Environmentally friendly efforts make it easy to be green in Lisle

Green is taking root in the arboretum village.

Thirty years ago, when Kermit lamented that it's not easy being green, the glum little Muppet frog described a simple color. Green was the shade of leaves, grass and many ordinary things.

Today, green also is an earth-friendly verb applied to wide-ranging ecological issues. Greening is a process of altering a space or practice into a more environmentally friendly version. Ecological watchdogs want green to be commonplace again.

Clean Air, a regional initiative of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, the Environmental Protection Agency, city of Chicago and the Illinois EPA, designated the village of Lisle as a "bronze level" community. The distinction recognizes the community's successful curbside, commercial and multifamily recycling efforts; its established parkway tree planting program; and its use of native landscaping throughout village facilities.

Greening takes the adage "reuse, reduce and recycle" to the next level.

The Lisle Park District has two free-standing Abitibi Paper Retriever recycling stations for the collection of newspapers, magazines, catalogs, office and school paper. In the first three months, the units at the Community Center and the Meadows Center saved 42.5 trees by recycling 2.5 tons of paper.

The district also began to provide aluminum, glass and plastic recycling bins near sporting events throughout its park system this summer. The park staff received training in green office practices and the parks maintenance employees follow a no-idling policy.

An employee environmental committee met to set long- and short-term goals for the first time this spring, said Mike Toohey, superintendent of recreation. The district is looking into handing out canvas grocery bags to encourage residents to use this eco-positive way to carry purchases.

At the village of Lisle, management analyst Eric Ertmoed oversees local environmental issues. The village is co-sponsoring with the Lisle Chamber of Commerce this summer's street-art project of functional rain barrels. Rain barrels are an efficient low-cost way to collect and recycle water. A quarter-inch of rain falling on the average 2,000-square-foot house yields an estimated 200 gallons of water, according to Web site of Naperville-based Conservation Foundation.

Through an environmental grant, the village also dispensed 450 compact fluorescent light bulbs to residents at the French Market. Up to three bulbs per household are still available at the business office at village hall, Ertmoed said. A CFL bulb uses a third of the energy of an incandescent light bulb. Some brands of CFLs take a moment to warm up and are not at full brightness when they first come on.

Local government groups are studying the options of creating bike paths throughout the village.

Lisle Cadette Girl Scout Troop 1066 tackled the problem of toxins entering our rivers and lakes by organizing an effort to stencil storm drains throughout the community.

Nicole Puccini, Maggie Corrigan, Erika Weir and Amanda Mattner, all 14, under the direction of scout leader Beth Corrigan coordinated 25 volunteers to stencil 123 storm drains on June 22.

The stencil reads, "Dump no waste -- Drains to river" to remind everyone that there is no filtration system on the path storm water uses before going directly into nearby rivers and lakes. What goes into the drain - such as toxins, chemicals and trash - will contaminate and pollute downstream.

The Lisle girls worked with the Conservation Foundation and village of Lisle Public Works department on the project to earn their GS Silver Award, the second highest Girl Scouting award.

Morton Arboretum's parking lot is a model of stormwater management. The Lisle museum's paver system traps debris and contaminants while allowing clean water to flow into Meadow Lake and irrigate nearby trees and plants.

In addition, the internationally recognized outdoor museum retrofitted its lighting fixtures for energy-efficient lighting, buys only 100 percent recycled paper and allows bicycling on its grounds.

The Lisle arboretum joined Green Power Partnership to buy energy certificates. It has a strict no-idling policy for buses on its grounds and trained 75 percent of its staff on environmentally friendly practices. All its plant material pots are cleaned for reuse.

Earlier this year, the arboretum earned an Earth Flag for its green efforts from S.C.A.R.C.E. in DuPage County.

Lisle hotels are committed to going green, according to the Lisle Conventions and Visitors Bureau. In-house recycling, using green cleaning supplies, linen and towel reuse programs are in place. The Wyndham Lisle has special parking for hybrid vehicles. The Hyatt Lisle reuses old linen and terry towels as cleaning rags. The Hickory Ridge Marriott switched from bottled water to pitchers of ice water with glasses in meeting rooms.

At Benedictine University, an Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation grant allowed the school to upgrade its indoor lighting systems in three buildings at an estimated annual savings of more than $10,000.

For the recent demolition of Kohlbeck Hall on the Lisle campus, the university required the contractor to divert 75 percent of the demolition material away from a landfill and into recycling programs.

The university's concern continues with a three-year program starting this fall. In addition to campuswide reading of Elizabeth's Kolbert's "Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change," the university will have a Global Issues Forum on Oct. 21 and a Global Studies Symposium on Nov. 7.

Concerned municipal leaders across Illinois will come together for the third annual Sustainable Cities Symposium hosted by the village of Lisle on Oct. 24. It is a program through Illinois Lt. Governor Pat Quinn's office to exchange ideas and practices to improve and protect the environment at the local level.

The forum and symposiums will be the subject of a more in-depth column in the fall, as Lisle turns green.