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Hey Chicago...Lead the Nation and Light the Way!
E-COnnections April 2010 - Volume 4, Issue 3
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Can you give 20 minutes of your time to show the kind of public support needed for this ordinance to pass and protect the air we breathe?
Click here to let us know you are coming! Click here to download a fact sheet.
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Greetings!
Next Tuesday,
Chicago residents will be given a unique opportunity to call on Mayor
Daley and the City Council to lead the way to a clean energy economy and
make our city a safer place in which to live, work and raise our
families! We invite you to join Eco-Justice Collaborative and over 30
environmental, religious and business organizations at a press
conference unveiling the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance.
Hey Chicago!
We are calling on you to...
Lead the nation. Light the way!
What: Press Conference
Announcing the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance
Where: City Hall, 2nd Floor
121 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago
When: Tuesday, April 13, 10:00 am
The following day, Alderman Joe Moore (49th Ward) will introduce the ordinance to the City Council. This ordinance simply requires two old, coal plants in Chicago's Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods to reduce their emissions of particulates and carbon dioxide.
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Did You Know....
Fisk and Crawford are Chicago's largest sources of particulate air pollution: In the last three years alone, these plants combined have spewed over 45,000 tons of pollution into the air we breathe, compromising the health of all Chicagoans.
Particulate matter from the Fisk and Crawford coal-fired power plants impairs visibility and contributes to lung cancer, heart attacks, premature deaths, acute and chronic bronchitis, emergency room visits, asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Those who live closest to these plants are most affected, resulting in missed school days and work absenteeism.
- State and federal laws have so far failed to curb the negative effects of these plants.
Emissions are making us sick: - Chicago has one of the highest asthma rates in the country. Our asthma hospitalization rate is nearly double the national average.
- Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that air pollution from Fisk and Crawford causes more than 40 deaths, 550 emergency room visits, and 2,800 asthma attacks annually.
- Fisk and Crawford also are two of Chicago's largest contributors to climate change. In 2007, together they emitted nearly 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. This is equivalent to the emissions from 872,042 cars.
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Now is the Time!
It's time for Chicago to begin the transition to a clean energy future. The Clean Power Ordinance is consistent with Chicago's commitment to lower its greenhouse gas emissions and create thousands of new jobs. Adopting this Ordinance will make a strong statement that the health, safety and economic well-being of Chicago's residents is a high priority.
Together, we can make a difference! For more information or to join the campaign as a coalition partner, please see http://cleanpowerchicago.org/.
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Join a Delegation ....
Longwall Mining
Our longwall mining delegation to Montgomery and Macoupin Counties takes place this weekend. Longwall
mining is Illinois' version of mountaintop removal mining. Massive
longwall mining operations destroy the richest farmland in the world.
Nine of us will be learning about longwall mining and have a chance to visit what may become the largest coal mine in the nation. Click here for an itinerary and here if you would like to be part of a future delegation.
Mountaintop Removal Mining
It's not too late to sign up for our delegation to Coal River Valley!! Use our contact form to tell us you are interested and we'll be in touch.
May 14, 15 and 16 (Friday through Sunday)
Mountaintop Removal Mining
Coal River Valley, West Virginia
Coal River Valley is the place where national concerns over climate change and coal extraction through mountaintop removal mining converge through local activism. Click here for details.
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EJC Happenings
Visit our events calendar for April "happenings". Be sure to join us for:
April 17 and 22 Coal-Free Future Roadshows, performed at Loyola University (Lakeshore Campus) and Columbia College respectively. Join EJC, Topless America, Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace to interactively learn about Chicago's clean power campaign, longwall mining, mountaintop removal mining and more. Have fun while taking action!
April 19, After the Parking Meter Privatization...Is Your Water Next? Join EJC for a Community Forum on
Chicago's Drinking Water-Preventing Another Taxpayer Ripoff
April 30, Mountain Top Removal film by Haw River and discussion with Pam and Lan Richart, Eco-Justice Collaborative on the real costs of coal and alternatives for a coal-free future. Sponsored by the Environmental Footprint Committee of the Ethical Humanist Society of Greater Chicago.
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Eco-Justice
Collaborative links our lifestyles to our unconstrained use of
resources, pollution, global climate change and global poverty and
resource wars. This information is not intended to make us all feel
guilty, but rather to raise consciousness and provide incentives to find
ways to live that are more sustainable, giving back life to our
precious earth and all who inhabit it.
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