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Greening America: One Household at a Time - Talking with Susan Agate and Mike Slutsky

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So many gardens have species in them that are not native to this area. Some of them are invasive - with no natural predators in the area, and they take over. A beautiful example is purple loosestrife, which is good looking but an invasive species here. Another common invasive plant species in this are is the buckthorn tree - it grows fast and blocks the light that oak trees need. You may have seen notices about people working to remove buckthorns - North Park Village Nature Center does this regularly. It seems to make sense that the species native to this area are the ones that should be growing here - they don't need TLC or fertilizer or extra water, and they belong here. People who plant native species gardens report seeing a greater number and variety of wildlife in their gardens. We've got lots of milkweed, which I've been reading lately is a good plant to put in to help the monarch butterflies, whose habitats are disappearing.

Mike: On the home garden front, some years ago, we learned that it was environmentally better to, and so we changed our practices to(1) leave the grass clippings on the lawn; (2) compost remnants of fresh fruits and vegetables;(3) not use fertilizer on the lawn (which has the collateral benefit of not having to mow as often); and (4) replace our dead power mower with a hand/reel mower. Susan was the initiator of most of these changes.

Don't be so modest, Mike. You've initiated some changes. How about how you use your car? Where did that come from?

I'm not sure. My Dad drove to work in the Loop [downtown Chicago] and my Mom drove to work on the north side of Chicago every day. And, as a teenager, being able to drive was a great thing. When I started to work downtown, we lived in Hyde Park, and had only one car. The commute on the IC was fast, comfortable and easy. When we were looking for a house in Evanston, we wanted a place near the L, but I don't think there was any analysis that went into it. It was just one of those assumptions. Public transit has gotten worse since à ‚¬Ëœ83 when we moved to Evanston, but the ride on the L is still a time when I can read or do work, without many interruptions.

So, how much do you drive these days? Is there some ideology behind your practice? What about the decision to buy a hybrid? Where does that fit in?

I hardly ever drive on weekdays, unless we have something in the evening, or, on rare occasions, if I have to get to a meeting out of the Loop. On weekends, I drive on Sundays for errands, etc., or to visit [daughter] Rachel and her family. On Saturday nights in the "winter" we sometimes drive, but we will also walk to downtown Evanston if we happen to be going out to dinner there.

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Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of (more...)
 

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