We are firing up the grills this afternoon to honor our dear friend and colleague, Shelby Johnson, who died last week after a short illness. Shelby was the heart and soul of CNT.
Working in a LEED Certified Platinum building, you have to maintain a “green’ and healthy environment. Shelby was the person who did that for CNT. Shelby worked for 13 years at CNT as our maintenance person. As we grew and renovated our old weaving factory building, he was the key person who kept it clean with the appropriate cleaning solutions. He was our chief recycler, painter, graffiti buster, indoor gardener, and all around go-to-guy. And most of all he was the person who loved to bring us all together over barbeques. He was always ready to get the grill going in our Rain Garden and he would cook up a storm of wings, turkeys, hamburgers, tofu burgers, and vegetables. Read more »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 1:02 pm
(From CNT’s partner, Reconnecting America)
The U.S. Department of Transportation has released its 2009 Record of Accomplishment, and it includes implementation of the Economic Recovery Act, called “the most ambitious infrastructure investment program in more than half a century, creation of the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant program, and a number of other initiatives including the Federal Transit Administration’s work with the Center for Transit-Oriented Development.
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Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Despite recent announcements from the Senate leadership that climate change legislation will be put off until spring of 2010 and questions about the fate of the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen, CNT is not discouraged about the future of climate action in the U.S. Yes, it is frustrating that Senate action may not occur until a year after the House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act in June 2009, and that the Copenhagen talks may result in just an agreement to create a future agreement—rather than binding targets. But global warming is a problem we have created over many years and we are not going to solve it overnight.
CNT has been directly working on climate change issues for a decade and a half and indirectly working to address the problems that impact climate for our entire 31-year history as an organization. Despite recent setbacks, climate action is more on track today that it has been at any time since the Kyoto Protocol was signed (and maybe even before then, since the U.S. never ratified Kyoto).
Why such climate optimism despite the doom and gloom in the news? Many positive advancements are occurring that are not necessarily making the headlines. These examples are paving the way to not only a more definitive climate policy but to a broader awareness to the behavior changes we must take to reduce our greenhouse gas impact.
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Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
The Illinois EPA is seeking public comment by Wednesday, February 24, 2010 on the development of a Stormwater Green Infrastructure Plan for the State of Illinois, as required by the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act, passed in 2009.
Green Infrastructure is the interconnected network of open spaces and natural areas that naturally recharges aquifers, improves water quality and quantity, and provides recreational opportunities and wildlife habitat. Green infrastructure manages stormwater by capturing raindrops where they fall. CNT encourages reuse of natural moisture by using rain gardens, swales, green roofs, tree planting, permeable pavement and other low impact approaches to restore natural drainage functions and recycle stormwater in urban environments. Read more »
Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
The U.S. Green Building Council –Chicago Chapter and its partners are recruiting up to 25 more projects for analysis in year 2 of the Regional Green Building Case Study Project. If interested in enrolling an Illinois LEED project in this multi-year study, please visit the project recruitment web site then submit a completed authorization form.
During the project’s first year the U.S. Green Building Council—Chicago Chapter and its partners collected and analyzed data from 25 projects across the state. With the generous support of the Grand Victoria Foundation and the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, we will re-engage the initial 25 projects while adding 25 more projects, for a total sample size of 50. This is one of a few post-occupancy studies with such a broad scope of metrics and is among the first to collect multiple years of data and provide ongoing analysis to participants.
Click here to learn more about year 2 of the Regional Green Building Case Study, including eligibility requirements.
Click here to learn more about CNT’s work on the year 1 of the Regional Green Building Case Study.
