Sustainable Lake CountY

Sustainable Lake County (2023-2024 & 2024-2025)

Sustainable Lake County was an exploration of environmentalism and sustainability in Lake County, Illinois through the lens of the arts and humanities. We collaborated across the college and with the Lake County community to explore how we, as Lake County residents, can live more sustainable, just, and socially conscious lives that preserve our environment while cultivating the diverse communities within our region.

Highlights from our 2023-2024 academic year workshops and events are below.

2024-2025 Academic Year

Convergence FLYER.pdf

CONVERGENCE:
HEALTH EQUITY IN A CHANGING CLIMATE
Thursday, April 10 at 7 p.m.
College of Lake County's Grayslake Campus, Room A011

In collaboration with the Brushwood Center, this special evening of multimedia performance featured music ensemble Black Moon Trio and dance students.

Convergence translates data on health equity in our community to art. The bilingual (English and Spanish) performance, guided by Brushwood Center’s Ensemble-in-Residence, Black Moon Trio, translates the lived experiences of communities in Lake County, Illinois, affected by environmental racism and health inequities through original music, illustration, and storytelling.

This signature concert experience featured live music and new artwork. The live performance was complemented by filmed narration in English and Spanish.

A pop-up gallery featuring community artworks and poetry was presented in the lobby outside the performance hall.

Learn more: https://brushwoodcenter.org/convergence/

Read the report

HEALTH, EQUITY, & NATURE REPORT
COMMUNITY WORKSHOP
Thursday, April 17, 6-7:30 p.m.

College of Lake County's Grayslake Campus, Willow Cafe

Clean water, air, and access to the outdoors are vital to human health. Even though Lake County is home to abundant green spaces and forest preserves, clear air and water isn’t available to everyone, and many communities face barriers to accessing the outdoors.

In 2023, Brushwood Center published “Health, Equity, and Nature: A Changing Climate in Lake County, IL,” which outlines key findings and recommendations for improving wellbeing in Lake County by addressing systemic inequities at the intersection of environment and health.

During this interactive workshop, Brushwood Center's Coalition Building Manager and certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide, Jess Rodriguez, presented the report's key findings and facilitated discussion on how to build a resilient and restorative community. LRead the report

Presented by Brushwood Center, CLC Sustainability Council, and Voices of Lake County

ERASURE POETRY WORKSHOPS

Tues., March 18, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Grayslake Heritage Center & Museum
164 Hawley St., Grayslake, IL 60030
In partnership with the Grayslake Arts Alliance Writers’ Group

Sat., April 5, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Zion-Benton Public Library, Meeting Room A
2400 Gabriel Ave., Zion, IL 60099
In partnership with the Zion-Benton Writers’ Group

Erasure poetry is a poetic form in which a poet erases or blacks out words from a preexisting source to create new poems. Some erasure poems include visual designs such as illustrations, collage or painting.

In this workshop, participants learned about erasure poetry and created their own erasure poems using nature-inspired documents. They displayed the erasure poems at a gallery show prior to the Convergence performance at College of Lake County on Thursday, April 10.

Workshop Leader: Poet & CLC Instructor Heather McClelland
https://heatherwriter.com/

Erasure Poetry Flyer_Zion Benton and Grayslake.pdf

POETRY OF PLACE WORKSHOP

Thursday, April 10, 6:30 p.m. (prior to "Convergence")

College of Lake County Grayslake Campus

Lake County, Illinois is home to over 31,000 acres of protected natural land and offers an abundance of opportunities to connect to nature, yet Northeastern Lake County is burdened by environmental inequities. In this workshop, participants collaborated to create a Poetry of Place Google map, where they “pinned” poems or short narratives on a specific place in Lake County. They wrote a story or poem about why a specific place in Lake County was important or meaningful to them, described why the place needs to be preserved for future generations, or explored what we could do to solve some of the environmental inequities in our region.

THANK YOU to all attendees and participants at this workshop! Please come view the work participants made at our pop-up gallery outside of the Convergence Performance on Thursday, April 10!

ART OF SUSTAINABILITY WORKSHOP
Presented in collaboration with Community Engagement with the Arts

Thursday, February 20, 2025
6 p.m. - 9 p.m.
CLC's Lakeshore Campus

Katrina Davis Salazar, CLC Art Engagement Coordinator, and Cristen Leifheit, Voices of Lake County, led this interactive art making workshop.

They introduced elements of Brushwood Center's report on health, equity, and nature and helped participants create a diptych from two print making processes - cyanotypes and trace monotypes - using found objects from nature, such as rocks, plants, leaves, sticks, and debris.

2023-2024 Academic Year

Japanese Garden Flyer May 6 2024.pdf

Japanese Garden Meditation &
Mindful Movement

Monday, May 6, 2024 from 3:30-4:45

Japanese Garden at CLC's Grayslake Campus

Participants learned about the history of the gardens, participated in a meditation/yoga activity, and enjoyed traditional Japanese tea. Led by Shannon Bassi and Lamaiya Lancaster.

Community Reading & Living Gallery Art Display

Thursday, May 2, 2024, 7-8:30 p.m.

