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Our next
regular monthly meeting will be Monday, May 12, at 7 p.m. at the
Batavia Public Library.
Bird photographer Leo Modica will present a program on our feathered
friends through the lens.
As always,
members and non-members are invited.
Directions to the Batavia
Library ...
Make every
day Earth Day! How
do you do that? 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.
Clean Sweep of the Fox River
planned for April 19
The VOF's annual Clean
Sweep of the Fox River will be held Saturday, April 19, in Aurora. This
is our annual effort to clean up trash and other debris from the banks
of the area's most crucial natural resource. Help us get the Fox ready
for Earth Day (April 22)! We'll meet at 8 45 a.m. at 80 N. Broadway,
behind the Aurora Township Building. Work will continue until noon.
Bags, gloves, water and snacks will be provided. The Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency has donated $500 to help defray the
costs of the effort. To sign up, contact Fran Caffee at
fran.caffee@sierraclub.org.
How's your local creek doing?
Ever wonder if your local creek is polluted, and,
if so, how? The VOF has released the April results of its testing
program for creeks in the Fox Valley. The group is testing 25 sites at
seven creeks. This batch of tests was made April 5. To see the results,
click the appropriate link below:
Bonus! VOF member Sherry Wolff has put together a photo tour called
"Life of a Sample" so you can see exactly what happens when VOF members
collect creek samples.
Click here
to see it.
 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. Sierra Club adds smart energy use
to
traditional concerns Smart
Energy Use will join two traditional concerns, America’s Wild Legacy and
Safe and Healthy Communities, as the Sierra Club's national board of
directors' long-term conservation initiatives. The Club has not historically made broad energy policy a national
priority campaign, but the times demand that we meet the challenge to
move beyond a fossil fuel world and that the Club lead society through
one of the largest transformational moments in American history.
Details ...
VOF testing gives high marks
to creeks
on Fox River,
but development poses threat
The Sierra Club has
released the results of three years of tests on eleven
creeks which empty into the Fox River stretching from Elgin
to Yorkville. Based on their findings, Sierra Club is
calling for measures to protect the streams from pollution
in the face of rapid suburban development. “Here in the Fox
River Valley, we are blessed with some of the highest
quality creeks in Illinois”, said Fran Caffee, chair of the
Valley of the Fox Group. “But if future generations are to
also see them as clean, clear waters, we will all have to do
our part to protect them as rapid development changes the
landscape around us.”
Details ...
Don't dump it--recycle it!
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?
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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).
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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
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.
Other recycling services
Check out our new cartoon!
Rustle the Leaf is a weekly cartoon
with an environmental theme. Here's this week's installment:
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Who represents me?
Here's an easy way to find out who your state
and local officials are. Click the link below, and you'll be taken to
the Project Vote Smart site. On the left side of the page is a spot
where you can enter your ZIP Code and get a list of all your state and
federal elected officials, along with bios and contact information.
Click here to go to Project Vote Smart
Where
and how do I register to vote?
Click here to find out all the facts
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Home
Other
news Outings and events Links
To join Leadership
Chair's letter
Last updated April 16, 2008. Questions, comments on this web site? Contact the VOF's webmaster. Site designed by Mike
Hanlon.
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A
member with computer graphics skills to design a
one-page handout and/or mailers to accompany VOF Smart Growth
presentations.
