In a city where designer water bottles and canvas shopping bags are coveted accessories, some residents say “going green” and “spending green” should no longer go hand in hand.
“Unless there is a direct link between environmental conservation and economic conservation, nobody will be able to care,” said Ivy Boyer, owner of the Wild Tree Café, 1100 Davis St.
Colorful paintings hang on the restaurant’s bright blue and green walls and reggae music plays softly. Above the door, a sign says, “Think globally, eat locally.”
Boyer said she originally sought to open an entirely organic café, but the high cost of organic food drove her prices higher than she wanted to charge.
“We’re a counter-service restaurant,” she said. “You should be able to get something good for less than $10. We’re across the street from an unemployment office, and I know some of the people who come in here have lost their jobs.”
Greg Bourgon, Wild Tree’s manager, said the conception of organic produce as a luxury good is partially responsible for large-scale unavailability of affordable healthy food and dependence on large-scale farms, which often abuse pesticides. He also said he was starting a system through which local businesses can contribute their waste to compost.
“It’s closing the nutrient system within the local community,” he said.
Boyer said she focuses on purchasing as much local produce as she can and using her business to support organizations she believes in. She explained that phrases like “organic” and “fair trade” might sound attractive, but it is hard to hold accountable the large corporations that claim to employ such practices. For example, she purchases some of her coffee – which cannot be grown locally – from a small group of women in Brazil.
Boyer said she has employed energy-saving tactics, such as curtailing use of several large kitchen appliances, but her biggest focus is community activism. Her restaurant serves as the hub for the Evanston Food Policy Council, which runs an organization called The Talking Farm.
The organization is finalizing its acquisition of a permanent property but has been in operation on temporary plots for the past two years, said Debbie Hillman, one of Evanston Food Policy Council’s founders.
“We’re still in negotiations for the main site, but we’ve been in existence for two years,” Hillman said. “Our aim is to grow as much food as possible and sell it to the public for affordable prices.”
She said other plans are in the works for starting a teaching farm at Evanston Township High School, which should be up and running by summer.
“The fact is that a lot of the environmental degradation, like clear cutting forests, come from the food system we have,” she said. “There are a whole host of problems associated with shipping your food from China or California or New Zealand.”
The Talking Farm assists in running the West End Farmer’s market, which brings fresh produce to the Fifth Ward, where it is otherwise not available, during warmer months.
Boyer said The Talking Farm’s work to make healthy, environmentally sustainable food available to all compliments what she seeks to achieve with her own business. She recently opened a yoga studio on the same block as her restaurant and said it is her goal to make classes accessible to people of all incomes.
“I believe sustainability is community building,” Boyer said. “When people just sit around talking about biodegradable cups it doesn’t go anywhere. I believe people protect what they care about. We’re in an urban setting. We’re not looking out at mountains, we’re not looking out at trees. We’re looking at each other.”
