Category Archives: Environment

All photos provided by SWT Design.

By Don Corrigan

Roof gardens, designed to increase green space and energy efficiency, got a work out in our red hot summer of 2023. Summer temperatures soared above 100 degrees in St. Louis and beyond. So, how did these roofs do?

“They did well. They did what they are supposed to do,” declared Ted Spaid, the green force behind SWT Design near the northeast corner of the intersection of Big Bend and Laclede Station roads.

Spaid knows what he is talking about. He’s been designing the green, environmental-friendly roofs for several decades. He puts his money where his mouth. The Shrewsbury company has built its own green roof.

Spaid loves it. He hits the roof whenever he can. He and his SWT Design team use it to show off their work to clients. They use it for lunch and coffee breaks. They take pride in how it keeps down energy costs on site.

“This was an exceptionally hot summer around the country, and with climate change, it’s going to get worse,” said Spaid. “This presents a challenge in looking at new materials and new plants for roof designs.

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By Don Corrigan

There’s a scene in “Oppenheimer,” a recent movie about the making of the atomic bomb, when a woman hanging up laundry outside is warned to take in the sheets. The laundry outside might get contaminated with the impending explosion of the first atomic bomb.

Karen Nichol of North St. Louis County notes that the mothers and residents downwind of the Nevada atomic test site at least got warned about dangerous radioactivity from the atomic bomb development. Not so in St. Louis.

“St. Louis moms did not get any kind of warning about uranium waste processing for the bomb,” said Karen Nichol of Just Moms St. Louis.   “They knew nothing about the careless, reckless, disregard to human life from the federal government that went into the making of the bomb here.

“So many moms to this day still aren’t getting the warning,” added Nichol. “There are people that have gone to great lengths to make sure St. Louis had no warning. There are also still no signs warning kids to stay out of the radioactive Coldwater Creek.”

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Pictured above: Dawn Chapman (Left) and Karen Nickel, co-founders of Just Moms STL.

By Don Corrigan

St. Louis residents have joined the rest of the nation in flocking to see the blockbuster, “Oppenheimer,” a movie about the making of the atomic bomb. Radioactive fallout from the new bomb descended over an area 250 miles by 200 miles in New Mexico.

The movie about the first atomic bomb brought renewed attention to Southwest U.S. residents downwind from the blast. Many are members of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, a group that feels they were poisoned by the explosion.

You don’t have to have seen the bright light, and felt the incredible rumble, however, to feel you have been affected by the bomb and the program for America’s nuclear arsenal. Just ask members of St. Louis County’s “Just Moms St. Louis.”

The Moms group has been fighting for the cleanup of radioactive waste in streams, creek beds, dumps and landfills near their homes. The huge amounts of waste are from the uranium processing that was necessary for making the bomb – and which was processed in St. Louis.

Instead of disposing of the waste in a responsible manner, chemical companies used careless contractors that dumped tons of radioactive waste throughout St. Louis County. Two radioactive dumping areas, which St. Louisans are familiar with from news coverage, are West Lake landfill and Coldwater Creek.

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Seed St. Louis announced today it received a grant for $60,000 from Bayer Fund, a philanthropic arm of Bayer in the U.S. In line with Bayer’s vision of health for all, hunger for none, this grant will be used towards building a better future by providing community groups in St. Louis City and St. Louis County with the education, resources, and a network to grow their own food. Having access to healthy, safe, and affordable food is crucial; the lack of access to foods that support healthy diets has a direct link to negative health outcomes.

“Seed St. Louis greatly appreciates the support from Bayer Fund through this grant. For years, Bayer has brought volunteers to community gardens and provided financial support for new and expanding community gardens. We look forward to growing this partnership into the future,” said Matt Schindler, CEO.

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