Guest post: UChicago students attend global day of climate action
Today's post comes from Caitlin Grey, a first year in the College.
This past Sunday, October 10, (10-10-10) was a big day for environmentalism. 10-10-10 was an international day of climate action organized by 350.org, with over 7,000 events registered in 188 countries, and the University of Chicago was part of this global call to action against climate change.
Around twenty students of the University of Chicago, primarily members of the Green Campus Initiative (GCI) and Students for a Just and Stable Future (SJSF), met at the Regenstein Library on Sunday to travel to Pilsen, a historically immigrant neighborhood of Chicago, to rally against the Fisk and Crawford Power Plants.
Students bussed and biked around the various blockades and detours in place for the Chicago Marathon that day to join around one hundred other environmentally-concerned Chicago residents in front of the Alivio Medical Center, a block from the coal-fired power plant that causes health problems and pollution in the area.
At the rally we heard speakers from various organizations including Green Peace, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Sierra Club, and the Huffington Post, made calls to our local aldermen asking them to close down the polluting power plant, signed petitions, and added to a live art installation. We also took a picture to be featured on 350.org along with photos of thousands of other actions across the globe. As a first year I was thoroughly impressed by this event as my first environmental action in Chicago and found it very valuable to learn about one of the environmental problems in this city. It was inspiring to see people of all ages, races, and genders with a common interest in the health and future of communities that suffer from environmental degradation.
GCI and SJSF will continue to focus on the problem of coal in Chicago this year. Along with a few other RSOs, we'll be hosting a panel on coal on Tuesday, October 26, at 7 pm, in Harper 131. Please join us!
This past Sunday, October 10, (10-10-10) was a big day for environmentalism. 10-10-10 was an international day of climate action organized by 350.org, with over 7,000 events registered in 188 countries, and the University of Chicago was part of this global call to action against climate change.
Around twenty students of the University of Chicago, primarily members of the Green Campus Initiative (GCI) and Students for a Just and Stable Future (SJSF), met at the Regenstein Library on Sunday to travel to Pilsen, a historically immigrant neighborhood of Chicago, to rally against the Fisk and Crawford Power Plants.
Students bussed and biked around the various blockades and detours in place for the Chicago Marathon that day to join around one hundred other environmentally-concerned Chicago residents in front of the Alivio Medical Center, a block from the coal-fired power plant that causes health problems and pollution in the area.
At the rally we heard speakers from various organizations including Green Peace, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Sierra Club, and the Huffington Post, made calls to our local aldermen asking them to close down the polluting power plant, signed petitions, and added to a live art installation. We also took a picture to be featured on 350.org along with photos of thousands of other actions across the globe. As a first year I was thoroughly impressed by this event as my first environmental action in Chicago and found it very valuable to learn about one of the environmental problems in this city. It was inspiring to see people of all ages, races, and genders with a common interest in the health and future of communities that suffer from environmental degradation.
GCI and SJSF will continue to focus on the problem of coal in Chicago this year. Along with a few other RSOs, we'll be hosting a panel on coal on Tuesday, October 26, at 7 pm, in Harper 131. Please join us!
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