Monday Lecture: 3 Things From Faith In Place's Veronica Kyle

The water we use, noted Veronica Kyle of Faith in Place, is recycled water: "Our grandparents' grandparents' grandparents' grandparents' water."

Which is yet another reason it must be protected for our grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren, she said.

Kyle was the McCormick Bridgehouse Museum's Monday guest speaker on Aug. 6 for the regular weekly lunchtime lecture series. Since 1999, Faith in Place has worked with over 1,000 houses of worship throughout Illinois to protect our land, air, and water.

She touted a Faith in Place curriculum "Our Grandchildren's Water" which is described as a "congregational study guide for adults on the ethics of water." According to the group, "We can't destroy water but we can render it unfit for drinking and other uses. Ensuring that we don't is a debt we owe to our children and grandchildren."

Here are three things from the curriculum you may not know:

  1. In 1900, per person water usage was five to ten gallons a day in the United States. By 2000, it was 50 to 100 gallons of water per day. Part of that is linked to personal use but it is also linked to supporting a growing population, from 76 million to 281 million. For example, in Illinois, 86 percent of water use is linked to making electricity through thermoelectric power generation. 
  2. Some 42 percent of Cook County has been paved over by some sort of hard surface. These impervious materials don't allow water to soak into the ground and instead rain and melting snow is directed into the sewage system. Hard rains can overwhelm the sewage system and the pressure is sometimes released by dumping the untreated combination of rainwater and sewage into local rivers. (You can learn more about Combined Sewer Overflows and our #OverflowAction Days here.)
  3. In Islam, God promises man three things: grass (for livestock), fire, and water. The Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview uses solar energy to heat its water.

Our free Monday lecture series are held on the museum's beautiful plaza on the Riverwalk at the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive. They start at 12:15 p.m. and run about a half hour.

Here's what's coming up:

Monday, 13, 2018: "Aquatic Invasive Species" by Andy Casper, Director of Freshwater Research, The Shedd Aquarium.

Monday, Aug. 20th: "Butterflies of the American Prairie"  by Dr. Doug Taron, Chief Curator of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Monday, Aug. 27th: "Art Along the River" by Linda Keane, Professor & Creative Director, School of the Art Institue of Chicago.