VOF Monthly Meetings

Why stay home watching the tube when you could be sharing an experience with the prime outdoors club in the nation? Enjoy old friends and make new ones. Talk about the environmental issues currently in the Illinois Assembly. Check on upcoming outings. Sign up for your favorite volunteer projects.

VOF Sierra Club Meeting, Monday, February 13

On Monday, February 13th, 7pm, at the Batavia library, the monthly meeting of the Valley of the Fox Sierra Club will host The Fight to Protect Starved Rock: Updates on the Proposed Sand Mine Near Illinois' Favorite State Park.

Come learn about the proposed sand mine adjacent to Starved Rock State Park. Tess Wendel, clean water organizer at the Sierra Club Illinois Chapter, will be speaking about Mississippi Sands proposal to mine for frac sand and its impacts on the park and surrounding community.

Tess Wendel graduated with a degree in chemistry from Skidmore College in upstate NY. During her time at Skidmore she assessed lake health for a local homeowners association and did research characterizing the chemical composition of the mineral springs in Saratoga Springs and their potential influence on the Saratoga Lake Watershed. This past summer she began working on water-related issues for the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club and has been spending her free time trying to visit as many forest preserves and state parks outside the city of Chicago where she resides.

Fun fact: Tess worked as a park ranger in North Cascades National Park in Washington for two years.

(VOF monthly meetings are usually held the second Monday of the month at 7pm at the Batavia Public Library except for the months of July, August, and December. The public is invited and refreshments are served.)

Directions to the Batavia Public Library

Last meeting...

For our January meeting, we had a fireside chat with a hot cocoa bar. The turnout was great and we had some lively conversation

GREEN NIGHT OUT AT THE MOVIES

This Saturday is the Batavia Environmental Commission screening of the film "Chemerical".

• Saturday February 11, Batavia City Hall Council Chambers
• Doors open 6:45pm with exhibits, film starts 7:15
• FREE and open to the public (best suited for ages 12+).
• For more information: www.facebook.com/events/352504351446395

Get a rain barrel. Help the environment, the Sierra Club, and your water bill.

From the Prairie State Protector:

Charlie Zine, Conservation Chair for the Valley of the Fox Group, loves both the environment and his old house. So when he wanted to install a rain barrel at his home, he wanted an old-style wooden barrel to match. Charlie eventually got his barrel, and more! His quest led to a unique partnership between UpCycle Products of Minooka, Goose Island Beer Company of Chicago and the Sierra Club.

Goose Island ages their stout beer in oak barrels that once held bourbon. Goose Island didn't have an outlet for the still functional barrels once they had fulfilled their use at the beer company, and they were simply dumped into landfills. That's when Charlie contacted Rich Fielding of UpCycle Products to explain Goose Island's problem. The unwanted barrels are now given a new purpose! Rich's company converts all sizes and colors of plastic barrels into rain barrels and composters. Each year, nearly 200,000 pounds of used plastic barrels are kept out of landfills. Instead, people use them to collect free, clean rainwater from the down spouts at their homes to water their gardens and to repurpose their food scraps into compost.

Starting this spring, UpCycle has added former bourbon and beer-holding oak barrels from Goose Island to their line of rain barrels. And Rich is donating a portion of the sale of each oak barrel to the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club!

Want to know more? Go here to see the video.

Also go to Upcycle Products for information about the oak barrels, which can be purchased for $175 at Trellis Farm & Garden in St. Charles.

Make every day Earth Day!

You can make every day Earth Day. How? The Sierra Club has come up with two information sheets: Five ways individuals and companies can fight global warming, and five ways cities and states can to it too. Both are about a megabyte in size and are in PDF format. You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the sheets. Most PCs already have this valuable and free program; try clicking on a link to one of the sheets to see. If you don't have it, click here to download a copy.

• Click here to see the sheet for individuals and companies.
• Click here to see the sheet for cities and states.

Want to celebrate on the actual day? Try these activities!

Creek testing results, 2005 to today

The VOF's Water Sentinels have posted the results of their testing program from 2005 to the current day. How did your local creek rate? Click below to download spreadsheets with all the data.

Subject	PDF format	Excel format
Most recent results
Historical results by date
Results by creek

How do we do the testing? Water Sentinel member Sherry Wolff has put together "The Life of a Sample."

Illinois Water Sentinels releases annual report

The Illinois Water Sentinels, a Sierra Club group consisting of VOF members and others throughout the Chicago metro area who are interested in protecting, improving and restoring waterways by fostering alliances to promote water quality monitoring, public education, and citizen action, has released its annual report. You can read it by clicking here, and also read about the group's plans for 2010 here. For details on the Sierra Club's Water Sentinels, click here.

Water Sentinels Call for Volunteers

The VOF Water Sentinels is the oldest volunteer stream monitoring group in the Sierra Club. We started in 1995 and in 2000, the program was nation wide. So you can join the charter group! we need volunteers to help out with Fox River water quality issues. We have two types of opportunities:

Assist With Student Activities

Are you retired or have a flexible schedule? VOF Water Sentinels occasionally needs volunteers to assist with student activities. If any training is needed, we will give it, but usually it's a matter of walking along, chatting and providing a Sierra Club presence. The next event needing this type of volunteer is Wednesday Aug 25 in Aurora. Students from the Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA) will be doing a stream bank cleanup in downtown Aurora from 1-3pm. They bring supervision, we bring Sierra Club, and everyone has a good time. Please contact us if you can help with this afternoon or future events.

