Minutes and Reports

Meeting Minutes
Of the Northeastern Illinois University Green Cycle Group

Green Cycle Group Meeting, Thurs Apr 28, 2011

Called to order 3:09pm. In Attendance: Mark Kenseth, President; Steve Lichtenbert, Vice President; Bonnie Fritz, Secretary; Paisly DiBianca; Kate Ekman; Michelle Kuehlhorn; Chris Ferra, Salina Wunderle.

March 31^st and April 14^th meeting notes were motioned for approval and acclimation was reached.

Mark reviewed some of the highlights of the events of the past school year.

We voted on officers for the ’11-’12 school year:

President – Steve Lichtenbert

Vice President – Michelle Kuehlhorn

Secretary – Bonnie Fritz

All position votes were unanimous.

Steve and Michelle plan to attend the next Officer Training being offered by SAO (Student Acitivities Office) so our club can use its funds next year.

Chris Sferra and Agnieszka Zawisza will continue as Green Fee Committee Representatives.

Chris advised that the next Green Fee Committee Meeting is Thursday, May 12^th in SU218. Please attend if you can. Solar panels are still being discussed for the B-Wing and we could bring up for discussion more bike racks, especially covered ones.

We still need someone for the position of Treasurer, as well as a new representative for ISEC (Illinois Student Environmental Coalition). Presently Kate updates the website but is willing to pass the torch.

Good Wishes were given to Mark for his journey to Portland State University and his PhD program

The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Sept 8^th. Please watch the web site www.neiu.edu/~gcgroup and our Facebook page for more information as the time gets closer.

Meeting adjourned at 3:47pm – motioned by Mark and 2^nd by Bonnie

Green Cycle Group Meeting, Thurs April 14, 2011

Called to order 3:08pm. In Attendance: Mark Kenseth, President; Bonnie Fritz, Secretary; Kate Ekman; Mani Valathur; Michelle Kuehlhoen; Steve Lichtenbert; Anne Wagner; Ellen Larrimore.

March 31^st meeting notes were tabled for approval at the April 28^th meeting.

Flyer, flyer, flyer – Please post flyers wherever you can: Lech Walesa Hall, Fine Arts Bldg, Theater, COBM, etc.

Earth Day

Money has been ok’d for Earth Week and Trees Event

There will be a treat table for before tree planting at 8:00am outside at the Commons

Mark reviewed how important it is to show volunteer information on resume such as GCG, tree planting, etc as well as internships and posts held in student clubs.

Elections are coming up and will be held on April 28^th, the last club meeting for Spring 2011 semester: definite openings–President & Treasurer (Graduations); possible openings- Vice President & Secretary –Steve and/or Bonnie may make a change. Will review needs on Green Fee Committee (voting member) and ISEC (with ISEC you can help brainstorm on bills in Springfield)

Monday April 18^th need volunteers for tabling and baking

Kate presented a very nice preview of her symposium contribution on her GreenHouse Gas audit of Northeastern Illinois University.

Next and last meeting for Spring 2011 is Thursday, April 28^th in B152

Meeting was motioned for adjournment by Bonnie and 2^nd by Steve at 3:52

Green Cycle Group Meeting, Thurs March 31, 2011

Called to order 3:07pm. In Attendance: Mark Kenseth, President; Bonnie Fritz, Secretary; Paisly DiBianca; Kate Ekman; Leo Mayol; Agnieszka Zawisza; Michelle Kuehlhoen.

February 24^4h and March 10^th meeting notes were motioned for approval and acclimation was reached.

Earth Day

Mark will pick up flyers. Info/bake sale table is reserved for Mon Apr 18^th. Sheet went around for tabling and bring baked goods. Mark will firm up tree planting with SAO-meet on Tues the 19^th in the Village Commons at 8:30a.m. He is also going to learn how to run the popcorn machine for our movies, etc in SU215. Our Earth Day Event will be in SU215-final decision on movie to be made, have a few ideas to choose from. Animal Rights will do their Earth Day events on Thur the 21^st in various rooms in Brommel Hall.

ISEC-sign petition for Mark or sign up on internet: Bicycle Parking Initiative. May go to Alderman Marge Laurino for sponsoring the Bike Initiative

Green Fee-Their last meeting 3-8. Next meeting 4-19. Suggest they get project manager so solar panels goes forward. GCG agreed to support Green Fee’s $20,000 request for green roof.

Open Discussion: facilities should shut off engines of grounds vehicles. Bicycles: will take photo outside of BBH on Apr 7^th. Will conduct informal tree meeting afterward. Kate, Jimmie and Nancy have not yetted walked grounds for tree placement but hope to do soon.

Kate presenting in Student Symposium on Fri Apr 16^th – Greenhouse Gas Inventory of NEIU. Farmer’s Market meeting at same time as GCG therefore Chris will go there and Kate will come to GCG

Meeting adjourned at 3:55pm – motioned by Mark and 2^nd by Paisly

Green Cycle Group Meeting, Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Called to order 3:05pm. In Attendance: Mark Kenseth, President; Steve Lichtenbert, Vice President; Tim Cosmas, Treasurer; Bonnie Fritz, Secretary; Paisly DiBianca; Linda Berlow; Jack Kroll; Kate Ekman; Salina Wunderle; Christopher Sferra; Leo Mayol; Elliott Anuta; Agnieszka Zawisza; Abhijit Banerjee, Faculty Advisor; Felicia Keelen, Student Union; Valerie Holmes, Aramark; Michael Bennett, Aramark.
January 27th meeting notes were motioned for approval by Mark K., 2nd by Paisly and acclamation was reached.
Ban the Foam buttons, stickers and an information sheet were handed out, as well as information on the ISEC rally for Clean Power Ordinance on Monday, Feb 14th. All attendees were invited to apply for the ISEC Leadership Team.
After motions and discussion there was a vote for new Green Fee Representatives, majority: Agnieska for position 1 vacated by Mark K. and Chris for position 2 vacated by Paisly. The next Green Fee meeting was slated for Feb 15th.
Kate motioned to accept her proposal to requisition more funding for trees to be planted in the spring to the Green Fee Committee; the motion was 2nd by Bonnie and acclamation was reached.
After some general discussion regarding Styrofoam use in the cafeteria, Felicia Keleen, Valerie Holmes and Michael Bennett updated information on its use in our cafeteria as well as its use at Loyola and the possibility of our clients bringing their own plates/cups. Compostable straws, used at Shedd Aquarium; going back to non-disposable dishes and silverware; but also that a 1/2 gal of water is used to clean each food tray was mentioned. We can peruse Aramark’s web site www.involvedevolving.com about their green initiatives.
Tabled discussions were Wild Things Conference, Film Previews for Earth Day; bottled water on campus, farmer’s market and light pollution.
Next Green Cycle Meeting is Thursday, February 24th in B152 from 3-4pm
There was a motion to adjourn at 4:00 by Bonnie and 2nd by Mark K.; acclamation was reached.

Green Cycle Group Meeting, Thurs Jan 27th, 2011

Called to order 3:05pm. In Attendance: Mark Kenseth, President; Steve Lichtenbert, Vice President; Tim Cosmas, Treasurer; Bonnie Fritz, Secretary; Rachel Costanza; Paisly DiBianca; Mani Valathur; Linda Berlow; Jack Kroll; Kate Ekman; Salina Wunderle; Christopher Sferra; Alexis Bellinger-Animal Rights Club; Farmer’s Market promotion group: Dr Laura Sanders, Laura Nichols, Julio Puentes and Pat Michel.

Mark thanked everyone who worked the Organization Fair. An invitation was given to the group for a new T-Shirt design. Alexis Bellinger from the Animal Rights Club invited the GCG to co-sponsor an Earth Day event-details need to be worked on by both groups, ie who to invite, will there be costs for speakers (Mercy for Animals may speak with a stipend), reserve Golden Eagles or SU214. Mark advised that our next meeting will be attended by Felicia Keelen, of the Student Union, to discuss Styrofoam use on campus. Hillel advised they would like to work on a tree planting in Spring but they could not attend so this issue was tabled for our next meeting. The Farmer’s Markets discussion by Dr Laura Sanders-Kate, Chris and Salina from GCG agreed to work on this project-details need to be discussed with the university ie public safety, Aramark, neighbors, parking etc. Green Fee-Chris may be another representative; their next meeting is Tuesday, Feb 15^th.

December 2^nd, 2010 meeting notes were approved, motioned by Mark, 2^nd by Bonnie and acclamation was reached. January 13th meeting notes were approved as amended with the acclamation for adjournment being added. This was presented by Linda, motioned by Mark and 2^nd by Bonnie; acclamation was reached.

Linda Berlow presented a petition regarding the North Park Village easement that many attendees signed. She then presented information on light pollution and asked the group for agreement to present this issue to the university. It was determined we need more information, such as costs and labor involved before doing so.

