HAPPY EARTH DAY, Naperville. Today in The Sun (4.22) we're celebrating a day that as energy costs spiral out of control and more and more carbon emissions shoot into the atmosphere, is taking on greater importance every year. Today we tell you what some of your Naperville neighbors are doing to help save the planet's precious resources and also look at the ongoing efforts of the city to be environmentally responsible. It isn't easy being green but it's getting vital to the prosperity - and ultimately the survival - of humanity. We're also including a whole bunch of area events you may want to participate in. But Earth Day is just one day, so tell us what you're doing to contribute to the green cause and what you think of Earth Day and the whole movement that's gathering more steam (pardon the pun) every day. How eco-friendly are you? We'd like to know.
Recently in Environment Category
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake centered in southern Illinois rattled people early Friday morning and was felt as far away as Wisconsin and Iowa. Did you feel the quake shortly after 4:30 a.m.? Tell us about your experience. Include a working e-mail address, if you'd like to share your story with a reporter for an online article today and our Sunday print edition.
Today (Fri. 4.18) we take a gander at the two geese who have become mascots of a Naperville furniture store, where they've taken up nesting grounds. . .like right outside the establishment. The geese have been named Fred and Wilma and there's even a competition to name Mother Goose's little gosling when he or she arrives. Sounds like a real barrel of laughs until, that is, you talk to some parents whose kids have been either bitten by the geese or have had the daylights scared out of them. What do you make of this whole episode? Are you just ducky with it or do you think the geese have opened a hornet's nest? We'd like to know.
As The Sun has dutifully reported, the proposed acquisition of the EJ&E by the Canadian National means one thing for Naperville - a ton of freight trains rolling through the city at all hours of the day and night. Forget the noise - although that's bad enough - but what about the increased safety hazards to cars, pedestrians and even school buses that have to navigate through the perilous railroad crossings? But help may be on the way. As an update to this story The Sun has exclusively reported that the Dupage Forest District is standing up to the powerful railway barons and drawing a line in the sand, or make that a forest preserve. The Canadian National needs a one-acre parcel smack dab in a DuPage forest preserve for a critical switching station. The District is saying no dice - we're not selling. Will this one acre make a difference in the long run to the acquisition? Who knows. But it's kind of nice to see that an organization dedicated to the preservation of green space is doing what they consider the right thing - saying NO WAY, we don't want your railroad. What do you think? The conversation is now open.
Time's up: A year has passed since the Naperville City Council imposed a one-year no-build restriction on 6 acres near Plainfield-Naperville Road and West Street, between two bodies of water owned by the Naperville Park District. Unless the City Council takes further action, a developer could move forward with plans to build homes on the land. What should happen with the Ponds of Hobson West?
The Sierra Club says Naperville is contributing to something it says will be the largest new source of global warming pollution to be built in the U.S. in the past 20 years.
DuPage County and Naperville officials are weighing in on BP's plans to increase production at its Indiana refinery, which would mean increasing the amounts of ammonia and other pollutants discharged into Lake Michigan--our drinking water source. Should we worry?
Tuesday's Sun features a good read about a coyote making the rounds in the Saybrook neighborhood, and how this is not as uncommon as you might think.
Today we introduce a new primary category on Potluck: Environment. That's because we're going to talk about the massive $74 milliion cleanup of a Naperville Superfund site.
