The diets of white Americans contribute to climate change more than the eating habits of African and Latino Americans, according to a new report by a group of Chicago researchers.

Regulators plan to clean up the soil of several residential yards with high levels of brain-damaging manganese, but they have yet to finalize a plan for addressing homes with elevated levels of lead in the soil.

A first-of-its-kind report shows how climate change is threatening the Great Lakes, and how their ongoing transformation figures to impact the entire region.

Proposed legislation would require the federal government to examine potential health risks from exposure to petroleum coke, a solid byproduct of the oil refining process that had for years been stored in uncontained piles on the Southeast Side. 

Children who are regularly exposed to coal tar-based pavement sealants are 38 times more likely to develop cancer, according to the environmental group the Sierra Club. 

The Clean Energy Jobs Act aims to move Illinois to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050 while modernizing the state’s transportation sector and creating thousands of new jobs.

Erin Brockovich’s efforts to expose a utility company's contamination of California groundwater were made famous in a 2000 film bearing her name. She joins us to discuss Chicago’s environmental issues.

The Litter Free Chicago River project will soon include a stretch of the river from North Avenue to Foster Avenue, where the North Branch connects with the North Shore Channel.

Watco Transloading says it will no longer handle materials with high concentrations of manganese, a heavy metal used in steelmaking that can cause brain damage at high exposure levels. 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces a plan for transitioning Chicago buildings to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. But community advocates say the plan ignores existing environmental threats in some parts of the city.

The U.S. solar energy industry lost nearly 8,000 jobs last year, but Illinois was one of just eight states that saw a significant increase in solar jobs.

The Chicago area’s wastewater treatment agency says it is ahead of schedule in its efforts to combat climate change. 

State Rep. Will Davis plans to file legislation this week that he says would expand the state’s share of renewable energy to 40 percent of total energy sources by 2030.

We discuss the latest science headlines with Rabiah Mayas, associate director of the Science in Society program at Northwestern University.

Chicago facilities that process potentially harmful industrial materials must now take further steps to ensure they aren’t polluting surrounding neighborhoods.

The move by Illinois’ new governor marks a sharp departure from his predecessor, former Gov. Bruce Rauner, who made little to no mention of the state’s role in curbing carbon emissions that most scientists agree contribute to global warming.