In "Chicago, City of the Big Shoulders", skyscrapers stand in what was once a field of wild onions. Today, less than one tenth of one percent of the city's original prairies still exists. But the city is bringing back its lost wilderness in both large and small ways as public policy and citizen activism drive dynamic change.

The city's mayor is at the heart of Chicago's efforts to become a greener city.

By investing in green roofs, we basically bring nature back to urban communities, says Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Through his Green Crusade, Daley has committed major resources to develop a holistic approach to urban ecology. Green rooftops on the city's skyscrapers absorb rainfall, provide wildlife habitats, and are up to 70 degrees cooler than tar rooftops.

The 24-acre Millennium Park and Northerly Park, a continuous open park along the lakefront, provide places for the public to enjoy nature in the heart of downtown. Chicago's commitment to green architecture and open space is integral to an economic development strategy to position the city as a cutting-edge 21st century urban environment.

But environmentalism wasn't always understood as an urban priority. For the past 30 years, Stephen Packard has played an important role in bringing the city's natural heritage back to life. In the 1970s, his was a lone voice speaking out in defense of Chicago's nearly lost wetlands.

People are hungry to have the experience of being in a wild, beautiful, ancient place, Packard says. Chicago Wilderness, a coalition of more than 170 organizations dedicated to restoring and preserving the natural ecology around the city, is making sure that opportunity exists by restoring prairies, cleaning up the rivers and preserving wetlands.

On the South Side of Chicago, factories have crumbled, the manufacturing economy has gone bust, and the area is home to 25 Superfund cleanup sites. As environmental activists envision the slag heaps as meadows, tensions mount over fear that the remaining industry will be forced out and there will be no hope for future job creation.

I'm working two jobs now and drawing a pension from 28 years in the steel mill and still don't make what I made on one job, says William Alexander, a former steel worker. Balancing environmental goals with economic opportunity remains a challenge for America's industrial cities, but all sides recognize that pollution is a deadly option.

Kids are how we'll turn all of this around, says Deb Perryman, an environmental science teacher at Chicago's Elgin High School, where 52 percent of her students live below the poverty level. Through her leadership, 35 acres of school land have been turned into a nature preserve where students gain hands-on experience while learning about the environment. We need more teachers like her who are head over heels involved, says one of her students.

Michael Howard could be called a force of nature and he's using nature to fight poverty, illiteracy, drug abuse, racism and indifference. In 1995, he saw a news report that 20 percent of children under six in his impoverished South Side neighborhood had elevated lead counts the highest percentage in the nation. At first he waited for something to happen. When nothing did, he took action. He mobilized resources to clean up empty lots filled with lead and asbestos, and turned them into Eden Place Nature Center, a sanctuary in the middle of the city where Howard is a preacher for the cause, exciting children about the land around them.

I had the feeling that for them nature was always something somewhere else, somewhere outside the city, says Howard. But as they chase butterflies, learn about composting and bask in the sun in Eden Place, the urban children of Fuller Park are at home.

Want to know how you can help? Here are some principal contacts from the Chicago segment of Edens Lost & Found.

Audubon
Steve Packard
5225 Old Orchard Road
Suite 37
Skokie, IL 60077
spackard@audubon.org
847-965-1150

Calumet Restoration
Victor Crivello, Environmental Planner
11109 S St. Lawrence
Chicago, IL 60628
captainvic@sbcglobal.net
773-785-1594

Center For Neighborhood Technology
Jacquelyne D. Grimshaw, VP & COO
2125 West North Avenue
Chicago, IL 60647-5415
jacky@cnt.org
773-278-4800

Center For Neighborhood Technology
Paul Smith,
paul@cnt.org
773-269-4036

Chicago Wilderness
Debra Shore, Director of Development
5225 Old Orchard Road
Suite 37
Skokie, IL 60077
dshore@chicagowilderness.org
847-965-9275

City of Chicago
Sadhu Johnston, Assistant Green Initiatives
121 North LaSalle Street
Room 509
Chicago, IL 60602
sjohnston@cityofchicago.org
312-744-3845

City of Chicago
Ed Uhlir, Project Design Director
20 N. Michegan Avenue
Suite 106
Chicago, IL 60602
ed.uhlir@sbcglobal.net
312-742-1412

Elgin High School
Deb Perryman, Biology Teacher
27 Ascot Lane
Streamwood, IL 60107
d.perryman@comcast.net
847-888-5100

Friends of Chicago River
Margaret Frisbie, Deputy Director
407 S. Dearborn
Suite 1580
Chicago, IL 60605
mfrisbie@chicagoriver.org
chicagoriver.org
312-939-0490

Fuller Park Community Development
Michael Howard, Executive Director
331 West 45th Street
Chicago, IL 60609
michaelhow@msn.com
www.fullerpark.com
773-624-8686

Harvard School of Public Health
Felton Earls, Professor of Human Behavior & Development
1430 Mass. Avenue
College House, 4th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02138
felton_earls@hms.harvard.edu
617-495-5381

Openlands Project
Jerry Adelmann, Executive Director
25 East Washington Street
Suite 1650
Chicago, IL 60602-1708
jadelmann@openlands.org
312-863-6262

Southeast Environmental Task Force
Aaron Rosinski, Executive Director
setfdirector@ameritech.net
773-646-0436

Southeast Environmental Task Force
Marian Byrnes, Board Secretary
marianbyrnes@sbcglobal.net
773-374-8543