The Trenton Times guest opinion column published the following article on October 28, 2013. To read the full opinion, click here.

Opinion: Trenton’s schools need ‘smart energy’ makeover, new focus on healthy foods

By Times of Trenton guest opinion column 
on October 28, 2013 at 6:05 AM, updated October 28, 2013 at 6:18 AM

By Doug Demeo

This spring, Trenton was awarded certification as a Green City by Sustainable New Jersey, thanks to the persistent volunteer efforts of Bob Lowe, chairman of the Trenton Green Team, and many others. Now, SNJ is building upon its years of experience partnering with city governments and is seeking to advance the greening of New Jersey’s schools.

This is great news, but where and how to begin the makeover of all of Trenton’s schools — the public spotlight on Trenton Central High School notwithstanding — as we encourage ourselves to face environmental concerns for our bodies and buildings?

I suggest that we can accomplish two actions right away, in the most important interrelated areas: food and energy. First, our schools in Trenton should replace the purchase of conventional beef, pork and chicken — in which dangerous antibiotics are routinely injected — with an organic variety of meats and poultry. Also, Trenton should not hesitate to secure third-party auditing and consulting assistance in our total approach to conserving energy in the school district’s buildings and operations, thereby eliminating vast amounts of waste, saving millions of dollars and teaching our students real-world lessons in energy use.