abandoned coal mines threaten community safety and the environment, but despite bipartisan support, remediation efforts are often stalled by litigation and red tape, senators said at a hearing on nov. 9. 

states must undergo prolonged vetting processes before they can turn previously mined lands into wildlife habitats, commercial areas or other reclamation projects, chairman sen. joe manchin, d-w. va. said at the energy and natural resources committee hearing in washington, d.c.

“these coal communities sacrifice everything to power our nation to greatness and should be able to implement projects that will have positive impacts on the community in a timely manner,” manchin said. “they sure as hell don’t deserve to be strung along by the federal government, tied up in bureaucratic red tape, and forced to wait to put transformative projects into action. it’s absolutely unacceptable.”

acid water saturated with metals and long standing fires beneath the earth threaten entire communities located near abandoned coal mine sites. communities that complain the most about damage from former coal mines are prioritized for restoration projects, according to rob rice, director of the division of land restoration at the west virginia department of environmental protection.

states get new instructions every year on how congressional funding should be used in a restoration project.

“and each year, that guidance document becomes thicker, so there’s more hoops to jump through,” rice said. “the vetting period has increased over subsequent years.”

glenda owens, deputy director of the office of surface mining reclamation and enforcement at the u.s. department of the interior, blamed the lengthy processes on court disputes over approval of coal mine restoration projects.

“we want to make sure that the decisions we make during these environmental reviews will sustain judicial scrutiny,” owens said. “if we don’t adhere to the controlling court decisions, we’re going to risk getting those decisions vacated or having to start all over, which is just going to require additional time.” 

this discussion followed a hearing last week that addressed a similarly slow approval process for carbon capture and storage wells, despite both issues receiving bipartisan support and congressional funding. 

“it’s just very frustrating that things aren’t going out the door. i want to make sure that the government is not impeding this and putting more oversight to the point where their intention is not to let it happen,” manchin said. “that’s what’s scaring me, because everything we’re doing, we’re trying to show that we can produce the fossil [fuel] that’s needed for energy security, better and cleaner with more innovation [and] technology than any other place in the world, but we can’t if the government’s fighting you.”

washington – senators criticized the environmental protection agency for its slow going approval process for wells that store carbon dioxide captured from power plants, industrial facilities and other sources.

the energy and natural resources committee hearing on nov. 2 highlighted how epa regulations are slowing down approvals for carbon storage wells. by capturing and injecting carbon dioxide, the country can reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from using fossil fuels. senators said the backlog could prevent the biden administration from reaching its goal of reducing emissions by about 50% by 2030. 

“i’m very disturbed by the chairman’s chart of 169 applications, no approvals. if the goal is protecting the environment, we’ve gotta get on with it,” sen. angus s. king, jr., i-maine said. “we can’t be delaying and slow-walking the process in order to achieve our climate goals.”

epa principal deputy assistant administrator for the office of water bruno pigott said an injection well application permit takes approximately two years to approve.

“permit applications are technical documents, they contain information about the geology to ensure the area is free of faults and fractures, [information about] the injected co2 plume to know where that co2 goes, and specifics about well construction to make sure it’s operating in a way that works,” pigott said.

states can apply and be approved by the epa for “primacy,” which gives them authority to permit and oversee construction and enforcement of these wells, known as class vi. only two states have gained primacy – north dakota first in 2018, and wyoming following in 2020. sen. bill cassidy, r-la. expressed frustration that louisiana has been waiting for two years.

“louisiana is seeking to get primacy for class vi wells. this is a year overdue. maybe two years overdue, which is just amazing,” cassidy said. “it was intimated we were about to receive [primacy]. we still haven’t received [primacy]. what’s the hold-up?”

the epa received $50 million from congress to help states with the primacy process, according to pigott. chairman sen. joe manchin, d-w.va., said that despite bipartisan support, government funding for carbon capture and storage efforts has “yet to go out the door.”

“i’m disappointed that the talk from the administration seems to be completely out of step with their inaction,” manchin said. “however, i’m optimistic that as more states, including west virginia, louisiana and texas, are granted primacy from the epa to approve class vi wells themselves, the backlog will decline and we will really scale-up carbon capture and sequestration.”

washington – climate experts warned lawmakers about the effect of climate change on extreme weather during the first-ever congressional hearing on extreme event attribution, a field of climate science, on nov. 1. they offered solutions to help congress navigate more frequent and intensified weather events, like storms, droughts and heatwaves. 

“we’re the first generation to suffer from climate change, but the last generation which can do anything about it, so that’s our challenge,” said sen. edward markey (d-mass.). 

instances of extreme weather events are on the rise. this summer, phoenix set a record of 31 consecutive days of temperatures at or above 110 degrees. on the other side of the country, florida experienced severe rainfall, leading to flooding in the streets. 

sen. tom carper (d-del.) said extreme event attribution, which detects the extent to which man-made global warming influences extreme weather, can be an “important tool,” as congress takes steps to manage and prepare for severe weather events.  

