Bridget Coughlin’s op-ed (“Shedd CEO: Wetlands are Illinois’ unsung heroes in the fight against climate change,” March 26) on the importance of protecting Chicago’s wetlands could not be more necessary and timely.
The Chicago Park District and the city of Chicago recently announced a plan to drain a vital wetland on the east end of the Midway Plaisance. Children on the South Side suffer asthma at rates far beyond other locations — research by the University of Chicago finds that “in some South Side neighborhoods, up to 59 percent of kids have the dangerous respiratory condition — compared with a rate of only nine percent across the United States.” Another recent study reported that Chicago has the second worst air quality of major U.S. cities.
Wetlands like the one on the Midway serve a critical role in combating this scourge, by capturing carbon and other air pollutants.
The Midway Plaisance Advisory Council, or MPAC, has developed an alternative plan that would enhance the wetland (more properly, the east end oasis) at less cost than the Park District and the city’s plan to spend to drain it. The playground the Park District has attached to this project to mask the environmental damage can be easily moved to a location that would better serve the community. Enhancing the wetland would also provide an opportunity to develop a science curriculum for elementary and secondary students in the community to learn about the natural features of their local environment and the intricacies of ecosystems. MPAC’s partnership with Bloomberg Connects has created an app that will facilitate learning about the park’s ecosystem, including its endangered wetland.
The Park District and the city should heed President Joe Biden’s mandate to consider the environmental justice implications of public projects. The health of our communities is affected by the decisions we make about how to manage our environment. The Park District and City Hall should heed Coughlin’s call by abandoning its plan to remove the wetland and instead join the community in preserving and enhancing it for the long term.
— Raymond M. Lodato, associate instructional professor, University of Chicago
Wetlands disappearing in my area
I read with interest Bridget Coughlin’s op-ed regarding saving our wetlands in Illinois. Over the last 40 years living in DuPage County, I have witnessed vast open acreage converted to development, housing, office space, and retail outlet after retail outlet, so there is very little left. Ironically, housing has become almost unaffordable, so it’s not helping that aspect.
The few undeveloped areas that are left are slowly either having trees torn down for development or are up for sale. The only undeveloped areas left are the occasional forest preserve such as Herrick Lake (bald eagles there) and Blackwell and the bike paths such as the Illinois Prairie Path and Great Western trails.
We have pushed open wetlands to the absolute limit in DuPage County with no end in sight as usual. As with viable mass transit: No planner anywhere seems to care; they’re just building more asphalt roads.
I don’t see much hope here, and elsewhere probably is not much better.
— Ken Kramer, Glen Ellyn
Taking steps toward clean energy
Regarding the editorial “America’s energy boom has helped with global security. Biden should leave well enough alone.” (March 27): The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones. Nor did we run out of horses when Ford cars took to the roads.
Every step toward clean energy should be taken. There are 10,000 renewable projects sidelined due to slow permitting. Permitting acts are waiting and must be passed.
We should take off our blinders and dispense with half truths. The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates health costs due to fossil fuel pollution and climate change at more than $800 billion per year. The human suffering that these entail cannot be estimated.
If we care about the great outdoors and the blessings of creation, we should vote like it.
— Jan Freed, Los Angeles
Creating ‘good food’ in Illinois
I couldn’t read the March 25 front-page article “Food program delays have farmers anxious” without getting teary-eyed. Emotions always get the best of me when I am reminded of the strong-sounding alarm that is needed for a more reliable, safe, equitable and regeneratively managed food system in Illinois.
Equitable access to “good food” surely is not normalized in Illinois. But it is something I believe strongly in and hope to see significant and critical change toward during my lifetime.
The stories featured in the article center a real call to action for anyone who eats, drinks or breathes air. As the need for local food infrastructure is talked about, it also needs to be financially supported, understood holistically, felt by many, touched by all ages and seen through the eyes of a hungry child.
What does a resilient local food system look like for the average Illinoisan? Right now, it is rare, and hopefully, delays like what the Illinois Equitable Access Towards Sustainable Systems (IL-EATS) program experienced the past several months will be a thing of the past.
• Find local food and start buying it. If you don’t have options in your community, get involved with me in building an Illinois food system that believes in it.
• Understand farming. Agriculture and farming are not one-size-fits-all industries. Visit farms. Know your farmer. Get in touch with soil and growing.
• Respect human health. Legislators and decision-makers must make a difference — drum up the political will to bring change. Diets are suffering. Families are vulnerable. “Good food” can be medicine replacing prescriptions and chemotherapy someday.
• Harness the power of collective impact and never give up. I know several of the folks mentioned in the front-page article. I want to be able to look them in the eyes some day and say that I tried to build something better with them.
I’m calling on U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin to co-sponsor Senate Bill 3982 to make the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program permanent. I am also calling on state lawmakers to support local food infrastructure right here in Illinois. A Local Food Infrastructure Grant Act could help our farmers, food businesses, livestock processors, cooperatives and local governments purchase equipment for processing, milling, refrigeration, trucking, food hubs, community kitchens and other infrastructure sorely needed to scale up local food production and supply chains.
We urgently need continued investment in local “good food.”
— Amy Bartucci, Park Ridge
Chicago Bears versus the lakefront
Two Chicago treasures, the Bears and the lakefront, are involved a battle over whether a new Bears stadium should occupy prime public land. Which side should win?
Let’s see: The Bears have been here for 100 years; the lakefront, 10,000 years. The clear winner: the lakefront.
The $1 billion Bears should build their palace somewhere else — on private land.
— Patrick Riley, Chicago
Culpability in the bridge collapse
Because the ship that caused the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore to collapse had previously been cited, there must be some accountability for this tragic turn of events.
All things considered, it appears as though the owners of the vessel bear the responsibility of the six workers who are all presumed dead and the destruction of the bridge.
— JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater, Florida
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