Upcoming Events in McLean County
The annual McLean County Recycles Day is here again! It will be held at the Children’s Discovery Museum on Saturday, November 10 th beginning at 10:00 a.m. and ending at 3:00 p.m. Residents of the Bloomington-Normal area can enjoy entertaining activities while learning about the environment. At 12:30 p.m., the winners of the 2008 McLean County Recycles Day calendar contest will be announced. After the 12 winners receive their prizes, free pizza and refreshments will be made available to everyone. Adults, students, and children are all welcome so please come and join us!
The Wellness and Environmental Fair at Illinois State University will be held this month on Tuesday, November 13 th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. The fair is open to all residents and students who would like to learn more about the environment. Stop by Heartland Community College and take a tour of the educational displays and resources available.
The Ecology Action Center is holding a movie night on Wednesday, November 14 th at 6:30 p.m. in the Normal Public Library community room. The featured film will be Derek Boonstra’s documentary on the American Garbage Industry called “Trashed.” The running time is 77 minutes and free popcorn and drinks will be offered. This documentary claims that “you’ll never look at your trash the same way again.”
November 14 th is also GIS Day 2007, and the theme this year is “GIS in Government.” Open house and presentations will begin at 10:00 a.m. and will end at 2:00 p.m. There is a list of the various speakers and displays on the GIS website at www.mcgis.org. To attend the celebration, come to the McLean County Board Room (4 th floor) in the Government Center at 115 E. Washington St. in Bloomington. Speakers from many organizations will be featured, and topics concerning local electricity, tips for becoming more efficient, and public safety will be discussed.
The American College and University President's Climate Commitment (ACUPCC)
As global climate change becomes more and more threatening, universities across the US are taking responsibility for their own carbon footprint. Scholarly sources have concluded that we must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 80% in the next 50 years in order to avoid the most catastrophic events and stabilize the climate. In addition to the need to act now to forestall the worst effects of climate change, the carbon-emitting energy we are reliant on today comes from “unstable and undemocratic governments.” By switching to energy sources that will help halt climate change, we will also be creating a more reliable and politically acceptable energy source. Yet, with emerging evidence citing the need for quick changes, as a society, we continue to do more harm: furthering the increase in energy consumption. If we persistently put off solving this problem, the social and environmental consequences will mount and will only become more difficult and expensive to handle.
Universities play a notable role in our society’s heavy reliance on greenhouse producing substances. The United States has 4,100 institutions of higher education that create a significantly large carbon footprint of 19 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Colleges and universities are not just places of education, they are a $317 billion dollar industry “that employs millions, and spends billions of dollars on fuel, energy, and infrastructure.” Universities have thousands of buildings and reach out beyond their campuses with bequeathed land and travel (recruiting, athletics, conferences, etc). Higher education thus has large and far-reaching impacts on global climate change. Consequently, a change in the energy use trajectory of higher education could also have a larger impact. “If every US campus used 100% clean energy, it would nearly quadruple our current renewable electricity demand, create thousands of new jobs, and support emerging green industries.” Universities can have a significant effect, not just on reducing overall amount of carbon dioxide, but on influencing the future trend of energy use (SSC).
The ACUPCC was created in 2006 to respond to the immense threat of climate change and the growing understanding of the need to act immediately. The President’s Commitment calls for colleges and universities to “ address global warming by garnering institutional commitments to reduce and ultimately neutralize greenhouse gas emissions on campus.” As John Petersen, an Oberlin professor and ecologist, explains, “presidents who sign are committing their institutions to a series of short-term actions and an institution-specific planning process that is ultimately directed toward climate neutrality.” Multiple organizations, including Second Nature, EcoAmerica, and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), collaborated in order to create the commitment. It is modeled partly after the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which was created in 2005. As of November 4, 2007, the commitment has 426 signatories, ranging from presidents of large universities ( University of Florida) to small liberal arts universities much like Illinois Wesleyan. Illinois has five representatives among the signatories including Illinois College, Kankakee Community College, Saint Xavier University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and University of St. Francis (ACUPCC).
Maybe someday in the near future IWU can help move Bloomington-Normal to sustainable living!
The Constitution Trail offers over thirteen miles of scenic pathways across the Bloomington-Normal area. With every expansion of the trail there are new opportunities to use it to your advantage. Forty percent of all trips are made within two miles of the home, and the trail offers a pleasurable route to most of your everyday activities. You could combine your morning commute with your daily exercise routine by walking, biking, or rollerblading to work and class.
There are plenty of health benefits to an everyday low impact work-out routine for you and your community. You can help decrease traffic congestion, parking problems, and of course pollution by choosing to skip driving. For every four mile bike ride or walk, 15 pounds of pollutants are kept out of the air we breathe. Exercising in the morning increases productivity at work or school, and improves cardio-vascular health. You can save gas money, reduce stress, and enjoy a beautiful view all at the same time, which can’t be said for much else in life! Walking or biking on trails keeps your travel time more accurate by avoiding traffic, so forget about checking traffic reports in the morning. You can burn 25 calories a mile from biking, or 75 calories a mile from walking, but either way you can expect to lose weight and improve your health.
Support the health of your community and yourself by being creative with your commute.
Last month was McLean County Recycling Month. The EAC held a contest for McLean County schools to see who could recycle the most. Congratulations to Chiddix Middle School for recycling the most amount of trash! They recycled 34990 pounds of waste. Kingsley Middle School was not far behind. They recycled 28231 pounds of waste. Congratulations for being the most improved school! They improved by 50% from September to October.
The 2008 EAC calendars have just come out with all of the artwork from the winners of the art contest. They are available for purchase for just five dollars. Here are the winners of the contest (in alphabetical order by school):
Fairview Elementary:
Andrea Crose Brady, Alanah Hafen
Fox Creek Elementary:
Gagan Midathala
Glenn Elementary:
Amethyst Campbell, Taylor Harper
Gridley Grade School:
Adam Kuntz
Hudson Elementary:
Ani Chalian
Lexington Elementary:
(Honorable Mention) Nicole Brenner, Alexis Bury, Kassidy Heitzmann
Northpoint Elementary:
Jo-Jo Feng
Washington Elementary:
Paige Anderson, Jalen Curry
Congratulations to all of our contest winners and thank you to everyone who participated!