Loyola Chicago’s Mosaic

Is Mosaic’s green-knifework done? Now they’re gearing up for a new issue this semester, and the Mosaic staff of 2007 is half-graduated, half off doing broadcast classes (because we were all just that photogenic and made for the silver screen). Yet I doubt things are ever done.

Sure, I haven’t written here in months. And I haven’t handed out all my issues of Mosaic to the people I promised them (“Jim Chelsvig, director of the River Forest, Ill., Trailside Museum, please visit Customer Service. We have your child/interview.”). It seems like the wheels have stopped turning on our project. But Americans can never be done. Even those with anti-green histories can change.

As for the subject of our magazine, the Greening of Chicago, America is Chicago. All eyes are on us as the new City of Kings. We have given the world a new president, and, whether you agree with his methods or not, he needs our help to show the world what a steel-boned, smog-exhaling city can do to save itself from its sordid Industrial Age past.

The presidential motorcade on its way to Hyde Park might be adding a few extra hydrocarbons to our air supply. But gosh darn it, we’ll clean that up, too. We have a city and a country to work on now, don’t we?

Maybe I sound like I have an agenda, and certainly I do. But I am not telling you guys what it is, because I just have that much journalistic and blogging integrity and because it doesn’t really matter. Whether public or private saviors, we know we don’t want to see the world burn and boil.

My hometown of Chicago is doing something rash. Or maybe just giving some PETA members rashes.

Chicago was the first city to ban foie gras, a dish of buttery, fattened liver created by overstuffing ducks and geese… and then by removing the organ in a barehanded sacrifice.

KALI MAAAA!!!

Okay, so I’m a little Indiana Jones-addled right now. Yet I think it is appropriately gruesome, and I can’t say I support the council’s decision to reverse its ban on the delicacy either way.

Look: I like liver. I like duck. I like anything that’s “fattened,” “buttery,” and not government-sanctioned. I also like people not causing horrible pain to animals.

When you know your duck has been Mortal Kombat-ed into a convenient, bite-sized French cuisine, it is tough not to imagine it screaming. Though it might enjoy all the food, as ducks like to eat a lot. So, well, enjoying all the food, then screaming in the morning over gaining the extra pounds. THAT’S torture.

Here’s a tip, council: stop telling us what we’re eating. Stop talking about it. Legislate, but don’t tell us, and keep it all behind closed doors for once. I don’t want to know, Freedom of Information Act be damned! Seriously, I’m scared what’ll happen when you guys tell me how my other food is made.

Students at Loyola University Chicago are proud to announce the publication of the 2008 edition of Mosaic magazine in both print form and online.

The fifth anniversary edition of Mosaic explores environmental issues in Chicago, including recycling, green building design, urban farming and green rooftops.

Mosaic is produced entirely by students, who report, write and edit the articles, take photographs and complete the design and layout.

A companion Web version of Mosaic is available online at www.luc.edu/orgs/mosaic2008.

Learn something new every Earth Day, that’s what I say. Have you ever seen this?

The fact that a holiday has its own flag is astounding. It’s green, it’s bright, it’s got some Greek lettering. And that’s cool, but my real question is: the environmental movement likes the fact that the flag of the country producing a fifth of the world’s pollution is the basis the environmental movement’s flag?

This is more a condemnation of the US than anything. However, we have our bright spots. I noticed President Bush is finally putting together some real legislation. While it’s very little, it’s still better than what he WAS going to leave our next president.

The US is starting to put hybrid cars out on the road in bigger numbers than thought possible on our roads. Maybe it’s the fact that gas hit $3.50 a gallon average, but us American green troopers will take it as a victory.

And let’s never forget the most important part of the greening of America: CNN putting a little green logo in its corner for Earth Day.

http://www.slate.com/id/2176566/?GT1=10538

This story reports recent arguments between Canada and Russia over who actually owns the arctic. Thanks to good old global warming, thawing ice is opening up previously inaccessible waterways and natural resources. To add to the controversy, the U.S. Coast Guard is planning to establish its first arctic base in the area.

I find the story to be laughable and alarming. I couldn’t believe the aggressive melting of the arctic incited chatter of ownership. The real issue is that the North Pole is melting before our eyes and the effects of global warming are becoming more and more tangible each day.

Let’s get our priorities straight, people.

A whole country is melting, and polar bears are not the tropical beasts we once pinned them as.

CNN’s “Planet in Peril” tonight focused on the global warming part of environmentalism, the thing that everyone is talking about now. Of course, it deserves the looks it’s getting. Some scientists and politicians disagree, but the fact does remain that with as many doomsday predictions as there are out there, doesn’t it require a very serious look, even for skeptics?

One aspect of the show I noticed was the use of the phrase “climate change” instead of “global warming.” I’m sure it was an intention shift of words, but what was the reason? Was it to get away from the rest of the mass media’s use of the term “global warming”?

Former VP Al Gore, the “global warming” knight-errant himself, has even begun to use this term. It pops up in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

I understand that it’s a more blanket statement: “warming” means temps are climbing. “Climate change” leaves more room for speculation. It is also the preferred term within the political area, where the debate over whether the globe IS warming is very much not settled.

This episode focused on the heavy theory and models that are what drive the global warming debate. It did, however, give us a few great images of measly little fish and a science lab for studying the ice in Greenland (and its tiny underground fridge).

Check out the reruns if you can, and keep searching the Internet for copies of the show. Jeff Corwin, Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and the polar bears would appreciate listening to their message in whatever way you can.

As for spoilers in the episode, the bears failed to bite Corwin OR Cooper this time.

This is the beginning of the Mosaic blogging system. Sure, it’s using WordPress, but that should make it easy for any staff member to jump in and contribute. The best part of blogging is the fact that so many people can contribute with a few clicks of a button. Web 2.0 is where it’s at, and I’ve been witness to and participant in the rise of blogs. I’ve run one blog for over four years, and I’ve created several more. Probably why I end up with this detail.

I should make this first post an introduction to who and what Mosaic is. Loyola Chicago’s Mosaic magazine is a student publication produced for the Feature and Opinion Writing class, so it comes out at the end of the semester for those classes. It is not-for-profit, and all the money it makes goes toward the production of the rag (an industry slang-term I recently learned). This is its fifth year and fifth issue, and I’m prepared to say it will be a good one.

The topics Mosaic covers are all local Chicago topics. The magazine is based at Loyola University Chicago, and therefore we take pride and pleasure in focusing on our city. We scope out the best stories of the local scene, and we do not limit ourselves to university life. All of Chicago is ripe for reporting, and we are proud to cover this issue’s topic, “going green.”

The issue of the city becoming more environmentally friendly has dominated feature stories for the past few years, especially in the wake of former Vice President Al Gore winning an Oscar for his global warming documentary. Bottled water, solar power, more efficient vehicle fuels–all of these are finding their way into our homes. The issue of the Chicago Tribune Magazine for September 23rd, 2007, even featured “green tips” for traveling.

The blogging begins for Mosaic. Be sure to check back here.

-Andy Dost, Blog Administrator