April 2005 | Choice News

Chicago Goes Dark for a Few Million Feathered Friends

SPRING IS THE TIME Robbie Hunsinger begins calling her friends to deliver an important message: “Turn off your lights.” Hunsinger’s friends are downtown building managers, and from now until the first week of June, Chicago’s night skyline will go dark to help protect the approximately seven million birds passing through during their seasonal migration, some from as far away as Bolivia.

The birds, which mainly migrate at night, can become easily confused by the lights, thereby comprimising their ability to navigate.

“Then they’re stuck in canyons of glass,” said Hunsinger. They exhaust themselves trying to find their way out. Many collide with buildings and wind up dead or injured.

In the fall of 2002, Hunsinger, who lives on the city’s northwest side, accompanied a fellow bird enthusiast one evening while he attempted to rescue fallen birds downtown. The number of dead birds they found in just a small area around E. Randolph St. topped 80. “Something in me just couldn’t stand it,” she recalled. “I was really motivated.”

Within a year, Hunsinger, who plays in Whippoorwill, a bluegrass band, founded Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CBCM). She began calling downtown building managers to ask them to turn out their tower and lobby lights. A separate program, Lights Out Chicago, had been established several years earlier and other activists had made attempts to have the lights turned down, so many building managers were familiar with the need.

Some managers never made the connection between their building’s lights being on and the dead birds they’d find on their sidewalks every morning. Others just needed a reminder. Hunsinger estimated their efforts have saved thousands of birds.

Despite this success, she reports there’s a lot more work to be done. Lights in lobby areas, private residences and individual offices still pose a threat. Hunsinger has seen birds hit windows as low as the third floor. “Every light counts,” she said.

CBCM also runs a bird rescue program. About 80 percent of the injured birds they retrieve can be fully rehabilitated and released back into the wild. These rescues represent a significant part of CBCM’s conservation efforts, given that bird populations are in decline.

In the fall of 2004, they saved more than 400 injured birds representing more than 40 species. Some, like wood thrushes and brown creepers, are species at risk, so Hunsinger considers returning these birds to the wild particularly significant.

CBCM operates an injured-bird hotline and dispatches a small network of volunteers to retrieve, care for and transport birds to a federally permitted care facility. The organization currently lacks people who live and work downtown that would be willing to help.

Hunsinger said she likes to tell potential volunteers: “Saving the rain forest is such a big issue, as it should be. But, these birds are going there. You’re in Chicago. You have a hands-on opportunity to help them.”

The main number and bird rescue hotline is 773-988-1867. Chicago Bird Collision Monitors can be found at www.birdmonitors.net.

— Jennifer Roche


Women Fight for Health Funds

UNTIL RECENTLY, if a woman was prescribed a drug she assumed it was safe to follow the doctor’s orders. But what she probably didn’t know was that until recently most medical research was based on tests conducted on men.

Since a woman’s metabolism is different, she could react to the drugs differently. For instance, a recent study concluded that aspirin therapy affects women differently than men.

Also, before 1995 everything from depression to breast cancer was studied by using men.

But that could change under a federal bill that would obtain the funding needed to assure women are used in women’s health research.

Introduced by U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), the Women’s Health Office Act would make permanent women’s health offices in five major federal agencies: the Department of Human Services, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Health Resources and Services Administration.

“It’s been a slow, steady process,” said Martha Nolan, vice president of public policy at the Society for Women’s Health Research, a non-profit organization working to improve women’s health research and education. “We need to continue to fight on for women’s issues. The fight for money in terms of research for women is long from being over.”

— Belia Ortega


TV Series Explores World’s Web

IN A SHOW that’s part mystery, part environmental documentary “National Geographic’s Strange Days on Planet Earth” is sure to captivate viewers with its spectacular visuals and compelling stories when it premieres April 20 and 27.

Broken into four parts: “Invaders,” “The One Degree Factor,” “Predators” and “Troubled Waters,” the PBS mini-series tackles the subjects in a way that not only demonstrates how intricately connected the web of life is, but how events halfway around the globe have a direct impact on daily lives.

