Taking Action Against Coal at City Hall

(written by UCAN member, Angela Li)

Last Wednesday, Februrary 15th, several UCANers joined an effort at Chicago's City Hall to pressure Mayor Emanuel to take action with the Clean Power Ordinance to shut down Fisk and Crawford coal plants. Also present were activists from the Pilsen Alliance, Chicago Respiratory Health Association, and the Southside Steelworkers Union. During a press conference attended by local TV stations, activists (including Grace Pai, UCAN's very own Assistant Director!) spoke about the harmful impacts of coal plants on human health and Chicago communities. Grace emphasized the importance of our generation taking action to improve conditions for the future.

After the press conference, activists continued their efforts by sitting in on the City Hall meeting, where Alderman Daniel Solis (25th Ward) made an announcement about the Clean Power Ordinance. During the meeting, 42 activists wearing red T-shirts stood up in a gesture to represent the 42 deaths caused yearly by air pollution from Fisk and Crawford, according to the Clean Air Task Force.

Our efforts really paid off: this week, the Chicago Tribune reported that Mayor Emanuel is pressuring Midwest Generation (owner of Fisk and Crawford) to find a solution to clean up the coal plants by next week. If Midwest Generation fails to do so, Emanuel's allies in the City Council will push an ordinance that could close down the coal plants within two years.

See also: UCAN's City Hall Action featured in the Chicago Maroon!!

Update: Thanks to our efforts, Fisk and Crawford coal plants will be shut down! Several UCAN members attended a party in Pilsen last Saturday, where Mayor Emanuel made an appearance. Story in The Maroon: http://chicagomaroon.com/2012/03/02/activists-declare-victory-over-closure-of-coal-plants/

UCAN Attends Retreat with CYCC (Chicago Youth Climate Coalition), Day 1

(written by UCAN member, Caitlin)

On February 3rd and 4th, young people ranging from middle school students to those in their mid-twenties gathered together at The First Lutheran Church of the Trinity in Bridgeport, an area neighboring Pilsen and Little Village, the two districts that the Fisk and Crawford Coal Plants are located in. Students from schools such as University of Chicago, DePaul, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago middle and high schools, and organizations such as the Chicago Clean Power Coalition and Sierra Club had an opportunity to meet each other, learn more about the environmental issues affecting Chicago, and share their stories of activism and environmentalism. The highlight of the night for me was the 1-on-1 training by Christine Nannicelli and Alicia Klepfer, in which we learned how to establish a 'common ground' with another person within the movement just simply by meeting them for coffee. These personal relationships hold the movement together! The most touching moment was when Alicia, now director of the UChicago Climate Activist Network, talked about the impact that UChicago's trip to Powershift had on her involvement in environmental activism. She said she found out about the event from table tents, small posters we placed on dining hall tables promoting the events. I remember making those table tents for Powershift, not knowing how widespread the effect was on students I did not even personally know! This goes to show how meaningful environmental work can be not just for the cause itself but for the positive impacts it can have on the lives of those involved. I was also especially inspired by the middle and high school students at the retreat who cared so much about issues in their city. The event was great for meeting people from other schools, connecting with those who care about similar issues, and learning how to organize around these issues. I cannot wait for future Chicago Youth Climate Coalition events!

UCAN Attends Retreat with CYCC (Chicago Youth Climate Coalition), Day 2

(written by UCAN member Alana)

Imagine waking up to the smell of eggs and oatmeal, the jostling of friendly feet and the occasional shriek as someone accidently steps in dog poop and you will know exactly how it felt to begin the second day of the CYCC retreat. After eating this delicious meal and scrubbing of the floors, we began a busy day. We learned how to work with the media and on social media sites. We learned what CYCC had worked on so far and where we are going. Thanks to the Sierra Club, we learned how to run a good meeting and how to tell a personal narrative. (A special shout out to Xoana Ahmeti who shared her narrative with such force and emotion she had us all in tears.) We learned how to make booklets out of large sheets of paper, a task much harder than it sounds. We learned how to participate in Non-Violent Direct Action a.k.a. how to not get ourselves arrested or at least how to get ourselves put in jail in style. We finished the day with some more wonderful food and pledges of how to get involved in the future. To end it all, the remaining 6 UCAN members piled into Ross’s car for a quick, crowded and hilarious ride home, feeling completely exhausted and incredibly motivated!

UCAN Attends "Occupy the Dream" on MLK Weekend

(written by UCAN member, Ross)

To celebrate MLK Day, UCAN, teamed up with Southside Solidarity Network and Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation for a day of action at the People's Church on Lawrence and Sheridan. A number of UCAN members attended, and were rewarded with an extremely positive, unique experience. Grassroots organizations from across Chicagoland--including ones from northwestern Indian, northern Chicago, the southside and a number of universities in the area--gathered to discuss how we can change the city and the country for the better, accompanied by politicians and a number of other community and religious leaders. The event, titled "Occupy the Dream" to both honor MLK and cite the goals of the Occupy movement, featured some wonderfully uplifting music, impassioned speeches and, most importantly a number of state and city representatives agreeing to support our platform in their respective legislative chambers. Some of the major issues raised included bank accountability and the need for better infrastructure in and around Chicago, with relevant follow-up actions planned for the rest of the month. UCAN left the action energized, motivated and ready to create some change!

Organizer Training Leaves Us Excited!

