Ask the Eco Gal

Tips for Green Investing

During Earth Month, April 1-30, everyone seemed to jump on the green bandwagon. How many "greenies" are willing to put their money where their mouth is - to invest green?

Whether one does this through an employer's 401(k), an individual retirement account (IRA) or a mutual fund or stock portfolio, one can make choices to keep investments in line with values.

James Brewer, a financial adviser with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., defines green investing as "being conscious of not only the financial ramifications of your investment decisions, but also the effect that your decisions have on the environment."

Those familiar with socially responsible investing (SRI) may wonder how that differs from green investing. Mr. Brewer says, "SRI is an investment strategy that integrates social or environmental criteria into financial analysis. Every investment that is considered ‘socially responsible' may not have specific screens for environmental investing.

Green investing encompasses seeking companies that either have a positive record for being environmentally friendly or that are engaged in a business that helps the environment, such as alternative energy development."

In this context, the term "screen" refers to the inclusion or exclusion of corporate securities in investment portfolios based on social or environmental (green) criteria. For more information on socially responsible mutual funds, visit the Social Investment Forum, at www.socialinvest.org, which has a primer on SRIs.

Typically, social funds screen for these criteria: alcohol, tobacco, gambling, defense/weapons, animal testing, products/services, environment, human rights, labor relations, employment equality and community investing. A fund's action on these screenings could include no investment, restricted investment, positive investment or no screenings (for a given criterion).

Anyone who is inclined to "think globally, act locally" should take a look at Ariel Capital Management, LLC (www.arielmutualfunds.com), the corporate headquarters of which are in Chicago. Ariel believes that one of life's greatest lessons also holds true when investing: Slow and steady wins the race. When looking for investments Ariel examines whether a company takes positive steps toward preserving the environment or if the firm is a defendant in any environmental cases.

The Calvert Group, Ltd. (www.calvert.com), one of the better-known SRIs, also screens for green issues. Its current environmental analysis focuses on climate change, corporate sustainability and performance, environmental governance and management, life-cycle impacts and resource impacts.

Even seasoned investors might need help navigating the ever-changing currents of the investment world. Finding a green financial adviser can be a tremendous help. That's when Co-op America's "National Green Pages" becomes a useful tool. Co-op America (www.coopamerica.org) is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1982. Its mission is to harness economic power - the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace - to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.

The National Green Pages is free with a one-year membership and dues start at $20. Another membership benefit is the group's financial planning handbook, which non-members may purchase for $11.95 by calling 1-800 58-GREEN.

Green investment funds featured here represent two of the dozens of SRIs. Publication of this material does not represent an endorsement of any investment fund or membership group. Ecogal may be reached at info@evanstonroundtable.com or ecogal247@yahoo.com

The Fish and I: The Stillness of Early Morning

By Richard Peach

The sun had just started to come up out across the lake, the flat mirror-like surface reflected many shades of red, yellow and orange.

My son and I slowly eased the boat away from the pier and out onto the main lake, heading for one of our favorite fishing spots.

The shoreline mix of sand beaches, rocky shores and manicured lawns was undisturbed at this early morning hour, but the fish were busy feeding at the surface, leaving telltale concentric circles where they broke the surface after their meal - a good sign for fishermen.

As we moved further out, to about the half-mile marker, we could now see part of downtown Evanston - the bank building and the tops of a couple of the condominiums. It was time to get busy and start getting some fish in the boat.

We are very fortunate to live right on one of the best fishing lakes anywhere, and the opening describes a fairly typical day in the late spring of the year.

We begin fishing in 20 feet of water due east of Wilmette Harbor; we are looking for grass beds that will be holding perch.

We locate a school of fish and begin casting out and working the bait along the bottom. Shortly my son is working hard to bring in the first fish of the day and lands a nice 12-inch perch.

Over the next hour we have caught mroe than 40 fish. We keep eight for dinner and release the rest for another day. Later this morning we'll head up the shore to fish for smallmouth bass, but that's another story.

Till then, keep a tight line.

Pope John XXIII Science Olympiad Team Wins 5th Place, 6 Medals

On April 21 Pope John XXIII School's Science Olympiad Team competed at the Illinois State Science Olympiad Tournament at Champaign University of Illinois. Thirty-nine middle and high school teams from both public and private schools all over the state participated in 24 events. Pope John XXIII's team brought home six medals and earned the fifth-place award. Three fourth-place medals were awarded, for "Food Science" to eighth-grader Claire Simon and seventh-grader Dominick Bournes; "Rocks and Minerals" to sixth-grader Erin McKearnan and seventh-graade Julia Tufano; "Science Crime Busters" to seventh-graders Brian Bertsche and Sam Colgate. A third-place medal was awarded for "Disease Detective" to eighth-graders Maria Rodriguez and Claire Simon. "Awesome Aquifers" earned a second-place medal for 6th-graders Patrick Brugliera and Erin McKearnan. A first-place medal for the "Wheeled Vehicle" event went to seventh-graders Sam Colgate and Dominick Bournes.

