The 2013 Evanston Green Living Festival, has a pressing theme—“Preserving & Protecting the Urban Forest”—in a year when
City of Evanston officials are raising awareness about the deadly impact of
Dutch elm disease and the Emerald Ash Borer on our trees.
The seventh annual festival, presented by the Evanston Environmental Association (EEA) in concert with the City of Evanston (COE), features:
* The Green Market, nearly 4,000-square feet of covered outdoor space featuring exhibits by nearly 100 businesses and organizations engaged in everything fromcomposting to green design, eco-insulation and organic gardening.
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* A Green Silent Auction, featuring products and services from a variety of green businesses and organizations. (All auction proceeds support the Evanston Ecology Center, which holds engaging and educational environmental programs for children and adults.)
* The Tiny House, a 128-square foot sustainable house built by students from Northwestern University.
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* Free utility-bill analysis. The Citizens Utility Board (CUB), Illinois’ premier consumer watchdog group, will analyze people’s electric, natural gas, and phone bills for free, and give tips on how to reduce them.
* Alternative Transportation demos presented in celebration of National Plug-In Day. Demos will include a wide selection of all-electric autos, along with a collection of other forms of transportation that can be used to reduce our carbon footprint.
* Alternative Energy displays including solar panels, the Nicor Gas Energy Efficiency program, and other energy demonstrations.
* Fun-filled family and children activities and crafts.
* Bicycle rickshaw rides for attendees who want to experience the ultimate in alternative transportation.
* Delicious food and refreshments served by Evanston’s Hummingbird Kitchen.
* Bike donations. Do a good deed and bring old, unused bikes to the festival. Working Bikes, a nonprofit organization, will take the donation, refurbish it and get it to someone in need, either locally or around the world.
Highlighting this year’s festival is a keynote address, “What’s
Killing Our Trees: Evanston’s Solutions to a Global Problem,” by
Paul D’Agostino, Assistant Director of Public Works/Forestry, and Mark
Younger, City Arborist.
The festival’s “protecting the urban forest” theme complements the City’s ongoing campaign to preserve and protect its trees, said festival co-chair Rick Nelson. The City reports that more than 2,000 trees have died in recent years – just due to the invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetle. Officials are so concerned that they launched an “I Heart Evanston Trees Project” to raise money for new plantings, and actually painted doomed ash trees along Sheridan Road a bright blue—a stark reminder of the challenge of preserving the urban forest.
“Trees are an absolute necessity to the health of people and the planet, but problems such as disease, insects, climate change and logging are killing this vital resource at an alarming rate all over the world,” said Catherine Hurley, the City’s Sustainability Coordinator. “The Green Living Festival shows Evanston what we can do at a local level to preserve and protect our trees and fight this global problem.”
Sponsors of this year’s festival include The Archer Patterson Family Foundation, Davis Transportation, Evanston Community TV, Evanston RoundTable, Natural Awakenings, Office Depot, PACE Suburban Bus, Roberts Architecture & Construction, Whole Foods-Downtown Evanston, and WinSol Power Company.
The Evanston Ecology Center, built in 1974 by a group of local citizens, serves as a focal point for environmental education, sustainability, and volunteerism in the community. The EEA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the long-term success of the Evanston Ecology Center.
More information is available at www.evanstongreenfest.org or by calling the Ecology Center at 847-448-8256.
