Comments posted (almost all are by other exhibiting groups) on the Town Hall Wall featured at the Alliance’s info table, Earth Day on the Greenway, SouthSide Bethlehem, 4-21-13, in response to question:
“What Goals Would You Include in a
Sustainability Blueprint for the Lehigh Valley?”
- More Companies going green.
- More outreach programs to help those in need.
- Keep Bees.
- Create a Honey Bee Club to educate people about the importance of Honey Bees.
- Plant native plants in public parks, green spaces & schools
- Community action
- Ban Plastic Bags!
- support organic & local farms
- grow your own vegetables
- more bike trails
- light rail public transit
- Educate public about environmental problems as has been done about recycling
- Encourage less driving, less consumption, replace grass (front & back) with vegetable gardens
- Encourage & construct more community gardens.
– Daniel X. Julius:
- Use of the River for hydroelectric power.
- Promote use of bike lanes.
- More recycling apparati in the community.
- Encourage use of water fountains while discouraging sale of bottled water.
- Use steel stack buildings as greenhouses or places to grow produce.
I would like to see every family in the Lehigh Valley which is unable to use decentralized wind and solar solutions to buy wind energy through the grid as a starting point. Stop using gas!
- Plant more native species
- Plants in parks & open spaces by highways, etc to encourage natural wildlife & beauty – (less mowing of parks & spaces)
– Susan Schirmer:
* Tree Swap – Replant Project
Each person collect/harvest small trees that we would normally just discard – in your yard or garden – pot them & bring to swap or group project to re-plant an area that needs trees.
* Change lawns back to wild flower meadows
- Don’t take government money for projects – this always comes with a price on our sovereignty as a state.
- Allow fracking everywhere possible. Watch the DVD “Frack Nation” for the truth.
- Do not agree to any project that infringes on “individual property rights.” Without property rights, there is no freedom.
Environmentalists are well-intentioned, but naive.
- All newly built homes should have some solar panels – i.e. for hot water, freezer, etc
- Trains – to go to New York, Phila etc etc
- More & better recycling resources that take everything possible that can be recycled
- Ban plastic bags
- Ban all Fracking
- At least 30% energy from renewable resources
- All grocery stores to have at least 50% local produce at all times
Wind power – Water Power – Solar Power
Of course, utility companies will lose money. Do I care? No!!!
I am vegan! I eat this way because I will not kill to feed myself. All sentient beings are equal!
Fracking is all about water. Once you ruin an aquifer you ruin it FOREVER. There is no clean-up.
I eat what I eat because I’m driven to by biological processes. I am an omnivore by genetics as are all people. But I respect individual choices like those of vegetarians and vegans greatly, especially because they support and fight for things like animal rights and sustainability!
Water is a public resource. It evaporates and travels around the world. “Ownership” is impossible.
Neuter/spay/release program for cats and dogs
- Alternative Forms of Energy
- More evening stores open (reduces crime)
- Support community colleges
- Better public education (K-12) and community education like Free University
- More trees!
- Prevent/Stop fracking
- Suport local non-profits doing good works
- More community gardens
- Reward companies with green principles
- No fracking!
- Ban Plastic Bags!
- Ride more bikes!
- Grow Your Own Food!
Stop turning the finest farmland in the world into strip malls, warehouses & town houses! Save the Lehigh Countryside!
Grow Your Own Organic Food
Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground
Ban the Plastic Bag!
More transportation options:
– Lanta operating twice as frequently for major routes
– more routes to Philly and NY by bus and more reasonable rates
– routes to Lansdale and Highland to get to train
– Trains through Lehigh Valley to Scranton, WB, Reading, Philly, NJ, NY, etc.
– Telecommuting / Access to high speed affordable internet
- Wind mills
- Solar Power
- Community Gardens
- No GMO Foods
- More green space
- Curb urban sprawl
- Rail transport – passenger trains to city
- Local food – co-ops
- Encourage the public to research & purchase locally grown naturally grown products.
- Keep the water supply clean. (The water we have on this Earth is all we are ever going to get.)
- Educate young people.
- Make use of resources that are natural in a responsible way.
True environmental cost of producing goods is reflected in the sale price and governments stop subsidizing environmentally destructive behaviors.
Northampton area has a Regional Compost Facility which is open daily (except Sunday) for disposal of all yard waste, leaves, grass clippings, etc. It is restricted to residents of certain municipalities only. Residents of other areas (like Whitehall) have access to their local brush “dump” only during very limited times, so it is easier to put this waste out with regular trash. There should be an inclusive regional compost facility available to all.
- Victory gardens – container gardens in restricted areas (in vacant lots)
- Solar energy – wind farms – hydro-electric if possible
- Organic & natural gardening & farming
- Clean air * water – no fracing!
- Farmers’ markets and natural restaurants
- Healthful school lunches & school gardens