Everyday Environment

While commuting to work in southernmost Illinois, I regularly lament seeing crushed eastern box turtles and other roadkill along the mostly rural roads. I sometimes see as many as 5-10 living eastern box turtles on the road in the morning. Unfortunately, I do not always have time or feel that it is...

The world is teeming with biodiversity: Fungi, plants, insects, animals, and all of the living things. Often, these things exist unknowingly right alongside us. In our woods, in our streams, in our skies, and in our soil. It’s understandable that we don’t see the biodiversity around us. Sometimes,...

Not very long ago, you couldn’t walk a fencerow or open field in Illinois without your heart skipping a beat as a covey of quail flushed beneath your feet. After a long day in the fields, through all the noise of the world, their iconic two-beat whistle stuck in your head as you try to fall asleep...

Sports enthusiasts and data lovers go hand in hand — just like hot dogs and mustard at Wrigley Field. Recently, I took a deep dive into the Illinois Department of Natural Resources database, exploring historical trends in hunting and fishing license sales, as...

The diversity of forms of wildlife in Illinois is astonishing. There are hundreds of species of fish and birds, and thousands of species of plants and insects. Illinois is home to over 400 species of bees alone! How do you define wildlife? I think wildlife includes any living organism...

Nitrates in drinking water can be a concern in Illinois. In June, nitrate levels of 11.9 mg/L, higher than the federal standard of 10mg/L set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, were discovered in the northern Illinois community of University Park, where bottled water is now being...

When the Everyday Environment team first looked at water as our season two topic, we brainstormed a lot of different approaches. Unlike our first season, where we covered climate change, water is an overarching part of our environment. Yes, water can be a challenge, flooding for example, but it can...

Over a decade ago, I was sitting in a city council meeting in Illinois and on the agenda was a water rate increase. Over-pumping deep groundwater aquifers had degraded water quality, forcing the community to choose between upgrading infrastructure to meet standards or switching to a new water...

Do you know where your drinking water comes from? If you are like most people, the answer is no. While the City of Chicago and many of its surrounding communities access water from Lake Michigan, the rest of northeast Illinois relies primarily on groundwater aquifers for its drinking...

Community systems to manage water were built a long time ago and since then, historical hydrological patterns, or how water moves through the landscape, have changed. Changes in rainfall distribution is increasing the risk of flooding in some regions and leading to water scarcity in others. These...