Green Parent Chicago™

City Parks to Host Mid-winter Sports Fests

If you missed Mayor Daley's Holiday Sports Fest last December, be sure to check out the upcoming Neighborhood Sportsfests coming to city parks beginning next month.

The Chicago Park District's Neighborhood Sportsfests will be held at 16 different park district locations from Feb. 7 to March 28. The family friendly program is admission free and open to the public.

The parks will host day-long activities, with a variety of mini-tournaments like floor hockey, soccer, basketball, and dodgeball, electronic game stations such as Wii and Dance Dance Revolution, and interactive kid zones with fishing ponds, tumbling, a tots obstacle course and inflatables. Contact each park for scheduled activities as they vary by location.

-photo credit, Yo Chicago, flickr

Recycled Crafting Fun With Shawna: A Purse From a Box

Making a difference from a green perspective means thinking about consumption. What are you throwing away that you could be reusing? Why buy something new when the items you have are perfectly good? We Americans consume more of the world’s natural resources than most of the globe. It’s time to stop that behavior and start making a difference.

What this means is that the little things count. Our resources are used to create millions of small items - not one giant item. Little things that fill our lives every day like aluminum foil, plastics, boxes, toys, and clothes are all recyclable or reusable. Recycling ordinary things in a creative way can save valuable landfill space.

For example, I collect stationery boxes, using them to store memories and knick-knacks. Boxes can be reused for many reasons other than their original purpose – like gift boxes or travel kits. Another creative idea, and my favorite use of a stationery box, is the below purse I made for a holiday party.

HOW TO MAKE A PURSE FROM A STATIONERY BOX

 

Supplies:

One Attractive Stationery Box, String or Cord, Drill, and Glue or Hot Glue

This Week, Meet Animal Friends At Conservatory's Wild Wednesdays Series

The Garfield Park Conservatory will host a new series of special events combining animal presentations and children's activities beginning this Wednesday.

The "Wild Wednesdays of Winter" program will run one Wednesday each month until April 29 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Activities will be held in the Children’s Garden and the Sugar from the Sun Room. The events are free for all ages.

Scott Heinrich will showcase select fauna to go with the Conservatory's flora. Visitors can ask Heinrichs questions about each animal and get a close-up look at them. Additional activities, such as self-guided scavenger hunts and special Children’s Garden digs will also take place during the events.

Dates and animal guests for each month are:

• January 28- Live Guest- Fennec Fox
• February 25- Live Guest- Sugar Glider
• March 25-Live Guest-Snakes
• April 29-Live Guest- Anteater

-photo credit: floridapfe, Flickr

Bob the Builder Goes Green for New Show, Green Parent Chicago Reader's Discount

Bob the Builder, the popular television show character, is headed to Chicago on Saturday, Feb. 7 for two performances at 2 and 5 p.m. at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St.

"Bob the Builder Live! Spud's Big Mess" will be the character's first touring stage show in the U.S. in five years. Starring Bob, his business partner Wendy, machine-team members Scoop, Dizzy, Lofty and Scrambler and other favorite friends from Sunflower Valley scarecrow Spud, Farmer Pickles and Mayor Bentley.

According to the show's producers, Bob and his team build the first-ever recycling center and wind farm in Sunflower Valley. It isn’t long before some items go missing and a few of Bob’s friends mysteriously disappear. Faced with a mountain of garbage, they must figure out who is responsible for the mess and work together to fix it, while dealing with Spud’s antics.

The 90-minute show features ten original songs and sees the characters embark on an adventure that promotes positive messages of caring for the environment, recycling, teamwork, cooperation and, the importance of a can-do spirit. Several lessons are incorporated into the storyline for kids and good reminders for grown-ups:

Encouraging habits such as taking care of the earth and everything that lives on it; understanding what it means to recycle and reuse; identifying and defining a recycling center and how to find one while understanding its importance; and defining trash and recycling. In addition, show materials will include special recycling tips and eco-themed activities for kids.

All venues where the live show is performing will be encouraged to use recycling containers and include information about how to attend the show by using public transportation on their website.

