of hiking at the Ramapo Reservation. Hiking at the reservation is a special experience for me and I have learned a lot about nature through my travels. I’ve visited a lot of small trails and climbed a lot of places off trail while also discovering some trails that need to be restored.

I plan on hopefully talking to MEVO and perhaps getting a trail restored that I stumbled upon a few weeks ago. Through hiking so much, I do feel like I now have a higher appreciation for nature and its beauty. When I go hiking and see some trash on the trails I will pick it up and put it in the closest receptacle or keep it until the end of my hike and throw it out in a trash container at the parking lot.

For my second fulfillment for my CEC, I went to an event in Paterson for my senior seminar class. The event was on Earth Day and it involved educating young people about the environment and was located at the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park.

There was a school of Earth and Space Science that was there educating younger kids about what’s good and what’s not good for the environment. In addition, Park Rangers led students or volunteers that attended around the park with trash bags picking up any litter possible. The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission was also in attendance testing out their new hovercrafts that pick up tough to get trash in the Passaic River and at the base of the falls. I definitely learned a lot about the history of the park and how much effort some people go through to keep it a clean and healthy environment.

Mother's Day Nature Walk at Ridgefield Nature Center

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Don Torino (201) 230-4983

7th ANNUAL MOTHER’S DAY NATURE WALK - ALL AGES

Looking for a Mother’s Day activity that is fun, free, and saves you money? Look no further! On Sunday, May 10 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audobon Society will host the 7th annual Mother’s Day walk with the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) and Bergen County Audubon Society (BCAS).

The walk will feature the 5.4-acre Ridgefield Nature Center and a visit to Skeetkill Creek in Ridgefield, NJ, where you will get to enjoy a beautiful day with both your mother and Mother Nature, while also being able to understand the importance of natural resources in small communities. There will also be a stop to see monk parakeets on the way.

All ages are welcome to participate in this great family activity that you will not want to miss!

Registration is free, recommended and appreciated.

--Vanna Garcia 

World as Classroom: Tale of Two Pleasurable Ponds

By Erik Lipkin 

What makes so many outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, and kayaking so enjoyable is the peace they offer.  Certainly, playing basketball or tennis is also a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon but those activities don’t offer what hiking or fishing do—seclusion.  For many outdoor lovers, seclusion in the woods, with only their own daydreams to keep them company, is like heaven.  That is why there are often mixed emotions when a favorite hiking, or fishing locale is developed, even if that development is beneficial.

Take the beautiful Terrace Pond in West Milford, N.J. for example.  Terrace Pond offers wonderful hiking on trails where you seldom see another person.  At the end of the hike the pond is reached and offers deep, cold waters for weary hikers to cool off and relax.  While most of the forest trails leading to the pond are empty, there is a shorter trail that climbs directly to the pond that is always packed with partiers going to the pond with a cooler full of beer to enjoy a sunny day.  While that is all well and good, many of those partiers are unfamiliar with the etiquette that goes along with enjoying the outdoors and most of them don’t pack out what they carry in; hiking 101.  That’s why the area around the pond and a lookout point farther down the trail are often littered with trash. 

The beauty of Terrace Pond is that the pond is deep in the woods, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  There are no houses or industrial buildings anywhere near it; it is a hikers dream.  However, that seclusion is also why it has become such a hot spot for people looking to put back a few beers and hang out. 

While the trail is maintained nicely by volunteers, during the summer months it is hard to keep up with the influx of trash.  Also, too often young people will find pleasure in feeding their leftover sandwiches and chips to snapping turtles, something that trashes the pond and encourages the turtles to keep coming back to the swimming entrance to the pond.  So with the pond’s seclusion come its problems.

Another gorgeous location for hikers, fishermen, or kayakers is Catfish Pond in Blairstown, N.J.  Like Terrace Pond, Catfish Pond also offers many fabulous hiking trails but there is one major difference between the two locations; Catfish Pond is not so secluded.  Drive down a residential street and after a long, rocky drive you will reach the Mohican Outdoor Center.  Once a former Boy Scout camp, the area bordering the pond now serves as a place for families to rent cabins to spend a weekend of outdoor enjoyment together.  The feeling at Catfish Pond is vastly different than that of Terrace Pond.

Terrace Pond is wilder, and there seems to be an “anything goes” attitude.  At Catfish Pond there are employees who are there from sunup to sundown and the place is very well maintained.  Catfish Pond has many bear bins where people can safely store their trash.  That eliminates the temptation for people to leave their trash on the side of a trail.  That is the major difference between the two ponds; one is wild, out in the middle of the woods, while the other is closer to reality and has a staff that is always there to make sure it is well maintained. 

That is where the discussion of development comes into play.  Is it better to have a place like Terrace Pond that feels more natural and wild?  Or is it better to have a little bit of development if that development is used to enhance people’s outdoor enjoyment and helps to maintain a property?  Certainly, opinions vary on this topic, with some people pitching in and carrying out other people’s trash if it means a more natural area to enjoy.  Others are fine with a few cabins and bear bins if it means a cleaner, better maintained area.

Both Terrace and Catfish Pond are beautiful areas that every resident of New Jersey should seek out.  They offer an escape from reality, Terrace Pond more so than the other.  If it is a wild, untamed environment you seek than take a trip to Terrace Pond.  However, if you would rather enjoy a more family friendly, clean locale than Catfish Pond is a can’t miss locale. 

