Local 'Green Teams' Detail Their Efforts
Initiative marks one-year anniversary
By BARBARA BROWN
The County Journal
Published: Saturday, March 22, 2008 12:40 PM CDT
The Green Team Network of Early Adopters of Sustainability working in the Chequamegon Bay area met March 14 to share individual year end reports of the network’s initial efforts towards sustainability. This was the second sharing session of the ambitious network members who are making great strides, one step at a time, towards cleaning up our environment and championing the cause of reducing global warming.
The Green Team Network was made possible with a three-year grant awarded by the Otto Bremer Foundation to the Alliance for Sustainability, a local non-profit organization formed 15 years ago, according to Mary Rehwald, coordinator for the Green Team Network of Early Adopters of Sustainability
“This is a network of businesses and institutions that have voluntarily joined the Green Team Network. They committed two to five members from their business or institution to spend 80 hours a year trying to come up with sustainability ideas and share them with other members of the network. These first-year reports come from 17 different members,” Rehwald explained.
Throughout the eight-hour presentation each team gave a 15-minute report that highlighted the tremendous advances in energy conservation, effective recycling efforts, and incorporation of environmentally-friendly products that are beginning to “make a world of difference” in the Chequamegon Bay region.
Sustainability action plans were presented by the following Green Team Network businesses and organizations:
• Wal-Mart
• Washburn Iron Works
• Apostle Island National Lakeshore
• Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center
• BART
• City of Ashland
• Bad River Tribe
• Ashland Industries
• Chequamegon Food Co-op
• City of Bayfield
• Ashland School District
• Northland College
• WITC
• City of Washburn
• Deepwater Grille
• Lac Courte Oreilles
• Washburn School District
The reports and presentations were as varied as they were impressive for their accomplishments and strategic planning; a testament to how both businesses and government agencies can positively effect change in protecting and preserving our environment.
One of the Green Team presenters was Bayfield Mayor Larry MacDonald. He gave a year-end report and shared future plans for the City and Greater Bayfield Community. MacDonald cited the following accomplishments:
• The City of Bayfield has replaced all their cleaning products with environmentally safe ones.
• The City has found a supplier for 100 percent recycled paper at an affordable price.
• The City has replaced all of the Christmas lights with LED and compact florescent bulbs.
The City has partnered with the Department of Natural Resources to provide $10,000 in small grants to Travel Green members. There are over 30 Travel Green Businesses in the Bayfield area — more than any other place in the State of Wisconsin.
Projects funded include:
• The recycling of gray water and cooking oils from both 2006-2007 Apple Festival vendors.
• “Leave No Trace” rack cards for both kids and adults.
• Twenty new low flow shower heads were installed at the Bayfield Recreation Center.
• Funds to purchase a micro fiber cleaning system with green cleaning chemicals (reduces water use and cleaning chemicals dramatically at the Bayfield Recreation Center).
• The construction of an information kiosk that outlines the City’s Eco-municipality objectives.
• The City applied and received grants to create a rain garden at the National Park Service site in Bayfield (improving the water run-off from that site that ends in Lake Superior).
• The City applied and received a grant to improve the Ice Road Approach at the end of Washington Ave. (a cooperative effort with the Town of La Pointe to reduce salt/sand run-off from Washington Ave. that ends up in Lake Superior).
• The City continued the cooperative partnership to operate the BRB Recycling Center with the Towns of Bayfield and Russell. In 2007, BRB recycled 120.25 tons of glass, paper, tin, aluminum and plastic. Converted to energy savings it looks like this:
• Glass saved 308.40 gallons of gas
• Plastic saved 6,000 gallons of gas
• Newspaper saved 2,800 gallons of gas
• Aluminum saved 1,504 gallons of gas. “Recycling does make a difference,” MacDonald emphasized.
The City also replaced the lights at the Bayfield Carnegie Library with flourescent bulbs, “in accordance with the advice from our Focus on Energy Survey,” MacDonald said. “We also replaced the boilers at the Old Courthouse (Headquarters for the National Park Service. The City owns the building) with new high-efficiency boilers. “Other alternatives were pursued but they didn’t offer the return on investment we needed or weren’t suitable for the site,” he concluded.
As for the immediate future MacDonald said the City has procured funds to activate the Clean It/Green It campaign. The goals of the program are to provide “green” products that are environmentally safe. The City will provide each homeowner with a bag full of environmentally-friendly cleaning products. This will introduce homeowners to some of the alternative ways to keep households clean and safe from harmful chemicals. Using green cleaning supplies will also help reduce the amount of pollutants that are deposited back into the water and soil.