“these questions matter because the human harms and costs of climate change are massive, and sadly, they are growing,” carper said. “we are going to focus on how it’s fueling extreme weather and what we can do about it.”

sen. shelley moore capito (r-w.va.) stressed the importance of finding bipartisan solutions over debating the causes of extreme weather, highlighting that extreme event attribution can’t tell whether global warming “caused” a specific event. 

michael wehner, a climate scientist at the applied mathematics and computational research division at the lawrence berkeley national laboratory, also emphasized the economic consequences of extreme weather. he estimated that global warming was responsible for about $50 billion in damages from flooding during hurricane harvey, a category 4 storm that made landfall in texas and louisiana in 2017.

extreme weather disproportionately impacts younger, older and low-income populations, wehner added. poor people are among the most vulnerable, as they are the least able to recover from these kinds of events, he said. 

“these damages were not equally distributed within socioeconomic groups,” wehner said. “the most vulnerable portion of the local population was disproportionately affected, and climate change exacerbated this injustice.”

paul dabbar, a former department of energy official, advocated for “technology-neutral innovation” and open strategies, which would further the competition of discovery. 

“the right strategy for the world today is to continue discovery, innovation and deployment of new options,” dabbar said. “while we certainly need to understand the drivers of climate change, we should focus on solutions also.” 

carper asked how attribution science could inform the designing and engineering of infrastructure, such that roads, bridges and pipes could better withstand severe weather. in response, wehner described his experience working with the san francisco city government on their waste management system, which had raised concerns about extreme precipitation. he quoted one city official, who said: “there ain’t no pipe good enough.”

“that has sent the engineers and designers back to the drawing room, saying ‘how will we accommodate these storms in a world that might be considerably warmer,’” he testified. 

wehner told the medill news service that cities need to adapt to increased extreme weather conditions by being more proactive, like adding green roofs or rethinking wastewater management systems. 

“in order to avoid more dangerous climate change, we have to have the entire planet go to zero emissions to stabilize the climate — that’s not going to happen in my lifetime,” wehner said. “so then, we have to adapt.”

sen. sheldon whitehouse (d-r.i.) asked how insurance companies were dealing with extreme flooding in florida, to which jennifer jurado, the chief resilience officer for broward county, florida, replied that some local insurance companies in florida are going bankrupt, while others are pulling out of the state altogether to avoid future risk. 

lawmakers stressed the importance of working together to find solutions to mitigate the effects of extreme weather events in the future. 

“while climate change is driving extreme weather, we are not helpless. this situation is not hopeless,” carper said. “working together, we can prevent the worst impacts of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

washington – “i’ll show you what i dug out of one [camel] skeleton,” marine scientist marcus eriksen said as he unearthed a roughly 40-pound mass that he estimated held 2,000 plastic bags. 

eriksen’s display came as he and other experts testified on potential solutions to single-use plastics pollution, including new materials and improved recycling, during a subcommittee hearing for the senate environment and public works on october 26.

eriksen, co-founder of the 5 gyres institute, said he has also pulled plastic bags out of hundreds of bird skeletons and has had colleagues find them in whale guts too. he emphasized the global abundance of plastic waste that has risen exponentially in the last 15 years and resulted in serious health impacts for numerous species.

“these small, even nanoscale, particles are found in your bloodstream,” eriksen said in an interview with the medill news service before the hearing. “they get into the placenta of mothers. it gets into the organs of humans. it even crossed the brain barrier in studies of rats and mice.”

at the hearing, there was an intermittent back and forth between senators on whether plastic bags can be recycled, illustrating the larger confusion on the country’s present recycling system and its limited efficacy. 

sen. markwayne mullin (r-okla.) asked about the accumulation of plastic bags in the 40-pound mass, saying that it was his understanding that plastic bags can be recycled. sen. sheldon whitehouse (d-r.i.) said plastic bags cannot be recycled and that the recycling rate in general “stinks,” calling it “very, very much a failed system.” 

in response, mullin maintained that there are ways to recycle plastic bags, to which whitehouse said he had meant you can’t dispose of plastic bags in a mixed-use recycling bin. 

erin simon, vice president and head of plastic waste and business at the world wildlife fund, said plastic bags are technically recyclable but not often recycled. some recycling facilities do not accept plastic bags, wraps, and film in recycling bins because they clog machinery and cause safety hazards.

during the discussion, mullin cautioned against an impulsive reaction and called for “innovation, not misguided regulation.” he highlighted the work of witness humberto kravetz, the founder and ceo of gsf upcycling, a spain-based company that recycles plastic with less energy and environmental cost by using nanomaterials.

eriksen called for biodegradable plastics as a solution. he noted his organization’s 18-month field study that measured how 22 bioplastic items broke down in different land and marine environments with most samples degrading significantly within the timespan. 

