Colleagues, who had spent months coming up with creative ways to celebrate the DEP’s 50th birthday, welcomed 2020 enthusiastically. Events were planned, promotions were created, commemorative projects were started – and the department’s big birthday bash was scheduled for April 22, also Earth Day, at the Trenton War Memorial.

Then, Americans across the nation began falling ill. In New Jersey, the first person diagnosed with COVID-19 occurred on March 4; the first death from the coronavirus would come just six days later, on March 10.

Schools began closing; Rutgers announced that it was moving to online classes temporarily; and two of the state’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day parades – in Morristown and Bergenfield – were postponed. Businesses eventually were required to close and New Jerseyans were asked to stay home.

Governor Phil Murphy set a March 18 deadline for work-at-home plans to be developed for all state departments. The DEP’s more than 2,800 employees quickly moved to remote work options as much as possible.

The DEP’s birthday – on April 22 – passed somewhat quietly. No balloons, no cake, no big gathering, but there were huge kudos from the governor, who shared them with his 222.7K Twitter followers. During her weekly broadcast, Commissioner Catherine McCabe offered her many thanks for all that DEP employees did to adjust to a new working world – assuring employees that their efforts were being seen and recognized.

Eventually, the state would see the curve begin to flatten and many parts of the state would reopen. Wearing a mask when venturing out has become a way of life. And though we’ve lost more than 16,800 New Jerseyans to COVID-19, we hold out hope for the day we can return to some semblance of normalcy.

This year certainly did not turn out as anyone planned – or as anyone could have imagined.

The DEP scuttled many plans centered around its half-century celebration. However, one of its most highly visible projects was completed: Each week, since Jan. 9, the DEP Snapshot has looked at a single year in the history of the department.

From its beginnings in 1970, when then-Gov. William T. Cahill signed legislation creating the department, which he declared “was a giant step forward in our fight to preserve, protect and enhance the environment,” to this year, when Gov. Murphy signed the nation’s strongest environmental justice law to send “a clear message that we will longer allow black and brown communities in our state to be dumping grounds, where access to clean air and clean water are overlooked,” the DEP Snapshot has documented this agency’s efforts to enrich and protect New Jersey’s environment and the public health.

The weekly presentation was the brainchild of several DEP employees who made up the education/awareness group in the DEP50 volunteer ranks, including Tonia Wu, Jennifer Van Istendal, Amber Perlmutter, Heidi O’Neill, Nicole Budzek, Christine Wang, Myla Ramirez and Claire Yeager. The project would not have been possible without the devoted efforts of DEP librarian Tonia Wu and Communications content strategist Debra La Quaglia. The department is beyond grateful for their passion and dedication to this project.

And now, a look at 2020 …

With the approach of Earth Day’s 50th anniversary on top of a looming presidential election, 2020 was bound to be another consequential year for the planet. Yet few could have imagined the extraordinary confluence of events that engulfed the world this year. From a devastating global pandemic and economic crisis to political and social upheaval, 2020 drew comparisons to other pivotal moments in modern history, particularly the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic and the Great Depression. 　

The start of the new year saw promising steps on climate change as New Jersey officially rejoined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and Governor Phil Murphy unveiled an updated Energy Master Plan, outlining the state’s strategy for reaching 100 percent clean energy by 2050. On Jan. 27, the governor also signed Executive Order 100, directing the DEP to pursue sweeping regulatory reforms to cut greenhouse gas emissions and help New Jersey adapt to the warming already being felt in the state. This initiative is known as New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Threats, or NJ PACT.　

By early March, however, a cluster of deadly infections from the novel coronavirus had morphed into an unprecedented, full-blown global pandemic. Major cities around the world essentially shut down, profoundly transforming daily life for tens of millions of people. As state offices locked down in March, DEP staff pivoted en masse to working remotely to help “flatten the curve” and prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed.　　

With the arrival of spring, homebound New Jerseyans gained a new appreciation 

for their neighborhood green spaces, flocking to state and local parks for fresh air and outdoor recreation. The DEP deployed a “Mask Up!” safety campaign, with posters created by Communications’ graphic designers Erin Brodel and Maria Scimone. The State Park Service and Park Police labored tirelessly to keep parks open while enforcing public health guidelines that kept staff and visitors safe.

Meanwhile, the DEP continued to tackle important environmental issues. In April, the department upgraded protections for 600 miles of New Jersey rivers and streams, granting them Category One status through an amendment to the Surface Water Quality Standards – the first such upgrade in more than a decade.　

Further progress was made in confronting the climate crisis, which, despite being overshadowed by the acute emergency of COVID-19, had not paused its relentless march. In June, the DEP released New Jersey’s first Scientific Report on Climate Change, which gathered the latest and most reliable scientific information on current and predicted future impacts of climate change on the state. In the fall, as haze from record-breaking Western wildfires blanketed the country, the state released New Jersey’s Global Warming Response Act 80×50 Report, presenting a sector-by-sector road map for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 2006 levels by 2050.

Among the most significant environmental developments in this crowded year was the landmark environmental justice law signed by Governor Murphy on Sept. 18. Heralded as the strongest EJ law in the country, it　requires the DEP to evaluate the health and environmental impacts of new polluting sources on overburdened communities – too often communities of color – and gives regulators the power to block projects based on cumulative impacts.　

The law’s enactment occurred in the midst of a national reckoning over systemic racism, ignited during the summer by mass protests against inequities in policing, economics, and health – long-standing problems that were dramatically exposed and intensified this year by the pandemic.　

Despite the turbulence of this moment, it is fitting to recognize the progress made in the Garden State in the half-century since the DEP’s founding on the first Earth Day in 1970: Forests have been preserved, extinctions averted and harmful pollutants have been taken out of our air, soil and water. As our understanding of the natural world deepened, so too did our consciousness of its fragility and our shared responsibility to preserve the precious web of life on which we all depend.

The next chapter in this story is still being written, but there is no doubt that the DEP’s mission is as critical now as it was 50 years ago – to protect the environment and create vibrant, healthy and sustainable communities in which all New Jerseyans can thrive.

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