Newsletter from Tuesday, March 7th, 2023
Dear NCH2 Community,
What a distinct honor for NCH2 to host an opening panel presentation and discussion at the Wild Things 2023 Conference in Rosemont last weekend. We are deeply grateful for our panel facilitator and leader Cassandra Powell, NCH2 Steering Committee member and creator for Light of Loving Kindness as well as all our other creative and committed panelists Aaron Siebert-Llera, NCH2 Steering Committee member, Morton Arboretum, Donisha Reed TCA Health, Gloria Orozco, Friends of the Forest Preserves, and Levi Jenkins, Chicago Public Schools, and the Field Museum. For more images, check them out on our About page on the NCH2.org website.
There was so much interest in the content of “One Health: Nature, Culture, and Human Connections” that staff added chairs to accommodate over 100 participants in the session. With the guiding principle that “nature is created for everyone” participants discussed together and with the audience what their “personal responsibility is to create safe, welcoming spaces in nature.”
A shout out to other NCH2 members who also presented at the Wild Things conference--Lorena Lopez, Field Museum Keller Science Action Center, Dani Abboud, Brushwood Center, Natalia Ospina, Brushwood Center, Alison Paul, The Conservation Foundation, Lillian Holden, Openlands, and Sheetal Rao, M.D. with Nordson Green Earth, and many more. For more on the NCH2 panel, check out our website at nch2.org.
We are looking forward to our annual recognition of May-Mental Health Awareness Month. Please share your ideas of how you would like NCH2 to honor the month—what event (s) should we organize, what would you like to do together? Send an email at [email protected] and let us know. There will be fun rewards for those who send a any ideas! We would love to hear them.
Best,
NCH2
There was so much interest in the content of “One Health: Nature, Culture, and Human Connections” that staff added chairs to accommodate over 100 participants in the session. With the guiding principle that “nature is created for everyone” participants discussed together and with the audience what their “personal responsibility is to create safe, welcoming spaces in nature.”
A shout out to other NCH2 members who also presented at the Wild Things conference--Lorena Lopez, Field Museum Keller Science Action Center, Dani Abboud, Brushwood Center, Natalia Ospina, Brushwood Center, Alison Paul, The Conservation Foundation, Lillian Holden, Openlands, and Sheetal Rao, M.D. with Nordson Green Earth, and many more. For more on the NCH2 panel, check out our website at nch2.org.
We are looking forward to our annual recognition of May-Mental Health Awareness Month. Please share your ideas of how you would like NCH2 to honor the month—what event (s) should we organize, what would you like to do together? Send an email at [email protected] and let us know. There will be fun rewards for those who send a any ideas! We would love to hear them.
Best,
NCH2
Index
Community Spotlight
Upcoming Events
Future Events: Save the Date
Job Opportunities
In the News
Connect with Us
Community Spotlight
Upcoming Events
Future Events: Save the Date
Job Opportunities
In the News
Connect with Us
Community Spotlight
Wellness Outdoors
Field Museum Keller Science Center Lorena Lopez, Community Partnership Organizer and Alison Paul, former colleague at the Field Museum-now at The Conservation Foundation, have published the results of a 9-month collaboration with many organizations and people who lead wellness activities in communities of color around the Chicago region. NCH2 was also honored to participate in this process.
The report is Wellness Outdoors: How to build meaningful and equitable partnerships focused on nature, health, and wellness in an urban environment. Funded by the Walder Foundation, this collaboration and report was founded on the framework that “natural areas or green spaces are assets for community health and improving well-being" and most often Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are not reflected or have not helped shape the creation and use of nature spaces. This report reflects the experience and expertise of organizations and leaders who conduct wellness activities in nature spaces in the Chicagoland area. The report is a must read and use for community-engaged, nature-based programming.
