In the interest of advancing coverage of environmental issues, I conceived and produced a regional nature focus titled Environs. This monthly section was published as a freestanding newspaper supplement with its own advertising base. I wrote all content and licensed this art for the inaugural edition. Our readership data later proved that environmental news ranked third behind Local News and Sports as topics of primary interest.
Combining seasonal interests with broader issues was one of the prime objectives of ENVIRONS, a groundbreaking approach to generating environmental activism by connecting regional organizations with communities eager for their services.
I illustrated and wrote a series of articles focusing on birds that “people could find” to help educate and inform readers.
While I wrote for local newspapers, I also published opinion pieces in major publications such as the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business.
My work became syndicated within the Copley and later Tribune publishing network. These nature articles appeared weekly in the Sports section of the Beacon News and other mid-sized papers.
I often combined my writing with nature illustrations such as this rendering of a sandhill crane.
This article contained a profile of one of Illinois’ longest-served mayors, Jeff Schielke.