Illinois Climate Action
Workshop 

Become empowered to advocate locally

Are you concerned about the climate, but you don't feel informed enough to get involved? Are you curious what if anything is being done locally? This session will  bring you up to speed on an environmental initiative that is being implemented in our area.  

Guided by the 2021 Climate Action Plan released July  13, 2021 for the Chicago Region, this workshop will engage participants in exploring both what is being done and how they can get involved with local efforts underway to mitigate the effects of climate change and work towards building resilience within the Chicago area. 

Over 136 communities in the Chicago area have committed to making a difference by adopting the Greenest Region Compact by formal resolution. Following this adoption process, an individual municipality then takes the next step to develop a custom plan to address goals to work towards developing climate mitigation and adaptation strategies that fit with their community needs.  For example, Wilmette created the VILLAGE OF WILMETTE SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES STRATEGIC PLAN 2021. Aurora has a sustainability plan as does Highland Park and Geneva.  Within Chicago, there are a few initiatives under way.

The consensus goals of the Compact address ten areas, including

• climate, 
• economic development, 
• energy, 
• land, 
• leadership, 
• mobility, 
• municipal operations, 
• sustainable communities, 
• water, and 
• waste & recycling.  

We will review each of these ten areas and then discuss sample plans. The goal is to uncover and/or help create local opportunities to "Make Some Noise" in support of  community efforts to build climate resilience.

This workshop is designed for adults. Interested students in middle grades and up are also invited to participate. Families are encouraged to participate. One registration per zoom login please.