(added Jan. 15) Here's the input I offered:
1. Princeton needs to be a leader in changing lifestyles to slow climate change. A distinction by town leadership needs to be conveyed to the public, that though the uses of fossil fuels, e.g. staying warm and getting where one wants to go, are ethical, the fuels themselves, by pumping carbon from underground into the atmosphere and thereby contributing to sea level rise and radicalization of climate, are not ethical. We as consumers are caught in this contradiction, a situation that wears on us as people who wish to do the right thing, and that will incrementally and irrevocably alter life for us and all to come. If Princeton is not going to be a leader, with all of its resources and experts across Nassau St. confirming what a huge problem we are contributing to, then who will be? The town should analyze all of its services and figure out how to reduce fossil fuel use, and it should be an advocate not for a sprinkling of pilot projects but for broad and meaningful change that will be an inspiration to other communities, to the state, and beyond.
2. Develop small, attractive signs that homeowners who compost their leaves in their backyards can put in their front yards to encourage their neighbors to do likewise. Emphasize cleaner, safer streets, and the ease of piling leaves in a back corner of the lot. Otherwise, neighbors imitate the most visible practice, which is to dump leaves and yardwaste in the street year-round.
3. Shift to uniform rollout bins for trash, recycling and yardwaste. For yardwaste, rollout bins are much easier to fill, easily pulled around the yard, will accommodate the great majority of growing season yardwaste now being dumped on the pavement, and can augment bags during fall leaf season. Consider the case of Sacramento, where use of the Claw will be reduced to fall leaf season only, to be replaced by rollout bins. Rollout bins for recyclables will reduce mosquito breeding in the summer, windblown recyclables on windy days, and back problems for workers who currently have to lift recyclables. Rollout bins for trash have the potential to be identified and weighed as they are being lifted into the truck, allowing the option of having residents pay by the pound for trash collection.
Original post, from an email from Princeton Future:
Mayor Liz Lempert and the Princeton Council is soliciting input from ALL members of our community to guide them in setting directions and priorities as they proceed with their agenda-setting process. The new government is asking each of us to provide written feedback and share our "suggestions and ideas, be they great or small" about what we believe needs to be done to make our community even better than it is today. We are advised that the deadline for our input is now very short -on or before Wednesday January 9, 2013.
How to share your prioritized thoughts
One PF participant suggests that you first write up your ideas using your word processor and then copy/paste the text into the online feedback form.
How to access and open the feedback form
CLICK HERE
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