Beautify Southern Illinois Conference Recommends a Region-Wide Beautify Southern Illinois Day for Spring 2011
On Saturday, October 23, 2010, two dozen southern Illinoisans gathered at the SIU Carbondale Student Center to discuss a continuing campaign to beautify the region.
Dr. Larry Dietz, SIUC Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs welcomed the conference attendees. Dr. Dietz is quite familiar with the volunteerism of SIUC students. During the past several years, Dr. Dietz has awarded "SIUC Environmental Ambassador Awards" for SIUC students who have performed at least thirty hours of positive environmental volunteerism. Dr. Dietz noted that over 7,000 SIUC students volunteer for a wide variety of projects providing literally thousands and thousands of volunteer hours each year.
Dr. Dietz has also personally assisted students conducting volunteer beautification work. Thank you Dr. Dietz for your support and encouragement of SIUC students!
Les Winkeler, Sports Editor and Outdoor writer for the Southern Illinoisan was the keynote speaker. Mr. Winkeler said he knew he was "preaching to the choir" about the natural beauty of southern Illinois and the litter which defiles the region. Les thanked those who volunteer to clean up litter across our region and he encouraged that the campaign to clean up litter and beautify our region continue and intensify.
Les noted that the Southern Illinoisan has posted a petition urging our state legislators to "...sponsor legislation that would help our region, and the State of Illinois, deal with the litter problem that plagues the state." BSI encourages you to check out the petition and sign it if you agree:
http://www.thesouthern.com/app/litter/petition.html
Mr. Winkeler stated: “Even if the petition works, it’s just he first step. We have to get police, state’s attorneys and judges to take it seriously. That’s not always the case. We need police willing to write tickets, state’s attorneys willing to prosecute and judges willing to levy fines.” He continued: “Being tarred as a litterbug needs to become a stigma. Cleaning up roadways should be part of the prosecution for littering, and might be more effective than fines.”
Kevin Gillespi, Director of Environmental Health & Emergency Preparedness for the Jackson County Health Department provided an overview of Jackson County's highly successful solid waste and recycling programs www.recyclejacksoncounty.org/.
After the conference Kevin noted that: "Jackson County Health Department has been promoting recycling and solid waste management for many years and we were encouraged to hear at the BSI conference of all the efforts occurring in the region to help address waste problems such as litter and open dumping, and also of efforts to encourage waste reduction, recycling, and other waste management practices that will help keep southern Illinois beautiful."
"Volunteers and organizations such as Beautify Southern Illinois play a vital role in helping to keep our region of the state clean and looking beautiful for all to enjoy. Effective solid waste management programs involve everyone in the community working together."
Tracey Glenn, Williamson County Commissioner provided information about the Recycle Williamson County program www.recyclewilliamsoncounty.org/ Commenting on the conference, Tracey stated: "The Beautify Southern Illinois Conference was a great opportunity to network with other local beautification programs. I am impressed with the enthusiasm felt throughout our area by the local community leaders and SIU students who were present and their dedication to keep Southern Illinois a beautiful place to live."
Bev Virobik of Keep Centralia Beautiful (KCB) provided an outline of how her program operates. She described the workings of a successful not-for-profit whose mission is beautifying her community, a program which other communities might wish to emulate.
Paul Roth, owner of Cartridge World of Carbondale was the lunchtime speaker and he also sponsored the lunch. He provided an eye-opening presentation about what happens to printer cartridges which you "recycle". The bottom line is that when you turn in a cartridge to be recycled you must know where it is going and what happens to it. Is it really being recycled or more importantly re-used, or is it actually going to a third world country where it is negatively affecting the environment and exposing people to toxic chemicals in their effort to collect valuable heavy metals?
Paul Restivo, Chair of the BSI Campaign pointed out that: "The litter that defiles our naturally beautiful region is not just a blight on our area, it is really an issue that affects southern Illinois' economy. Litter can leave a negative impression on tourists, prospective students and businesses who may visit the region in search of a site for development. The United States Mint has announced that Garden of the Gods/Shawnee National Forest will appear on a US quarter as part of the America the Beautiful series. The beautiful image of Garden of the Gods is how we want people envision when they think of southern Illinois! Southern Illinois must defend our naturally beautiful region and fight against the blight of litter."
Near the end of the conference, the attendees discussed the possibility of sponsoring a region-wide beautification day during the spring of 2011 as a way of getting numerous communities involved and to also help garner media attention to the positive movement to beautify our region. Students from SIUC strongly supported the concept and pledged to become volunteers who in teams could assist communities interested in conducting a beautification day.
The initial discussion of when to hold such day was Earth Day, April 22, 2011. However, upon discussing the date, it was decided that since April 22nd is Good Friday and April 23rd is Holy Saturday, that Friday, April 29th/Saturday, April 30th would be the target date of a region-wide Beautify Southern Illinois Day.
Any community interested in conducting a beautification event during this time is encouraged to contact Paul Restivo (618) 453-7189 E-mail: restivo@cehs.siu.edu . SIUC students will be trained to be able to assist with organizing and coordinating such events and teams can be assigned to assist a number of communities throughout southern Illinois. Together, we can make a difference!
