Archive for November, 2007
As one of the greenest cities in the nation, Chicago has a lot to offer people who are interested in adopting a sustinable lifestyle.
Sometimes the cold frightens people from getting out, but this week you could…
…learn how to grow vegetables through the winter at a “Season Extension Workshop” at the Chicago Center for Green Technology Saturday, November 17.
Here’s a summary of the event:
Dr. John Biernbaum, Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences at Michigan State University & Director of the Student Organic Farm will present a program on how to extend the growing season using hoophouses and unheated greenhouses. The Hoophouse Handbook can also be purchased at the event ($15). For More information and to register YOU MUST email or call our Chicago office 773-288-5462.
Cost: $20, includes materials.
November 12 2007 | Green Lifestyle and Green Farming and Green Events | No Comments »
Environmental issues trigger some common “buzz” words - such as green, sustainable, carbon footprint, etc. - but what do they all mean? To the average person, their definitions could seem hard to tackle.
Although different experts and environmentalists define each term a little differently, some basic principles can be pieced together.
Let’s start with sustainability.
The American Heritage Dictionary has the following definition:
sus·tained, sus·tain·ing, sus·tains
To keep in existence; maintain.
To supply with necessities or nourishment; provide for.
To support from below; keep from falling or sinking; prop.
To support the spirits, vitality, or resolution of; encourage.
To bear up under; withstand: can’t sustain the blistering heat.
To experience or suffer: sustained a fatal injury.
To affirm the validity of: The judge has sustained the prosecutor’s objection.
To prove or corroborate; confirm.
To keep up (a joke or assumed role, for example) competently.
Still, where do you go from here?
The Foresight Design Initiative makes things a little easier and provides an online sustainability guide to living in Chicago.
The guide covers everything about sustainability from A to Z.
About the Guide
Sustainability is about making cities livable and equitable. It’s about creating and supporting an economy that nourishes people, fosters cultural diversity and protects the environment. It starts right here and now, with the decisions we make on a daily basis.
Now, not knowing the terminology cannot be an excuse.
November 09 2007 | General | No Comments »
For some people, going green revolves around food. Supporting sustainability and putting healthy, organic and local options on the table is often easier said than done.
Two Chicagoans are taking matters into their own hands and opening a gluten-free, vegan and organic restaurant in November. Pull up a chair and listen to the baker and executive chef discuss the logic behind taking eating green to a whole new level.
For further background, read the post in October about the Balanced Kitchen or the article on Medill Reports.
Listen to the audio interview.
Quicktime Audio Interview
Or read the following transcript.
1. So what is your name?
B: My name is Elizabeth Bell Elper, but you can call me Betty.
2. And how are you involved in the restaurant?
B: I am the baker and the owner.
3. And what’s your name?
Z: Zachary Bello, and I am the executive chef here.
4. So tell me, for people who don’t know anything about the restaurant, what’s the basic premise behind the development – or the restaurant?
B: Well we are the Balanced Kitchen, and we’re 100 percent vegan and gluten-free. And we’re just, you know, trying…
Z: That really is the focus – being gluten-free and vegan and green and natural.
B: Yeah, that’s the focus. As long as everything is that, we’re all right with it. We are also trying to be very local. With the food that we use and with the amount of business we want to do, we don’t want this, a lot of gluten-free business is distance. There are not very many local, gluten-free businesses. So that’s what we’re trying to do.
5. For someone who has no idea what gluten is, how would you describe it?
B: Gluten is a protein that is found in wheat, barley, malt, rye, kaput, spelt.
6. And, so what would you say are some of the things to avoid for the normal human being if they have celiac disease or gluten intolerance?
B: Things to avoid? Anything that has those products in it. Well the obvious is bread, pasta – no traditional bread and pasta. But there are so many things that have gluten in them. Like soy sauce, which is horrible. But you can have tamari, which is good. But wheat-free tamari. And most baked goods – and also with vegan – I mean there are lots of things that you can’t eat. But it’s not really about what you can’t eat. You’re only really cutting out a few things from your diet. There are so many more things that you can eat. And I don’t know, I mean – I like to learn about new foods and explore things. And I feel like as a vegan and someone who does have a slightly restricted diet, you have to want to explore. To be excited about it.
