Chicago Community Climate Action Toolkit Profile: Forest Glen
-- This is a working project page. Below you will find information and tools related to the Chicago Community Climate Action Toolkit project. --
Chicago Community Climate Action Toolkit Profile: Forest Glen
THE GOALS:
- To inspire homeowners in Forest Glen to become active in improving their local environment
- To encourage storm water management and water conservation by providing homeowners with rain barrels and planting a demonstration garden with native plant species
- To educate the community about unconventional gardening methods and alternatives to pesticides THE STRATEGY:Use Field Museum Research, the City's Chicago Climate Action Plan (CCAP), and the Chicago Wilderness Climate Action Plan for Nature (CAPN), as roadmaps for community-based climate action. Learn more about the Toolkit Climate Action Approach in Forest Glen.
THE PLAYERS:Boy Scout Troop 626, Girl Scout Troop 20804, Sauganash Chamber of Commerce, Sauganash Community Association and the Field Museum’s Science Action Center.
THEIR STORY: The Scouts of Forest Glen have taken on the environmental effort in their neighborhood. With the help of their leaders and community partners, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have a number of projects underway in northwest Chicago that aim to encourage climate-friendly practices among the home-owning population of their region. The scouts recognize that the best way to encourage climate-friendly action in their neighborhood is to engage the homeowners in DIY options for being environmentally active. Projects include installing bat boxes as an alternative to pesticides, rain barrels for storm water management and water conservation, a demonstration garden of native plant species, and a straw bale garden for food production that is also a demonstration of an unconventional and organic edible gardening method. Through their engagements with the community, the Boy Scout and Girl Scouts of Forest Glen hope to educate homeowners on reducing the environmental footprint of their homes and lifestyles. The project also supports business owners, as the Sauganash Chamber of Commerce's mission is to support the growth, development, and quality of life of its community.
This project helps community members to:
- Learn about water conservation, pest control, and water reduction so that they might adopt more friendly behavior
- Lower their water consumption and use of pesticides
- Lower the Forest Glen community foot print TAKE ACTION: See what How-to Guides have been created by these partners. Here you will find links to more resources and step-by-step guides you can use in your own project! As the project progresses, more tools will be added.
See how the project is coming along (flickr)
About this project:The Chicago Community Climate Action Toolkit project is led by the Field Museum’s Science Action Center. The project provides community organizations from the Bronzeville, Pilsen, South Chicago, and Forest Glen neighborhoods with financial and technical support to create tools for engaging their residents in programs that address both climate change and neighborhood concerns.