“a lot of these biomaterials, they are functional replacements, especially as a thin film,” eriksen said in an interview before the hearing. 

eriksen also discussed the potential of regenerative materials such as seaweed and mushrooms in creating alternatives to plastics, which are made from fossil fuels.

simon noted the need for caution when considering the tradeoffs of switching to alternative materials, emphasizing that steps can be taken when sourcing alternatives to ensure there are more environmental and social benefits compared to conventional plastic.  

while various approaches were debated at the hearing, witnesses were unanimous on the need for urgent action to solve the single-use plastic pollution crisis.  

whitehouse argued that an economic component needs to be added to the technical conversation to provide incentive by reaching a point where recycled materials are cheaper than virgin plastic. 

“if that economic signal shifts, then suddenly recycling works,” whitehouse said, “because if there’s one rule of capitalism, it’s the profit’s imperative.”

according to simon, it’s the responsibility of governments and industries to make systems work for consumers while also addressing current trends. 

“all of the science tells us that, whether you’re talking about this from a pollution issue or from human health, first we need to produce less,” simon said in an interview before the hearing. “we can’t manage what we have, let alone what we’re projected to grow to.”

washington– developing new systems to detect disasters before they strike can reduce the damage communities suffer as climate change increases the intensity and frequencies of landslides, floods and other disasters in the himalayan region, experts said on october 19 in a panel called, “cascading disasters and vulnerable infrastructure in the himalaya: placing the sikkim and melamchi floods in context.”

the urgency to implement better warning systems was made clear earlier this month when a glacial lake in the himalayas flooded, destroying a dam and starting an avalanche. the disaster resulted in scores of deaths and more than 100 people missing, according to the stimson center, the think tank that organized thursday’s panel. 

“we are everywhere being faced with this increasing brunt of climate change that leaves us puzzled and a bit worried what is gonna happen next,” said jakob steiner, ph.d., a geoscientist from the himalayan university 2022年世界杯亚洲预选赛结果 .

as global temperatures rise and other effects from climate change impact local communities, environmental experts have been looking for different early warning systems to prevent “cascading disasters,” climate events that follow from a primary trigger. 

brian eyler, the director of the stimson center’s energy, water, and sustainability program, said that experts can better understand and prevent future climate disasters by studying different types of imagery, including satellite imagery, from past events. this technology “provides an opportunity to look backwards” and “conduct an autopsy” on the disaster, eyler said.

sanchita neupane, a disaster risk specialist at the human rights organization people in need, said that there are many benefits to working with local communities and governments in the himalayan region. while her group has been primarily focused on the human impact following landslides, what they learned can carry over to a wide range of disasters. her group prepares people in risk areas for disasters by communicating with the communities and discussing indicators of possible climate events.

“the more and more we promoted local observation and monitoring this year, we found that, first, it allows people to be more aware of their surroundings so they automatically take more responsive decisions to the landslide cues and signs that happen to the surroundings,” neupane said. “next, it allows humanitarian agencies to link early warnings made through community observation to early action.” 

experts said that accessible communication channels that are in the local language, specifically two-way communication channels between policymakers and community members, are also beneficial.

as people become more aware of climate hazards, that increases pressure on policymakers which leads to better protection for the community, amelie huber, ph.d., an expert from the euronatur foundation, an organization that focuses on conservation, said.

“activists, civil society, intellectuals, general citizens started to talk about these things whereas before they hadn’t,” she said. “so it just shows risks much more, and that makes people talk about it. and i think that’s what’s needed to increase pressure on governments and developers to engage with the risks.”

americans use about 500 million plastic straws every day. coffee shops and restaurants continue to serve their drinks with plastic straws, contributing to an astronomical level of plastic waste. an estimated 437 million to 8.3 billion plastic straws litter the world’s coastlines alone, according to the not-for-profit our last straw.

plastic never fully decomposes, rather over time it breaks down into a microplastic pollutant that travels through food chains and is often ingested by marine species eaten by humans. f

yet, plastic straws still make up 99% of the global straw market. 

in recent years, many states – ca, me, nj, or, ri, vt and wa – have put forth bans on plastic straws in order to push for a transition to more sustainable alternatives such as paper and bamboo straws. 

envisioning the next generation of the straw

zhara hussain, a northwestern university sophomore majoring in economics, from lahore, pakistan, is the co-founder of envo, a startup that produces and sells refined straws made of naturally hollow wheat stems. 

while hussain is studying in america, her co-founder and best friend, shanze malik has kept up production and shipping across pakistan. this past year in pakistan, they sold around 70-100 boxes of straws a month. 

hussain was recently accepted to the garage’s jumpstart pre-accelerator program that provides students with resources and coaching over a 10 week period. the garage is a program at northwestern university that seeks to provide community and mentorship to student entrepreneurs. this summer, hussain is working out of the garage from 9am-5pm on weekdays to develop a new branch of envo based in the u.s. 

