No, it’s not your imagination. The Chicago area is being lashed by heavier rains more often than in the past. On average, today’s rain storms are 37% more powerful than they were in 1958.
Many homes in the Chicago area take on water in the basement. Unless there is sewer backup, much of the problem is seepage from over-saturated soil near the foundation or rainwater that finds other ways into a home.
For the past several years, One Earth Film Festival has displayed the Atmospheric CO2 Level on our website home page. In Coronavirus terms, this number should be as familiar to us as the number of COVID deaths in our state. The gold standard for global CO2 measurements is the Keeling Curve, named for the man who developed it.
Jonathan Moeller returns to teach the Young Filmmakers Workshops in River Forest for grades 6 to 8 on Sunday, Dec. 1, and for grades 3 to 5 on Sunday, Dec. 8. Both workshops will take place from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the River Forest Depot, 401 Thatcher Ave. Register here: https://www.oneearthfilmfest.org/workshops
Q: Why do you think it's important for kids to learn how to make films?
A: Film and video is a medium that will not disappear anytime soon. Video, especially through the web and social media, has become a cornerstone for how we communicate as a society.
The United Nations Association-Greater Chicago Chapter (UNA-Chicago) honored One Earth Film Fest, among others, on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at International House on the University of Chicago Campus.
In response, Film Festival Director Ana Garcia-Doyle wrote: "The Festival is working at the nexus of ecology and equity, and has been intentional about addressing these and myriad other topics that intersect with the environment. With special missions for engaging youth and new, diverse, and hard-to-reach audiences -- the Festival's Young Filmmakers Contest is open once again to young filmmakers across the country, and its venues will once again include screenings and events from Hyde Park to Oak Park, from Uptown to Englewood, and from Cook County to Kane County."
In her compelling address to the General Assembly, the 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg upbraided world leaders and updated the numbers for them:
". . . . People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"
Extinction Rebellion invites people who are passionate about protecting the planet to take part in regenerative activities such as yoga, music, drumming, singing, meditation, storytelling, theater and more from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, at Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington St., Chicago. Be a part of the global climate emergency movement. Additional actions are planned.
According to Extinction Rebellion representatives, there is a good chance that Greta Thunberg will attend this event in Chicago. All are welcome. More details here.
Students as young as preschoolers left class to make their voices heard at the Chicago Youth Climate Strike on Friday, Sept. 20. Yes, preschoolers. Some in the crowd expressed surprise when three Chicago preschool students stood up to speak at the Federal Plaza rally that day, which occurred after thousands marched there from Grant Park.
The struggle to address the climate crisis has unfolded in a wide variety of venues over the past three decades: international conferences, street demonstrations and school strikes, policy advocacy and lobbying events, legislative negotiations, court proceedings and—most recently—a transatlantic sailboat crossing by a Swedish teenager.
In the realm of court proceedings, the most compelling legal challenge to unfettered climate change has come from a group of 21 American youth who have sued their federal government for having failed to act to limit climate change—while profiting by selling the rights for the extraction of coal, oil and natural gas.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby, the volunteer climate policy advocacy organization, held its 10th annual International Conference and Lobby Day this past June in Washington, DC.
The conference began on the afternoon of Saturday, June 8, and lasted through Monday evening. It included advanced seminars on diversity, climate policy and climate communications. Over two days, more than 40 workshops and panel discussions explored structured lobby training for new climate advocates, skill-building and political strategy, and up-to-the-minute lobby training to prepare all the volunteers for the Tuesday Lobby Day.
Out of Oak Park, Forest Park, Maywood and Berwyn, one community earned the title of “greenest suburb” when comparing per capita carbon dioxide emissions, but the winner may surprise you.
Author, researcher and former Oak Park resident Susan Subak will reveal the answer on Wednesday, July 10, when discussing her 2018 book, “The Five-Ton Life: Carbon, America, and the Culture That May Save Us.” The presentation will include Susan’s research on the low carbon culture of west suburban Chicago compared to other environmental leaders on the East Coast, a slideshow and a book signing. The event will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Oak Park Public Library Main Branch, 834 Lake St., in the Veterans Room on the second floor.