Special Offer for Green Parent Chicago Readers!: 50% off tickets for the 5 p.m. show on Saturday Feb. 7, Use code: 2BOBBOGO (use in promotions and special offers box)

Regular ticket prices for Bob the Builder Live! Spud’s Big Mess range from $30 to $40. The Chicago performance schedule is Saturday, Feb. 7 at 2 and 5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at The Chicago Theatre Box Office, 175 N. State St, or online through Ticketmaster or by calling 312-559-1212.

Groups of 10 or more may purchase tickets by phone 877-4-GRP-TIX (877-447-7849), email info@grouptix.net or at www.grouptix.net.

EarthTalk™: Plastics and Recycling, Sorting Out The Options

Dear EarthTalk: It seems like more products are being packaged in #5 rather than #2 plastic today, and my local recycling agency won’t take #5. I’ve also heard that #5 plastics are more toxic, which concerns me more than the recyclability issue. Which plastic is the better choice? -- Janice Shaffer, Chillicothe, MO

Polypropylene, which is marked with #5 inside the “chasing arrows” symbols on the bottom of plastic containers, is a lighter-weight plastic resin commonly used in dairy and deli packaging. Some companies have chosen this lighter plastic because it has a lower environmental impact to produce and transport.

High density polyethylene (HDPE), which is marked with #2, is a stiffer resin used to package cleaning products and also some dairy products. The most widely used resin type for consumer food products is polyethylene terephthalate, or PETE, which is marked with #1 and used for soda and water bottles.

According to Consumers Union’s “Greener Choices” website, all three of these plastics are considered safe for their original use, though any of them can leak toxins when reused repeatedly. And all three can be recycled, though a lagging market leads some recycling locations to limit what they’ll accept. There is also concern that widespread plastics recycling encourages more use of plastics, and that efforts would be better spent getting consumers to buy fewer plastic-encased products. Some even criticize the chasing-arrow labeling system for implying a higher level of recyclability than is presently available.

Why is a lighter-weight plastic better? According to dairy company Stonyfield Farm, their #5 one-quart yogurt container uses 30 percent less plastic than a #2 cup. Since it takes less material to make a thinner container, it reduces the amount of resin that needs to be manufactured. Stonyfield estimates that the use of #5 over #2 prevents the manufacture and disposal of more than 100 tons of plastic per year.

But savings comes from more than manufacturing. The heavier #2 plastics require more energy to transport. It’s not only getting the yogurt from Stonyfield’s plants to your store, but also getting the containers from the plastics manufacturer to their dairies. In fact, the company cites a packaging study by the Boston-based Tellus Institute which found that 95 percent of the environmental costs of packaging lie in production and less than five percent are associated with disposal.

What Difference Can Spare Change Make? Conservation Project Helps Kids Find Out

Want to know what to do with your jar of spare change sitting around? Do your kids have piggy banks with pennies they'd like to donate for a good cause? Pennies for the Planet, a joint project of The Audubon Society and Toyota hopes to inspire kids to act locally for a global impact on climate change.

The initiative includes many creative ways kids can raise money for conservation. Individual families and groups may participate and don't worry, you won't have to ship heavy batches of coins: parents and educators can write checks to submit the total collected.

Several supporting kits, incentives and downloads are available on the site including posters, a printable penny jar label for your Pennies for the Planet collection, coloring pages, a word search and  easy to make bird feeder projects.

Change collected across the U.S. will help support three national conservation projects, including:

* Project Puffin and the Seabird Restoration Program off the Maine coast
* Four Holes Swamp; an ancient swamp that supports otters, owls and rare plants in South Carolina
 * Wyoming's "sagebrush sea"; an endangered habitat for pygmy rabbits, sage-grouse and pronghorn

-photo credit: Sufi Nawaz, Stock.Xchng

Recycled Crafting Fun with Shawna: Save Your Tabletop and Save The Earth

Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) is a joint industry-government effort to increase the amount of recycling and reuse of post-consumer carpet and reduce the amount of waste carpet going to landfills. According to the CARE statistics, 5 billion pounds of carpet was sent to landfills in 2003 alone.

