Everything from strawberries in November to Lawrence’s lack of curbside recycling will be discussed at a town hall forum on Monday.

The plan is to spur discussion about making the community more environmentally friendly.

Representatives from Liberty Hall, the Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival, Zephyr Energy and The World Company – which publishes the Journal-World – are teaming up as hosts to the Lawrence Sustainability Town Hall Event from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday at Liberty Hall, 642 Mass. The event will include participation from city and county commissioners and various staff members from the city, county, Kansas University, Chamber of Commerce and other groups.

“We’re hoping to demonstrate to our elected leaders and others that there is a need and desire for the issues of sustainability to be front and center in the community,” said Brett Mosiman, an organizer of the Wakarusa Festival. “It seems like it hasn’t had near the traction you would expect in Lawrence.”

For some, they have to look no farther than their curbs to see that. Sara Hill-Nelson, an executive with Zephyr Energy, which sells renewable energy produced by the Bowersock Mills & Power Co. along the Kansas River, said Lawrence’s lack of curbside recycling almost certainly will be a topic at the event.

“I think some people find it embarrassing that Lawrence is supposed to be such a green city, and we don’t even have curbside recycling,” Hill-Nelson said.

Hill-Nelson said she hoped the Monday event would allow residents to understand why the city currently doesn’t offer the program and show city leaders how passionate some members of the community are about the recycling issue.

Dan Simons, president of The World Company’s electronics division, said he hoped the event would be an opportunity for area residents to have questions answered about how they can incorporate environmentally friendly practices into their lives.

“For example, I would like to do some wind energy elements at work and at home, but I don’t have the first clue about what I have to do in terms of complying with city regulations,” Simons said. “I bet you I’m not alone.”

Mosiman also said he hopes the event will challenge residents to think in different ways about some fairly ordinary practices. For example, buying strawberries in November.

Mosiman said when he sees November strawberries in Lawrence grocery stores, it doesn’t cause him to start thinking about a nice dish of shortcake. Instead, he thinks about how much energy it must have taken to ship the seasonal fruit to Kansas from a far away place.

He said helping people understand the environmental benefits of buying locally and shopping for seasonal produce is an example of how everyone can play a part, Mosiman said.

“We don’t want to be preachy,” Mosiman said. “We’re not telling people what to do. We just want to be a conduit for the community to explore the issues.”

The event will be broken into four broad categories. They are:

¢ Waste reduction and pollution prevention, 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

¢ Energy production and conservation, 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

¢ Community transportation, 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

¢ Land use and planning, 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Elected leaders who are scheduled to attend the event include City Commissioners Rob Chestnut, Mike Dever and Boog Highberger, and County Commissioner Charles Jones.