When people think of Chicago, they may think of a lot of things: a tough urban attitude, rough and tumble city politics, poet Carl Sandburg's designation of "hog butcher to the world." They probably don't think about Chicago as being on the forefront of green technology.
But thanks to Mayor Richard Daley and the Chicago Green Building Council, the city is making green building construction an important part of the city's future. Every contractor putting up a new building in Chicago is encouraged to use designs that emphasize energy efficiency, incorporating alternative energy resources like solar panels and geothermal technology into the design, natural lighting where possible, recycled and sustainable materials, and, most surprising to new visitors to Chicago, green roofs, consisting of a layer of soil with grasses and other greenery insulating buildings from excess heat in the summer and cold in the winter. The green roof also serves to absorb some of the carbon dioxide in the urban environment, turning it into oxygen via natural photosynthesis.
This emphasis on green living has reached to city schools and even to organizations around the country, as Chicago invites teenagers and young adults to participate in a variety of internships involving conservation and other environmental practices. Chicago has made itself into a laboratory of sustainable living, one that, it is hoped, will begin to provide answers to other cities around the country and the globe.
Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern New Hampshire. She has written numerous articles for local and regional newspapers and for a number of Internet websites, including Tips and Topics.