Illinois Parks & Recreation Association's Environmental Committee

Tools for Greening Your Organization (or You) - Presentation

At the recent ACA Illinois annual meeting, held on Thursday, November 20, 2008 members of the Illinois Parks & Recreation Association's Environmental Committee shared resources designed to help chart a course towards environmental sustainability within our organizations and in our personal life.

The panel described efforts undertaken by the committee during the past several years to develop the Model Environmental Policy, Environmental Toolkit and Environmental Report Card and reviewed each of these documents and how they can be adapted for use by any organization. They also described efforts to promote these resources within their organizations and efforts to document the environmental successes that can result.

The following three links should provide valuable information about all the topics they covered:

The Environmental Report Card:

http://www.il-ipra.org/forms/enviroreportcard.pdf

The Environmental Toolkit:

http://www.il-ipra.org/forms/envirotoolkit.pdf

The Model Environmental Policy:

http://www.il-ipra.org/forms/modelenviropolicy.pdf

The panel included :

David Brooks is employed by the Schaumburg Park District as Manager of Conservation Services, overseeing the operations of the Spring Valley Nature Center & Heritage Farm, a position he has held since 1991. Professionally, he has been an active member of the Illinois Parks & Recreation Association (IPRA) since 1987, participating on the Museum Roundtable and Environmental Committee, as well as serving as the chair of the Environmental Committee for two years. As part of the IPRA Environmental Committee, he co-authored the Environmental Toolkit as well as the Environmental Report Card, resources designed to help agencies improve the environmental sustainability of their operations.

Cheryl Toohey was employed by the Skokie Park District's Emily Oaks Nature Center as School Age Program Coordinator for nearly ten years until the birth of her daughter.  She is past chairperson of IPRA's Environmental Committee and has been involved in the committee's work for over five years.  Cheryl's degree is in Environmental Science and Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Jan Herbert is employed by the Rockford Park District as Special Projects Coordinator. She manages the environmental policy of the district and concentrates on issues from a maintenance/operational basis in combination with the district's goal of leadership in environmental responsibility. Jan spent over 20 years in the marketing/advertising field previous to district employment.

Please contact any of the panel members for more info!!

David Brooks - dabrooks@parkfun.com

Cheryl Toohey - ctruns@att.net

Jan Herbert - janherbert@rockfordparkdistrict.org