Is it possible to live off the grid in the suburbs? That's what Aileen Eilert of Lisle is attempting to find out. As part of its "Chicago Matters: Growing Forward" series, WBEZ's Ashley Gross profiles Eilert's push for suburban sustainability, in part prompted by her nephew's death in Iraq:
EILERT: You know, we’re fighting over there and it was about oil, and so I just thought I’ve got to do something. I mean, it’s too late for me to do anything about my nephew, and it's sad, he was such a good kid. I’d like to see it where we don’t have to do this anymore. I’d like it to be where people, 'Oh we don’t need to buy oil from countries that may not be friendly to us or may not be stable.'
While Eilert is an outlier -- she's already erected a wind turbine near her home, installed solar panels on her garage, bought a hybrid, and started planting a garden where her lawn used to be -- University of Illinois-Chicago professor Evan McKenzie says eco-living is catching on all over suburbia:
MCKENZIE: There’s just a changing awareness. The stuff that was planned and put in place in the '60s and '70s and even the '80s, I think in some cases is giving way to new ideas. I mean they’re selling and giving away rain barrels in the suburbs so people collect rainwater to water their plants with. I never heard of that before. Suburban homebuyers today are thinking a lot more about the quality of life issues, and as a result the market and municipalities are reflecting it.
Check out the whole report here.
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