Scientists who set out to discover why there’s a natural deforestation effect in Yellowstone National Park trace it to the elimination of wolves from the park. A growing problem with asthma and coral reef die-offs in Trinidad is directly related to dust traveling across the Atlantic Ocean from the expanding African desert due to a drought blamed on global warming.

Hosted and narrated by actor Edward Norton, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are some success stories. A scientist in Uganda comes up with an ingenious system of bio-control to combat the rising cases of malaria and intestinal diseases in humans that were traced to an alien species of South American water hyacinth that was chocking the shoreline of Uganda’s Lake Victoria. The stagnating waters had become a breeding ground for diseases. Despite becoming an object of ridicule, the scientist perseveres in his plan to import and introduce the plant’s natural predator, a South American weevil. The lake’s eco-balance is restored, leading to cleaner waters and a decrease in disease.

The series also offers suggestions on links to download more information.

The series, produced by Sea Studios Foundation, Vulcan Productions and National Geographic Television & Film, is being presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. It is scheduled to be broadcast locally on WTTW-Channel 11 at 9 p.m. April 20 and 27.

— Marla Donato


Invite Your Mother to Dinner

CHANCES ARE, if you decide to mark the 35th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, you’ll probably do something like plant a tree, clean up a beach, or maybe help restore a wooded trail.

But if Theresa Marquez has her way, you’ll also consider inviting your mother to dinner. Mother Earth, that is. It might help if you invite some family and friends to do the cooking.

This is the second year that Marquez, director of consumer affairs at Wisconsin-based Organic Valley Family of Farms (www.organicvalley.coop), has been promoting the idea of Earth Dinner parties. The first year, only a handful of people adopted the idea, but it did manage to gain national attention.

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh panned it, Marquez said. “He said, ‘Can you believe what these environmental wackos are doing? They are worshiping Mother Earth as a religion.’”

Marquez shrugged, undeterred.

“Basically, there are two rules,” she said. “You have to identify where the [food] things came from, and for each course you need to have an intimate conversation about your relationship with the Earth.”

To get the discussions rolling this year, Organic Valley has come up with a free deck of 50 discussion cards.

They include inspirational sayings by everyone from former First Lady “Lady Bird” Johnson (“Where flowers bloom, so does hope”) to novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (“There is not a thing which is more positive than bread”). And they ask questions such as: “How much food do you throw away from your refrigerator every week?”

The whole idea started a few years back over drinks at the Excelsior Hotel in New York City where Marquez had gone for a meeting. Marquez, Katherine DiMatteo of the Organic Trade Association and Jeff Odefey of Waterkeeper Alliance were discussing how to put the Earth back into Earth Day by adding its bounty to the festivities.

“We wanted something that was simple, without a lot of bureaucracy that everyone could get behind, trade associations, nonprofits and for-profit businesses,” Marquez said.

If you want to make your dinner official, you can sign up and link it to the Earth Dinner’s homepage website.

The Earth Dinner Creativity Cards by Douglas Love are available free. For menu ideas, table decorating suggestions and your own set of Earth Dinner cards, visit www.earthdinner.org.

— Marla Donato


Learn to Laugh at Yourself

THE RECIPE for success is very simple, according to motivational speaker Aman Motwane: Learn to laugh at yourself.

It also helps if you can focus on the correct things.

“The reason why most people don’t get what they are seeking in life, whether it is a deep relationship, or more money, is because they flirt with the wrong things,” said Motwane, who added that most people are seduced by superficial solutions as opposed to looking at things at their deeper level. Superficial is not to be confused with simple.

According to Motwane, when you look at things at their deepest level, they get simpler.

Motwane, who was born in India and is now based in California, authored the 2003 book Power of Wisdom — When You Change the Way You Look at the World Your Whole World Changes.

