Sunday October 22, a sunny, mild day with fall leaf color in full splendor. About 62 people—mostly from Oak Park, but a few from Chicago neighborhoods Austin and Pullman—came to central Oak Park for the Fall Tree Stroll. We soaked up the glorious fall color, got to know our giant, gracious green neighbors a little better.
It’s time to look back and celebrate all the things we’ve accomplished together this year. Here’s 2021 by the numbers.
4,046 attendees at 26 film watch parties
At each of the virtual events during the main Fest Season in March and during Earth Week in April, we learned about the climate crisis, were presented with more than 250 action ideas, and pledged to take action.
Lake Michigan, one of Chicagoland’s great treasures, is connected to the Mississippi River by a series of waterways, including the Little Calumet River, which flows through several south-side Chicago neighborhoods, carrying nearly two centuries of African American history. The African American Heritage Water Trail honors this history and the remarkable stories of African American freedom seekers and trailblazers who traveled, lived, worked, and overcame enormous obstacles around this river and its banks. Please stop right now and visit this beautiful website, where you’ll find everything you need to understand the trail and the stops along its way.
In late 1989, hundreds of headless walrus washed ashore on the coastline of Alaska’s Seward Peninsula, the westernmost part of the North American mainland.
Was it the result of subsistence hunting by Native Alaskans who traditionally used the meat, hides, blubber, bones, and ivory tusks without leaving so much waste behind? Was it the consequence of poaching for ivory tusks alone? Or could Russian villagers on the opposite side of the Bering Strait have been responsible?
If you curl up with A Sand County Almanac by a window, you may soon be looking outside and seeing a passing dog as a “professor” of scents. You may imagine how if a nearby chickadee worked, it would have a “Keep calm” sign above its desk. Aldo Leopold’s classic book combines such memorable and humorous observations of flora and fauna on his Wisconsin sand farm, as well as his thoughts and philosophy on conservation.
Lure birds, bees, and butterflies to your garden by purchasing native plants through West Cook Wild Ones this spring. You may order in advance, from now until April 15. The sale takes place on May 14, at Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church parking lot, on Washington St., one block east of Oak Park Ave., in Oak Park. Please bring boxes and bags to carry home your pre-ordered plants as well as those purchased the day of the sale.