“shipping costs overseas are a lot. this summer in the u.s. i hope to connect with local illinois farmers that could be our suppliers and find a team here to start producing the straws,” said hussain. 

she plans to use the stipend provided by jumpstart for production, packaging, and delivery costs within the u.s. and the mentorship to guide her through the patent application process. 

hussain has been in contact with pâtisserie coralie in evanston, illinois and says they have expressed interest in using envo straws. “my vision for envo is to see major companies like starbucks and mcdonalds replacing their plastic straws with wheat straws,” said hussain, “but obviously, that’s a long way down the road. we’re gonna start off with local cafes and restaurants.”

hussain and malik began this entrepreneurial endeavor during the pandemic in pakistan – where plastics account for 65% of the waste that is found on the country’s beaches. together they brainstormed ideas to tackle the pressing issue of plastic pollution.

“the solution: focus on reducing the production and availability of single-use plastic products along with their usage by providing an equally convenient alternative. that’s exactly what i wanted to do,” said hussain. 

finding materials that are truly biodegradable

inspired by vietnamese wild grass straws, hussain developed the idea to use wheat, the most abundantly available raw material in pakistan and many parts of the world including the u.s. they reached out to pakistani farmers to source wheat stems that function as naturally formed straws because of their hollow inside and cylinder shape. 

“that summer we would watch shows and cut straws,” said hussain, “we didn’t have to do any factory manufacturing. all we had to do was take our scissors and cut them.” 

following the initial preparation phase comes a cleaning and refining process where the wheat straws are boiled in water, which also helps to stiffen the stems. from start to finish hussain said that all processes involved in the creation of the straws are chemical-free.

paper straws have become the most common alternative to plastic straws. however, hussain believes that envo is a more sustainable and effective product. in terms of utility, she stressed that wheat straws are able to hold up better so they don’t become flimsy in liquid. additionally, they are plant fiber, which can go in compost bins. 

“in regards to waste they are better off too. where you can use one wheat straw for a couple of drinks, you will have to use five or six paper straws. wheat is also a natural product while paper straws require a lot of factory production and machinery,” said hussain.  

miaohan tang, a northwestern university postdoctoral researcher, studies the environmental impact of polymer degradation using life cycle assessment. 

she conducts her research through a database created by national labs, including argonne national laboratory, to conduct a macro-scale analysis of plastic’s environmental impact. in particular she focuses on polypropylene, used most commonly in plastics. 

tang explained that among numerous types of plastic, biodegradable plastic has gained recent popularity. it is composed of polylactic acid, which is derived from materials such as cornstarch and sugarcane. 

“however, biodegradable plastics are not necessarily biodegradable,” said tang. “you must also consider the specific conditions or environments that must be maintained. for example some polylactic acid will only biodegrade under industrial composting considerations. if polylactic acid enters into the marine environment, its degradation rate is similar to the traditional, high-density fossil based plastic.”  

tang recommends that large companies who use biodegradable plastic consider the environmental impact of plastic’s life cycle as well its production stage. she notes that most biodegradable plastics end up in landfills and action should be taken by these businesses to increase education on plastic damage or further promote plastic recycling.  

when the environmental impact of alternatives to polypropylene plastic are examined from multiple viewpoints, it reveals distinct avenues for pollution that must be considered. biodegradable plastic straws have good environmental performers in accumulation, however, “when we consider energy and water consumption, sometimes the traditional paper straw has better performers from a lifecycle perspective,” said tang. 

fighting pollution at both the consumer and corporate levels

northwestern’s associated student government sustainability committee focuses on initiatives that highlight waste management. committee chair, sophomore majoring in journalism sam bull, said “it’s hard for consumers to know what’s recyclable. there are seven plastic types, labeled by a tiny number on the bottom of every package. there are some plastics that are impossible to recycle, but most people wouldn’t know which ones. a lot of what we’re trying to do is just educate.” 

bull hopes to see northwestern follow through on environmental initiatives including the implementation of a sustainability distribution requirement and the removal of plastic water bottles that are provided with meals at norris student center. 

similar to tang’s emphasis on holding large companies liable, bull expressed his anti-establishment sentiment, “i don’t want to alleviate responsibility from people, however it’s significant that 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions.” 

the global engagement summit (ges) is a student-run-innovation conference that brings delegates from around the world to collaborate and share their projects at northwestern. member of ges, sophomore majoring in history chloe rappaport, took part in planning the conference this past year which brought startups to campus like farmlink – a company that fights food insecurity by repurposing surplus produce. 

