Recently in Environment Category

One mother The Hound knows got a Mother's Day gift over the weekend. It was a digital picture frame.

We're all familiar with them and if you're not, the idea is to replace all those picture frames hanging on the walls or sitting on coffee tables with a media card plugged into the digital frame. This mom noted the photos are there to view until she gets bored with looking at them. Then in goes another media card.

This got The Hound to thinking how many other mothers got digital frames on Mother's Day. Plenty, right? Which is taking a step back from this ongoing push to be green and save energy, resources and materials, isn't it. The Hound believes that if miraculously oil drops to $90 a barrel tomorrow, talk of going green will disappear quicker than a bad movie at the box office.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, digital picture frames are just one of the 25 consumer electronics devices the average U.S. household owns. That would include televisions, radios, CD players, cell phones, printers, computers, portable and stationary DVD players, VCRs, MP3 players, videogame players, digital cameras, camcorders, GPS devices. Yikes, Americans do own a lot of stuff!

The association also notes that two billion DVDs, 30 million digital cameras and 41 million MP3 players are sold annually in the U.S. On top of that, there's about 150 million used cell phones stockpiled in U.S. households.

So, when do we start going green?

The Hound has noticed a lot of those "recyclable" bags at area food and retail stores. But here's the question that has been bothering The Hound: Is it OK to take a Jewel bag into, say, Dominick's or a Wal-Mart bag into Target?

The Hound has heard of one Dominick's where a manager gave a customer two free bags (theirs are black) rather than seeing her use Jewel bags (dark green).

So, what is the etiquette here? Is it OK to use any bag you have because they are environmentally sound (or so we are told)? Or do your bags have to be store-specific?

Life is just full of questions, right? Next week The Hound will tackle organic foods. Then again, maybe not.

Are you looking for a way to do your part to protect the environment?

Learn more about Lake County Going Green by watching the "Going Green" video at http://www.co.lake.il.us/green/. The Web site highlights what the county is doing for the environment and gives pointers to families and kids on what they can do.

You can be a member of the Lake County Green Team. If you have a great story about how you are Going Green, send an email to communications@co.lake.il.us. Your story may be featured on LCTV.

One thing you can do right away to go green at home is to buy a rain barrel from the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission. A rain barrel connected to your downspout is a great way to cut down your water bill and do something for the environment, and because you are collecting water right off the roof, it has few contaminants and is perfect for watering the garden. Order forms are available at www.co.lake.il.us.

Welcome to the Green Team!

Did you feel the earthquake? That's what everyone was asking Friday morning. Residents across the Midwest said they were awakened by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake that rattled skyscrapers in Chicago's Loop and homes in Cincinnati. Centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., the quake was felt as far away as Atlanta and Ontario.
The Hound's embarassed he slept right through it. Is this some kind of warning? Maybe it's time to get earthquake insurance, just to be on the safe side. Did you feel the earthquake?

If wild cougars have taken up residence in the Chicago area, what's next? Could a black bear be our next visitor, scavanging for scraps in our garbage cans? How about a wolf? According to the Illinois Natural History Survey, there has been a steady influx of nine-banded armadillos in southern and western Illinois. We already know skunks are here to stay -- witness the investation of them in Gurnee. Perhaps we should put a bounty out for their pelts.

So cougars are again running amok in Lake County. If so, in which community will the next sighting occur? The Hound is taking bets. Place your money down and take your chances.

The Hound knows something about tracking and has a nose, as it were, for news. He has an edge on law enforcement and Illinois Department of Natural Resources conservation police who have once again been looking for the elusive mountain lions.

Chased unceremoniously from North Chicago, The Hound hears of reports of a sighting in the Round Lake area. So where will the lone cougar --- or perhaps there are multiple cougars --- surface?

If you are familiar with the high country, as The Hound is, mountain lions prefer the taste of prong-horned antelope. There are no prong-horned antelope in Lake County, so the next best thing are deer. Where are the most deer? Wadsworth, of course.

The Hound suggests IDNR folks set up observation posts in the Wadsworth area. Many may scoff at cougar sightings, but they said the same thing about the elusive Florida panthers. Of course, the panthers have been found across the State of Florida since naturalists first were convinced they were extinct.

The Hound's second site would be Wildwood or perhaps Prairie Crossing. They're out there and as The Hound's trackers in Steamboat Springs, Colo., report: If you're out walking, make sure you are prepared for cougar attacks.

In one of the more obtuse exercises, we're being asked to turn off all non-essential lights from 8 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Apparently, this is supposed to make a dramatic, symbolic statement about energy usage or going green or saving the planet from ourselves. The Hound is feeling warm all over and wants to break out in song to "Kumbaya".

The World Wildlife Fund came up with this lights-out strategy as part of its global campaign against climate change. They call it Earth Hour and have talked cities across the nation, including Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix and San Francisco; across the globe Bangkok, Copenhagen, Dubai, Dublin, Manila, Sydney, Tel Aviv and Toronto.

In Lake County, Highland Park (no surprise there) and Round Lake (there's a surprise) will be taking part. Walgreens corporate headquarters in Deerfield will be dimmed, while the folks at Prairie Crossing in Grayslake will be holding a pot luck dinner during Earth Hour. Bring your own wheat grass.

In Chicago, more than 160 buildings in the Loop, including Sears Tower, Hancock Center, Boeing corporate offices, Northern Trust, theater marquees will be darkened. Wrigley Field will turn off its landmark marquee at Clark and Addison, while the United Center will turn out the lights that shine on the Michael Jordan statue. Somebody better tell MJ about this.

This is all fine and dandy, but if we really want to make a statement about global warming, let's all throw our car keys into the gene pool and start walking or taking mass transit. Start using more solar power. Start using less plastic, more recycling and composting.

While The Hound thinks the whole idea is dumb, the dog house will have its CFLs turned off for the hour. The computer may be unplugged. But not the 12-foot plasma. We'll see how many others join in.

After Illinois officials led the fight against BP dumping increased amounts of pollutants into Lake Michigan from its Whiting, Ind., refining plant, along comes Republican congressional candidate in the 8th District, Ken Arnold, with his "new" plan to ease flooding in the Des Plaines River basin.

Hey coho! Yeah, I'm talking to you fish! You may owe the city millions in harbor cleanup costs.

If the Hound needed a bath, there's plenty of water to dive into around Lake County.