Used carpet can be sanitized and recycled in an industrial facility. New carpet is also thrown out by retail carpet stores. We can prevent this waste. I went to the local carpet store searching for rubber backed samples for crafting purposes and found that management was very cooperative and willing to give samples for free.

Getting children involved in "reduce, reuse and recycle" for carpeting is a great way to have fun and increase their understanding of how we all need to care for landfills. Doing crafts with your children is a great way to spend time "unplugged" and building your relationship.

RECYCLE CRAFT - MAKE NON-SKID COASTERS OUT OF CARPET SAMPLES

Tools Needed:

Discarded Carpet which has a rubber backing (samples or new is preferred, however, old carpet is good if it is not contaminated somehow)

Sharp scissors

Step One: Measure carpet for coasters. We have extra large mugs at our home, so we measured 5" square carpet sections.

Step Two: Cut. Carpet is difficult to cut through for small hands - children might need parental assistance.

Step Three: Give as gifts or use yourself. Perfect for coffee mugs!

Spending time with your kids is great. Better yet, children get a great sense of self-esteem and community when doing something good for the planet - teach them to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Teach them to make a difference!

Shawna Lee Coronado is an author, locally syndicated newspaper columnist, health, and greening expert focused on teaching and living a green lifestyle. She blogs on conservation, greening and health tips at www.gardeningnude.com. Information on her books and other media can be found at www.thecasualgardener.com.

EarthTalk™: Green Drinks in Chicago and Around the World

Dear EarthTalk: A friend of mine in Connecticut raves about the “Green Drinks” events she attends there every month to meet up with other eco-interested locals. How can I find out if there are any such gatherings in my area? -- Janet McIntosh, Dubuque, Iowa

Every month green-minded people in 460-plus cities around the world meet up at informal social gatherings called Green Drinks. Started in 1989 in London by Edwin Datschefski and friends, the concept has spread like wildfire, with some 350 different Green Drinks chapters worldwide today. The events are designed to be low-key, unstructured and welcoming of all viewpoints on environmental topics. Many participants have found jobs, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity and inspiration at various Green Drinks events.

In the U.S. alone, different Green Drinks events are held in 223 cities every month. The New York City chapter is the biggest in the world, with an invite list topping 10,000 people and typical attendance in the hundreds. Green Drinks events are also popular in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand, Chile, Puerto Rico and Australia. Melbourne, Australia currently holds the record for the world’s biggest Green Drinks event, with more than 1,700 participants showing up on the first night of the city’s February 2007 Sustainable Living Festival.

“People from different fields come together with a mutual interest in environmental issues and cross-pollinate and drink in a very low-key social atmosphere,” says Margaret Lydecker, who started New York City’s Green Drinks chapter in 2002 and currently serves as the U.S. point-person for the events. Lydecker—who has personally helped start upwards of 100 different chapters, including one in Kabul, Afghanistan—says the events have been a big catalyst for connectivity, community, collaboration and change in the environmental sector in New York and beyond.

In the U.S. and Canada, most mid-sized and large cities already have thriving Green Drinks chapters. You can likely find one somewhere near you, wherever you live, by searching under the “Find City” link on the GreenDrinks.org website, and clicking through until you get a schedule of upcoming events in your particular city. If there isn’t yet a Green Drinks chapter in your region, by all means start a new one.

Heather Burns-DeMelo, who had started a local/green happenings website for Connecticut called CTgreenscene.com, was inspired by Lydecker in 2007 to start a Green Drinks chapter where she lives in Connecticut’s Fairfield County so that green-minded people in the area could connect in person. “The web is great,” she says, “but face-to-face is key to growing the movement.”

According to Burns-DeMelo, setting up the chapter was easy—she just emailed Green Drinks founder Datschefski from the greendrinks.org website with a request to start a new chapter—but getting people to come to the initial events was more challenging. She and friends set up sign-up tables at local community events, found a restaurant willing to host, sent a press release to local papers, hung fliers and posted notices on her website and others. The hard work paid off: 65 people showed up at the first event on a gloomy Wednesday night, and the chapter has been growing by leaps and bounds ever since.

CONTACT: Green Drinks, www.greendrinks.org.

GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

-photo credit: kretyen, courtesy flickr.

