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Post tags: architect, Centennial Vision, chicago, Chicago Loop, Design, grand staircase, green design, high line, james corner, james corner field operations, Landscape Architecture, nArchitects, Navy Pier, Pierscape, urban parks

Goats are some of nature’s most efficient lawnmowers – so it makes sense that one of the biggest airports in the country would want to employ them. This spring, Chicago restaurant Butcher & The Burger will lend its herd of goats to O’Hare Airport to graze along the runways. The herd of 25 goats will be transported to O’Hare from the nearby suburb of Barrington Hills in about a month, along with a shepherd who will oversee them and presumably protect them from Chicago’s coyote population.

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Post tags: Animals, Butcher & The Burger, chicago, Chicago O'Hare, goat, goat herd, goats, illinois, O'Hare Airport, O'Hare International Airport, sustainable weed control

When the gales blow across the Windy City, residents may have more to worry about than mussed hair. According to a new study led by Keri Hornbuckle from the University of Iowa, chemicals found in a myriad of personal care products are polluting Chicago’s air. Known as cyclic siloxanes, these compounds have been found to be toxic in aquatic life as well as posing a possible threat to other organisms. The airborne chemicals in downtown Chicago were recorded at levels ten times higher than in West Branch Iowa, and four times higher than in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. No studies have been completed yet to determine whether or not breathing the substances is harmful to humans, but their concentrations might be cause for concern.

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Post tags: air pollution, California, canada, Cedar Rapids, chicago, cyclic siloxanes, d4, d5, England, Food Chain, great lakes, keri hornbuckle, norway, personal care products, toxic, university of iowa, US EPA, water issues, west branch

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Post tags: Angelic Organics, Angelic Organics Learning Center, chicago, cob, CSA, Daylighting, Farm John, Green Building, illinois, Natural building materials, organic farm, Roald Gunderson, solar gain, Straw Bale, sustainable building techniques, sustainable design, timber, whole tree architecture, Whole Trees Architecture, wisconsin, Wood

Heavy rain overwhelmed Chicago’s aged infrastructure yesterday, causing sewage to back up into homes and burst through manhole covers in the middle of the street. The videos make for pretty horrifying viewing, but equally horrifying is how the pressure on the system was alleviated: through a last resort measure that allows runoff and wastewater to be released into Lake Michigan. And this isn’t a one-off, as Chicago has experienced ever increasing rainfall, over 21 billion gallons of wastewater and runoff was released into Lake Michigan between 2007 and 1012.

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Post tags: chicago, chicago rainfall, Chicago River, chicago waterways, flooding, infrastructure, Lake Michigan, sewage, storm runoff, storms, wastewater, water bacteria, water managment, water pollution

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Post tags: Bloomingdale Park and Trail, chicago, eco design, elevated park, green artery, green lung, green transportation, high line, Mayor, railway park, railway trestle, sky park, sustainable design, Urban design, urban park

Much of the world’s human population has some sort of pharmaceutical running through their veins, and as it turns out, so does the planet’s streams and rivers. According to a report published in Ecological Applications by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, drugs and other chemicals have found their way into the freshwater supply and are affecting the health of the ecosystem. The study looked at six common compounds and how they altered the aquatic organisms that create the slippery “biofilm” that covers rocks. Scientists found a dramatic decrease in algal photosynthesis and respiration as well as a change in the bacterial community.

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Post tags: algae, antihistamine, bacteria, biofilm, caffeine, cary institue of ecosystem studies, chicago, diphenhydramine, dr. emma rosi-marshall, drugs, ecological applications, fresh water, Indiana, indiana university, loyola university, Maryland, New York., pharmaceutical, photosynthesis, Pollution, respiration

Read the rest of FarmedHere: The Nation’s Largest Indoor Organic Farm Now Growing in Chicago

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Post tags: aeroponics, aquaponics, chicago, farmed here, farmedhere, indoor farm, indoor organic farm, Jolanta Hardej, organic farm, sustainable food, urban farm, Urban Farming, vertical garden

Read the rest of Arbor Lux: Enchanting Lamps Made from Rescued Trees Topped with Sap Resin Lights

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Post tags: Arbor Lux, Botanical, chicago, eco-friendly resin, green lighting, recycling / compost, Tree, tree sap, trevor o'neil

Modern skyscrapers are typically made from concrete and steel, but as architect Michael Charters suggests, wood could be a viable construction material for tall buildings that would have a lower environmental impact. Charters recently designed ‘Big Wood,’ a prototype for a large-scale skyscraper made from wood for the 2013 eVolo Skyscraper Competition. The sprawling mixed-use complex would serve as a sustainable alternative to standard building materials, which are expensive and require a great deal of energy to produce.

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Post tags: "eVolo", Big Wood skyscraper, chicago, evolo skyscraper competition, Michael Charters, South Loop, South Works, timber construction, timber skyscraper, wood high rise, wood skyscraper

Now that the sequester is in full swing, President Obama is proposing new sources of funding to finance his clean energy ambitions. The White House is urging Congress to divert $2 billion from oil and gas leases over the next ten years to pay for research into ‘breakthrough technologies,’ like advanced batteries for electric cars. Following the statements Obama made in last month’s State of the Union address, the goal is to begin to wean the county off of fossil fuels and stimulate the economy by investing in cutting-edge technology.

