East Brunswick was given some insight from Dr. Kevin Lyons as to how they can, as a whole, make East Brunswick a greener township, Tuesday at the library.
Dr. Lyons, a professor at Rutgers University, gave a speech Tuesday evening at the East Brunswick public library informing residents of how they can utilize his theory, Green Purchasing, in order to make their township a more eco-friendly environment.
Dr. Lyons said that using a green mindset could reduce energy and water consumption, which would inevitably lead to reduced costs, improve resource use efficiency, and reduce waste.
“In order to be good stewards of the environment, we should buy products and services that conserve energy, water, and other natural services,” said Dr. Lyons.
Dr. Lyon’s most stressed point throughout the entire night was that by using a green mindset, East Brunswick could reduce environmental health impacts of goods and services.
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“It starts in the supermarket and continues through with what you dispose of at home. More and more products are reducing their plastic amounts. There is even aluminum foil that is completely biodegradable.”
Due to an error in the admissions office of his high school, Dr. Lyons graduated high school at the ripe age of 15. From there, he entered the military and was placed in charge of purchasing, which is where his passion for green purchasing blossomed.
“It took a bit of time for them to have faith in a 15 year old boy,” said Dr. Lyons. “Imagine if you heard about a new person coming in to your job and having to redo everything, and then a 15 year old kid walked in. You would be skeptical too,” said Dr. Lyons.
Dr. Lyons works diligently with both undergraduate and graduate students from Rutgers University to conduct a multitude of experiments. His select groups of students even spend one day a week with him at the township’s landfill to see how products are thrown out and how they’ve reacted through the disposal process.
The ultimate goal of both Dr. Lyons and his staff is to “get through to the entire town to reduce waste."
The hard work of both Dr. Lyons and his students has been recognized by numerous companies that have applied the theories they’ve found into how they purchase their products. Most notably, Johnson and Johnson has adapted to going green due to the work found by Lyons and his students.
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If that isn’t enough, Dr. Lyons has had numerous celebrities come in as guest speakers during his classes about going green. Both Magic Johnson and Leonardo DiCaprio are both annual speakers in Dr. Lyons’ class.
Now, Dr. Lyons is the Director of Purchasing at Rutgers University where he has worked since 2005. Dr. Lyons said he plans on having more presentations throughout Central Jersey in the upcoming weeks, but does not have them posted yet.
