NORTH SHORE GARDEN CLUB AND THE ENVIRONMENT
As an organization awed by the power of the earth to sprout forth an abundance of beauty, the North Shore Garden Club is concerned about the environmental health of our world. Our club is committed to improving and protecting the environment and works hard to set a positive example.
NSGC SUPPORTS CLEAN AIR
We know that clean air is essential for healthy plants, animals and people. As such, we are working to improve air quality and reduce the risks of climate change.
In our north shore area alone, according to the Clear Air Partnership, just to absorb the air pollution resulting from drivers idling 5 minutes a day for one year we would need to plant 30 million trees. In cold weather, the best way to warm a vehicle is to drive it; it is designed to warm up while driving. It takes more fuel to idle an engine for 10 seconds than to restart the engine (not including Hybrids). Reminding people not to idle their cars is a small effort we can take to change the way people think and act.
In spring of 2008 NSGC began distributing lawn signs that encourage people not to idle their engines while they wait in pick-up lines at their local schools, temples, churches or anywhere else that lines of vehicles form. The weather proof signs are 24” x 18”, stake into the ground and are made from recycled corrugated plastic. Among other locations, the signs are posted at all public schools in Highland Park. Click here to view a letter from the superintendent of schools about the signs.
save gas and the green grass
turn your engine off while you wait
a friendly reminder from the north shore garden club
REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE RESTRAIN RESPECT RETHINK
Disposal & recycling questions:
Uncertain what to do with tires, batteries, paint, electronics, etc?
Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, IL (SWALCO)
www.co.lake.il.us/swalco 847.336.9340
Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County, IL (SWANCC)
www.swancc.org 847.724.9205
Saturday, May 3, 2008 Highland Park Earth Festival
NATURE DEFICIT DISORDER
As you were growing up, how much time did you spend playing outside? For the first time in our nation’s history, an entire generation is growing up disconnected from nature. According to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average American child (aged 8 to 18 years) now spends some 44 hours per week (roughly six hours a day) staring at electronic screens – television, video games, computer, and cell phones. Today’s children have limited knowledge of what goes on in the natural world around them. Author and futurist Richard Louv has written a compelling book titled, Last Child in the Woods. In it he concludes that today’s children are suffering from a kind of “nature deficit disorder”. It is recommended that parents give their kids a “Green Hour” every day: time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world. For more information, please check out www.greenhour.org.
HELPFUL HEALTHY HOME HINTS
There are many ways to help protect the earth and to reduce our carbon footprints. The following is a list of things you can do at home to promote a healthier environment.
- Refill your plastic water bottles
- Turn out lights if you don’t need them
- Turn off all appliances when not in use. Turn off the T.V. and the Video game box.
- Walk, ride a bike, take public transportation – don’t drive.
- Unplug appliances you don’t use everyday. Even appliances that are turned “off” use electricity. A television uses $100 of electricity each year while it is turned “off,” so unplug the one in the guest room or basement.
- Use less paper – paper comes from cutting down trees in our rainforests. The rainforests are the earth’s natural protectors from global warming. Trees absorb carbon dioxide. We need our trees!!
- Buy recycled paper and recycled goods
- Be careful to recycle paper products
- Use/set wider margins on your document preferences
- Print on both sides when feasible
- Preview and edit before printing
- Send/request email correspondence
- Get off mailing lists – call and request that catalogues and advertisers take you off their paper mailing lists – request email if you wish to continue to receive the information.
- Reuse shopping bags at the grocery store. Bring bags with you. Avoid plastic bags as much as possible. Recycle plastic bags by returning them to grocery store collection bin.
- Collect rainwater for indoor plants, they will thrive w/o chlorine and it feels good!
- Turn your car engine off when possible. Don’t sit with car running. Radio and fan will operate from car battery.
- Use compact fluorescent bulbs, CFL, where possible. Garage, laundry room, outdoors, basement, closets. They use 80% less energy than incandescent bulbs and last 10 times longer. They take a little getting use to. Purchase them with some focus. They come in different qualities of light, like blue, yellow or white and in different wattages. Figure out which ones resonate with you before changing all your bulbs. Brand names are better at this point.
- Avoid Styrofoam. It is not recyclable and it is virtually indestructible, it simply will not deteriorate. Waste and recycling vendors will not take packing peanuts and they will not disintegrate in the ground!! Use them at the bottom of your flower pots to aid drainage!!
- All plastic products have a number which identifies what it is made from – all plastics are not alike! Look at the bottom of plastic containers to find the number in the middle of the circle of recycle arrows – generally (locally) only numbers 1-5 can be recycled. Note that cap/lids are generally different than the vessels they cap!
- Empty and rinse all recyclable vessels. Caps to soda and water bottles are not recyclable.
- Pizza boxes contaminated with oil, cheese or sauce are not recyclable. If your pizza box is pristine, turn it inside out to show collection-crew that it is in fact clean and recyclable.
- Keep the spare fridge full, it operates more efficiently.
- Don’t do partial loads of laundry. Do laundry in cold water when feasible.
- Buy products with responsible packaging.
- Reduce Reuse and Recycle – so many things are reusable, train your eye to evaluate before you toss.