The Mike Nowak Show

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October 21, 2017 – Keeping Food Slow Oct 27, 2017

Show notes

Jody Osmund, who, with his family runs Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm, talks about his experiences raising livestock sustainably and humanely, and his work as part of the worldwide Slow Food Movement.

October 15, 2017 – When Plants Fight City Hall Oct 20, 2017

Show notes

Nicole Virgil talks about her family's fight with suburban Elmhurst to keep a hoop house in their yard under which they can grow vegetables. Then Ron Cress reports on his own battle to grow native plants in his DeKalb, Illinois yard. Michele Hoffman returns to the Science Desk to explain about a pioneering technique called microfragmenting that can rapidly grow corals and perhaps help populations rebound in certain parts of the world.

October 14, 2017 – Bring Guns, Oaks and Art Oct 20, 2017

Show notes

Paul Coffey is Vice Provost & Dean of Community Engagement at the e School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). and Jeff Levrant is co-founder of Homan Grown, a wholesale perennial & tree nursery. They discuss a project called Oaks of North Lawndale, which will see the planting of 7,000 and accompanying art in that Chicago neighborhood.

October 15, 2017 – When Plants Fight City Hall Oct 15, 2017

Show notes

Nicole Virgil wants to grow vegetables in a backyard hoop house and Ron Cress wants to grow native plants on his lot, and they both find themselves fighting City Hall to make it happen. Michele Hoffman welcomes Dr. David Vaughan to the Science Desk to talk about his new growing technique that might give the world's declining coral reefs a fighting chance.

October 8, 2017 – Start the Garden Revolution Oct 12, 2017

Show notes

Benjamin Vogt is a native plant landscaper and author of a new book, A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future, He and Jeff Swano from DigRightIn Landscaping preview the Impact Conference: Building Sustainable Landscapes, presented by the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association. Principal Augustine "Augie" Emuwa of Chicago's Gale Community Academy is joined by Tonia Andreina and Executive Director Rev. Marilyn Pagán-Banks from A Just Harvest about using urban agriculture to create economic opportunity in the city.

October 7, 2017 – Temple of Bloom Oct 12, 2017

Show notes

Carol Yetken from CYLA Design Associates Inc talks about the challenges of being the landscaper for the d The Baha'i House of Worship for North America in Wilmette, Illinois. Founder and owner of Nature’s Perspective Landscaping Tom Klitzkie has advice for watering plants as we head into fall and winter.

October 1, 2017 – Seeds, Giant Pumpkins and Solar Panels Oct 06, 2017

Show notes

Artist Sharon Bladholm talks about her exhibit at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Soils, Seeds, and Sprouts: Tropical and Temperate. Mike and Peggy congratulate two giant pumpkin growers on their mammoth achievements. Erik Carlberg and Doug Snower from WindFree Solar report on opportunities for clean energy in Illlinois under a new law.

September 30, 2017 – LIVE from the SCARCE Green Fair! Oct 06, 2017

Show notes

Mike and Peggy take the show to the DuPage County Fairgrounds for the SCARCE Green Fair, where they talk to SCARCE founder Kay McKeen, staff members and several of the exhibitors at this celebration of how to reduce, reuse and recycle.

September 24, 2017 – Toxic Environments Sep 29, 2017

Show notes

In the wake of the Hurricane Harvey rain event in Texas, environmental scientist David J. Zaber discusses the value of spraying to control mosquito populations. Kay McKeen from SCARCE previews their Green Fair, from which The Mike Nowak Show will be broadcasting next week. Michele Hoffman is at the Science Desk, and she brings Mike Mikulka, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 704, which represents more than 900 EPA employees in the Chicago regional office and across the Midwest, who talks about the fate of that agency.

September 23, 2017 – A Couple of PhDs Talking Tree Extinction Sep 29, 2017

Show notes

Dr. Murphy Westwood, director of Global tree conservation at the Morton Arboretum, and Dr. Rex Bastian from the Davey Tree Expert Company, discuss the decline and possible extinction of several ash tree species, as well as threats to various types of oaks.

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