A Carbon Negative Getaway

A main attraction for the Chicago 2016 Olympic & Paralympic Games Bid is the compactness of venues, athlete living quarters and downtown tourist destinations. However, the influx of visitors to Chicago would also have access to relaxed pastoral getaways such as Monroe, Wisconsin’s Inn Serendipity during their stay.

Ecopreneurs Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko left corporate positions in Chicago to build a Bed & Breakfast incubator (never thought I would type that phrase) for land-stewardship and sustainable living. The couple has created a retreat completely powered by renewable energy including a Straw Bale Greenhouse heated by passive solar. As a result of their efforts, Inn Serendipity is officially a “carbon negative” business, capturing more carbon than emitted through yearly operations.

Features of Inn Serendipity include:

• 680-watt photovoltaic system
• A labyrinth with 3000 years of history
• Solar heated water for bathrooms
• 10kW wind turbine system

Chicago’s skyscrapers and dense neighborhoods may intimidate some visitors, but a slower lifestyle is available in the surrounding areas. Don’t forget Wisconsin and Indiana are less than an hour away!

Locally Grown, Eco-Friendly Restaurants

by Andy Angelos

Chicago residents are already proud of their vast culinary treasures as demonstrated in numerous posts from Theresa. Adding to the diversity is a growing collection of environmentally conscious restaurants featuring locally grown food and energy saving practices. Some of the emerging conservation tactics employed by Chicago eateries include:

• Installing low-flow sprayers and dual flush toilets
• Reducing the pre-heat and idle time on cooking surfaces
• Run full capacity dishwasher loads
• Collecting organic waste for the Chicago Resource Center
• Use eco-friendly cleaners

Since I do not possess the same level of gastronomical expertise as Theresa or local critics like Tweating Out, I was forced to request help from my network of Twitter followers. Below are introductions to some of the more intriguing responses. Thanks to all who contributed!

312 Chicago. Chef Dean Zanella uses locally grown ingredients from Green City Market and naturally raised livestock. The “Italian-inspired American” food changes with seasonal produce but features constant specials such as seared day boat scallops. And for only $1000, Chef Zanella will instruct a personal cooking class and cater a small dinner party.

May Street Market. Located on 1132 W. Grand, May Street Market strives to provide multi-course meals for reasonable prices. Three full-course meals for $32 are offered nightly. The menu - created by owner and experienced Chef Alexander Cheswick - uses seasonal ingredients sourced from regional farmers.

Crust. This wood-oven pizzeria in Wicker Park was the fourth certified organic restaurant in the United States and the first in the Midwest. Owner Michael Altenberg also operates Bistro Campagne in Lincoln Square, which features locally grown and organic produce.

Uncommon Ground. Several blocks north of Wrigley Field, Uncommon Ground provides visitors with a unique blend of music, coffee, craft beer and locally inspired cuisine. The Devon location even hosted “Farmer Fridays” allowing Harvest Moon Farms to sell their sustainable organic products in the parking lot.

Feel free to add additional restaurants in the comments section!

Daley Praises Water Conservation and Sustainability

Athletes need fresh water. Chicago has cold waters of Lake Michigan and the strategically engineered Chicago River to quench their thirst. Seems like a perfect fit, right? Unfortunately the management of fresh water supply for Chicago residents is more complicated than my rudimentary illustration of supply and demand.

Mayor Daley discussed management of water resources today with a group of wastewater utility professionals and academics at the Water Environment Federation convention. ChiTownDaily’s Jennifer Slosar offers a complete synopsis of Daley’s remarks, which focused on Chicago’s network of “green infrastructure” programs dedicated to reducing water consumption. “Green infrastructure” initiatives include diverse solutions such as permeable pavers, rain gardens, rain barrels, green roofs, and bioswales.

