Imagine your morning routine. Your alarm goes off, and you drag yourself out of bed, and get ready for the day. Then you get in your car and drive to work. Pretty ordinary morning, right? Except that as you are driving, you see what appears to be a huge dog. Except that it’s not a dog – it’s a black bear. If this happened to you, it would be a similar experience to those of residents of Illinois towns Galena, Rockford, Mt. Morris, and Genoa, where one black bear made his journey into the state in summer 2014 (Williams 2014). As these animals return to a state from which they had previously disappeared, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is responsible for protecting them. I spoke to Brent Williams, a University of Illinois Ph. D. student in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, about IDNR’S work in managing black bears as well as other reappearing animals, such as wolves and cougars, and the challenges they face in this regulation.

Williams explained the IDNR is responsible for protecting all species on the threatened and endangered list in Illinois. However, until January 2015, black bears, cougars, and wolves were not offered this protection because they were not here. Now that they are, however, the best course of action must be determined. To gather public opinion on this subject, the IDNR mailed out total of 3000 surveys, 500 each to six counties in Illinois. In future, he said, it is possible that more surveys will be sent out. Williams stated that IDNR “wants to make sure they are managing these species the way we (the public) want them to be managed”. I thought this made sense, as IDNR is funded through Illinois tax dollars, but Williams stated that Kentucky and Alabama, two other states in which he has worked, do not care nearly as much as Illinois does about state residents’ opinions on wildlife management.

The black bear survey, bound by bright yellow paper, contained seven pages worth of questions. I asked Williams what the purpose was behind all those questions. He responded that although knowing what the public thinks is important, knowing why they think that way allows IDNR to adequately respond to concerns and misconceptions. Questions like “as compared to five years ago, are there fewer or more bears living in Illinois?” measured level of education on the topic, while questions such as, “If you saw a black bear wandering in a natural area (park, etc.) within 20 miles of your home, how much would you feel each of the following?” asked respondents to rate how strongly they would feel emotions including “joy,” “fear,” and “disgust.” When looking over the survey, I was surprised to see a question that asked how much respondents agreed with the statement, “I would support Illinois DNR actively reintroducing black bears in Illinois.” Does this mean that you should expect the IDNR to show up outside your house with a truckload of bears? He admitted that this part of the survey had led to some confusion, but assured me it was purely theoretical, as the liability risk would be too great. However, it is possible that IDNR will allow black bears to naturally recolonize less populated areas.

Although the surveys have not been returned yet, Williams stated that a common misconception about black bears is not they are dangerous, but rather, that they are big and cuddly. Of course, this is not the case, says Williams. “They’re opportunistic feeders – they’ll eat anything they can,” he warns. This idea is different from those on cougars and wolves, on which surveys were also sent out. Williams described the public’s “long-standing fascination” with bears, in contrast to “long-standing fear” of wolves and cougars. “We have that image of the big bad wolf,” he elaborated. All of these opinions go into IDNR’s approach to protecting these animals.

As we talked about the public’s attitude towards conservation, Williams mentioned an unlikely group of supporters: hunters. I know conservationists love to enjoy the outdoors. But I always thought they did so through non-consumptive, “leave no trace” principles. However, this is not always true. Williams explained how a firearm tax provides protection to deer populations, which can be an “umbrella species” and protect land for other species. Although not permitted in Illinois, in other states with higher populations, hunts are organized for bears, wolves, and cougars.

In 2015, there have not been any reports of black bears in Illinois. However, “that doesn’t mean that they’re not here,” Williams told me, explaining that often, wild animals can wander through a region for a while before someone sees them. For all we know, there could be one wandering around now, or another species of animal that has not yet appeared. However, when they do, you can be sure the IDNR will take action to protect them.