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Post tags: "clean energy", advanced vehicles, argonne national laboratory, chicago, Climate Change, congress, energy security trust, eric d isaacs, fossil fuels, funding, leases, legislation, oil and gas revenue, president obama, sequester, state of the union address, stimulus package

Parts of the world’s largest sloped green roof collapsed the day before Valentine’s Day in 2011 after record snowfall and two weeks of freezing temperatures finally began to subside. At the time, it was thought that ice had prevented meltwater from escaping, putting too much weight on the roof. Now Aquascape, a garden pond and construction company located in St. Charles, Illinois, has sued nine different companies for a total of $13 million in damages.

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Post tags: Aquascape, chicago, eco design, Environment, green design, green roof, green roof collapse, illinois, law, native illinois grasses, News, St. Charles, sustainable design, World's largest sloped green roof

Frustrated with an absence of communal, eco-minded play areas in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago, Cynthia Valenciana and her husband commissioned design extraordinaire Jen Talbot to create Sod Room. Decorated with a variety of recycled materials such as wine corks and books and even shopping bags from Trader Joes, the vibrant play room offers children an opportunity to unleash their imagination in a healthy, earth-centric space. Hit the jump to see a few more images of Talbot’s inspired design and head on down if you’re in the area.

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Post tags: chicago, Children, Cynthia Valenciana, Design, eco design, green design, Jen Talbot, play space, Recycled Materials, Sod Room, sustainable design, upcycled materials

Read the rest of Top 10 Eco Products from the 2013 International Home + Housewares Show

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Post tags: 2013, bambooee, beaba, chicago, dash, Eco, endurosheild, green, home, housewares show, petomato, SodaStream, solvetta, sowden, Sustainable, vapur

Google Earth has already been helpful in such endeavors as monitoring the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and determining the location of landmines. Now, advocates of urban agriculture are using the technology to help identify and catalog food-producing areas in Chicago. Previous attempts at recording the plots of land at ground level were often difficult and inaccurate. When Sarah Taylor Lovell’s lab from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at first tried to verify over 1,200 community garden projects, they found that only 13 per cent were places that actually grew food. After intrepid student John Taylor spent nearly 400 hours pouring over Google Earth in 2010, he discovered 4,648 production sites covering 65 acres. Personal visits to the sites confirmed that 86 per cent were viable horticultural hotspots.

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Post tags: advocates for urban agriculture, amazon rainforest, billy burdett, chicago, chicago urban agricultural mapping project, cuamp, food desert, gardens, google earth, john taylor, landmines, landscape and urban planning, npr, Produce, taylor lovell, university of illinois, urban farms

Read the rest of 1K Fulton: Chicago Cold Storage Facility Defrosted To Make Way For New Adaptive Reuse Office

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Post tags: "office building", "sustainable architecture", adaptive reuse, chicago, Cold Storage, defrost, eco design, eco office, fulton market district, fulton street, fulton street cold storage, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green renovation, hartshorne plunkard architects, perkins + will, perkins and will, perkins+will, SRAM, sterling bay companies, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, sustainable renovation

Read the rest of Specimen’s Hand-Crafted Horn Speakers Are Made from Recycled Newsprint and Dryer Lint

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Post tags: Andrew Bird, chicago, custom instruments, electronics, handmade, horn speaker, Ian Schneller, Recycled Materials, Speciment, Sustainable

The Windy City is rapidly becoming one of the greenest in the U.S., thanks to its Retrofit Chicago Building Initiative. 14 major commercial buildings have stepped up to the plate to reduce their energy consumption by 20 per cent over the next five years. Through retrofitting and power-saving technologies, the program could potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 30,000 cars off the road, and provide a saving to the companies of $5 million each year. Among the first buildings to commit to energy efficiency were the riverside Sheraton Hotel and AT&T’s downtown office tower.

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Post tags: "leed", AT&T, chicago, karen weigert, retrofit chicago building initiative, sheraton hotel, siemens sustainable communities award, skyscraper, Windy City

Amtrak passengers between St. Louis and Chicago will be treated to new highs in the world of train travel. Just last week, Amtrak announced that it is revving up its high speed rail service between the two cities, which will top out at 110 mph. Sure, it’s no 350+ mph MagLev super train, but it will reduce travel time by up to an hour. Regular high speed rail service on the Lincoln line is the first step towards establishing a high-speed rail network in Illinois.

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Post tags: amtrak, chicago, green transportation, high speed rail, high speed rail line, high speed rail network, HSR, lincoln line, st. louis

Climbing 103 flights of stairs without collapse is a noteworthy achievement for any human being, but when said human only has one leg, it’s nothing short of miraculous. Thirty-one year-old Zac Vawter lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident, but he didn’t let that sidetrack his life. Wearing a bionic leg that’s controlled by electrical impulses from his brain, Vawter recently climbed 103 floors of Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower, becoming the first person ever to complete the task wearing a mind-controlled prosthetic limb.

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Post tags: bionic leg, chicago, Design for Health, green design, mind-controlled prosthetic, prosthetic, prosthetic leg, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, skyscraper, sustainable design, Willis Tower, zac vawter