An example of the “green infrastructure” recently helped a church remain flood-free during the largest Chicago rainfall in 100 years. St. Margaret Mary - a church located on the far North Side - habitually suffered from flood damage until connecting with the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) to construct a bioswale and two rain gardens. Bioswales are drainage ditches with sloping sides designed to remove silt, pollution, and runoff water from non-permeable surfaces such as parking lots. The bioswale and rain gardens combined helped divert rain water to areas covered with soil instead of overflowing sewers. For more information on the St. Margaret Mary project, visit the CNT project page.

“Growing” Opportunities in Chicago

by Andy Angelos

The economic impacts of the Olympic and Paralympic Games - as mentioned in a previous post - can be summarized into three categories: the creation of world-class facilities; recognition through global media coverage; and the influx of jobs, training, volunteerism, and funding for community development. Job creation and training are arguably the most important economic vestige of the Games - providing incentives for families to relocate and prosper in the host city for decades after the event.

Job creation and learning valuable life skills, however, are not reserved exclusively for momentous occasions as illustrated by Chicago based Growing Home. The non-profit social enterprise provides business and agriculture training for homeless and low-income residents of the city. Growing Home currently maintains three farm sites in Illinois, which are staffed by interns who cultivate and sell organic produce during a seven-month training program. All proceeds are reinvested into the program for improvement of training and maintenance of the farms.

Growing Home Administrative Director Rebekah Silverman graciously provided additional insight concerning the organization and also offered some advice for Chicago’s Olympic/Paralympic Bid. “One of our main goals is to help every intern find full-time employment or enter another training program by the end,” said Rebekah. Participants typically graduate remarking on the opportunity “to break away from the poverty cycle” and “build self-esteem by doing work that has real objective and results.” The life-changing self-esteem boost has resulted in a 68% employment rate for Growing Home participants, with others returning to receive their GED or additional education.

The job influx presented to Olympic host cities would be ideal for Growing Home graduates with newly minted business and agricultural skills. Silverman, however, impresses the need for the City to embrace candidates with employment barriers: “Folks like our program participants, who have some barriers to employment - [would] need to have support of the city. Not necessarily just the city with a Capital ‘C’ but also the Chicago community.”

To learn more about Growing Home visit their blog. I also hope to reconnect with Rebekah and team for a tour of their revamped Wood Street facility in the near future. Stay tuned!

Olympic Cleaning

by Andy Angelos

Cleaning is one of the most popular and exciting themes connected to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Media outlets from across the globe suffer through crowded press conferences to discover insight from the world’s most prolific cleaning crews.

So cleaning is obviously not the most intriguing element of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but maintaining sanitary conditions is essential to creating a welcoming environment for visitors. Alexander Schless from Hako-Asia - the company contracted to supply cleaning equipment for the 2004 Athens Games - describes the logistical hurdles connected to the immaculate presentation of Olympic windows, swimming pools, stadiums, and public spaces: “During the games, only at night is there time to clean - and you certainly have to make sure that, whatever the conditions, all jobs get done.”

At the center of sanitation is the environment and the many concoctions used by janitorial staffs containing potentially hazardous chemicals. Luckily, Chicago based company PortionPac provides a balanced solution ensuring both maximum cleanliness and environmental caution.  PortionPac is not currently affiliated with Chicago2016, but the company’s existence demonstrates the eco-friendly solutions available in our backyard.

PortionPac Chemical Corporation started manufacturing concentrated cleaning solutions in 1964. The company examines the entire product life-cycle from production to storage to distribution and disposal. Some of the benefits devised in PortionPac’s 40+ years of operation include:

• Offering multi-purpose cleaning solutions capable of completing 80% of customers cleaning needs
• Customers reuse bottles and fill with concentrate from larger containers
• Replace harsh chemical with safer formulations
• Portioning is controlled to ensure proper product mixtures

Despite the recent “greenwashing” employed by many corporations, PortionPac has not emphasized the environmental aspects of their own washing solutions. COO Burt Klein explains the different customer-centric approach of the Chicago company, “Our response is education and longevity. With education the consumer is better able to make a good decision and with longevity we will outlast them because I don’t believe that Greenwashing is a sustainable way of doing business.”

