In recent months, the tension between industry and community has escalated as protests erupted against metal scrapper General Iron’s proposed relocation to the Southeast Side. And while activists say the area has been overburdened with industry, the need for jobs with low barriers to entry is still high.
Environment
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the revised ordinance was “better” than her administration originally proposed and will “put our city on the right track to full ensuring that our residents have clean air, no matter what ZIP code in which they reside.”
The soaring price of Bitcoin has many environmentalists concerned. University of Chicago paleontologist Neil Shubin has more on that and other science stories making headlines around the world.
The Chicago Department of Public Health has requested additional information from General Iron’s parent company regarding the “cumulative impact” of its proposed Southside Recycling facility.
The revised measure is designed to tighten regulations on recycling centers and industrial operations in an effort to reduce air pollution on the South and West sides. A final vote is scheduled for the full City Council meeting on March 24.
Food waste has become a growing concern because of the environmental toll of production, including the land required to raise crops and animals and the greenhouse gas emissions produced along the way.
Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions fell in 2020 by the largest annual percentage since World War II due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the drop-off appears to be short-lived, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.
Reports that millions of 17-year cicadas will emerge from underground in the Chicago area this spring aren’t true. They’re coming in 2024.
Humans are making Earth a broken and increasingly unlivable planet through climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. So the world must make dramatic changes to society, economics and daily life, a new United Nations report says.
Dirty snow absorbs more of the sun’s energy and melts faster. Here’s why that’s a problem.
Less than 9% of the trash produced every year by Chicago residents is kept out of landfills — a rate that has not budged for four years.
Across the United States and Canada, pollen season is starting 20 days earlier and pollen loads are 21% higher since 1990 and a huge chunk of that is because of global warming, a new study found in Monday’s journal the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.
Congress authorized a plan from the Army Corps of Engineers to restore the Chicago River’s South Fork, a 1.25-mile stretch more familiarly known as Bubbly Creek. Now actual dollars need to follow.
When it comes to keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes, Illinois is the last line of defense, but the state’s not alone in the battle. Michigan will transfer up to $8 million to Illinois via an intergovernmental agreement as part of an effort to keep Asian carp at bay.
Kierra Wooden founded Southside Cleanup in the aftermath of 2020’s protests, and now the young activist finds herself at the head of a movement that’s about so much more than picking up trash.
From the pandemic to protests to the power of nature, 2020 has been a year for the history books. We take a look back at the year that was — warts and all.