From the category archives:

environment

One Earth Film Fest April 27-29 in Oak Park/River Forest

by Cassandra West April 17, 2012 Documentary
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To stimulate dialogue and inspire planet-friendly action, Green Community Connections in Oak Park is hosting its first One Earth Film Fest 2012 April 27-29. The planning committee evaluated and considered more than 300 films, then narrowed its final selections to 16 feature-length films that have received critical acclaim within the green film community. Another 12-17 [...]

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How does your garden grow: Make your own compost

by Cassandra West April 24, 2011 Composting

Composting was long sort of a mystery to me. Making soil? Your own dirt? I didn’t get it. Even after driving to Milwaukee and taking a tour of Will Allen’s big composting enterprise, Growing Power, I was still wondering what was the big deal about dirt and worms. Then my friend Nancy told me about [...]

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Chicago forum focuses on ethics, sustainability

by Cassandra West October 25, 2010 environment
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Sky If the sky knew half of what we’re doing down here it would be stricken, inconsolable, and we would have nothing but rain — Brian Turner Kathleen Dean Moore and Michael P. Nelson, the editors of “Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril,” will be at the Chicago Botanic Garden Friday, Oct. [...]

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“Living Downstream” documentary screens in Chicago Oct. 19

by Lori Rotenberk October 15, 2010 Documentary
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Screenings for the new and highly acclaimed documentary “Living Downstream” based on the book by Sandra Steingraber will be held in five Illinois cities beginning Oct. 16. Steingraber, a biologist born and raised in Pekin, Ill., was at 20, diagnosed with bladder cancer. Through investigation and research, Steingraber reveals how the chemicals atrazine, an herbicide [...]

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Mixing it up with Erlene The Compost Queen

by Lori Rotenberk October 13, 2010 Composting
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One day last October as she readied to pitch a bag of food waste—fruit skins and peels—into the abyss of the trash bin, Erlene Howard had a whiff of an idea. Instead of tossing the bag she dropped her last name, Howard, and transformed herself into Erlene The Compost Queen, and in May launched Collective [...]

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One-fifth of world’s plant at risk of extinction

by Lori Rotenberk September 29, 2010 Agriculture
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A new report from England warns that one-fifth of the world’s plants are at risk of extinction. According to a story from the BBC today, of the 380,000 plant species worldwide, many are in danger of extinction due to the clearing of forests for agriculture. The loss is speeding the work by seed banks such [...]

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Add your input on America’s Great Outdoors Initiative

by Cassandra West August 27, 2010 Community

If you have time on Monday, Aug. 30 to attend this important event, you can offer input into President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, a 21st Century agenda for conservation, recreation and connecting with the outdoors. Share your ideas with Amy Salzman, Associate Director for Policy Outreach, White House Council on Environmental Quality; Will Shafroth, [...]

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Chicago food activists stand with Haitian farmers in rejecting Monsanto seeds

by Cassandra West June 1, 2010 Agribusiness

Since the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake, many Haitians came to see agriculture as the most practical and long-term solution to healing the land and the economy. Then in stepped big agribusiness, as always, with its own solution, designed more to help its bottom line than the Haitian population. Monsanto, the St. Louis-based agri-chemical company, announced [...]

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