Dominican University's Many Sustainability Initiatives Achieve Measurable Results

by Melanie Weiss Sustainability initiatives championed by students and staff at Dominican University in River Forest are making an impact on the campus and reducing the university’s carbon footprint.  4Rfuture is the sustainability plan which is under development that will be the guiding force for operational policies and procedures, campus development, and future commitments to sustainability.  Final approval of the 4RFuture plan is expected in the spring of 2012.

The plan will align with PlanItGreen, which is the sustainability plan of Oak Park and River Forest. Dominican was one of the early adopters of PlanItGreen.

Bike Sharing

For a number of years, the Bike Sharing program has been something the university community has enjoyed as students pedal around campus and the community. According to Elena Maans, Dominican University Sustainability Coordinator, students can check out bicycles on campus much like they check books out of the library.  “We also refurbished donated bikes and added them to the fleet,” added Maans.

Water Conservation

In 2002, Dominican became the first university in the Midwest to install parking lot permeable pavers, which has prevented more than 3.6 million gallons of rainwater from entering storm sewers annually.  Another water conservation project, the bioswale, contours water around mature trees and filters silt from the runoff water.

The university also uses an existing cistern, a large water tank that was built in the 1920s, to collect rainwater from the buildings. The water is used for the irrigation of campus and in the air conditioning system in Parmer Hall. The cistern also gathers water that is pumped out of the basement of one of the residence halls. Because of the cistern system, Dominican has reduced the amount of potable water purchased by 4-6 million gallons per year.

Healthy Local Food

According to Maans, a community garden has been a “great collaborative effort” that began in May with the planting of vegetables and herbs. The bounty was then harvested throughout the season by staff, students and volunteers, including members of the university’s Eco Club.  The Community Garden has donated some of its harvest to the Oak Park Food Pantry.  The University also composted almost 50 pounds of coffee grounds from the student café to use on the community garden project.

Reduce, reuse and recycle

The university has campus wide recycling while it also has collections for electronic recycling and battery recycling.  Office supplies such as ink cartridges and paper are also recycled.  During the construction of Parmer Hall, Pepper Construction diverted up to 75% of construction waste from landfill with their construction waste management plan.

Energy Saving

In addition to projects that reduce waste and conserve water, Dominican also has taken many energy saving initiatives including installation of occupancy sensors, solar powered lights and nergy efficient boilers which save 100,000 therms per year.  Energy efficient lighting was also installed on campus, saving 148,000 watts of electricity per year.

Click here for more information on Dominican University'green initiatives.

Free Film Screening of "bag it -- is your life too plastic?"

Submitted by Carolyn Cullen

bag it

is your life too plastic?

7 p.m., Wed., November 16, Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison St. Presented by the Oak Park Environment & Energy Commission Sponsored by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Following the film, the Commission will host a question and answer discussion session.  For more information, call 708.358.5700 or e-mail publicworks@oak-park.us.

Where is away?

Americans use 60,000 plastic bags every five minutes—single-use disposable bags that we mindlessly throw away. But where is “away?” Where do the bags and other plastics end up, and at what cost to our environment, marine life and human health? Bag It follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he navigates our plastic world. Jeb is not a radical environmentalist, but an average American who decides to take a closer look at our cultural love affair with plastics. Jeb’s journey in this documentary film starts with simple questions: Are plastic bags really necessary? What are plastic bags made from? What happens to plastic bags after they are discarded?

Virtually everything is made with plastic

Jeb looks beyond plastic bags and discovers that virtually everything in modern society—from baby bottles, to sports equipment, to dental sealants, to personal care products—is made with plastic or contains potentially harmful chemical additives used in the plastic-making process. When Jeb’s journey takes a personal twist, we see how our crazy-for-plastic world has finally caught up with us and what we can do about it. Today. Right now.

Permaculture: Fundamentals & Principles - Wed, Oct 26th, 7p.m.

Submitted by Sue Crothers

Learn reasons for applying a permaculture way of thinking to how we live

The Thoughtful Living Series, a series of community discussions sponsored by the River Forest Parks Foundation & the River Forest Public Library, will resume on Wednesday, October 26th, at the River Forest Library, 735 Lathrop Ave in River Forest.  This month, the series will feature a presentation on Permaculture:  Fundamentals & Principles.

Learn the essence of, and reasons for, applying a permaculture way of thinking to how we live.

What permaculturists do:

• strive to grow food just about anywhere,
• repair environmentally damaged lands,
• design lovely and durable green buildings,
• produce power,
• run successful, people-oriented businesses
• and build authentic community.

They accomplish this by using the same fundamental design principles and by applying a fundamental permaculture ethic:  Care of people. Care of the earth. Sharing all surplus.

Presenter for the evening - Jody Luna

The presenter for the evening will be Jody Luna, a 2007 graduate of Midwest Permaculture’s Design Certificate course. She graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with a Master’s of Architecture in 2006. She runs an environmental design firm, Conscious Designs, and teaches at Illinois Institute of Art in Schaumburg, IL.

