November monthly meeting canceled
Please mark your calendars for our NEXT members' gathering on Wednesday, Dec 16, at 5:30 pm at 1303 Holly Lane.
We'll raise a glass, have a few nibbles, and celebrate all we've accomplished in 2026. All fun. No work. Don't forget to mark your calendars. Email us to let us know you're coming, and we hope to see you there!
imagine u: grace and the butterfly effect
Oct 29 to Nov 8
In this foot-stomping new musical, Grace accidentally knocks down the fence between her dad’s well-manicured backyard and Mr. Hertz’s wildflower garden, where she discovers three monarch butterfly eggs on a broken milkweed plant. To make amends, she vows to raise them. Unfortunately, the caterpillars are eating machines, and finding more milkweed for them to eat is hard in the suburbs. Follow Grace as she learns all about these miraculous animals and the preservation they need to thrive.
Approximate run time: 65 minutes, no intermission
Suggested ages: 5+
Location: Ethel M. Barber Theater, 30 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston
Purchase tickets and find out more through the link below.
Pumpkin composting event
Nov 4th, 9am - 1pm
Did you know Illinois produces more pumpkins than any other state in the country? Illinois farmers are responsible for more than a quarter of total U.S. pumpkin production, and more than the next top-five states combined. Reducing food and other organic waste sent to landfills—and specifically composting that food and organic waste instead—are easy and inexpensive ways to reduce and reverse methane emissions, capture and store carbon, and enrich soil, water, and air quality. Composting pumpkins and other water-intensive organics not only conserves water already in soil, it rescues and returns water to soil that had previously been removed.
This year's Pumpkin Composting event in Winnetka takes place this week! Wed, Nov 4 from 9 am - 1 pm at 1390 Willow Road (Public Works building). Residents are encouraged to bring in pumpkins to be properly disposed of, limiting the amount sent to landfills. Be sure to remove any non-organic or non-biodegradable materials such as plastic (googly eyes are cute but not compostable!), metal (maybe recycle?), stickers (stick with natural options
instead), candles (soy candles are compostable, but only the candles themselves, not the wick, base, or holder).
Garbage, food scraps or other landscape waste will not be accepted.
Go Green Illinois meeting
Nov 10th, 1pm (Virtual)
The focus of the next Go Green Illinois meeting is smart suburban planning with an emphasis on how to make our communities more walkable, vibrant, and sustainable. Learn about the role of local zoning and careful planning in making our towns more bike-and-pedestrian-friendly, and better places to live and work. Public transit changes and new bicycle regulations in Illinois will be covered. See examples of suburbs that have created more sustainable and pedestrian-friendly communities by adding communal spaces, green infrastructure, bike lanes, native plants, accessory dwelling units, and more.
Expert speakers presenting at the meeting will be Maggie Czerwinski, Director of Community Building and Leadership at the Active Transportation Alliance; Kyle Whitehead, Sr. Manager of External Affairs at CTA and Trustee in Brookfield, IL; and Nick Patera of Teska, a firm that "brings together planning, design, and development strategy to shape meaningful places."
All are welcome! Please register in advance by clicking the link below.
Go Green Reads Event
Nov 16th, 7-8pm (Virtual)
The Waste Makers, a pioneering 1960 exposé of "the systematic attempt of business to make us wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented individuals," was the first book to probe the increasing commercialization of American life — the development of consumption for consumption's sake. It outlines the ways manufacturers and advertisers persuaded consumers to buy things they don't need and didn't know they wanted, including the two-of-a-kind-of-everything syndrome, appeals to purchase something because it is more expensive, or a new color, the concept of planned obsolescence, and mindless consumerism. The 2011 paperback edition features an introduction by best-selling author Bill McKibben.
All are welcome! Please register in advance by clicking the link below.
Go Green Reads Event
Jan 25th, 7-8 pm (Virtual)
The author of Trash! A Garbageman's Story would like to participate in our discussion of his book. He has a conflict on Nov. 16, so we are changing plans to accommodate him. Please save the date of Monday, January 25 at 7 pm for that special discussion, and keep an eye out next month for our newsletter with a Zoom link. We also hope you will join us for our November discussion of The Waste Makers, a pioneering 1960 exposé of "the systematic attempt of business to make us wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented individuals."
The Waste Makers was the first book to probe the increasing commercialization of American life — the development of consumption for consumption's sake. It outlines the ways manufacturers and advertisers persuaded consumers to buy things they don't need and didn't know they wanted, including the two-of-a-kind-of-everything syndrome, appeals to purchase something because it is more expensive, or a new color, the concept of planned obsolescence, and mindless
consumerism. The 2011 paperback edition features an introduction by best-selling author Bill McKibben.
The registration link will be here soon, but email gogreenreads@gmail.com with questions/want to join the conversation.
Thank you to The Book Stall and the Winnetka - Northfield Public Library District for their generous support of our communities and these discussions!
Go Green Reads is a collaboration between Go Green Winnetka, Go Green Wilmette, and The Book Stall, with support from the Winnetka - Northfield Public Library District.
go green reads
Trash! A Garbageman's Story
Did you know Oscar the Grouch was orange in the first season of Sesame Street? True story! (And a fun piece of seasonal trivia to share as we head into Halloween month.)
Want to know another true story? Our next Go Green Reads book is a tale about another character that knows a thing or two about garbage cans. Trash! A Garbageman's Story is a memoir by a Montreal garbageman, Simon Paré-Poupart, who started working on a truck to pay for school — and is still there 20 years later — even after earning graduate degrees and working in more "respectable" fields.
The author's sociology background informs his inquiry into our collective wastefulness and individual failure to confront the trash we produce. Every abstract observation comes with hilarious and hair-raising stories from the collection route to his days off spent hunting down furniture and toys for family and friends, as a committed 'Freegan.' Trash! will change how you think about the materials you throw away and the people who handle it.
Please register below and email gogreenreads@gmail.com with questions.
Thank you to The Book Stall and the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District for their generous support of our communities and these discussions!
Go Green Reads is a collaboration between Go Green Winnetka, Go Green Wilmette, and The Book Stall, with support from the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District.