Another goal of the program is to provide funds to homeowners to make their homes more efficient.
By BARBARA BROWN
The County Journal
Published: Saturday, March 22, 2008 12:40 PM CDT
The Green Team Network of Early Adopters of Sustainability working in the Chequamegon Bay area met March 14 to share individual year end reports of the network’s initial efforts towards sustainability. This was the second sharing session of the ambitious network members who are making great strides, one step at a time, towards cleaning up our environment and championing the cause of reducing global warming.
The Green Team Network was made possible with a three-year grant awarded by the Otto Bremer Foundation to the Alliance for Sustainability, a local non-profit organization formed 15 years ago, according to Mary Rehwald, coordinator for the Green Team Network of Early Adopters of Sustainability
“This is a network of businesses and institutions that have voluntarily joined the Green Team Network. They committed two to five members from their business or institution to spend 80 hours a year trying to come up with sustainability ideas and share them with other members of the network. These first-year reports come from 17 different members,” Rehwald explained.
Throughout the eight-hour presentation each team gave a 15-minute report that highlighted the tremendous advances in energy conservation, effective recycling efforts, and incorporation of environmentally-friendly products that are beginning to “make a world of difference” in the Chequamegon Bay region.
Sustainability action plans were presented by the following Green Team Network businesses and organizations:
• Wal-Mart
• Washburn Iron Works
• Apostle Island National Lakeshore
• Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center
• BART
• City of Ashland
• Bad River Tribe
• Ashland Industries
• Chequamegon Food Co-op
• City of Bayfield
• Ashland School District
• Northland College
• WITC
• City of Washburn
• Deepwater Grille
• Lac Courte Oreilles
• Washburn School District
The reports and presentations were as varied as they were impressive for their accomplishments and strategic planning; a testament to how both businesses and government agencies can positively effect change in protecting and preserving our environment.
One of the Green Team presenters was Bayfield Mayor Larry MacDonald. He gave a year-end report and shared future plans for the City and Greater Bayfield Community. MacDonald cited the following accomplishments:
• The City of Bayfield has replaced all their cleaning products with environmentally safe ones.
• The City has found a supplier for 100 percent recycled paper at an affordable price.
• The City has replaced all of the Christmas lights with LED and compact florescent bulbs.
The City has partnered with the Department of Natural Resources to provide $10,000 in small grants to Travel Green members. There are over 30 Travel Green Businesses in the Bayfield area — more than any other place in the State of Wisconsin.
Projects funded include:
• The recycling of gray water and cooking oils from both 2006-2007 Apple Festival vendors.
• “Leave No Trace” rack cards for both kids and adults.
• Twenty new low flow shower heads were installed at the Bayfield Recreation Center.
• Funds to purchase a micro fiber cleaning system with green cleaning chemicals (reduces water use and cleaning chemicals dramatically at the Bayfield Recreation Center).
• The construction of an information kiosk that outlines the City’s Eco-municipality objectives.
• The City applied and received grants to create a rain garden at the National Park Service site in Bayfield (improving the water run-off from that site that ends in Lake Superior).
• The City applied and received a grant to improve the Ice Road Approach at the end of Washington Ave. (a cooperative effort with the Town of La Pointe to reduce salt/sand run-off from Washington Ave. that ends up in Lake Superior).
• The City continued the cooperative partnership to operate the BRB Recycling Center with the Towns of Bayfield and Russell. In 2007, BRB recycled 120.25 tons of glass, paper, tin, aluminum and plastic. Converted to energy savings it looks like this:
• Glass saved 308.40 gallons of gas
• Plastic saved 6,000 gallons of gas
• Newspaper saved 2,800 gallons of gas
• Aluminum saved 1,504 gallons of gas. “Recycling does make a difference,” MacDonald emphasized.
The City also replaced the lights at the Bayfield Carnegie Library with flourescent bulbs, “in accordance with the advice from our Focus on Energy Survey,” MacDonald said. “We also replaced the boilers at the Old Courthouse (Headquarters for the National Park Service. The City owns the building) with new high-efficiency boilers. “Other alternatives were pursued but they didn’t offer the return on investment we needed or weren’t suitable for the site,” he concluded.
As for the immediate future MacDonald said the City has procured funds to activate the Clean It/Green It campaign. The goals of the program are to provide “green” products that are environmentally safe. The City will provide each homeowner with a bag full of environmentally-friendly cleaning products. This will introduce homeowners to some of the alternative ways to keep households clean and safe from harmful chemicals. Using green cleaning supplies will also help reduce the amount of pollutants that are deposited back into the water and soil.
Another goal of the program is to provide funds to homeowners to make their homes more efficient.