PortionPac is a founding member of the Chicago Sustainable Business Alliance.

Quick Facts from the Chicago Conservation Corps

by Andy Angelos

Together with the Department of Environment, the Chicago Conservation Corps provides environmental training, technical assistance and resources to a network of local volunteers. After receiving training, Corps volunteers are offered sample project guides focused on improving the quality of Land, Air, Energy or Water in the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Below are overviews of recommend projects and how the Corps efforts continuously improve Chicago’s standard of living.

Roll Out the Barrel. The program title might conjure imagery of Lincoln Square’s German bars, but Roll Out the Barrel is a neighborhood program promoting the distribution of 55-gallon rain drums. Collecting rain water in urban environments littered with impervious surfaces (paved, buildings, etc) helps prevent both sewage overflow and also fresh water availability.

The Department of Energy offers discount rates for rain barrels, which are easily installed to garage or home downspouts. Common uses for the collected water include watering gardens, washing cars and pets, etc. Collected rainwater is not immediately suitable for drinking and presents a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes if not maintained properly.

Green A Festival. The city of Chicago host hundreds of festivals per year of varying scales. The sprawling Taste of Chicago and impressive Air & Water Show are coupled with more modest events such as the weekly farmer’s market on Division. Chicago Conservation Corps recognizes the amount of waste that can be generated from the food, cups, plates, plastic, etc disseminated at festivals and offers a “Green A Festival Project Guide.” Corps members are encouraged to collaborate with event organizers to promote biodegradable utensils, reusable water bottles, and environmentally friendly cleaning solutions.

As with most Corps program, Green A Festival and Roll Out The Barrel primarily surround education. For information about participating with the Chicago Conservation Corps, visit the registration information page on the city’s website.

A Healthy Environment for Appetite

by Andy Angelos

Human health and environmental issues are intrinsically linked.   Both human health and the environment are also connected to food - a familiar topic to Chicagoans.  As Theresa highlights through the Enjoy section, culinary treasures are abundant in Chicago’s many ethnic neighborhoods and upscale cultural districts.  In addition to restaurants, however, Chicago also boasts a number of food distributors dedicated to locally-grown, small-scale, organic farms.

Chicago based Goodness Greeness is the Midwest’s leading provider of fresh organic produce.  Since 1991, the Scaman brothers have supplied regional supermarkets and independent retailers with healthy ingredients to satiate Chicago’s refined palate.   Goodness Greeness is also in the business of education, with Rodney Scaman recently speaking at a local health rally about Food Deserts.  A Food Desert is a neighborhood disconnected from supermarkets but within close range of fast-food and liquor stores.   Not surprisingly, residents of Food Deserts suffer from a disproportionate amount of diet related illnesses.  Connecting with people in Food Deserts allows the Goodness Greeness team to distribute both knowledge and produce for happier and healthier Chicagoans.

Irv & Shelly’s Fresh Picks is another regional company dedicated to healthy lifestyle and sustainable food production.  Rather than supply retailers with produce like Goodness Greeness, Irv & Shelly’s Fresh Picks delivers organic and local food to Chicagoans year round.   The company also offers a variety of natural meats, poultry, and dairy products to complement their fresh produce.

Next time you are struggling to choose from one of Chicago’s mind-boggling number of restaurants, add the possibility of cooking a locally grown healthy meal to the list of options.  Eating is so complicated in this city!

Improving Life in Chicago: Green Roofs

by: Andy Angelos

The urban core of Chicago is home to a number of green roofs, most notably the 20,300 square feet atop City Hall. Completed in 2001, the green space provides a laboratory for variations of plants, soil mixtures, and environmental impact. More recently, The Residences at 900 in the Gold Coast neighborhood received a 2008 Green Roof Award of Excellence for 14,000 square feet of converted green space.

Adding vegetation to the city’s building tops has many benefits including cleaner rainwater, lower air temperatures, improved air quality, and added longevity for the roofing membrane. Not surprisingly, Chicago officials hope to spread these benefits and offer up to $5000 grants for installing green roofs.