“i think the most important type of entrepreneurial endeavors are those that bring about positive social or environmental impacts. there are so many companies whose sole goal is to just make money. the innovations that really matter are the ones that better the world,” said rappaport. 

as children ride their bikes home from school, play soccer in carter park and walk to nearby shops to enjoy their favorite treats, they breathe in air from one of the most polluted neighborhoods in chicago. 

the airborne pollutants from truck traffic and industry pervade homes, schools and streets, casting a shadow over the health and well-being of pilsen’s residents, local environmentalists point out. they back up their claims with city, state epa and their own measurements.

located in an industrial corridor, pilsen faces high levels of air, soil and water pollution all exacerbated by daily emissions from cars, buses and trucks that insidiously infiltrate the vulnerable lungs of residents, especially those of children, according to gloria barrera, member of the illinois association of school nurses. the neighborhood has a high level of childhood asthma.

in little village, the neighborhood west of pilsen, 1,661 heavy-duty trucks whirred through the intersection at 36th street and pulaski avenue in the span of 24 hours. neighbors for environmental justice (n4ej) collected the figures at this and other intersections in industrial corridors. 

n4ej, an organization dedicated to promoting community action on environmental justice and achieving environmental health, works alongside groups such as pilsen neighbors community council in the fight to protect the neighborhood from an expanding industrial corridor. the corridors are disproportionately located in communities of color.

a concern associated with the expansion of the industrial corridors focuses on health concerns. residents who live in these industrial corridors are exposed to high levels of air pollution known as particulate matter – chemicals and contaminants that can embed deeply in the lungs and cause serious health problems. 

a community responds

the pilsen neighbors community council organized a virtual panel discussion on may 24, to discuss the consequences of environmental pollution in the pilsen community on children’s health. 

chris martinez, ceo of the asthma and allergy foundation of america, explained that nine counties in illinois, including cook county where chicago is located, rank in the top 9% nationwide for diesel engine pollution. cook is even in the top 1%. last year, cook county reported 2,251 asthma attacks, 66 asthma emergency department visits and 4,167 respiratory illness cases, according to martinez. in comparison, iroquois county, at the bottom of the list for diesel engine pollution, reported seven asthma attacks, zero asthma emergency department visits and 12 respiratory illness cases, according to martinez. 

mappings from the chicago department of public health show pilsen to be among the most heavily polluted communities in chicago.

devin cooley, a volunteer from neighbors for an equitable transition to zero-emission, explained that approximately 800,000 people in illinois have asthma and roughly 300,000 are children. according to cooley, there were 72,810 emergency visits with the primary diagnosis of asthma last year. 

“i feel a deep sadness because of course we should have a right to breathing clean air. especially our children have a right to breathing clean air,” said karin stein, a panel leader from moms clean air force. 

pilsen’s pollution and the local health impacts

when considering air quality, the main criteria pollutants scientists look at are particulate matter ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and lead, according to northwestern university earth and planetary sciences ph.d. candidate, anastasia montgomery. 

“the problem is that particles from air pollution rest on top of your lungs and lead to health conditions like lung disease,” montgomery said. 

according to the u.s. environmental protection agency’s toxic release inventory, manganese and manganese compounds account for 31.6% of chemical releases in pilsen, namely from diesel vehicle emissions. manganese is an essential nutrient vital to staying healthy. however, in excess amounts, it can be neurotoxic (harmful to the brain). potential health effects include trembling, stiffness, slow motor movement and even severe depression and anxiety.

another chemical reported at nearly 16% of total releases is n-butyl alcohol. butyl alcohols are widely used industrial solvents. they are common in pesticide products and found in agricultural practices. n-butyl alcohol can cause redness and tearing of the eyes, scratchy throat, itching and redness of skin and headache. 

in the epa’s 2021 risk-screening environmental indicators (rsei) score, which weighs toxicity of elements, health impacts, nearby populations and quantity, among other factors, pilsen scored 3,960,775, a relative figure for comparison to other neighborhoods. neighborhoods on the north side of chicago scored severely less, one coming in at 459,160. 

air quality is “actually the leading cause of death globally,” according to montgomery. “approximately one hundred thousand people per year experience premature mortality because of exposure to air pollutants,” continued montgomery.  

children tend to be especially vulnerable to air pollution because their lungs are growing and tend to spend more time outdoors, according to the american lung association. 

this is one of the reasons why environmental activists such as alfredo romo, the executive director of n4ej, are upset that mat asphalt moved into mckinley park less than 1,000 feet from schools and parks. 

“the proximity of heavy industry next door to a park, it’s just ridiculous,” romo said. “next door to schools, it’s just very troubling,” continued romo.

mat asphalt’s response

mat asphalt, an asphalt mixing plant located in mckinley park near pilsen, has faced many pollution complaints in these neighborhoods. in a meeting with joe haughey, one of the owners of mat asphalt, he addressed some of the public’s concerns and changes mat asphalt is making in response to complaints and citations. 

haughey explained that asphalt mixing plants have a small radius in which they can work because the paving mixture cools down quickly. the mixture comes out of the tank at over 300°f, and to keep the temperature high, trucks ideally travel less than 30 minutes to their destination, one hour being the max. 

