Sacrificing Birds for a Marketing Gimmick

Mike and Peggy welcome back MWRD Commissioner Kim Neely du Buclet to talk about recent green infrastructure water projects and even ways to trace coronavirus in our water supply. Raj Patel, director of The Ants & the Grasshopper explains the food and social justice components of his film about climate change. Annette Prince from Chicago Bird Collision Monitors and Skokie resident Kim Polka report on their efforts to stop a potentially bird-killing Carvana Tower in that Chicago suburb.

Read more

How to Create The Healthy Garden

We start a brand new year with a brand new book. The Healthy Garden: Simple Steps for a Greener World is written by a couple of gardening pros–Kathleen Norris Brenzel and Mary-Kate Mackey. We’ll talk about how and especially why you should become a friend of the earth. Then Mike and Peggy talk about some of the environmental stories making headlines. And meteorologist Rick DiMaio has his first report of the year, following Chicago’s first snow of the year.

Read more

How to Provide Good Food Through Growing Solutions

This Sunday we explore how different groups work to provide healthy, local food to the Chicago region, while sometimes improving the lives of the people who grow that food. We talk to Bob Kopach from the Eco-Friendly Farm Stand Project and Tucker Kelly, lead grower at Growing Solutions Farm, which is part of Urban Autism Solutions. Mike and Peggy will have some advice giving during the holiday season. And meteorologist Rick DiMaio follows up on the devastating tornadoes in the middle part of our country.

Read more

What Happened to Glass Recycling

Scott DeFife from the Glass Packaging Institute and the Glass Recycling Foundation reports on efforts to increase the glass recycling rate in Chicago and the U.S. Jill Bondi of Bartlett Tree Experts explains how more and more women are getting into the tree care industry.

Read more

Hog CAFOs Threaten Quality of Rural Life

Hog CAFOs in Illinois and other states continue to be a threat not only to the animals confined in them, but to the well-being of rural communities. In Illinois, one proposed factory farm could threaten Mahomet Aquifer, which provides water for at least 500,000 citizens in the center of the state. Members of the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project and Illinois Coalition for Clean Air & Water talk about the dangers of CAFOs and whether citizen action can stop them in their tracks.

Read more

Tomatomania IV: Attack of the Nasty Shorts

The tomato guys are back! Keith Mueller (aka KC Tomato) and Craig LeHoullier (author of “Epic Tomatoes”) return for Tomatomania IV: Attack of the Nasty Shorts. They talk about late season tomato issues and offer expert advice. Meteorologist Rick DiMaio also returns to report on wildfires, hurricanes and the “code red” about climate change from the IPCC.

Read more

Local Food Is Getting Better In Illinois

Where local food is concerned, it was a good spring session in the Illinois General Assembly in 2021. Molly Gleason from the Illinois Stewardship Alliance talks about the various local food and conservation programs that were passed by the Illinois General Assembly. Bob Benenson joins the conversation and promotes National Farmers Market Week. Edith Makra and Geneva, Illinois Mayor Kevin Burns from the Metropolitan Mayors Council discuss the roll out of the Climate Action Plan for the Chicago Region.

Read more

How to Rescue Storm Damaged Trees

Following a June 2021 that featured drought, excessive rain and destructive storms, homeowners and municipalities are assessing the damage done to their trees. Skeet from Bartlett Tree Experts and Julie Janoski, Plant Clinic Manager at The Morton Arboretum, offer advice on how to cope with severely compromised trees. Bob Dolgan from This Week in Birding reports on construction work at Chicago’s famed Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary and why it has some conservationists perplexed.

Read more

Mike and Lily Write a Column

The following column was written a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away. I was reminded of it because my “co-author” Lily recently graduated from high school and that news was posted on her father’s Facebook page. But nine years ago, I nearly stopped her education in its tracks. I’m surprised that her father still speaks to me at all. Wait…I haven’t heard from him since…well, never mind. Somehow, some way, Lily overcame adolescence, a coronavirus pandemic and her encounter with a rogue columnist for a gardening magazine. This, ladles and genomes, is that story.

Read more

We Are the Champions

Landscape architect Thomas Rainer offers some heretical advice on what makes plants happy. Peggy and Mike welcome some winning gardeners

Read more