Conscious Choice: Environs

Environs

The Tabloid Environmentalist
by Colin Woodard
The Skeptical Environmentalist, a new book by Bjorn Lomborg, is an intellectually dishonest tract filled with glaring omissions, appalling errors of fact and analysis, and inaccurate characterizations of contrary arguments. Unfortunately, the media reaction has been surprisingly un-skeptical. The book has become a runaway hit on both sides of the Atlantic following a wave of credulous features, book reviews, and Lomborg guest essays published in many of the English-speaking world’s most respected newspapers and magazines (February 2002).

Winter Survival Skills
by Arthur Montague
Even veteran winter wilderness adventurers can get caught by weather or an equipment failure. Survival can depend as much on the way in which the terrain is utilized as on the materials a traveler has available (January 2002).

Breaking Winter Trails
by Tom Judge
The best way to get some enjoyment out of winter is to go cross-country skiing. It’s easy, and one of the best forms of aerobic, full-body exercise (December 2001).

Bamboo Huts and Fruit Like Stars
by Deb Olin Unferth
In permaculture, or permanent agriculture farming, the farmer grows the different plants all together in a way that they help each other (November 2001).

How to Handle a Candle
by Delia Montgomery
Making or buying candles has never been easier, but how do you know when you’ve found a quality candle? (October 2001).

Hybrid Cars Are Ready — Are You?
by Ross Thompson
We road tested the two hybrid cars currently on the market and found them ready for American drivers to embrace. Can you dig it? (September 2001).

Sustainability Begins at Home
by Ana Arias Terry
Equipped with a bit of education and a willingness to make changes, however significant or minor, we can bring sustainability into our homes (September 2001).

Green Up Your Cleaners
by Jonn Salovaara
Apart from the worker-health and environmental benefits associated with wet-cleaning your clothing, there’s another advantage — it cleans better (July 2001).

The Sprouting of Native Plant Nurseries
by Mary Boldan
With millions of Americans gardening in conjunction with nature, the interest in using native plants is catching on with city dwellers and suburbanites (June 2001).

The Myth of the Great American Lawn

Energy Fixes for Older Homes
by William Hurrle
If you have an older home you may experience higher energy-related costs than new-home owners, but there are ways to improve energy efficiency (May 2001).

Rain Gardens
by Karen Cozzetto
A new movement is emerging that just might get stormwater management out of the curb and gutter and into our front and backyards (May 2001).

Rain Garden Plant Starter List

Ecotourism, The Green Way to Travel
by Deborah Straw
Sustaining and respecting the environment are important parts of ecotourism, but the concept is much more far-reaching in its implications (April 2001).

Visions of Wilderness
by Claudia M. Lenart
To look out over endless vistas of wilderness and see only nature, with no signs of human intervention, is no less than a spiritual experience (March 2001).

Risky Business
by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber
This excerpt from Trust Us We’re Experts! takes a close look at how industry manipulates science and gambles with our future (January 2001).

Farm Aid 2000
by James Faber
Farm Aid celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with this year’s concert. It remains an important tool in the fight against corporatization of agriculture (November 2000).

If Congress Won’t Recycle, Recycle Congress
by Jim Slama
The U.S. Congress has one of the worst recycling programs in the country -- one that allows millions of pounds of recyclable paper, cans, and bottles to be sent to landfills instead of being recycled (October 2000).

Worlds Beyond Words
by Meg McGowan
May Theilgaard Watts was a writer, naturalist, and conservationist. She was also the first to introduce the concept of "reading the landscape" (September 2000).

A Voice in the Wilderness
by Bob Condor
Many lost a good friend when Chicago Tribune Outdoors writer John Husar recently passed away. Bob Condor reflects on Husar’s full and loving life (September 2000).

Training for a Better Environment
by Tom Judge
Trains are an environmentally friendly form of mass transportation that offer unparalleled opportunities to relax while being kind to the environment (August 2000).

Chicago: The O’Hare for Migratory Birds
by Mary Boldan
The Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds will enhance, support, and promote bird habitat, migration, and awareness in the Chicago area (July 2000).

Gardens in the Sky
by Claudia M. Lenart
Rooftop gardens can clean up the air we breathe and engender the peace that can be found communing with nature in a garden (July 2000).

Bat Those Mosquitoes Away
by Loriee D. Evans
If you’re concerned about overusing chemical mosquito repellents in your backyard this summer, you might find a friend in furry flying mammals (July 2000).

