The City of Evanston is celebrating 40 years of Earth Days this week with a sustainable light bulb campaign and a celebration for families.
The Evanston Porch Light Campaign begins today as a way to encourage residents to replace incandescent porch lights with compact fluorescent light bulbs. The city will distribute several thousand CFLs to residents who sign the ENERGY STAR Pledge, an Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy program through which residents pledge to save energy, said the city’s Sustainable Programs Coordinator Carolyn Collopy.
“It’s a visible way to show the community that you’ve taken that action,” Collopy said. “And it’s a great way to reduce energy use.”
CFLs use about 75 percent less energy than a standard incandescent bulb of equivalent light output, Collopy said. If used properly, they can last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, she said.
Collopy said Earth Day seemed like an appropriate time to launch the campaign.
“Earth Day is a good time to be thinking about things you can do to be greener and have a smaller impact on the environment,” she said. “It’s also spring, and that’s a time when people are going to spend more time on porches.”
Although the campaign launches today, members of the city’s Office of Sustainability will also have pledges and CFLs available at the city’s annual Earth Day/Arbor Day celebration, hosted Saturday afternoon at the Evanston Ecology Center, 2024 McCormick Blvd. Representatives of the city’s Forestry Division and Water and Sewer Division will also be at the celebration, said Ecology Center Coordinator Karen Taira.
“The goal of the entire event is mostly to celebrate the Earth and celebrate the plants and the animals,” Taira said. “It’s also an opportunity for people to hopefully get some information on how they can lighten their impact on the planet.”
This year, the event celebrates the 100th anniversary of the North Shore Channel, a drainage canal of the Chicago River. Event-goers can learn about the water testing process and receive free reusable water bottles from the Water and Sewer Division, Taira said.
“Protection of the water supply is something that every person can participate in,” said Water and Sewer Division Assistant Superintendent Lara Biggs. “Most people may not realize that even simple actions can really have a big impact on quality of rivers, streams and lakes.”
The celebration will also feature some annual activities, Taira said. A popular activity among children is a game called “Stump the Arbor,” in which children use tree guides to ask the municipal arborist questions.
“If they’re able to stump him, they get a prize,” she said. “It’s a funny game, but it also helps kids learn about trees. They accidentally learn about it, which is nice.”
Last year, the event drew about 200 participants, which Taira said she expects to happen again this year. While the event is aimed toward families, adults will be able to learn from the event as well, she said.
“We hope that everybody comes because we’re an environmental education center,” she said. “We hope they’re getting a little bit of education and an opportunity to explore outside in the arboretum and celebrate the home planet.
