52nd City

Edens Lost & Found

Did anyone else catch Edens Lost & Found last night on Channel 9? It's a show about urban visionaries ... neighborhood folks transforming brownfields into wildlife habitat, how you can cool down a city building by 50 degrees just by adding green roofing, that sort of thing. The kick-off city was Chicago, I suppose because that's where host Scott Simon (former NPR guy, now novelist) is from. Other cities they'll cover: Philly, Seattle and L.A. Though they didn't come to St. Louis, it's an interesting little series, especially in light of the fact that it seems that the old guard and the young folks are beginning to clash over how to steer the city in a good direction. Personally, I think we could use some erring on the side of big vision vs. making do; I think that "well, at least it's something," mentality hasn't served St. Louis so well.

I happen to know there's an amazing, totally green rehab going on down in Benton Park, but I'm not sure if it's done yet - but the Benton park house tour is this weekend, so I expect I may go poking around down there to see if they're showcasing it in any way. With the Cherokee History Fair in full swing, will be a nice compliment to watching all those Chicago folks getting out there to LEED-ify their historic buildings and cultivating hummingbird habitats in their backyards.