The Repair Cafe offers an opportunity for your broken electronic items to be repaired by a crew of skilled volunteers free of chart. Located at 624 S. Oak Park Ave in the Fox Center in Oak Park, Repair Cafe is open the first Saturday of every month from 10:00 am to 1:30 pm. For more information, click here.
The 6th Annual River Forest Community Bike Exchange is being held Sunday April 12th from 10 am to 1 pm at the River Forest Middle School Playground. Early Drop Off is available at 730 Lathrop Ave from April 5th through April 11th. All event information can be found here.
For Earth Month, The River Forest Sustainability Commission is once again partnering with EcoShip to collects packaging and shipping materials and distributes them to businesses and individuals for reuse. From Tuesday, March 31st through Monday, May 4th, Village Hall will have an EcoShip dropbox container in the 2nd Floor Lobby for collection of clean, tape-free packaging materials in reusable condition.
On Saturday April 18th, the Village of Oak Park is having a styrofoam recycling event from 9 am to 12pm, at theeor Public Works Center, 201 South Blvd. in Oak Park.
The Forest Preserve District of Cook County and the Trailside Museum have a number of upcoming events. Please click here for more information on the events.
- The Forest Preserve District of Cook County will be having their annual Trash Bash at Miller Meadow-South on Saturday, April 4 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Event partners will be collecting electronics, prescription drugs, books, musical instruments, bikes, clothing and more. For more information and a complete list of items being collected, please visit the Forest Preserve website.
Additionally, the River Forest Sustainability Commission and the Forest Preserve are partnering together to host two events in honor of World Migratory Bird Day:
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The Big Sit: World Migratory Bird Day: Saturday, May 9th 8 am–11 am - Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day with Trailside Museum and the Village of River Forest at a relaxing and welcoming Big Sit birding event! From 8:00–11:00 am, participants of all experience levels are invited to gather in one spot and observe as many bird species as possible as they pass through during spring migration. Trailside educators will be on hand to help with identification, share fascinating facts about migratory birds, and highlight ways we can protect critical habitats—bring binoculars, curiosity, and enjoy a morning of birdsong and community along the river.
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Bird Walk @ Thatcher Woods: Tuesday, May 19th 10 am-11:30 am - Come celebrate spring migration and make World Migratory Bird Day a month-long event! Join a naturalist-guided bird walk at Thatcher Woods Forest Preserve on Tuesday, May 19, from 10 am to 11:30 am. The walk will begin at Trailside Museum of Natural History outside the museum entrance. We will pass through several of the different habitats that make up Thatcher Woods, including an ongoing "no mow" grassland restoration and forest edge, bottomland hardwood forest, and recently burned oak woodland. Limited binoculars and portable identification guides available. This event is sponsored by the River Forest Sustainability Commission.
In another event to celebrate World Migratory Bird Day, the Sustainability Commission is partnering with the River Forest Public Library to host Book Discussion on Thursday, May 28th from 7 pm to 8 pm. This summer, the River Forest Sustainability Commission is conducting a citizen science project to monitor a migratory bird (the Common Nighthawk) that spends its summers with us. To find out what citizen science is all about, and why it’s so important for birds like the Nighthawks of River Forest, join us for a discussion of the book Citizen Science: How Ordinary People Are Changing the Face of Discovery by Caren Cooper. Learn about how you, as an ordinary citizen, can contribute to scientific knowledge. A small number of print copies will be available at the circulation desk one month before the discussion, but an ebook version is also available through hoopla. Due to limited availability in print, we recommend using hoopla. For the discussion, special attention will be paid to chapter two (on ornithology), chapter three (on entomology), and chapter seven (on conservation biology), plus the introduction and conclusion
The One Earth Collective has a Green Calendar with upcoming sustainability-focused events. The calendar can be found here.
- Celebrate the 15th Anniversary of One Earth Film Festival with this year’s theme, GenWe: All Together Now. Join us April 22-27, 2026 for inspiring films that spark conversation, connection, and collective action for our planet. Be part of the generation that shows up for our One Earth. Information and tickets are available here.
Triton College will be having several Sustainability events this spring
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Urban Ecology Guest Lecture by Forest Preserves of Cook County: March 25th 12-1 pm in Triton Library Upper Commons (A building) - featuring Claudia Morrisson, Conservation & Experiential Programming assistant, who will explore how wildlife adapts to life in dense urban and suburban environments. The presentation will introduce the concept of urban wildlife ecology and highlight the many ways animals thrive alongside human communities. Information will be provided on what individuals can do at home to reduce human impacts on local wildlife and we will end with a Q&A.
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Spring Bloom Walk: April 6th 11 am in Triton Botanical Garden - Triton Horticulture Chairperson Sam Schmitz will be leading a guided tour of blooming flowers and trees in Triton's Botanical Garden. Come see what species have started to emerge as we welcome in the Spring season!
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Community Litter Cleanups: March 24th, April 14th, and April 28th from 12:15-1:15 pm in the Triton Botanical Garden - The group will meet at Triton’s Botanical Gardens and will be picking up trash at Fullerton Woods (just north of the Botanical Gardens fence). The event is open to the campus community and neighbors. All supplies are provided along with a light snack. Please wear long pants and clothes that can get dirty