The Shining

Now in their second year, the Green Awards prove there is no end to our citizens’ eco-accomplishments. With nearly 100 nominations to choose from, we narrowed the list down to five remarkable individuals who strive for a brighter, cleaner, and greener future.

Published March 20, 2008

Edited by Cassie Walker and Nora O’Donnell

See “Before Spring” in its entirety at the Chicago Green Festival on May 17th at Navy Pier.

Call it a conversion experience, or the moment when the (compact flourescent) light bulb glowed so brightly it could not be ignored. For each of our 2008 Green Awards honorees, inspiration struck indelibly: a Buckminster Fuller lecture, a bus ride through a devastated Detroit, a morning in a beloved grandpa’s woodshop. In the afterglow, these Chicagoans became more than acolytes of the environmental movement; they became innovators who set out to leave our city a little better—and brighter—than they found it.