1. More frequent, extreme summer heat – Extreme heat during the summer with the potential for increased illness and death, electricity shortages and blackouts.

2. Less precipitation when it’s needed and more when it’s not – This means increased heavy rainfall events and wetter winter and spring seasons which will cause more flooding and property damage. It also means, hot, dry summers and a potential decrease in Lake Michigan levels by as much as 1.5 feet.

3. A dramatic shift in the character of Chicago’s environment – Chicago’s climate is likely to feel like Alabama or Texas by the end of the century, if we are not able to meaningfully reduce our emissions. This affects our natural ecosystems, agriculture, energy supply and demand patterns, and much more.

To respond to our changing climate and to help mitigate impacts associated with a warming world, the City of Chicago is developing a Climate Action Strategy Plan. This is an ambitious, multifaceted effort to address the challenge of global climate change through an integrated local strategy of carbon emission reduction. How the City chooses to respond to the effects of global climate change will reveal much about its priorities. Will Chicago:

▪ Improve and expand its aged public transit system to provide a meaningful alternative to driving a car?

▪ Close two existing coal-fired plants located in Chicago’s Pilsen and Little Village Neighborhoods that, in addition to emitting carbon dioxide, cause premature deaths from respiratory diseases?

▪ Take care of its elderly and minority populations who are most vulnerable to rising utility costs and heat?

▪ Commit to making renewable energy sources available to its residents?

▪ Build local economies and food systems that minimize travel?

▪ Create a new, green collar jobs corps that brings EVERYONE into the new green economy?

Karen Hobbs, 1st Deputy Commissioner and Brendan Daley, Deputy Commissioner, Chicago Department of Environment, will present the City’s draft plan, answer questions and listen to public comments. How this plan will work to meaningfully reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and whether or not it will take care of those most affected is, in part, up to us.

We encourage you to participate in this important event sponsored by Climate Justice Chicago. Your comments CAN help set the direction of future actions taken by the City.

An adequate response by Chicago demands more than technological and market-driven solutions accessible to those who can afford to pay for them. Mitigating the full effects of global warming will require a broader agenda taking into account the health, safety and welfare of all people, especially those who are most affected and least able to bear its burdens. As a city, we need to look at how global warming will affect our most vulnerable populations and make sure that we take care of them. All ideas and solutions proposed to slow and halt global warming should be evaluated within a context of a just response. We are talking about saving lives – not about inconveniences!

To download a flier, view the City’s PowerPoint presentation and review their questionnaire visit: www.ecojusticecollaborative.org. For more information call Pam or Lan Richart, 773.989.3346.

Did You Know . . .

▪ The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at a record low and if the increased rate of melting continues, the summertime Arctic could be totally free of ice by 2030.

▪ In Chicago’s 1995 heat wave, 739 Chicagoans above the norm died during the week of July 14 to 20.

▪ Hundreds of Chicago’s isolated seniors died alone, behind locked doors and sealed windows, out of contact with friends, family, and neighbors, unassisted by public agencies or community groups.

▪ The black/white mortality ratio was 1.5 to 1.

▪ Air pollution from Fisk and Crawford, two coal-fired plants in Chicago’s predominantly Hispanic Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods is linked to over 40 deaths, 550 emergency room visits, and 2,800 asthma attacks annually, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health.

▪ Fisk and Crawford are responsible for approximately 15% of the City’s TOTAL greenhouse gas emissions1,2

▪ The current federal framework for reducing power-plant pollution nationwide, the “cap and trade” program, allows heavy pollution to be concentrated in areas with lower-income individuals and minorities.

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1 Illinois EPA. 2002. Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants. Report to the House and Senate Environment and Energy Committees.

2 Center for Neighborhood Technology. June 2007. Chicago Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Research Report to City of Chicago Climate Change Task Force.