Remembering the Chicago Center for Green Technology

Bird's eye view showing solar panels, rooftop garden, and rear trails.  Courtesy of the City of Chicago.

Once the city's shining proof of our commitment to sustainability, the Chicago Center for Green Technology has officially shut its doors on October 31st, 2014.  An event barely marked in the news, the closure still disheartened the activists, students, and lecturers who had supported the center in its twelve years of work.

Twitter users said:
"Boo & hiss! Chicago Center for Green Tech. closing. Another example of Rahm dismantling Daley's green Chicago vision" (@JameeBee)
"Not proud of our city today" (@ReuseFirst)

While blogger Lynn Becker wrote:
"But for the time that it had, the Chicago Center for Green Technology served well."

In January 2003, CCGT rose from an illegal solid waste dump to become a LEED Platinum certified building and showcase for the latest in environmentally-friendly ideas.  From its rooftop garden, solar panels, natural air ventilation, and geothermal heating, to its recycled office furniture and fast hand dryers, every detail cheered for a better planet. The renovation had cost $5.4 million through the now-defunct Chicago Department of Environment.  Though money had been set aside for initial operation cost, funding was depleted by 2012.  At this point, coordinators experimented with charging $10 for classes, but abandoned fees after one trimester.

Lecturers had taught a wide variety of free public courses, including gardening, watershed design, transportation projects, and building materials, with partners like Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and Rebuilding Exchange.  Though the classes were accessible to all educational levels, presenters never talked down to their audience.  The bright, open classrooms invited a collaborative atmosphere and fostered member retention.  

Though the space and certificate programs were commendable, the location was inconvenient.  The only complaint Yelp users had was the lack of signs.  Oddly enough, the Department of Transportation had absorbed CCGT, yet no sidewalks and bike lanes led to the building. The best way to access their sustainability programs was by car, and even drivers often missed the access road.  Furthermore, Chicagoans hate to leave the neighborhoods were they work and live, and East Garfield Park itself was not a draw.

The combination of the retirement of its biggest supporter, ex-Mayor Daly, poor fundraising, and inopportune placement defeated this community leader.  Though no group offers as great a breadth of courses, you may see other local green events by subscribing to monthly newsletter sustainability@cityofchicago.org. 

Chicago Parks District Toilet Water Not Safe for Drinking

A hairy man in a black floral women's swimsuit adjusts his Goldilocks wig before he picks up his bags again.  His lipstick is smeared, but the sunbathers he meets excuse it, maybe because of his sex, or it could be his spirited bounce.

"Hey girl," he shouts as he approaches each group.  "Hey girl! You all look beautiful today!"

"Thank you," the ladies yell back.

"How do I look?"

"Oh, you look good, honey."

Toward the men, he is more physical. "You're so cute, I have to kiss you on the cheek.  Mwah! Now you'll never want to wash this cheek again."

He chats, he poses for pictures, and he moves on to talk to other beachgoers.  He's not the only compelling sight at Kathy Osterman (aka Hollywood) Beach today.  Nervous paddleboarders try to stay up on the water, fit teenage lifeguards patrol the shore, and neverending volleyball games rage across four nets. Kite-flyers try to catch a breeze.  A young woman videotapes her "ice bucket challenge" using the leftovers of a cooler.  Across the waterfront, adventurous costumes flourish.

And the restroom offers still more to see.  Above a toilet, the Chicago Parks District has posted:  "This fixture is flushed with harvested rainwater. Not safe for drinking."

Though people are unlikely to drink from toilets anyway, the notice does draw attention to the city's venture into sustainable amenities.  The award-winning bathrooms designed by Wahaso "harvest rain water for use in flushing toilets, are vented and cool
ed naturally by lake breezes, and are 100% naturally day lit through the use of solar skylight tubes."  Though the water is sanitized against microbes, the system uses ultraviolet (UV) disinfection instead of chlorine so that there is no residual for the disinfection to continue working.  Also, the water is not treated for other impurities, and the pH of natural rainwater is somewhat acidic.  However, it's still perfectly safe to flush toilets.


What's the craziest thing you've ever seen at the beach?

Social Fiber! at the Chicago Cultural Center

A worthy message at an interactive studio

I know what feels off about Monica Neuland’s studio in the Garland Gallery of the Chicago Cultural Center. It’s too orderly. One can simply move around freely between the three looms, the neatly arranged books, the wall of yarn, and the samples of foreign rugs. Not like our mothers’ wild sewing nooks, with their bright carpets of jumbled thread and cast-aside half-quilted Christmas table runners, this room is divided into stations.

