Green a Festival
Aicha Menendez: Greening Pitchfork Music Festival
Aicha created a Green Task Force of 32 folks who worked together to green the Pitchfork Music Festival. They collected plastic and aluminum recycling from festival attendees and educated them on reducing waste. Aicha and her team plan to work with Pitchfork on a “zero-waste” festival in the future.
Dana Emanuel: Eco-Action at Andersonville Farmer’s Market
Dana’s project team hosted a series of three Eco-Action days at the new Andersonville Farmer’s Market. Each day of programming focused on local foods and the connection to a different resource (land, air & energy, or water). Market-goers took the “Conservation Challenge” and won prizes (faucet aerators and CFLs) and each day there was a raffle with large prize giveaways (including a composter, low-carbon picnic set, and a rain barrel).
Dao Ngo: Environmental Outreach and Education at the Portage Park Earth Day Fair
Dao organized a table at Portage Park during its 2007 Earth Day Fair, taking the time to speak to those interested in learning more about C3, how to reduce waste water, recycle, compost, and install rain barrels, among other environmentally friendly practices.
Jennifer Wang: Buena Park Neighbors Green Team
Jen established a neighborhood green resource and activity program where community members will continually participate in implementing environmental initiatives for the Buena Park community. This Buena Park Green Team jumpstarted activities through an Air and Energy Workshop held for 100 participants at the Buena Park Concert in the Park this summer.
Kate Yoshida: Greener Ravenswood Step by Step’ Festival
For Kate’s C3 project she planned the entire Greener Ravenswood Step by Step Festival. This one day green festival in Lincoln Square introduced over 300 residents to environmentally friendly choices they can make in and around their homes. Residents learned about testing their toilets for water leaks, how to make green cleaning products for their homes, options for car sharing, and energy conservation techniques.
Katherine Bissell Cordova: Greening the River North Association Summerfest
Katherine led an initiative to green the 7th annual River North Summerfest through the use of more eco-friendly foodware, by increasing the practice of recycling during the festival, and highlighting sustainable businesses in the neighborhood.
Kristen Pratt: Cooking Local in Chicago (C.L.I.C.)
Kristen ran a local farms information booth at the Nettelhorst School Farmer’s Market. Visitors to the booth learned about local food access, were given reusable canvas bags, and encouraged to learn more at the Cooking Local in Chicago blog, a website that Kristen and her team developed.
Matthew Ellenwood: Greening Pridefest
Matthew and his project team “greened” Pridefest by encouraging and facilitating recycling at the event. In total, they single-handedly retrieved 400 pounds of recyclable materials and disposed of it properly. They also hosted a booth where they explained the basics of vermicomposting, rain water conservation, the city’s $800 Savings Challenge and self-auditing individual use of resources.
Sarah Mandli: Greening the Holidays: Late Night Andersonville
Sarah connected her project to Late Night Andersonville, an event which brings shoppers to the neighborhood during the holiday season. She created and distributed an informational guide with green holiday tips on tree decorating, gift wrapping, and cooking. Sarah also used a large pool of volunteers to hand out holiday guides and CFLs, ensuring that she reached the greatest number of shoppers possible.
Shauna Precourt: Elements of Sustainability: Green Workshops and Tools at a Conference/ Festival
Shauna and her project team created a green workshop as part of the Earth Spiritualists of Chicago conference. Shauna showed conference attendees different ways to reduce their footprint through conservation and green technology. To this end, Shauna’s team distributed low flow showerheads, CFLs, worm bins, and Chicago recycling pamphlets.
Tammy Johnson: Historic Pullman Garden Walk Conservation Booth
Tammy set up a booth outside of the 15th Annual Historic Pullman Garden Walk to discuss recycling, composting, and energy use with garden walkers. To get participants excited about her lecture, she raffled off outdoor composting bins to attendees who completed a brief workshop. Tammy also distributed $800 Savings Challenge Cards, Waste Audit sheets, Guides to Recycling Hazardous Household Waste, and other educational resources.
Green Your Office
Anna Smunt: Green Routine
Anna created a green committee at the school where she works to implement better recycling and environmental stewardship practices on the part of staff and students. The green committee conducted a waste audit of the school, Intrax International Institute, held green class campaigns and a green cleaning workshop, and created recycling bins for all of the classrooms in the building.