“i would love to move out to the middle of nowhere,” haughey said. “but that’s just not how it works.” 

haughey said he understands that the community was upset when mat asphalt moved in unannounced. however, he cites the importance of available infrastructure for construction in cities and for the safety of company drivers. 

haughey, emphasizing his commitment as an environmentalist, aims to minimize emissions and implement safe practices. last year, an environmental analysis conducted by a consultant for mat asphalt revealed that its air pollution levels remained well below state limits, as stated by haughey.  

to further reduce emissions, haughey said the company plans to reconstruct the current system for transferring hot asphalt into trucks. by this october, mat asphalt will have a garage built around the storage unit. that way, when dump trucks collect hot asphalt, any emissions from the process will be trapped in the enclosed space. the pollution will be condensed, and an environmental organization will collect and dispose of the remnants, he said.

the proximity problem persists

still, community members continue to be upset that the industrial corridor in pilsen and its surrounding neighborhoods is growing. 

mary gonzales, a long-time member of pilsen neighbors community council, lay leader at st paul’s catholic church, and avid environmental activist, cites the pollution in the area’s industrial corridor as being responsible for high rates of asthma and lung disease within the community. 

“i myself have lung disease, and i don’t smoke. but i have lung disease because i live in this neighborhood. my mother died of lung disease because she lived in this neighborhood,” said gonzales. “more children carry asthma pumps in this neighborhood than anywhere else in the city. maybe anywhere else in the country,” continued gonzales.

there are reasons to bring industry into the city, noted montgomery. 

“it’s important to have that kind of employment and making sure that there’s opportunities for people who may not have white collar jobs,” montgomery said. “with that being said, there are standards that we should uphold. we need to make sure that industrial facilities trap the pollution at the source and don’t make it the neighborhood’s problem,” continued montgomery. 

based on haughey’s comments, mat asphalt’s new directive will attempt to address what montgomery calls for. but pilsen residents continue to remain steadfast. n4ej, the pilsen neighbors community council and others are among a few organizations that hope to pave way for a clean future for all children in the city.

it’s board game night. you’re sitting around a table with some of your friends, ready to play the colorful board game laid out in front of you. you all pick your characters and deal out the power cards to help you enhance properties. you then draw your first event cards to start the action. 

but you’re not playing monopoly. your character? earthworm – you name him wormy. your power? tunneling – wormy’s specialty. the properties? porosity, acidity and diversity – wormy digs in on all that. your event card? climate change – one of wormy’s arch enemies.

you’re playing dirty matters, a free, printable board game created by scientists to teach others about soil health.

learning through playing

“the original idea came from christina and i during lunch breaks because we both played board games,” said emma “bea” burak, a postdoctoral researcher in sustainable fertilizer management who works  at cranfield university. christina van midden is a soil biologist at cranfield university. the scientists wanted to create a way to engage others in soil science and show why protecting soil is important. 

taking their idea, burak and van midden met with nicolas beriot, a soil physics and land management research associate at wageningen university; tanvi taparia, a soil biologist microbiologist at the university of copenhagen; and michael lӧbmann, the research coordinator at svensk kolinlagring, a swedish company that works with soil carbon storage. at an online international conference, the group learned about a grant offered by the british society of soil science for scientists to promote ways to help achieve the united nations’s sustainable development goals. two days later, they submitted their grant proposal, beriot said. the group received the 5,000-euro grant.

coming from a variety of backgrounds related to soil science, the group decided to create two board games. dirty matters, the first one, which was led by burak and van midden, focuses on the micro and macro organisms that contribute to soil sustainability and how they impact the soil’s biological, physical, and chemical properties. it is designed for two to six players ages 8 and older and takes about 40 minutes to an hour to play, according to the game’s website. 

“most people see soil and it’s just like, ‘oh, it’s just dirt gets under your nails, it makes clothes dirty, plants grow in it or whatever,’” burak said, “but it’s actually really, really complicated and (an) intricate system.”

to design the game, the group considered how different aspects of soil health interact with each other and read “more literature than what i wanted to read,” said van midden. 

“we were tying it in with these u.n. sustainable development goals,” van midden said. “it’s looking at how could we manage soil in order to meet these goals.” the group portrays these management practices, such as using cover crops and no-till farming, through soil power cards. these cards give players the chance to undo event cards that harm the soil, such as erosion and drought. players win the game by managing healthy soil as a team.

the group’s second game is spearheaded by beriot, taparia, and loebmann who wanted to bring to light the social, economic and political aspects of soil health and sustainable development. taparia said this second game, sos (save our soils), is not out yet, but will require players to work together to survive on a remote island in a futuristic world facing severe environmental breakdown. in this game, soil and survival go hand-in-hand with cooperative action.

connecting art and science

the board games engage the public in learning and using solutions to win a bigger challenge – climate change.

similarly, scientists are using art to engage people with environmental issues. sarah rosengard, ph.d., an assistant professor in the liberal arts department at the school of the art institute of chicago has been using art to promote science worldwide. 

for her phd in chemical oceanography, rosengard studied the amazon river. after earning her degree, she stayed in brazil and worked with a school in arapixuna, a town in the amazon river basin. there, she taught elementary and middle school children about the amazon river and held a workshop where the kids created art about what the river meant to them, drawing and painting landscapes of the river they see daily. in an interview with science world, rosengard said she was surprised that most of the students colored the river brown instead of blue; it showed how perspectives of water and ecosystems vary around the world, and that art can bring awareness to these multiple perspectives. rosengard put the children’s artworks up as an exhibit in arapixuna, and she also sent the exhibit to science world, a science museum in vancouver, canada, where rosengard lived at the time.