But if the studio design doesn’t bring kaleidoscopic delight, Neuland’s fantastic wardrobe and ebullient manner more than compensate. Her blond hair wrapped in a blue scarf and clear eyes focused on the guest, she welcomes the visitor with a chain of words spinning into a passion for the craft. She does not discuss her own “process”, but rather the global context of textile arts. “Once you learn to spin wool, you’ll never want to stop. It’s meditative. Women in India just walk around in the marketplace spinning. This is how they’ve done it for thousands of years.” Reaching over to help a participant unwind a tight thread, she instructs, “You have to feel the energy with your fingertips.”

On the other side of the room, a little girl in pink holds a captive audience at a loom. Neuland encourages her across the room, “Ruth, you woke up this morning, and you wanted to try weaving. Now you’re already giving demos. You keep this up, you’ll be president by tomorrow.” Ruth ducks her head to hide her smile. Neuland then turns to a woman at the book table and thanks her for returning.

This ability to work a room and her sense of inclusion are what make Neuland a good teacher, and able ambassador of public art to “people from communities experiencing bedrock poverty.” Over the remaining weeks of the residency, the artist plans to invite diverse groups of underserved to reach a goal of three thousand participants. However, people from all walks of life and backgrounds are also welcome. Visitors are encouraged to bring in their spare yarns and fabric, and help create a textile that will be eventually sewn into a tent to create “awareness of the breakdown of the connective tissue of life.”

So if the studio is not cozy enough, it is to leave space for everyone. When you find yourself downtown, stop in at the Chicago Cultural Center and help create our art.

Bridgehouse Museum hosts lecture on water preservation

On July 24, Krista Grimm of the League of Women Voters Lake Michigan Region presented a lunch-time lecture to a group of 15 at the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum.  Grimm first told listeners how a wetland naturally cleans stormwater by retaining it, filtering it through soil, and allowing microorganisms and roots to transform contaminants.  However, because 90 % of Illinois wetlands have been lost, a "gray infrastructure" system is vital.  Our local one is designed to handle 2" in 24 hours.  With the recent increase in precipitation, including a record-setting storm on April 18, 2013, system overflows have been more frequent, resulting in sewage and runoff being routed to natural waterways before treatment.

To combat environmental damage, Grimm advised residents to take steps such as clearing street drains, using less toxic products, reducing water consumption during rainfall, and properly disposing of pet and hazardous waste.  She also provided more costly ideas, including native foliage, rain barrels, rain gardens, permeable paving, and bioswales (also called channels or "drainage ditches") to direct flow.  In one example, a homeowner reduced basement flooding by planting black-eyed susans and disconnecting her downspout.  One attendee found hope in this plan, because she was worried about flooding but didn't believe she could count on her neighbors to adopt any significant conservation measures.

Grimm also commended the city of Chicago for leading the nation in the number of green roofs, and for installing bioswales throughout the city.  She noted the city hall is committed to converting aging infrastructure, but saw room for improvement.  "Anything that's impervious has the potential of being made pervious."

For those interested in learning more, the League of Women Voters Lake Michigan Region created a Stormwater Action Kit.

Not just twinkling lights: Astronaut sees rocket fire from space

Reid Wiseman's photo of the glowing Nile taken from the ISS on July 22, 2014.

Though the astronauts aboard the International Space Station often post astonishingly lovely photos showcasing Earth's delicate beauty on Twitter, today's post by German Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) showed a sadder depiction. Calling it his "saddest photo yet", Gerst tweeted, "From #ISS we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over #Gaza & #Israel." The most recent offensive started on July 8 as a result of the murder of three Israeli teenagers and does not seem to be near cease-fire.

Alexander Gerst's photo of rockets exploding in Gaza.

The Case of the Missing Lake

You can still see it on a paper map or a globe, but 90% of the Aral Sea is gone (Bland 2012).  In the past, the local residents caught fish there to eat and to sell.  They would use the water to drink, wash, and cook every day.  When a family had the day off, they could take a picnic to the beach and build sandcastles or have races to see who the fastest swimmer was.  The Aral Sea was once the 4^th largest freshwater lake in the world, and treasured by the Uzbeki people (Hecht 2014).

