Mark Your Calendars: Des Plaines River Cleanup

Pair up, clean up and do some good.

The 16th Des Plaines River Cleanup is right around the bend. The event is scheduled to begin, rain or shine, at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 28. This year's goal, organizers say, is to clean the river's east and west sides, from North Avenue to Madison Avenue. A map accompanies this story as a PDF. Registration is required. Here's the link to the form. The first 100 people to register will get a free T-shirt. On cleanup day, participants can check-in at The Depot, 401 Thatcher Ave., to pick up garbage bags and maps, and to get assigned into a cleanup zone. Organizers are also stressing a couple of safety tips for participants: Wear long pants, long sleeve shirts (preferably bright colors) and boots; bring a cell phone; organize into groups. When…

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Oak Park Students Collaborate On Energy Efficiency

Local students to investigate energy saving ideas for District 97 schools and local homes.

Some Oak Park parents may soon be bombarded with questions from environmentally conscious children about their home energy use.  Longfellow Elementary School third graders and Brooks Middle School sixth graders met this week to brainstorm and collaborate on a larger project – coming up with energy saving ideas both for their own homes and their schools. The 49 students will even be encouraged to do an audit of their own home energy efficiency and uses. "We're trying to get them to understand that they can do little things such as turning off the faucet and asking their parents how they are using their water," said Sandra Flowers, a Longfellow third grade teacher involved in the project. "We're trying to get them to understand the …

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The 2010 Green Awards

Holmes School Recognized For Zero Waste

Village honors school with its 2010 Green Award, rewarding Holmes for its efforts to eliminate waste and save money.

A grassroots effort to cut down on lunchtime waste at Oliver Wendell Holmes School a few years ago has spread well beyond the elementary schoolyard on Chicago Avenue. Now the entire Oak Park Elementary School District 97 is behind the effort —a success story that school officials say has helped save more than $26,000 so far and attracted national attention from other districts. In recognition for being the first to spark the growing trend, Holmes School has been awarded a 2010 Green Award in recognition from the village this month. The program, dubbed "Zero Waste," has significantly decreased the local footprint on the environment. Seven Generations Ahead, an Oak Park-based nonprofit that helped lead the effort, estimates District 97 may …

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Zero Waste Savings Add Up for District 97

Holmes school pioneers a waste-reducing, eco-friendly program that has spread across school system in two years.

At first glance, the lunchroom at Oliver Wendell Holmes Elementary School looks like any other. Students chat about their days while forking down cafeteria-made pasta and salad. But this is no ordinary lunchroom. With just a few changes in the past two years, it has become a leader of a pioneering program in Oak Park Elementary School District 97 to cut down on waste and ultimately save huge chunks of cash. In the two years, the district has saved about $26,000, according to Seven Generations Ahead, an Oak Park-based nonprofit that has helped lead the  effort along with volunteer parents and state grant funding. Total savings might eventually reach more than $50,000 a year as the program grows. That's inspired districts from as far as …

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