Well, we finally have made it to spring! We are thinking about tulips, daffodils, and planting flowers. We are thinking about Earth Day; unfortunately, we will not be having our usual wonderful Northbrook Earth Day celebrations. So, tonight, in honor of Earth Month, I would like to thank the Village Board for all you have done to preserve the environment.
Thank you for working with Go Green Northbrook, as this green moment is a prime example. We appreciate the support you gave us with our tree initiative, publicly recognizing our work and allowing us to plant a tree next to the Village Hall. We are thrilled with the success of our Terracycling initiative, an innovative program of recycling items that are not otherwise recyclable; this would not have happened without the permission to place our bins inside, and now outside of, the Village Hall and at the Metra Station.
The National Wildlife Mayor’s Pledge is a commitment by a community to create habitat for the monarch butterfly and pollinators and to educate residents about how they can make a difference at home and in their community. We appreciate the commitment that you have made this year and in the past to this pledge. The milkweed plugs sponsored by the Village are supporting monarchs village-wide.
SolSmart is a national designation program recognizing cities, counties, and regional organizations that foster the development of mature local solar markets. Northbrook now has a silver SolSmart designation. This means that the Village has been working to improve the permitting of solar power and making it easier for residents and commercial buildings to add solar panels to their roofs. For those who cannot use their own solar panels, the Village has entered into the community solar program.
We thank the Village for trying to make Northbrook a more environmentally friendly place open for its residents to enjoy the outdoors. That would be true for the efforts to keep Green Acres open space, as much as possible, for residents to hike and enjoy the heritage trees, as well as making sure that whatever is built is environmentally sound. It is also true for the discussions of plans to make the downtown area one where people can enjoy walking from area to area and even feel safe biking to downtown from their homes in Northbrook.
Last, but actually the biggest initiative, is the sustainability study. This will have the strongest impact for years to come! The Village is working on all aspects of reducing the Village carbon footprint, reducing waste, naturalizing solutions to flooding, and educating residents to do the same. The current interest is evident in the hiring of a sustainability intern and in the regular green initiative articles in Village correspondence. We look forward to the recommendations from Pale Blue Dot and CAPT and the implementation of those recommendations.
In honor of the Earth and of Earth Days to come, we thank you for all you are doing.
gogreennorthbrook.org 