So while the debate between development and non-development rages on, it has become a little more clear that both have their place in aiding outdoorsmen find their peace.  Just to be crystal clear, when the term “development” is used, in this case it is referring to development for cabins and lodges that intertwine with nature, not development that tramples nature in favor of condos and cookie cutter houses to feed a growing suburbia. 

Environmentally Conscious: More than Just Fitness

Signature Fitness entrance   (photo: Brianna Farulla)

By Brianna Farulla   

The gray, concrete warehouse sets itself apart from neighboring facilities in its industrial Essex County location. Vibrant multi-colored flags and illuminated signs on the 50,000 square foot building make it nearly impossible to miss.

Signature Fitness of Belleville, NJ strives to be more than just a gym. Aside from providing members with the typical necessities for a workout, it offers holistic products and an eco-friendly environment.

Owner Alex Sicignano, 56, of Nutley, encouraged this type of positive setting upon founding his business 32 years ago. With hard work and dedication, that’s what it has managed to become.

“My dad has always been concerned about the well-being of others,” said Manager Alexia Sicignano, 20, of Nutley. “Ever since I could remember, he’s tried to educate people on how to take care of themselves. What better way to do so than having a business that does exactly that?”

Gym layout         (photo: Brianna Farulla)

Signature Fitness takes pride in the type of setting that it promotes. There are recycling bins in various corners, hypoallergenic carpeting and billboards advertising the IQ air purifiers that are throughout the fitness facility. Management made the decision to go paperless just months ago, as well.

Even the cleaning fluid that they use is safe. “This stuff can be sprayed in your eye or inhaled and you won’t get a reaction,” said Alexia. “It’s 100 percent organic.”

Signature also sells a variety of food alternatives that are healthier than what nearby gyms have to offer. The marble countertops and glass shelves located within its juice bar section are stocked with vegan protein cookies and organic protein powders. The packaging that contains keywords such as “vegan,” “all natural” and “non-GMO” are hard to miss.

“The protein cookies are definitely our best seller,” said Nicole Ferriera, 22, of North Arlington. “Within the past five years that I’ve worked here, the amount of natural products that we sell has definitely increased. We just recently started selling 100 percent beef protein that digests naturally and is made with nothing artificial.”

Maximum Human Performance, the company that manufactures this new type of protein, informs customers of the benefits on its website. It reads, “Beef is one of nature’s best protein sources and is highly regarded by both the scientific community and athletes for its muscle building attributes . . . IsoPrime 100 percent beef is derived from USDA inspected beef that is non-GMO, rBST free and hormone free.”

Not only do the members of Signature have everything at their disposal needed for a healthy lifestyle, but management also makes sure that their staff is treated just as well.

Healthy Choices for the Staff

The majority of Signature employees are conscious of how they go about their daily lives. However, Alex goes out of his way to provide them with incentives.

“We believe that the happiness of our staff is just as important as that of our members,” said Alexia. “My dad loves giving people things that are beneficial to them. He finds joy in that.”

Each employee was recently assigned a personal trainer who provided them with training sessions and meal plans free of charge for eight weeks. The experience made most of them choose to eat clean and do meal prep, if they previously didn’t.

Meal prepping prevents food from being left over or potentially wasted. The amount of daily carbohydrate, protein and vegetable intake is measured, which provides just enough nutrients to quench a person’s hunger. Therefore, it’s rare to leave anything behind.

“I put one day aside to measure out and cook my food for the entire week,” said Personal Trainer Celerino Orpilla, 38, of Nutley. “People in this country are so used to having large portions, which leads them to take food for granted. You’ll never see me doing that.”

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, approximately 1.3 billion tons of food gets lost or wasted. They note that rotting food creates methane, one of the most harmful greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change.

“I encourage my clients to meal prep as well,” said Orpilla. “It prevents them from overeating or putting perfectly good food to waste. I don’t know which is worst.”

The meal prepping phenomena continues outside of Signature as its popularity arises. Companies that prepare and deliver balanced meals to people are becoming extremely common lately.

Fuel, a local business that some Signature members order from, has become swarmed. On their website homepage it says, “Due to extreme high demand of orders that are coming in, please allow five business days to be processed before we cook, prep and ship out the order until further notice.”

Along with being healthy and eco-friendly comes patience. It takes dedication to live such a lifestyle.

Juice bar     (photo: Brianna Farulla)

A Local Favorite

The multiple parking lots that belong to Signature are filled to capacity. The entrance becomes similar to a revolving door as the primetime hour of 5 p.m. approaches. Nearly every seat is  occupied at the juice bar. The sound of blenders becomes overpowering as each protein shake is being made.

Members walk over to the glass display case and point out which flavored vegan protein cookie that they want an employee to retrieve for them. Others inquire about the price of tubs of all-natural beef protein.

As time goes on, the team at Signature will brainstorm to create more innovative ways to add to its current amazing environment. For now, members seem pleased with what they’re paying for.

A Planet Fitness opened around the block from Signature just a few months ago. A membership there is half the price. Many people assumed that it’d be a threat to the gym that has been standing on Cortlandt Avenue for 32 years.

“Honestly, a lot of our members left to try out Planet Fitness in the beginning, but we knew they’d be back,” said Alexia. “A couple of weeks later the majority of them returned. They said they’ll never find a gym like Signature.”


Brianna Farulla is a senior at Ramapo College, majoring in Communication Arts: Journalism.