Canvass & Organizational News
IN THE COMMUNITY: Red Bank woman dedicated to protecting the planet, May 26, 2007, By Todd Bates, Asbury Park PressAmy Goldsmith knows people who water "all the time and have sprinklers."
"We're not that kind of people," said Goldsmith, a Red Bank resident and state director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation.
She also drives a 2004 Honda Civic hybrid that gets about 45 miles per gallon, and they've been replacing their light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights, among other green efforts.
For nearly 30 years, including the last 15 with the environmental federation, Goldsmith has been an advocate for environmental and nuclear power issues. And she walks the walk.
"This is my life work . . . and I stayed with this organization because we're winning and we're campaigning and we have the flexibility" to do it in a way that has integrity but gets results, she said.
"I often say we're a frisky organization," said Goldsmith, 49, a native of Bayshore, Long Island.
In the past 25 years, the federation has helped bring about the state Clean Water Enforcement Act, which later was included in the federal Superfund Law, Community and Worker Right-to-Know Act, a 4 percent dedication of the state corporate-business tax for environmental causes, the state clean-car law, a school-integrated pest-management law and pesticide-free zones in parks, among other achievements, according to Goldsmith.
Environmental group plans for the future, May 26, 2007, By Todd Bates, Asbury Park PressWith 100,000 individual members and 100 member groups, the New Jersey Environmental Federation can "turn on a dime," according to its state director.
"We can work the inside strategy. We can walk the halls like anybody else," said Amy Goldsmith of Red Bank.
"But because we have a (door-to-door) canvass, we can mobilize our members and activate them in a way that other organizations can't," she said.
The federation's 100,000 members come from the group's canvassing, she said. The group keeps its members by calling them, giving them updates and sending e-mails with action alerts twice a month.
"We're an organization that's campaign-oriented," Goldsmith said. "We have a long-term vision . . . How do we win as we go along? How do we empower ourselves so that we're gaining more power as we go along, so that we can win the bigger fights down the road?"
For organization, change is in the air, Joe Olivieri, Verona-Cedar Grove Times, 02/14/07The New Jersey Environmental Federation is coming to Verona to clear the air about pollutants.
The group plans to go door to door asking residents to urge local officials to establish pesticide-free zones, reduced diesel emissions and green cleaning products in schools during its “Healthy Schools, Healthy Towns” campaign.
“New Jersey cancer rates are pretty high,” NJEF Communications Coordinator Jenny Vickers said. “So anything to reduce pollution where children play, where children go to school, where people are working in the building through the entire day would help decrease the pollution burden on our bodies.”
Canvassing Director Eric Benson said federation employees are scheduled to visit Verona beginning this week, seeking petition signatures, letters to elected officials and donations...