The 20-member team was coached by science teachers Michael Becker, Katie Eichberger and Katie Joja. The team members, all of whom all contributed with their scores to the fifth-place finish were eighth-graders Claire Simon, Maria Rodriguez, Aliceea Rice, Sarah Makkawy, Genny Zoufal and Aidas Macianskas; seventh-graders Brian Berstche, Dominic Bournes, Sam Colgate, Julia Tufano, Daniel Hartnett, sixth-graders Jennifer Anton, Laura Baranovskis, Patrick Brugliera, James Chuckas, Emma Gawron, Lily Hullinger, Erin McKearnan, Ben Medina, Jeremiah Redmond and Paulina Thomas.

Second Annual Hat Tea Fundraiser Eclipses Last Year's Success

Sunday afternoon, May 7, brought a whirlwind of little girls in fancy dresses and hats, accompanied by their mothers and grandmothers. More than 170 people gathered in the Grand Ballroom of Evanston's Hotel Orrington for two hours of fun in support of the programs of the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston at their Second Annual Hat Tea benefit in support of services and families in poverty and at risk in our area.

The Hat Tea this year provided an opportunity for Infant Welfare Society of Evanston executive director and Evanston resident Megan Kashner to introduce Infant Welfare teacher Khadijat (Ady) Enessy, one of only five winners of this year's Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Award.

Ms. Kashner and the staff and board of IWSE received support for this event from such Evanston businesses as Hotel Orrington, J.P. Morgan, and First Bank and Trust of Evanston. Grass-roots Evanston support and participation came from Toys et Cetera, Moto Photo Evanston, Pivot Point and Northwestern University's Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and other local merchants who donate goods and services for the silent auction.

Next year's IWSE Annual Hat Tea has already been scheduled for May 4, 2008.

"The Inheritance of Loss"

A Book Review By Sue Brooke

Kiran Desai's "The Inheritance of Loss" is a brilliant novel that justifiably won the Man Booker Prize last year.

In the 1980s in Kalimpong, a small village near Darjeeling in West Bengal, Sai lives with her grandfather, the judge.

They live in Cho Oyu, their once-grand house, which Said describes as a space that reaches both backward and forward.

Educated in England, the judge maintains a love-hate relationship: He reveres all things English, simultaneously resenting anyone or thing from that country.

Sai speaks only English, with just a little pigeon Hindu. She and the judge eat English food with the proper knife and fork. The cook, who has been with the judge for most of his life, is of a lower caste and is not considered an equal.

The judge is bitter and withdrawn, showing love only to his dog "Mutt," who has been with the judge for most of his life. Sai then has turned to the cook for love and companionship.

The cook's son, Bjiu, is in New York. Though Bjiu works only at menial jobs and lives in squalor and for the most part without friends, his father is proud to have a son making so much money. In fact the only person Bjiu has befriended at all is a Muslim - a friend he never would have had in India.

For a while, bright young Sai was tutored by two neighbor ladies. Now that she has outgrown their tutelage, the judge has hired a college boy for her science and math lessons. He is Nepalese. The incipient Gorkhaland movement at this time is demanding a separate state for Nepalese living in West Bengal. Many Nepalese are crying, "Gorkhaland for Gorkhas!" The growing unrest changes everyone's lives.

For anyone trying to understand the turmoil of Southeast Asia or the Middle East, "The Inheritance of Loss" is a must-read. It provides thought-provoking insight into what happens when Western values and customs are brought to an area. It should help readers understand how the Third World cringes when the West flashes its dollars.

'The Ex'

A Film Review By Joe Linstroth

It is nothing short of amazing that a comedy featuring Zach Braff and Jason Bateman, stars of two of the funniest sitcoms on television in the last five years ("Scrubs" and "Arrested Development" respectively), could be as brutally awful as this week's new release, "The Ex."

Mr. Braff plays Tom Reilly, a slacking chef who loses his job in Manhattan the same day his wife, Sofia (Amanda Peet), goes into labor with their first child.

With no bread on the table, the couple is forced to move to Ohio so that Tom can finally begin a respectable career working with Sofia's father, Bob (Charles Grodin), at his New Age ad agency.

Filled with pastel colors and positive people who toss around an imaginary "yes ball," the ad agency is Tom's living nightmare.

The gatekeeper to his personal hell is his sanctimonious boss, Chip Sanders (Mr. Bateman). Chip has been confined to a wheelchair since he was five, and he milks his handicap for all it is worth, using it to sabotage Tom's fledgling career and to try and steal his wife, with whom he was a cheerleader and had a crush on in high school.

The responsibility for the film's failure cannot be laid entirely at the feet of its two stars. In fact, Jason Bateman's pathologically evil performance is largely responsible for what little there is to laugh about in "The Ex."

As far as the rest of the cast, which includes Mia Farrow, Donal Logue and Amy Poehler, is concerned, any talent they bring to the picture is wasted by Jesse Peretz's ham-fisted directing.

Zach Braff has excellent facial expressions and comic timing, but rather than utilize his skills, Mr. Peretz prefers to smack him with a snowboard, kick him in the groin, squirt weed killer in his eyes, and run him into a parked car on a mountain bike, stringing these gags together with bubbly, needle-drop music that makes "Leave it to Beaver" sound edgy.

