A majority Latino neighborhood on Chicago’s Southeast Side has won a major environmental justice victory. On Friday, the city denied a permit for a metal shredder that community members fought with a month-long hunger strike last year. “This is a testament to the love and pride we have for the Southeast Side,” activist Gina Ramirez […]
It would appear that the Trump Organization’s business practices aren’t any more environmentally friendly than the policies of the current president, who ran it from 1971 to 2017. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Tuesday that she had filed suit against the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago for taking and re-releasing millions of […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would start testing the soil in residential yards in Chicago’s Southeast Side for the dangerous neurotoxin manganese, The Chicago Tribune reported Thursday. The EPA will also explain the soil sampling at a community discussion from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The yards to be tested are located […]
The Chicago White Sox are the first team in Major League Baseball to ban plastic straws. Drinks served during games at Guaranteed Rate Field no longer come with the single-use plastic, which pollutes our oceans, lakes and rivers and can cause harm to aquatic creatures. Biodegradable straws are provided upon request. The program kicked off […]
By Douglas Johnson Residents of major U.S. cities are becoming used to seeing docks for bike sharing programs nestled into parking spaces or next to subway station entrances. Adorned with stylish branding and corporate sponsors’ logos, these facilities are transforming transportation in cities across the country. The modern concept of bike sharing—offering bikes for short-term […]
By James O’Hare Some people feel the need to let everyone know they have money. They talk about it incessantly or constantly remind people of their wealth by putting their name on buildings in gaudy letters. Others prefer to put those dollars to good use. About 70 years ago, Russ Gremel made a wise investment. […]
By Henry Henderson In this moment where the Trump administration seems adamant about abdicating their responsibilities to protect the nation and the world against the ravages of climate change, state and local action has become all the more essential. And in this moment, I am proud to be a Chicagoan. The city has been a […]
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has his own ideas about the Trump administration taking down important climate data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website. This weekend, Emanuel posted the scrubbed data on the City of Chicago’s official website to preserve the “decades of research [the agency] has done to advance the fight against climate change.” […]
By Alexander Laska The city of Chicago announced this week that renewable energy will power 100 percent of all of its government buildings by 2025, making the Windy City the country’s largest to make that pledge. That’s no small feat: With more than 900 city-owned buildings—including public schools and colleges, park district fieldhouses and buildings […]