                So where did the lake go?  Before, the water to refill the Aral Sea came from two sources, rain from the sky and the flow of two rivers, named the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya (Bland 2012).  Because the surrounding climate is a desert, the rain only added a few inches of water a year.  Therefore, the rivers were vital to the survival of the body of water.   Now the long, winding tributaries no longer touch the shore (Hecht 2014).

                The trouble began in 1960, when Uzbekistan was still a part of a big country called the Soviet Union.  Eighteen other countries, including Russia, had joined together to make this powerful group.  Together, they could build bigger farms using the latest technology that could feed and clothe more citizens.  However, these crops demanded loads of water because they were so massive and included plants that didn’t naturally grow in a desert region.  So the engineers installed pipes to take water from the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya and send them to rice and cotton plantations in Kazakhstan (Hecht 2014).  These thirsty plants took more and more water over the 50 years that followed, until the lake was almost dry.

                Now, rusty ships rest in a dusty, open desert, left behind by the fishermen who had to find new work (Bland 2012).  Some pools of water endure in spots, but they contain too much salt to support fish (Micklin 2014). Even if fish could live in these conditions, they would not be edible because of all the pesticide chemicals they would have to swim in (Hecht 2014).  Even the air is hotter in the surrounding area, with the temperature increased 1⁰C as far as 100km away (Baidya Roy, et al. 2013).

                Locals are still hopeful that the sea can come back one day.  A group of Russian scientists drilled into the soil, and they found that the lake had dried up twice before, coming back full strength each time (Hecht 2014).  This happened about 1500 and 700 years ago (Hecht 2014).  Also, a small part called the North Aral Sea has welcomed back fish life, while engineers have started projects to restore the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya (Micklin 2014).  Unfortunately, the farms are still using lots of water and no big projects are underway to protect the whole Aral Sea yet.  If the government began restoration soon, it would still be lifetimes before the lake was back to its pre-1960s levels.

                From the unlucky Uzbekis, we can learn how essential it is to conserve water.  Only a limited supply is available for the whole world.  Next time you let the water run from your tap, remember to consider that your neighbor needs it, too.

Advice for those studying for the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam

Even if you have been out of school for a few years, don’t be nervous.  The exam has actually gotten more user-friendly in 2014.  NCEES has shortened it to 6 hours and is administering it on computer.  Also, it is focused more on your discipline, without the general section that the previous version required.

1)      Download the specifications from ncees.org/exams/fe-exam.  These guidelines tell you which topics you will see and what portion of the test they will comprise.

2)      Prioritize topics based on your weakest to strongest.  For example, I never took Materials but my graduate work was in Chemistry, so materials was in my top 3 and chemistry rated much lower.  This rating system will tell you where you should start studying first. If math is high on the list, then begin with a calculus book because other engineering subjects require a working knowledge.

3)      Know your schedule.  How much time do you have before the exam?  Divide up your days and assign subjects in order.  The time you allocate to each should be proportional to its fraction of the test.  Meaning, although ethics are important to have, they are not featured in many problems, and so don’t deserve as much study time. Don’t forget to give yourself time off at least once a week!  You’ll do better if you’re more relaxed.  How long do you actually need?  After studying for 14 months, I was going cross-eyed, and had actually forgotten many details from my first topic (Thermodynamics) by the day of the test.  For me, a 90-day regimen would have been more appropriate.  You may need more or less time depending on how much you still remember.

4)      Work problems, work problems, work problems.  This advice was repeated on every message board and book I saw, and really was the most helpful.  I found problems in my old textbooks, the 2014 Kaplan FE Environmental Engineering review manual, khanacademy.org, Introduction to Environmental Engineering by Davis and Cornwell, and on college sites where professors were kind enough to post old problems.  Note which equations and conversions come up the most frequently and be comfortable with them.  This will save you crucial seconds during the exam.  However, don’t worry about “trick questions.”  The problems are designed to see if you have a general understanding, not to trip you up.

5)      Master your tools.  Use only the calculators allowed in the testing room during your practice.  Read the manual to see what functions they have.  (You don’t want to waste time multiplying matrices by hand.)  Get to know the Supplied-Reference Handbook, because sometimes formulas you need are listed under a different discipline.  Consider your mind the most important tool, and pay attention to which breakfast keeps it sharpest.  Personally, I’m fueled by peanut butter and banana bagels.

I hope this helps you pass, and let me know if you find other techniques that aid you.