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| NewsSunday, April 13, 2008 6:26 PM CDT |
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Students tell of going green
BLOOMINGTON — Students at local elementary and junior high schools are making it cool to go green. Imagine Green, a grass-roots organization attempting to help the Bloomington-Normal community become more environmentally friendly, organized presentations Saturday in the Illinois Wesleyan University Memorial Student Center. The event was in cooperation with the Illinois Sustainable Living and Wellness Expo held Friday and Saturday in IWU’s Shirk Center. Four area schools gave presentations about their green efforts. “The green movement has to put kids at a very, very important place,” Joe Grabill of Imagine Green said after the event. “Adults didn’t grow up green,” Grabill said. “We had to re-socialize ourselves. Hopefully, this next generation will carry the ball.” Members of the Sugar Creek Ecology Club sang a song about reducing, reusing and recycling. The club is recycling the school’s computer ink cartridges and soft drink cans, among other endeavors. “My first-graders are great recyclers,” Anne Bare, Brigham Elementary School teacher, told the audience during her students’ presentation about their environmental efforts. Ruthanne Aves, a Chiddix Junior High School teacher, said she hopes the students will continue to be involved in environmental causes in high school, but sometimes it is hard for them to find a teacher who has the time to work with a student group. Aves, who leads the Chiddix chapter of Illinois Energy Education Development, recalled one student’s example. “She found a teacher, (and) said, ‘You don’t have to do anything, just sign this saying you’re our sponsor.’ She ran the whole thing. She is now an environmental lawyer in Washington, D.C.” Selling ‘smencils’ Chiddix students were selling environmentally friendly, scented pencils called smencils to raise money for their group and to support a Miller Park Zoo project that is assisting the dwindling frog population in Madagascar. Yash Thacker, 11, member of the ecology club at Sugar Creek Elementary School, said pollution in his hometown of Vadodara, India, was a reason he became environmentally conscious. He said he also was encouraged by his physical education teacher, Pamela Eaton, who founded the club, and by “all that news about global warming.” April Fritzen, co-owner of the Coffee Hound cafes in Bloomington and Normal, provided drinks in cups made from corn. Fritzen said she continually implements greener practices in her cafes. “When we first opened up the business, I didn’t think about recycling until I saw how many milk jugs we were going through,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’m filling up the Dumpster. I’ll recycle.’” The Coffee Hound recently began using coffee sleeves made from cork, which does not involve the destruction of trees. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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