At first glance, seeing him sip a Stella Artois at a bar in the Loop, one would have no clue about the harrowing journey of the well-dressed man sporting a gray textured button-down, black dress pants, a shiny watch on his left hand and an earring in his left ear. Based on his appearance,...
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Global
A Sudanese Survivor: Refugee’s Journey From “Lost Boy” to Self-Sufficiency Inspires Others
O’Brien: Keeping Lake Michigan Clean?
By Curtis Black, Newstips Editor
“It’s my job to clean up our water and keep pollution out of Lake Michigan,” says MWRD president Terrence O’Brien in the first TV ad of his campaign for County Board president (watch it on youtube). “It’s time to clean up Cook County.”
In fact, as Newstips reported last April, under O’Brien the...
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Green, Organic Approach and Rooftop Farm Sets Uncommon Ground Apart
With two restaurants located in the city, Uncommon Ground’s unique focus on fresh and organic goes from the food served to hungry customers to the rooftop farm that makes it an eco-friendly trailblazer.
Uncommon Ground’s eatery at 1401 W. Devon is the first restaurant in the country to have a certified organic rooftop farm.
Helen Cameron,...
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Somali Finds Refuge in Albany Park English Class
Yasmin Mohamed, a Somali refugee living in Chicago, endured one of the globe’s greatest humanitarian crises, but understanding her future means journeying to ZIP code 60625.
Four mornings a week Yasmin winds her way down Whipple Ave. to the Albany Park Community Center. The second floor classroom is a global village of 26 students from...
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Local Student’s Green Life Gets Her to Sundance
Brittany Frandsen, a 20-year-old film student at Columbia College Chicago, is on her way to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, but not because of a film. It was her environmentally friendly South Loop apartment that got her there.
Frandsen was the winner of Brita’s Filter For Good green room contest, a national...
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A Journey of Immigration and Education from Bosnia to Chicago
Naida Okanovic remembers as a child reading a textbook her mother copiously hand duplicated word for word by candlelight in the refuge of a basement in Bosnia. The walls surrounding her shook as Serbian soldiers overhead ignited grenades.
Okanovic, now 21, is a University of Illinois at Chicago student studying psychology. Her experiences in Bosnia...
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New Eco-Friendly North Lawndale School: From Power Plant to Educational Power House
The massive brick building at 931 S. Homan Ave. once housed a power plant to provide electricity and heat for the adjacent Sears & Roebuck headquarters. Now the building powers the minds of young people in Chicago.
In September, Henry Ford Power House Charter High School opened its doors.
Power House High is located inside of...
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Protesters March on Federal Plaza, Push For Alternative Energy and Climate Justice
About 100 activists gathered at Federal Plaza on Monday to protest carbon trading and promote alternative energy.
Drums pounded and trumpets blared, as signs emblazoned with messages such as “No Coal” and “My Air Is Not For Sale” were passed among protesters who gathered during a chilly morning at Jackson and Adams streets.
Mobilization for Climate...
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Teaching Global Citizenship in Archer Heights
Traveling to 100 schools in 70 countries over the past decade helped Sarah Elizabeth Ippel craft the vision of holistic and stimulating education that is now the basis of the Academy for Global Citizenship charter school she founded in the Archer Heights neighborhood.
The academy is in its second school year this fall, with 50...
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Not Trash After All
Literally nothing was thrown away at the GreenTown Conference, held Oct. 15 at Columbia College Chicago, because all its waste was recycled or composted. But garbage was, in fact, on a lot of people’s minds there.
Because of one lecture at GreenTown, you may see changes to your neighborhood’s recycling program, or even the start...
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