by Natasha Rubright
The New Jersey Pinelands was the country’s first National Reserve, and my hometown is right on the edge of it. The difference between a National Park and a National Reserve is not necessarily in value, but in use; a Reserve can be used for commercial purposes as long as those purposes are responsible and do not harm the biosphere. This difference is clear to the people in my town. Our elementary schools take trips down roads covered in packed sand to cranberry bogs run by Ocean Spray, not 27 miles from the Jersey Shore. There my classmates and I picked our own cranberries and learned about the pockets of fresh water called aquifers that fill up the bogs. Talk to any third grader at Milton H Allen Elementary School and they’ll be able to tell you about how the ocean used to cover our town and left it covered in sand and blueberry bushes. People call us Pinies; these woods are part of who we are. Read more
This past Spring Break I traveled to Athens, Greece. Despite questions of their economy and European unrest, I was struck most by the sustainability of the city and surrounding areas. On the bus from the airport to Syntagma Square we passed wind turbines covering every open land space. Even modest houses had solar panels on the roofs. The transit system is easily accessible, with stations located every couple blocks and you can take trains hours outside of the city to far-off ruins. However, Athens struck me as a city in transition. Most buildings in the city are adorned with a combination of graffiti and overflowing plants and flowers exploding from the walls. Clementine trees line most streets, painting orange and green vignettes on every block. Coming from New York, Athens felt like a city in which every room has a balcony. There was little division between outdoor space and indoor, especially in the Taverna restaurants that spill onto the sidewalks. There was an unrest and a tension between the city and the natural world that sprouted up in cracks on the street.
NYUnplugged Conserves Energy