Two months ago, when the Princeton Environmental Commission announced that it would honor residents for their part in creating a more "sustainable" community, little did commissioners know that the award ceremony itself would be an exercise in sustainability.
The celebration, set to take place this past Saturday, Earth Day, in a blaze of sunlight on the plaza next to the Princeton Public Library, was dampened by a cold, persistent rain.
So it moved right inside to an equally qualified spot: the Community Room within the Library.
There, two Princeton residents, two businesses, and two organizations were honored for their involvement in creating a more sustainable community. The business winners were Barbara Parmette of Whole Earth and Theodore Casparian of White Lotus Futon.
The individuals were Dorothy Mullen, who has received praise for a public garden she maintains on Patton Avenue; and Peter Soderman, for the Herban Garden next to the Witherspoon Bread Company and the Princeton Writers Block that successfully occupied a vacant plot in Palmer Square North in the summer of 2004.
The organizations honored were Princeton Future, the community-based group that examines in-town development (which also bore significant influence on the outcome of the aforementioned plaza); and the D&R Greenway Land Trust, which has preserved 779 acres of open space in Princeton, and a total of 8,546 acres throughout the entire region. Greenway is also set to open its new headquarters at the Johnson Education Center this Sunday in a converted 100-year-old barn at Greenway Meadows on Rosedale Road.
"A sustainable community meets its current needs, environmental, economic, and social, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs," said Wendy Kaczerski, chair of Sustainable Princeton and a member of the Environmental Commission, adding that a sustainable community "improves and enhances local resources" by maintaining quality of life, economic diversity, and paying attention to environmental concerns.
The awards were presented by Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand and Borough Councilwoman Barbara Trelstad.