I’ve had many experiences with wildlife in my daily life, whether it was fearless squirrels on the quad or the birds that decided to move into my house one year. But the most special experience with wildlife I had was in Costa Rica, where I studied capuchin monkeys at La Suerte Biological Field Station. Although the monkeys were habituated, meaning researchers had gotten them used to seeing people, they were still wild. Like most people, I had only ever seen animals like these in pictures, videos, and zoos. It was interesting to see their real lives in action. For example, we read a lot about the monkeys’ activity budget before going there, but it didn’t really sink in until I spent five hours of my morning chasing them though the forest as they foraged. For us, these animals were new and exciting, but many local people thought of them more as a nuisance – like squirrels are to us. This reminded me of a time when I hosted an Israeli exchange student who kept taking pictures of squirrels, as she had never seen any before. This got me thinking about why we should protect wildlife close to home. What may seem commonplace to us is something exciting for someone else, and all wildlife fits into the ecosystem of the earth.

I’ve always loved mystery stories. So I liked when Elizabeth Colbert, author of “The Sixth Extinction?” started her article by presenting the mystery of the disappearing golden frogs in Panama. She set the scene carefully, describing what seemed like tropical paradise – a common setting for murder mysteries. Then, she introduced the problem. Frogs which were once so abundant that the local market sold figurines of frogs holding cell phones were now nowhere to be found. She led us through the journey to solve the mystery, and introduced us to her fellow detectives. She carefully described the sights and sounds by describing a frog as “orangey red, like the forest floor” and another frog’s call as similar to “the sound of a champagne bottle being uncorked” so that we as readers could be detectives too. Meanwhile, she keeps us in suspense by interrupting the story to give background information on the history of mass extinctions. She also tells us that the mystery is not a recent one, nor is it restricted to Panama. Now, we know that the answer to the mystery will affect many amphibians, not just the golden frogs. We eventually learn that the culprit is a fungus called chrytids. However, she tells us that the real culprit may be humans, for transmitting it through clinics and hospitals.

It’s natural to feel nervous about choosing a college. There’s a lot to think about, like your major, your professors, your roommate – and oh yeah, you’re going to have to eat too. You may have heard some horror stories about college food; I know I did. My dad shared tales of his college days, where students held out trays to receive their nightly globs of slop, while older friends regaled me with ordeals of subsisting on ramen and candy. But at the University of Illinois, Dining Services cares about having healthy as well as environmentally sustainable choices. I got to learn about this commitment to sustainable food practices when my Environmental Writing class met with two of the people responsible for overseeing them, Matt Turino and Dawn Aubrey.

It was a cloudy, cool day when my classmates and I  drove over the gravel road leading to the Student Sustainable Farm (SSF) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  When we arrived there, the farm’s manager, Matt Turino, greeted us. He remarked that it was a “quiet day at the farm”, and indeed it was. He was dressed how you might expect a young farmer to look, wearing a battered T-shirt and jeans and earrings in both ears. He enthusiastically informed us that he had been working at the farm for three of the farm’s six years, and managing it for eight months. My professor, Rob Kanter, added that Matt was responsible for not just managing food production and the farm’s finances, but for organization and publicity for events the farm hosts that are open to the public. He explained that the farm was seven acres, three of which were used in production, within a 30 acre Woody Perennial Polyculture farm. And their main customer? The University dining halls.

After we spoke with Matt for a little while, he led us on a tour of the farm. First, he showed us something called a high tunnel, a simple version of a greenhouse, in which I was amazed to see rows and rows of tomatoes hanging from the ceiling. Matt told us that the tunnels extended the growing season by several months, and housed different plants throughout the year. This means that when you see salad greens in the dining hall in December or January, they probably came from the dining hall.

