More Northwest Indiana communities are joining a trend toward forming volunteer commissions that focus on promoting best practices for environmental sustainability.
The Chesterton Town Council at its Jan. 13 meeting announced that it would work toward forming an environmental sustainability commission.
The city of Valparaiso recently appointed seven members to its new Environmental Advisory Board.
“By bringing together experts, community leaders, and passionate advocates, we ensure that the decisions we make today will benefit not just our residents, but the generations that follow,” said Ellen Kapitan, an environmental advisory board member who also serves as Valparaiso City Council president. Kapitan, D-At-large, has a degree in forestry and natural resources and works with the Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County.
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton during last year’s celebration of Earth Day on April 22 signed an executive order that created an Environment and Sustainability Advisory Council.
Melton stated that it was his hope that the new council would play a pivotal role in responding to critical environmental challenges, advancing sustainable practices, improving climate resiliency and accelerating community engagement.
The Environmental Sustainability Commission in the town of Porter completed its first year of service and can already point to accomplishments that include three pollinator-native gardens being established.
Chesterton Councilman James Ton, R-1st, has made environmental issues a touchstone of his career. One of Ton’s pioneering efforts was the establishment of curbside recycling in Chesterton during the 1990s.
An American yellow warbler builds a nest at Cowles Bog in the Indiana Dunes National Park on May 18, 2019. A growing number of Northwest Indiana communities are creating environmental sustainability commissions.
Ton, who also serves on the Board of Directors of the Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County, suggested during the Jan. 13 meeting that Chesterton “investigate the sustainability movement that is emerging in different communities.”
Councilwoman Erin Collins, D-2nd Dist, enthusiastically took up the mantle.
Collins said she hopes to be able to have a seven-member commission formed by April. The commission would include two students from the Duneland School Corporation.
“We’re going to look at the best practices with what Porter has done,” Collins said.
Collins said that one possibility would be for Chesterton to have its Redevelopment Commission put up $10,000 toward funding environmental projects, like Porter’s Redevelopment Commission will do this year.
“Because we’re so close to Porter, we could work together to pool resources,” Collins said.
Chairperson Tara Duffie said the Porter Environmental Sustainability Commission had a busy first year.
“I think we offer services that don’t cost the town money. We happen to have a lot of experienced people who care about the environment,” Duffie said. “We have a long history of saving the dunes in our blood.”
Isabel Durkin, a junior at Chesterton High School who serves on the Porter commission, wrote the commission’s mission statement: “The Environmental Sustainability Commission aims to protect our natural resources, promote sustainable development, and collaborate closely with our community to preserve and prioritize our natural environment and lakeshore.”
One of the more visible manifestations in Porter of the commission’s work is the development of pollinator-native gardens at the Augsburg Evangelical Lutheran Church and Hageman Library. Commission members also helped make a native garden in front of Yost Elementary School.
More of the same type of gardens — which feature plants native to the Duneland — are coming. Commission member Jennifer Dimitroff would like to have a trail of pollinator-native gardens in the community.
Duffie said the commission wants to encourage residents within Porter to develop their own gardens, which would mean less grass to mow and the lower use of fertilizers and pesticides. It would also provide a habitat for more bees and butterflies.
Another successful initiative was collecting more than 100 pounds of discarded Christmas tree lights to be recycled.
When Porter officials were forming their sustainability commission, they studied the workings of the Sustainability Commission of Michigan City.
Michigan City’s Sustainability Commission has been around since 2019.
The city, recognizing the value of the commission, now pays its nine members $50 for each monthly meeting.
Michigan City has already reaped some economic benefits. Nancy Moldenhauer, who helped found the sustainability commission and is now on the Michigan City Council, helped obtain a $98,000 grant that paid for solar panels that were installed at city-owned buildings in Washington Park.
Andie Jahnz-Davis, chairperson of the Sustainability Commission of Michigan City, said the commission has a number of education events for the public.
Recently, the commission partnered with Drive Clean Indiana for an electric vehicle education event. A number of dealerships along with private owners brought electric cars for people to test drive and check out.
On April 26, the commission will sponsor its annual Earth Month Extravaganza at the Michigan City Senior Center.
“Sustainability is growing all over Northwest Indiana. I see solar panels popping up all over the place,” Jahnz-Davis said.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