Next Green Cycle Meeting is Thursday, February 10^th in B152 from 3-4pm

There was a motion to adjourn at 4:02 by Bonnie and 2^nd by Kate; acclamation was reached.

Green Cycle Group Meeting, Thurs Jan 13th, 2011

Called to order 3:05pm. In Attendance: Mark Kenseth, President; Bonnie Fritz, Secretary; Abhijit Banerjee, Club Advisor;Rachel Costanza; Leo Mayol, Tim Cosmas, Steve Lichtenbert, Paisly DiBianca, David Salinas and Amanda Nieves.

Agenda reviewed, and motions made and voted on.

1) Steve Lichtenbert is the new Vice President as Radek Chmiel is student teaching in South Korea

- motion made by Bonnie, 2nd by Paisly, acclamation was reached.

2) Tim Cosmas is the Treasurer as Nick Brandt has graduated- motion by Mark, 2nd by Paisly, acclamation was reached.

3) Paisly DiBianca is now a representative for the Green Fee Committee as we have two positions open, one was outstanding and one opened as Nick Brandt has graduated - motion by Mark, 2nd by David, acclamation was reached. Everyone is invited to the open Green Fee Meetings, next one is Feb 8th.

4) As they previously have been in the evening, Amanda is hoping ISEC meetings will be at a better time. So she may be our ISEC representative. General discussion was held on ongoing topics such as use of foam, past postcard event, future ISEC conference in Springfield.

General discussion: GCG website to sign up for the listserv: http://www.neiu.edu/~gcgroup/

And you can also look for Green Cycle Group on Facebook.

Thanks to professor Abhijit Banerjee for presenting the solar power panel project: 7.5Kw, 39 panels on Building B, very visible, monitoring for real-time assessment, $50,000 - $25,000 possible grant = $25,000, money savings on energy bills + the market in energy certification, payback in 7-12 years. As a group we voted 7 yes / 2 no for the Green Fee Committee to spend up to $50,000 on the solar panel project. So Paisly and I will present that to the GFC February 8 meeting, unless there is more discussion on it.

Plans for future:

1) Plan a movie and more for Earth Day, April 22. Paisly is working on a list of movies. Maybe we should have a film festival. If you're curious about Earth Day, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day. It's a global event, across multiple countries, cultures, and religions. I think that speaks volumes. Perhaps connect with College of Cycling for event. Ask Christian to speak or ask for donations to the "tool box" at the Student Union Info Desk.

2) Look into light/motion sensors. We need to bring this up at the next Green Fee meeting.

3) Discuss a garden or rain garden.

4) Permeable pavers by the Science Building. To be brought up at the Green Fee meeting, sent David Ruben an email with 2 companies. Maybe we can have James Z. (retired GCG member) to come to the meeting and give a rough, rough estimate.

5) Bike racks. (We should get the bicycling group to work on this, but we can also bring it up at the Green Fee meeting.)

Next meeting: January 27, B-152, 3-4pm.

1) Start to plan Earth Day a bit more, so Steve, who has volunteered to be our in-house graphic artist, can "illustrate" a poster for us :)

2) Discuss Styrofoam issues (David?) and set up a meeting with someone who runs the cafeteria.

3) Maybe we can discuss an environmental issue/topic each meeting. Come to the meeting with something to discuss: like a class project, something you do at home to that helps the environment, something you want to know about...etc.

Remember to post the GCG business cards (mini-posters) up anywhere you can. Next business cards will list our website.

Meeting adjourned at 3:55 Motioned by Mark, 2nd by Paisly Acclamation was reached.

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Green Cycle Group Meeting, December 2, 2010, 3pm B152

In attendance: Mark Kenseth, President; Nick Brandt, Treasurer; Bonnie Fritz, Secretary; Steve Lichtenbert; Leo Mayol

The meeting was called to order at 3:05pm.

General discussion: The need for new club members to move into officer positions. Steve can contribute artwork when needed. Possibly have a discussion group next week. Encourage everyone to attend the next Green Fee Meeting, December 7^th as there is still discussion about green roof.

The first meeting for Spring 2011 semester should be January 13^th, 3:00pm in B152.

Motion to adjourn by Nick at 3:43pm, 2^nd by Mark; acclamation was reached.

Green Cycle Group Meeting, November 11, 2010, 3pm B152

2^nd half

The next Green Fee Meeting is Thursday, November 16th at 3:00pm. The GCG voted to back up our representative Mark to show positive support in matters of funds for more bike racks and tree planting in spring. He will also suggest permeable pavers from the west to the south doors of the Science Buildinge, and to expand lawns to more natural areas such as prairie grass. This was motioned by Kate and 2^nd by Bonnie; acclamation was reached. There was some discussion about a bike ramp at Lech Walesa Hall and that this was previously brought to the Green Fee Committee.

There was discussion that we meet with Allison Greer and Aramark to discuss pursuing more sustainable practices such as paper containers for “to go” items; they are used at DePaul by Aramark, and returning to putting napkins on tables. This was motioned for support by Kate, and 2^nd by Mark; acclamation was reached.

The next meeting will be held on Dec 2, 2010 in B152 at 3:00pm.

Motion to adjourn by Kate at 3:58pm, 2^nd by Mark; acclamation was reached.

Green Cycle Group Meeting, October 28, 2010, 3pm B152

Present: President/Treasurer Mark Kenseth; Vice President Radek Chmiel; Secretary Bonnie Fritz; Kate Ekman; Marisol Delgado; Damon Nichols, Amanda Nieves.

The meeting was called to order at 3:06 pm

The minutes of the Oct 7th, 2010 meeting were tabled until the Nov 11^th meeting because Bonnie forget to email and/or bring them.

The ISEC conference is Saturday, November 6^th at Columbia College, 33 E Congress. Kate will be presenting. Tickets are $15 prior and then $20 at the door. There will be food. Senator Heather Steans will be Keynote Speaker. The event showcases what other student groups are doing at their colleges.

The trip to Morton Arboretum is scheduled for Sunday, Oct 31^st at Noon. Meet at NEIU but check on Facebook for rain/weather cancellation by 11:00.

Kate advised there is $18 petty cash available; perhaps it can help someone attend a function.

There may be another training session for the students clubs; this subject was brought up at the recent Town Hall.

The Green Fee Committee hasn’t met yet; they are having problems with room scheduling. Mark will send an email to the listserve when he gets any information.

Future possible functions: tree planting, more bike racks, and clean-ups at parks/rivers. Small Waters in Harvard, Illinois has a “work day” once a month.

Need to try and recruit new members and officers for Spring 2011.

Bonnie will check on wreaths to see if GCG will go up.

Motion to adjourn by Radek at 3:55pm, 2^nd by Mark and acclamation was reached.

Green Cycle Group Meeting, October 7, 2010, 3pm B152

Present: President/Treasurer Mark Kenseth; Vice President Radek Chmiel; Secretary Bonnie Fritz; Kate Ekman; Steve Lichtenbert; Nick Brandt; Sandra.

The meeting was called to order at 3:05 pm

The minutes of the Sept 23, 2010 meeting were motioned for acceptance, with amendments re: corrected ISEC conference date (Nov 6) and information for Morton Arboretum (Oct 30), by Mark and 2^nd by Radek; acclimation was reached. Note: discussion at end of meeting determined that the Morton Arboretum trip may be changed to Sunday, October 31^st.

Steve and Sandra advised how they heard about the meeting. It was noted that students can sign up for the ListServe through our web site but you need to reply to the email asking for verification.

Mark attended ISEC film event at Columbia College on Wednesday, Oct 6^th, and shared some highlights.

As Mark is President, he nominated Nick Brandt for Treasurer for the rest of the semester. Kate 2^nd the nomination; those in attendance acclimated. Nick also agreed to be our 2^nd representative to the Green Fee Committee; Mark is the other.

Open discussion started with some goals and directions of the Green Cycle Group. Most of the discussion following was about the email memo received by the SAO (Student Activities Organization) that GCG did not comply with the training requirement, and therefore was in “inactive” status. Mark will make a plea as our officers were not finalized and our first meeting of the Fall 2010 semester was after the training session was offered. The meeting should have been held before Sept 23^rd, however Radek was met with challenges from the SAO in regard to booking a room. There were mixed comments regarding efficiency of OrgSync.

We will still table the Open House and any other tabling events. Pending a response from SAO to our reconsideration plea, if our booked rooms are cancelled, we may meet unofficially in an open room or the library. Mark will send an email via ListServe upon receiving any response. The next meeting day/time/room is TBA pending.

Motion to adjourn by Mark at 3:54pm, 2^nd by Radek and acclimation was reached.

Green Cycle Group Meeting, Sept 23, 2010, 3pm B152

Present: President/Treasurer Mark Kenseth; Vice President Radek Chmiel; Secretary Bonnie Fritz; Steve Lichtenbert; Damon Nichols; Nic Selander; Amanda Nieves; David Salinas; Marisol Delgado; Rijad Alibasic; Liridona Delisi; Jaimie O’Leary; Kate Ekman and guest, Lauren Knezevic, Representative of ISEC (Illinois Student Environmental Coalition).

