Community Voices

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA I know there are stars; I have seen them at night. I have floated among them my entire life. They seem far away in these city lights. But inspired, I am, by the way they gleam. The slightest star in the dimmest dream ignites my beacon for all to see. aurora sky . . .the flickering treetopsof my childhood

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA Per the National Museum of Natural History, recent studies estimate that there are about 8 million species on planet earth of which about 15,000 are currently threatened with extinction. Scientist generally agree that the rate of extinctions today is many times higher than the natural extinction rate. Pollution and habitat disruptions are just two factors in this reality.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA We really do need to be vocal about the things that matter to the future of this planet. Silence is no longer a viable path forward. Inaction is no longer tolerable. It's time to wake up, roll out of the proverbial bed, and rouse the neighbors.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA Antartica is dripping into the sea. The world's largest glaciers are melting at an alarming rate. We live on an evolving planet. It's reacting to us. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA Pollinator populations are declining because of habitat loss, disruptions in nesting and breeding sites due to construction, pesticides, and other factors such as climate change and pollution. These insects play a crucial role in the propagation of crops and other flora. Without them, the world would be a hungry place, indeed.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA Despite all the doom and gloom in the planetary forecast, I like to believe there is hope the human race will see that violence and greed are detrimental to its survival and that cooperation is the only sustainable path forward.

By Richard GrahnEvanston, Illinois, USA I don't know much about butterflies. I can recognize a Monarch when I see one, but other than that, they're just nice to look at. Today a white one, with a wingspan of only about an inch and a half, was flitting around in the garden from hosta to vinca to sunflower to rose but never landing. Maybe it was looking for the best place to rest its wings. To and fro, lifted by the wind occasionally up to twenty feet or more, then zigzagging its way back to the flower bed—it seemed to be…