Going Garbage Set for Second Speaker in Environmental Series

(Left to right) Taylor, Anderson, Mark, Kay, and Mark Brunsvold hike at Whitefish Dunes State Park. Photo by Jesse Brunsvold.

Reaffirming their position on environmental advocacy, Going Garbage and Recycling Inc of Sister Bay is gearing up for the second topic in its newly formed Environmental Speaker Series – “Growing Green Kids: How to Reconnect Kids with Nature.” The lecture will take place on Wednesday, February 13 at 7 pm at the Sister Bay Fire Station, located at 220 Mill Road.

On hand for the “Growing Green Kids” lecture will be outdoor educator and current Friends of Gibraltar coordinator Vinni Chomeau. She will be joined by both Coggin Heeringa (a naturalist at Crossroads at Big Creek in Sturgeon Bay) and Steve Leonard (a naturalist and Executive Director of the Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor).

For Christi Decker, co-owner of Going Garbage Recycling, the topic of reacquainting kids with nature is an important one. Decker cites a book she read recently, entitled Last Child in the Woods. According to Last Child’s author Richard Louv, today’s children are suffering from what he calls “nature-deficit disorder” and says that most children know names of virtually every cartoon character but cannot recognize what an otter looks like. Decker was captivated by the book, and set about finding people in Door County that might be able to speak about getting kids involved in their own backyards – literally.

Vinni Chomeau, who has completed graduate-level courses in Environmental Science and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Outdoor Education from Northland College, gladly accepted the opportunity to speak.

“Environmental education begins with positive experience in natural settings to develop and nurture a love for nature. It doesn’t matter what this experience is – playing in a suburban backyard, climbing a tree – the common thread of any of these experiences is the positive impact it has on our well-being,” Chomeau says. She goes on to say that once this love of nature is cultivated, the want to conserve and protect it occurs.

“We are very excited to have these three people who not only know so much about outdoor education, but who also know about it from a local perspective,” says Decker. In keeping with the inspiration for the lecture, Passtimes Books of Sister Bay has graciously donated one copy of Last Child in the Woods, which will be raffled off at the lecture that evening.

The next Going Garbage Environmental Speaker will be Will Christianson with the Travel Green Wisconsin Program, set for March 12.

For more information about the Going Garbage Environmental Speaker Series, or about Going Garbage and Recycling Inc, please call Christi Decker at 920.854.2114.