As reported by AP on July 21, The International Union for the Conservation of Nature added the migrating monarch butterfly for the first time to its “red list” of threatened species and categorized it as “endangered” — two steps from extinct.
Screenshot of monarch news on July 21, 2022
It means, the job is far from being done to prevent the monarch’s extinction.
In 2019, CMGT and Homes4Monachs hosted “Save Our Monarch” workshop at Downtown Islamic Center. At the workshop, participants learned how to harvest milkweed seeds and plant them. Milkweeds are the required host plants for caterpillars of the monarch butterfly and thus play a critical role in the monarch’s life cycle.
Thanks to the milkweed seeds shared at the event, Caroline from CMGT was motivated to grow milkweeds in her backyard. She was happy to see a monarch visited her milkweed plants in summer. She is also happy whenever she finds milkweed plants wherever she goes. For example, when she was at Forest Preserve Bemis Woods North to attend Hiking Leadership Training, she took a picture of milkweed plant there.
Caroline’s picture of Monarch visited her milkweed plant last Summer
In 2018, a documentary titled “The Guardians” was released to raise awareness about the incredible monarch migration in North America. It also shows how an indigenous community in Mexico fought illegal loggers who destroy their ancient forest, the home of the people and millions of monarchs.
Last May, I went back to Jakarta, the capital city of my home country Indonesia for the first time in eleven years. I was surprised to see the amazing development of the newly integrated system of Jakarta’s public transportation. I don’t know how to drive. Therefore, I always depend on public transportation wherever I go.
Newly built train station close to my parents’ house in Jakarta, replacing the old ones that used to be dirty and unorganized
Compared to Chicago, I can say, I definitely choose public transportation over driving a private car in Jakarta. The integrated Busway and the commuter rail system can beat the traffic jam. That is the most important reason. Additionally, there are many options of public transportation there. We can choose two wheels (motorcyle taxi), three wheels (Bajaj), four wheels, small and big size of buses.
Another reason is, I enjoyed all the public facilities offered at many developed train stations. In a majority Muslims country, two public facilities that are needed the most are a clean bathroom and Mushalla, or small mosque for praying five times a day. It was great that we can find them easily at many Busway and train stations.
Public facilities in many train stations in Jakarta
Beyond that, we can also find cell phone charging stations, Nursery Room, and restrooms for disabled. In some stations, they even equipped with a small free library and a green space.
Green space in Jatinegara Station
Free library in Cikini Station
Back to Chicago, I am happy to know that the City is working on revitalizing public transportation under CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) as part of the 2022 Chicago Climate Action Plan (CAP). One of the actions to improve air quality is to increase CTA ridership 20% by 2030. Will that be possible?
Understandably, Chicago has more challenges than Jakarta in order to motivate people to use public transportation. One major challenge for me is the extreme weather in summer and winter.
Another challenge is how slow the buses are running because there are too many stops. In Chicago, with limited options of public transportation, it takes longer time to reach the destination by CTA than by a car.
However, there are of course many advantages of using public transportation. We don’t have to worry about parking, insurance, permits, tax, etc. I also learn more about a place when I travel with public transportation.
For example, I recently took Metra to take me to Bemis Wood North, in Westchester, IL to attend Hiking Leadership Training. I fell in love with Western Spring village because the Metra station there is so clean, neat, and beautiful. In front of the station, there is a museum that becomes my goal of destination to visit one day. It also inspires me to create a plan of weekend gateway to visit all Metra stations in Illinois.
Metra station at Western Spring, IL
Tower Museum in front of Metra Station
When I shared my experience on CMGT’s WhatsApp group, one of our community members, Amina Rahman also shared her experience without driving in the City. She wrote, “Where we lived in the city, we chose to have one car as a family. Alhamdulillah, I feel it was really great because it forced me to be more organized about food and other shopping. We mostly did that on the weekend except for occasional milk runs on the weekdays.”
As a mother, she would take the kids to activities, museums, millennium park, jumaa, and other places by stroller/walking and bus and trains. “It was great to get to know the layout of the city, get to know the neighborhoods/shops/people in different areas as you slow down instead of zooming past everything without paying attention. It also allowed us to explore things and stop along the way which we may not have done otherwise,” she said.
Her kids love riding the bus and train and even just looking around while they walk and ride the stroller. “As they got older, the bigger kids would bring scooters so they don’t get tired and the little ones rode in the double stroller. Having the double stroller helped to carry all the snacks, supplies and even the scooters when we went indoors. One of the best bonuses is the little ones would fall asleep at nap time and I could just when them into the house with the stroller without waking them to take them out of the car seat!” she added.
It’s a great story to share. I love to hear it!
Sometimes, it’s true that private car offers more comfort than public transportation, especially if you are not the driver. In a hot and humid Jakarta, many people prefer to be inside an Air Conditioned car all the time. It’s the same reason I prefer to be inside a warm car in a snow day, rather than waiting outside for the bus or train.