The meeting was called to order at 3:04 pm

The minutes of the last meeting of Spring 2010 semester of 4-27-10 were motioned for acceptance by Kate, 2^nd by Mark and acclimation was reached.

Welcome: Everyone around the room introduced themselves, advised their major, how they heard of the meeting, what they did to help the environment over the summer etc.

Laura Knezevic from ISEC described the group, its purpose, some activities etc and gave some flyers about the group and upcoming events. Specially noted were the Environmental Film Festival at Columbia College on Wednesday, October 6^th, from 5:30 to 9:00 pm and the Annual Fall Conference, November 6^th, also at Columbia College. Please email her at Lknezevic@GreenStudents.org for more information.

Training Event: anyone is welcome to attend, but we must have one more officer. Date needs to be verified.

Voting: Attendees were asked to consider becoming Treasurer, Secretary, Calendar Keeper for OrgSync, Green Fee Representative (2), ISEC Representative (1 or more) for the new semester. As many new students were in attendance, there was an offer of guidance from current and previous officers and representatives.

Vote on Green Roof: President Kenseth presented the information previously gleaned from the feasibility study that was done Fall2009/Spring 2010. The study cost approximately $15,000 and Mark advised what the Green Fee Committee is and does, and that students have the majority of votes. Many students of the GCG were concerned about the cost vs small project/benefit of green roofs on the alcoves of the Science Bldg. A vote was held to determine what President Kenseth should present to the Green Fee Committee on the behalf of the Green Cycle Group. Of 13 people present the votes were: 1 in favor of the roofs, 6 not in favor of the roofs and 6 maybe’s. Mark will advise GCG when he is advised when the next Green Fee meeting will occur. Note: There was also some discussion about solar panels for the P.E. Complex and that the cost was approximately $300,000.

As we were running out of time, we skipped other items on the agenda to discuss a trip to Morton Arboretum. All 13 attendees were interested; a tentative date for Saturday, October 30^th was set*. The cost is $11 and could be offset by GCG funds. The open hours are from 9am to sunset; if we have 12 people we can get a tour guide; there are two sustainable buildings. Radek will work on paperwork for this.

General discussion:

*Two of the trees the GCG planted last SP10 semester are not doing well. Kate has discussed this with the provider and they may replace the trees next spring.

*All 13 attendees voted that more bike racks are needed and Mark will input to the Green Fee Committee our concern. All were invited to voice their concerns to the University (Mark Wilcockson, Vice President of Finance).

*Mark or Radek will ask if we can get more “development funds” to print more T-shirts for fund raising.

Motion to adjourn by Kate at 4:00pm, 2^nd by David and acclimation was reached.

Green Cycle Group minutes from 4-27-10 meeting

Called to order at 1:43

In attendance: President Ekman, Vice President Chmiel, Treasurer Kenseth, David Salinas, Leo Mayol, James Zaraza, Mark Ruckauf, Nick Brandt, Deyue Mao and Bonnie Fritz

Minutes from 4/6/10 were amended and voted for approval: Kate motioned and Mark 2^nd, acclimation was reached.

Elections were held for Fall 2010 semester: motion was made to accept nominations by David, James 2^nd and all were acclimated.

Early reservations for Fall semester meetings, Earth Day etc was discussed.

T-Shirts: The requisition is being prepared, currently the total is $161.40. We need to verify we are not being charged tax.

Tree Planting: The event was a success. There were about 20 volunteers of students, staff and faculty and the grounds staff were very happy to have us help. We were approved for $2500 and the actual cost was $2014 which left funds for some of the mulch and gator bags. There is hope for planting more trees and there is discussion with the Dean of College of Arts and Sciences in front of their office window area but there may be approval needed by administration. Raspberry bushes are being considered.

The Permaculture event for Earth Day went very well. There were approximately 50 people in attendance. President Ekman sent thank you emails to teachers who gave credit to students for attending. There was discussion of a group going to ?? with Dr Fuller and FMLA, up to ten people can go on a weekend. Going on a “no trace” camping weekend was also considered.

Saturday, May 8^th, 9:00am to Noon, is a Friends of the River Clean Up event at 23^rd & Ashland. Please contact David Salinas, by end of the week. It is accessibly via the Ashland bus. You can also sign up on-line with Friends of the River, possibly get a free t-shirt.

Green Fee Committee: Mark K, the feasibility study is available if anyone wants to read it. The brown roofs on the Science bldg alcoves is in discussion still. Perhaps 1 or 3 alcoves with the best and most accessible views or all 6. $50,000 would cover 3 alcoves including flashing, a crane and dumpsters. Accessiblity would likely be through the windows or from the higher floors of the Student Union. There has been discussion of viewing outside an open window with a cable anchoring the person from inside. Any green roof access would probably be only through a class. The discussion of a wildlife habitat is on hold.

The Green Cycle Group will be sharing an event with Sister Sue at a picnic Saturday, August 21, 2010, the Saturday before Fall semester starts. This is at Ronin Park on Lawrence at the river, accessible by the 81 bus. It is a community event and the GCG will be leading a nature walk. Sr Sue will be sending more information out as the day of the event approaches.

Motion to adjourn by President Ekman at 2:43pm and 2^nd by James, acclimation was reached.

Green Cycle Group Meeting Minutes 4/6/2010

Called to order at 1:46

In attendance: President Ekman, Vice-President Chmiel, Treasurer Kenseth, David Salinas, Leo Mayol, James Zaraza, Mark Ruckauf, Nathan Ziccarelli and Bonnie Fritz

Minutes from 3/9/10 were voted for approval: James motioned and Leo 2nd, acclimation was reached.

Minutes from 3/30/10 were voted for approval: Mark motioned and Bonnie 2nd, acclimation was

Green Fee Committee: Mark K-next meeting is Tuesday, April 13th in FA247 at 1:45. All are welcome. Topics will include more finalizing details on green roof, as well as cistern and wildlife.

ISEC: David S- the last meeting was missed due to illness but there is much information to share. The "No Foam" campaign - we will have postcards to share at our tabling on Wednesday, April 14th. The phone campaign has been changed to May - the date needs to be determined and will be sent out via listserv. Two styles of buttons for ISEC "No Foam"were presented. A new representative for Fall'10 will be needed. Attendance at two meetings per semester (usually downtown) are required and one or two events such as a trip to Springfield are desired. Please consider volunteering.

Clean up at Gompers Park is Saturday, April 10th - please reply by Thursday, April 8th to GreenCycleGroup@gmail.com if you will be there for sure. So far 6 for sure and a couple maybes. Meet at 8:45 at parking lot off of Pulaski and then group will go to Keeler parking lot (a little south and west of Pulaski/Foster).

T-shirts: design of "tree huggers" was presented by Kate and OK'd by all present except to have more leaves. Motion to spend up to $200 on shirts for regular members: Mark K motioned, David S 2nd, acclimation was reached. The shirts will be available for purchase to everyone as soon as the design is finalized.

New award for Green Cycle Group-Dr. Banerjee nominated the group and "we" are a finalist for the "Blue and Gold" award for the past year's efforts. This award has a value of $300 and there will be a dinner on April 22nd to be attended by Kate and two other representatives.

Tabling for the 14th should be covered well. We will have volunteer sign up for tree planting, postcards for ISEC's No Foam campaign and tree poster for more signatures.

Northside Learning Center - Tues April 13th in Golden Eagles from

12:30-1:45 - this is an appreciation event for their recycling efforts.

There will be food.

Tree Planting: Tuesday, April 20th at 8:00am or Thursday, April 22nd rain date, meet at southeast corner of Fine Arts building. Will have the map on the 14th for the tabling. Many spots will be covered such as between Fine Arts and library, Lech Walesa Hall and COBM building, and St Louis side of Science Building. Kate meeting with Conner for types of trees we would like to suggest. Ideas for spreading the word include NVision, window painting, talking to classes and the "Independent".

Mark K will send article on study of vegetation can mean less violence-perhaps the "Independent" will take more interest.

Earth Day presentation: Judy and Jack, Golden Eagles, 1:40, Permaculture with focus on gardening. No food as we are slipping in between two other events. We have at least 9 club members attending - Bring a friend. More advertising discussed since we would like to have a large audience since we have Golden Eagles. Kate working on flyer; we can send emails to listserves, talk to classes, post flyers at Whole Foods or other public establishments, notify garden clubs, North Park Nature Center and park district. Notify the "Independent", neighborhood newspapers and NEIU's Public Relations.

Officers are needed for Fall '10 semester: Current volunteers are:

Mark Kenseth for President, Radek Chmiel for Vice-President, Bonnie Fritz for Secretary. Considerations are needed for Treasurer, ISEC Illinois Student Environmental Coalition and Green Fee Representative.