Upcoming Events
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Women’s History Month Walk at Thatcher Woods - In Polish
Join us on a hike where we highlight conservation leader Isabel Bassett Wasson and her work at Thatcher Woods. Program will be in Polish. Register by calling 708-366-6530. Learn more here. Date: Saturday, March 11th Time: 11:00 AM Location: Thatcher Woods |
Photo by Forest Preserves of Cook County
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Photo by Laura Derks
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The Morton Arboretum: Gidinawendimin: We Are All Connected
Date: Friday, March 10th Time: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM CT Location: Morton Arboretum or Zoom Five generations of Indigenous women, working over a century, created the book Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask. They persisted in their work to pass on the traditional stories and plant knowledge now recorded in the book, despite the intense assimilation efforts of the twentieth century. Editor and contributor Dr. Wendy Makoons Geniusz will describe the history of how the book was written by her late mother, Mary Siisip Geniusz, and share Anishinaabe-gikendaasowin (Anishinaabe teachings) from the book, including Inawendiwin: the interconnectedness of all living beings. Learn more and register here. |
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Lake County Forest Preserves Job Fair
The Lake County Forest Preserves is hosting a job fair. An array of full-time, part-time and temporary positions are available. Organizers say participants should dress professionally and bring multiple copies of resumes. Interviews for temporary positions will be held on the spot at the job fair. No registration is required. For more information, call 847-367-6640 or click here. Date: Thursday, March 16 Time: 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM Location: Greenbelt Cultural Center |
Photo by Jeff Goldberg
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Photo by Lake County Forest Preserves
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Nature Platoon Challenge
Get outdoors and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow veterans through the Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods. They meet every Wednesday for a nature based outing. Learn more here. Upcoming outings: March 15, 2023 from 11am - 12:30pm at the Heron Creek Forest Preserve |
Future Events: Save the Date
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Health, Equity, and Nature Accelerator Exhibition Art Submissions
Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods is asking for art submissions for an exhibition to accompany the upcoming release of their Health Equity and Nature Report by artists who are residents of Lake County, Illinois. Art submitted for the exhibition can be in any media (visual or non-visual), but only visual art will be considered for inclusion in the report itself. The exhibition will run from June 11th until July 23rd. Learn more here. The art application deadline is April 30th. |
Painting by Tye Johnson
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Photo by Gabriela Palai
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New Moon Walk & Telescope Viewing
Enjoy an evening walk and get a close-up view of the night sky at the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center. Register by calling the Little Red Schoolhouse at 708-839-6897. Learn more here. Date: Tuesday, March 21st Time: 7:30 PM Location: Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center |
Photo by PowerLee
Chicago Wilderness Alliance: Protecting Healthy Water
Water is a prominent player in our changing climate as increasingly severe weather systems prompt a challenging flood-drought cycle that threatens the well-being of the entire Chicago Wilderness Alliance region. Learn how the Alliance seeks to empower partners with tools needed. Register for the zoom meeting here.
Date: Tuesday, March 21
Time: 12:00 PM
Location: Virtual
Water is a prominent player in our changing climate as increasingly severe weather systems prompt a challenging flood-drought cycle that threatens the well-being of the entire Chicago Wilderness Alliance region. Learn how the Alliance seeks to empower partners with tools needed. Register for the zoom meeting here.
Date: Tuesday, March 21
Time: 12:00 PM
Location: Virtual
Photo by Zaw Win Tun
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Butterfly and Dragonfly Monitor Training
Are you looking to spend some quiet time in nature? Would you like to help collect important date? If you answered "yes" to either of these questions, you might be interested in Community Science. The Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network and Illinois Odonate Survey monitor trainings will be once again offered jointly on Zoom, with dates in March, April, and May. The first workshop will be held on Saturday, March 25th. Click here to learn more and register. |
Job Opportunities
Elevate is looking to fill several positions. Look through their career opportunities here.
Lake County Forest Preserves is looking to fill several positions. Learn more here.
Equiticity is looking to fill several positions. Look through their career opportunities. here.
Faith in Place Eco-Ambassador applications for area high school students are open! Learn more here.