Water Sentinels Needs More Volunteers

The team monitors 8 to 10 streams quarterly on Saturday morning--we provide all supplies and training. You simply collect a water sample from a stream near you and drop off at a designated, convenient location.

Please consider joining this premier team. And wait until you see the free T-Shirt! To join or learn more, contact Fran Caffee.

Don't dump it—recycle it!

What do you do when one of your energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs burns out? These bulbs should be recycled because they contain a small amount of mercury, a neurotoxin. However, the amount is miniscule compared to the mercury put into the atmosphere from coal-burning power plants.

Here are some suggestions:

• Ace Hardware stores in Aurora will take back CFLs for recycling. Check the Ace in your area.
• Home Depot has just announced that it will accept CFLs for recycling at stores across the U.S.
• IKEA stores will also accept CFLs.
• Many varieties of household hazardous waste, from CFLs and other fluorescent tubes to oil-based paints to prescription medication, can be dropped off Naperville's Household Hazardous Waste Center, 971 Brookdale Road, on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. For a map to the facility, which is open to DuPage County, Kane County and Will County residents, click here. 

What do you do if a CFL breaks? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the answer. Click here to see the cleanup process.

Other recycling resources

According to Kane County officials, residents and businesses are recycling 42% of their waste, a vast improvement over the 8% that was recycled in 1986. Some stats from the county's recycling web site:

• The average Kane County home recycles about 60 pounds of material each month.
• Last year, we recycled about 65,000,000 aluminum cans in Kane County (or 168 for each person), but we still threw away 30 million cans (or 86 cans per person).
• Kane County residents recycled 30 million pieces of junk mail (85 pieces per person). 44% of the junk mail was never opened.
• We recycled 94 million pounds of paper, saving the equivalent of 796,000 trees. Each day, 2 million trees are cut down in the United States.

Click on a category to find out where and when you can recycle the following items:

• Municipal trash pickups: (Weekly pickups) What will my local trash hauler accept for curbside recycling?
• Electronics and books: (Monthly dropoffs) Computers and Peripherals: Personal Computers, Monitors, Printers, Scanners, Modems, Tape, Disk, CD Drives, Cables, Keyboards, Mice, Plotters.
  Entertainment Equipment: Televisions, Camcorders, Cameras, Stereo Equipment (no speakers), Game Players, Joysticks.
  Office Equipment: Telephones, Cell Phones, Pagers, Answering Machines, Typewriters, Calculators, Adding Machines, Fax Machines, Shredders, Copiers, Postage Meters.
  Electronic Media: Floppy Disks, Compact Discs (and cases), Videotapes (no audio cassettes)
• Household hazardous waste: (Weekly dropoffs) aerosol products, antifreeze, batteries (auto and household), blacktop sealer, cleaning products, fluorescent bulbs, gasoline, hobby and photographic chemicals, lawn chemicals, mercury, motor oil, oil-based paints, pesticides, pool chemicals, propane tanks and solvents. Not accepted: ammunition, explosives, fireworks, biological or medical wastes, farm machinery oil, fire extinguishers, latex paint, smoke detectors
• Used motor oil
• Used tires
• Printer cartridges
• Unused and expired medicines
• Styrofoam

Don't live in Kane County? No problem! Just go to www.Earth911.com and type in your ZIP Code at the top of the page to get a list of recycling sites.

More recycling services

• If you're doing any work around the house, you can find materials at Habitat for Humanity's ReStore, an Elgin-based store that sells at bargain prices donated items from contractors, remodelers, manufacturers, distributors and homeowners–much of which would otherwise be destined for the landfill. Proceeds support the building of Habitat homes in Kane County. The store is located at 860 North State Street in Elgin. Details and map to store ...
  
• Homeowners and small businesses in Batavia now can recycle electronic equipment, office equipment and books Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Batavia Public Works Department, 200 North Raddant Road. When you arrive at the Public Works facility, please enter the main entrance on Raddant Road and advise the receptionist you have equipment to drop off.

  Items accepted for recycling:

  • Computers and Peripherals: personal computers; monitors; printers; scanners; modems; tape, disk and CD drives; cables, keyboards, mice; and plotters. There is a limit of 25 pieces on PC towers/CPU's and monitors.
  • Entertainment Equipment: Televisions; camcorders; cameras; stereo equipment (no speakers); game players; and joysticks.
  • Office Equipment: Telephones; cell phones; pagers; answering machines; typewriters; calculators; adding machines; fax machines; shredders; copiers; and postage meters.
  • Software: Floppy discs; compact discs (and cases); videotapes; and audio cassettes. Please remove all paper and recycle it with your mixed paper at home.
  • Books: Hardbound and paperback books.
  • Please DO NOT bring manuals, packing material, air conditioners, other appliances or household hazardous waste.

  For additional information contact the Public Works Facility 630-879-1424 ext 310.

Now available on line:
The VOF's newsletter, 21st Century Fox

Did you misplace your printed copy of the VOF's newsletter? Now you can read it online. Click here for the most recent issue. If you'd like to receive the 21st Century Fox via e-mail--and save a few trees in the process--send your name, membership number (the eight-digit number on the address label of your Sierra magazine) and your e-mail address to: editor@illinois.sierraclub.org. For back issues, click here.

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Last updated November 15, 2011. Questions, comments on this web site? Contact the VOF's webmaster.