Go Green

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Student Environmental Club teaches by example

From carpooling to supporting local land-conservation efforts, the College of Lake County's student Environmental Club has been busy walking the talk in its efforts to inspire the larger CLC community to think green.

The club consists of about 15 students and Kelly Cartwright, a faculty advisor and biology instructor. Though focused on environmental issues at CLC, the group also belongs to the Illinois Student Environmental Coalition, a consortium of two- and four-year colleges that promote networking and idea-sharing on environmental issues.

As the 2008-09 school year draws to a close, the club can look back on several green accomplishments.

As part of Earth Week, the club set up several booths at an Environmental Fair, held April 22 in the Grayslake Campus' Brandel Court. Students visiting the booths had a chance to test their environmental knowledge with quizzes and enter into drawings for free movie tickets. Club members also distributed a kit containing six to eight tree seeds and a peat moss pellet, a particular apt giveaway since trees play a major role in restoring oxygen to the atmosphere. (Two mature trees can provide enough oxygen for a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.)

"Trees represent one of the best natural ways to extract carbon dioxide from air pollution, which helps fight global warming," according to Kelly Cartwright, biology instructor and faculty advisor to the group.

The group also distributed organic candy, made from organic tapioca syrup and evaporated cane juice. Also on display were empty, plastic pop bottles that were set on their side, decorated and converted into adult pocket-change containers or children's piggy banks. Literature also promoted vegetarian eating, which supporters say helps save water and trees by eliminating the need to clear forests to create grazing fields.

On April 18, the group joined the annual cleanup effort on the Grayslake Campus, helping pick up bagfuls of litter. Also in April, club members volunteered at the Rollins Savannah located across the street from the Grayslake Campus. The students helped clear out buckthorn, a thorny, invasive species of shrub that provides poor wildlife habitat and crowds out native trees and wildflowers.

Last November, members of the club distributed flyers at area Metra stations, supporting the referendum that allows the Lake County Forest Preserve District to buy more open spaces and convert them to more forest preserves. The referendum, designed to reduce urban sprawl and traffic congestion, was successful—much to the delight of club members. "It felt good to be out doing something that helps save more land," said Billy Duncan, a computer science major who says containing urban sprawl is his pet environmental issue.