Seven Generations Ahead is looking to fill several positions. Learn more here.
Star Farm is looking to fill several positions. Learn more here.
Please send us your job openings to be featured!
Lake County Forest Preserves is looking to fill several positions. Learn more here.
Equiticity is looking to fill several positions. Look through their career opportunities. here.
Faith in Place Eco-Ambassador applications for area high school students are open! Learn more here.
Seven Generations Ahead is looking to fill several positions. Learn more here.
Star Farm is looking to fill several positions. Learn more here.
Please send us your job openings to be featured!
In the News
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Nearby Nature and Pandemic Well-being
Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Tina Phillips, assistant director of the Center for Engagement in Science and Nature at the Cornell Lab, and her collaborators interviewed more than 3,000 people. They found that the greatest sense of well-being came from gentle interactions with nature nearby – taking a walk, gardening and bird-watching, as examples. Their findings were published in the journal People and Nature. |
Photo by Children Nature Network
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Image by Walker's Almanac on Pixabay
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Just Look Down to See the “Biological Universe"
Michael J. Coren, author of Climate Coach, a newsletter from The Washington Post, began his Feb. 23 newsletter discussing “soil,” as readers had objected to his use of “dirt” in his previous newsletter. He said the definition of “soil” in Soil Science of America” was “far too modest” to encompass the “stuff that makes life possible.” Soil has five ingredients: minerals, organic matter, organisms – as much as 1 billion bacteria in a single teaspoon – gas and water. In this newsletter article, Coren suggests ways for farmers to conserve soil and for homeowners to turn a lawn into a “biodiverse soil factory.” Soil Health Week in Illinois is March 6-10. There are more than 25 virtual and in-person events for people to hear from leading farmers, conservationists, scientists, advocates, composters, and gardeners who have seen the power of healthy soil in action and learn what you can do to help. Check out the lineup here. Go Green Illinois will host “What Are We All Doing to Promote Native Habitat Across the North Shore?” from 1 to 3 p.m. on March 14. Virtual meeting; registration: Register here. When registering, please add your community name first, then the name of any organization you represent. Edible Evanston: Starting Seeds: Edible Evanston will host a workshop on starting seeds and growing vegetable transplants from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 18 at the Robert Crown Center, 1810 Main St., Evanston. There will be a mini seed-swap (free seeds welcome). Register here. |
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Chicago Plan Commission Approves ‘We Will Chicago’
On February 16th “We Will Chicago,” the 152-page document that is meant to guide Chicago for the next decade, became the city’s first comprehensive plan since 1966. The Chicago Sun Times’ David Roeder wrote that the plan “follows overarching themes of equity and resilience and seeks to address discriminatory practices of the past that harmed neighborhoods where people of color reside and pushed some middle-class residents out of Chicago. The “pillars” or categories of the plan, one of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s priorities, are arts and culture; civic and community engagement; economic development; environment, climate and energy; housing and neighborhoods; lifelong learning; public health and safety; and transportation and infrastructure. Read more here. |
Photo by Pexels on Pixabay
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Connect with Us!
We are taking requests for any upcoming events to be added to future newsletters and our events calendar which can be done here. You can also submit materials for the next newsletter by emailing [email protected].
FOLLOW US on our social media by clicking the icons below!
CREATE your own stories on Instagram and tag @NCH2Network so we can share how you engage with nature; we would love to see them!
EMAIL US and keep us updated on local events, exciting opportunities in the area, or send photos of local nature to be featured on the website.
CONTACT US at [email protected].
We are taking requests for any upcoming events to be added to future newsletters and our events calendar which can be done here. You can also submit materials for the next newsletter by emailing [email protected].
FOLLOW US on our social media by clicking the icons below!
CREATE your own stories on Instagram and tag @NCH2Network so we can share how you engage with nature; we would love to see them!
EMAIL US and keep us updated on local events, exciting opportunities in the area, or send photos of local nature to be featured on the website.
CONTACT US at [email protected].