You might be wondering if the produce from SSF is organic. When asked about this, Matt told us, “I don’t think organic is the end-all, be-all”. He explained that although SSF is not organically certified due to the expense of the certification process, the farm would qualify for certification based on its practices. Actually, the farm goes above and beyond that, with Matt choosing not to use some fertilizers that are allowed on an organic farm, such as one made with copper hydroxide. In addition to food production, the farm wastes as little food as possible. When vegetables from the farm that are not sold to the dining halls and do not sell at farmer’s markets, Matt either donates it if possible or eats them himself, remarking “I eat pretty well here.” Additionally, the farm takes pre-consumer waste from the dining halls and turns it into compost.

Are you interested in being involved with SSF? The farm hosts a number of volunteer days throughout the year. Check out thefarm.illinois.edu for details.

SSF is great, but of course, it can’t produce nearly enough food for the University’s five dining halls. So where does everything else come from? To answer this question, my class met with Dr. Dawn Aubrey, whose official title is Associate Director of Housing for Dining Services, but who described herself simply as “the food lady.” I have to admit, even though I like the University’s food, I’d never imagined that someone put so much care into overseeing it as she does.  She expressed Dining Service’s desire to listen to student concerns, and explained that one of those concerns is sustainability. Following this track, she told us that 27% of the dining hall food purchases are produced within 150 miles of campus, and that their goal is to increase this amount to 40%. She even told us that she has personally visited the facilities that process meat for the dining halls to ensure they use humane practices, particularly those designed by animal scientist Temple Grandin (famous Illini alert here – she received her Ph. D. from UIUC). On top of that, like SSF, the dining halls are careful to minimize food waste. To do this, the university uses a website called nacufs.org to allow local organizations, such as homeless shelters, to give unused food to the needy.

I bet you still have lots of questions about college, but at least food won’t be a mystery. On top of that, you now know that the University cares about issues that students care about, such as sustainability. Go Illini!

Although Illinois is called “The Prairie State”, we usually don’t see too much prairie around us. This is because the vast majority of the prairie biome in Illinois has been destroyed (Ellis). We had actually just been talking about this destruction in my ecology class when my Environmental Writing professor, Rob Kanter, announced that we would be visiting a 2.7 acre restored prairie right on campus. Biking over to the corner of Florida and Orchard on that 90 degree morning, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Still, I was surprised when I reached the prairie. Although my classmates and I had read a booklet called “Understanding Prairie in the Prairie State”, written by our guide for the morning, James Ellis, the prairie looked much different from how I had pictured it. For one thing, it was much more colorful than I expected, with smatterings on yellow, purple, and green easily visible. On the tour, we walked through a path within the prairie. It was good the path was there, because the plants were close to 10 feet tall and so thick that there would have been no other way through them. Even though Illinois contains tallgrass prairie, Ellis said it was unusual for these types of plants to grow this tall, but attributed their growth in this case because of unusually fertile soil and the abundant rain this summer. Botanist Rick Larimore explained that “it’s fairly obvious that the lack of competition can increase the height and biomass of any individual plant or species,”referring to the fact that, according to him, there are only 10-15 documented plant species in the Florida and Orchard prairie, which is much lower than other prairies. Additionally, Dr. Kanter explained that the area used to be a lawn, and so there may be left over fertilizer from that.

If you come to visit campus, I would suggest checking the place out. In some ways, walking through it is like traveling back in time because you can’t see the streets around you. Some plants you can expect to see are goldenrods, purple aster flowers or other species in the vast aster family, black-eyed susans, coneflowers, and prairie dropseed, which might not be pretty to look at, but certainly has an interesting smell when you grind it between your fingers, kind of like licorice. In terms of animals, I only saw insects, which included bumblebees, dragonflies, a caterpillar, and a rather large black and yellow garden spider. My professor also states that he saw a red tailed hawk. However, you may have more luck finding birds and small prairie mammals that are mentioned in Ellis’s guide such as the eastern cottontail rabbit, mice, voles, and shrews, which we may have scared away due to our large group size.

