🌍Happy Earth Day!🌳

One of my earliest childhood memories is helping my parents haul newspapers to our neighborhood's recycling center. We also belonged to a food coop where bulk goods were weighed into reusable containers and decades before the seltzer trend, we got bubbly water refilled into glass bottles from a local company.

In middle school I was in Earth Club, making signs to encourage everyone to Reduce > Reuse > Recycle; in high school it was Ecology Club, source separating our classroom recycling bins; and in college Environmental Club, asking leadership why the biggest Catholic university in the country didn't have recycling.

I love our planet. It's the only one we have.

To me, recycling seems like the bare minimum to give back to our Home Mother Earth, but that's because it's been a habit built since childhood. In the U.S. it is still an uphill challenge in many places because it's not easy to or clear how to recycle even the simplest materials like paper and aluminum. Here in my hometown Chicago, household recycling rates are abysmal compared to other large U.S. cities, because of confusion and distrust [link to great article from University of Chicago about the history and current state of recycling here].

What I hear most from folks nowadays – beyond "it's hard" – is that it seems futile to recycle our aluminum cans as individual consumers, when environmental harm is systemic and much bigger entities are not doing their fair share.

My answer to this is yes, of course, there are systemic issues at play. I'm not going to list all that here because I'm focusing on celebrating and positive action items!

AND each of us doing our part to clean up our community helps the bigger picture.

Here are my top easy ways to help our home.

• Reduce your use of one-time use plastics. Bring reusable produce & grocery bags to the store. Reuse whatever plastics you can.
• Identify how to consume less "stuff". Join a local buy nothing group. Get your next outfit at a thrift shop. Cancel Amazon Prime. Borrow a book or DVD from the library. Host a clothing swap.
• Can you replace your next car trip with a walk, bike, carpool, or train?
• Check out municipal composting programs. Chicago now has a number of drop-off locations, and a few private services have popped up for home or farmers market pick-up. We use Urban Canopy, who we also hired to provide a compost container for our picnic wedding a couple years ago.
• Participate in a local cleanup event. Organize one yourself. Go to the park or beach with a garbage bag and gloves and a few friends.

Ways to see me and things I'm up to!

I have 2 minutes to answer the question "Was It Worth It?" 

This Sunday, April 26 in Chicago!

What happens when you take 20 handpicked creatives and luminaries, give them each two minutes before a live audience and the same (fuzzy) question to unravel? That's the premise behind 20x2 Chicago.

Table for Two’ish with Mac & Cheese Productions’℠

Online in one week!

Join me on the Zoom screen April 30th 11am-12pm CT for Table for Two'ish as Saya Hillman of Mac & Cheese Productions’℠ and I chat about living a Life of Yes.

From Saya's post: "Come hear and be inspired by Susan B. Clark's journey! When we met, Susan was a single mom 9 to 5er, with an established career in philanthropy... Today, Susan’s a married mom multipotentialite, crafting her dream life... allowing her to prioritize what matters most to her. So much to unpack, learn, and be inspired by!

2026 photo walk dates are live!

Come take a walk with me in Chicago's loop. We'll look at some hidden gems of architecture and public art, and I'll share some phone photography tips. I've got Friday and weekend dates set up May-October.

Fun fact, the amazing photo of me on tour was taken by someone on tour last fall!