By Jeff Gahris
River Prairie Group program meeting, September 27, 7 pm, Glen Ellyn History Center, 800 N. Main Street, Glen Ellyn.
I have been attempting electrification myself and encountered both challenges and opportunities. This will be a great time for you to learn more and share your ideas and strategies.
Register here!
By Connie Schmidt
Summertime is ending. It sure has been one for the books! From this photo you can see a good part of what drives my activism in Sierra Club; my three grandchildren and a tiny bit of my hubby peaking on the side of the shot. (Yeah, we are not too good with the art of taking a selfie.) With evidence of climate change impacting us here in the Midwest through heat and drought, activism seems more important than ever. In this newsletter we will share some of the work that the River Prairie Group is doing here in DuPage to help mitigate this issue.
Clean energy is an essential piece of cleaning the air we
breathe. We need to switch to electric appliances, so we are not reliant on
dirty gas infiltrating our homes. Read
Jeff’s article on our upcoming September program with a presentation from Citizen’s Utility Board (CUB) and how we can clean up our home from fossil
fuels. In addition, there is an article
about members of our RPG leadership who are working to encourage our local
school officials to adopt electric vehicles for their fleets. A fact sheet is
featured which you are welcome to copy and share.
Lastly, please consider getting out to enjoy the wild spaces in our area. We present outings on our calendar which you can find on the RPG website. One upcoming special one is featured in an article included here. Check out how you can take a “Hike with a Representative” and chat about concerns and hear about her work in Springfield. As you walk, paddle, or bike in nature, your spirit is revived. For me as I get out in nature, I gain strength to work more to protect the environment so my family members will have the benefit of these beautiful experiences as they grow older as well.
Plastics promised us so much!! How can they be so out of control? Anu was raised with the Vedic philosophy of asking oneself to respect what one has, conserve it, and give it back to nature. Surely plastics don’t fit into that profile. Our October program will focus us to work together and engage with the biggest scourge of our times and see what policies and individual actions can do to overcome this problem.
Join us OCTOBER 25, 7:00 pm
Anu is also
the co-founder of OPA (Organizing for Plastic Alternatives), a small but mighty
grassroots organization in Chicago, affiliated with Beyond Plastics and CPR
(coalition for plastics reduction), working diligently along with IEC (Illinois
Environmental Council) to bring about EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility)
and DRS (Deposit Return Scheme) policies in Illinois.
Have you ever wanted to share your thoughts with your state representative? Do you like to stroll in nature and visit with other friendly souls? Would you like an expert naturalist to share tidbits about unique plants and trees along the trail? Consider joining the River Prairie Group of Sierra Club outing with Janet Yang Rohr, State Representative from District 41. Janet serves Naperville and parts of Warrenville, including territory in both DuPage and Will Counties, and her office reached out to our leadership to hold a second “Hike with a Rep” this fall. Three Cheers for you, Janet, for wanting to connect with our membership and friends!
Sign up is requested at River Prairie Group’s Calendar.
By Connie Schmidt
Lonnie
Morris, our vibrant volunteer coordinator of the DuPage Monarch Project,
visited DuPage this summer to photograph some of the waystations established
here in our communities. It was an amazing experience to watch her exclaim over
the various species of native plants as she discovered them in the prairies and
parks we visited. We found thriving areas and some that were being overtaken by
encroaching nonnative species. One fact was obvious as we roamed the county:
humans will have to lend a hand if these areas are to thrive and support
vibrant communities of biodiversity. Weeds easily creep in, and the fragile
systems become unbalanced with the native plants withering away.
Coincidentally,
I just received my newsletter from Monarch Watch. Within the newsletter was a
section dedicated to one of the goals of DuPage Monarch Project, which is to
establish Monarch Waystations. These respite areas are essential to connect the
green spaces for the weary migrants as they proceed on their long journeys.
Below is a quote from the Monarch Watch newsletter imploring that waystations
be listed in their registry. Did you know that Illinois has the second largest
number of Waystations?! I wonder if we could make it to the top of the list?
“To offset
the loss of milkweeds and nectar sources we need to create, conserve, and
protect monarch butterfly habitats. You can help by creating "Monarch
Waystations" in home gardens, at schools, businesses, parks, zoos, nature
centers, along roadsides, and on other unused plots of land. Creating a Monarch
Waystation can be as simple as adding milkweeds and nectar sources to existing
gardens or maintaining natural habitats with milkweeds. No effort is too small
to have a positive impact.
