North Central College, Sustainably

Naperville-area gas prices now firmly center about $4/gallon.

• The Green Earth Institute held its local Green Earth Fair (Naperville Sun) on May 4th, attracting 1,900 vistitors and dozens of exhibitors.
• The US EPA toughened its standards for ozone pollution last March, which means that Chicagoland will likely see more Ozone Action Days (Naperville Sun) this summer.
  
• Residents near the Mallard Lake landfill in Hanover Park accuse the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency of being too late in issuing a violation notice (Daily Harald) to Mallard Lake’s operator, BFI Waste Systems.
• The house hazardous waste facility most convenient to Naperville residents, mentioned before in this blog, is short $25,000 in funding (Beacon News) and may eventually close after Will County withdrew its financial support for the facility for the 2008-09 fiscal year.
  

It’s spring, so it’s as good a time as any to explore all the places near North Central that you can comfortably get to by bike.

In particular, Herrick Lake Forest Preserve, three miles (about a 15-minute bike ride [Google Map]) north of campus, is a local bike hub of sorts that you can travel onward from to get almost anywhere to the north, east, and west:

• Map of Herrick Lake Forest Preserve (PDF, 200KB) and its many trails — a nice destination in its own right. Danada Forest Preserve, also great, is to its east.

• Herrick is right next to the Illinois Prairie Path (IPP) network, which you can take all over west suburban Chicagoland, including Wheaton, St. Charles, Batavia, Aurora, Elgin, Glen Ellyn, Lombard, and Elmhurst. To get on the Prairie Path, leave Herrick Lake out of its northwest corner (intersection of Herrick/Butterfield/Wiesbrook Rds) and bike half a mile north along Wiesbrook Road until you reach Durfee Road (Google map). Wiesbrook Rd meets the Prairie Path just north of Durfee. From there, just follow the Prairie Path signs to get to your destination. You can even bike the Prairie Path as far as Forest Park, where you can get on the ‘L’ and go into Chicago.
• The Prairie Path isn’t the only bike path around, it intersects many other Chicagoland trails, including the Grand Western Trail and several local Forest Preserve trails. DuPage County publishes a detailed Bikeways Map (PDF, 2.3MB) with more information on these.

For a bike map of Chicagoland beyond DuPage County: Chicagoland Bicycle Federation publishes the Chicagoland Bicycle Map ($6.95; free to members), which rates local roads for their suitability to biking.

With so many great places to bike and so many easy ways to find out about them, check out local biking today!

• The Chicago Tribune covered the April 26 Cool Ride-Clean Choice Show (at which North Central College Green Scene members volunteered)
• The week before, the Naperville Sun printed the winning entry, submitted by Naperville North High School sophomore Katie Khau in the content that Cool Ride-Clean Choice held to design a sticker to give to local hybrid- and alternative-fuel-vehicle owners.

Apply to join Zipcar now: students, faculty/staff !

Would you stop keeping a car on campus if you could rent a car by the hour for the intermittent times that you need one? Zipcar, a nationwide service available as of this week here at North Central, lets you do just that.

You’ll find the College’s first Zipcar vehicle, a red Toyota Prius, in its marked parking spot in the NW corner of the parking deck on Highland Avenue. After signing up via Zipcar’s website ($35), you can rent this car for $7/hour, including gas and insurance. Your $35 fee will even get applied towards $35 in free driving during your first month.

Relying on Zipcar means avoiding the many, often-hidden costs of having and bringing a car to campus:

• parking permits that cost most students $200-$350 per year
• depreciation: $100/mo. for a cheap used car, $200-$500/mo. for a new car
• gas at $3.70/gal. and rising
• insurance, plates, city stickers
• oil changes, tune-ups, repairs

At $7/hour, Zipcar makes sense for infrequent drivers, and even drivers spending several dozen hours a month on the road!

More info:

• How does Zipcar work?
• Frequently-Asked Questions
• Apply now!: students, faculty/staff