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GCC is BUILDing a Brighter Future for At-Risk Kids in Chicago

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GCC is BUILDing a Brighter Future for At-Risk Kids in Chicago

This summer, GCC’s “I Can Fly” mentoring and garden education program is returning, bigger and better than before in the Austin neighborhood. The program has a new name and new energy, thanks to new funding and a stronger partnership with Broader Urban Involvement & Leadership Development (BUILD), an organization that has been serving at-risk youth in Chicago’s most challenging neighborhoods for 50 years. Their mission is “...to engage at risk youth in schools and on the streets to help them realize their potential and contribute to our communities.”

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The Climate Food Fight: Victory Gardens for a Warming World

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The Climate Food Fight: Victory Gardens for a Warming World

Can we fight climate change with a tomato? We’ve fought with food once before. . . and we’re not talking about in the cafeteria.

Today, a new round of Climate Victory Gardens are popping up across the country to address our climate crisis, according to Jillian Semaan, food campaigns director at Green America, a national nonprofit that is leading the charge.

Dear Santa Pritzker: Opinion by Cyclist Mike Erickson

Dear Santa Pritzker: Opinion by Cyclist Mike Erickson

Dear Santa (Gov. Pritzker):

We’ve been so very good this year! We elected you Governor of Illinois and that is a first!  We think a progressive (fair) income tax is a great idea for all of us worker elves. . . we deserve a raise too, but a fair tax is a great start. . . .

IDOT is asking for 52% of the goods in this gift package for new roads and new highways. Bah humbug! IDOT has not been a good boy for decades. They’ve hired hacks and built programs that give us sprawl and ever more congestion. Their bread and butter puts more carbon dioxide and diesel pollution into everyone’s holiday stew. To choke on their brew is not a gift, it is a curse. Don’t give in to them, Santa!

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Remembering Sally Stovall

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Remembering Sally Stovall

When most people retire, they kick back, take cruises, and visit the grandchildren. Sally Stovall was not most people. She did, indeed, relish visiting her grandchildren, but after she retired from a career in organizational development, Sally embarked on a new, vibrant career as climate activist and community organizer.

In September 2010, Sally and her partner, Dick Alton, were worried about global warming and decided to hold a community meeting to see if others felt the same way. Out of the woodwork poured a cohort of people with the same concerns --no real surprise in progressive Oak Park.

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Parts of Monarch Migration 'A Great Mystery'

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Parts of Monarch Migration 'A Great Mystery'

When monarch butterflies migrate over 2,000 miles to Mexico during the winter, they head to the same places within the fir forests each year. This fact may not sound impressive, but the monarchs who fly to Mexico may be fourth generation butterflies who have never seen the mountain forests and do not have any living ancestors to lead the way from experience.

Doug Taron, chief curator at Chicago Academy of Sciences’ Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, will speak about the life cycle and migration of monarch butterflies at a West Cook Wild Ones monthly meeting from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 26, at the Oak Park Public Library Maze Branch, 845 Gunderson Ave.

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A Dirty Deal for McKinley Park?

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A Dirty Deal for McKinley Park?

It happened suddenly, almost overnight. Just 700 feet from young children playing, MAT Asphalt, LLC appeared on the southern border of McKinley Park, at 2055 W. Pershing Rd., in Chicago, in early 2018. The plant produces up to 890,000 tons of asphalt per year.

Almost as quickly, Neighbors for Environmental Justice (N4EJ) formed in response; they are a group of local citizens who claim the plant brings dust and fumes, which could damage children’s lungs, increase rates of asthma, and possibly worse.

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Book Review: 'How to Be a Good Creature'

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Book Review: 'How to Be a Good Creature'

Not many people would let a tarantula crawl across their hand and consider it a “magical” experience. Nor allow an octopus to grasp their arm with its suckers, but author Sy Montgomery did both, telling stories about the animals in “How to be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals.”

The Nature Book Club of the Trailside Museum of Natural History will hold a free discussion of “How to Be a Good Creature” at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 2. The museum is located at 738 Thatcher Ave. in River Forest. For details, contact 708-366-6530 or trailside.museum@cookcountyil.gov. “How to Be a Good Creature” is a New York Times bestseller, and Montgomery is a National Book Award finalist.

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Anthony Bourdain's Wasted! Comes to Oak Park/River Forest

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Anthony Bourdain's Wasted! Comes to Oak Park/River Forest

With 40% of all food being wasted in the United States, the Interfaith Green Network, in conjunction with several sustainable organizations in the area, want to help us all become Food Waste Warriors. Two programs are lined up to help us become more aware of the problem of food waste and what we can do about it at home.

Those who didn’t catch the documentary WASTED! at last year’s One Earth Film Festival have another chance next month at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, at Oak Park Library. Doors open at 6 p.m. for this free screening. All ages welcome. Please register here.

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Reduce Your Carbon Footprint During the Holidays

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Reduce Your Carbon Footprint During the Holidays

Visiting friends or family via airplane this holiday season? Don’t forget to bring Mother Earth a present by offsetting the carbon emissions from your flight.

Carbon offsetting involves financially supporting Earth-friendly projects, such as planting trees or building wind farms, which reduce the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide that your flight generated. Burning jet fuel produces carbon dioxide, one of the harmful greenhouse gases that is causing climate change.

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Young Filmmakers Workshops Expand Outreach

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Young Filmmakers Workshops Expand Outreach

Six One Earth Young Filmmakers Workshops started in the heat of summer, on August 11, and finished up amid a winter chill on December 9. Recent art school graduates and accomplished, award-winning film directors taught content, which ranged from stop-motion to live action.