Friday Green Gathering Friday: Stuck Indoors & Counting the Days Edition

Good Morning! Once again Green Parent Chicago presents our collection of the week's best links on green parenting and eco-friendly off the mainstream news around the web.

It's -14 degrees here in our lovely frozen Windy City with a high of 5 to 9 above (!), and like many of you, we're stuck indoors...with kids. What to do? Get moving, if nothing else you'll probably stay warmer.

Here are some ideas for active indoor play and games to do with preschool age kids. Some more active play ideas for all ages.

A ton of ideas for activities and games for older kids ages 6-10.

Kids got too much stuff? Now that the holidays are over and spring is coming, (really, it is), you may want to trade some of your overabundance at Swaptree. On this site, you can trade books, dvds, music and video games for thousands of other items you want for free. We haven't tried it yet, but are itchin' to.

In other news around the web, more kids are going veg! Hooray! About 1 in 200 by most estimates, according to a recent study.

CTA ridership is booming. It's the highest in 34 years. CTA President Ron Huberman attributes the increase to "New buses, and cleaner vehicles and facilities" that are "helping attract new customers and influencing existing customers to ride more."

Don't forget to recycle your CFL bulbs. Though the amount is small, the bulbs do contain mercury, which can be released into the environment when disposed in the trash. Many Chicago residents may be unaware of where to recycle the energy saving bulbs. Chi Town Daily News reports the city provides recycling of CFLs at its facility at 1150 N. North Branch St. and Home Depot stores began accepting household CFLs for recycling last August.

Counting the days till Inauguration day Tuesday? If you're looking for an event to attend with kids around Chicago check these out:

There's this one on the south side: the free South Shore Fancy Family Inaugural Ball Tuesday night with stories about presidents, patriotic songs, dancing, and more and this one on the north side: at Flourish Studios with free daytime activities and an evening event with live entertainment, food and refreshments for $25 each. 

Do you know of other kid friendly inaugural events coming up around the city, please share them with us and other readers in the comments below!

Recycled Crafting Fun With "Gardening Nude" Author Shawna Lee Coronado

Editor's Note: Green Parent Chicago is very pleased to introduce Shawna Lee Coronado, local author and green mom from Warrenville. Each week, Shawna will share her unique recycled craft projects with Green Parent Chicago readers.
****************************************
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: the “greenie” mantra.

One of my favorite ways to practice the 3 R’s is to save trash from the landfill by recycling it in the form of a craft.

Being the first week in January, my kids and I took down all our old calendars. Instead of tossing the calendars in the recycling bin, we decided to re-use them. Similarly, I have been saving some full-color folders from the Chicago Art Institute, awaiting a good excuse to reuse them for a craft.

We are reusing these products to make bookmarks which can be used for writing notes on [by writing on the back of the bookmark]. It is an easy craft children and adults of all ages and helps teach about how to rescue reusable products from the landfill. One 12 month calendar and one folder made an amazing 90 bookmarks - all beautiful and artistic.

RECYCLE CRAFT - MAKE BOOKMARKS OUT OF USED CALENDARS AND FOLDERS

Tools Needed:

Old Calendars or Folders – any colorful paper product which has a “stiff” feel so it will not fold or bend when being used for a bookmark.

Scissors or Paper Trimmer (I prefer a paper trimmer because it is quick to measure and cut.)

Step One: Disassemble calendar, separating staples or cutting pages off the holder.

Step Two: Measure and mark 2” X 8” rectangular areas on the full-color design. If you are using a paper trimmer you can eliminate “marking” the rectangular areas and simply measure with the measuring marks on the trimmer.

Step Three: Cut as many 2” X 8” bookmarks as possible with paper material. Save leftover scraps to make smaller bookmarks.

Step Four: Recycle remaining scraps.

Step Five: Give as gifts or use yourself. We like to use the bookmarks when reading reference material - we write notes on the back-side of the bookmarks.

Happy Crafting!

-Shawna Lee Coronado is an author, locally syndicated newspaper columnist, health, and greening expert focused on teaching and living a green lifestyle. She blogs on conservation, greening and health tips at www.gardeningnude.com. More information on her books and other media can be found at www.thecasualgardener.com.