Green Sanctuary April 2024 News
March All Ages
We played Conservation Concentration! The goal was to find and match pairs of cards featuring Midwest species – Red-winged Blackbird, Common Milkweed, Spring Beauty, to name a few. Participants 12 and under got a set of species cards for each habitat set (Woodland, Grassland, Wetland) they completed. Would you like to help us plan our next All Ages activity for May? See below for how to get involved.
April Lunch and Learn
- April 21 – The UUS Land Committee will lead a Tree Walk on the UUS Grounds
- April 28 – Sarah Gardner, Iowa City Climate Action Coordinator, will explain Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Home Energy Rebates for things like heat pumps and weatherization.
April Better Together Challenge – Connect with Wild Things
- Plant wildflowers in your yard. Search for “Iowa native plant seeds” for sources. No yard? Plant wildflowers in a pot for your back stoop or windowsill. Visit https://grownative.org/2021/05/17/native-plant-container-gardening/ for ideas. Taking care of living things is transformative
- Search for wildflowers along a trail or in a park. https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/parks-and-recreation/parks-and-trails and https://www.coralville.org/256/Parks-Facilities. See if you can recognize new species when you see them in different places. Think about the habitats you find them in and where you could look for them in other spots.
- Protect Wildflowers. Invasive plants can take over habitats critical to the survival of native plants. https://www.iowadnr.gov/conservation/forestry/forest-health/invasive-plants
How to Help Green Sanctuary’s Work (even if you don’t want to come to a meeting)
GS projects we are working on. You can help even if you can’t make our regular meetings.  Projects include  ways to engage the congregation, exploring battery backup for emergencies, helping the Center for Worker Justice with a resilience project and the Creekside Neighborhood with an environmental threat, developing a water quality focus, and exploring outreach to elected representatives. To help, just email Jan Weaver at jan.weaver57@gmail.com with your interest, and she will connect you with the project leader. Our next meeting is Wednesday, April 10 at 7 pm. Join us on Zoom at  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88132264216. Meeting ID: 881 3226 4216. Passcode 533092.
