Projects

The Center for Sustainable Living is an umbrella organization that is comprised of a variety of grassroots environmental projects focused on different aspects of sustainability.  Here are our current projects:

• Bloomington Organic Gardening Association is an offshoot of the Grow Organic Educator Series (GOES) class. GOES graduates meet to share ideas, continue their education and educate the community. They have sponsored Organic Garden Walks and the Farmers’ Market Plant Exchange.

• Bloomington Transportation Options For People (B-TOP) works to bring about a more sustainable culture, better urban form and enhanced quality-of-life to people in the Bloomington area by increasing use, funding and development of alternatives to auto transport. Meetings are on the second Thursday of the month at 6:30pm at the Monroe County Public library.

• Bloomington Community Bicycle Project: A non-profit, volunteer run bike shop. You can earn a bike by volunteering 3 hours helping out around the shop. This volunteer work will help you get familiar with the shop and with bicycles in general. No prior experience is necessary.After you are done you can choose a bike from our plethora of donated bicycles and take as long or little time as you want to build your OWN bicycle FOR FREE! There are always volunteers on hand to help you along the way. They also renovate donated bicycles and refurbish them for sale to provide money for parts, rent etc. Official shop hours are as follows: Monday: 6-9pm; Wednesday: 6-9pm; Saturday: 12-3pm (after the Farmer’s Market); Sunday: 6pm-9pm – Ladies Night.

• Discardia has a goal of stopping textiles and other reusable materials from going to landfills. According to the EPA Office of Solid Waste, textiles account for nearly 6.3% of annual municipal solid waste in an average city. AND, Americans on average throw away over 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year. We will encourage sustainability in our community by providing a centrally located space where the community may shop for locally produced items from reused materials, drop off unwanted items that might normally be thrown away and sell (on consignment) refashioned items made by local artisans. Our facility will be equipped to clean and reconstruct materials into new items that will either be sold or redistributed throughout the community. Discardia is still in the formation process.  Discardia will function as the headquarters for the annual Bloomington Trashion/Refashion Show, a fundraiser for the Center for Sustainable Living in Bloomington, IN. Ultimately, they wish to act as a hub for creative artisans who are already producing items from used materials, as well as encourage others to see the benefit of creative problem solving by way of example and education.  Project website: http://www.simplycsl.org/discardia.html

• EcoReport is a weekly environmental news radio show on WFHB focused on environmental issues that impact Indiana. Each show includes top environmental headlines and an interview with a local scientist or activist working with current issues.

• Eco-Warrior Project is the production of a three part documentary film that focuses on environmental issues and activism in three countries:  Turkey, India and the USA.  The film will focus on grassroots environmental movements led by women.

• Habitat Stewards is a group that was created to help Bloomington become certified as a Community Wildlife Habitat. Bloomington was officially certified as a Wildlife Community Habitat in 2008. The Habitat Stewards provide information about creating a backyard habitat for homes, schools and churches. They offer habitat steward training to members of the community in conjunction with the National Wildlife Federation. In 2011, they built a raingarden on the Indiana University Health Radiation Center grounds.

• Local First Indiana is a nonprofit support network for local, independent businesses that promotes thinking and buying locally through consumer education, cooperative promotion, and grassroots efforts.

• Southern Indiana Renewable Energy Network (SIREN) is a group focused on solar and other renewable energy forms.  The Mission and purpose of SIREN is to provide a forum for the study, education and promotion of renewable energy technologies and resource conservation for its members and the public; to facilitate the installation of renewable energy throughout Southern Indiana; to be a point of connection with state, regional, national and international renewable energy networks.

• Transition Bloomington is a part of the international experiment to cushion communities in the age of peak “everything.” They are working towards providing food in the communities where we live, re-skilling individuals in lost knowledge and providing support in the age of extinctions.  Green Acres Neighborhood Garden is part of this endeavor and is where the Green Acres community comes together to garden and learn.

• Trillium Horticultural Park Project seeks to develop Monroe County’s Thomson site property into a horticultural park. The purpose of this park is to work in partnership with other initiatives to improve local food security in line with recommendations from the Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force Report. Trillium Horticultural Park will be a source of food, a place where sustainable growing methods are modeled and taught, and part of the network of infrastructure and initiatives needed to support an expansion of the local food supply. The Trillium project is an example of community based agricultural development where the public sector, non-agricultural businesses and civic organizations combine efforts with growers to enhance the role and sustainability of local agriculture in our community. Trillium welcomes the involvement of all sectors of the community in this project.