Bloomfield Activist Launches Hunger Strike, Demands Solar Power In Schools

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A local environmental activist has kicked off a three-day hunger strike outside the Bloomfield Board of Education administration building. His goal? To demand that officials stop “dragging their feet” on a proposal to install solar panels on the roofs of the district’s schools.

On Monday morning, Ted Glick put on his winter coat, picked up a large, green sign that says “Solar On Schools Now!” and marched to a spot across from Bloomfield High School. The 76-year-old plans to continue his “water and salt-only hunger strike” on the sidewalk at Broad and Belleville from sunrise to sunset each day until Wednesday.

Here’s why, the longtime activist says:

“The Board of Education asked for and then received proposals from two solar supporting companies in early November. Both have experience coordinating a request for proposals process leading to the choosing of and contracting with a solar company to install solar energy on school roofs. But two months later no action has been taken on these proposals. It is critical to make a decision now because 30% federal tax credits now available require the beginning of construction on solar projects by July 4 of this year, after which those tax credits will end.”

According to Glick, taking this step would save taxpayer dollars and provide more funds for school programs and teacher salaries. It will also show students – and the Bloomfield community – that the district is committing to a “clean energy future” with less pollution.

Glick, a member of local advocacy group Bloomfield Citizens Solar Campaign, said they’ve been working to get the school district and town to take solar seriously for nearly a decade.

• See Related: Bloomfield Activists Push For Solar Panels On Town, School Buildings

“Despite foot-dragging by the township government and board of education, solar is growing in Bloomfield,” he told Patch. “Many homeowners have installed solar panels on their roofs, and others have signed up through PSE&G to have their electricity come from wind and solar.”

“It’s long past time for the school board and the township to take this issue seriously,” Glick insisted.

Glick said that he’s done hunger strikes before, first learning about the tactic while reading about Mohandas Gandhi in college.

Along with his wife, Jane Califf – another seasoned activist from New Jersey – Glick has recently launched other unusual awareness campaigns in the name of the environment.

In 2021, he and Califf were among more than a dozen seniors who were literally arrested in their rocking chairs during a rally in Wilmington, Delaware. Blocking a street in front of JP Morgan Chase credit card headquarters, the environmental advocates held a peaceful sit-in to demand that Chase Bank shift its investments in fossil fuels to renewable energy to ward off a “full-blown climate crisis.”

• See Related: NJ 'Rocking Chair Rebels' Arrested At Climate Change Protest

In 2024, the couple entrenched themselves inside a huge, wooden possum in an attempt to raise awareness about a controversial gas pipeline in Virginia – and block construction crews from accessing the site.

• See Related: Bloomfield Couple Protest Pipeline By Hunkering Inside Wooden Possum

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