Anyone interested in any post is welcome to voice consideration.

Frequency, time and/or day of meetings is open to discussion especially in view of activity hour changing to 3:00pm.

Next meeting will be Tuesday, April 27th at 1:40 in FA218.

Motion to adjourn by Kate at 2:37pm and 2nd by David, acclimation was reached.

Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Fritz

Green Cycle Group Meeting Minutes 3/30/2010

Called to order and presided over by Mark Kenseth at 1:46 pm

In Attendance: Treasurer Mark Kenseth, Deyue Mao, Leo Mayol, Nick Brandt, James Zaraza and Bonnie Fritz

Minutes from last meeting were tabled. (When meeting started we only had 4 members present)

Leo gave information on T-Shirts:

Cafe Press $19 per shirt - no minimum, American made, discount as quantity ordered goes up. Organic cotton version available, cost is $26 per shirt.

Propaganda $17.80 plus $50 one-time 2 color charge (more colors $25 each) for 12 shirts, after first order then each shirt $17.80. 24 shirts $12.15 plus $50 for 2 colors.

Maybe we should order soon - in time for tabling and/or tree planting - need to spend money before end of semester

James gave information on tree planting:

He walked grounds with maintenance and brought a map for us to see the spots where the planting can take place, mostly by Science building and Fine Arts building. The next Green Fee committee meeting should finalize details on when and where volunteers should be on April 20th. Since there will be 3 Tree Keepers perhaps we can make 3 groups.

The next Green Fee Committee meeting is Tuesday, April 13th at 1:45, room to be announced later.

Other Invitations/Reminders:

The event to recognize Northside Learning Center's recycling group is also Tuesday, April 13th from 12:30-1:45 in Golden Eagles. Yes, there will be food and drink :)

Tabling - volunteers still needed for the tabling on Wednesday, April 14th to recruit tree planting volunteers!

Clean-up at 3800 Rockwell, Bike park behind DeVry by boat launch, Saturday, April 3, drop in any time from 9-5!

Clean-up at Gompers Park, Saturday, April 10th! 9am-12pm!

Block Party? may be limited in invites, permits needed for over 50 people

Got through information we had, perhaps another meeting before planting - can't do on 4-13 (Green Fee), maybe on the 6th, maybe on the 15th.

Meeting adjourned at 2:13, motioned by James and 2nd'd by Nick; Acclimation.

Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Fritz

Green Cycle Group Meeting Minutes 3/9/2010

In attendance: President Kate Ekman, V.P. Radek Chmiel, Treasurer Mark Kenseth, Leo Mayol, Matt Kauth, James Zaraza, Bonnie Fritz, Mark Ruckauf

Called to order at 1:40

February 23^rd minutes approved by acclimation.

GFC report (Mark Kenseth) last meeting- small room- need to figure out what to do with money; Green Roof ideas: Dress up alcoves Science Building, Brown roof- soil left to see what grows, Plastic sedum system trays hard to move/may crack and are hard on roots, Next meeting 3/16

ISEC report (David Salinas absent) skipped

EVENT: Gomper’s Park Cleanup Day 4/10, Motion to approve $30 for breakfast.by President Ekman, 2^nd James Zaraza, Acclimation.

ALTERNATE CLEANUP OPPORTUNITIES (Non-club sponsored)- 4/3 The Garden 4300 N Rockwell bike jumps and river walk; 4/17 Eugene Field Park, James is on the Advisory Board.

EVENT: Tree Planting 4/20 logistics, Write press release, check with Veronica and Cecily. Re: $, Everyone is welcome; must recruit volunteers

EVENT: Earth Day Speakers 4/22 Golden Eagles room 1:40 (Jack and Judy from Small Waters) will talk about permaculture

EVENT: Northside Learning Appreciation Day tentatively set for 4/13 12:30-1:45, details to come

T-Shirts, Leo will look into options

Spring Break: Kate’s off to Belize, A group of students are going to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky

Next GCG meeting 3/30 at 1:40 in FA218

Motion to adjourn 2:28 pm by James Zaraza, 2nd by Leo Mayol, Acclimation

Respectfully submitted, Radek Chmiel, Kate Ekman, Bonnie Fritz

Green Cycle Group Meeting Minutes 2/23/2010

In attendance: President Kate Ekman, Vice President Radek Chmiel, Treasurer Mark Kenseth, James Zaraza, Sue Spaweski, Nick Brandt, David Salinas, Leo Mayol, Deyue Mao, Matt Kauth

Call to order: 1:40

Approval of Minutes

Motion Mark Kenseth, Seconded James Zaraza, Acclimation

GFC Report

Biodiesel for Maintenance vehicles (approved)
Trees
Green Roof (3/4) 12- 4 questions taken

Approved $ for program still in the air

Solar for vehicles

3/16 next GFC meeting

ISEC- 2 opportunities

d. Meeting with Sen. Burris 2/26 @ 3:00 P.M. Dave Salinas is attending

e. Conference in Springfield 3/10; Tour, meeting w/ reps, Interested persons should contact Kate

Trees- locations discussed

. Trees planted sometime the week of Earth day

a. Publication

b. March- Logistics for Trees- walk with Connor

c. Tabling- Tues. or Wed. & Bake Sale

d. Other P.R. ideas- Earth Day

e. Vote to spend $100 on trees- Motion Mark Kenseth, Seconded Nick Brandt, Acclimation

Earth Day

. Vote to spend $100 for Small Waters Presentation for Earth Week- Motion Dave Salinas, Seconded Leo Mayol, Acclimation

a. Cleanup day 4/10 Gompers Park

6. Sister Sue

a. Wants to promote a sense of community

b. Located near Foster/ Kedzie; River Park/ Charbroil restaurant

c. Use green thinking to promote a sense of community

d. Looking for locations for function

e. GCG involvement possibilities- GCG PICNIC, guided tour of river path at River Park, Kids- games- leaf identification, recycled notebooks, Teens- making t-shirts

h. Sister Sue’s e-mail-> spaweski@SPSMW.org

web-à sistersofprovidence.org

7. Geography Social Club

2/28 next meeting 1:00 P.M.- 42 N. Latitude (Lincoln and Sunnyside

Next Meeting 3/9 - Think of t-shirt ideas to promote club in general

Meeting adjourned 2:40 – Motioned by Kate, Seconded by David, Acclimation

Recorded by Matt Kauth, Transcribed by Radek Chmiel

Green Cycle Group Minutes of 2/9/10

In attendance: Pres Kate Ekman, Vice Pres Radek Chmiel, Treas Mark Kenseth, David Salinas, Deyue Mao, James Zaraza, Leo Mayol, Bonnie Fritz

Called to order at 1:40

January 26^th minutes approved: David motioned, Mark 2^nd, all affirmed

Green Fee Report (Mark Kenseth): Green roof being rethought, B Building not suitable. Science Bldg considered, possibly a platform with planting boxes may be a better way to go. Facilities voiced concern over time needed for maintaining. Attendance at the next meeting, Tues the 16^th will be good to show support. GCG concern was brought up about putting a $1500 solar panel on already energy efficient electric car. A vote is coming up Tuesday. Some GCGers agree money spent on a solar pump for pond for National Wildlife Habitat would be better use. We should see an Energy Audit Update in March.

ISEC Report (David Salinas): “No Foam Chicago” campaign, eliminate foam cups from campus under development. Possible “Foam free date” @ NEIU (a day without using foam products) was met with mixed reaction. Talked about alternative ideas: hand out reusable mugs, try to get donations from thrift stores. Possible ISEC river clean up should focus on Styrofoam.

Tree Proposal: Organization Fair resulted in many visits to table. Will make presentation and bring signed poster from Org Fair to plant 20 trees to the Green Fee Committee on Tues the 16^th. Native varieties preferred. Trees that are tall enough could also protect roofs from UV rays. GCG members in attendance agreed to ask for 20 trees instead of 10.

GMO’s: good idea for movie nite, Can’t get “Harvest of Fear” from PBS online. David will check with WTTW to see if they have a copy. Any other movie ideas are requested!

Cleanup Day: North Park Nature Village – has more volunteers than they know what to do with. Probably better to go to Gompers Park 3/13, 4/10 or 5/8. Most members felt 4/10 was best. Unless we can work with North Branch Restoration in Sauganash, may encounter protestors who are fearful clearing is for condos. James will check on next Sauganah date.

Earth Day – consider movie or speaker(s), need ideas. Run/walk with David at Humboldt Park, Earth Day 5K, Sat 4/24, 8:00am, $30. Perhaps a group from GCG can run/walk and be sponsored by GCG. David will verify where proceeds are going. Kate will talk with Small Waters for speaking engagement. Other ideas are requested!

Due to SAO mistake in accounting we have $160 in regular acct but $300 in enrichment. Unfortunately we have to spend the $300 before semester is over. Possibility for money: TSHIRTS - - Send ideas!!

