Category: Close to Nature

Close to nature (Article about a natural place to visit, animal in the habitat, etc, including a photo)

Tree Equity: Chicago is Going Greener

Posted on by CMGT in Blog Post, Close to Nature, CMGT News, Conservation, Environmental Justice, News

Since 2021, Chicago Muslims Green Team (CMGT) has been an active member of the Community Tree Equity Working Group in supporting Our Roots Chicago, the City of Chicago’s tree equity program.

Our common goal is to expand the tree canopy coverage through an equitable approach. In simpler words, we want this Chicago map to go all green.

Tree Canopy Coverage Percentage By Census Tract. Source: chicago.gov

We want every neighborhood in the City to reap the benefits of trees. Trees provide shade for our home from the sun and blocking winter winds. Trees improve air quality, absorb water, thus help to prevent flood. Trees promote physical activities, increase walking traffic, and bring communities together. Trees reduce stress and anxiety. Trees also help to repair urban biodiversity. In conclusion, trees help to lower our energy bills, increase our property values, and improve the quality of life in our neighborhood.

Source: chicago.gov

The City of Chicago has a goal to plant 75,000 new trees in neighborhoods with low tree canopy. The City also has developed CHI311 App for anyone who wants to get involved.

Tree Equity Working Group Year-End Report. Source: Raed Mansour

However, it is still not an easy task without the support from community members. It would be a waste of tax payers’ money if the trees end up dying due to lack of water, being ignored, or vandalized by people who reject trees around their properties or in their neighborhood.

From 2021-2022, CMGT has been educating ourselves, spreading awareness to our diverse communities, connecting to other organizations by attending and organizing trainings, hosting webinar, giving talks at events, and attending tree planting events. Here is the clip to see our activities.

2021-2022 Tree Planting Program activities

In 2023-2024, CMGT is grateful to be one of seven organizations who receives the Resilience Grant to expand our Tree Planting Program. Under the guidance of CRTI (Chicago Region Trees Initiative) Morton Arboretum we believe that together we could achieve our specific goals in greening our beloved city and spreading the benefits of trees to our diverse communities in Chicago this year. InshaAllah!

The Resilient Grant Kickoff event on December 13, 2022. Source: Caroline

Hiking inside the Mammoth Cave

Posted on by Caroline Williams in Blog Post, Close to Nature, Info

Last summer, I visited Mammoth Cave in Kentucky with Fred, my husband. It was our first experience of hiking in a cave. My previous spelunking was inside a vertical cave in Indonesia. It was no hiking, but rappelling or descending deep underground. Fred has never been into a cave before. Both of us did not know what to expect, but we were excited to experience our new adventure.

In front of Mammoth Cave Visitor Center. Source: Caroline

The Size

Mammoth Cave was named for its “mammoth” or immense size of the cave’s chambers and avenues. Part of the cave, called Mammoth Dome is 192 feet high and the other one called Bottomless Pit is 105 feet deep.

The size of one to the Cave’s chambers compared to a person in white shirt, see bottom left. Source: Caroline

One of the chambers called Rotunda is about a quarter acre in size where two Great War Monuments are located. During the War of 1812, the cave was being mined on an industrial scale for potassium nitrate (saltpeter) for use in gunpowder.

The cave is also known as the world’s longest cave. In September 2021, the cave set a new record of its length to a whopping 420 miles (676 km), according to the National Park Service.

The History

Mammoth Cave was established as a national park on July 1, 1941, but public tours began some 200 years ago. Inside the cave, we can see graffiti written by visitors from the year of 1883.

One of the first explorer of the cave was an enslaved African Americans, Stephen Bishop who worked from 1838 to 1856. He was also known as a self-taught geologist who had a prodigious memory. Bishop was capable to drew a map from memory of the cave’s explored passageways.

Stephen Bishop. Source: nps.gov

The Tours

The Park offers many interesting tours guided by passionate, knowledgeable, and sometimes funny rangers who love to share jokes related to the cave.

My husband and I took five of ten tours they offered. The length of the tours varies from two to four hours. My favorite tours are the Violet City Lantern and Star Chamber tours. Both tours need lanterns as the only source of light inside the cave.

Rangers with lanterns for visitors inside the cave. Source: Caroline

During the tours, we can see many amazing rock and geology formations. We can also see artifacts and other signs left by Native Americans who first discovered the entrances to the cave. Another interesting thing to see is the old tuberculosis huts built in 1842-43 deep inside the cave to accommodate patients with tuberculosis.

Stalagmite and Stalactite formation. Source: Caroline
One of many interesting rock formations. Source: Caroline

The difficulty levels of the tours are varies. Some tours are sightseeing tours. Other ones require hiking, climbing, and descending very steep hills. There are also fun sections called Fat Man’s Misery followed by Tall Man’s Agony. The first one is a very narrow passageway that takes about 15 minutes to pass through. The last one requires tall people to bend constantly to navigate the passageway.

One Frequently Asked Question from visitors is about bats. We saw only one bat during our five tours. Turns out, there is a disease called White-Nose Syndrome which has killed millions of bats since its discovery in New York in 2006. To prevent spreading the disease, visitors are required to walk across a decontamination mat to clean our shoes when exiting the cave.

Decontamination mat to clean our shoes to prevent us from spreading the White-Nose Syndrome disease. Source: Caroline

Hiking inside the Mammoth Cave turns out to be a fun-filled experience. Fred loves the the temperature inside the cave. It is around 54°F year-round. I was grateful to realize how our eyes amazingly adapt to the darkness of the cave. The only downside of it, for me personally, is how hard it is to take good pictures inside the cave. Overall, I highly recommend anyone to visit the Mammoth Cave, one of great natural wonders in the U.S.

What a Sad News!

Posted on by Caroline Williams in Close to Nature, Conservation, News

Monarch butterflies are now listed as endangered!

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.

Here is the trailer of the movie.

Anyone who are interested in protecting monarch can participate in many projects, for examples, Field Museum Monarch Community Science Project, Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, or use free resources developed by UIC Heritage Garden.

Eco-friendly Eid Celebration

Posted on by Caroline Williams in Close to Nature, Green Idea, Info

Eid Mubarak!
Happy Eid!
Selamat Idul Fitri!

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.

Source: Twitter

Here is the diamond-shape container looks like:

Source: Twitter

This is the video how to make the Ketupat pouch:

The pouch will then filled with rice and boiled in water. Here is the traditional way to cook it with a big pot on top of wood stove:

Source: Twitter
Source: Twitter

Here is what they look like when they’re ready:

Source: Twitter

According to this Indonesian news, Ketupat was started to become an iconic meal on Eid in Indonesia since the 15th century.

Source: Detik

Ketupat can be eaten with other side dishes like chicken curry or Rendang.

Source: Twitter

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.  

Source: The Jakarta Post

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. 

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!

 

Happy Earth Day!

Posted on by Caroline Williams in Close to Nature, Green Idea

Do you love our Earth?

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.

Do you know other ancient techniques or eco-friendly practices that are part of your culture of your people? Please share with us!