Project Porchlight Blog

For as long as he can remember, Dave Menaker (pictured here) has been interested in preserving the environment.

Dave was raised in a rural area of Central New Jersey with a keen appreciation for the outdoors. “There were woods around the house, and we had a little creek in the backyard that wasn’t the cleanest,” he says. “So I was always aware of the problems pollution could cause.”

He was reminded of just how important protecting the environment is a couple of years ago, when his employer, New Jersey Natural Gas, brought in a professor from Rutgers University to give a presentation on climate change. “One of the things he said was that climate change is a fact, and there’s no question of necessarily reversing it at this point,” he says. “And even if we stopped producing all this excess carbon dioxide today, we’d still see climate changes for years to come. Basically, we have done enough damage--from the Industrial Revolution until today--that we’re not done seeing climate change, even if we stop burning all fossil fuels today. That really struck me--this is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.”

Now a resident of Plumsted, New Jersey, Dave is striving to do just that. He serves as the Secretary of the Plumsted Township Green Technology Advisory Committee (PTGTAC), and he was instrumental in arranging Project Porchlight’s participation in the New Egypt Fall Festival on November 1 in New Egypt, New Jersey. A total of 400 energy-saving compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs were distributed at that event, part of Project Porchlight New Jersey’s campaign to distribute energy-efficient light bulbs to residents across the state. Project Porchlight is an initiative of One Change, and the campaign is made possible thanks to funding by the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program (NJCEP).

“It was a very successful distribution,” says Dave. “At the end of the day, I had a pretty good feeling that we had done some good work and maybe changed some people’s minds. We were able to help people feel empowered by giving them information about why it’s important to make changes and how easy it is to make these changes.”

With Dave’s help, the PTGTAC has embarked on a number of energy-saving efforts. “We’ve been working on able to get some occupant sensor switches installed in the municipal building,” he says. “I have also been working on the Sustainable Jersey program, and we’ve been able to complete a couple of the action items on that.”

Dave is particularly excited to work with Project Porchlight because he is a huge fan of CFL bulbs. “When I bought my house eight years ago in Plumsted, I started putting in CFL bulbs right away,” he says. “I’ve been using these bulbs for years, and I would love to see more people using them.”

When it comes to protecting our environment, simple actions matter. Even something as simple as changing a light bulb can have a real impact. “With Project Porchlight, I really appreciate being able to go out on the street and talk to people,” says Dave. “I think it’s really useful. Our committee gets together and we talk about the things we’re trying to do. But getting the larger population’s input is really important, not only because they have ideas we haven’t thought of, but it also gives us insight as to where other people stand, because no everyone has the same train of thought about being green. Some people aren’t as gung ho for it, so it’s good to find out what the hesitation is about.”