Blog Posts

Thismia, Thismia, Wherefore Art Thou, Thismia?

August 3, 2019August 9, 2019 Mike Nowak Audubon Great Lakes, Calumet region, Chicago Park District, environment, gardening, hemi-marsh wetland, Illinois Soybean Association, Indian Ridge Marsh, Peggy Malecki, restoration ecology, The Mike Nowak Show, The Wetlands Initiative, Thismia americana

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:38:44 — 46.1MB)

Mike and Peggy are on the Calumet area of Chicago this morning, hoping to track down a plant that hasn’t been seen in more than 100 years! It’s the Thismia Hunt! A Calumet Celebration Day! It’s family friendly and we will be talking to scientists, restoration ecologists, birders, activists and volunteers who are hoping to make science history. Join us!

Podcast

Skeet’s Traveling Critter Carnival

July 27, 2019July 29, 2019 Mike Nowak Bartlett Tree Experts, environment, gardening, Illinois Extension, Japanese beetles, Peggy Malecki, Prairie State Bonsai Society, Skeet, The Mike Nowak Show, The Morton Arboretum, weather stress

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:45:14 — 49.9MB)

Skeet from Bartlett Tree Experts returns to the show with his traveling critter carnival. He talks to Mike and Peggy about summer tree issues. Dan Kosta from Vern Goers Greenhouse previews the Prairie State Bonsai Society annual show at the Morton Arboretum.

Podcast

Roy and Piet: The Perennial Whisperers

July 20, 2019July 21, 2019 Mike Nowak environment, gardening, Green Scene Chicago, Millennium Park, Peggy Malecki, Piet Oudolf, plant communities, Plant Sentry, Roy Diblik, Sudden Oak Death, The Lurie Garden, The Mike Nowak Show, Tom Buechel

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:50 — 48.9MB)

World-renowned perennial plant experts Roy Diblik and Piet Oudolf join Mike and Peggy to talk about plant communities and good design. On the heels of the discovery in the Midwest of P. ramorum, a pathogen that has the potential to kill oak trees, Tom Buechel returns to the show to explain how the Plant Sentry program can protect states from diseases, pests and invasive plants. Martie Sanders and the actors at Green Team Chicago are back with a report on this summer’s production, “…not for all the tea in China!” (Hint: it’s about the history of tea.)

Podcast

Get Outside Already! Yeah, You!

July 13, 2019July 15, 2019 Mike Nowak Danielle Perry, environment, gardening, Get Outside Map, Growing Home Inc., Montrose Beach Dunes, mosquito control, Openlands, organic urban farms, Peggy Malecki, piping plovers, Summit Responsible Solutions, The Mike Nowak Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:45:04 — 48.6MB)

Patrick Williams from Openlands discusses their new “Get Outside Map” for the Chicago area, as well as the demise of the Route 53 extension and flooding forums in Lake County. Danielle Perry, new executive director at Growing Home, talks about their mission to grow organic produce and help Chicagoans find jobs. Another report on the threatened MAMBY concert on Montrose Beach, this time from neighborhood leader Marianne Lalonde. Bill Stengel from Summit Responsible Solutions tell you why Mosquito Dunks are the best way to deal with that insect pest.

Podcast

Net Zero Energy Design…and Beyond!

July 6, 2019July 9, 2019 Mike Nowak architecture, climate change, gardening, green living, Melinda Myers, Nate Kipnis, native plants, net zero, Peggy Malecki, summer vegetables, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show, Tom Bassett-Dilley

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:44:52 — 49.3MB)

Chicago area architects Tom Bassett-Dilley and Nate Kipnis join Mike and Peggy in studio to talk about the potential for net zero–and possibly net positive-energy design projects. Show regular Melinda Myers returns to talk native plants and getting a late start on veggie planting in the Midwest.

Protecting Plovers in Chicago - Montrose Beach

Podcast

Protecting Piping Plovers in Chicago

June 29, 2019July 2, 2019 Mike Nowak Chicago Ornithological Society, environment, fireworks, gardening, Great Lakes, Kathleen Thompson, MAMBY, Montrose Beach, Peggy Malecki, piping plover, Recall Desk, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:44:05 — 48.5MB)

Mike and Peggy follow up on last week’s conversation about the return of the piping plover to Chicago’s Montrose Beach, and how its progress is being threatened by the scheduled MAMBY concert event. Paul Fehrenbacher from the Montrose Lakefront Coalition (MLC) and Douglas Stotz, senior conservation ecologist in the Keller Science Action Center at the Field Museum are working to save an endangered species. Kathleen Thompson reports from the “Recall Desk.” You won’t want to miss it.

Sciende, Art and Climate Change - Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Pavilion, courtesy of Katherine Moore Powell

Podcast

Science, Art and Climate Change

June 22, 2019June 25, 2019 Mike Nowak Bartlett Tree Experts, Beasts At Bedtime, Christine Esposito, Dr. Liam Heneghan, environment, fungal diseases, gardening, Montrose Beach Dunes, Peggy Malecki, piping plover, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show, Third Coast Disrupted

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:26 — 47.7MB)

Scott Stringer from Bartlett Tree Experts answers your tree care questions. Christine Esposito of Terracom and Dr. Liam Heneghan from DePaul University explain how Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate can make people more aware of the threat to our planet posed by the climate crisis. Montrose Beach Dunes steward Leslie Borns and Carl Giomettil from the Chicago Ornithological Society have the latest on the battle to preserve a fragile ecosystem on Chicago’s lakefront from a proposed rock concert.

Podcast

Custer Fair in a Year of Rain

June 15, 2019June 18, 2019 Mike Nowak

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:42:07 — 47.3MB)

WCGO Radio is broadcasting live from Evanston’s Custer Fair. Mike and Peggy welcome Louise Rosenberg from Cultivate Urban Rainforest and Gallery, and congratulate the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Kayri Havens, Ph.D. on her lifetime achievement award from the American Horticultural Society.

Cook County Forest Preserves. Photo by Mike Nowak.

Podcast

Forest Preserves In the Age of Climate Crisis

June 8, 2019June 11, 2019 Mike Nowak

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:42:55 — 48.2MB)

Arnold Randall, General Superintendent of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, explains how they are preparing to adapt to and to attempt to mitigate climate change. Thad King, Crystal Clair and Karen Hudson follow up on the threat posed by a CAFO to a downstate organic farm. Rick DiMaio reports on the continuing wet, cool weather.

Podcast

TOMATOMANIA with KC and NC

June 1, 2019June 2, 2019 Mike Nowak American Public Works Association, Craig LeHoullier, environment, Fred Braun, gardening, heirloom plants, KC Tomato, organic gardening, Peggy Malecki, snow and ice removal, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show, Village of Niles

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:42:43 — 47.3MB)

Tomato experts Craig LeHoullier, author of Epic Tomatoes, and tomato breeder KC Tomato (not his real name), join Mike and Peggy to talk about getting the tomato season started. Fred Braun, Director of Public Works for the Village of Niles, talks about how their snow and ice removal system just won an award from the American Public Works Association (APWA).