by LIZ GRANGER
By now, you probably know that green is the new black. You've noticed that forgetting to tote canvas bags to the market became a gaffe about two seasons ago, a blush-worthy blunder when your local farmer who specializes in organic Asian greens chides, 'Are you sure you need the plastic bag?'
You probably saw An Inconvenient Truth a long time ago, in the Stone Ages when even some of your moderate friends thought it was bollocks. Last week you heard Al Gore start the chant: '100 percent renewable within 10 years, 100 percent in 10 … .' You've seen a vast constituency in Africa ban plastic bags; then, Europe and Asia followed suit. Now, in the United States, the ordinances trickle in ( with San Francisco—our reliable progressive mecca—breaking ground, of course ) .
The mayor is on board. Mayor Daley wants Chicago to be the greenest city in the country, but you learned about that eons ago when he started talking about green roofs. You know that City Hall installed beehives, and that the Hummers on Wacker are something socially appropriate to chuckle at with co-workers. You wonder, though, what is new in Chicago's green scene? Plenty.
Wendy Berger Shapiro runs a site called Green Bean ( greenbean.typepad.com ) . On Green Bean, Shapiro and a team of volunteers profile up-and-coming green projects in the area. They catalog the landscapers, architects and developers who work on each project, so readers who are interested in green-building have a resource to find like-minded individuals. Right now, Berger Shapiro is writing a piece about the first green McDonald's in the world, set to open in Chicago. She can't talk much about it, 'but they're doing some really cool things.'
Berger Shapiro runs Green Bean on her own time; she is not paid. Between doing triathlons and running LBS Equities, LLC, she pencils in long hours on the site. Earlier this summer, she decided that she needed help, and sent out a message for potential volunteers to meet at her office for dinner.
'I have a conference room that seats six or eight people, and I had no idea if anybody would show up,' Berger Shapiro said. 'Before I knew it, we were pulling in chairs. I had 10 people come.'
Berger Shapiro says that the meeting helped her realize how quickly eco-friendly communities are growing.
'You have a sense that you're a part of the beginning, not really first wave, but a real creation of something,' Berger Shapiro said.
Helen Cameron knows about green community building. She and her husband own Uncommon Ground, a coffee shop/restaurant/bar/acoustic venue. On Dec. 3, a new location opened in Rogers Park on 1401 W. Devon, but the new site isn't just a coffee shop/restaurant/bar/acoustic venue; it is also green.
The decks at Uncommon Ground ( Devon ) are made of recycled wood. The host stand, fireplaces and tabletops are made from fallen trees salvaged from Jackson Park. They use local ingredients whenever possible, and are starting a vegetable garden on the roof to serve homegrown foods. Solar panels heat the building's water.
'They were an investment, but we got rebates from the state and in two or three years they will pay for themselves,' Cameron said.
Cameron also has two beehives on the roof, tended by neighbor Liam Ford. ( People can read about Ford's beekeeping experiences at chicagobeeblog.wordpress.com . ) This year Uncommon Ground suffered an unfortunate 'queen fiasco,' Cameron said. The queen quit laying eggs.
'It was awful,' Cameron said. 'We had to kill her and install a new queen. I couldn't kill her myself, but we couldn't leave her alone either. She can't survive without the hive.' Normally, Ford and Cameron might expect about 100 lbs. of honey each year, but there's no telling what the hives might turn up after the queen incident.
The Center on Halsted ( an LGBTQ resource center ) is also very green. Along with the tenets 'reduce, reuse, recycle,' Center on Halsted employee Tom Dow might say that flexibility is a green attribute. Just as Cameron can't expect 100 lbs. of honey poured neatly into bear-shaped bottles, Center on Halsted couldn't rely on the colors of their recycled carpets.
Since most carpet is not biodegradable, the Center on Halsted found a company that recycles carpet from old buildings and sells it at highly reduced rates.
'You've got to be a little flexible with the décor, though,' Dow said. 'You're not always sure what you're going to get until a few weeks before it's delivered.' At Center on Halsted, they solved that problem creatively, by decorating the floor with a multicolored checkerboard of carpet that fit into the overall color scheme. Flexibility.
Technology also helps Center on Halsted be the greenest it can. Sensors throughout the building read natural light levels, and adjust the electric bulbs accordingly. Sensors monitor carbon dioxide levels, and adjust heating, cooling and ventilation systems. The concrete contains fly ash, a coal by-product. The roof is full of succulent plants that reduce rainwater and heating and cooling costs. The gym includes a giant screen door that can be opened to the outside on nice days instead of cranking up the air conditioning. Natural sunlight prevails.
The groundbreaking thing about Center on Halsted's green improvements, though, is its graywater system, the first in Chicago.
'We couldn't go to the green permits program and ask for a license to do a graywater system,' Dow said. 'There was no exact permit for what we wanted, and now we're the test case for the state. Every time something unexpected happens, about twelve people have to come out here and examine it.'
The graywater system works by collecting rainwater, filtering it with chlorine and ultraviolet light, and then piping the water to the building's toilets. By common estimates, one-third of the U.S. purified household water supply is used for flushing toilets, about three gallons per flush.
Berger Shapiro estimates the premium for building green is about a 10-15 percent cost increase. So why do Uncommon Ground and Center on Halsted shell out the cash?
'It's money well-spent,' Cameron said about the green fixtures at Uncommon Ground. 'We want to set a green example, and once enough people start building green, costs go down for everyone.'
