The VOF's monthly general membership meeting will be held
Monday, January 11,
at 7 p.m. at the Batavia Public Library. Richard Fielding from Upcycle
Products will present program on upcycling. Upcycling is the practice of
taking something that is a throwaway and repurposing it into something
of greater utilization and intrinsic worth. He will have a display of
rain barrels and composters that have been ecologically manufactured. As
always, members as well as non-members are invited. Directions to the Batavia Public Library...
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.
Paddlewheel fundraiser earns $2,650
September's Paddlewheel Excursion/Fundraiser on
the Fox River in St. Charles earned $2,650 for the Sierra Club's state
chapter. The event was co-sponsored by the VOF and celebrated the 50th
anniversary of the founding of the state chapter.
IMSA and VOF team up to clean up the Fox
About 250 students from the Illinois Math & Science Academy in Aurora
joined the Valley of the Fox Group's Water Sentinels to clean up several
miles of the Fox River's banks on August 14. The VOF Fox Water
Sentinels partner with IMSA's students and faculty, supporting their extraordinary education, their
community service and their work to protect the Fox River watershed.
Click below to see a video of the project.
Make every day Earth Day!
Earth Day was April 22, but you
can 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.
News flash: The first public Styrofoam recycling facility in
Illinois has opened in North Aurora. Click
here for details.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Happy birthday to the Sierra Club in Illinois!
The Sierra Club in Illinois turns 50 this year! The Chapter was first organized in Illinois in 1959. At that time, we were the Great Lakes Chapter, including many Midwestern states. In 1990, we formally changed our name to the Illinois Chapter to reflect our Illinois focus. Now, the Illinois Chapter has 26,000 members from all over the state. The chapter is made up of 16 groups across the state, including our own Valley of the Fox Group.
Thanks to 50 years of the Sierra Club’s work, we have a cleaner and greener Illinois. To visit the Illinois Chapter's web site, click
here.
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.
The Sierra Club in Illinois turns 50 this year! The Chapter was first organized in Illinois in 1959. At that time, we were the Great Lakes Chapter, including many Midwestern states. In 1990, we formally changed our name to the Illinois Chapter to reflect our Illinois focus. Now, the Illinois Chapter has 26,000 members from all over the state. The chapter is made up of 16 groups across the state, including our own Valley of the Fox Group.