Z: Yeah, to keep the excitement and then especially as a chef and a vegan now, who relies on protein and meat – for their flavor – I mean that’s where they get the bulk of their flavor. And they’re sort of very reliant on that product, and so as a vegan chef, now I have to explore bringing more flavors from the vegetables. You know, I have to incorporate flavor in different ways.
B: You have to be more inventive.
Z: Yeah, I’ve really had to push myself very hard to – not necessarily be experimental – because that’s very easy to just go out and try things. As a chef, I would eat anything. But to cook without those things, which are the moneymakers for chefs, has been a real challenge. It’s been a lot of fun.
7. Is Chicago progressive in the sense that more people – I mean do you think more people are turning to a gluten-free diet and that’s why they’re demanding restaurants like this?
B: There’s a slightly more – I mean especially gluten-free is growing a lot.
Z: There’s a huge awareness because diagnosis is becoming an important thing, especially for gluten intolerance and celiac.
B: And just the word gluten is out there.
Z: Yeah, and also all the people who are living a healthy lifestyle are learning about what gluten does to their body and knowing that it’s not good for their body – and deciding to cut it out because they want to be healthy.
B: And I mean a lot of people are more interested in the environment. The average person is becoming more interested because of popularized movies but it gets them excited.
November 09 2007 | Green Places and Green Lifestyle and Green Food | No Comments »
Walmart hasn’t always been on everyone’s good side, but the conglomerate might be moving in the right direction by shifting toward sustainability. Eventhough there aren’t any stores in the city, Chicagoans might have noticed that the company has already changed its brand from “Everyday Low Prices” to “Save Money, Live Better.”
Its new five key initiatives include: sustainability, health and wellness, community, economic opportunity and value.
One blogger, Robert Johnson, writes the following:
Health and wellness kicked off with $4 prescriptions. In conjunction with its huge sustainability initiative, Wal-Mart recently held a conference in which it brought together CEOs from all over the country and announced that it was going to green its supply chain. That means if your company is a Wal-Mart vendor, or if you want to be one, first you must meet the company’s sustainability objectives.
That’s huge because Wal-Mart interacts with 80 percent of the households in the U.S. Anything Wal-Mart does affects most consumer brands and most manufacturers. For example, Wal-Mart now sells a reusable shopping bag for $1 that is made from 85 percent recyclable materials, carries the same weight as a plastic bag and replaces 50 plastic bags in its lifetime.
Six months ago Wal-Mart launched the “Live Better Index” to track its efforts.
The index charts the habits of American households in five major areas, including sustainability. At the six-month mark for the index, Wal-Mart reported that Americans had already purchased 100 million compact fluorescent light bulbs for a $1.5 billion savings on their electricity bills.
Why is this so important? Because Wal-Mart has already found that sustainability is not only cost effective, but it saves consumers money. And now they have decided that they are also going to save themselves and their supply chain money by extending their sustainability initiatives rather than drawing back from them.
We’ll see just how Walmart will sustain its new green approach.
November 09 2007 | Green Trends | No Comments »
With the 2007 Grenbuild Conference underway, people interested in attending might not know where to start.
One of the new and exciting events will be the First Annual Greenbuild Film Festival on Thursday, Nov. 8. Feature films that promote green building practices and address social, environmental and health topics will make the cut.
Some of the feature films will include:
-E2 Energy, an original series produced by kontentreal for national PBS broadcast and international distribution
-High Performance Building: Perspectives and Practice, a succinct 20-minute film featuring over 12 LEED projects as well as interviews with CEOs, school administrators, government officials, building managers, and many others who are realizing the real benefits of going green.
View the complete schedule of films before scheduling a visit.
November 08 2007 | General | No Comments »
If designing, working and living in green buildings is of interest to you, then the Greenbuild Conference in Chicago Nov. 7 to 9 is right up your alley.
“Chicago is welcoming us with open arms” said Peter Templeton, Vice President of Education & Research, USGBC. “Chicago is not only one of the greenest cities in the country, Mayor Richard Daley has set a high bar for sustainable leadership and green building is a significant part of his commitment.”