“the exhibit in canada was cool,” rosengard said. “it was a way to show (the children’s) window into the amazon to non-brazilians, the people that were from so far away… that really got me thinking about art, not only as a mode of communication, but as a tool for communities to share the knowledge that they certainly have about the environment.”

now, rosengard is teaching earth science courses to art-focused students at the school of the art institute of chicago. her courses focus on how students can use their art to help with the scientific process. she started teaching in 2021, when covid required professors to teach remotely, which forced her to be creative with her curriculum on water science. 

taking these ideas, rosengard helped curate a professional art exhibit at the american geophysical union conference in chicago last year. unlike the children’s art in brazil, rosengard said, this exhibit showed scientists how art can be impactful. it reminded scientists why they do science in the first place – to answer questions that will help address injustice, such as pollution and climate change-related issues. science is all about curiosity, rosengard said, and she said she thinks this exhibit taught scientists how art can show the universal importance of environmental topics and “curiosities of science.” 

“i realized that there was an opportunity for art students to use their creative sides of their brain to not only do the science but design the methodology that goes behind it,” rosengard said. she emphasized citizen science in the course, encouraging students to create pieces that could help study water, such as a goose-shaped sculpture that filters microplastics, a device made of everyday objects to measure turbidity, and an eel-shaped filter made of a nylon stocking. all of these were inspired by work from other scholars, rosengard said.

making science something for everyone

rosengard said she hopes projects like these will inspire more people to see science as something they have the power and ability to be involved in. “i guess i’m looking towards art as a way of expanding the capabilities of science,” rosengard said. “i’m looking towards art as a way to make science more accessible.”

the creators of dirty matters agree. anyone with internet access can download and print the free game. “this was one of the main things that we wanted to do for the very, very beginning,” burak said. “all five of us agreed that for any game we produce for educational purposes, we don’t want it to be behind a paywall.”

“everyday, everyone is making decisions on what they put in the groceries, or how they vote for parties, what kind of news they watch, what topic they discuss,” beriot said, “and we think that the environment outside, it’s underrepresented in all of this.”

through engaging, unique ways of teaching science, more people can learn and get involved, one win at a time.

after a u.s. consumer product safety commissioner proposed a ban on future gas stoves earlier this year, he sparked a national debate. but what’s behind this uproar? new studies have found that gas emissions from stoves may harm our health. however, years of advertising have led many to believe that cooking with gas is the best way to create delicious meals.

kaila nichols spoke to a chicago chef about his take on the issue, as well as daniel cohan, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at rice university, on how the gas stove became such a cultural staple and the reasons why controversy has erupted around the appliance’s environmental impacts .

businesses in illinois are increasingly looking to solar panels to cut down on operational costs. 

anthony turano, the owner of turano baking company, said the installation of solar panels on the company’s fleet maintenance facility in berwyn, illinois where they maintain delivery vehicles, was completed mid-december, 2021. 

“we’re always looking to continually improve,” turano said. “our organization looked at different ways that we can try different technologies. solar, wind have continually come up.” 

solid income tax incentives drove the decision rather than environmental concerns, turano said.

the current financial incentives to install solar panels in illinois are strong, prompting people and businesses to install solar panels without strong environmental motivations. 

homeowners and commercial businesses installing solar systems on their property are entitled to 30% of the entire project cost as a federal income tax credit under the solar investment tax credit, extended under the 2022 inflation reduction act. illinois has a further financial incentive through renewable energy credits, or srecs. under this program, the individual or company earns an srec for every megawatt-hour of solar energy produced. a megawatt-hour is equal to 1,000 kilowatts of electricity used continuously for one hour. energy companies then buy these srecs so they can claim renewable energy production and offer it to people looking for renewable energy alternatives. 

“there are a lot of financial incentives that help people go solar,” said jack johannesson, director of sales and business development at windfree solar, based in chicago. “everyone’s concerned about money.”

together, the solar investment tax credit and the srec can make up for about 60 to 70% of solar panel installation costs, with the rest being made up within the next two and a half to 10 years through money saved on electricity, johannesson said. 

with the standard life of a system being 25 years, johannesson said every system he’s designed would pay itself off well before its end. 

