April is Earth Month!

Each year, people all around the world participate in celebrations to demonstrate their support for environmental protection.  This year, Greener Grove is helping to organize six Earth Week events for the Downers Grove community!  We will be drinking wine, planting trees, visiting gardens, watching a film about regenerative agriculture, learning about cicadas, and beautifying local parks - and we hope that you will join us!

Earth Week 2024 in Downers Grove!

Friday April 19, 7-9 pm, Sustainable wine presentation + informal wine tasting

Cellar Door's sommelier is going to give a presentation on sustainable wine at the Downers Grove Public Library from 7-8 pm.  Those who are interested in further discussion and sampling can then head to Cellar Door, where sustainable wines can be purchased.  A suggested donation of $15 will help us cover the cost of the presentation. Every donation will be entered into a raffle for one of three bottles of sustainable wine. To RSVP, click here for tickets on Eventbrite.

Saturday April 20, 12-3 pm, Tree-plenish community tree planting event

Downers Grove North High School's Outdoor Environmental Club and Greener Grove will be planting tree saplings at Concord Square Park.  Please wear comfortable clothes that can get dirty, and bring a shovel and gloves.  For more details and to RSVP, or to donate to buy tree saplings, please click here.

Saturday April 20, 2-4 pm, Downers Grove garden walk

Join Downers Grove Organic Gardeners and Greener Grove for an organic garden walk.  After meeting up at Gilbert Park, we will walk to several houses along Gilbert Avenue, where we will be given a guided tour and presentation highlighting each gardener's sustainable gardening practices.  Click here for tickets on eventbrite.

Monday April 22, 7:30-9:30 pm, Common Ground film screening + discussion

Greener Grove is supporting the After Hours Film Society in showing the highly acclaimed environmental film, Common Ground, at the Tivoli Theater on Earth Day.  This documentary explores how many of our challenges connect to a broken food system, and profiles farmers using regenerative models of agriculture to pave the way to positive climate, health, and economic solutions. Stay for a discussion after the film. For more details and to buy a ticket, please click here.

Tuesday, April 23, 7-8:30 pm, Greener Grove Meeting: Return of the Cicadas

Be prepared for one of the wonders of nature as the 17-year cicadas return to Northern Illinois this year. Join Greener Grove and PDHA (Pierce Downer Heritage Alliance) at the Downers Grove Public Library as Urban Forester, Steve Ruffolo, outlines this amazing phenomenon and answers your questions.

Saturday April 27, 10 am-12 pm, Downers Grove Park District Volunteer Day

Greener Grove is partnering with the Park District to beautify our local parks for spring!  We will help to prepare Fishel Park and Hummer Park for the season by mulching trees, picking up sticks and debris, and removing trash at each location. Gloves, tools and staff assistance will be provided - we are advised to dress for the weather and to get messy.  The park district will provide light snacks and give all volunteers an oak seedling to plant at home.  For more details and to RSVP, please click here.

We are so excited for a great Earth Week here in Downers Grove.  We really hope to see you at these events!  Please feel free to share this information with your friends and neighbors, and please do not hesitate to email us at info@greenergrove.org if you have any questions or feedback.

New Year, Greener You!

Happy New Year to our Downers Grove family. We are looking forward to doing great things and making big strides for sustainability this year! At our December meeting/social gathering, we asked attendees to write down what topics and initiatives they would most like to see Greener Grove focus on in 2024. We had so many thoughtful and exciting responses, and we wanted to share them with you as a way of documenting the things that really matter to us as a group.

We also have a record of each individual response. If you’re interested in doing a deep dive, you can take a look at our handy dandy spreadsheet here, organized into color-coded categories for your viewing pleasure.

Educating DG residents on various sustainability-related topics was a common theme to the responses. The leadership team has decided to make education a core component of our meetings this year. To kick things off, we are excited to start with a presentation by Jean Kent from S.C.A.R.C.E, who will be talking to us about how to make more sustainable choices. As a reminder, we will now be meeting in the Downers Grove Public Library, and our first meeting of the year is Tuesday, January 23rd at 7 PM. Please invite your friends and neighbors to attend!

Our next two meetings after that are already set, with February 27th being a presentation about Making the Switch to Solar Energy, so if you’re curious about going solar, you don’t want to miss this! And, March 26th, we will have our own Greener Grove member and landscape architect, Tom Eisenhart, giving a presentation about using native plants in your landscape. Lots to look forward to!

We also look forward to meeting Jason Michnick, the new Environmental Sustainability Coordinator for the Village of Downers Grove, who started on January 2nd! Our Greener Grove leadership team will be reaching out to schedule a meeting with him to introduce Greener Grove and talk more about what we do and how we can help facilitate sustainable initiatives at the village level.

Hope to see you all soon!

Greener Grove Communications Team

Create Your Own Greener Grove Swag:

Mon. Dec 4th, 7 PM

Wearing a t-shirt or carrying a tote bag with our logo on it is a great way to raise awareness for Greener Grove when we’re out at the farmer’s market, Village Council meetings, or just around town. But, ordering these items new has a detrimental impact on the environment. Each year, 92 million tons of clothing ends up in landfills. Even though most of us donate the clothing we no longer want, almost two-thirds of clothing castoffs head directly to the landfill. What’s abundantly clear, is that we produce far too much clothing in the first place, and ordering new items only adds to the problem.

Reduce and Reuse

The best way to help the environment when it comes to clothing, is to

• buy secondhand,

• buy fewer pieces that are well-made and will last for a long time, and

• swap clothing you no longer want with friends and family.

We decided that the eco-friendliest approach for making Greener Grove merch is to reuse what we already have! It will save us a pretty penny, and help protect the planet, too.

Block-Printing

Our general Greener Grove meeting on Monday, December 4th at 7 PM, will be an opportunity for some holiday fun and the creation of Greener Grove swag through the use of block-printing.

Michelle showcases our new Greener Grove block stamp

Greener Grove est. in 2023

We have had our logo made into wooden block stamps in several sizes, which can then be stamped onto clothing or accessories using green, black, or white fabric ink. Bring items you already own, or we will also have secondhand clothing from a resale shop available for purchase at the event. We're requesting a $5 donation per item you want to block print to help cover costs. We did a test-run of the process and they turn out great!

Test run of block printing, using second-hand shirts donated by Kitschy Style

The Holidays & Clothing

Another note as we go into the holiday season, is to re-think the way you gift. Clothing purchases increase significantly around the holidays, but here are a few ways you can help:

1. Avoid returns. Returns are responsible for 5 billion pounds of landfill waste and 15 million tons of carbon emissions per year. Be sure to know sizes and try-on before you buy. When in doubt, give a gift card so the recipient can try on for themselves. (This goes for things other than clothing, too!)

2. Boycott fast fashion brands. Companies like SHEIN, Temu, BooHoo, Forever 21, ASOS, Charlotte Russe, among others, are leading us into a new era of trend consumption, and pushing production rates to over 100 billion garments annually. Do some research and buy from brands that are slow fashion and insist on fair wages for garment workers.

3. Party Consciously. Tis the season for holiday parties and gift exchanges. Instead of buying a new outfit, ornament, or white elephant gift, host a clothing & gift swap with friends so you get something new to you, without buying new!

Wishing everyone the happiest, healthiest holiday season, and we hope to see you at our December meeting!

Tote will be available for purchase at Dec. 4th social

Stylish Tee will be available for purchase at Dec. 4th social