Stewards of environmental sustainability honored by Glenview

For the fifth annual year, the Village of Glenview recognized community providers as good stewards for the environment.

Three local recipients were honored with 2022 Environmental Sustainability Awards at the Jan. 17 Glenview Village Board of Trustees meeting.

Nominations were sought from Jan. 1, 2022 through Oct. 15 for the village’s Environment and Natural Resources Commission’s Environmental Sustainability Awards Program.

Second from right, David Just, community engagement manager for the Village of Glenview, takes a photo of, from left to right, Scott Daniels, commissioner on the (ENRC) Environment and Natural Resources Commission, Chris Newman, ENRC chair, Glenview Village President Michael Jenny, Amy Sanders of Glenview, president of Glenview Gardeners, and Joani Riley, board member of the Glenview Gardeners. Taken at the Jan. 17, 2023 Glenview Village Board of Trustees meeting at Glenview Village Hall.

Chris Newman of Glenview, (ENRC) Environment and Natural Resources Commission chair, said the awards program has received, “a lot of great applications over the years.”

Glenview has an abundance, “of innovative practices going on that until our awards program came up, we really didn’t know were happening,” Newman said. “I think it’s awesome.

“I don’t know that people would necessarily consider Glenview as a leader and an innovator in a lot of these sustainable practices and a hub for activity like that, but it is and we’re finding every year new activities and new things to highlight about how people in Glenview are helping to improve the environment,” Newman added.

Scott Daniels, ENRC commissioner, said, “It’s very gratifying and I’ll tell you that it’s quite frankly very surprising because when we started this initiative, at least I didn’t have any idea of the breadth of (sustainable) activity that was going on in this community.

“Every year we get a number of businesses and organizations that tee up and say, ‘Here’s what we’re doing.’

Addressing the Glenview Village Board of Trustees at the podium is Chris Newman, chair of the (ENRC) Environment and Natural Resources Commission. Also seen is Scott Daniels, ENRC commissioner. Taken at the Jan. 17, 2023 Glenview Village Board of Trustees meeting at Glenview Village Hall.

“Tee up and tree up at the same time,” Daniels said with a smile. “Let the fruit fall where it may.

“It’s just been a wonderful experience.”

Glenview School District 34 won for the innovation category. Glenview Gardeners, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and Greener Glenview, a community organization which launched in October of 2021, each received awards for education and outreach.

District 34 implemented sustainable building practices in the new construction of (referendum approved) school additions, including energy efficient equipment, the planting of more than 200 trees and on-site stormwater detention using a vault system.

Construction required that 21 trees had to be removed. The district planted 214 trees of 22 species.

Glenview Trustee Gina DeBoni listens to positive words about Glenview green initiatives at the Jan. 17, 2023 Glenview Village Board of Trustees meeting at Glenview Village Hall.

“The community made this work possible by supporting the referendum,” District 34 Superintendent Dane Delli said.

“We are grateful and are committed to being good stewards of that funding, and of the world that our students will inherit.”

Glenview has been designated a Tree City USA by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the National Arbor Day Foundation for 37 consecutive years.

“For the children,” Chris Newman said about the 214 plantings, “it will be something for them to watch.

“The kids that are in schools now are going to see these young trees and by the time they get to sixth grade or out of high school and come back to Glenview, they’re going to see trees that were small…and they’re going to see them big and thriving and growing, and really understand how, what was an open space…a field…has been turned into a wonderful, small, forested area,” Newman said.

Glenview Gardeners, incorporated in 1991, is a multi-generational group that draws members from six surrounding communities with a goal of encouraging a love of gardening.

Right, Amy Sanders of Glenview, president of Glenview Gardeners, looks at the award that was just received. On left is Joani Riley, board member of the Glenview Gardeners. Taken at the Jan. 17, 2023 Glenview Village Board of Trustees meeting at Glenview Village Hall.

Glenview Gardeners (https://www.glenviewgardeners.org) hosts local meetings, runs an annual plant sale and maintains a pollinator garden, among other activities.

Amy Sanders of Glenview, president of Glenview Gardeners, reported feeling, “very honored to get it (the award) for the Glenview Gardeners.”

Sanders pointed out, “some great things,” done by Glenview Gardeners for The Grove National Historic Landmark in Glenview.

At The Grove, Glenview Gardeners started a butterfly garden two summers ago.

“We hope that will encourage other people to appreciate the beauty of a butterfly garden and hopefully try to incorporate some of the native plants in their gardens,” Sanders said.

Many green thumbs say newly planted perennial gardens sleep the first year, creep the second year and then leap on the third year.

This is leap year for The Grove’s butterfly garden by Glenview Gardeners.

“Hopefully, it leaps,” Sanders said. “We are in the leap year.”

The third award recipient, Greener Glenview, strives to educate people living and working in Glenview about sustainability. Greener Glenview uses education, collaboration, and advocacy for sustainability to benefit natural and established “built” environments. Greener Glenview is an affiliate of Go Green Illinois, an umbrella organization, according to https://www.greenerglenview.org.

Sheri Latash and Mary Munday, both of Glenview, are co-founders of Greener Glenview.

Jan. 17 was the first time Greener Glenview received an Environmental Sustainability Award.

Of receiving the award, “I think that it means that the (ENRC) commission and through the commission, the board, takes sustainability seriously,” Munday said.

“So much is going on in the world with the climate becoming an emergency, that groups like ours help bring the community together.”

Greener Glenview has reached more than 500 community members at programs and events in the last year. Monthly bulletins are emailed to more than 200 subscribers.

“There’s always lots of work to do,” Latash said. “We want to try to address climate change issues at the local level.”

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.

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