“i’m basically saying that it’s free to [install solar panels] if you do it the right way,” johannesson said. “it’s absolutely available to anyone who has a reasonable credit score who can get financing.”

turano said tax incentives were not the driving reason turano baking company wanted to go solar. their major incentive was accelerated depreciation, which is when a capital asset, in this case solar panels, reduces in value at a faster rate than usual depreciation. accelerated depreciation helps with tax deductions. 

“the technology has challenges,” turano said. “but it’s operational. it’s functional. it’s providing some payback, although it’s less than we had expected.”

turano said initially the expected period for the panels to pay for themselves was 10 years. now, it’s looking like it will be closer to 15 years. 

still, the company is planning to expand solar panels in 2023 to one of its office buildings. 

commercial and residential clients seem to have different motivations for installing solar panels. johannesson said usually his residential clients do it for environmental reasons, while his commercial clients often install solar after looking at the numbers. usually, the financial incentives for commercial businesses are stronger because they will save more on energy costs, johannesson said.

“i definitely have had commercial clients who don’t care about the environmental aspects, really at all,” johannesson said. “they’re just looking to make their building more efficient and more cost-effective.”

johannesson said he thinks illinois and the federal government are currently working well together to make solar accessible. however, he said other states should have srec programs. for example, indiana doesn’t have an srec program, meaning it will take longer for the solar panels to pay for themselves. 

good for the earth, good for the purse

a 2020 study, “the heterogeneous preferences for solar energy policies among us households,” shows the strength of financial incentives when installing solar. the study conducted by the university of florida and the industrial technology research institute surveyed united states homeowners. not all surveyed homeowners had solar panels or were interested in installing them. 

some 69% of study respondents said one of their top motivations for installing solar would be to reduce electric bills. the study concluded that policies with direct economic benefits would be more effective in incentivizing people to install solar panels. 

“i think the key message from our study is that those financial incentives are very important to motivate people to adopt solar energy in their household,” said zhifeng gao, coauthor of the study and a professor at the university of florida. 

environmental motives for solar panel installation were still strong, with 58% citing this reason as a top motivation. 

government programs that financially incentivize solar panel installation get their money from taxpayers. the study found that consumers in general are willing to pay a higher electricity bill to support solar energy policies that provide financial incentives for consumers to install solar. 

expanding access to solar panels

despite the current illinois financial incentives to install solar panels, it is still not accessible to everyone. 

elevate, a nonprofit organization based in chicago is seeking to connect low-income people and communities to clean and renewable energy. 

elevate’s policy analyst quinn biever said, although he can’t speak for everyone, financial reasons are a major driver for his customers wishing to install solar. he said recent inflation and the rising price of natural gas prompted people to find ways to cut costs. biever said environmental concerns are often justifiably outweighed by more immediate economic concerns. 

“having environmental concerns or being able to think 10, 20 years down the road is a privilege and a lot of people don’t realize that,” biever said. “when you are lower income or when you live in affordable housing, you don’t really have the privilege of thinking that far ahead. your needs are much more immediate.”

biever said the inflation reduction act created immediate tax credits and rebates, which will make it easier for low-income people to meet the high upfront costs of solar panel installation. 

financial incentives for solar that become too strong may have consequences, according to the harvard business review article “the dark side of solar power.”  the article states that it would make financial sense for consumers to replace solar panels before their 30-year life cycle. but, without a strong financial incentive to recycle, the solar panels will end up in the dump, creating mountains of waste.  

solar panels contain mostly silicon along with lead and cadmium, which are harmful to humans and the environment. some solar panels are considered hazardous waste, according to the epa. 

the article’s data was pulled from the lawrence berkeley national lab’s tracking the sun database, according to serasu duran, article co-author and assistant professor of operations and supply chain management at haskayne school of business. although the database pulls data from residential solar system installations, duran wrote in an email that she also spoke to commercial installers. 

“some [commercial installers] shared that they indeed had upgraded or had plans to upgrade solar farms they had installed in the last 10 years or so,” duran wrote. “with commercial installations or large-sized solar farms, the financial motive would be the norm.”

in 2019, 85 to 88% of solar panel installations were non-residential. duran concluded the majority of these installations were driven by financial motives. 

duran then pointed to the shortening warranty periods as an indicator that early solar panel replacements are happening. duran wrote that early installations had a 25-30 year warranty, while newer ones are offered with a 10-15 year warranty. 

as of now, there is no legislation in illinois that tackles solar panel waste, according to jake archbell, a member of elevate’s solar team. archbell predicts a solution will come from regulation and industry initiatives. 

despite the waste, solar panels in their lifetime generate about 100 times the amount of energy that went into the production of the panel, archbell said. 

“i’m environmentally motivated to make choices that i think are good for the planet for future generations,” archbell said. “but not everybody is in my underlying thought processes. if you can win someone over on the economic arguments of clean energy, you don’t have to win them over on the environmental attributes of the problem. money talks.”