James is looking into possible bulletin board space.

Mark reminded us about Paisly’s email about bike paths and maps, a class project for her which we will all benefit from!

Next meeting, February 23^rd @ 1:40 in FA218.

Meeting adjourned at 2:35 – motioned by Kate, 2^nd by David

Respectfully Submitted, Bonnie Fritz

Green Cycle Group Minutes 1/26/10

In attendance: President Kate Ekman, Vice-President Radek Chmiel, Treasurer Mark Kenseth, David Salinas, Nick Brandt, Deyue Mao, Matt Kauth, James Zaraza, Neal Conroy, Mark Ruckauf, Leo Mayol

Call to order: 1:40

Welcome new Treasurer Mark Kenseth

GCG is still in need of a new Secretary. Volunteers?!

Green Fee Committee Report, Mark Kenseth and Nick Brandt:

Green Roof Workshop 2/4 from 12-4, location TBA – all invited or email comments/questions to GCG reps n-brandt@Neiu.edu or m-kenseth@neiu.edu so they can voice the GCG opinion at the workshop.

Solar Panel is under discussion for the Club Car

Recycling – clear bags are under discussion which should help Allied Waste do a better job of sorting our recyclables at the facility.

Next GFC meeting is February 16^th @1:40, location TBA

Illinois Student Environmental Coalition Report, David Salinas:

Initiatives under discussion:

-Banning Styrofoam in Chicago

Action: cleanup planned for around Earth Day – details to come

-Promoting bicycle usage on campus

-Postcard drive extended to 3/5

-3/9 interested students go to Springfield for a legislative day. Anyone interested email Dave Salinas stlouis97@yahoo.com.

-Next Steering Committee meeting 4/2

-We will need a new rep at the end of the semester, think about it!

Urban Habitat Chicago – Malcolm Wells event, Mark Kenseth:

Mark attended this event about Malcolm Wells, one of the founders of “green architecture” who recently passed away.

He will forward information to the listserv. Check it out.

Earth Day 2010 Planning:

TREES – Lets get some trees planted on campus! Goal is ten trees. A proposal will be written to go to the Green Fee Committee for funding.

North Side Learning Center Appreciation party is being coordinated by David Rubin in Facilities Management. Radek will liaison to see how GCG can help.

Genetically Modified Food video event – we will get details to vote on expending these funds at the next meeting.

Other semester events:

A cleanup day… James and Neal will be contacting several possibilities for nearby cleanups.

Think about what else we could do this semester.

We’ll likely have a party at the end of the semester with food at someone’s house.

Talked briefly about bikes… mapping routes to school and/or lobbying to have more paths created near campus.

Next Meeting is February 9^th @ 1:40 in FA218.
Hope to see you there!!

Ended: 2:40

Submitted by Kate Ekman

Green Cycle Group Minutes 11/19/09

In attendance: David Salinas, Nick Brandt, Bonnie Fritz, Radek Chmiel, Kate Ekman, Whitney Behr, Dr. Banerjee, Paisly DiBianca, Mark Amponin.

Call to order: 1:47

We made $85 on our Bake Sale! Thanks to everyone who participated!

ISEC postcard drive:
The majority of the cards we have are signed and ready to go to the capital! We will be continuing to get people to sign them at upcoming events.

We passed around the ACUPCC letter and signed it. Anyone who wasn't present at the meeting is encouraged to contact Kate about signing it, too.

We discussed next term's meetings. It looks like they will be on either Tuesdays or Thursdays during activity hour.

We will be in need of a new Treasurer and Secretary for the Spring Term. Anyone willing and able to fill these positions should contact Kate.

Upcoming events:
Monday Afternoon (1:40-2:40) SU 219: Art and Clean Water Discussion
Monday Evening (6-7) CBM 111: LEED presentation
Tuesday Afternoon (1:40-2:40) SCI 202 Renewable Energy in Iceland Discussion

Upcoming GCG events:
Dec. 3 (1:40-2:40) SU 215 Exploring Environmentalism Open Dialogue
Dec. 18th at Kate's house! End of semester party. (more details later)

That's all, folks! Next Meeting is the Dec. 3 informal discussion.
Hope to see you there!!

Submitted by Whitney Behr

----------------------------------------

Green Cycle Group Minutes 11/05/09

Called to order: 1:40
In Attendance: Paisly Dibianca, Nick Brandt, James Zaraza, Linda Berlow, Paul Lempke, Max Goldmeier, Radek Chmiel, Neal Conroy, Ellen Larrimore, David Salinas, Whitney Behr, Kate Ekman.

Green Fee Committee Update:
The committee is still activelly working on trying to get a green roof on the B building. They are entering the feasibility study stage of the process.
Solar projects are being put aside until the energy audit is complete.
They have a new bulletin board near the auditorium box office.

ELPC guest speaker: Katy Hintzen
Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act
This legislation is currently gridlocked in the senate. The ELPC is hoping to get momentum behind it to get it passed before the international climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
the ELPC is looking for student support through a post card campaign.

Info Tables/Bake Sale
We still need a few volunteers for these events. Contact Kate if you haven't already signed up.

Gift Guides
There was brainstorming about putting together some kind of eco-friendly holiday gift guide to distribute this month.

C3 weatherization event
11/21/09 10:30am to 12:30 pm
We need 4 volunteers to help out with this event.
Contact Kate if you're interested.

At our 11/19 meeting, we're still hoping to get the Sodexo manager to come speak with us about making the cafeteria more sustainable.

ACUPCC letter
Kate emailed the listserv with a draft of our letter. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to reply with comments.

End: 2:40

Next meeting 11/19/09 1:40 PM B-152

Submitted by Whitney Behr

------------------------------------------

Green Cycle Group Minutes 10/01/09

Call to order: 1:49pm

In attendence: Kate Ekman, Whitney Behr, Radek Chmiel, James Zaraza, David Salinas, Alex, Cichon, Nick Brandt, Hyeyoung Kim, Bonnie Fritz, Neal Conroy, Robert Drapeau

Last meeting's minutes were approved
Kate Motioned
Bonnie Seconded

Green Architecture Tour:
7 people plan to attend
Hydroponic Indoor Growing seminar at the Chicago Center for Green Technology afterwards (It's free!)

Green Week Preparations:
The schedule is set for next week. GCG is sponsoring Thursday's events. Story of Stuff screening and a bicycle workshop. Full Schedule here: http://www.neiu.edu/~deptsao/greenweek.htm
Window painting promotion now available for your viewing pleasure.

ISEC Conference:
At Loyola on Oct. 4
Kate will be presenting information on how we got our Green Fee passed and how it's doing. All are encouraged to attend. Apparently, the food is delicious.

350 Event at Columbia College:
Oct. 24
Kate will send information to the listserv regarding the event. Sounds neat.

Visiting classes:
David is coordinating this effort.
Whitney will send a draft of a script for talking to classes to the listserv for review.

SNACKS:
Approved to use a total of $100 for snacks at meetings. Snacks include pop, apples and caramel dip, pita chips and hummus and other delicious things TBD.

Next meeting: Oct. 22nd

Ajourned: 2:37

Submitted by Whitney Behr

---------------------------------------------------------

Green Cycle Group Minutes 09/10/09

In attendance: President Ekman, Vice-President Chmiel, Treasurer Zaraza, Advisor Banerjee, David Salinas, Mistydawn Moore, Nick Brandt, Jack Kroll, Bob Kastigar, Neal Conroy, Ashley McDonald, Bonnie Fritz, Ellen Larrimore, Paisly DiBianca

Introductions
GFC report:

Green Roof is still being discussed in Committee. Progress is being made. No other major projects are being discussed.
Treasurer’s Report:

We have $618.64 in our account

PLANS FOR THE SEMESTER:
Student org. fair taking place 9/16 and 9/17

Signup sheet was circulated. We will be able to hold the table both days!
Discussion of Info tables and Bake sales.

We should have at least one a month this semester. Kate will look for dates.
Green Week 10/5-10/9

Waiting on confirmation from BikeWinter.org on presentation during Activity Hour on 10/8

Also would like to show thestoryofstuff.com 10/8 1:30-3:00
Green Arch. Tour- sometime in Oct.

Radek will choose which date and we will see who all wants to go before voting on how much to spend. Tickets are $15.00 each.
ACUPCC

A letter with a link to an article which Ellen drafted will be sent to the listserv for comment.

Once the comments have come in, the letter will be sent to President Hahs.
Waste Reduction

Jack's looking for ideas to reduce waste (composting, Sodexo) – ideas should be sent to j-kroll1@neiu.edu.

End of Semester Party

Just something to keep in mind.

Open Discussion:

Illinois Student Environmental Coalition: we need to send someone to the Steering Committee. Kate will go for now.

Carpooling: Mistydawn is interested in getting more active carpooling participation at NEIU.