Have you
created a habitat for monarchs and other wildlife? If so, help support our
conservation efforts by registering your habitat as an official Monarch
Waystation today!
https://monarchwatch.org/waystations
A quick
online application will register your site, and your habitat will be added to
the online registry. You will receive a certificate bearing your name and your
habitat's ID that can be used to look up its record. You may also choose to
purchase a metal sign to display in your habitat to encourage others to get
involved in monarch conservation.
As of 4 July
2023, there have been 44,110 Monarch Waystation habitats registered with
Monarch Watch! Texas holds the #1 spot with 3,664 habitats and Illinois
(3,381), Michigan (3,205), California (2,864), Florida (2,299), Ohio (2,285),
Pennsylvania (1,951), Virginia (1,915), Wisconsin (1,911), and New York (1,441)
round out the top ten.
You can view
the complete listing and a map of approximate locations via
https://monarchwatch.org/waystations/registry "
Note: There
is a nominal fee to help offset processing costs and support Monarch Watch's
conservation efforts.
By Jeff Gahris, with contributions by Jeannine Kannegiesser and Audra Bonnet, Forest Preserve District of DuPage
The Friends of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to providing ways for you to help care for our forest preserves. While the Forest Preserve District was created over 100 years ago, the Friends was incorporated as the District’s philanthropic partner in 2010. Many visitors who enjoy the preserves look for a way to give back by supporting various projects and initiatives. Perennial favorites for philanthropic support are care for the injured and orphaned native animals at Willowbrook Wildlife Center and forest preserve greatest needs, including habitat restoration, wildlife preservation, green energy development, and environmental sustainability.
On July 25,
2023, Brook McDonald, CEO of The Conservation Foundation, presented a donation
to the Friends for restoration work at the West Chicago Prairie Forest
Preserve, honoring the legacy of the West Chicago Prairie Stewardship Group.
The Conservation Foundation had been the fiscal agent of the volunteer
stewardship group, which was founded in 1982. This is an outstanding example of
volunteer support and involvement that supports our fabulous green spaces.
The 358-acre
West Chicago Prairie Forest Preserve was purchased in 1979 by West Chicago and
the Forest Preserve District, with additional acreage added in later years.
Here you will find 600 species of native plants and animals. It includes the
Truitt-Hoff Nature Preserve. Nine areas in DuPage forest preserves are
dedicated as either an Illinois Nature Preserve or Illinois Land and Water
Reserve by the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, adding extra protections
for these high-quality natural areas.
Join the Friends of the Forest Preserve District at some of their upcoming events, including:
The Friends’ volunteer board of
directors generally meets bimonthly on the fourth Tuesday. Current members are
Chair Diane Addante, Vice Chair Bob Watt, Treasurer Ashley Guest, Secretary
Carl Schultz, Ex-Officio Member Jeff Gahris, and members Brian Battle, Penny
Chanez, Karyn Charvat, Mike Dyer, Larry Larson, David Stang, and Joseph
Suchecki.
Additional
information about the Friends is available at dupageforest.org/friends.
By Connie Schmidt
Janice Guider of the Executive Committee of the River
Prairie Group has led the charge for advocacy of replacing our dirty aging
diesel school bus fleets with modern clean electric buses. She is working with the Environmental Law and
Policy Center as well as a myriad of other Electric Vehicle (EV) fans who are
helping to bring new technology to the suburban streets of DuPage.
Janice
states: “…We must intentionally discover ways to link arms to protect our
children from diseases interfering with their learning ability. While causes
for poor academic results are multifactorial, we seek out multi-remedy
opportunities, and one remedy that we can't ignore is improving air quality.
Exposure to airborne pollutants, particularly
ozone and PM2.5 (particulate matter), is undermining the education of our
children because they lead to a wide range of noncommunicable diseases. Asthma
arguably tops the list but comes with significant complications: insomnia,
fatigue, physical inactivity, obesity, obstructive sleep apnea and,
unavoidably, adverse effects of the medicine (usually steroids) to treat the
disease. In most instances, that adversity is agitation that triggers
disruptive behaviors in the classroom.”
In every meeting, Janice can be heard speaking up for the most fragile in our school systems because their health is the most easily compromised from these dirty behemoths. She has crafted relationships with elected officials, the regional superintendent’s office of education, bus manufacturers, and schools in Illinois that have already adopted this new technology.
RPG has assisted with several meetings held virtually where
the superintendents of DuPage have been invited to learn of funding for the
electric bus transition. Currently there
are both federal funds and statewide funds available for our districts to apply
for. At least one district in DuPage is
on board and has applied for multiple grants. Parents and
teacher organizations should contact their school boards and district leaders
to take advantage of these opportunities.
If you want to be more active with the Electric School Bus
campaign, contact Connie Schmidt at cschmidt527@gmail.com or 630 234
3029. Together we can do more!
