Sandra Steingraber ’81 wields her singularly poetic prose on the ungainly issue of sand mining in Orion Magazine‘s May/June issue.

Can you walk, bike, find a carpool buddy, or take the bus to work for a week?

The Good to Go Commuter Challenge is a fun, free, friendly competition among organizations (workplaces, groups and teams) and individuals to commute sustainably.

Everything counts, except driving alone. Registration is now open at gltgoodtogo.com/challenge; the challenge takes place next week (May 12-18).

All participants are eligible to win a $200 Visa gift card.

The University’s two charging stations for electric vehicles have been installed in the parking lot at the Minor Myers, jr. Welcome Center.

Pictured at right, Director of Government and Community Relations and GREENetwork Co-Chair Carl Teichman plugs in a car owned by the town of Normal.

Saturday, April 28
8 -10 a.m.
Ewing Park in Bloomington

Join us on Saturday, April 28 at 8 a.m. as Professor Given Harper leads us on a bird watching walk in Bloomington’s Ewing Park. We will meet in the parking lot of Ewing Park off Towanda Avenue. The walk will last approximately 2 hours. Bring your field glasses and get ready to enjoy the great outdoors without leaving town!

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to the Wellness office at ext. 3334 or email jspence2@iwu.edu.

A groundbreaking ceremony for a new Peace Garden is scheduled on Tuesday, April 17 at 5 p.m. at the corner of Francis Street and Prospect Avenue (across from the practice football field near BroMenn Hospital.)

The garden will provide a local food source for the community and be available as a supplemental instruction tool.

Two charging stations for electric vehicles will be installed in the Welcome Center parking lot this week, as part of the Bloomington-Normal EVTown initiative.

Saturday, April 14, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Shirk Center

Highlights include:

• A variety of exhibitors focused on personal health and the environment

• Mega Recycling Event: electronics, cfl’s, batteries, plastic garden pots, textiles, shoes, & confidential paper shredding

• Kid’s activity zone

• Cooking classes with Chef Shamon Bell

• Live music & renewable fashion show

• Free bike tune-up & valet bike parking

• Electric cars & energy efficiency

• 11 workshops * 10 a.m. -2 p.m.

• The premiere of Think Before You Pink * 11 a.m.

• Expo selected film: Living Downstream 3 p.m.

Everyone is welcome — admission is free.

For more information, visit www.islwe.org or contact Wellness at ext. 3334.

Don’t throw it away! Give it away! We will be creating an opportunity to give away your unwanted stuff and to take what you like — FOR FREE!

Please Bring:

Household Items
- Knick-knacks, lamps, vases, paintings, prints, etc. Items must be clean and in good condition.
- No large furniture

Men & Women’s Clothing 
- Adult men & women’s clothing only.
- Clothes must be clean and in good shape.

Toys
- Toys must be in good shape (all parts and pieces) and clean.

Please bring items that deserve a second life to the IWU Wellness Office by Friday, April 6. Please contact us with questions or if you need help with pick-up, ext. 3334 or wellness@iwu.edu.

Donated items will be available at the
Illinois Sustainable Living & Wellness Expo
Saturday, April 14
9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Shirk Center

Interested residents of Normal are invited to contact Council members and weigh in on curbside recycling, which has received mixed public response. The town is considering a weekly, single-stream recycling program.

Bloomington, which already offers curbside recycling, plans to launch single-stream collection with automated recycling trucks later this year.

Dr. Stanley A. Temple, senior fellow at the Aldo Leopold Foundation, will give two presentations on Wednesday, March 21, both in CNS C101.

At 11 a.m., he will discuss “Aldo Leopold and ‘the Oldest Task in Human History’” (which Leopold defined as “living on a piece of land without spoiling it.”)

At 7 p.m., he will speak on “Aldo Leopold, Phenology and Climate Change.”

Aldo Leopold, the father of wildlife management who was best known as the author of A Sand County Almanac, was a keen observer of the natural world. Throughout his life he kept daily journals recording observations of seasonal events, especially those occurring at his beloved “shack” on the Leopold farm, which was the setting for many essays in A Sand County Almanac.

Leopold’s meticulous observations provided an unparalleled record of when plants bloomed, birds migrated and other natural events. Comparing his observations of hundreds of natural events to recent records helps us understand how climate change is affecting the ecological community.

These talks are supported by the Beach Lewis Fund of the Biology Department and are cosponsored by the Biology Department, the Environmental Studies program and John Wesley Powell Audubon Society.