Chicago declares climate emergency
City Council unanimously approves resolution urging immediate action
A beach in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, where rocks have been dumped to prevent additional Lake Michigan erosion. (Twitter/Rogers Park Man)
By Ted Cox
Chicago has formally declared a climate emergency.
The City Council unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday declaring “a state of climate emergency that threatens the health and well-being of Chicago, its inhabitants, and its environment.”
Sponsored by North Side Alderman Matt Martin, the resolution cites recent global climate calamities including “intensifying wildfires, floods, rising seas, diseases, droughts, and extreme weather.” It adds that “the United States of America has disproportionately contributed to the climate and ecological emergencies and thus bears an extraordinary responsibility to rapidly solve these crises,” and that “Chicago is obligated to lead by example.”
Otherwise, the resolution was largely symbolic and called on Congress and President Trump to follow suit in declaring a climate emergency — not likely ahead of the November election, as Trump regularly denies climate science and the Senate is controlled by Republicans who back him.
The University of Illinois declared a climate emergency late last year.
The resolution did, however, endorse the “rapid, just, managed divestment and phase-out of fossil fuel” and “ending greenhouse-gas emissions as quickly as possible to establish a zero-emissions economy.”
At Wednesday’s council meeting, Martin introduced additional legislation calling for hearings on municipal recycling and composting.
And the committee debate last week found aldermen throwing their support behind the Clean Energy Jobs Act in the General Assembly, sponsored by Rep. Ann Williams of Chicago.