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Festival Sponsor Bill Reilly Makes the Case for Socially Responsible Investing

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Festival Sponsor Bill Reilly Makes the Case for Socially Responsible Investing

Bill Reilly recalls being invited to participate in a panel on socially responsible investing in Oak Park a few years ago. That’s when he first learned about One Earth Film Festival.

A senior financial advisor at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Reilly since has become a festival supporter. In 2017, his team of Merrill Lynch financial advisors, Oak Brook-based The Reilly Group, were Festival sponsors. And they plan on being sponsors again for the 2019 Festival, he says. This year, for Giving Tuesday, Reilly was a matching donor.

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An Rx for Climate Change Anxiety

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An Rx for Climate Change Anxiety

Each day’s news seems to pitch us deeper into the pits of despair: climate change action feels stalled, or worse, rolled back.  

According to the latest report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (a body of the world’s most respected scientists from 195 countries), climate change is here, and it’s accelerating faster than many models predicted. What’s more, climate change will usher in catastrophic food shortages and natural disasters by 2040 unless we change course.

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Solar Garage Featured in Illinois Solar Tour

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Solar Garage Featured in Illinois Solar Tour

Ana Garcia Doyle and Jim Doyle’s garage was falling apart, the slab was cracked, and they had received citations. They knew they wanted to add solar panels to a new garage they planned on building behind their Oak Park home. In order for Ana and Jim to fit enough solar panels to provide 100 percent of their home’s electricity and for the garage to be at an optimal pitch to capture the sun’s rays, the structure would have to be much taller than a typical garage. Therefore, Ana and Jim decided to build a large, two-story garage with a greenhouse attached and a top floor that could be used as an office or a room for community meetings.

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Invest 1 Hour to Save Money & Energy All Year Long

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Invest 1 Hour to Save Money & Energy All Year Long

What if someone told you they would give you over $100 worth of LED light bulbs, install them without charge, each bulb would last 22 years, and this would save you over $100 annually on your electric bill, as well as 900 kilowatt hours of electricity each year?

You would say, “I’ll take it.” Right?

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Park District Will Get $100,000 IF 1,000 Residents Take Sustainability Pledge

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Park District Will Get $100,000 IF 1,000 Residents Take Sustainability Pledge

Green Mountain Energy (GME) Sun Club is partnering with the Park District of Oak Park to provide $100,000 for solar panels, rain harvesting, tea composting and bees at the Oak Park Conservatory.

To secure these funds, the Park District needs your help. Click on the link below to identify actions you and your family will take to help make our community more sustainable and contribute to the overall health of Mother Earth.

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Chasing Windmills in Garfield Park

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Chasing Windmills in Garfield Park

In 2010, Annette Britton was walking through Green Fest Chicago, hoping to meet the writer John Perkins. His book “The World is as You Dream It” had inspired her, and she wanted a signed copy.

But something else caught her eye. It was a model of a wind turbine, about her height, displayed by the company Earth Wind and Solar.

“I thought, ‘That’s it. I’m supposed to have that,’” she said.

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Green Built Home Tour 2018

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Green Built Home Tour 2018

Two Oak Park buildings will be featured among 16 Illinois residences in the Green Built Home Tour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 28 and 29: the District House condominiums at 702 Lake St. and the Modular Prefab Modern Farmhouse at 634 N. Taylor St.

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Resilient Communities Forum Offers Climate Action Options

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Resilient Communities Forum Offers Climate Action Options

The Resilient Communities Forum on Jan. 31 at the Nineteenth Century Club drew 175 residents from Oak Park and River Forest. They heard from municipal and environmental leaders on ways nations and communities are addressing the challenges of climate change.

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Community Solar Rises and Shines

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Community Solar Rises and Shines

Solar energy deployment is getting super charged on Chicago’s near west side, thanks to a community-based program called PlanItGreen: Solar in Your Community. The program is developing a pipeline of community solar projects to meet the renewable energy goal in Oak Park and River Forest’s PlanItGreen sustainability plan: achieve 25% renewable energy procurement by 2020.