Friends of the Chicago River: Neal has been involved with volunteering for him. Several members of the club will be volunteering at the Flatwater Classic.

NEXT MEETING: September 24th. 1:40. B-152

Respectfully Submitted,
Radek Chmiel and Kate Ekman

Green Cycle Minutes3/17/09

In Attendence: Georgia Yelton, Kate Ekman, Whitney Behr, James Zaraza, Cliff Sharpe, Erica Subkowski, Abhijit Banerjee

Old Business:

Neighborhood Science:
Whitney will send email about our intended projects and to commit to the festival.

Gompers Park Cleanup:
Georgia will verify the information on this and get back to us.

EARTH DAY: April 21st and 22nd, SU 214
We are getting great responses from other student groups for Earth Day events. We still need many of these groups to verify their interest so we can complete the schedule.
Ken Dunn will be speaking in SU 214 from 2-3.
We have 4 info tables reserved on the 21st in the Village Square.

New Business:
Bike Drive- Jack will be in charge of this.

April Bake Sales: Georgia will be emailing possible dates to the group.

NEXT MEETING: April 7th. 1:40. B-158

Respectfully Submitted,
Whitney Behr
GCG Secretary

Green Cycle Minutes3/10/09

In attendence: Paisly DiBianca, Ellen Larrimore, Nikki Marella, Bob Kastigar, Radek Chmiel, Jack Kroll, Whitney Behr, Georgia Yelton

Call to order 1:45 PM

Old Business:
Neighborhood Science Event Apr. 18, 9-3, NEIU Commons
GCG will be putting together tables to participate in this event. Ideas: Notebook making table, recycling relay race for kids, Recycling FAQs for adults.

Gompers Park Cleanup Event, also 4/18
Georgia will be sending out a signup sheet for this event over email.

Replacements for website manager: Kate has had positive responses on this. Don't worry, Bob! :-)

EARTH DAY: Apr. 21st and 22nd
Still working out which rooms we'll get for this event.
Including, so far:
Notebook making workshop
Bicycle Tour workshop
Eating locally table
Drumming?
Recycling FAQ table
Indian Student Association Table
Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance Table

Still interested in more tables/workshop ideas!

New Business:

UPCOMING TABLES!
Monday, March 16, 9-3 in Villiage Square BAKE SALE.
In need of baked goods and volunteers for table. Georgia will be emailing sign up list.
Wednesday, March 18, 9-3 in Village Square, INFO TABLE
Georgia will be emailing sign up list. Whitney will make a recycling FAQ presentation board. This info table will also have an Earth Hour petition!

Summer club retreat:
We're looking at waiting on this until the weather improves, perhaps after the semester ends.

End of Semester Potluck Party:
Ellen Volunteered to host. Date TBA.

NEXT MEETING: Next Tuesday, March 17th. Same bat time, same bat channel (B-158, 1:40).

Respectfully Submitted,

Whitney Behr
GCG Secretary

Green Cycle Minutes 11/18/08

Call to order: 1:40

Old business:

Nathan: Conference? He’s looking at another opportunity in April. More news on that later.

Recruiting: Rihani and Slate in BIO dept. are willing to have us talk in their classes next semester.

Smart Home Exibit: GCG will subsidise 10 dollars and lunch for attendees. That leaves 13 dollar fee for ticket.

Museum passes: CPL passes can get 4 people in for free.

Meet in main lobby of Science and Industry at noon. There will be an email with more details. So far 5 people have RSVPed

End of semester Potluck: RSVP to Nathan as soon as possible.

Clean Car Act Rally: Georgia attended.

We’ve sold half of our cereal box notebooks! We should schedule more notebook making parties next semester. SAVE YOUR CEREAL BOXES, etc!

THANKS to those who helped for the bake sale! $127.20

Green fee committee rep. Kristy can’t do it anymore, so we need a new representative!

Nominated Ellen L., She accepted.

We need to make it clear how we elect representative to the committee and lay out specifically what these representatives do.

We’re going to revisit our constitution and mission statement next semester.

Lights out campaign:

Howenstein wants to get some decals on the lightswitches. He designed them and will have them made as long as the GCG endorses them.

We voted to endorse the decal lights out program.

But we have to get the word out in many other ways.

Faculty, Students, Facilities Mgmt, etc.

Send emails to the heads of department

President’s climate commitment:

Georgia, Ellen, & Dr. Banejee wrote an email to President Hahs proposing that she sign it. They are also going to draft a letter to her, too, to follow up.

Dec. 4 informal meeting to draft the letter.

Do we have a letterhead? We should make one.

New Business:

Nathan signed us up for:

The Wreath Project

SAO has supplies.

Window Painting-We have to have a drawing by 4:30 tomorrow and painting is next Tuesday and Wednesday (Diana Medina)

Event with Animal Rights club: Vegan food event

Raising awareness about the sustainability of eating less meat.

Might be able to have it in the Student Union, Kate is working with Sodexho and the Balanced Kitchen to see if they’d be willing to work together. If not, we can do it in any other University building.

Anthropos club is interested in participating in this event, too.

Have to have a proposal ready before the Dec. 9 SGA finance meeting so we can get them to pay for it.

Could show a fun movie. Ellen will look into getting a green themed festival movie

Games? Massages? Open to more ideas.

Dec. 4 9am Prairie burn!!!

Ellen L. went to a meeting last night on the Chicago Climate Action plan.

The city has some aggressive goals to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.

All buildings need to be 15% more energy efficient

Expanding use of renewable energy and the CTA.

70% Greenhouse gas emissions are from buildings.

21% from transportantion (wow!)

www.chicagoclimateaction.org

Earth Day: We should start planning this event as soon as possible as to avoid the end of semester rush!

CMAP next Tuesday in Golden Eagles.

Finished: 2:30

Next meeting: Dec. 4

This is informal for the purposes of drafting a letter to the president of the university and preliminary Earth Day planning

1:40 in B-158

Respectfully Submitted,
Whitney Behr, Secretary!

Minutes October 16th, 2008 - Call to order 1:40

In Attendance:
Jack Kroll, Kate Ekman, Georgia Yelton, Whitney Behr, Bob Kastigar, Ellen Larrimore, Radek Chmiel, Nathan Ziccarelli

Old business:

·        Going to a conference? Nate will discuss this with Sharron Evans. There’s a sustainable construction conference coming up in Wisconsin soon (end of November). We might not have time to get to that one.
       We’re open to ideas!

·        Recruitment in related classes? VP is responsible for recruitment.
       We could have separate meeting for recruiting sometime.
       Send teachers in related departments emails to ask if we can have a few minutes for a presentation and set up a schedule for members to do this.

·        LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building tour- Chicago center for green technology. Nate is in touch with the necessary people for this. We will find out how much interest there is in the group for an event of this nature.

·        Potluck party! End of the semester
       Saturday Dec. 13, 2008 at Nate’s house
       Interactive Potluck dinner party

·        Banner:
       Jack found out that Rugen can make us a new paper banner by the middle of next week. Although this isn’t as durable as the other banner options, it is free, and therefore the superior option!

·        ELPC (Environmental Law and Policy Center)
       We are encouraging members to volunteer (even as individuals) to help them out. Nate sent the info out through the listserv. (FREE FOOD! FREE SHIRT!)

·        ISEC (Illinois Student Environmental Coalition) conference on Oct. 25, 2008 at Loyola University 10AM-3PM
       FREE FOOD
       Student Sustainability
       RSVP this week
       Those interested should email Kate for Details

·        Cereal Box notebooks
       Kate’s waiting to hear back from the ESCI dept. about using their binding machine
       Using manila folders, old thin cardboard, cereal boxes.
       Possibly putting some GCG labels on them.
       Concern about reusing pages with people’s names and personal info on them.
       Notebook making party: Next Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008. 1:40 in the lower level of the Library. Everyone is invited to attend!

New Business:
    * Info Table: Oct. 28th 10-3. Volunteers Schedule:

10am Jack

11amVOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

12pm Radek, Kate

1pm Ellen, [Whitney (1:40-2:50)]

2pm Georgia

3pm VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

    * Green fee committee representatives from the GCG: Georgia and Kristy Dressman.
          o Perhaps the selection of these representatives should be more official. Look into doing this during elections.
    * Putting up flyers for the lights out campaign. The following areas are taken care of. Volunteers welcome for any unmentioned areas!
          o 2nd and 3rd floor of SCI building
          o Library
          o Fine Arts building 1st floor
          o B wing
          o Classroom Building
    * Ellen suggested we write a letter to the president of the university to ask for her leadership on Environmental issues on campus.
          o Follow it up with a meeting with her.
    * Town Hall meeting tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 17
          o We should have representation at it.
          o Have questions prepared

Done at 2:40

Respectfully Submitted,
Whitney Behr, Secretary!