The conference will be held at the McCormick Place West Building and include educational sessions, speakers, special events and tours. Basically, more than 18,000 who agree that green building is a good idea will meet to discuss the future of going green in an urban setting.
The Greenbuild International Conference and Expo used to be held in Los Angeles, but Templeton thinks the move to Chicago was a good idea.
“We’d like to thank the USGBC Los Angeles Chapter and Los Angeles Host Committee for their incredibly hard work to make Greenbuild 2007 a success, and we’re looking forward to bringing Greenbuild to Los Angeles in the near term. However, in January we had agreed to a date change from October to November, in order to support a business development opportunity for the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau (LA, Inc.) and better accommodate our growth. But last week LA, Inc. notified us that in order to fulfill our needs, we would now need to move to a December date. We felt another date change would be detrimental to Greenbuild, and our ability to serve our members and our sponsors. A venue change for 2007 became our only option.”
Chicago was a great change of venue because it was one of the first cities to adopt the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System. Also, Chicago has more building projects registered to earn this prestigious certification than any other city in the world. The new West Building at McCormick Place is a LEED registered project and Greenbuild will be one of the first major shows to be held there.
LEED Certified Buildings in Chicago include:
- The Chicago Center for Green Technology
- Chicago Public Library, Oriole Park Branch
- 22nd District Police Station
- Haworth Chicago Showroom
- 111 South Wacker Drive
- West Englewood Public Library
- Center for Neighborhood Technology
- North Exelon Pavilions, Millennium Park
- One South Dearborn
- Kimball Office/National Office Showroom
- The Angel Harvey Infant Welfare Society of Chicago Community Health Center
- Logan Square Branch Library
- Target McKinley Park
- 71 South Wacker Drive
- 1761 Chicago Marine Safety Station
- Bucktown-Wicker Park Branch Library
- Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse
- West Pullman Branch Library
November 08 2007 | Green Events | No Comments »
Among political issues of interest to religious groups in this country, the environment is beginning to emerge as key. How do various faiths address the many issues involved?
A panel of scholars and experts on world religions will examine the various doctrinal stances and discuss what religion and faith have to say about humankind’s place in nature. The panel will meet Nov. 4, 2:00-3:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple.
To live green, people make a conscious effort every day to sustain the environment and make decisions accordingly. The same usually goes for someone’s faith. Do the two go hand-in-hand?
Religions to be discussed will include: Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam…no religion under the sun is off limits.
November 02 2007 | Green Lifestyle and Green Events | No Comments »
With new suggestions about how to be eco-friendly popping up every day, the average person may start spinning in circles.
One expert may be encouraging people to switch to CFL light bulbs. Another environmentalist may urge everyone to buy hybrid vehicles. The next guy is suggesting solar panels.
Going green is great, but where does someone start with little time and energy?
A handful of Chicago women are providing an easy answer - stationary, wedding invitations and holiday cards all made from recycled paper. Women who are current and former participants and tenants of Deborah’s Place, Chicago’s largest provider of supportive housing exclusively for women, are employed.
Here’s the environmental impact calculated by WomanCraft:
Conserve a tree has a lot of great information and links to help you learn more. From this site we’ve borrowed a useful generalized calculation: 1 carton (10 reams) of virgin office paper = approximately .6 of the average felled tree. Based on these numbers we’ve worked out the following for WomanCraft:
1 WomanCraft Hollander beater (the machine that turns our shredded paper to pulp—ours is bigger than most) holds approximately 5 reams of shredded office paper (determined by weight of bagged shreds vs. weight of standard reams), so:
1 WomanCraft beaters-worth = approximately 1/3 of a tree
We estimate that we make about 2 beaters-worth of pulp each week, 48-50 weeks a year. Using the conservative number, we run our beater 96 times a year, so we create recycled paper equivalent to about 32 trees a year, and keep about 1000 pounds of paper from going to an incinerator or landfill!
WomanCraft, Inc. is a wholly-owned social enterprise of Deborah’s Place. Purchases help not only the environment, but also women working to create new beginnings.
November 01 2007 | Green Trends and Green Lifestyle and Green Fashion | No Comments »
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