Partnering for a Sustainable Chicago

The Great Conversations series continues, with some of the University of Chicago’s own best environmental thinkers. Don’t miss these upcoming events!

While these events are usually $30, contact Bart Schultz at rschultz@uchicago.edu for a discounted ticket that costs just $10!

Great Conversations Lecture Series: Big Visions

SUMMARY

Our popular Great Conversations series continues with a new theme! This autumn and winter, we invite some of the University’s most exciting, creative minds to share their visions of the future of our city and of the world. Our discussions will consider such topics as the changing shape of education, how to build a sustainable future, and the evolution of the economic system. On select Thursdays, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, the Graham School will provide food, drink, and the best talk in town. We hope that you will join us for the conversation! All Great Conversations are held in Room 40 of our downtown Gleacher Center, located at 450 N. Cityfront Plaza, directly across from the NBC tower. To register, please call 773/702-1722.

Sustainable Organizations – Building a Framework
November 12
Our series will continue with a presentation by Ilsa Flanagan, the Director of Sustainability at the University of Chicago, who will share her experience and expertise on how institutions can transform to sustainable practices at the system-wide level.

The Future of Gardens
January 7
The third lecture in our five lecture series will feature Sir Peter Crane, formerly the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the John and Marion Sullivan University Professor in the Department of Geophysical Sciences and the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago. Our eminent guest will be offering you glimpses of the future of one of the most deeply meaningful human activities, one increasingly recognized as a crucial component in environmental education.

What Capabilities Do We Have?
January 14
For our fourth talk, one of our most popular Great Conversationalists ever returns to discuss her pathbreaking work on the future of education and economic development. Martha Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, and the Director of the Center for Law, Philosophy, and Human Values at the University of Chicago Law School, will explain how the “capabilities approach” offers a crucial new vision for our economic future.

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Our first harvest!

It’s been a big couple of weeks for the Timuel D. Black Edible Arts Garden at 5710 S. Woodlawn.  Our opening ceremony was a smashing success.  It was extremely well-attended – thanks to OMSA for collaborating with us on both that event and the garden project as a whole!  Tim Black and Bart Schultz both spoke about the garden, and the plaque was officially unveiled.

As you can see above, we’ve also had our first harvest.  I picked some kale, swiss chard, and lettuce and put them in the community refrigerator at 5710.  We hope to have a harvest party sometime in the next couple of weeks, since it’s getting cold!

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Here are the latest pictures of the Timuel D. Black Edible Arts Garden at 5710 S. Woodlawn.

CKP Intern Cecilia Donnelly in the garden.

Cecilia Donnelly and Michael Cheong-Leen in front of the Edible Arts Garden.

As you can see, we’ve expanded the garden vertically with the addition of wrought iron shepherd’s crooks holding baskets of plants.  Check out the garden yourself on Thursday with the CKP’s Diversity Garden Tour.  We’ll be meeting in front of the Walker Museum on the main quad at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.  If you can’t make the tour, don’t miss the dedication ceremony for the garden on Monday, October 5th, at 5 o’clock at 5710 S. Woodlawn.  See the previous post for more details on the ceremony, and we hope to see you soon!

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This morning, eight students from Woodlawn’s Guiding Our Talented Youth Ahead (GOT-YA) program joined Roots&Shoots and O2 For You at the Kenwood Healthcare Center to give peace lilies to the residents in an effort to raise awareness about indoor air quality.  Most of us spend 90% of our lives indoors, and for the residents of the Kenwood Healthcare Center that percentage could be even higher.  Houseplants like the peace lily improve indoor air quality by removing toxins and giving off healthy oxygen.  The Chicago Fresh Air Tour stopped yesterday at Garfield Park Conservatory, as mentioned on the CKP homepage.  Today, the elementary and middle-school students gave away some 50 plants to residents of the Healthcare Center.  The residents loved seeing the young people, and one of the students said that it was a “beautiful day for community service.”  More information on this event, perhaps with some pictures, is forthcoming.  A cameraman was in attendance, so we may even see our Woodlawn students make the news!

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Yesterday nearly 40 incoming students from the Class of 2013 took a CKP tour from 5710 S. Woodlawn down to the Brickyard Garden on 61st and Woodlawn.  The students are part of a special early program for incoming first-years, and are visiting many parts of the University before the school year starts with fall quarter.  CKP Director Bart Schultz, interns Cecilia Donnelly and Rachel Belanger, and Master Gardener Dorothy Pytel were all on hand to give brief presentations and answer questions about what the CKP does in the University and its surrounding knowledge communities.

Dr. Schultz led off by reading a quote from CKP founder Danielle Allen, and describing the importance of exploring the neighboring communities around the University.  He strongly encouraged the incoming students to explore the city outside of Hyde Park, and to be involved in activities off-campus.  Many undergraduate students at the University tend to spend their whole time here without venturing very far south of the Midway, and Dr. Schultz argued that this interferes with a complete education.

Cecilia Donnelly spoke briefly about the wonders of working with the CKP, especially because it is so interdisciplinary, flexible, and such a wonderful opportunity to meet exciting people.  Personal Note: Students!  Join the Green Team!  The CKP Wants YOU for Sustainable Initiatives!

