The Environmental Defenders is pleased to announce a second location for Styrofoam collection with the reopening of the site at Algonquin Public Works at 110 Meyer Drive (oepn 24 hours a day). We thank the Village of Algonquin for partnering with us and also Algonquin Township Highway Department for reopening of that site at 3702 Highway 14 in Crystal Lake (open Mon-Fri., 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) We encourage the public to reduce Styrofoam use and to recycle what clean Styrofoam they do have by dropping it off at our two locations or at our monthly recycling drives. Other locations will be opening by end of year. Thank you to U-Haul, Chicago Logistic Service and Dart Company for their partnership in helping to keep Styrofoam out of landfills and out of our environment.
Category Archives: Environmental Tips
Fall Book Sales Starts Saturday, September 23!
MEMBERS ONLY PREVIEW IS THIS FRIDAY NIGHT FROM 6 TO 8PM!
BIG FALL BOOK SALE
Location: Algonquin Township Highway Department garage, 3702 US Highway 14, Crystal Lake
Sale Dates and hours:
| Saturday | September 23 | 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. |
| Monday-Friday | September 25-29 | 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. |
| CLOSED Saturday | September 30 | |
| Sunday | October 1 | 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. |
| Monday-Saturday | October 2-7 | 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. |
Tuesdays & Thursdays open until 6:00 p.m.!
Bag Sale October 5, 6, and 7!
WE HAVE LOTS OF BOOKS ON GARDENING!
THOUSANDS of books available. Come check out our wide selection:
Fiction, Non-Fiction, History, Biography, Mystery, Religion, Philosophy, Books for Children and Teens, Self-Help, Travelogues, Sports, Entertainment, Cookbooks, Crafts, Music, Art & Photography, Foreign Language, Poetry,
Short Stories, and SO MUCH MORE!!
Nutrient Loss Fact Sheet from The Sierra Club
Nutrient Loss Fact Sheet: One of Illinois’ top water quality problems is nutrient pollution. Learn more about the problem, the solution and how to keep your lawn green and water clean.
Monarch Mania!
Summer Newsletter is here!
Documentary Film: The Family Farm
Greening at the office, continued
In many ways “going green,” or being sensitive to the use of our natural resources, is about efficiency. Being conscious about behaviors and having monitoring efforts in place help to hold us accountable.
Here are a few tips to put those ideas into action:
Update mailing lists to avoid sending out unnecessary letters, thus saving the paper, printing, and postage.
Monitor the use of supplies.
Keeping tabs on how much is being spent and used can make us more careful about what’s being wasted.
Set a company policy that disallows the use of screen savers, and set monitors to power off after a time.
It’s that easy.
Greening at the Office
Did you know that the average U.S. office worker goes through about 10,000 sheets of paper a year?
Reduce that number by getting into the habit of printing on both sides of the paper. Also, use the back side of old documents for faxes, scrap paper, or drafts. Avoid color printing and print in draft mode whenever feasible.
Make it a policy to buy chlorine-free paper with a higher percentage of post-consumer recycled content. Also consider switching to a lighter stock of paper or alternatives made from bamboo, hemp, organic cotton, or kenaf.
Recycle toner and ink cartridges and buy remanufactured ones. According to Office Depot, each remanufactured toner cartridge “keeps approximately 2.5 pounds of metal and plastic out of landfills and conserves about a half gallon of oil.”
February Green Drinks with Visit McHenry County!
Green Drinks is held at Duke’s Alehouse & Kitchen from 5 pm until 7 pm, 110 N Main Street in Crystal Lake. First Wednesday of each month.
Our Green Drinks guest for February 1st is Visit McHenry County. Visit McHenry County was started in August of 2005 as the McHenry County Convention and Visitors Bureau. In 2014 the DBA Visit McHenry County was adopted. The Purpose of Visit McHenry County is to encourage, enhance and promote tourism related business and special events in McHenry County; to further the promotion of tourism and publicity for the area; to promote McHenry County as a tourist destination throughout the state, regionally, nationally and internationally; and to protect and preserve the quality of life valued by its citizens. The mission states that Visit McHenry County will strive to create economic growth for McHenry County through effective marketing of its tourism product and supporting the development of new physical tourism products.
Visit McHenry County staff will be sharing information about how they promote ecotourism in McHenry County.
Jaki Berggren is the Executive Director. She was first hired in 2009 as the Sales Manager and was promoted to Executive Director in 2012. Jaki has been a resident of Huntley for nine years.
Kristine Austin is the Sales & Marketing Manager. She was hired in November of 2016. Kristine is a resident of Lake in the Hills and grew up in Johnsburg.
Surround yourself with the beauty of the winter night sky!
In the United States, December has more hours of darkness than any other month, and it’s also the most overcast time of year in many places, which means we may not see much of the sun. With the winter solstice on December 21, long nights will rule. So let’s embrace the darkness and take the opportunity to appreciate the night sky.
Protect this view by learning about light pollution, which is a side affect of industrial civilization and can have serious environmental consequences. Value the dark sky, considering that if we don’t, there may one day be children who will never see the Milky Way.