A not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving the Southeast Side and south suburbs of Chicago by promoting environmental education, pollution prevention, and sustainable development.
by BoB LeSuer
I am very excited to announce our Fall Fundraiser which will be held at the Sunset Bay marina on Saturday, September 20, 2008. The event will be a BBQ with games and music, and we hope to raise the last dollars needed to meet the Donnelley challenge. Rain or shine, help SETF keep the Calumet River clean and accessible to all by coming out on Saturday and supporting the organization. Tickets are $30/person and the BBQ will be held from 3 to 8PM. Contact the office at (773)646-0436 for more information and to reserve tickets.
Help us promote this event by printing out a flyer.
by Clem Balanoff - Vice President
July 9, 1989 was the day it all began - 20 years of hard, exciting work to protect the environment of Chicago's Southeast Side. For the next year, looking forward to our 20th anniversary celebration, every month this newsletter will focus on one important event in our history.
On July 9, 1989, I was a State Representative and Marian Byrnes was my aide. We gathered 30 community-based organizations at St. Kevin's to take a look at the alderman's proposal for a garbage-burning incinerator to be built on the vacant Wisconsin Steel site. The organization leaders who attended that day were unanimously opposed to any incinerator for our area.
At that time, the facts about the health effects of incinerator emissions were just beginning to be publicized. Calumet residents had previously been focusing their efforts on stopping the spread of the landfills that were gobbling up our landscape. Waste Management had recently withdrawn their permit application to put a landfill in the Big Marsh, the jewel of the Lake Calumet wetlands.
But the facts were beginning to surface about the violations at Chemical Waste Management's toxic incinerator at 116th and Stony Island. So the pioneers who were determined to protect the Southeast Side from toxics saw another battle looming on the horizon , while they were still recovering from the fight against landfills. The fight to stop incinerators - whether garbage-burning or toxic - was upon us, ready or not.
We quickly got ourselves ready, just as we have always done, time after time, whenever an environmental threat to our health and safety reared its ugly head. The 30-organization partnership that was started that day became the 32nd District Environmental Task Force, and eventually in 1994 developed into the Southeast Environmental Task Force, SETF. Ideas for a garbage-burning incinerator were abandoned.
Next month: Look for the story of how the Chem Waste toxic incinerator got closed, by a long campaign of vigorous public action.
notes from this month's board meeting
Gordon Kuntz of Sherwin Williams, Steven Clough of Weston Solutions and Gail Walker of EnviroCom attended our August 18th Board meeting to present an update on the company's environmental Remedial Measures project. The project is currently in progress at Sherwin Williams' 115th Street facility. Mr. Clough explained that measures utilized to contain contaminated soils, water and old dumpsites include, asphalt capping, soil capping, and extraction of contaminated water. In attendance were our Board Members, members, local residents and volunteers. SETF requested that the panel return in November for additional updates.
by Marian Byrnes
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Friday August 8th for the energy efficient residential construction at 9560 S. Marquette Avenue. 10th Ward Alderman John Pope and Representative Barbara Flynn Curry were on hand to promote the green construction. Schmidt & Associates are the developers and have completed two of the 20 planned Zero Energy homes. These homes feature solar photovoltaic roofing, exterior extruded polystyrene wall systems, U-value windows, instantaneous hot water heaters, recycled carpet, counter and floor tiles products, bamboo floors and much more.
by Karen Roothan
FREE TO GOOD HOME: SEEDLING TREES
The Trees R Beautiful project is looking for good homes for a variety of seedling trees. These trees are very young but with some TLC and a few years growing time you can expect a beautiful addition to your yard or parkway. We have many types including natives such as sugar maple and black locust as well as ornamentals such as flowering crabapples that do not grow over 10 feet tall. For more information contact John Pastirik at 773-991-0613 or email us at trees4southchicago at yahoo dot com. (Replace at and dot with the appropriate symbols.)
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: TREEKEEPER CLASSES COMING TO OUR AREA SEPTEMBER 13TH
Interested in learning more about our urban forest? Sign up for the Treekeeper training which will be held at Rowan Park. Classes are held seven consecutive Saturdays 9:30 am to noon. Financial assistance is available. Call Jim DeHorn at 312-863-6259 to register.