Aside from contributing to a more interconnected urban-nature relationship, the surge in Chicago Green roofs has also provided the region with expertise in constructing eco-friendly roofs and studying urban heat islands. A generic green rooftop construction requires six to seven layers including protective membranes, drainage assistance, and a soil layer. Depending on the selection of plant life and soil, the cost varies from 5 to 35 USD per square foot. After implementation, the green space begins to mitigate effects from the Urban Heat Island phenomenon. Greenery on building tops is capable of reflecting some of the heat typically absorbed by metal, concrete, or asphalt surfaces. The net effect is lower temperatures for Chicago and surrounding regions.

Do you know of any other examples of Green Roofs in Chicago? If so, feel free to send pictures or details our way to show the world how Chicago is altering its urban fabric.

Sports and the Environment

by: Andy Angelos

The Olympic Games are a creation of man, but many events are reliant on the Earth’s natural resources.  Monitoring the relationship between sport and the environment has become imperative to the longevity of certain events.  Imagine slalom skiing without mountains or snow.  Or maybe try rowing sans the abundance of water.  Both have been attempted – as demonstrated by entertaining clips on YouTube – but lose their Olympic magic when nature is removed. 

To supervise the relationship between environment and large-scale sporting events, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for over ten years.   Together, the organizations examine the impact of Olympic Games on surrounding environments – both natural and manmade.  For example, UNEP is currently collaborating with Vancouver 2010 planners to reduce environmental impact in the following areas:

·       Biodiversity and Habitat

·       Energy and Climate Change

·       Air Quality

·       Water Quality and Conservation

·       Waste Management

With assistance from the IOC and UNEP, the Beijing Organizing Committee focused on similar environmental categories and helped introduce nearly 4,000 “clean” buses operating on compressed natural gas.  The public transit network also received three additional lines to accommodate the cities booming population. 

The improvements to Beijing represent an important function of UNEP – leverage Olympic investment to build a foundation for a sustainable future.  By working with UNEP and the IOC, the 2016 Olympic Games could provide a tremendous opportunity to ensure our city’s longevity throughout the resource conscious 21^st century.  Efficient buses, expanded rail, solar powered apartments, wind harvesting from Lake Michigan…

What area of the environment would you like to see improved in Chicago if the Olympic Games visit in 2016?”  

Spreading the Wealth: Location of Host Cities

by: Andy Angelos

Selecting Olympic host cities is a complicated process of questionnaires, international visits, and IOC investigations.  Since the Games represent global unity, another integer that inevitably arises during the selection process is proximity to the previous host city.  Common questions include “Should the same continent host successive games?” and “Shouldn’t successive hosts represent different cultures and ethos?”  Below is a look at some historical examples explaining why any of the current candidate cities are viable options regardless of proximity to previous host cities.

Madrid and 2012 host London are both located in the EU and only separated by 784 miles (comparable to the distance between New York and Chicago).  However, selecting Madrid would not be the first time successive Western European cities hosted the Olympic Games. Beginning with the 1908 Olympics, seven consecutive host cities were located in Western Europe.  At a mere 460 miles apart (similar to driving from Atlanta to New Orleans), the 1924 Paris Games and the 1928 Amsterdam Games were the closest hosts. 

Close location does not prevent diversity as illustrated by European Olympic cities in the mid 20^th century, more distant culturally than physically.  This would also be the scenario if Tokyo is selected to host only 8 years after nearby Beijing.  The two cities are divided by 1300 miles of land and sea but celebrate different cultural, economic and sporting traditions.

Concerning Chicago, the city is near to Atlanta in both years and location but the cultural divide is significant.  South vs. North, Urban vs. Suburban, and 20^th century vs. 21^st century are only a few of differences between the cities.  Hosting the Olympic Games allows cities to introduce their unique identity, regardless of country, continent, hemisphere, or political system.        

This is a response to a concern of Kristi M. in the comment section of the Chicago 2016 Green blog.

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