Author Archives: Ann Aubry

“Green Leaving”

Leadership McLean County is working with the Office of Residential Life and Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity on plans to collect and recycle textiles from residence halls at the end of the spring semester and May Term.

Through this “Give and Go” project, as students leave campus they will be able to drop off unwanted clothes and shoes in the lobby of their residence — instead of throwing them in a dumpster. The materials will be recycled within the community or sold to support the Home Sweet Home Mission.

Nature Photography

Renowned nature photographer Tom Ulrich will give a presentation on Monday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. in CNS C101.

Originally from Illinois, Ulrich now resides outside Glacier National Park in Montana, but returns to Illinois each year on his photo tour. He will take us on a photographic journey of the year 2011 in the life of a wildlife photographer. This year’s focus will include the Nature of New Zealand and Glacier National Park, with a special feature on warblers and the hummingbirds of Ecuador.

His presentation is co-sponsored by the Sugar Grove Nature Center, IWU Biology Department, the Environmental Studies program and John Wesley Powell Audubon Society.

Go Green Night with the Titans

On Saturday, Feb. 18, the Athletic Department, Illinois Wesleyan’s Sierra Student Coalition and GREENetwork will host “Go Green Night” at the Shirk Center.

The audience is encouraged to wear their Titan green to cheer on the women’s and men’s final regular season home basketball games — against Elmhurst College at 5 and 7 p.m., respectively — while also celebrating campus efforts to “Go Green!” in support of Illinois Wesleyan’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

The evening is also “Seniors’ Night,” honoring the seniors on the basketball teams.

Composting Update

In one year of composting at Illinois Wesleyan, Sodexo reports that 62.6 tons of food waste have been composted and diverted from landfills.

Since launching in late January 2011, in conjunction with a community initiative spearheaded by Illinois State University, composting efforts at Illinois Wesleyan have expanded from the student dining hall and kitchen to also include the faculty/staff dining room and major catering events.

“Illinois Birds: A Century of Change” Author to Speak

Thursday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. in CNS C101

Dr. Jeff Walk, the director of science for the Illinois Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, will give a talk based on the book Illinois Birds: A Century of Change, published in 2010.

From 1906-1909, Stephen Forbes, Alfred Gross and Howard Ray conducted the first quantitative bird survey in North America, documenting the numbers of all species they observed in all habitats across Illinois with a specific, repeatable method. Richard and Jean Graber repeated the study from 1956-1958, and Walk and his colleagues replicated their efforts from 2006-2008.

Walk will summarize his findings in this talk, which is supported by the Beach Lewis fund of the IWU Biology Department.

Sierra Club and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

On Monday, Jan. 23, at 8 p.m. in CNS C102, Clayton Daughenbaugh of the Sierra Club and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance will speak and show a short video about saving the greater canyonlands area in Utah from off-road vehicles as well as oil and natural gas development.

Daughenbaugh will also give an update on the progress Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Sierra Club have made on encouraging legislators to co-sponsor America’s Redrock Wilderness Act. 

Teach-In Panels on Local Food, Sustainable Agriculture

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Teach-In this afternoon in the Hansen Student Center includes three panel discussions related to food and social justice.

The first panel, at 1 p.m., will explore “National Efforts to Create Local Food.” At 2 p.m., the second panel will focus on sustainable agriculture in Bloomington and Illinois Wesleyan. The third panel, at 3 p.m., will discuss food insecurity from international, national and local perspectives.

The Teach-In’s theme of food and social justice carries over from last semester’s symposium, What We Eat. Why It Matters.

Naturalist to Speak

Tuesday, Jan. 17, 7 p.m., CNS C101

Author Thomas Lerczak will give a talk, “From Field Notes to Book Publication: The Story Behind Side Channels, A Collection of Nature Writing and a Memoir,” cosponsored by the Environmental Studies Department and John Wesley Powell Audubon Society.