1. Area Township Environmental Awareness Meeting October 18,2012

2. Initiatives at our Schools

3. Joseph Sears School, Kenilworth Katie Nahrwold  Installed an outdoor classroom -research - fall of 2011 -fundraising - March 2012. -Highcrest in Wilmette shared plants and students worked together  Environmental Club -America Recycles Day -Outdoor Classroom -mission statement -school website page

4. Hubbard Woods School Winnetka Liz Kunkle  Composting,  No Idling Campaign  Party Packs/ Reusable table ware  Green Team club  Trex Plastic Bag Challenge

5. Glencoe Schools Catherine Wang – administrator David Rongey - West School, Principal  Expanding the gardens  Green Flag - pesticide patch  Solar panels on the roof  Rain garden  Green Club composts all organic waste from school lunches (uses 5 solar cones)  Incorporated a unit on water quality brings 3rd and 4th grade students to Skokie Lagoons for water sampling and ecosystem studies

6. Glencoe Schools Laurie Morse  Glencoe South and Central Schools  organic gardens  District 35 school board is considering installing geothermal heating under the ball field at Central School -- still studying the issue.

7. Wilmette Jr. High Darik Williams, 7th Grade Administrator  All-school reusable/washable plastic cup system in the cafeteria.  Active lunchtime outdoor garden program  School-wide email reports of grades and other communication to parents to reduce waste.

8. Harper, Wilmette Diane Schaffner  Recycling and no plastic water bottles in the cafeteria.  Encouraging Waste-free lunches

9. Central, Wilmette Peggy Salamon & Elaine Kiner  Introduced party packs to all classroom parties 2011  Outdoor classroom/garden – has been integrated into the curriculum for 5+ of years  Paper tiger  Composted daily during EA week – with Collective Resource. Encourage waste free lunches  Green team is in place  Nike shoe recycling program

10. Romona, Wilmette Susan Pekar and Jodi Ryan  Waste-Free Wednesday lunch raffle,  Fundraising effort with Mighty Nest,  Red Dot program to eliminate duplicate mailings.

11. Greeley School, Winnetka Michelle Astolfi  Dream Green project – outdoor classroom/garden -working with Architects -transform our play space/yard -growing area native plants, flowers, herbs -not yet at installation stage.

12. SPC, Park Ridge Amy Bartucci and Jamie Hasemeir  New bulletin board. Our club will help drive the news and facts Re-useable pendants made out of old clothing showcase the board  Blog for students to communicate about club events  Community paper drive - Illinois Green Schools day of service  Big plan this year: No idling initiative -measure and collect data on idling cars at pickup - 3 unannounced weeks of school -report & learn about the numbers -sell no-idling magnets

13. Bessie Rhodes Magnet, Skokie Kim Disbrow  Green Apple Day of Service -made signs about energy conservation and recycling after school event – well attended -will place signs around the school -Pioneer Press coverage  Compost in the lunchroom  Plans to compost in the teachers lounge  Zero waste picnics

14. Lyon/Pleasant Ridge,Glenview Marg Plante, Melissa Brady  Earth Week activities (Outside activities, waste free lunch education, recycling)  Bike/walk/bus to school 2x per year  Planet Protectors club at Pleasant Ridge  Organic garden at Pleasant Ridge  Classroom education

15. McKenzie, Wilmette EA week Events:  Halloween Costume “fREECYCLE”  See Disney’s Bill Nye the Science Guy – Garbage video about our impact on the environment. Viewed as part of the science program during Environmental Awareness  Fact Time - All week Dr. Welter will present a series of facts about our environment.  International Walk to School Day  Friday: Waste-Free Lunch and Recycle collection

16. New Trier High School #1 Club Sponsor - Raquelle Brennan, Club sponsor said:  Andrew Katcha has initiated and started composting at The unfortunate piece is that students either do not eat fruits/veggies for lunch, do not eat items in the student cafeteria, or finish what they have to eat.  Visibility and educating the student body has been difficult/limited to one lunch period.  Few members of the Environmental club are will to help support the initiative besides making posters

17. New Trier High School #2 Club student, Andrew Katcha, Club Student said:  Composting at New Trier has been very successful!  With the help custodians, environmental club and others, the program is off to a good start.  This initiative has interested many new members to join club. I think we hit a record of 15 on Monday!  Reusing material to create posters/signs  Cleaning waste from bike trail.

18. What Schools Want to Know

19. -importance of student leadership -proper recycling -composting -problems with outside vendors lots of waste through packaging and portion sizes. How to make the Lunchrooms more Green? (many schools have questions in this area)

20. What are other School’s doing with their Gardens?  Glencoe, Greely & Ramona -interested in what others are doing with gardens and outdoor classrooms Ramona notes: District 39 will not let us serve the fresh vegetables to the children Glencoe replied: -students sample the veggies only -Main bulk of the harvest to Glencoe Family Services for families in need in the township

21. How to involve the kids (and not just the parents )?  Wilmette Jr. High: Information on starting and sustaining a "green" team  Glenview : environmental themed assemblies to tap into for the schools  Harper School : How other schools are involving kids in the green effort ?  Skokie : encourage the Scouts or 8th graders to start a Terra-cycling program to raise funds for their events.  Park Ridge, Starting a Book club ? list of recommended reading for kids

22. How to engage the Administration in more Green efforts?  New Trier: Working with administration on environmentally-friendly behavior - lights, computers, minimizing paper waste  Sears: How to get staff and administration on board with changes in the lunchroom?  Central School: how to integrate green efforts into the curriculum, need staff to endorse the programs

23. Prospect High School, Mt Prospect  Information on starting up a green program at the high school level

24. How to make changes in our towns and cities?  Glencoe’s Village board (like Wilmette)did not elect a contract for 100% renewable power during the electricity aggregation negotiations last spring. How do we get people to adopt renewables?

25. How to make changes in our towns and cities? (2)  Glenview: would it be viable to organize a township recycling drive to honor America Recycles day next month?  Park Ridge: How to get our city to think more about sustainability? need topic brought to the families and students from sources outside of the school

26. ENVIRONMENTAL EVENTS OUTSIDE OF THE SCHOOLS

27. Beth Drucker – Go Green Wilmette  Pledge Tree

28. DO THE MATH: CHICAGO  Bill McKibben and 350.org are going on tour across America to build the movement we need to face the crisis of climate change.  On Nov. 28th, Bill will be in Chicago to lay out the terrifying new math of climate change, explaining the incredible odds we face, and the difficult path we must walk in the coming years to create a livable future for our planet.  Where : Athenaeum Theater, 2936 N. Southport Ave, Chicago, IL When : Nov. 28th, Doors at 6 PM  Bill will be joined by friends from across the climate movement and beyond to explain how together we can confront the fossil fuel industry, using lessons from the most successful movements of the past century and the past year of dramatic new actions against the industry across the country.  In association with Chicago Area Peace Action  Web site is http://math.350.org/http://math.350.org/

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