If you are looking for some eco-travel options or just a great weekend away, Chicago is a great eco-destination with a number of Chicago green attractions that have free admission. Chicago has been a national leader in its commitment to green architecture, buildings, attractions and amenities offered in a large city. 
More than 20 years ago, Mayor Richard M. Daley had a vision of a green Chicago, from trees and roofs to green buildings and alleys, and while on a visit to Germany in the late 1990s, he saw a green roof on Hamburg’s City Hall and sought to replicate the idea in Chicago. He wanted the city to be a model for America around the environment. Chicago has both green roofs and green technology centers, so any visitor to the Windy City can get the full Green Chicago experience with a little effort.
Attractions: Chicago has long been a national leader in green architecture, green technology and green roofs. The majority of Chicago’s green roofs are located atop private buildings, like the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue, or the Essex Inn hotel, and are therefore off limits to the general public, but visitors are encouraged to tour the Chicago Center for Green Technology, Pepsico Rooftop Garden and Millenium Park – all Chicago buildings that allow guests to visit the rooftop gardens, and admission is free! 
The Chicago Center for Green Technology offers free guided tours and free self-guided tours — more information is available here.
Chicago Center for Green Technology
445 N Sacramento Blvd.
Garfield Park – Monday – Saturday, 10:30 am – 1:30 pm; guided tours for groups of 10 or more. Click here for information.
Pepsico Rooftop Garden
555 W. Monroe St., 2nd floor
West Loop – Monday – Friday, 8 am - 6 pm; entrance and elevator is immediately east of Monroe St. and Jefferson St.
Millennium Park
201 E. Randolph St.
Daily guided tours at 11:30 am and 1 pm in summer months. Self-guided mp3 enhanced audio tour available here.
Soldier Field
1410 S. Museum Campus Dr.
Visitors may stroll the beautifully landscaped grounds around Soldier Field, which is green roof built over an underground parking garage.
City Hall and Other Rooftop Gardens
In 2001, a 20,300 square-foot green roof was installed atop Chicago’s City Hall as part of Mayor Daley’s Urban Heat Island Initiative. The Urban Heat Island Effect describes the higher overall temperatures caused by heat trapped and given off by pavement and buildings in dense urban environments. 
As part of an EPA study and initiative to combat the urban heat island effect and to improve urban air quality, Mayor Richard M. Daley and the City of Chicago began construction of a 38,800 square foot (total roof area) semi-extensive greenroof in April 2000. It was completed at the end of 2001 at a cost $2.5 million, funded by a settlement with ComEd. Encompassing one square block and twelve stories high, this retrofit application serves as a demonstration project and test greenroof. The project was completed in the summer of 2001 and will monitored for plant survival as well as other environmental features. Chicago City Hall’s greenroof saves $5,000 a year on utility bills, according to Michael Berkshire.
“This is unique to Chicago,” said Richard Price of the Virginia-based William McDonough & Partners, the architectural firm that is designing the garden. “No one else has looked at rooftop gardens to mitigate urban heat island effect, which is a process whereby highly urbanized areas with hard surfaces tend to be degrees hotter than green areas,” (ENN.com, May 2000). The 20,300 square foot City Hall rooftop garden has over 20,000 herbaceous plants installed as plugs of more than 150 varieties including 100 woody shrubs, 40 vines and 2 trees – a Cockspur Hawthorn and Prairie Crabapple. Although rainwater will be collected and saved from the 7,700 square foot penthouse, a supplemental irrigation system will aid in establishing the plants as well as provide supplemental water during extreme periods of drought (Landscape Architecture Magazine, September, 2000; John Beaudry, June, 2000).To date, Chicago has over 400 green roof projects in various stages of development, with 7 million square feet of green roofs constructed or underway (more than all other U.S. cities combined). You may also view a PDF booklet prepared by the City of Chicago entitled “Chicago’s Green Rooftops: A Guide to Rooftop Gardening” here.
Millennium Park and Soldier Field
Some of Chicago’s largest green roofs are outdoor green spaces built over underground structures. One example is Millennium Park, an award-winning outdoor center for art, music, architecture and landscape design located in the heart of downtown Chicago. This 24.5-acre public park features the work of world-renowned architects, planners, artists and designers, and is built entirely over two underground parking garages and active commuter rail lines, making it the one of the world’s largest parks built over a structure. Similarly, the park atop the north underground parking garage at Soldier Field, and a small part of the stadium itself, are considered a green roof. Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears football team, was the recipient of a Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Award of Excellence in 2004.
Rooftop Beehives
The green roofs on Chicago’s municipal buildings, like the Chicago Cultural Center and City Hall, contribute more than just energy cost reduction and improved air quality – they are also home to Chicago’s very own beehives! These bees keep themselves busy throughout the spring, summer and fall pollinating flowers, fruit trees and vegetable gardens all over the city. The City’s “rooftop” honey is bottled and sold at Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand and the Shop at the Cultural Center. A local restaurant, Uncommon Ground, also produces honey on their own rooftop farm that supplies the kitchen with organic produce.
Green Museums
Chicago is also home to a network of Green Certified Museums as instituted by the 2005 Green Museums Initiative. Millions of visitors a year frequent Chicago’s many museums and their extensive collections that range from prehistoric artifacts to the most avant-garde art. Positioned at the forefront of culture and education in Chicago, these museums have taken the lead in adopting environmentally-friendly practices as role models for how local institutions can reduce their environmental impact. The Green Museums Initiative was instituted in 2005 as a network to encourage museums to make their buildings, operations and exhibits more environmentally friendly, and to work toward presenting green-themed exhibits, fostering environmental outreach and education, and adopting green business practices. Many participating museums have partnered with other local green-conscious industries to further their educational outreach programs. The Field Museum of Natural History and restaurant Nacional 27, for example, have worked together to develop a vehicle that runs on used restaurant cooking oil as it travels around the city educating Chicago schoolchildren about biodiesel and alternative fuel. Similarly, the Right Bite program at the Shedd Aquarium teaches local culinary students and consumers about choosing and using sustainable seafood. Please see the sidebar at right for green-themed exhibits and tours currently being offered by local museums and agencies.
Bike Paths
With 315 miles of established bikeways, Chicago visitors may want to consider taking advantage of the Chicago B-Cycle Bike Share program, an affordable and convenient way to get around the city. Check out a bike at one of the six B-cycle locations and return it to any open station, simple as that.
5 Ways to be Green while Visiting Chicago
- Turn off the lights every time you leave your hotel room.
- Make use of public transportation whenever possible.
- Participate in your hotel’s linen reuse program by requesting that your sheets and towels not be changed and laundered daily.
- Use a refillable water bottle instead of buying bottled water.
- Say no to plastic bags. Use your own eco-friendly reusable bag.
5 Green Activities to do while Visiting Chicago
- Walk, Bike, Explore: Explore Chicago on foot, or by renting a bike.
- Take advantage of walking tours or self-guided audio tours at many attractions.
- Visit one of Chicago’s many green attractions.
- Experience world-class architecture by taking a ride around the Loop on the El.
- Stay in a green hotel, or eat at an organic restaurant.