This prairie is not the only example of the university’s care for prairies. The Illinois Natural History Survey provides a guide for people wishing to use prairie species in their gardens. This is called natural landscaping, and its advantages include less maintenance (watering, mowing, etc.) and less pollution through fertilizer. Perhaps after visiting this prairie, you will feel inspired to use prairie species in landscaping your own home. Additionally, the U of I arboretum has ponds near which invasive plants have been removed and replaced with 26,000 native prairie and submergent plant species.  This use of native plants and the encouragement of others to do the same shows the university’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

Although I enjoyed our visit to the prairie, there are some things I would have liked to be different. Although the tall plants block out the sight of the streets, they don’t block out the sound, and the frequent noise from garbage trucks did not enhance the natural experience. Additionally, a mini-prairie such as this one is not the place to see larger prairie animals such as bison, elk, and wolves. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, other prairies contain far more species biodiversity than this one. However, there are other prairies in Illinois which provide an enhanced prairie experience. One of these is Nachusa Grasslands, the largest restored prairie in Illinois, where, according to Chicago Tribune article “After a Century, Bison Return to Illinois” (Gregory), you may actually be able to see wild bison, which had previously been erased from Illinois. There is also the Loda Cemetery Prairie only 30 miles from Champaign (Kanter), which Larimore describes as “an intact remnant of the real prairie” that once existed, and which he states contains over 100 plant species. These are only a few of the numerous restored prairie sites in the state.

Even though the Florida and Orchard prairie is not the most impressive prairie around, it is still a valuable asset to the university. It shows that the university understands what everyone should – that prairies are worth saving.

Ten minutes after my Environmental Writing class finishes, I rush into my dorm’s dining hall, hand the checker my ID, and walk up to grab some lunch. My class has just finished watching Food, Inc., so I stare at my options somewhat apprehensively before finally giving in and choosing a hot dog. I know I should go make myself a salad or a sandwich, but I have ten minutes to wolf down my food before rushing to my next class. I feel like this moment sums up my eating autobiography – eating quickly before running to the next thing. Actually, I think this is true of many people today, and in this way, we are what we eat – busy. In addition, I’ll often choose to eat unhealthy snacks as comfort food when I am stressed during school, even though I know that they are filled with all sorts of artificial additives. I also still eat meat, even though I’m an animal lover and I know the meat industry has many inhumane practices. In this way, I don’t think we are what we eat – that is, I don’t think our values align with our eating choices, but they do represent what is most convenient and familiar to us. Personally, it would take a lot more than an alarming movie or some enthusiastic vegans handing out fliers to get me to change my eating habits.

When it comes to reading things, people nowadays don’t have a lot of patience. On the popular site Reddit, when a user tells a story, they will also post a one sentence “TL, DR” version, or “too long, didn’t read”. So writers who wish to keep an audience engaged throughout a full article must come up with creative ways to do so. This is exactly what writer Michael Pollan did in his 14 page New York Times article “Power Steer”. By beginning the story of No. 534, a young steer being raised for sale in the meat industry, the author gives the reader a specific connection that carries throughout the article. Instead of simply being told that there were many steers in a feedlot system, and picturing a giant mass of cattle, we are given one animal to take us on our journey throughout a livestock animal’s life. Pollan gives a detailed description of Poky Feeders, the feedlot where No. 534 was raised after being weaned from his mother. He describes the smell and how “cattle pens stretch to the horizons”. We then follow No. 534 from the stages in his life until the description of his inevitable death. Along the way, we learn that in No. 534’s short, sad life, he didn’t even produce much of a profit, as Pollan only made around three dollars from owning him. Although he was never given a name (the author made clear he didn’t want to think of him as a pet) Pollan still personified No. 534 by referring to “him” rather than “it”. Ultimately, by giving us specific details about the steer that he owned, Pollan produces a compelling piece of writing.

Some background information: This past summer, I worked at a camp for kids ages 4-14 at Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, IL. The following is a letter to the campers about sustainability.

Hey Zoo Campers!

