Do you have scrap metal that could be recycled?

Recycling Fact:
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours

Scrap Metal Recycling Drive
Saturday, June 12th*
8:00 am – 12 noon

Unitarian Universalist Church West
13001 West North Avenue, Brookfield
(Just west of 124th Street on the south side of North Ave.)

Let’s do our part to keep recyclable metals out of the landfill. Bring your recyclable scrap metal to the UU Church West parking lot - it will be sorted and taken away by Action Recycling.

Tell your neighbors and friends – the community is welcome to participate!

Here are just a few of the items we will accept:
Aluminum: buckets, downspouts, pots, pans, lawnmowers
Stainless Steel: hub caps, ovens, pipes, sinks
Brass: bed frames, doorknobs, hinges, faucets, doorknockers, light fixtures
Cast Iron: frying pans, sinks, tubs, auto rotors/drums, radiators
Sheet Iron: appliances, bicycles, snow blowers, shovels, rakes
Copper: holiday lights, plumbing pipe, cords, wires, cable
PLUS: Auto batteries, computers, monitors, laptops, keys, padlocks

For a complete list of acceptable and prohibited items visit www.actionrecyclers.net

* If you can’t make it on June 12th, you may take your metals to Action Recyclers, 5329 W. State Street, Milwaukee - HOURS: M-F, 8am-4pm & Sat., 8am-12noon. Phone: 414-671-5777.

Mark your Calendar:
Scrap Metal Fund Drive - Saturday, June 12th
8:00am – 12noon in the UUCW parking lot

A "final solution" to pollution from the Onion

I haven't done this on urban wilderness before, but here's something from the lighter side. I loved it and just needed to share.

Sometimes I find that the stories in the Onion have hilarious headlines only to devolve into maudlin inanities as the story progresses. But not this one. I laughed all the way through. I hope you do, too.

"Funny," isn't it, how humor can shine light on a potentially disturbing truth while simultaneously disarming it?

The headline in the Onion is "New Eco-Friendly Cigarettes Kill Destructive Human Beings Over Time."

Two environmental events to choose from tonight in Milwaukee

The Milwaukee River Work Group has been working (hence the name!) to pass proposed Milwaukee River Greenway Overlay District legislation, which will protect over 8 miles of river, floodplain, and riverfront habitat from the former North Avenue Dam to Silver Spring Road. Last week the Milwaukee Common Council passed important three measures. There will be an open house to show the public the plans from 5 to 7 p.m. June 8 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture.

This is important stuff! One of the goals is to limit development to maintain natural views within the river corridor. This would restrict highrise structures near the river such as the one above. Check it out.

Read more at Milwaukee Riverkeeper.

And after you check that out you can stop by the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center. At 7 pm I will be giving a presentation for their series The Spiritual World of Nature. I will, of course, be sharing my experiences and pictures of the urban wilderness. (The Nature Center does charge an admission fee.)

For details go to Schlitz Audubon Nature Center.

Here is a shot from my book:

Mass Transit at 150 and Gurda blasts Walker

I always look forward to John Gurda's column, which appears in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel every first Sunday of the month. As Milwaukee's historian, he is consistently insightful and entertaining. And although he writes from a historian's perspective, he manages to keep an eye on how history informs the present.

Today's column, about the 150th anniversary of mass transit in Milwaukee, is a particularly outstanding one:

150 years and transit's condition is 'guarded'

A Tale from the Chicago Wilderness

Lost! What a peculiar sensation; one made more than a little surreal because I can hear traffic from...some direction. And I could set my watch by the planes that rumble low over me as they throttle down to land at nearby O’Hare airport. How can I be lost in the woods and still be so obviously surrounded by civilization?

I dropped Lynn off at the airport around 7:30. Then, not wanting to drive in rush hour traffic anywhere near Chicago, I picked the nearest green spot on the map to explore for a while. Cook County has a marvelous series of forest preserves along the Des Plaines River. I pulled into one with a rather aristocratic-sounding name: Catherine Chevalier Woods. Three cars were parked in the long, curved lot carved out of the trees. Their occupants sat inside them. I headed into the woods.

A wide gravel path led towards the river. A thunderstorm had left standing water that mirrored the foliage. I disturbed a flock of mallards waddling in the puddles. Just me and the ducks out here in the wet woods today. Oh, and the deer. Every couple hundred yards heads pop up from browsing to stare as I pass. The only thing more regular than the deer are the jets flying overhead.

The river is high and the water gray-brown. It moves silently, massively, inexorably. The water tugs at the lower tree branches dipping into it. Sodden logs and buoyant plastic bottles sweep swiftly past. Trees that normally anchor the bank now stand in the river. When the gravel path veers away into the woods, I leave it for a narrower riparian track. The earth, though wet, is still hard. The night’s downpour did not last long enough to soften and melt the cracks in the mud—or the innumerable animal tracks.

So, I’m walking farther and farther, wondering when I’ll get to the bend in the river I’d seen on the map, thinking maybe I should turn around. But I prefer completing a loop to backtracking, so I venture on into ever wilder surroundings. Finally, just as I reach the expected bend, the sun bursts through lingering clouds. Its rays dapple the forest floor, highlighting fresh irises, and surprisingly colorful mosses. Another of the endless cast of deer stands in a spotlight. An enormous blue airbus, visible in snatches through the tree canopy, shrieks and shudders as it slowly descends.

The faint trail that I’ve been following peters out entirely as I reach a flood engorged slough that curves away from the river back in the direction I know the car must be. Trusting my intuition, sense of direction, and memory of the map that I neglected to bring along, I plunge forward. Tangles of driftwood deposited by greater floods than today’s create an obstacle course. Here, finally, is my wilderness: hot, humid, muddy, choked with obstructions, and throwing a cloud of mosquitoes in my face.

I begin to doubt. The traffic I’ve been ignoring seems louder, but directionless, all around, like the mosquitoes. So predictable until now, the planes are flying the wrong way, too. Have they switched to taking off? I misjudged the distance; what else? Suddenly I realize, I’m lost. Later, when I’m not tired, sweaty, and swatting mosquitoes furiously, I will laugh at my predicament. Me, lover of the urban wilderness, lost in one. It’s fitting, really—and strangely satisfying; even beautiful. I try to savor the feeling, for I know it won’t last. I will find the river and the parking lot and the city that surrounds me. As I drive home I will also try to preserve this dizzying sensation of wonder, this uncommon experience—a gift of Chicago’s wilderness.

Every city needs its wildernesses.

To see more photos go to my flickr page.
To learn more about Chicago area parks go to Chicago Wilderness, where you'll find that June is Leave No Child Inside month. Nice.

In Memoriam: Lorrie Otto, defender of nature

Lorrie Otto died last Saturday. If the name isn't familiar it's because she never achieved the fame of her compatriot, Rachel Carson. Founder of the Wild Ones, she had a tremendous influence, locally and nationally, in the fight for native landscaping. Read her obit in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Hank Aaron State Trail and Harley Davidson host Health Jam on Saturday

None other than Hank Aaron himself has stated the motivation for what promises to be a fun family outing: "We need to do everything we can to get kids outside and out from behind a TV screen".

"Walk, Roll, and Ride" is the theme on Saturday. The 7-mile Hank Aaron State Trail that runs through the Menomonee Valley is the location. And Harley Davidson has teamed up with the Friends of the Trail to help promote healthy living in Milwaukee.

For a schedule of events, directions, and other information, click on Summer Health Jam.