Motwane encourages people to focus on what they do well and develop a sense of humor about their foibles or shortcomings. He also explores the wisdom of duality, or opposites. He pointed out that just as everything has an opposite, we all have strengths and weaknesses. Simply put, the things we can do with our eyes closed or half-asleep are the things that we need to do to achieve life purpose. According to Motwane, at his Chicago workshop, he will conduct exercises to help participants focus on their strengths and accept their shortcomings.

If this sounds intriguing, you can check out Motwane’s philosophy in a workshop on April 16, 1:30 to 3:30 pm, and during Sunday services on April 17, both at Unity Church, 1925 W. Thome Ave. in Rogers Park, Chicago.

For more information, visit www.powerofwisdom.com. To register for the workshop at Unity, phone 773-973-0007. The fee is $20.

— Caroline Ratliff


School Funding Reform Bill

ILLINOIS HAS one of the “most inequitable education funding systems in the country,” according to the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability that points out per pupil spending ranges from a high of more than $18,000 to a low of less than $5,000.

Because of this, the center is pushing for passage of HB750 a bill that is designed to correct the situation through funding reforms.

“We’re not talking about money. We’re talking about boys and girls and what’s needed to close the achievement gap,” said Max McGee, superintendent of Wilmette School District 39.

McGee was among the educators and advocates who support the proposed legislation that calls for a 3 to 5 percent raise in the income tax, a reduction in the property tax, expansion of the service tax and the addition of more tax credits similar to the earned income tax credit. The bill would result in the shifting of some of the school funding tax burden from property taxes to the state income tax.

Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, explained that the bill means the state funding system will be able to keep up with inflation and population growth.

“Illinois, the fifth wealthiest state in the U.S., should be embarrassed it does not adequately fund public education for all of its children.”

If HB750 is passed Illinois will still have the third lowest tax in the country, Martire said. “HB750 also includes the strongest legal guarantee you can get that school funding reform will be sustained over time,” he added.

Dean Clark, president and CEO of Graphic Chemical in Villa Park, said that as a business owner he understands how the state’s over-reliance on property taxes frequently forces businesses to relocate to other areas. Then as the number of businesses decreases the tax rate goes up, forcing residents to pay more he said. But the proposal is not without its critics.

“It’s hard to say that the income tax is reliable or will grow over time,” said Jeff Mays, president of the Illinois Business Roundtable, a nonprofit public policy association. “The reasons schools are having the problem that they have is because they’re spending more then they are bringing in.”

He said schools need to be held more accountable for spending since the growth rates on school spending has grown by 20 percent during a time when the state is dealing with a deficit. “Swapping revenues doesn’t take care of the problem,” he said.

Mays said the proposed increase was too large especially during a time when state finances are squeezed so tight.

But a bill supporter, State Rep. Will Davis (D-30) said it was important to pass HB750 to “level the [education] playing field.”

He said it would not take funding away from any school district.

“Maybe I’m an idealist but if nothing else I understand the importance of school funding reform. I’m willing to make sacrifices to help the children of Illinois,” Davis said. “Essentially the problem in Illinois is that we don’t have the political will to make the change in Illinois. It’s time for my colleagues to stand up and have the political will to do that.”

— Belia Ortega


City Groups Get Recycling Grants

FIVE COMMUNITY organizations were awarded grants of up to $50,000 from the City of Chicago for their outstanding commitment to recycling and waste-reduction efforts around the city. Al Sanchez, commissioner of the Department of Streets and Sanitation, presented the Neighborhood Recycling Grants to groups that initiated innovative programs promoting recycling and other waste-reduction efforts.

The recipients included the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, the Albany Park Community Center, Bold Chicago, Fuller Park Community Development Corp. and the Edgewater Chamber of Commerce.

The programs range from an initiative to promote Blue Bag recycling in Chicago public schools to a project in Edgewater to turn used wine corks into a soil-enrichment product used to grow orchids.

The Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance hopes to establish four composting facilities and train 30 Certified Master Composters. If successful, the project would remove 252 tons of organic waste from Chicago’s landfills in its first year alone.

— Geoffrey Wallin