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Cathy Perrin, one of the founders of Highland Neighbors for Sustainability, picks a radish at the community garden they help with.
Two members of the Highland Neighbors for Sustainability walk in the July 3 Twilight parade.
The group had a float with a theme “Growing a Greener Future” during Highland’s Twilight Parade on July 3.
James Brunt, a member of the group, dressed as “Captain Sustainability” to promote environmentalism.
The bench they received from gathering 1,000 pounds of plastic was featured in their float during the parade. They will put the bench in the Highland community garden.
HIGHLAND — In a sea of red, white and blue, the Highland Neighbors for Sustainability float was dressed in green and sharing wildflower seed packets during the town’s Fourth of July parade.
About 20 people walked alongside the float, with the theme “Growing a Greener Future” to publicize the group and its environmentalist efforts.
The grassroots organization advises the town and informs Region residents on climate and environmental issues. Members meet at the Green Witch Cafe in Highland on the third Tuesday of each month.
The group unofficially organized in 2020 at a climate action blitz at Lincoln Community Center in Highland, where they focused on greenhouse gas emissions in the Region.
“The whole room was filled with people who cared about the environment,” one of the founders, Cathy Perrine, said. “Honest to God I thought I was the only person I knew who cared about this.”
At the event, attendees were told not to just talk about doing something but to actually do something. Perrine met others from Highland, such as Connie Wachala and Terry Steagall, and together they were inspired to start a formal group.
Wachala, one of the founders, said they are always finding new environmental activities and are always happy for more people to get involved.
Since it began, the group has been involved in many projects. One of the first was a regional greenhouse gas inventory as a first step in developing climate action plans.
Wachala spearheaded a team that lobbied local governments in Lake, Porter and LaPorte to start the inventory — the largest of its kind in the state at the time.
The total carbon dioxide from the three counties in 2017 was 48.9 million metric tons, according to the report, which was finalized in 2022. The emissions were broken down into seven categories, with industrial usage being the highest and transportation the second highest.
From this data the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission was going to create a climate action plan for communities to use as a template on how they should tackle the emissions problem in this region.
Wachala said this is an important step in the right direction but the effort has stalled for now.
The organization also helped with the Highland community garden. Recently, members gathered enough plastic to get a completely recycled bench for the garden through the NextTrex challenge.
It takes 1,000 pounds to create a bench but member Jean Bernius said they collected much more than that over the course of the four months they were gathering plastic. The group still has some plastic they are trying to get rid of.
Bernius said she was called the “bag lady” because she was collecting from everybody she could.
To gather the plastic they placed boxes in stores. They then had to sort through the plastic and take it to very specific drop off locations. Bernius said it was eye opening.
“When you’re swimming in a sea of plastic you realize you’re just a drop in the ocean,” Bernius said.
Bernius said there are other options to use instead of plastic. It can be hard to remember to bring reusable items but she recommends leaving bags and tupperware in your car in case you need them.
The Highland Neighbors for Sustainability also advises the town on what it could do to improve sustainability. One project in the works is a master plan for the town.
Each town has a master plan, which is a land use and infrastructure plan that sets forth local goals, objectives and policies for community growth. Highland’s plan has not been updated in over 20 years while it normally is supposed to be updated every five years, Perrine said.
The town of Highland will host meetings to gather public input on the master plan. Wachala encourages everyone to attend town meetings.
Town council meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of the month. Study sessions are held at the same time on the first and third Monday of the month.
“We do need to absolutely show up when the public meetings are taking place,” Wachala said. “If you don’t do politics, politics does you.”
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Cathy Perrin, one of the founders of Highland Neighbors for Sustainability, picks a radish at the community garden they help with.
Two members of the Highland Neighbors for Sustainability walk in the July 3 Twilight parade.
The group had a float with a theme “Growing a Greener Future” during Highland’s Twilight Parade on July 3.
James Brunt, a member of the group, dressed as “Captain Sustainability” to promote environmentalism.
The bench they received from gathering 1,000 pounds of plastic was featured in their float during the parade. They will put the bench in the Highland community garden.
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