Submitted by Claudia Louise Pesenti
Biking the boulevards in Chicago is a green pleasure rather than what it used to be: a daring ride through the asphalt jungle that the streets had become due to blight and lack of funding and civic responsibility.
Now, trees line the streets of Chicago, corners are bursting with native plants, and folks are picking up the trash in their communities.
For more than 25 years, I have been a resident of the Near Northwest Side, and a teacher/librarian in the public schools on the West and South Sides of Chicago. We still need to do a better job with recycling in the public schools, but in Uptown, we have a conservation club and teacher-driven recycling efforts. Our students respond to the message to keep it green.
I have lived and learned how and why kids need to learn to grow up green. They need to plant and smell and eat green in their own neighborhoods. Thankfully, 4-H, the University of Illinois extension programs, and the Chicago Botanic Garden have helped us succeed.
Also, because of the generosity of volunteers and endeavors of artists, gardeners, and residents and, now, city funding, the west side is greening and preening. Garfield park conservatory is no longer a broken-windowed greenhouse. Music, art and plants thrive, as do the residents of the community. Kids know that vegetables and flowers can grow in the soil in their neighborhood and take pride in their work and share with neighbors, who become friends. There is more respect for living things—people and pets included—and hopefully this will continue, despite the current economic hardships people face on a daily basis.
At home in Logan Square, we are still hoping for blue recyclig carts. Until then, we continue to recycle elsewhere. Our farmers' market on Sundays is blossoming, and a beautiful garden has been planted near our El (public transportation) for the elderly and others to sit and chat.
Creating a green community in our own neighborhoods is what Chicago is about. We might not make it to the roof of City Hall, but we can share the green across the alleyways and parkways—our parks, our people, our pride.
