Michael Hawthorne story

Caroline Smith

October 29, 2008

Prof. Foerstner


Air pollution from oil refineries, mercury in seafood, illegal dumping and, of course, global warming are all topics Chicago Tribune environmental reporter, Michael Hawthorne, knows well. Hawthorne has been with the Chicago Tribune since 2004, before covering the environmental beat with the Columbus Dispatch from 2000
to 2003.

The position is challenging. “Understanding and being able to speak [the scientific] language and connecting the dots can be the most difficult part, but also the most fun,” Hawthorne said. On top of that, there are tons of people trying to set your agenda, he said. “You have to have a good sense of the absurd.”

One might also term it as having a low tolerance for the “BS factor.” Hawthorne has plenty of both. In August 2004, he covered the illegal creation of a landfill near Ford Heights, one of the most impoverished Chicago suburbs. The argument for the 500 foot pile of waste was that it could be turned into a ski slope for the suburb’s residents. Stealthy legislation attempted to exempt the landfill from environmental regulations for its "recreational" potential until Hawthorne exposed it.

With his insight and experience as an environmental journalist, the major problem he projects Chicago as facing in the future is water. There are currently 325,000 households in Chicago that don’t have water meters, which allows for unlimited water use, he said. “We’re limited to how much water we can take by a ruling from the Supreme Court. We could run out of water by mid-century.” In addition, a lot of suburbs draw from aquifers contaminated by radium, he said. The Chicago River is a dilemma all its own. Almost the entire river is untreated sewage. The south fork of the main branch, known as Bubbly Creek, is still a cesspool and a recent EPA test of the river floor showed “fibrous material” from hides from the Union Stock Yards that had been compressed over the years, Hawthorne said.

Hawthorne also cites the city’s transit system as causing serious problems to air quality, even linking it to cancer. “Studies show a high cancer risk close to highways. That risk drops significantly as you move 100 meters away from the area. It makes you wonder how many schools are near the freeway.”

On the brighter side, both issues can also be success stories, he said. “Mass transit is definitely better for the environment and the river no longer causes outbreaks of cholera. When Upton Sinclair wrote ‘The Jungle’ it was a lot worse then,” he said.