However, in the name of comfort we often sacrifice an opportunity to challenge ourselves, to learn new things about a place, to keep our options open to explore the world, and to contribute to a better air quality for the benefits of all .
Eid al-Fitr is a major holiday in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country in the world which is located in Southeast Asia.
Many Indonesians are still preparing the Idul Fitri festival in traditional and eco-friendly ways.
The main menu for the holiday is called Ketupat. It is a Javanese rice cake cooked inside a diamond-shaped container of woven palm leaf, an eco-friendly, compostable material.
Rendang is another iconic meal on Eid in Indonesia. It is a chunk of meat slow cooked and braised in coconut milk seasoned with more than 10-20 different herbs and spices.
The traditional way to cook Rendang is using a big wok on a wood stove. Cooking rendang requires patience because it needs constant stirring to slow cook it for more than one hour until the meat is tender and coconut milk is caramelized.
20 macam bumbu, awalnya kuali itu penuh, sekarang sisa sepertiga, ekstrak bumbu,santan dan daging, wajar bisa awet rendang ini sampai berminggu🥰🤓#PrideHeritagepic.twitter.com/rNgN42uuZE
After Rendang is ready to be consumed, it can be stored for weeks without refrigeration. The herbs and spices used to make Rendang are the natural preservative agents.
Prior to refrigeration technology, this style of cooking enabled preservation of the large amount of meat. The cooking technique flourished because of its role in preserving meat in a tropical climate (see Wikipedia). Additionally, the taste of Rendang improves the more it’s reheated.
Aside from preparing meals, there are more ways to celebrate Eid al-Fitr the eco-friendly ways. Here are some ideas for decorations from recycled materials from our families in Indonesia. Enjoy!
I do! I love our Earth because it is an endless, unlimited sources of knowledge and awesomeness!
Our holy book, Al-Quran has many verses that remind us how our Earth contains signs for people to ponder and to believe. How long have we humans been roaming the Earth? Yet, we are still far from done learning about our Earth.
One of my favorite verses from the Quran is this one,
Do you see many varieties of grapes in the picture? Mashallah, aren’t they beautiful?
The picture originated from this twitter account. These grapes are produced in Herat Province of Afghanistan. Herat has more than 100 types of grapes.
Afghanistan people also developed an awesome ancient technique to preserve grapes in a natural way. It’s called Kangina. It is an air-tight container made of two earthen bowls sealed together. Each bowl is made of clay and straw, and is sun-baked. This video of Kangina recently went viral on social media.
This is grape preservation technique is from pre historic Afghanistan, where grapes are preserved in clay and stay fresh for a year and sometimes years. pic.twitter.com/bN4BOs6plB
Last December 2020, WTTW reported that Rose was spotted in Florida with her offspring named Nish. The other two, Hazel and Esperanza, turned up on the islands off the Georgia coast. In January 2021, Monty was confirmed to be in Texas.
Who are Monty and Rose? They are two lovebirds, endangered species of piping plovers, sandy grayish brown birds with white underparts and a narrow, often broken collar. Their names were derived from the word “Montrose,” the name of the beach where they started their family.
They became a headline in 2019 after they broke a record as the first pair of piping plovers to nest successfully in Chicago since 1955. Nish, Hazel, and Esperanza are three of four surviving offsprings. The names were the result of a contest organized by the Chicago Audubon Society, the Chicago Ornithological Society, and the Illinois Ornithological Society.
In the summer of 2019, Monty and Rose were the main reasons behind the cancellation of a major music festival at the Montrose beach and Gov. J. B. Pritzker’s declaration of Nov. 18 as the “Piping Plover Day” in the state of Illinois. They also became the main stars in a documentary movie, “Monty and Rose.”
During winter, it is typical for a pair of plovers to go their separate ways and come back to the same breeding site. After going their separate ways in the winter of 2019, they went back to the beach in spring 2020.
Will the lovebirds go back to Montrose Beach this spring?
The Chicago Ornithological Society is hopeful. That’s why they invite volunteers to do spring cleaning to welcome them.
On their website they wrote, “To prepare their summer home and help give this year’s chicks the best chance at survival, we’re going to do some spring cleaning. On Sunday, April 11th, 2021, join us for a beach clean up at Montrose Beach. All are welcome and no prior experience or equipment necessary but RSVP is required.”
Montrose Beach is located at 4400 N. Lake Shore Drive near the Uptown neighborhood. During the cold war, it was lined with Nike anti-aircraft missiles. Now, as reported by WTTW, it is the best place in the entire state of Illinois to see birds during their spring migration. According to Openlands, as of January 2017, over 320 species of birds have been identified.
Photo Courtesy of Caroline W
Besides birds, the Montrose Beach will also soon welcome monarchs and other pollinators. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the work is being completed to create 1.5 acres of pollinator habitat on park land at the Chicago Park District’s Montrose Point.
This is all great news for nature lovers in Chicago. Let’s make Montrose Beach the best place to visit!