Judie Simpson: Spring Clean Up and Green Up your Business
Judie organized her neighborhood to participate in the city’s 2007 Spring Clean and Green while providing additional support and materials to 60 local businesses to help them green their offices. Materials included low flow faucet aerators, reams of recycled office paper and toilet paper, reusable bags and reusable water bottles.
Julia Brown Wolf: Honor Our Mother Earth (H.O.M.E) and Green Team at the American Indian Center
Julia worked with a team at the American Indian Center and other Uptown residents to create a Green Technology and Environmentally Conscious theme within the Center. Their work to date includes a native medicine garden, a recycling program, and on-site composting. The team’s future plans include a green roof and being a participant in the blue cart recycling pilot beginning in August.
Justin Lotak: Chicago Green Light Program
Justin spoke with businesses in the Old Town community about the advantages of switching to energy efficient lighting as a smart economical and environmental choice. He created spreadsheets outlining the number and type of bulbs in each facility and how those fixtures could be improved; he will be following up with advertisement material which will help stores promote their energy efficient decisions.
Michele McSwain: Green Lunch-N-Learn Seminars at Work
Michelle created a series of conservation-based lunch seminars in her office. Topics included reduction and reuse, lowering personal energy consumption, vermicomposting, and green cleaning techniques.
Steve Plzak: Grounds for a New Community
Steve educated 32 coworkers and peers in the basics of ‘greening’ their lives. He demonstrated several green technologies and provided giveaways to participants including CFLs, faucet aerators, green cleaning solutions, a composter and rain barrel. His office was so excited about these technologies, they extended their training by taking a tour of CCGT as a group.
Valerie Busch-Zurlent: Environment and Ecology Club at Truman College
Valerie created a campus environment and ecology club at Trumen College. The club supports and coordinates various action-projects that respond to local, regional and global environmental issues. Projects to date include a screening of An Inconvenient Truth, CFL and plant giveaways, a campus-wide recycling plan and tree planting.
Living Green
Angela Ford: Green Day at Heritage Place Homeowners Association
As part of the Heritage Place Green Day, residents received weatherization kits and information about living green in their homes. Between this event and a separate distribution, every one of the 101 single family homes in the community learned about and installed materials from the city’s weatherization kits.
Barbara and Joe Moore: Why Green Matters Workshop Series in Rogers Park
Barb Sepanik Moore and Alderman Joe Moore organized a series of 7 environmentally focused workshops designed to engage community members in greater stewardship, conservation, and action endeavors in the city of Chicago. These events were extremely successful, bringing in approximately 500 attendees, and employing the time and resources of more than 25 dedicated Rogers Park Green Corps volunteers.
Carryn Quibell: Sunday Eco-Fun Day! Simple Ways to Save Money and Go Green
Carryn and her team organized an afternoon workshop for 40 of her neighbors, centered around interactive eco-activities. Attendees made green cleaners, created their own indoor and outdoor planters, learned about energy efficiency and took the city’s ‘Take Five for the Environment’ pledge.
Chelsea Richer: Connecting the Disconnected
Chelsea brought together an intimate group of fellow young professionals of Chicago at Café Ballou to discuss environmental issues as they relate to them and how they can make individual and community-wide improvements.
Chris Holinger: Greening Your Home
Chris teamed up with Jody Mullen and Ryan Meyer, both C3 leaders, to create a workshop at Whole Foods focusing on home weatherization, waste management, and green cleaning supplies. The trio of leaders created a brief presentation followed by a Q&A about these issues. Community members who attended the workshop were given reusable bags and water bottles, weatherization kits, CFLs, and green cleaning solutions.
Danny Volk: Living Green: Apartment Edition
Danny invited friends and neighbors to a progressive dinner to explore green living in apartments. Danny and his team created different stations to demonstrate vermicomposting, CFL use, using power strips to prevent phantom load, and homemade green cleaning techniques. Two community members were so impressed by Danny’s worm bin that they started vermicomposting in the weeks following the dinner. Another lucky attendee won an I-Go membership in a raffle.
Deloris Lucas: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink
Deloris held a community conservation workshop where block residents learned about local environmental issues and the actions they can take to reduce waste and save money and energy. Deloris and her team distributed CFLs, green cleaning solutions, and faucet aerators to help residents get started in making a difference.
