A Crash Course in Garden History
Landscape Historian Barbara Geiger, will teach "A Crash Course in Garden History" from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, at Dole Library, 225 Augusta in Oak Park.
In this lecture full of images Barbara will hit high points in the story of gardening through the ages. How the constraints of water, gravity, soil, and climate shaped design. How major design styles leapt national boundaries to take root in new environments.
Oak Park/River Forest Resilient Communities Forum
On Wednesday, Jan. 31, the Oak Park and River Forest area residents are invited to participate in the Resilient Communities Forum. We will hear first-hand how nations and communities are addressing the challenges of climate change, and explore practical ways in which we can make a real impact locally. The event takes place from 6:30-8:30 pm, at the 19th Century Club, 178 Forest Ave in Oak Park, IL.
Save Our Earth--Bring Your Own Bags
Area Retailers will give away free reusable bags to customers on Saturday, Jan. 6.
Beginning Jan. 1, Oak Park shoppers in many of the larger retail stores will be charged 10 cents for every single-use bag the store provides to carry home their purchases. The new local law, which applies to retail stores of 5,000 or more square feet, is intended to reduce the negative impact single-use bags have on the environment.
At Chicago Community Climate Forum, Participants Connect Around Solutions
Dallas Goldtooth, an activist with the Indigenous Environmental Network who helped stop the Keystone XL pipeline, is still advocating for sustained demonstrations and non-violent actions.
“We need a story of change…of resistance,” he told a gathering of close to 1500 civic leaders, community members, and representatives from 70 civic and environmental organizations that attended the Chicago Community Climate Forum, held Dec. 3 at The Field Museum.
Jason Funk Talks about UN Climate Change Conference
Meet Mindy Agnew: Oak Park's New Sustainability Coordinator
In mid-November, Mindy Agnew took on the role as Oak Park’s new sustainability coordinator, stepping into a post that had been vacant for more than three and a half years.
Mindy’s sustainability pedigree is already well established in Oak Park. She was a member of the team that guided District 97 to incorporate zero waste programs in the schools, beginning in 2008. Since that time, composting, recycling, and zero waste lunches have become commonplace throughout the Oak Park educational system.
Young Filmmakers Workshops Expand
12 Months of Sustainability
Community Solar Rises and Shines
Solar energy deployment is getting super charged on Chicago’s near west side, thanks to a community-based program called PlanItGreen: Solar in Your Community. The program is developing a pipeline of community solar projects to meet the renewable energy goal in Oak Park and River Forest’s PlanItGreen sustainability plan: achieve 25% renewable energy procurement by 2020.