October 2, 2008 at 1:40 PM
In attendance: Jack Kroll, Kate Ekman, Georgia Yelton, Nathan Ziccarelli, Whitney Behr, Bob Kastigar, James Zaraza, Sylvia Sztark, JJ Mulliken, Shari McLead, Jimmy Hodum

Ye Olde Business:

Nathan Suggested we hold meetings in a private room instead of the cafeteria. He will look into reserving SU 214 or some similar room for our future meetings.
-We revisited the issue of holding meetings at varying days and times. We decided to keep meetings the way they are based on most peoples' schedules. All members that can't make it to regular meetings are welcome to contribute their ideas via email.

GCG Banner: JJ looked into prices and discovered that a large vinyl banner is likely to cost around $200. She will check with the SAO for other suggestions.

CTA Machine:
Kate Checked into it. Talked to Paul Harris. He said the issue has been raised before and there are a lot of logistical issues making it difficult. They will keep trying.

Lights Out Campaign:
We encourage members to turn out lights in empty classrooms around campus. It's an effort to get students involved and thinking about our energy usage. Flyers are posted on the website for anyone who wishes to distribute them.

Upcoming events:
Green City Farmers market. This saturday, Oct. 4. Meet at NEIU commons at 9 am to bike down with Georgia!

ELPC Volunteer trip:
We couldn't coordinate a date yet, but Georgia will send an email with potential dates and everyone can see which ones they can do.

ISEC conference: Kate, Georgia, and maybe Jeremy will discuss the passing of our green fee in an effort to help other schools do the same.

Table events:
Next Bake Sale: Monday, Nov. 10th, 10am-3pm
Info Tables: Tuesday, Oct. 28th 10-3
Thursday, Nov. 13th 10-3
Cereal Box Notebooks
-We're going to try to get this started. Members: Save thin cardboard and paper that's only used on one side.

NEW BUSINESS:
Things discovered at officer training:
-we get one free 4X5 ad in the independent a year.
-Members of Student organizations are entitled to go to a conference with all expenses paid per year. Nathan will look further into it. Suggestions for conferences are welcome!

We should recruit in related classes (i.e. G&ES, BIO, ESCI courses).

LEED building tour trip: Would be fun. Suggestions for specific buildings are welcome.

End of Semester Potluck at Nathan's house: Sometime in Dec? More details later.

At the next meeting: OCTOBER 16
We will revisit these and other topics. Still looking for ideas for green fee!

September 18th, 2008 at 1:40 -2:40 PM (Room SU 215)

In attendance: Jack Kroll, Barbara Gillies, Whitney Behr, Bob Kastigar, Kate Ekman, Georgia Yelton, Nathan Ziccarelli, Lazar Ihz, JJ Mulliken, Frank Nieto, and Shari Mclead, with a special visits from Gregg Christie from the Independent and Christina Frum from the ISEC and Celia Christensen from the ELPC!

Old Business:

Vice President: Kate Moved to elect Nathan Ziccarelli, Georgia Seconded. Welcome aboard!

Georgia acquired a locker for the GCG and asked to be reimbursed the $15 fee. She will return the $10 security deposit back into the GCG treasury at the end of the semester.

Meetings will from now on be held the first and third thursday of every month at the raised portion of the cafeteria during activity hour (unless otherwise noted).

Banner: JJ will look into prices for 8 ft. long cloth or vinyl GCG banner with the club logo and website on it. We tabled discussion of prices until we have a ballpark figure to base it on.

Themes/goals for this year: Sheri suggested we look into getting a CTA machine on campus for commuters' convenience. Kate said she'd talk to the SGA about it.

Also, Georgia wants to start some 'reducing our carbon footprint' initiatives. Along these lines, we discussed our campaign to get people to turn the lights off in classrooms when they leave. Barbara suggested we email all the instructors and Kate and Georgia supported the idea of everyone turning off lights in unoccupied rooms as they go about their days here. The Green Fee committee recently approved funding for motion sensors in classrooms and bathrooms on campus, which should help.

Speakers: Christina Frum from the ISEC spoke about an environmental conference on Oct. 25th from 10-3 (Free admission!) at Loyola University and the ISEC's monthly Chicago Regional meetings. She recommended we check out their website (www.greenstudents.org) for resources that might help the GCG.

Celia Christensen from the ELPC spoke to us about supporting the Illinois Clean Cars Act (H.B. 3424) which aims to raise the fleetwide fuel economy for cars sold in IL to 39.6 mpg! She was asking for volunteers to help get petition signatures at various events. Georgia said she'd be interested in organizing a GCG event where we help with this and also volunteered to get signatures at the bake sale on October 1st.

Gregg Christie from the Independent said he's interested in getting the Independent to run a regular "green column". The upcoming issue is entirely devoted to Green topics.

Bake sales!: Georgia will see which dates are left available for Bake Sales. We decided Tuesdays and Thursdays would be best for everyone in attendance. Kate asked for volunteers for the Green Week Bake Sale on Oct. 1st.

Green Week Promo Contest: Georgia and Whitney are going to create a promotional poster (or something) on behalf of the GCG to enter in the contest.

Future Events:

Trip to Organic Apple Orchard: This Sunday, September 21st. Georgia still has room in her car, so contact her if you'd like to go!

Farmer's Market Trip: Oct. 4th, GreenCity farmer's market (LaSalle and Clark)

Hosting Winter's Farmers market at NEIU?

Sheri will send Georgia more information.

Fundraising ideas:

Cereal Box Notebooks

Informational Tables:

We'd like to have 2 before the end of the semester. Tuesdays and Thursdays work best. 10-3.

NEXT MEETING: Oct. 2 at 1:40 (in the cafeteria)

Come with ideas/suggestions for events, fundraising, materials for our informational tables, or ideas for the Green Fee committee!

Respectfully Submitted, (Sept. 18th at 4:30 PM)

Whitney Behr

August 26, 2008 meeting

The meeting was called to order at 3:15 PM.

Those present were: Dr. Banerjee,Princess Harris, Bob Kastigar, Georgia Yelton, Kate Ekman, Jeremy Slate and Jack Kroll.

Bob Kastigar nominated Georgia for President and Kate Ekman seconded the motion. It was approved. Georgia nominated Kate for Treasurer and Bob Kastigar seconded the motion. It was approved. Whitney Behr was nominated by Jeremy Slate and Kate again seconded the motion. It was approved. We will see who would like to be VP at our next meeting which will be Thur. Sept.18th.

It was moved to hold our meetings during Activity Hour at the raised portion (south end) of the cafeteria each 1st. and 3rd. Thursday of the month unless otherwise noted.

It was moved that several members of the GCG to table at Alumni Hall this Thur. At 1:30 to 2:30 PM. Claudia Mercado has the agenda.

Georgia

proposed purchasing a banner, made of fabric, not paper.We may spend up to $100.00 for it. The motion was tabled at this time.

Jack said that "all" the property of the club is currently in the storeroom. The storeroom is in the lower level of E bldg., down the hall from Rugen Reyes' office, also in the LL E bldg.

Kate Ekman moved to have the club spend up to $100.00 for food at the 9/18 meeting, pending availability. We will need to get the paper work submitted.

Georgia

said she would submit the paper work at the Student Activities Office (SAO) on the second floor of the Student Union (SU)

The meeting was adjourned at 3:40 PM.

However, after the meeting several members went to the SAO and submitted the form with the officers names. At least two officers need to attend some type of training to become more effective leaders . Info at SAO, http://www.neiu.edu/~deptsao/stuorgtraining.htm

We also found out the balance in our treasury. Its $412.00!!!

Respectfully submittedby Jack Kroll. If you see anything wrong with these minutes please don't hesitate to let me know. I am sorry for spelling some names wrong as I purposely left the attendance sheet in the storeroom. I did NOT want to take a chance on losing the list.

April 3rd Meeting

In attendance: Georgia Yelton, Kate Ekman, Brendon Gross, Brad Bowen, Stephenie Creegan

Old Business:
-Green Film Festival dates need volunteers
-Working Bikes 4/8-4/22 - Jeremy will make signs
-North Side Learning Center appreciation party either 4/25 or 4/26
            Needs volunteers
            Stephenie and Kate can help on either
            Brendon can help if it is Friday
            Georgia can help if it is Saturday

New Business:
-Tree Planting: Facilities Management has identified 3 locations, may do labor for planting
            Kate could pick up trees, pending reimbursement for gas
            Trees cost $90.00 each
            Vote for expenditure for three trees and reimbursement for gas: Unanimously in favor
-Treasurer vote:
            Candidates:
                        Jenn Wyatt
                        Kate Ekman receives 4 votes from present members, one absentee vote
            Waiting for additional email ballots
-Georgia has agreed to retrieve 50 Conscious Choice magazines from downtown for tables and Earth Day
-Discounted drink flyers approved by Café Descartes, will be printed in the future, Sodexho will make signs for their discount for Earth Week
-Discussed getting reusable mugs for tables from thrift stores
- Stephenie made a motion to reimburse herself for up to $200.00 for the purchase of vinyl stickers
            Brad seconded motion
            Unanimously passed
-Meeting adjourned 2:05

No next meeting date sent - but many events to deal with!!!

