By Nayna Shah
On May 22nd, Morristown hosted its very first “Festival Earth” celebration at its most appropriate location, the Green. The event was organized by Sustainable Morristown, a new consortium that received a grant from the Dodge Foundation to establish a partnership among Morristown residents, businesses, and youth to encourage sustainable practices.
One month earlier, Sustainable Morristown held an event on the Green to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Due to unpredictable weather, guest turnout and outdoor activity were limited. But on the Saturday of Festival Earth, residents were gifted with the perfect day. The Green was bustling with exhibits and live performers.
“I am thrilled so many people attended,” said Paul Miller, chair of Sustainable Morristown. “We would like to turn Festival Earth into an annual event in Morristown– a month after Earth Day, and the weekend before Memorial Day weekend.”
Throughout the seven-hour celebration, musicians such as First Avenue, Jim Hicks, Emily Eddey, Bill Griese, Christine DeLeon, Universal Rebel and Electric Blue Sunrise took the stage.
Across the Green, guests visited the many exhibits promoting eco-friendly products and living. The array of displays included one from Grow it Green Morristown, a local nonprofit organization that gives residents a location to grow their own plants. Grow it Green aims to make residents aware of their responsibilities to the environment, and to bring people together.
PHOTOS BY ZAJI ZABALERIO:
Grow it Green has two gardens: the Early Street Garden, across from Morristown High School, and the Urban Farm at Lafayette.
The Early Street Garden is a community garden, where a resident can get a spot to plant some vegetables or flowers for the growing season (May to October). The Urban Farm is a teaching garden, or living classroom, where students in Morristown schools can grow produce and donate it to local food banks. Grow it Green is successful in its second growing season, and already has a waiting list for residents who desire a plot of land in the Early Street Community Garden.
Miessence, an eco-friendly skin and body care company, was another exhibitor at the festival. Miessence produces certified organic personal care products, made of raw, live ingredients with no pesticides or harmful chemicals. Some of these fresh ingredients include oils, plant herbs, nut butters, fruit, flowers, and vegetables.
Established in Australia, Miessence describes itself as the world’s first full line of organic personal care products, ranging from perfumes and moisturizers to hair conditioners, mouthwash, sunscreen and baby lotions. Perhaps the most intriguing part of Miessence is its delivery of products. The “packing peanuts” used in shipping actually are made of corn and wheat and dissolve in water!
PUR2O, a water filtration company, educated visitors about the importance of healthy water. PUR2O advocates for extremely limited use of bottled water, as bottles harm the environment and provide a way for toxins to enter the body.
PUR2O has many different types of purification systems, each filtering water in a purified plastic container. These filters have been used in schools, gyms, restaurants and homes. The company says its systems can filter potentially harmful chlorine and ammonia–which are added by water treatment plants– from tap water.
Alter Eco, a green gift shop with a cute name, displayed handbags, jewelry, and even solar powered phone chargers. Alter Eco was started in 2007 to help African women earn money after the devastating drought a decade earlier. Women in Africa are paid to make necklaces out of died grass, and to weave baskets.
Today, Alter Eco serves over 1500 families in Africa, and has spread to India and Vietnam. Each product is made by recycling another material, such as handbags and backpacks made from recycled billboards! Even the case for the solar powered cell phone charger is made from recycled tires.
Marty Epstein from Marty’s Reliable Cycle informed Morristown residents about his shop’s environmental efforts. His local business was remodeled with recycled materials, and designed to use water and energy more efficiently. As a result, Marty’s Reliable Cycle is Morristown’s first retail building to receive LEEDS certification.
Marty’s also runs an “Eco Chic Bicycle Boutique” program, where customers can have their old bikes fixed up, instead of buying a new bike.
Festival Earth also showcased two schools’ environmental strides. The first was Unity Charter School (K-8) on Speedwell Avenue. Its mission is to incorporate sustainability into the curriculum.
Unity Charter has multi-age, multi-grade classrooms, where children are taught responsibility for their actions toward others and the environment. Students attend many outdoor field trips, view presentations, and occasionally take classes outside. Students even grow and eat their own vegetables in a school garden. The school offers a vegetarian lunch program, and encourages students to bring lunch boxes and reuse water bottles. In September, Unity Charter School will move to a new location that will be redesigned with environmental construction techniques.
Fifth-graders in the QUEST program at Morristown’s Thomas Jefferson School premiered an impressive project for sustainability education. They raised money to hire professionals to film a documentary.
In their movie, the students visited places such as Marty’s Reliable Cycle to learn about sustainability. The Thomas Jefferson School is taking steps to lessen its impacts on the environment. These include use of email, eco-friendly cleaning products and energy efficient light bulbs (CFLs), and recycling paper, cardboard and even leftover oil from buses. The school is planting a garden, and even uses recycled paper trays instead of styrofoam in the cafeteria.
The students’ documentary had its “World Premiere” at the festival, along with other movies and documentaries in the multimedia showcase.
Festival Earth was an enjoyable and educational day for Morristown adults and youth. Visitors were able to learn about Morristown’s efforts to help the Earth, and the easy ways they could get involved. Let’s hope the annual event stirs residents to do their part individually and collectively, to save our planet.
