Students Engage with Environmental Activities at DGS "Sustainapalooza"

written by Michelle Sayre

Students engage with environmental activies at DGS "Sustainapalooza" on October 16, 2025

This past October, Greener Grove had the opportunity to partner with Downers Grove South Science Teacher, Chris Gales, staff from the Village of Downers Grove, and volunteers from SCARCE, to put on an in-school field trip all about sustainability. Coined “Sustainapalooza” by Mr. Gales, we planned a full lineup of hands-on activities and experiences that helped students learn about environmentally-sustainable choices they can make now, and in the future, to reduce their ecological footprint.

The students came to the field trip with their carbon footprint already calculated, noting how many Earths it would take to sustain the population if everyone lived like them. It was eye-opening to see that it would take as many as 5 - 7 planet Earths if everyone had the same habits as they did. If you’d like to find out your own ecological footprint, this is the calculator we used: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en

Greener Grove member and former DGN Science Teacher, Steve Ruffolo, spoke about what goes into an ecological footprint. While right now students’ parents make many of the decisions that impact their footprint most, such as the size of their home, how it is heated and cooled, what kind of transportation they use, etc., Mr. Ruffolo empowered students to think about the choices they can make now and when they graduate and start making these bigger decisions on their own.

Village Environmental Sustainability Coordinator, Jason Michnick, talked about the community’s ecological footprint, and how the village is taking steps to mitigate climate risk and reduce carbon emissions. The biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Downers Grove is from buildings. Transportation is also a large source due to Downers Grove being a place where a lot of people commute from and to. The village’s goal is to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% of what it was in 2019 by 2030. We have to reduce by about 40% more to hit this goal.

One stat shared by Mr. Michnick, that was hard for everyone to believe, was that the average annual carbon footprint for smart phone daily usage is 63kg of CO2-equivalent. This equates to driving a car approximately 155 miles. And, that assumes only 1 hour of daily use. The students’ eyes went wide, calculating how many hours they spend on their phones per day.

Despite some of the staggering statistics, the day was built to uplift and foster hope through action. Students split into small groups and walked around to different stations to learn about sustainable activities. 

At the SCARCE station, volunteer Emily King, taught students all about reuse and repair while they helped to remove papers from old, broken crayons and sort them by colors. SCARCE melts the crayons down to create new super crayons for students with special needs. To learn more about SCARCE and the Super Crayons, visit https://www.scarce.org/super-crayons/

Students learned about water conservation and the impact of stormwater runoff from Village Stormwater Admin, Julie Lomax. A hands-on water table demonstration illustrated the importance of having permeable surfaces in our village.

Carol Richart, a Greener Grove Compost Coach, was on-hand to show students how composting happens at home. From saving your fruit and veggie scraps, egg shells, and coffee grounds, to layering the compost with browns and greens, students got to help start and learn how to maintain an at-home compost bin. If you’d like to know more about composting or want a compost coach to help you get started, visit https://www.greenergrove.org/composting

A station about activism and advocacy, run by Greener Grove co-founder and board member, Louise Kelly, featured the last words of conservationist and scientist, Jane Goodall. Students watched a clip from the new Netflix special “Famous Last Words: Dr. Jane Goodall” and had a round-table discussion about the impact one person can have on nature and humanity.  

Plastic Reduction was the focus of another station, led by Greener Grove board member, Michelle Sayre. Plastic is harmful to the environment and our bodies, and using plastic creates demand for more plastic to be made. The students learned about current legislation in our state that aims to reduce plastic, and saw some plastic-free swaps they could make in their daily lives, from food storage, to beauty products, to household items.

Greg Soltwisch, Village Forester, showed students how the Village tracks all 23,300 of our parkway trees in a database (available online here) with information about each tree, how he identifies different health issues in trees (e.g. fungus growing on a tree is a sign of internal rot), and demonstrated how his climbing gear works when he prunes trees.

The event culminated outside, in nature, circled up on a grassy area. Here, Jason Michnick, presented “A Greener Way Pledge.” An important companion to our Village Sustainability Plan, A Greener Way Pledge is a list of actions residents can take to make an impact on our environment on an individual level. Informed by the day’s presentations and breakout stations, students had lots of great ideas about what they could do to lessen their carbon footprint, and a spirit of involvement and wanting to make a difference. It was a great event we hope will become an annual, inspirational tradition at the high schools in Downers Grove.

Watch a video recap of Sustainapalooza on the Downers Grove Village Youtube here.