Take the Green Challenge
Green Community Plan
- Overview
- Goal 1: Healthy Environment
- Goal 2: Healthy People
- Goal 3: Strong Community
- Goal 4: Convenient Transportation
- Goal 5: Fairness & Equity
- Our Objectives
- Action Plan
About Green Highland Park
Take the Green Challenge
Green Challenges:
Change a light bulb
To date, 450 Highland Park residents have taken the first Green Challenge to exchange a traditional incandescent light bulb for a more energy-efficient, long-lasting compact fluorescent bulb (CFB) that uses 20% less energy and can last 10x longer. Assuming that you live in Highland Park and pay about 11.91 cents/kwh for energy, Environmental Defense estimates that by replacing one 60-watt bulb with a CFB (which will last 6000 hours) that over the life of your new bulb, you will save:
$32.16 in energy bills
205 pounds of CO2 will be prevented
Together we will avoid emitting 92,250 pounds of C02 in Highland Park!
Did you know?
Only 10% of the energy used by an normal light bulb generates light, the rest is wasted heat.
A study for the U.S. government calculated that the gasoline equivalent of the energy saved over the lifetime of one 24 watt compact fluorescent bulb is sufficient to drive a Prius from New York to San Francisco.
Shop with a canvas bag
According to National Geographic: Going Green, Americans go through 100 billion grocery bags every year. One estimate suggests that Americans use more than 12 million barrels of oil each year just to produce plastic grocery bags that end up in landfills after one use and then take centuries to decompose.
Green Tip: Keep reusable canvas bags in your car so you'll have them handy when you go shopping. You can use it over and over again and throw it in the wash. Many grocery stores will actually give you money back for bringing your own bag.
Plant a tree
"I never before knew the full value of trees. Under them I breakfast, dine, write, read, and receive my company." - Thomas Jefferson
Planting trees in your neighborhood really is one of the best things you can do for the local environment in Highland Park and for the planet. Mature trees can absorb roughly 48 pounds of CO2 a year. The tree in turn releases enough oxygen to sustain two human beings. Besides producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide and contaminants from the air, trees have many other social, economic, and environmental benefits.
For more information on the benefits of trees, check out the National Arbor Day Foundation website.
Click HERE to sign up for Highland Park's Green Challenge.
Click HERE to let us know that you have completed the Green Challenge.