Chicago's Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet

More than a 100 sculpted globes are scattered throughout Chicago’s Museum Campus and line the nearby lake front, vying for our attention –  with vivid paintings, sculptures, live plants, terrariums, and graphic messages, among others – to help fight global warming. With the Cool Globes guidebook in hand, we decided to take a self-guided tour.

Similar to its Cows on Parade exhibit in the late 90s, Chicago has taken the initiative to promote public art by displaying it prominently against the city skyline, and in this case, to move beyond whimsy and inspire, educate, and motivate its citizens in helping with the greening of the city. The 82-page guide book includes a map of the Museum Campus with the globes identified with numbers (globes are also located at Navy Pier and off-site at various locations in the city). Each of the globes -- 5-ft in diameter -- displayed on the campus has an accompanying plaque with information on the artist, globe theme, description, and sponsor.

Following her participation in the Clinton Global Initiative’s climate change program, Wendy Abrams, environmental activist and arts advocate, developed the Cool Globes project, envisioning a city-wide effort involving the city, corporate and private sponsors, the schools, and artists. Her efforts have created an educational green chain, linking government, businesses, and the public.    

My friend Ingrid Albrecht participated in the project, and I found her globe (#94) among many others along the lake front, near East Balboa Drive. Focusing on the theme of Rooftop Gardens Around the World, Globe 94’s motif is portraying The Green Roof Connection between Chicago and her sister cities while highlighting the benefits of green roof gardening.

What are the advantages of green roofs and why should we have them? As described by Ingrid, a green roof is a roof top that has soil on it to accommodate gardening. Green roofs eliminate runoff during rainstorms, provide habitats for migratory insects and birds, reduce the “heat island” effect in the city, extend the life of a roof, absorb air pollution, collect airborne particles, and store carbon. Migratory insects and birds fly over Ingrid’s pearlized blue-green oceans, contrasted with cracked dark brown land masses. She spent more than 1000 hours researching her topic, working on the migratory insect and bird images, and creating “green roof notes” for her globe.

Walking around the Museum Campus, we spotted other globes we liked, including: Globe #37: Francis W. Parker School’s art and words on non-electric forms of play and games; Globe #59: Luz Maria Castillo’s surreal and abstract paintings on greening your home; and Globe #71: Faheem Majeed and Gary Comer Youth Center’s residential recycling theme, using actual cell phones and found objects.

What can we do as individuals to make our city green? As Mayor Daley suggests, we can replace light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs; turn off the tap when brushing our teeth; replace at least one car trip per month with walking, biking or public transit; plant or care for a city tree by watering, mulching or removing litter; and replace plastic shopping bags with reusable shopping bags.

For more information about the Cool Globes Exhibit, visit www.coolglobes.org.

Amy A. Rudberg, a freelance writer and researcher, lives and works in Chicago. She recently created ArtStyle, A Voice for Artists in Chicago, focusing on the arts, culture, and lifestyle in Chicago. http://www.chicagoarts-lifestyle.com.

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