D65 Sustainability Update: June 25

Green STEAM is an after school club at Chute that has been in existence for over 15 years. Club members initiated the idea of planting a Monarch garden, which was planted for Earth Day in 2023 by members and friends of the club.

In the Fall 2024, Chute Green STEAM club (approx 20 students), Advanced Art (30 students) and Advanced Media Arts (30 students) worked with a guest artist, arranged by Art Encounter, to lead the planning of the mural imagery on the brick wall above the Okano Monarch Garden facing the parking lot.

The idea was to have imagery painted throughout the wall with the brick background showing so it gives the feeling of butterflies moving across the wall organically like the wind swaying the plants in the prairie garden.

In the Spring 2025, Chute students had so much fun painting the polytab pieces for their new mural with artist in residence @mena_arte_chicago! Students loved seeing their ideas come to life as they painted in the bright colors for the native plants, hands, and butterflies. 🦋🌱

In June 2025, installation of the mural began ... here are some sneak peaks!

Huge thanks to @damonlamarreed and @t.zeye for their expertise in this final stage. This project has been strongly supported by @chutemedia and @chutevisual, with funding from #healingillinois. @art.encounter @evanstonmuralartsprogram

This Fall, the team is looking forward to celebrating the project with the students and teachers we worked with at Chute Middle School— this has been a beautiful collaboration, all around!

Please update your school's contact information for the 25-26 school year, including:

Climate Action Team Chair(s)
School Garden Team Chair(s)
Climate Club
School PTA and Newsletter emails

Climate Action and School Garden Contact List

Back to School Prep Seasonal Practice from July - August 1, reminder to our native planting stewards to follow all the guidelines to ensure the school looks clean and ready to welcome staff and students for the new school year.

Native Planting Guidelines on D65 School Grounds

Please update the Maps of Native Plantings on D65 School Grounds to identify existing native plantings on your school grounds including contact names / emails / phone numbers for the person / team stewarding each native planting area.

D65 is celebrating receiving $25,000 Sustain Evanston grant from the City of Evanston to replace windows at the warehouse.

This upgrade is expected to enhancing the building’s overall energy performance by improving the building’s insulation, reduce energy consumption, and lower utility costs aligned with our new D65 sustainability plan's Healthy Environment Facility Performance Goal and Sustainable Operations Climate & Energy Goal.

This school year, Technology Services made a major push to support sustainability by clearing out old and unused technology from storage spaces across schools. In partnership with PCs for People and Digital Red, the team coordinated three large-scale recycling pickups, responsibly recycling or reusing over 7,700 lbs of e-waste and saving more than 29,000 lbs of CO2—the equivalent of removing nearly 8 cars from the road for a year.

Huge thanks to the Tech Services team members who organized, sorted, and prepped all the equipment for pickup. They plan to host at least one more pickup this summer as part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability.

Evanston/Skokie School District 65 is celebrating and sharing our first D65 Sustainability Plan: Sustainable Schools, Healthy and Just Futures as a holistic, district-wide, enduring commitment to addressing climate change. Every decision we make is with our students — current and future — at the heart. That is why we are committing to transforming our policies, practices and daily actions to ensure a healthy and just future for our students, staff, families and generations to come.

D65 School Board unanimously approved 4:70 Resource Conservation Policy revisions to move our D65 Sustainability Plan into Policy at the May 5, 2025 School Board Meeting.

Looking forward: D65 commits to annual reporting of progress towards our Sustainability Goals by creating a public dashboard in addition to periodic reviews and plan updates.

Saturday June 28th

9am – 2pm

1245 Hartrey (Rebuilding Exchange)

Click this link for details on items accepted and to RSVP

Gather your hard to recycle STUFF and bring it on June 28th to our first annual Collection Event for Hard-To-Recycle Items co-sponsored by Climate Action Evanston, Rebuilding Exchange, and Reduce Waste Chicago. We will be accepting hard-to-recycle plastic and styrofoam packaging, shipping materials, books, bikes and parts, Legos, phone cases, contact lenses and cases, dental products, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, aerosols*, latex paints*, car seats*, highchairs*, strollers*, smoke and CO2 detectors*, small propane and MAPP canisters*, and MORE. (*signifies that a fee will be charged). Note: This event will be intentionally held on the same day as the City drop-off for electronics, paper shredding, and medications at ETHS. Please visit both!

The City of Evanston will host its annual "Evanston Recycles" event on Saturday, June 28th, from 9 a.m. to noon, at Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Ave.

Each year, this free “drive up, drop off” event provides residents an opportunity to recycle and donate a variety of items and securely shred documents. The City will be collecting only electronic waste, documents for shredding and medication. No other items will be accepted.

See map and full flyer. Learn more about the event and what items will be accepted.

The City of Evanston has partnered with Recycle Coach to help residents reduce waste and improve recycling habits. Through the free Recycle Coach platform, available online or via mobile app, users can access collection schedules, receive service updates, search “What Goes Where?”, and more.

Earn up to $2000 for the development of wildlife habitat at your school! Projects must emphasize student/youth involvement with planning, development and maintenance and increase the educational and wildlife habitat values of the site. Learn More and Apply by Dec. 3.

Calling all SWANCC member communities....Schools, Libraries, and now, Nonprofits are all available to apply for a $500 Waste Reduction Grant!

Do you have an idea for Waste Reduction and need a bit of financial support? Don't wait, apply for a grant today! Need more time to be creative and think through your initiative? No problem. Based on funding availability, applications are now accepted all year!

Waste Grant Announcement

Waste Grant Application

Motivate your students, club, or other group and light a spark of enthusiasm through action!

Low stress, fully funded, and materials are delivered to you. Apply for a $200 Clean Up Grant open year round.

Chute Mural above the Okano Monarch Garden 🦋🎨💚 Chute Mural above the Okano Monarch Garden 🦋🎨💚

Climate Action & School Garden Contacts for 25-26 School Year Climate Action & School Garden Contacts for 25-26 School Year

Native Plantings: Back to School Prep Reminder by August 1 Native Plantings: Back to School Prep Reminder by August 1

Celebrating receiving $25,000 Sustain Evanston Grant Celebrating receiving $25,000 Sustain Evanston Grant

Sustainability Spotlight: Technology Recycling Efforts Sustainability Spotlight: Technology Recycling Efforts

Celebrating our D65 Sustainability Plan 💚🌎💚 Celebrating our D65 Sustainability Plan 💚🌎💚

Climate Action Evanston Hard-to-Recycle Collection Event Climate Action Evanston Hard-to-Recycle Collection Event

Waste not! Evanston Recycles Day is June 28 Waste not! Evanston Recycles Day is June 28

Family Day 2025 | Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum Family Day 2025 | Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum

Illinois Schoolyard Habitat Action Grant: Apply by Dec 3 Illinois Schoolyard Habitat Action Grant: Apply by Dec 3

SWANCC Waste Reduction Grant: Now Open Year-Round SWANCC Waste Reduction Grant: Now Open Year-Round

SWANCC Grant Opportunity for Clean Ups SWANCC Grant Opportunity for Clean Ups

D65 Sustainability Key Resources D65 Sustainability Key Resources