Say Something

I'm putting this on here so that I don't forget how much I like this 2013 song, Say Something, by Great Big World and Christina Aguilera.

63rd Street beach at sunset

We walked over to Lake Michigan at sunset this evening:

Chicago Field Museum

Spent a snowy Sunday afternoon at the Field Museum: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/

Chicago cops

Project 120

Photo taken in Jackson Park at twilight: Marge Ishmael

Some of us local residents are concerned about the restoration and semi-privatization of our much-loved Jackson Park. We fear that the "wildness" of the place will soon be forever lost. I've been walking and biking in Jackson Park since 1998 and I've seen beaver, coyote and raccoon in there; not to mention a plethora of wild birds.  The continued removal of all non-native species and the inclusion of a Phoenix pavilion building and music court are particularly worrying; along with an access road to the pavilion over what is now the Clarence Darrow bridge. 

Here is a link to the proposed Project 120:
http://www.project120chicago.org/

Here is a link to Save This Space:
http://www.savethisspace.com/

Thursday, December 10, at 12:15 PM at the Chicago Cultural Center

Project 120 founder/director Robert Karr will speak about this project. 

Here is my recent letter to our local alderman and I would encourage others to send her their concerns:

Subject: Phoenix Pavilion music venue

Date: October 20, 2015 at 9:57:37 AM CDT

To: "ward05@cityofchicago.org" 

Dear Alderman Hairston,

I am writing to express my concern about the Phoenix Pavilion with Music Court that is planned for Jackson Park, adjacent to the Museum of Science and Industry, as part of the Project 120 collaboration. This is an area of the park that I see many people using for parking, family picnics, dog walking, birding and nature walks.

It seems to me that a loud music venue would not be in harmony with the natural environment. We already have the Northerly Island music venue, not so far away, in what was "supposed"to be a nature reserve on the former Meigs Field. 

The great American landscape architects - Frederick Law Olmsted and Daniel Burnham - will be spinning in their graves as they hear about yet another encroachment on sacred parkland.  Of course they lived in a bygone era when pubic figures were long sighted and not simply motivated by money and profit.

I agree with the Japanese belief that time spent in nature lowers stress levels and can even help the immune system to fight cancer, as mentioned on this Happy Parks Happy People website: http://www.hphpcentral.com/article/forest-bathing

Sincerely,

Marge Ishmael

National Parks

Watching Ken Burns' excellent The National Parks: America's Best Idea  http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

 "The national park idea, the best idea we ever had, was inevitable as soon as Americans learned to confront the wild continent not only with fear and cupidity but with delight, wonder, and awe.  Once started, it grew like the backfire it truly was, burning back upwind against the current of claim and grab and raid...proving that our rapacious society could hold its hand, at least in the presence of stupendous scenery, and learn to respect the earth for something besides its economic value." --Wallace Stegner

Lights Out for British Coal

The last deep coal mine in England will close in December. The end of an era and I feel very conflicted. On the one hand I come from a British coal mining area and my great grandfather was a coal miner. On the other, pollution from burning coal is responsible for about 30% of global warming. It puts our communities and wild places at risk from dirty air (from mercury, arsenic and other toxic pollutants), acid rain, and a variety of health problems such as asthma and other respiratory diseases.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/world/europe/lights-out-in-britain-for-the-coal-industry.html?src=mv