Introducing Plant Chicago’s newest intern, Eva Durance, who is experimenting with SCOBYs as a means of textile production. For this project we’re partnering with fellow The Plant tenant Matt Lancor of Kombuchade, who is graciously lending us equipment, starter cultures, and technical support. I am a student at Columbia College Chicago majoring in Fashion Studies with a concentration in Fashion Merchandising and minoring in Environmental Studies. While searching through possib

Post by Zach Waickman, Biodiesel Lab Manager at Loyola University’s Institute of Environmental Sustainability. This post is Part 1 of a series on Loyola’s highly localized circular economy built on used cooking oil. The Searle Biodiesel Lab in the Institute of Environmental Sustainability (IES) at Loyola University Chicago is an undergraduate-focused initiative that encompasses both a small business and numerous research projects. The main goal of the lab is to research, deve

Post by John Mulrow, Civil Engineering PhD Candidate at University of Illinois at Chicago. This post describes a chemistry example I use to explain the fundamentals of material and energy flow for sustainability courses at UIC. A primary task of circular economists is the tracking of material and energy use throughout the production process. One of the simplest ways of doing this is to turn our analysis into a chemical equation. Burning wood to heat the bread oven at Pleasant