Fourth-year Environmental Studies major Rachel Belanger spoke about Feeding the City, a program taught by Geophysical Sciences assistant professor Pam Martin, assisted by Esther Bowen, a graduate student in the Geophysical Sciences department.  Rachel is interning at Growing Home in Englewood.  Her internship is supported by the CKP, and she spoke about the unique experience of farming in the city.  She followed Dr. Schultz’ point about students experiencing different parts of the city by saying that is has been a challenge to ensure that she is always safe while commuting to and from Growing Home, but it has also expanded her horizons.  Growing Home gives job training to people who were formerly inmates and/or homeless.  Working with these people, and learning about organic farming, has combined to give Rachel a memorable summer.

Walking from 5710 to the Brickyard Garden.

 Finally, we walked down to the Brickyard Garden and heard Dorothy Pytel’s brief history of the garden, and a description of community gardening in general.  The Brickyard Garden has 20-25 member plots, as well as several common spaces where grapes, black raspberries, and lots of flowers grow.

Dorothy Pytel explains the history of the Brickyard Garden.

After our introduction to the space, everyone entered the garden and explored.  We were impressed by the numbers of green grapes on the vine, tomatoes ripening in individual plots, and a thousand other things.  Dorothy offered everyone mint and dill, and some tried the alpine strawberries and black raspberries growing in common areas.  A few of the new students went home with armfuls of mint to make tea and chew on plain.

Thank you to the gardeners at the Brickyard Garden for your hospitality, and thank you to the new students who participated in the event!  Come back to our Meet the CKP event on September 24, the Thursday of Orientation Week.  Look for more information on that forthcoming on the CKP main page and on this blog.

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        Last Saturday, Dr. Tyrone Hayes, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California at Berkeley, came to lead a seminar titled “Frogs, Lawns, and Food.”  The seminar was cosponsored by the Graham School of General Studies at the University of Chicago and the Civic Knowledge Project.  Dr. Hayes flew in for the day and gave an extra-long seminar to the 15-20 participants.  CPS, the University of Chicago, and Chicago’s wastewater company were all represented, as were our local neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Woodlawn.  The seminar detailed Dr. Hayes’ work with frogs, first in Africa, and then in California.  His work with gender-differentiated frogs led him to discover that a chemical commonly used as a pesticide in the US was in fact an estrogen mimic, and thus acted as an endocrine-disruptor in frogs.  The chemical, atrazine, is not approved for use in Europe, but 80 million tons of it are sprayed on crops across the United States every year.  For more information, go to Dr. Hayes’ website.

Frogs, then, are in danger because of the chemicals we spray on our lawns and our food.  The same chemicals may well be endangering humans.  Despite the somber subject, Dr. Hayes’ seminar was highly informative, important, and entertaining.  Look on the Graham School course offerings and on the CKP website for future seminars and continuing education courses.

Nathaniel McLin interviews Dr. Tyrone Hayes.

Before the seminar, Nathaniel McLin interviewed Dr. Hayes for his CKP-sponsored program “Philosophizing Green with Nathaniel McLin.”  The interview will soon be available on the CKP’s media page.  

The CKP thanks Dr. Hayes and all those who came and participated in the event.  We look forward to a fall full of more exciting events!  Make sure to look on this blog and the CKP homepage for more information on our upcoming activities.

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The trees are spaced through the garden. We have three 'Enterprise' and one pollinator.

Thanks to enterprising CKP Director Bart Schultz, we now have disease-resistant apple trees growing in the Timuel D. Black Diversity Garden!  The apple trees fit perfectly with 5710’s plan for a fall harvest and a donation to a local soup kitchen.  We hope to see some harvest this year, and for many years to come.  Didn’t know you could grow apple trees in containers?  Neither did we!  However, our local apple farmer taught us that if we cut the roots back every winter, the tree will stay a manageable size, and will live happily in the container.  Why do we need disease-resistant apple trees?  The 5710 garden is organic, and apple trees are notoriously susceptible to disease and insect damage.  Since we won’t use harmful pesticides, we chose a hardy variety that can take care of itself, but still tastes good!

Please do stop by 5710 S. Woodlawn and take a look at the garden in progress.  All comments, praise, criticism, or suggestions are welcome – leave a comment!  And don’t forget to look forward to our grand opening in October!

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CKP Director Bart Schultz and enthusiastic students participated in Hyde Park’s 4th of July parade yesterday.  A great time was had by all, continuing on with the proud tradition of CKP involvement in the parade.

Bart Schultz with others carrying the CKP Banner in yesterday's parade.

Head over to the Winning Words blog to see more parade pictures and hear more about what went on.  Our alderman, Leslie Hairston, joined us and wore a CKP button.  We were happy to see many of our Winning Words students out at the parade, and look forward to starting up the new school year with them.  We hope you came out too, and invite you to join us next year!

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The Timuel D. Black Diversity Garden took great leaps forward last week!  Please take a look at the new pictures and stop by to see the work we’ve done.

CKP Director Bart Schultz stands by the 5710 garden, with new containers generously donated by Smith & Hawken - Lincoln Park.

5710 garden - the Smith & Hawken containers are the graceful outer ring.

The garden now has even more containers, kindly donated by Jayson's Home and Garden, in Lincoln Park. The newest containers are visible to the far left - they are the shorter ones in the outer ring.

As you can see, thanks to generous donations from our sponsors, the garden continues to grow!  Feel free to stop by 5710 S. Woodlawn and take a look at the CKP’s Timuel D. Black Diversity Garden.

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