You know how the zoo is a conservation organization? I know you’ve heard that word before. It’s why we have those bright blue garbage cans to remind people to recycle, and why we encourage people to buy from organizations that conserve our animals’ natural habitats. Remember that day we played the water conservation game outside Tropic World? That reminded you of ways you can save water right in your own home.

My university cares about conservation too, as well as sustainability. Sustainability means using resources like water and electricity so we can help ourselves, but also making sure that resources will be there for you and your kids when you grow up. When you go away to college, instead of living with your parents, you live in a dorm with other students. One sustainability project the university does has to do with these dorms. Every year in March, we have something called the Eco-Olympics, which is a competition between the dorms to see which one can lower their energy used the most compared to how much energy they used in February. So, we try to turn off lights when we’re not using them, unplug our laptops, and take shorter showers. I’ll be honest, though – I didn’t really change my actions too much, and neither did a lot of other people. We ended up in 6^th place out of 13 dorms. I suppose it could have been worse, but it definitely could have been a lot better.

So I have a challenge for all of you! Do you think you could beat the grownups in your own Eco-Olympics? Ask your teacher, your parents, or whoever else to help you save energy! Remember, just like at camp, everyone has to work together to accomplish a goal.

Your  Counselor,

-Alia

When I was in elementary school, I wanted to be a writer. Of course, I also wanted to be a teacher, and astronaut, and a princess, but this one stuck for a while. Although I eventually outgrew it, I did keep a few writing techniques from my childhood. This past summer, while cleaning up my attic, I found my third-grade research paper, which screamed, “DO YOU LIKE TEDDY BEARS? I DO!”  Although I don’t begin writing assignments quite that enthusiastically anymore, I always try to start with some kind of “hook”. I was told me to do this starting in third grade, but unlike other rules of writing that seemed to change with each school year, teachers always reminded me of this technique. All of my teachers emphasized the importance of learning to write well, and I’m grateful for that. They instructed me and my classmates on techniques such as writing concisely, structuring and responding to an argument, and how to adequately explain a quotation However, not all writing teachers are in agreement. While most teachers told me to write papers as if the audience knew nothing about the subject, I had one teacher state, “I’m your audience. No one else is going to read your paper”. While some might condemn this teacher, I actually think it was a good warning about over-explaining.

Still, though, I am not sure writing is entirely something that can be taught. As the book A Sense of Style states, many professional writers feel their ability is natural rather than something they have learned. For me personally, when I was younger I felt confident in my writing abilities. I easily absorbed rules about writing and loved to make everything creative. In eighth grade, I even had a teacher read my essay to the class as an example. However, as I got older, I became less confident. I know I have a tendency to ramble and have trouble connecting bits of writing to each other. Furthermore, I usually only write papers now, so I get a little thrown off when I have more creative assignments like in this class. I still enjoy writing most of the time, and I don’t think my writing is necessarily bad, but when I read my favorite authors, I know that I want to improve my writing from average to great. I’m not sure what role writing will play in my life, but I know it is an important skill to have.

When confronting big issues, it can be tempting to think that the actions we take as individuals don’t matter. This certain absolves us of responsibility. However, I don’t think this way of thinking is the best route to take. For this reason, if given the choice, I would rather have a drink with Michael Pollan, rather than Derrick Jensen. While both authors acknowledge that following the tips we are commonly given about reducing our carbon footprint (Take shorter showers! Bike to work! Read by candlelight!) is not nearly enough to solve the climate change crisis, and that political change must occur as well, I like Pollan’s response to this better. He states, “Laws and money cannot do enough… It will take profound changes in the way we live”. I like this attitude better than Jensen’s idea that our personal choices are merely accepting “capitalism’s redefinition of us from citizens to consumers”. Additionally, although I agree with Jensen that we should challenge systems that negatively impact the planet, I think it would be unrealistic to “confront and take down” those systems completely. On another note, I like both authors’ suggestion of growing a garden.