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.