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.
In a few weeks, the University will raze a house it has acquired on McLean Street. As has been Wesleyan’s practice, the Old House Society will go through the house and remove anything they can use.
In addition, for the first time, the University will take advantage of a new construction material recycling operation that has opened in Bloomington. Kirk Demolition will remove the house and should be able to recycle approximately 70 percent of the materials.
This is very new to our area and we will evaluate the process. (The University is not endorsing the contractor or the process.) Kirk Demolition plans to video the process for its website.
The “mega recycling event” conducted on Nov. 19 at Illinois Wesleyan, targeting non-traditional recyclables in conjunction with America Recycles Day and co-sponsored by IWU Wellness, the Ecology Action Center and Home Sweet Home Ministries, drew 302 cars of participants during the five-hour event.
The collected tally was 34 pallet loads of electronics, eight pallet loads of clothing and textiles, and three pallet loads of miscellaneous small appliances, in addition to batteries, compact fluorescent bulbs and plastic garden pots.
If you missed the event, items can be recycled throughout the year at various locations.
Sandra Steingraber ’81 is quoted in the British Columbia Courier-Islander and on Canada.com about the “silent paralysis” of those who feel overwhelmed in the face of dire environmental threats. The suggested cure is meaningful action.
Sodexo reports that nearly 66,000 pounds of food waste from Bertholf Commons and the Sodexo kitchen was diverted from landfills during the spring 2011 semester, through the new community composting initiative. This initiative, launched in late January, allows compostable materials to be picked up by Midwest Fiber; the composted dirt is then used at the Illinois State University Farm near Lexington.
Sandra Steingraber ’81 was among winners of a $100,000 award from the Heinz Family Foundation in recognition of her environmental work, as reported in Harvard Magazine.
She plans to use the money to try to stop gas drilling.
Illinois Wesleyan will install two electric vehicle charging stations under a pending agreement with the town of Normal. Normal received a Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant to purchase charging stations, some of which will be shared with cooperating institutions.
As Stark Excavating, Inc. demolishes Sheean Library, workers have been separating steel reinforcements from concrete masonry and recycling the materials. Third-party contractors will recycle the metal, while Stark will likely grind up and reuse the concrete masonry and brick in its own future projects, said Physical Plant Director Bud Jorgenson.
In addition, materials such as fluorescent lamps and ballasts were recycled by Springfield Electric before the demolition began.
The reuse of Sheean building materials is among the criteria involved in meeting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards with the construction of the new main classroom building at the site.
See The Pantagraph report.
As reported by Jackie Connelly ‘12, a variety of campus initiatives fostered by GREENetwork volunteers – including this spring’s RecyleMania campaign – are working to fulfill Illinois Wesleyan’s commitment to environmental sustainability. Read more.