Letter to the Editor

Nice turnout at sustainability session

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

To the Editor:

Last August, Mayor Sue Murray hosted the first Community Forward Summit at DePauw's Prindle Institute for Ethics.

Many community members and civic leaders came together to consider the current state of our community and seeking ideas for moving forward. One of the most popular needs identified from the summit was the importance of sustainability and the need for focus sessions on this topic.

The first focus session to take action on sustainable issues was held at City Hall on Monday, Dec. 8. A citizen-led group of 19 community members met to consider topics, projects and work groups.

Most encouraging about this small group was the diversity of people from business and civic leaders, retirees, teens, educators, students and simply interested citizens. The energy and passion of the group grew as presentations from Kris Ladd of Heartland Automotive, Carole Steele of DePauw University, and Shannon Norman of the City of Greencastle all spoke about sustainability efforts already in motion.

The synergy and vision among the group began to make a bleak outlook about our environment look promising and the solutions collaborative.

If everyone would stop and consider what role they could play in this effort our answers would be plentiful, and problems easily resolved. We all know that will not happen, thus the opportunity is available for anyone interested to participate in these discussions and action groups.

Work groups were created in the areas of 1) Local Food, 2) Communication, 3) Transportation and Transit, 4) Waste and Recycling, and 5) Energy Alternatives and Conservation.

The next meeting will be held on Jan.12 at 5 p.m. in City Hall. Please get involved and help make the "green" in Greencastle sustainable now and in our children's future.

Please express your interest and, or direct questions to chair Steve Setchell at greenergreencastle@gmail.com or 655-9053.

Doug Cox

Greencastle, IN