After a profile of Chef Thomas Keller enraged local eaters everywhere, we decided to ask some of Chicago's best chefs to weigh in on the debate. more ›

Several new restaurants have set up shop at the far reaches of the Red Line. One of the newest is Rogers Park's Pillars Social Cafe. They've not just laid down a big footprint in the neighborhood, but made some big promises as well. Are they living up to these at the outset? We had to find out. more ›

Columbia College Recycling Program hosted an on-campus event yesterday called “Screenprinting a Smaller Carbon Footprint.” more ›

The city is replacing the yellow glowing sodium-vapor street lamps with brighter, white glowing energy efficient metal-halide lamps. more ›

Three Floyds and Province team up for a kegger on the West Loop restaurant's patio. more ›

Today's listings include $5 pizzas, a sustainable trunk show and cocktail hour and Chicago Magazine's beer release. more ›

Ruth Werstler started New Life for Old Bags as a way to engage nursing home residents and stumbled onto an unlikely recycling plan. more ›

Last night, the Shedd Aquarium teamed up with Chefs Sarah Stegner and George Bumbaris of Prairie Fire to teach diners about sustainable seafood. While there is something a bit counter-intuitive about an aquarium teaching people how to eat their charges, this education is important, as consumers have a real ability to impact the health of the oceans. Best of all, you can learn while eating some darn good food. Join us for a belated World Oceans Day and learn what you can do. more ›

Chicago’s eco-activists, socially responsible folks, and an assorted group of friends gathered this weekend at the Green Festival. Over the course of ten years, the event, hosted by the Global Exchange and Green America, has attracted over one million people. The 2011 tenth annual celebration kicked off in Chicago and will be moving to five cities across the United States. Some of the event highlights include: more ›

Green America and the Global Exchange are hosting the 10th annual Green Festivall May 14-15th at McCormick Place (Lakeside). The Green Festival is dubbed the "party-with-a-purpose" and its aim is to inspire, inform, and help us work towards a better future by going green. The event features over 100 influential speakers exploring issues topics involving the sustainable economy, ecological balance, and social justice. Attendees can shop green at 300 unique exhibits. Guests will also enjoy organic foods and drinks, local musicians, family friendly activities, green cinema, as well as yoga and movement classes. Purchase a day pass online for $10 and a weekend pass for $15. more ›

Nowadays people are replacing computers almost as often as they change their shirts. Not quite at that rate, but as technology evolves and the machines are getting smarter, faster, and more necessary to our everyday routines, consumers are purchasing new systems and upgrading equipment at increasing rates. So if you are getting a shiny, new PC with a lightning-speed processor, what do you do with your old desktop besides let it collect dust? more ›

Earth Day is Friday, April 22nd and this year the Earth Day Network is striving to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy before Rio+20, a United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. To contribute, attend a local event: more ›

Less than 1% of the pork produced in the United States is sustainably raised. As more and more of us begin to care about sustainable meat production, that number becomes scarier and scarier - but what can be done? Last weekend, during the Family Farmed Expo, I attended a workshop that I wish the entire city of Chicago could have seen. Paul Kahan (Publican), Rob Levitt (Butcher and Larder), Bartlett Durand (Black Earth Meats) and Herb Eckhouse (La Quercia ) told us how they - carnivores all - help to make our meat production system more sustainable, and offered tips to consumers who care. more ›

Curbed Chicago editor Mark Boyer has an interesting piece about plans for the Washington, DC-based National Museum of Health and Medicine's plans to open a satellite museum in the old Rock Records store at 175 W. Washington. more ›

During dinner with a close friend this weekend, we started discussing the menu in some depth. "At these prices, this can't be sustainable salmon," she said, and we agreed that it probably wasn't. "Maybe I should ask the waiter," she wondered aloud, before deciding to order something else. And this brings us to our question of the week - what do you do when you are afraid that considering sustainability might be rude or embarrassing? more ›

Today, the new Jewel store on Southport (3630 N. Southport Ave.) opens for business after a long period of construction. The former store on the same site, demolished in 2009, had been in business for more then 30 years. The new store is twice as big and brimming with claims of greenness. We got a chance to tour the new facility yesterday before it was open to the public, and to talk with a number of representatives from Jewel. While there are some genuinely awesome things about the new store, which we applaud, there are also some unanswered questions about its environmental credentials. more ›

