The Chicago Parks District has an offer running this week to help get a head start on reducing that holiday gut (and kick starting your New Years resolution to exercise). January 2 – 10, you can work out for free at any of the Chicago Park District’s 66 fitness centers located throughout the city.

Patrons who extend the complimentary one-week period into a January-March 2010 winter-session membership will receive a free Nike cinch bag, while supplies last.

Check out the Chicago Parks District site for a complete list of fitness centers: www.chicagoparkdistrict.com.

All of Southport will be collecting donations for their charities that day. Southport Grocery’s donations are going to the Lakeview Pantry, where they will go to local families in need.

Southport Grocery map & directions

The program will install 15 public recycling receptacles throughout the Clark Street corridor, stretching 5000 N. Winona to 5650 N. Olive.

Each receptacle will collect paper, glass, or plastic and aluminum. Recyclables will be picked up by the Chicago Resource Center, a not-for-profit hauling organization on Chicago’s South Side. The Chicago Resource Center guarantees a recycling
rate of 99%.

You can Recycle these materials at the following intersections:

GLASS

- Southeast corner of Clark & Foster
- Southeast corner of Clark & Berwyn

PAPER

- Northwest corner of Clark & Olive
- Southeast corner of Clark between Olive & Bryn Mawr
- Northeast corner of Clark & Balmoral
- Northwest corner of Clark & Berwyn
- Northwest corner of Clark & Foster
- Northwest corner of Clark & Winona

PLASTIC AND ALUMINUM

- Southwest corner of Clark & Bryn Mawr
- Northwest corner of Clark & Balmoral
- Northeast corner of Clark & Berwyn
- Southwest corner of Clark & Berwyn
- Northeast corner of Clark &Foster
- Southwest corner of Clark & Foster
- Northeast corner of Clark and Winona

The program is being implemented by the non-profit Andersonville Development Corporation (ADC).

More at Eco-Andersonville.org.

Chicago’s West Town will be host to the first Green Music Fest, this Saturday August 15th through Sunday, August 16th in Eckhart Park (1330 W. Chicago Avenue). The innovative green technology-themed event will reflect the hip and environmentally-conscious West Town community by fusing original live music with all green vendors and services.

At Green Music Fest you can:
* Hear a great line-up of bands including Art Brut, tapes n’ tapes and  Lucero
* Discover new ways to go green
* Take part in family-friendly activities
* Shop from green and eco-friendly vendors selling crafts, gadgets and more

The event will be produced in the most eco-friendly way possible with bio-diesel fuel operated generators, biodegradable plastic cups, recycling and composting options, and a free bike valet.

Advance Tickets
$11.50 – one day pass ($15 at door)
$20.00 – two day pass ($25 at door)
Kids under 12 free with adult admission

Click here to purchase tickets

Photo by Eric Bégin, flickr

If you have an old fur coat stored in the attic somewhere and no idea how to get rid of it, here’s a thought. Donate it to The Humane Society’s Coats for Cubs program. Coats for Cubs cuts up the donated furs and uses them to warm and comfort orphaned and injured wildlife. More than 200 rehabilitators from across the United States and Canada now participate in the program.

Watch a video about the program here.

The furs are cut into an appropriate size for the animal and placed inside the animal’s enclosure. A bobcat, fox, raccoon, squirrel, or rabbit in need of comfort will find your coat turned into a furry blanket that becomes a surrogate mother to these orphaned animals.

Photo from Coats for Cubs

This approach works better than a towel or blanket as the fur feels more like the animal’s own mother. Turning the sleeve of a fur coat inside out can create a warm nest for a burrowing animal. Some animals adopt a piece of fur as a playmate, jumping on it and wrestling with it.

Want to donate? Here’s how:

Place your fur in a sturdy box (a large padded envelope is fine for small items) and mail it to The HSUS at the following address:

The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L St., NW
Washington, D.C. 20037
Attn: Coats for Cubs

View more details on Coats for Cubs.

Photo by kwerfeldein, flickr

With summer in full swing and farmers markets happening nearly everyday, or at least every weekend, it’s fairly easy to find meat and dairy raised on local farms. Meat that is more humanely raised and more nutritious, where animals are grass-fed as nature intended. But what about during the other seasons?

Enter Eatwild.com, a directory of more than 1100 pasture-based farms. It’s a comprehensive source for finding grass-fed meat and dairy products near you. Producers listed in the directory have animals and land that are well-treated, and their products are free of antibiotics and added hormones. Many farms are organically certified; others lack certification but follow organic standards.

Click here to search by state at EatWild.com.

Looking for a farm or ranch near Chicago? Find it on the Eatwild Illinois map.

Looking for a summer fest that steers clear of deep fried who-knows-what’s-in-that food? Check out Veggie Fest in Naperville. There will be 100’s of food vendors, cooking demos with free samples, live music, crafts and games for kids, and best of all it’s free admission.

Karyn Calabrese of Karyn’s “Fresh Corner” and “Karyn’s Cooked” will be presenting a food demo, and Chicago Diner will be a guest food demonstrator as well.

August 8 & 9
Saturday 11am – 8pm
Sunday 11am – 7pm

http://veggiefestchicagoland.org/index.html

Photo by wvs, flickr

My poor, neglected, locked-up-in-storage bike got a tune up this week. I actually had to knock the dust off before taking it in for fear of shaming myself completely.

One tire was totally flat. The tube needed replacing due to a missing little piece of metal inside that part that sticks out where you inflate the tire. (I’m sure all of these bike parts have official names… clearly however I am an amateur rider and not in the know on such matters.)

I rode my bike home from Performance Bike in Lincoln Park and it was a blast! Gorgeous weather, and early enough in the day that there weren’t millions of people crowding the lakefront path. It reminded me what fun bike riding can be, and that you can get places pretty darn fast! Given Chicago’s traffic, riding a bike will often get you there in the same time it would take to drive.

Here’s a picture of the newly fixed “thingamajig”:

I have to put a plug in for Performance Bike as well. Because I purchased my bike there I get a free yearly tune-up for life. This includes:

* Adjust brake & gear settings
* True the wheels
* Tighten loose bolts
* Provide complete safety inspections

Photo by shawnblog, flickr

After seeing a recent news segment covering Chipotle’s humanely raised meat (what they call “food with integrity”), I decided to look at their site for myself to find out more. I wanted to know if all meats at Chipotle are raised in a humane way and whether or not the rest of their ingredients are organic. Here is what I found:

Pork- 100% of restaurants have naturally raised pork with no antibiotics, raised in open pasture, vegetarian feed with no animal by-products

Chicken- 100% of restaurants have naturally raised chicken with no antibiotics, raised with more room than in conventional coops, vegetarian feed with no animal by-products

Beef- 50% of restaurants have naturally raised beef with no antibiotics, no growth hormones, vegetarian feed with no animal by-products. They are working towards making this 100%. In Chicago only the Loop locations stock naturally raised beef.

Veggies- nothing on the site about organic veggies so they likely don’t have these

Beans- 30% of all beans were grown organically and they are trying to increase this

Dairy- only rBGH-free dairy products are used

So it looks like the most humane meat choice at Chipotle is actually pork! Personally I’d be OK eating any of these meats assuming I was going to a location where they had naturally raised beef. There is no mention of cattle being grass fed, but the cows are not being given some scary feed that contains cow parts for goodness sake. So it’s not quite as nutritious as grass fed beef, but it is a fast food restaurant after all.

More restaurants need to step up and adopt practices like Chipotle!