Environment

In November 2021, I was fortunate to profile an ETHS senior, Maia Roothaan, in a RoundTable article about her Cookies for Compost effort. She wanted to remove barriers to composting, particularly…

The Building Electrification Working Group – formerly the Natural Gas Phase Out Working Group – will release a public survey this week to gauge Evanston residents’ awareness of and concerns…

Installing a geothermal heating and cooling system is an innovative solution some Evanstonians use to reduce their carbon footprints.

It seems like summer just started and, yet, the 2023/24 school year already is upon us. Thinking about the future our children are inheriting motivated me to learn more…

How best to get rid of no-longer-needed “stuff”? Brian Zimmerman, Evanston’s solid waste coordinator, is tackling that challenge.

Due to a dearth of major grocery stores, more than 94% of Evanston’s Fifth Ward residents have “limited access to healthy foods,”…

The Evanston City Council voted in May to ban single-use plastic bags at all businesses and charge a 10-cent tax on any…

City Council voted on July 17 to authorize the City Manager to execute an Expression of Interest with Shell Equilon Enterprises LLC…

The National Weather Service has issued an Air Quality Alert, based on an Air Pollution Action Day declared by the Illinois EPA, for…

Leaning toward a circular economy We are used to thinking about buying and using stuff as a straight line: Raw materials are manufactured…

The city hopes to improve 50 homes within the first two years of the Green Homes Pilot Program. Sustainability and resilience manager Cara…

Where can you find a wild and beautiful natural garden? Visit the Morton Civic Center Habitat Garden at Ridge Avenue and Leonard Place,…

Evanston resident Laurie Lawlor’s most recent non-fiction book, Restoring Prairie, Pond and Woods: How a Small Trail can make a Big Difference, was…

April 22 is Earth Day, and here in Evanston it’s an occasion for renewing our commitment to working for a healthier, more sustainable community. For those of us on the city’s Environment Board, that work goes on year-round. A volunteer group appointed by the mayor and confirmed by City Council, the board is charged with…

The word “sustain” is fascinating: In one definition, it means to prolong in the same manner, such as pressing the pedal on a piano to prolong the resonance of a note. Or, put another way, it means to keep to business as usual, maintain the status quo. In the case of climate change, however, it…

With more than a dozen people online, the Environment Board deliberated at its virtual meeting on Thursday, March 9, about how to reach more people and foster greater engagement. “When we talk about community engagement, what I hear often in Evanston is that people don’t feel like they’re heard,” said board member Kimberly Marion Suiseeya.…

From the City of Evanston On Friday, Jan. 27, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss joined Vice President Kamala Harris, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan and state and local leaders from across the country for the White House Summit on Accelerating Lead Pipe Replacement. At the summit, Harris announced a new “Get the Lead Out” partnership, a…

The city is considering a new tree preservation ordinance, which would mean property owners need a permit to cut down any tree six inches or larger in diameter. Cara Pratt, the city’s sustainability and resilience coordinator, told the Environment Board during its meeting this week the proposed ordinance was based on one in Wilmette. “Our…

Celebrate Earth Week with D65 Climate Action Teams and Citizens’ Greener Evanston on Friday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the Rotary auditorium,1560 Sherman Ave. The event will feature a screening of 10 second environmental films created by District 65 students. The 10 Second Film Festival is an event for the whole family. Come watch…

The League of Women Voters of Evanston will host a Zoom event at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6, to educate the community about the Evanston Environment Board. Wendy Pollock and Cherie LeBlanc Fischer, Co-chairs of the Evanston Environment Board, will talk about what interested them about serving on a city board or commission, how…

Evanston eighth grader Lion Birnecker developed an interest in filmmaking last year. Lion, who is homeschooled, took a couple of online filmmaking classes, including a video-editing class, and decided to submit a film to the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest, which invites students from third grade through college to create a short film on an…

This series was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. This is the third part of the RoundTable’s three-part series: Lead pipes in Evanston: How local government inaction reinforces inequity. (Part one in the series is posted here and part two is here.) A dispenser holding a five-gallon water jug sits in Evanston resident Oliver Ruff’s…

Environmental Justice Evanston is commemorating the recent one-year anniversary of Evanston’s Environmental Justice Resolution by outlining our accomplishments since the resolution was unanimously adopted by the City Council in September 2020. We are also previewing the work that remains to be done to ensure all residents of Evanston will benefit from the achievement of Citywide…