Harry Meyer: Ashburn Lutheran Goes Green
Harry hosted a “Go Green for God’s Earth” Fair at Ashburn Lutheran School. His team consisted primarily of the school’s students who created displays and activities involving environmental concepts. Harry’s team distributed 100 bags containing green brochures & CFLs, in addition to collecting batteries, glasses, cell phones, printer cartridges & old gym shoes for recycling. In all, over 150 children and families attended the fair.
Jeffrey Walter: Tis the Season to be Green
Jeff held a combination brunch/workshop to show his neighbors how to make changes during the holiday season to reduce their environmental impact. The workshop featured environmental themes of reducing, reusing, recycling, and energy efficiency. Everyone who attended Jeff’s brunch received LED lights and a power strip so they could begin making a difference immediately.
Jennifer Khatchatrian: Go Green Home Tour
Workshop participants toured Jen’s home to learn how to make eco-friendly changes in both their homes and lifestyle. The self-guided tour was based around 40 green steps that Jen and her family made to their home. Each of the steps had it’s own placard detailing the action and it’s environmental benefit. Participants left with reusable bags filled with recycling tips, weatherization kits, faucet aerators, toilet leak test kits, reusable water bottles, CFLs and green cleaning supplies.
Jessa Brinkmeyer: A Smarter Season, A Holiday Event at Pivot
Jessa held a holiday party for over 70 attendees at her eco-fashion boutique, Pivot. Jessa created stations that gave guests tips on how to have a more eco-smart holiday season. The stations included ideas for eco-friendly holiday décor, gift wrapping techniques using recycled materials, recommendations for what to do with e-waste, and how and where to recycle Christmas trees in Chicago.
Jody Mullen: Greening Your Home
Jody led the second lecture in the three part series she created with C3 leaders Chris Holinger and Ryan Meyer. Jody’s presentation focused on waste management. At her workshop, Jody distributed reusable bags and cups, CFLs, weatherization kits and green cleaning solution to 19 attendees.
Jon-David: The Green Ministry
Jon-David established the ‘Green Ministry’ through his church, the Center for Spiritual Living. The Green Ministry conducted a series of environmentally focused classes on water conservation, vermicomposting, and green cleaning, to name a few. The Green Ministry now serves as the eco-guide for the Center’s 210 membership base.
Karen Snyder: Living Green Open House for the Sheridan-Winona Condo Association
Karen and fellow condo residents created the Green Condo Association Committee to make available information and materials for vermicomposting, water conservation, and improved indoor air quality for their homes. Each resident was able to create their own indoor composting bin and green cleaner.
Laura Gardiner: Environmental Sustainability and Activism for High School Students
Laura Gardiner created an environmental sustainability and environmental activism program for high school students.
Moira Pollard: Sauganash Green Day
Moira educated over 70 homeowners and their families at the Sauganash Ace Hardware Store about how to reduce their environmental footprint in their homes and apply other energy saving ideas. Mr. Fix-It, Lou Manfredini, provided attendees with detailed green tips, and local students from Sauganash School got involved by filling out a green homes checklist which they exchanged for gelato at the Green Day event.
Ryan Meyer: Greening Your Home
Ryan gave the final lecture of the C3 Lakeview’s group series at Whole Foods. His lecture focused on green cleaning supplies but touched on the weatherization and waste management topics from the previous workshops. Over the course of the three lectures, Ryan, Jody, and Chris distributed 169 CFLs, which over the course of the bulb’s life will prevent over 76,000lbs of CO2 form being released. Additionally, the group distributed a total of 40 reusable water bottles, and 80 reusable canvas bags.
Susan Fox: Promoting Reusable Shopping Totes in the 49th Ward
Through two separate events, Susan encouraged 200 of her neighbors to switch from disposable plastic bags to reusable shopping totes outside of Morse Market and the Rogers Park Fruit Market.
Susan Herzog: Living Green Open House
Publicized on the Arts and Events page of the Chicago Reader, Susan’s Living Green Open House reached 50 people from across Chicago looking to learn more about composting, water conservation, green cleaning techniques, energy efficiency, and more.
Tina Holloway-Branyon: Breathe Easy
Tina led a workshop at Chicago’s Green Heart boutique to educate community members on how to improve indoor air quality within their homes and businesses. Tina opened the workshop by training participants to conduct simple home energy audits. She then led participants in making green cleaning solutions and learning general reduce/ reuse principles.