Submitted by Kate Ekman

March 27th Meeting

In attendance: Jennifer Wyatt, Georgia Yelton, Stephenie Creegen, Princess Harris, Whitney Behr, and Brendan Gross.

Regarding Earth Day:

Princess will speak to Little Village to see if they would like to have a speaker come in for Earth Day.

We're going to have a table up in the Village Square to generate interest in worm composting. If there is significant interest, Brendan will look into leading a workshop on the subject at a later date.

Our next film screening is April 10th in SU 214 with the Film Go Further. We're looking for volunteers to help with popcorn etc. Jen is going to talk to Mostek about taking his class to the screening and Princess will talk to Jones about encouraging students to attend.

We voted to plant a tree.

We're looking for a new treasurer. Kate Ekman volunteered to run for the position. Other volunteers are welcome to run as well.

The awards ceremony for the kids who do our recycling is scheduled for April 25th at 1 P.M.

NEXT MEETING: NEXT THURSDAY APRIL 3RD.

BE THERE!

That's all.

Thanks,

Whitney

February 28th Meeting:

We're going to have a clothing swap event at a to-be-determined date. Steph and Jen are going to put together a brochure for it.

The turn out the lights/close the door in classrooms campaign was supported and we will be making fliers regarding that as well.

IMPORTANT:
Next Tuesday, March 4th at 1:40 there is a SGA finance meeting. We need GCG members to attend in order to show them we really deserve the $600 dollars we requested. SOLIDARITY!

We are revisiting the idea of throwing a party for the young recyclers. This will be discussed further at the next meeting.

March 24th is our next table. Steph passed around a sign up sheet for this and subsequent tables.

EARTH DAY:
We discussed the movies for our Earth Day celebration. As we need to decide soon, Stephenie will email video list to the membership again and we will vote on which movies we want to show. We would ideally like to have a decision by Tuesday.
Princess will send emails to other student organizations for Earth Day support.
Other proposed vendors/speakers:
Sierra Club (Georgia will contact)
Sadhu Johnson(Georgia will contact)
Center For Green Technology (Princess will contact)
Oberlin College (Princess will contact)

For our new member recruitment funds, we're considering getting some green cycle coffee mugs.

Next meeting date TBA.

Thanks everyone.

Submitted by Whitney Behr, Secretary

February 19th Meeting:

In attendance, Stephenie Creegan, Georgia Yelton, Princess Harris, Jennifer Wyatt

We didn't vote on slogans. But we did form an information subcommittee. This committee will create our news brief for the independent, brochure for earth day film festival and a flyer to distribute at the information table in Village Square – new members, and "get involved". The subcommittee members are Stephenie Creegan, Georgia Yelton and Jennifer Wyatt. (Please feel free to through your name into this hat)

We'll need to see how much literature we have in the group locker this week for our table Tuesday. Also we need to get the locker combinations and find our table banner.
Jen suggested that we repurpose old gasoline advertisements for our group. Something clever like the Sinclair dinosaur but for the earth. Or pin up models from yester year with the slogan "It's getting hot in here". Stephenie suggested a polar bear in the water saying, "it's getting hot in here" but I was booed.

Stephenie will pick up our earth flag this week and get it to Princess before our first information table this coming Tuesday.

The group decided to bring back the coffee mug campaign.

Stephenie will create a sign up matrix for our events.

Georgia will be the contact for David Kraft.

Our next meeting is 2/28/08 at 1:40pm in the Cafe.

We will need to discuss what to do with our $300 award. We must use it this semester or we'll lose it.

(5% of our $600 budget for Earth Day must come from our group. That's $30, Just FYI)

Submitted by Stephenie Creegan

February 14th, 2008 Meeting:

In attendance: Princess Harris, Whitney Behr, Georgia Yelton, Stephenie Creegen, Jennifer Wyatt, and Jeremy Slate.

Feb. 26 is unavailable for a bakesale. Stephenie came up with a list of other potential bake sale dates, but none of the present members were available on those dates. Princess is looking into convincing other groups to give us one of their dates.

Jen suggested making informational posters to post around campus that have various environmental suggestions/slogans on them as a fun and interesting way to get attention for Earth Day and GCG. We decided to think about potential slogans this week and vote on them next meeting.

EARTH DAY:
Georgia met with David Kraft of Nuclear Energy Information Service (our speaker for Earth Day). He had various options for use of his time including discussion groups and movie screenings. We decided we'd go with his standard presentation which includes information about why nuclear energy won't solve global warming and the "Low Carbon Diet" workshop to start at 1:45 on April 22nd in the Golden Eagle's room.
Princess is going to talk to other groups about getting their help with our information tables for Earth Day.
We are also considering asking Professors to speak for Earth Day.
We're going to have some movie screening dates that are as yet undetermined. Once we have a list of dates and movies, we'll send lists to departments.

Potential Event: April 5th, 2008. Wind Farm Tour in Sublette, IL. We're seriously considering taking a group down to this event sponsored by the ISEA. More information to come.

NEXT MEETING: Feb. 19th, 2008 at 1:40 in the cafeteria.
We'll be voting on films and film dates.

Submitted by Whitney Behr, Secretary

February 7, 2008 Meeting:

This is what we went over at the meeting today:
In attendance: Jack Kroll, Princess Harris, Jennifer Wyatt, Stephenie Creegan, Whitney Behr, and Bob Kastigar

Stephenie reserved the following dates for having a table in the Villiage square: 3/24, 3/25, 3/26, 3/31, 4/1, 4/17, 4/18, 4/21, 4/22, and 4/26. (Mark your calenders!)
We need people to volunteer to man the tables for these events. We talked about having the tables for only an hour or two in order to perhaps entice volunteers.There was talk about having frequent bake sales, but it was brought up that we can't have a bake sale the same time as another group and we want to make sure we know what we're fundraising for before we start fundraising.

We discussed having an appreciation party for the Northside learning center (who does NEIU's paper recycling), but we didn't decide on doing it yet.
That being said, we decided on a potential bake sale date for Feb. 26. Stephenie will check on this date and let us know at the next meeting.

EARTH DAY:
Stephenie is looking into reserving the Golden Eagles room for an undecided amount of time on April 22. 9am to 5pm was suggested, but we were unsure of member availability for staffing the event.

We're planning on having David Kraft come in as our speaker. Stephenie is going to Email Georgia about his availability. We're going to see about having vendors in the village square during the day on Earth Day. Some suggestions were Little Village, Chicago Bike Federation, and Environment Illinois. The goal is to get as many vendors as possible for this event, so more suggestions are welcome.

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING: February 14, 2008 at 1:40 (Activity Hour) in the Cafeteria.

Submitted by Whitney Behr, Secretary

January 31, 2008 Meeting:.

In attendance: Whitney Behr, Stephanie Creegan, Princess Harris, Jack Kroll, Prof. Banerjee, and Jeremy Slate

We needed to fill the offices of President and Secretary. It ended up that Stephanie became president and Whitney Behr became secretary.

We discussed many ways to get noticed around campus including having a bake sale.

Princess suggested that every time we have a meeting, we have one on either a Monday or Wednesday and one on either a Tuesday or Thursday to potentially solve conflicts. This will be discussed further at the next meeting.

We voted to ask SGA for $600 for the Earth day event. We also discussed the idea of having an "Earth Week" April 21-25 with Earth Day itself falling on April 22nd.

We briefly discussed nominations for the green fee committee (we need 2) and Stephanie nominated Jeremy.

The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 7th during activity hour (1:40)

Submitted by Secretary: Whitney Behr

Report - on the meeting regarding the use of recycled paper in the computer lab printers
Held on Wednesday, 19 December 2007

In attendance: Bob McKenney from purchasing, Scott Simon - Coordinator of Computer Labs, Luis Pezzarossi - maintains printers, Jack Kroll, Kate Ekman, Jeremy Slate, Georgia Yelton, Dr. Banerjee

Key observations
-       $3.10 per ream is the price the computer labs pays for paper
-        Jamming appears to be more of concern than the price of the paper.

Next semester
-        Over the course of the Spring semester, they are going to use the 30% recycled paper in the science computer lab to see how it performs. They’re going to use the same 30% recycled paper as NIU does.
-        Kate Ekman will contact the computer labs at NIU to ask about paper jamming.
-        The computer labs will put in a requisition order for the 30% recycled paper for this pilot test but there’s no guarantee the administration will fund it in the middle of the year and it’s possible we’ll have to wait until the summer to do the pilot test.

Everyone at the meeting cared about the issue and wants to make it work. So I think it’ll take some time but as long as we keep at it, we can make it happen.

Jeremy Slate, Secretary - Green Cycle Group