For information on becoming a GreenTown sponsor, click here.

To see a list of GreenTown partners, click here.

To view presentations from the 2008 conference, click here.

Two pre-conference workshops were held Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at the North Island Center in downtown Aurora, Illinois.

Food Scraps to Composting: Municipal and Commercial Efforts to Combat Global Warming

This exciting pre-conference workshop will place your community on the cutting edge of commercial, municipal, and residential food scrap collection and composting programs that are changing the way communities deal with “waste”. Learn why traditional land filling is one of the leading contributors to global warming, and how communities are beginning to capture valuable food scrap resources and convert them into usable compost for their communities while reducing methane production and helping to fight global warming.

Moderated by Gary Cuneen, Executive Director, Seven Generations Ahead

• Making the Case for Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Food Residuals Diversion
  Brenda Platt, Institute for Local Self Reliance
• Statewide Commercial Initiatives for Diverting Food Residuals from Landfills
  John Connolly, JFConnolly & Associates
• Residential Curbside Food Scrap Collection and Municipal Composting
  Geoff Rathbone, City of Toronto

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Greening the Campus: How Educational Institutions Combat Climate Issues

Reversing global warming is the defining challenge of the century, and higher education has a moral and social responsibility to rise to the challenge. More than 550 colleges and universities have committed to resolving the climate issues and are leading their campuses, communities and society to neutrality through education, research and action.

The workshop provides an opportunity for higher education representatives to gather, discuss climate change and share strategies for integrating sustainability into curriculum and operations, and achieve climate neutrality.

Plan to join if you are a college or university:

President or Chancellor Chief Academic Officer Chief Financial Officer Facilities Manager

Sustainability Coordinator Energy Manager Student Affairs Officer Dean

Speakers include:
Jonathan Astroth, President, Heartland Community College
Norman Christopher, Grand Valley State University
Jacqueline Johnson, Chancellor, University of Minnesota Morris
Christine Sobek, President, Waubonsee Community College
Richard Torgerson, President, Luther College
Lowell C. Rasmussen, University of Minnesota Morris
Michelle McKay, Second Nature

The American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment is a high-visibility effort to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions, and to accelerate the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate. Local signatories include University of Illinois at Chicago, Governors State College, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Saint Xavier University.

Co-produced by a5 and Seven Generations Ahead on behalf of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.