Following social media campaigns like #BlackBirdersWeek and #BlackHikerWeek, a group of Black plant scientists from around the world is creating a community around — and celebrating — Black people who love plants.  

Eco House is planting the seeds for a homegrown flower industry on vacant lots in Englewood, Woodlawn and West Garfield Park. We learn about the mission behind this slow flowers movement.

July is a great month for planet watching. Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars and Mercury will all make an appearance.

This spring, Chicago saw record rainfall for the third May in a row – and with it, the return of flooded streets, parks and basements. A new analysis finds many more Chicago properties are at risk of flooding than previously thought.

A judge on Monday ordered the Dakota Access pipeline shut down for additional environmental review more than three years after it began pumping oil — handing a victory to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

It’s not quite bathwater warm — that honor goes to Lake Erie — but Lake Michigan’s average surface temperature has topped 72 degrees thanks to the recent heat wave. 

Environmental activists from the city’s Southwest Side brought their ongoing fight against MAT Asphalt to the North Side front yard of owner Michael Tadin Jr. on Thursday night.

The three chicks hatched in mid-June and now local birding organizations have created a contest to give them names. Submissions are open through Wednesday.

Openlands’ searchable guide to parks, preserves, prairies, woodlands and more is a great resource for nature lovers. 

Millennium Park’s Great Lawn is open to visitors again, with painted-on circles in place to emphasize social distancing guidelines. 

The northern saw-whet is a tiny owl with a big personality. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service staff caught this normally secretive owl performing a hilarious stare down.

Taking a phased approach, the conservatory is reopening its outdoor grounds to neighbors on July 1, members on July 8 and everyone else starting July 15.

Scores of Chicagoans have planted milkweed — the monarch’s host plant — in their yards and other green spaces, but how effective are those efforts? The Field Museum is recruiting citizen scientists to find out.

Forty million locusts are winding their way through Argentina and a massive dust cloud has crossed the Atlantic from the Sahara. What else could 2020 possibly have in store for us?

Over the objections of environmental activists, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday issued a construction permit to General Iron, allowing the company to move its metal-shredding operation from Lincoln Park to the Southeast Side. 

The Forest Preserves of Cook County announced it will reopen Swallow Cliff Stairs, nature centers and bathrooms, plus allow grilling and lift restrictions on parking lots at popular sites — but not until after the Fourth of July.