Wild Things 2019

Gary Nabhan, a first-generation Lebanese American, grew up in Gary, Indiana, where he fell in love with dunes and prairies. He became an ecologist who has focused on rescuing and restoring rare plants and the native cultures that lived symbiotically with them. Nabhan has written more than 30 books, many of them influential. His works include Enduring Seeds (1989), Geography of Childhood (1994), The Forgotten Pollinators (1996), and Stitching the West Back Together (2015). More recently in Food from the Radical Center (2018), he has written about people getting their hands dirty to bring back such native food resources as bison, sturgeon, camas lilies, ancient grains, and wild turkeys. He works to heal the rift between people and nature.

Mr. Nabhan will be preceded by a musical performance by the Waters Elementary School Choir with the Bullfrogs

Waters Elementary, a Chicago public school, mobilized their community when officials announced plans to demolish the school’s garden. This beloved teaching garden was started more than 25 years ago and is a cornerstone of the school’s ecology program. In a stunning example of grass-roots advocacy, students, school staff, parents, and the neighboring community rallied successfully against the plans. The officials backed off, seeking another location on school property to build an annex. The student choir - joined by a neighborhood group, the Bullfrogs - sing to celebrate the victory and the garden.