By
Lawrence Lerner
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It’s no secret that as the country attempts to tackle the related problems of global warming and food security, many cities have been creating green spaces for urban farming, and Newark is no exception. In 2004, it started an Adopt-A-Lot program, which encourages residents, businesses, block associations and nonprofits to create green gardens in city-owned vacant lots. In 2013, a coalition of experts, city agencies and organizations formed Newark DIG (which stands for Doing Infrastructure Green) to find environmentally friendly ways to manage water runoff, which overloads the city’s aging sewer system and contributes to pollution in nearby waterways. Among their many initiatives, Newark DIG has helped residents, businesses and urban gardens set up rainwater harvesting systems to capture and reuse rainwater to lighten the load on that system.