For more details and to share with others, see the Thoughtful Living flyer for October.

Shore on water: Chicago leader on water issues to speak Oct. 20

Submitted by Fred Lenhoff

Conserving our Most Precious Resource

Deborah Shore, commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, will speak on management of Chicagoland water resources on Thursday, Oct. 20, 7 pm, at River Forest United Methodist Church, 7970 Lake Street.

The greater Chicago MWRD is one of the world’s largest wastewater treatment agencies, serving the equivalent of 10 million people with an annual budget of approximately $1 billion.  The public is invited to come hear Commissioner Shore discuss how we can improve our usage of this most precious resource, H20.

Something to Think About: How Taking One Less Paper Napkin Can Change the World!

Submitted by Melanie Weiss

The cost of our daily actions

Every time we turn into a gas station and fill up our car’s gas tank, we have an opportunity to think about oil and the direct connection to the price we pay beyond our wallet, whether it is supporting oppressive political regimes in the Mideast or watching helplessly as millions of gallons of oil cause an ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

But oil is also present in so many of the little everyday decisions we make. It actually can be quite easy to reduce our dependence on oil and gas with simple changes that do not curtail our quality of life. Once we understand the cost of some of our daily actions, it becomes apparent that each of us making small changes can cooperatively reduce America’s consumption of oil.

Each product has a life cycle

One paper napkin. That is all it takes for us to realize how easy it is to cut our nation’s oil consumption. Consider the next time you eat out at a casual restaurant and grab a handful of paper napkins for your meal. Maybe you use two or three, tossing the rest in the garbage along with the trash.

Each product has a life cycle and these napkins started as a tree. First the tree was cut down, transported to a factory to be turned into pulp, fashioned and possibly bleached, and turned into a stack of napkins. For the next stop, these bales of napkins are transported to a warehouse and then shipped to a final destination.  After the napkins are discarded, a garbage truck arrives to take the waste miles and miles to be buried in a dump. When each of us takes fewer paper napkins, and makes a pledge to take what we need and waste not, think of all the energy, garbage space, and trees we have saved.

Everyday choices make a difference

The same can be said for many of our everyday choices, for instance bringing our own bags to the store saves more energy by reducing the need to manufacture and transport raw materials.  Not idling our cars saves gas and reduces the amount of C02 we spew into the air. Canceling junk mail saves not only trees but the energy it would have taken to get from point A to point B.

It takes 90 percent more energy to fashion an aluminum can out of virgin ore.  Recycle that aluminum can and in six weeks, it will be given new life and can be back on the store shelves.

Powering down our computers at night and when we are away from home or work saves not only energy, but reduces the amount of toxic mercury that coal-fired power plants spew into our atmosphere.

Making Our Mother Earth Proud

Environmental education may not be sexy, and many of us were not lucky enough to learn these lessons in school. More teachers are making environmental literacy an integral part of the curriculum, so students are growing up with their eyes wide open to the effects their actions have on our planet. And in that understanding there is hope for greater change. Many of the luxuries we have here in America come to us so effortlessly, it is easy to take them for granted.  But when we think about our consumption, and adjust our actions to be less wasteful, we are making an impact that would make our Mother Earth proud.

Melanie Weiss writes about environmental education from her home in Oak Park, IL

Related link:

20 minute video about the life cycle and the cost of our "stuff":    The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard

Mom on a Mission

by Melanie Weiss

Elizabeth Holland is a mom on a mission.

“I want to make our swim team a green swim team,” says Holland, who has two teenagers who have been swimming with TOPS – the West Cook YMCA Swim Team -- for a number of years. Holland is currently chair of the TOPS Parent Advisory Council. TOPS hosts two regional swim meets a year, and she has worked to ensure these meets are as waste-free as possible.

Committed to reducing its environmental impact

With Holland’s leadership, TOPS has committed to reducing its environmental impact in three important ways. 1. To Ban Single Use Water Bottles in favor of using reusable bottles 2. To decrease the use of paper used to print swim meet “heat sheets” 3. To increase recycling receptacles at all swim meets.

No single use water bottles sold or distributed

The program has met with great success since the requests TOPS makes to other teams who will attend these meets are being heeded. “We tell teams there will be no single use water bottles sold or distributed at swim meets and ask every single person to bring a reusable water bottle. We have containers around the facility with water for people to refill their bottles.” TOPS also sells reusable water bottles for a discounted $5 but even with these sales, “our team is taking a hit financially” since the team does not allow the sale of single use water bottles during meets, which has been a conventional way for teams to raise funds.

Cut paper usage by more than 50 percent

Another change is that instead of selling multi-page “heat sheets” to all participants and their families, TOPS prints enough for the teams’ coaches and meet officials and then has these heat sheets posted around the facility. “Swim meets are hugely paper intensive,” said Holland. She estimates that a large swim meet may use 20 reams of paper. “We cut our paper usage by more than 50 percent.”

See also, a sample communication that Holland has used to educate the players' families and the visiting teams about the new practices.

Not had a single complaint!

