It’s what you’ve been waiting for. . . our 2022 lineup of tide-turning films is here! All screenings are free (with a suggested $8 donation) and open to the public. Seventeen virtual events will screen during the week of March 4-13. If the Omicron surge cooperates, we will be adding up to 15 in-person events—they will be offered at the same times and days as the virtual events.
The Plastic Bag Store may appear to be any other storefront grocery; however, the items found here are all created from trash picked up off of New York City’s streets. Inside, you'll find your healthy and hearty kale made from L.L. Bean delivery bags, oranges made from thrown away Toys "R" Us bags, some “Bagarino” frozen pizza, and "Bag and Jerry's” Ice Cream. You'll even find some of your favorite magazines like “Bag Appétit” and “Bagmopolitan.”
For the next month the world will once again be focused on the treacherous global geopolitical terrain of climate change.
The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, beginning on October 31. The talks are scheduled to end on Friday, November 12, but if recent experience is any guide will be extended over the weekend as agreements are forged and contentious issues are resolved—or not, in which case they will be tabled for later consideration. Kicking the can down the road is standard operating procedure for these meetings, as one might expect for a 196-member international body that must operate by consensus.
Do you have a “broken” pile or box in your home? You know, those things that need to be glued, screwed or otherwise mended? Clothes needing mending collect near my sewing box, which I store in a side table near our sofa. Things that need to be glued or reattached usually end up in our dining room, where we have enough space to work. But sometimes you need the experts. Who do you call? Next time, try bringing your broken treasure to the Oak Park Repair Café at Fox Park. Not only will you stand a good chance of getting your item fixed for free, but you just may come home with new skills and even a new friend.
Green Era’s current project is a great model of the circular economy because it involves diverting inedible food waste from landfills and, via a process called anaerobic digestion, producing clean, renewable energy as well as nutrient-rich soil, which will then be used to expand fresh local food production. All this will occur on a vacant, brownfield site in South Chicago, in an area with an urgent need for cleanup and economic development.
In August 2020, after a yearlong competition, Green Era, part of the Always Growing Auburn Gresham team, won the $10 million Chicago Prize to develop their vision of a healthy lifestyle hub and renewable energy and urban farming campus. In addition, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a $2 million investment from the state’s Rebuild Illinois program to fill the final funding gap for the Green Era Renewable Energy & Urban Farming Campus.
Q: And you’d like to see this [circular economic] model applied on both a local and a global level?
A: Yes. Rheaply’s vision is to make the world’s resources visible, easily transferable, and more valuable in our global economy. Closer to home, the Circular Chicago Coalition is bringing together 16 partners, including Rheaply and Plant Chicago, with the intention of seeding a circular city on the south and west sides, asking communities of color what they want rather than prescribing solutions. So we are looking at the city of Chicago and asking how we can eliminate waste within an urban environment, how we can transform the city into an efficient resource-sharing hub. For example, how do we connect nonprofits to larger companies, thereby creating loops for assets?
