NNA's Greening of Northcenter Neigborhood is ready to break ground on its second year of the Parkway Corner Initiative. 

If you live within the borders of NNA and you are interested in turning your corner into a beautiful, urban, native plant ecosystem then please visit our website to learn more. PARKWAY CORNER INITIATIVE Spring is right around the corner and only 14 corners will be chosen for the 2012 planting, so APPLY NOW!

Next upcoming Environmental Committee meeting - March 7th part two of "New Initiative" meeting at Paul Revere @7pm. Bring in your new ideas, however large or small!

Questions? Email us at greenblog@northcenterneighborhood.org.

Beloved catalpa felled but not forgotten

Pete Leki and his granddaughter Nicole Burris, 4, sit near a pile of wood left by a 107-year-old catalpa tree that was recently cut down in front of his North Side house. The wood will be turned into furniture for his home and the nearby bank of the Chicago River. (Photo Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune / February 15, 2012

Mary Schmich

February 19, 2012

He loved his tree.
He was thinking how much he loved it as he drove up to the sawmill the other day hoping to wrest some consolation from its startling, rude death.

He loved how his tree had shaded his brick cottage for the 32 years he'd lived there with his family, loved that it had stood outside the house for the whole century since his Chicago neighborhood sprang from the dirt next to the river. He loved that it was the tallest tree on the block, visible across the rooftops from as far away as Irving Park Road.

For the rest of the story ... 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-schmich-0219-20120218,0,6240750.column

Protecting the Great Lakes

Protecting the Great Lakes

from Diversion, Pollution, Climate Change, Catastrophes, and Invasive Species

Join us to examine the complex of laws and treaties, government agencies and enforcement challenges, wide-ranging threats from pollution to invasive species that must all be negotiated in planning a sustainable future for our Great Lakes. 

The five Great Lakes constitute the largest system of surface freshwater on earth. They contain twenty percent of the world's freshwater resource. About one tenth of the population of the United States and one quarter of the population of Canada rely on the Great Lakes for fresh water.  The Lakes are also a natural resource of beauty to residents and visitors, as well as an instrument of commerce.

Protecting the Great Lakes  will be held on February 24, 2012 in the Museum's James Simpson Theater, Field Museum http://fieldmuseum.org/visit/james-simpson-theater.

This all-day symposium organized and sponsored by the 7th Circuit Bar Association Foundation will examine the legal and policy issues facing the Great Lakes with faculty from both the United States and Canada to present a binational perspective. These fifteen well known and highly regarded faculty from Canada and the United States are experts in the threats to the Great Lakes from diversion, pollution, climate change, catastrophes, and invasive species, as well as the tangled web of treaties, provincial and state laws, and municipal laws relating to these topics.

Check out the program by visiting 7th Circuit Bar Association's website:  www.7thcircuitbar.org

To register and take advantage of free admission, contact Doug Carlson at carlson@wildman.com or by calling 312-201-2643.