Adds Holland,” I have to say several hundred people attend our swim events and I have not had a single complaint. Tons of people have said what you guys are doing is fabulous.”

River Forest: Greening Together -- the Latest on What's Happening Around Town

Posted by Sue Crothers

A lot is happening in our little town on the sustainability front.  So much, in fact that it’s hard to know where to start!

The River Forest Park District Foundation in collaboration with the River Forest Library just held a wonderfully attended and informative evening, “Your Grandma was a Locavore.” This was the final presentation in a 5 part series called, The Thoughtful Living Series, where the Library hosted discussions on various topics, from native gardening to zero waste school lunches.  The latest presentation was given by Growing Power, a local Mid-West non-profit that provides locally grown produce, educates and works with inner city kids to teach them how to produce their own food, supports local famers, builds greenhouses and the list goes on.  Check them out at www.growingpower.org The Thoughtful Living Series has been so successful that it will return to the Library in the fall, with an array of more wonderful and helpful ‘Thoughtful Living’ ideas.

Many people have heard something or know much about the PlanItGreen Sustainability Plan, and if they don’t they will soon!  Seven Generations Ahead, together with the Delta Institute, presented the Plan to the River Forest Board of Trustees along with the River Forest Service Club last week.  The idea is that the Governing bodies, schools and organizations in River Forest (and Oak Park) formally adopt and support the Plan so that we can work toward reducing waste, saving energy and water and looking to a brighter, more sustainable future in our Communities.

In conjunction with this work, a series of coffees has been held in the homes of residents around town, based on the three most important topics of the Sustainability Plan.  Education, Waste and Energy.  From these coffees, wonderful things have happened and a proposal for a Green Block Party Kit has emerged.  This kit can be obtained when submitting a permit at the Village for a block party.  Each permit will come with an information sheet about how to host a ‘green block’ party and if you are interested, you mark the appropriate box and the kit will be delivered to you with your block party barricades.  The Green Block Party Kit will include all you need to enjoy a wonderful green composting block party.  It will come with a free composter for the permit applicant, a compost caddy, how to instructions, fun games for the kids, where to purchase biodegradable products (if you choose not to use your reusable tableware), discounts on compost bins for those who may feel empowered to buy their own composter, along with a River Forest, Greening Together banner for the barricade!   The Village of River Forest and the Public Works department are in full support and assisting with its implementation.  The Proposal has been completed and is being submitted for funding support.

Notice the recycle bins in our parks?  The River Forest Park district is working to improve recycling with the new bottle shaped recycle bins.  We ask residents to support River Forest, Greening Together and utilize these when enjoying time at our parks.  River Forest is somewhat behind other Villages when it comes to landfill garbage Vs recycling.  We only recycle 38% of our waste.  Park District officials also inform us that when we use our parks we often leave our trash on the ground.  I urge residents to spread the word to use the bins and keep our parks beautiful.  Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!!

Composting Inside and Out: 14 Methods to Fit Your Lifestyle

June 20th, at 7pm, Chicago author Stephanie Davies will present a program based on her book, Composting Inside and Out: 14 Methods to Fit Your Lifestyle at the Oak Park Public Library.   The book includes in-depth instruction on the best composting methods for home, garden, and urban living. Plus special features on soil health, composting equipment, and stories from the worm world. Since graduating from the University of Illinois in Chicago in 2008, Stephanie Davies has helped install hundreds of residential worm bins throughout the country. According to the Urban Worm Girl web site, they provide worm composting solutions for everything from household bins for a family, to classroom bins and education for students, and commercial bins for offices and cafeterias.  More recently, she has been installing the first wave of commercial worm bins throughout the Chicago area to help manage commercial restaurant and office waste on a grand scale.

This program is co-sponsored by Ethical Eating, an Oak Park community organization. 7 pm Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library.

Oak Park 2011 Schedule of Electronics Recycling Drop-off Days

Oak Park is now offering regular monthly opportunities to drop off electronics for recycling -- the last Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm at the Public Works Center.  Click on link below for detailed list of acceptable items. ELECTRONICS RECYCLING DROP SAT DATES 2011

Please note:  The only kitchen appliance accepted is microwave ovens.

Sponsored in part by IL EPA and the West Cook County Solid Waste Agency.  For more information contact Public Works at 708.358.5700 or publicworks@oak-park.us

Contributed by Karen Rozmus

Recycling with Roz!

Recycling with Roz  Karen Rozmus, Oak Park's Waste Reduction Manager shares tips on recycling including tips on plastic bottle caps and take-out containers in this 2 minute video.  Also, if you have additional questions, you can call Karen at 708-358-5700 or email her at rozmus@oak-park.us. We are big recyclers at my house, but I still have questions . . . like

• Can waxed milk and juice containers be recycled? . . . especially the ones with the plastic caps built into them?
• Regarding take-out containers -- since few are completely recyclable I know we should take our own containers, but does anyone really do that?  If so, how do you remember to take them?
• What ideas do you have about reducing the packaging that we bring home in the first place??

Let us know your questions and comments below in the reply section!