Smells Like Green Spirit

This weekend at Kilbourne Park (3501 N. Kilbourne Ave, just west of Milwaukee Ave and Addison St) from 10 am to 2 pm there will be an amazing sale of organic seedlings…veggies, herbs, and flowers.

In the words of the Chicago Park District Website:

“Customers can expect more than 150 varieties of open-pollinated tomatoes, such as Aunt Ruby’s German Green Tomato, Copia, Green Zebra, and Black Cherry . There is a limited supply of tomatoes, so gardeners are encouraged to stop by early.The Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse accepts payment for plants by cash and check only.

On Wednesday, May 21 from 6 – 7:30 pm, the Kilbourn Organic Greenhouse will host Gardening Basics: Free Question Answer session by the Master Gardeners of CookCountyChicago – University of Illinois Extension. Bring your questions and come to this evening’s discussion such as; how to plant, when to plant, fertilizing, composting, watering, mulching. We will have several Master Gardeners available to answer your gardening questions. This program is sponsored by Master Gardeners of Cook County Chicago, a program of the University of Illinois Extension.”

Click here to visit the Chicago Park District Website

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A few years ago, a chilling documentary called “Chernobyl Heart” aired on HBO about a children’s mental asylum in Vesnova located near the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. A reported 40% upsurge in birth defects linked with the nuclear catastrophe coupled with the area’s poverty filled the children’s home with twisted creatures rarely seen in more well-off western countries. The girl whose brain grew entirely separately from her head, the girl with “water on the brain” that made her head swell to the size of a huge upside down pear, the young one whose body was twisted painfully into a backwards horseshoe shape by a bent spine…these were just some of the tear jerking images of what 100-200 years ago would likely have been marketed in circuses and sideshows as circus freaks.

And yet, another strange thing emerged from the nuclear disaster. As the area with an 18 mile radius has been completely abandoned by people, the incredible biodiversity that has erupted has stunned scientists. Free from the interferences of people terrified of the nuclear core that will be burning for thousands years from now, the flora and fauna of Pripyat is flourishing at a startling rate.

Over 100 animals listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List of threatened species have been found in the area. While genetic mutations and deformities abound in young creatures, they are rarer in adults, implying that the mutations are weeded out as the fittest survive and the deformed die young. Trees have been found to grow twisted and confused, almost as if they “don’t know which end is up,” says Discover Magazine.

Will nuclear fall out in the future lead to less people and more animals on earth? Time will only tell. Surely for the answers, let us ask the cockroaches and the beetles who have been laughing at our foolish ways since the beginning.

For more information:

Chernobyl Children’s Project International
They have a wealth of links on the left hand of their home page with Chernobyl information.

Note: This article has previously appeared in Atlanta’s Heroine Magazine, with copyrights retained by the author Laura Callier.

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One problem I have with the concept of purchasing carbon offsets is, as many critics have put it, the similarities to the medieval practice of purchasing indulgences to offset sins.

How can we really be sure that the charities we’re supporting are actually doing what they say they are, and that we are really getting our money’s worth?

While I do support the idea, and as I’ve mentioned, one charity I support in this endeavor is the Conservation Fund, it’s so important to not rely on things like recycling and carbon offsets instead of actually living conscientiously, reducing the total amount of waste we produce, and reducing the total amount of carbon we produce on a daily basis.

It’s frustrating to read about Al Gore living in a mansion that uses over 20 times the amount of electricity of an average person, to think that he could probably afford solar panels and such, and to read about him flying private jets all over the planet while he preaches about global warming, and it’s frustrating to think about the fact that some organizations offering carbon offsets might just be capitalizing on the market for them, but that is why we should just try to educate ourselves, do the best we can, and try to live by example.

And, while purchasing “indulgences” might psychologically lessen the weight of our environmental “sins,” let’s together be sure to do as much as we can to reduce our carbon feetprints!

What do you think? What do you do to offset your carbon dioxide production? What do you think about the purchase of carbon offsets? Leave a comment and let me know what’s on your mind…

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College of the Atlantic in the fair state of Maine, received the honor of being the first carbon neutral campus in the U.S. As you many know, this doesn’t mean that they have eliminated all carbon emissions, but rather have taken action to neutralize or offset all of the carbon they produce.

As one of the 450 colleges or universities to take the “net-zero” pledge, CAA says it spent around $25,000 offsetting 2488 tons of carbon over the last 15 months.

Over the summer, I endeavored to do the same, and I suggest if you should do something along the same lines if you can!

Honestly, I don’t know if there are better charities out there, but the one I used was The Conservation Fund. The Conservation Fund has a calculator where you can estimate the amount of carbon your lifestyle produces, and then donate money which they use to plant native trees, planting one tree for every $5 you donate. According to them, the tree planting will “address climate change, protect wildlife habitat and enhance America’s public recreation areas. Since 2000, The Conservation Fund has restored nearly 20,000 acres and planted more than 8 million trees through its carbon sequestration program. Over the next 100 years, these new forests will capture an estimated 9.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere.”

Please visit the Conservation Fund “Go Zero” website for more information, or if you know of other, better charities to support, please let me know!!

PS Doesn’t the phrase “carbon neutralizing” sound like something a gun in an old sci-fi movie would do?

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