Safe Sex Landscaping
by Thomas Ogren
Female trees and shrubs produce powerful symbiotic effects on local air quality. Without them, allergenic male-produced pollen is overabundant (June 2000).

Nature Centers
by Meg McGowan
Nature centers provide an excellent opportunity to understand the importance of diversity and to explore the complex interdependence of nature (June 2000).

Canoeing
by Tom Judge
For thousands of years, people have been treating themselves to the pure pleasure that maneuvering a small watercraft brings to the heart, mind, and soul (May 2000).

Getting on the Water

I Can’t Believe This is in Chicago!
by Nancy Clum
Every year more Chicagoans are making new discoveries along the Chicago River thanks to the efforts of the Friends of the River and their partners (May 2000).

Walk Softly
by Jeannie Bianchi
In an expanding market of footwear choices, some companies are making great strides towards greener technology and socially just production (May 2000).

Natural Landscaping
by Meg McGowan
Providing food and shelter for wildlife is only one of the many benefits that can be realized through planting native species in natural settings (April 2000).

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
by Brian Peters
The idea of education stands at the very heart of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Here’s a look at the museum and what’s happening there (February 2000).

The Wisdom of Going Tree-Free
by Ana Arias Terry
A wise policy of less paper consumption is not a bad goal to try and achieve through recycling and the use of wood pulp alternatives (December 1999).

E-paper Heads to Market
by Ross Thompson (December 1999)

Conserving Community
by Travis Stansel
Two developments near Chicago are attempting to combat the suburban malaise by going to great lengths to preserve land in the path of progress (September 1999).

Deep Ecology
by Bobbye Middendorf
For anyone who feels diversity is important, deep ecology is the place to start exploring, questioning, and getting the energy to take action (September 1999).

New Tollway Plans Point the Way to Sprawl
by Dave Aftandilian
If the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has its way with the proposed extensions of I-355, we’re headed for more sprawl and congestion (August 1999).

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
by Bobbye Middendorf
Michael Fields Institute stands as a beacon for maintaining family farms and nurturing the human spirit through wise land stewardship (August 1999).

The State of the Lake
by Janine Kostecki
Lake Michigan water quality update. Are current measures that rely on inefficient government and voluntary cooperation good enough? (July 1999).

Fox River Fame
by Travis Stansel
The Chicago area’s Fox River was named one of America’s ten most threatened rivers by the Washington-based advocacy group American Rivers (June 1999).

Ladybug, Ladybug
by Betsy Robinson
Although ladybugs don’t always provide the best pest control expected, they can help battle against mealy bugs . . . and they make fun garden pets! (June 1999)

Getting Ready to Garden
by Meg McGowan
Growing weary of our paved-over paradise, we believe that given hoes and trowels we can excavate Eden . . . at least in our own backyards (May 1999).

Black Gold
by Michael Filipski
During the warm months our residential garbage consists of compostable materials that can be transformed into priceless treasure (May 1999).

Trees, Grass and the Environment
by Jonn Salovaara
Chicago’s familiar lakefront standbys are exhibiting a new environmental awareness, along with all their other treasures (April 1999).

In Search of Birds
by Nina Amir Lacey
Most people don’t realize the tremendous variety of interesting birds that call Illinois home . . . at least part of the year (April 1999).

Celebrate International Migratory Bird Day
by Katie Distler (April 1999)

Claim This Dependent
by Nina Amir Lacey (April 1999)

Cohousing or No Housing
by Julie Brow
Citizens work from the inside out to rebuild Chicago’s neighborhoods. Here, three diverse groups represent the heart of the cohousing movement (April 1999).

Dust to Dust?
by Martin Kaufman
A greedy death industry prevents our return to nature (March 1999).

Slip-Sliding, Away!
by Ana Arias Terry
Ways to melt snow and ice, and their environmental, safety, and efficiency implications. (January, 1999)

Prairie Visions
by Sharon L. Comstock
Midewin recreates our lost national experience (May/June 1998)

Building a Better Pig?
by Renee Robinson
Pork production is following the industrial model. No more dealing with the whims of Mother Nature (September/October 1996).

Chicago Wilderness Catches Fire
by Mary Kate Hogan
New collaborative effort aims at restoring 200,000 acres locally. Places to volunteer (May/June 1996).

The Garden of Ethics
by Catharine Bell
A few opinions on how to help your garden grow (March/April 1996).

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