Other Projects
Alison Nemirow: University of Chicago Native Plants garden
Alison Nemirow worked with a team at the University of Chicago on a native plants garden. She leveraged C3 money to get $800 from Greencorps and $6,000 from the school’s student government. Her team hired a professional landscape architect to draw up a planting plan. Alison put together a great project team of three other undergrads, two faculty members and a grad student. They worked closely with student organizations, the University’s Sustainability Council, and the University Planner.
Anna Wolfson: Hyde Park Community Garden and Outdoor Kitchen
Jeff and Anna collaborated on a project to build a solar oven. They worked with over 15 volunteers to build the oven which was made from natural and found materials, reduces the need for cooking gas and is being incorporated into an existing community garden. Jeff, Anna and their hungry volunteers plan to enjoy a summer full of oven baked pizzas with vegetables and herbs from the garden.
Bob Oehman: Sustainable Business Club For Students
Bob held bi-monthly meetings for students to familiarize them with sustainability in business and connect them to appropriate people in the city of Chicago. He directed 20 students down business avenues involving sustainability.
Bridget Carey: Walker Branch Library Native Garden
Bridget did extensive research and planning for a native plants garden at Walker Branch Public Library in Beverly. She and her C3 team installed 800 square feet of native plants. As her garden matures, she hopes to submit it for review by Mayor Daley’s landscape award committee.
Chris Hohenstein: Green Into Blue Tree Recycling Campaign
Chris and his team supported the city’s Bureau of Forestry in recycling Christmas trees in 23 different parks across the city. Team members also distributed weatherization kits, reusable water bottles, CFLs, and blue bags to offer an incentive for participants to recycling. The program reached an all-time high as a result of this C3 Team’s efforts, with more than 13,000 trees collected.
Ellen Jurczak: Sustainable Community Garden in the Bowmanville Neighborhood
Ellen worked with her community to create a more sustainable and drought resistant garden in Bowmanville. By posting signs and interpretation boards at this long-standing neighborhood garden, she increased the number of volunteers tending this green refuge.
Jeff Adams: Community Garden Oven in Hyde Park/Woodlawn
Jeff and Anna collaborated on a project to build a solar oven. They worked with over 15 volunteers to build the oven which was made from natural and found materials, reduces the need for cooking gas and is being incorporated into an existing community garden. Jeff, Anna and their hungry volunteers plan to enjoy a summer full of oven baked pizzas with vegetables and herbs from the garden.
Joann Podkul & Kevin Murphy: 100th Street Beautification Project
Kevin Murphy and Joann Podkul saw promise in a triangle of neighborhood blight, which they are turning into a community garden and nature education site. Their project is creating neighborhood friendships as they clear trash, plant flowers and plan for the future. Their multi-generational team is growing, and they continue to have work days and community activities at their newly-beautiful site.
Kelly Dougherty: Bird Collision Avoidance Window Displays
Kelly worked with the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, artists and multiple property managers in an effort to prevent bird collisions with buildings during migratory season. His team included third and forth graders from the University of Chicago Laboratory School who painted windows at the nature museum and worked with a local artist to paint murals at 303 E. Wacker. Each building provided signage describing the project. The long-term goal for this project is to encourage building owners to apply paint every migration season.
Marshall Preheim: Green Roof Feasibility Study
Marshall accumulated data for a green roof feasibility study which will help him and his C3 team establish an appropriate time frame and plan for the installation of a green roof over the Fulton/Carroll Center in the Kinzie Industrial Corridor.
Melissa Simon: Tuv Ha’Aretz Good for the Land: Best of the Land
Melissa and her team helped 100 community members understand the benefits of purchasing and eating local organic produce by creating a system for their Synagogue to provide Community-Supported Agriculture to its members. Tu Ha’Aretz Chicago also provided regular news updates and opportunities through a comprehensive monthly newsletter.
Michael Herman: C3 Blog and Getting the Word Out about C3
Michael created the C3 blog for folks to share information with one another and has conducted numerous summits about food policy. His networking acumen has created numerous new connections for the Chicago Conservation Corps including recruiting participants to C3 courses and a writeup in the Chicago Sun Times.
Patrick Briggs: Rain Garden Education and Installation
Patrick brought together neighbors and family to install a native plant rain garden in his block’s parkway. His team also installed a rain barrel, which will support the garden as it grows.