Eleanor Murkey Community Center

34 N. Sheridan Rd., Waukegan, IL 60085

Bud to Blossom was a celebration of nature writing, climate fiction, and sustainability-themed art in the beautiful Eleanor Murkey Community Center overlooking Lake Michigan at College of Lake County’s Lakeshore Campus. Open to all CLC faculty, staff, students, and members of the community.

During fall 2023, the Voices of Lake County committee collected seeds from College of Lake County's Living Lab Trail, a 1.5 outdoor loop around CLC's Grayslake campus. The trail serves as a living laboratory, demonstrating sustainability (placing equal value on the environment, economy and human equity), promoting health and wellness, honoring cultural diversity and encouraging global outreach.

The seeds were incorporated into homemade seeded paper made out of recycled paper bags. The seeded paper leaves were used for classroom projects, poetry writing activities, and reflection opportunities following some of our sustainability events. Participants wrote short reflections and poems on the leaves cut from the seeded paper. The leaves were on display at CLC during our spring 2024 Sustainability Fair on April 22.

In May 2024, the leaves were planted on campus and the seeded paper leaves will be planted on the Living Lab Trail, and the words of our participants returned to the soil to bear fruit to another generation of native plants.

Visit this link to learn how to make your own seeded paper!

Sustainable Lake County Fair
MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2024 • 3-6 P.M.

Student Street & Multipurpose Room (C106)
College of Lake County's Grayslake Campus

The Sustainable Lake County Fair was a celebration of sustainability in Lake County, Illinois. The fair featured tables from College of Lake County organizations, student groups, and community organizations. The fair also featured animation and video production screenings by CLC students, dance performances, and a sustainability-themed art gallery.

For more information, check out the Sustainable Lake County Fair Program and watch the video highlights!

Common Ground Screening

April 21 at 1:30 p.m.

Voices of Lake County partnered with Three Brothers Theatre for a film screening of "Common Ground"

THREE BROTHERS THEATRE

221 N. Genesee Street, Waukegan, IL 60085

There will be a discussion after the film is shown

FREE viewing of "Common Ground." This 2023 Tribeca Film Festival winner explores how REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE can help heal the soil, our health and the planet. Featuring Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Woody Harrelson, Ian Somerhalder, Donald Glover, Rosario Dawson, Mark Hyman, Gabe Brown, and others.

Film trailer: https://www.oneearthfilmfest.org/films-az-2024/common-ground

Information about One Earth Film Festival: https://www.oneearthfilmfest.org/

LIVING LAB TRAIL WALK
April 15

Voices of Lake County and Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) led a walk along the Living Lab Trail with guided mindfulness activities and nature journaling.

SUSTAINABILITY RAPPER A.Y. YOUNG'S BATTERY TOUR
Thursday, April 4

The Battery Tour is a renewable-energy powered grass-roots concert series that raises money through donations to promote, develop and deploy sustainable solutions & solar powered boxes for villages that do not have reliable access to electricity. A.Y. is one of the first artists to power his concerts with 100% renewable energy. Learn more about AY Young and check out "Goals," the title track from his forthcoming EP, and check out some of the photos from his classroom visits and high-impact performance at CLC!

SUSTAINABLE ART WORKSHOP
March 21

Sustainable Art: Make Precious Objects from Discarded Items

Participants learned how to turn trash into beautiful treasures at this Community Engagement Through the Arts Workshop with Katrina Salazar and Cristen Leifheit.

Date & Time: Thursday, March 21, 6-9 p.m.

Location: Room N015, at CLC's Lakeshore Campus

SEEDED PAPER WORKSHOP
Feb. 7

Participants learned how to make handmade, seeded paper from recycled paper bags. Attendees created paper using seeds collected from CLC's Living Lab Trail as part of the Poet-Tree Project or made paper to plant in their home gardens using a variety of seeds and flower petals.

JOEY FINE RHYME "BE THE CHANGE"
Nov. 18

This interactive show educated attendees on climate and waste while drawing inspiration through raptivism (activism through original rap music) and emphasized what people can do to make a difference. Featured Joey FineRhyme (birth name Joey Feinstein), an educator, public speaker, raptivist (rap activist) and freestyle rhyme extraordinaire. Held at the Three Brothers Theatre in Waukegan.

LET'S CELEBRATE FALL - RECYCLING & UPCYCLING!
Nov. 17

College of Lake County's Sustainability Club and SWALCO sponsored a book collection drive and Upcycled Fall/Thanksgiving Sustainable Craft Night on Friday, November 17 from 5-7 p.m. in Room B222 at CLC. Participants made a beautiful upcycled fall crafts made out of recycled books. All leftover books were donated. Learn more about the event.

JAPANESE GARDENS EVENT
Oct. 25

Serenity, Symmetry & the Balance of Nature

An enriching event that explored the essence of Japanese gardens, focusing on serenity, symmetry, and the balance of nature. Attendees learned how traditional Japanese values and the garden's physical aesthetics connect to and promote sustainability and engaged in a creative reflection activity with seeded paper, inspired by Haiku poetry. Led by Shannon Bassi and held in the Japanese Gardens at CLC's Grayslake campus.

HIDDEN IN PLAIN BITE
Oct. 10

Featuring the New Roots Institute

Eemon Ghasemiyeh from the New Roots Institute led a discussion that explored the conditions animals are raised in, its environmental and human impacts, and actions to create a more just food system. Sponsored by CLC's philosophy department.

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