No joke is a bad joke for screenwriters David Guion and Michael Handelman. Stuffing the script with more non sequiturs than a "Family Guy" marathon, it is clear the writers would not know the meaning of moderation if they took a pratfall over a dictionary.

Barely five seconds pass without a joke, and after 15 minutes they start to feel like torturous drips on the forehead. Even the best comedy writers in the world could not sustain this pace for an hour and a half, much less ones who have to mooch jokes from other movies like "Three Men and a Baby" and resort to lame physical comedy every third scene.

"The Ex" is a waste of comic talent. One can only hope that the careers of Zach Braff and Jason Bateman will recover from such a terrible blemish.

1 hr. 32 min. Rated PG-13 for language.

'Spider-Man 3'

A Film Review By Brian Murphy

With the evolution of computer-generated imagery (CGI), the fantastical worlds of comic books are becoming more accessible as film commodities. With the physical improbabilities of superheroes and villains once confined to the inked page, a new age in movie special effects has recently brought these visually stimulating worlds to the silver screen.

At their finest, these adaptations emulate these alternate worlds by combining well-cast characters, directors with a penchant for visual flair and a screenplay that remains faithful to a specific set of storylines previously explored in the comic.

Recent examples of both well conceived and well received comic book/graphic novel adaptations are the Robert Rodriguez/Frank Miller collaboration "Sin City"; the first and second Bryan Singer-directed "X-Men" films; and "Spider-Man" and its sequel, directed by revered B-horror movie director Sam Raimi (the "Evil Dead" trilogy).

Regrettably, Mr. Raimi seems to have peaked with the second installment in the series. Despite the return of Tobey Maguire as dorky photojournalist Peter Parker (and his web-slinging alter-ego), Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane, Peter's lifelong love interest, and James Franco, who continues to serve as Spider Man's nemesis, "Spider-Man 3" suffers from a web-like script that continually expands upon weak strands. The end result is an overstuffed submarine sandwich without enough meat: Screenwriters Sam and brother Ivan Raimi incorporate too much of the comic saga, which has continued for decades, for their story to flow.

The storyline of villain Sandman/Flint Marko ("Sideways" star Thomas Haden Church), forced into crime by a sick daughter, almost seems like a separate film towards the beginning, only to be forgotten until the climax. In contrast, competing photographer Eddie Brock (Topher Grace, "That 70's Show"), who becomes Spidey's ultimate nemesis, is glossed over in favor of the redundant rivalry and love triangle among Mary Jane, Peter, and Harry Osborn.

An alien substance falls to earth, imbuing Mr. Parker with increased superpowers and an out-of-control id. He succumbs to his inflated ego, basking in the glow of Spider-Man's adoring fans, oblivious to its impact on his relationship with Mary Jane.

While Ms. Dunst and Mr. Maguire are fine actors, the plot takes them in separate directions, stifling the electric chemistry the pair displayed previously. Mary Jane comes to a sobering realization about her career as a Broadway star, while Peter delves into the dark side.

Mr. Maguire's doe-eyed visage makes it hard to buy his foray into evil. During this regression, the dark tone of the film dissolves, diving head-first into camp. We witness the aberration of Peter Parker's strutting to a disco song as he strolls the city streets (Mr. Raimi's echo of "Staying Alive"), followed by an impromptu dance with a new flame, who Peter hopes will make Mary Jane jealous. At this point, "Spider-Man 3" might be better as a musical or another sort of Broadway spectacle, as, unsure of what to do with their characters, the Raimi brothers waste our time with this mid-film interlude.

Fortunately, they pull it together at the end: Spider-Man must rush again to save Mary Jane from the clutches of two baddies.

To those still awake for the denouement, Spidey's unlikely sidekick and the formulaic ending should come as no surprise.

Fans of the big-budget blockbuster - and most of us are - will find just enough action and innovative special effects to justify spending nearly ten bucks on this. However, fans of the first two "SpiderMan" films will probably be disappointed.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence.

Next Theatre

In 2006 the Next presented "The Next Block Over," several members of which have returned for "If This Neighborhood Could Talk."
Photo by Michael Brosilow

Using community members rather than actors, a local theater company has composed a play to address housing, gentrification, affordability and development in Evanston and Rogers Park.

Created by the Next Theater, the play, titled "If This Neighborhood Could Talk," was influenced by discussions and workshop among community members organized on five Saturday mornings by Julie Ganey.

"We have people from all walks of life," said Ms. Ganey. At the discussions were developers, real estate professionals, affordable housing advocates, landlords, tenants, and home owners from every economic stratum. "There were some very heated discussions," said Ms. Ganey. However, she said, the group agrred that the purpose of the project was not to convince each other who was right but to "understand why others might feel the way they do."

During the five discussions, playwright Ebony Joy took notes on the concerns, stories and arguments of the citizens. With the material, Ms. Joy, who is artistic director of the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Theatre, composed "If This Neighborhood Could Talk."

The gives a voice to each major street that serves as an artery in these neighborhoods, revealing how they can both unite and divide residents.

There will be two performances, May 19 at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, and May 20 at the Lifeline Theater in Rogers Park, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave.