Astronomical summer officially begins at 3:50 p.m. on Thursday, when the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Cancer, according to the National Weather Association. Thursday will see nearly 15 hours and 14 minutes of daylight.
Climate Change
Environmental and consumer advocates predict more legal protections from the heat in the near future, as climate change continues to wreak havoc.
While proponents of carbon capture technology say it is key to addressing climate change, it is often criticized for the risks it brings with it. A pipeline can burst, resulting in a flood of carbon dioxide for miles that can poison those caught in it.
Since April 1, 2023, the landscaping community in Evanston has been tasked with making a drastic change for climate and noise concerns: switching from gas- or propane-powered leaf blowers to electric. But not all landscapers are feeling pressure from the ban. The largest landscaper in Evanston also filed the most complaints against fellow landscapers.
Periodical cicadas use trees’ lifecycles to “count” years. But when trees get duped by climate change, so do the insects. Could it lead to new broods?
Carbon capture and sequestration technology is used to take carbon dioxide — a powerful greenhouse gas — and move it through pipelines before storing it deep underground. Several groups are pushing for a bill that would regulate the emerging technology at the same time some companies are pitching pipeline projects to state regulators.
A 1,000-acre, $10 million restoration project is now underway at Red Gate Woods, part of the vast Palos Preserve system in southwestern Cook County.
Flooding is the state’s most threatening natural disaster and touches every corner in Illinois, but communities of color and poorer areas often face the greatest risk — particularly in the city of Chicago and greater Cook County. Sewer and stormwater infrastructure can often no longer handle the onslaught of water that comes from these heavy rainfalls, experts told Illinois Answers.
Landfills tend to be a less well-known methane source, but they also have a huge impact, estimated at around 20% of global human-caused methane emissions.
Consumers likely to pay more for infrastructure improvements
The plans propose billions of dollars in spending and lay out the companies’ plans for supporting the state’s climate goals, including the transition away from greenhouse gas emitting energy generation over the next 20 years. The ICC is now reviewing the plans in a process likely to last the rest of the year.
Fewer Fish and More Algae? Scientists Seek to Understand Impacts of Historic Lack of Great Lakes Ice
As climate change accelerates, scientists are scrambling to understand how iceless winters could affect the world's largest freshwater system.
It’s official, Chicago: February 2024 was the warmest in 153 years of recording keeping.
Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, against BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Phillips 66, Shell and their largest trade association, the American Petroleum Institute.
Of the 1,189 creatures listed by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, more than one in five are threatened. They include species from all sorts of animal groups — whales, sharks, elephants, wild cats, raptors, birds and insects, among others.
Aster Hasle, a conservation scientist at the Field Museum, said, “Our role in the Midwest is to build that population back up. There is a lot that we can do here to provide habitat that’s going to help.”
Advocates say the proposed ordinance aims to combat climate change and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, while critics believe it would increase cost and risk reliability.