Jim Javenkoski has graced this corner of the internet before in his former roles as "Culinary Attaché" for Unibroue and "Ale-vangelist" for Arcadia ales. The holder of a PhD. in food science, Javenkoski has since turned his attention to the localvore and sustainability movements, producing dinners that showcase the bounty and environmental benefits of local farms. more ›

When we took our trek with City Provisions to River Valley Mushroom Ranch for a farm dinner last summer, owner Cleetus Friedman was eager to show us the plans for a modest deli he had planned for his space. more ›

Ever contemplated the logistics of raising your own chickens in the city? Or wanted advice on how to enjoy local and organic food without wrecking your budget? If so, last Saturday’s Local Food Festival at UIC Forum, part of the 3-day Family Farmed Expo, was the place to be. The expert-led workshops included topics like “Drinking Farm to Glass”, offering tips on choosing beverages that sustain the community, and “Local and Organic Eating on a Dime”, demonstrating how to eat healthy organic food on a budget. The lively “Backyard Chickens” workshop featured a panel of inspiring chicken keepers sharing secrets to raising urban chickens (a legal practice in Chicago), including choosing the right breed, construction of pen and coop, and appeasing your weary neighbors with fresh eggs. more ›

Lovers of Lula, rejoice! Yet another alum has taken her place among Chicago’s great executive chefs. Nicole Pederson, former sous chef at Lula (who has also cooked at Gramercy Tavern in New York) has taken over the helm at C-House. Owned by Marcus Sammuelson, the chef-owner of Aquavit, C-House primarily focuses on seafood, with a well-stocked raw bar and a selection of eight different oysters. more ›

Yesterday Kevin and I went to St. Anne, IL in Kankakee County (where AT&T's 3G service fears to tread, apparently) to attend the Local Beet's inaugural farm dinner at Genesis Growers. It was my third official farm dinner of the year and it was interesting to look back at how the growing season has progressed since that first City Provisions farm dinner at River Valley and the Outstanding in the Field dinner at Kinnikinnick Farm. Back in August it looked like Kinnikinnick's tomatoes would never ripen. Now we're trying to can as many tomatoes as possible and get ready for peppers, gourds and fall root vegetables. more ›

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced this year's recipients of the USDA Farmers Market Initiative Program. Green City Market was awarded a grant for $76,300. The grant money will help fund GCM's Farmer Scholarship Program, which helps facilitate participating farms in obtaining 3rd Party Organic and/or Sustainable Certification by 2012; staff salaries; the Edible Gardens program; and marketing materials for the market's electronic benefits transfer (EBT) program. [Inbox] more ›

Mike Gebert's latest Sky Full of Bacon video podcast continues his look into fishing and sustainability by turning his camera to Great Lakes whitefish. With some assistance from Carl Galvan of Supreme Lobster, Gebert went on a fishing run with a Wisconsin family that has been trolling Lake Michigan for whitefish for 130 years. more ›

Chicago Community Ventures recently awarded City Provisions Catering and Eventsand Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks as part of its Sustain Illinois competition. Irv & Shelly's, as readers know, delivers local organic and seasonal produce, meats, dairy and breads to its subscribers and is one of the more popular CSA programs in the area. more ›

After spending Winter in the confines of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Green City Market spread its elbows today with its first day outdoor. To some, this is the first day of summer in Chicago. more ›

Certain fish have the texture to handle direct heat (e.g grilling) very well, like salmon, swordfish and tuna. Another fish that makes a good steak is shark. Shark has a great flavor and the preparation is best kept simple: lemon and a little butter will suffice. Pete's Fresh Market had shark loin for sale at $4.99 per pound last week and we had a couple steaks cut from it. more ›

Nothing cures a bad case of Valentine's Day candy bloat like rock bands and scholarly get-togethers, which is what we've got for you today: more ›

It’s with a bit of irony that the company responsible for killing the Marshall Field’s trademark green is now, itself, going green. Earlier this week, Macy’s announced they will be using recycled paper shopping bags at all its stores, as well as biodegradable packaging for online shipments -- all part of Macy’s “commitment to contribute to a more sustainable environment.” more ›

The New York Times Home and Garden section (yes, we sometimes read the Home & Garden section) checked in yesterday on the West Town home of two Art Institute faculty members, Frances Whitehead and James Elniski, whose West Town home is starting to turn heads. According to the article (which is accompanied with a nice slide show), the couple has approached their home like a conceptual art project, and in so doing, they've pretty much set a new standard for sustainable urban design. more ›