Option Green won an ANJEC Award

The Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission and East Brunswick Public Library have been awarded a 2017 Environmental Achievement Award by the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) for their jointly sponsored Option Green lecture series.
 The award was presented at ANJEC’s Environmental Congress at Mercer County Community College on Oct. 13.
 The ANJEC Environmental Achievement Awards program recognizes exceptional projects carried out by environmental commissions and nonprofit organizations that benefit the local environment. The criteria for the award are the project’s impact, originality, educational value, innovation, and response to a need in the community.

Option Green programs have been presented by the Friends of EBEC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conservation and education, for several years in different locations.  In March of this year, the Friends and the library began a partnership to offer the programs on a regular basis throughout the year at the library. Both organizations promote the programs to their audiences and the library also assembles displays of books that relate to upcoming lectures. The collaboration is intended to draw new audiences to programs about environmental topics.
 The series features speakers on diverse topics that offer new or updated information on specific environmental issues, the natural world, conservation and sustainability.  All programs are free and open to the public. Topics have included climate change in New Jersey, hydroculture, salamander migration and protection, and beekeeping.
Projects and activities of the Friends of EBEC that previously received ANJEC Environmental Achievement Awards are: Butterfly Park, the Salamander Crossing Project, Community Garden, the Friends EBEC website, moth nights and Freecycling Days. The organization also has been recognized for these and other projects by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, N.J. Department of Environmental Protection, N.J. Association of Landscape Architects, N.J. Audobon Society and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.