(written by UCAN member, Ross)

On Sunday, UCAN hosted an organizer training where we were able to unite a number of different activists from all across Chicago. We discussed our values and motivations, pinpointed what we wanted to achieve with environmental activism, practiced one-on-ones and thought up ways to more accurately plan out how to reach a goal. The training was jam-packed with quite a bit of information, but that just left many of us hungry for more strategies and tools to use in our activism. It certainly left me excited and motivated, especially after getting the opportunity to meet and connect with so many other Chicagoans interested in a green future. This training is a great start to what I'm sure will be an exciting couple weeks, with upcoming media and lobbying training sessions before our winter, Chicago-wide retreat and push for the Clean Power Ordinance hearing.

Ending Phony Education

(written by UCAN member, Edward)

In a close victory, UCAN successfully collected over 200 post cards protesting the Illinois Coal Curriculum. The competition sponsored by the IL Student Environmental Coalition to drive in as many post cards as possible before Christmas featured several universities and colleges from around the state. The post cards will all be compiled and sent to Governor Pat Quinn in response to a free curriculum provided by the Dept of Commerce and Economic Opportunity singing the praises of coal and coal products without mentioning any of the negative aspects.

Even with the competition over, the collection of post cards continues with a count from all participating schools well over 500. The Coal Curriculum campaign will be an on-going one as the next stage will be introducing legislation that will end the curriculum for good with the post card petitions being the first step. For now UChicago and UCAN can celebrate its swift call to action with anhe first step. For now UChicago can celebrate its swift call to action with an I-go membership.

UCAN road trip anyone?

From Disappointment to Optimism

(written by UCAN member, Edward)

Coal gasification has been getting its fair share of attention lately by various corporate powers as a clean energy source and eyed by government officials as something that creates jobs.

But the burning of fossil fuels can never be truly clean and far more jobs can be created with actual clean energy projects. The Tenaska state bill concerns the potential construction of a coal gasification plant in Taylorville, IL.

UCAN sprung into action to try and help stop it's passage. But before we could successfully schedule a meeting with our local senator Kwame Raoul, the bill came up for a vote and Sen. Raoul voted yes.

A few days after the fateful vote, Caroline Wooten (in picture, left) and I went to our scheduled meeting with the senator. Considering that the vote was already cast, the lobby meeting became a fact finding mission to understand why Senator Raoul voted the way he did.

As it turned out, Senator Raoul was a very warm and friendly character. Upon hearing our concerns he assured us that the environment was a concern to him and that in this case his "yes" vote was a much due to a lack of pressure and information as anything else.

By the end of the meeting it was clear that the senator was sympathetic to our cause and is a potential friend especially given his open invitation to meet with him again on future issues.

The meeting was highly successful despite the less than ideal timing. So while Tenaska still lives and looms its ugly head somewhere in the IL house, UCAN has found a new friend moving ahead when going in, it was least expected.

Maroon Coverage of Roll Beyond Coal!

The Maroon did some great coverage of September's Roll Beyond Coal event! Here's the link:

http://chicagomaroon.com/2011/09/30/students-join-chicagoans-to-protest-against-coal/

Marissa

Photo Petition Delivery by Caroline Wooten

Students from UChicago Climate Action Network and their campus ally Student Solidarity Network joined over 50 citizens in front of City Hall on Friday morning to demand that Mayor Emmanuel close Chicago's two dirty coal plants by the end of the year. The group delivered a board of over 800 photo petitions to the Mayor's office. The petitions were collected all around Chicago, and feature individuals holding signs saying "I have the right to breath clean air." Many of the petitions were collected at UChicago by SSN and UCAN members. Check out the Huffington Post article about the delivery: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/chicago-cant-wait-mayor-e_b_1125832.html

ISEC Conference by Alicia Klepfer

In early November several UCAN members trekked up to De Paul University

for a two day ISEC Conference. The Illinois Student Environmental Coalition set up trainings for students from multiple regions to attend, primarily set up into two sections. Saturday focused on community organizing tips and training, while on Sunday we heard from several speakers about different issues as well as different modes of change in the environmental movement.

For the sake of continuing the activist tradition, I shall say that my feeling word was motivated. While I had radically different expectations of what ISEC is, as well as the conference would entail, I came away feeling like I am one step closer to being an effective organizer. One of the most powerful things was addressing self- interest, which you seek to discover through one-on-ones. Just spending a couple minutes thinking about your parents, upbringing, roots, and passions gives you a strange desire to do whatever is necessary to save the planet that makes it all possible.

Looking back, I think simply being conscious of different issues and motivators makes all the difference in the world. When you look at a plastic water bottle, what do you see? Do you see something you drink out of and then chuck? Or do you see an entire veiled world of injustice and greed? Trainings such as this are a good wake-up call that certainly help maintain the consciousness that is needed to make activism not just “that club I did in college” but a life-style and something to apply valuable leadership skills to.

Unfortunately I can’t come up with any good puns. See Ross’s post below for an overload of punny hilarity.

Mud Stenciling Against Leucadia by Ross Carstens

UCAN recently took to the streets--quite literally--to continue our effort to muck up the plans of the Leucadia National Corporation, which is seeking to build a dirty, unhealthy coal gasification plant on the southeast side of Chicago. We employed a technique--mud stenciling--that was new to many of us to help convey our message that, though the mud we splayed all over Hyde Park's sidewalks might have been a bit too gloopy for the landscaping tastes of some, it's nothing compared to the dirt, smog, soot and potentially fatal health problems that a new gasification plant would bring to the southeast side of Chicago. We conveyed our green (though in this case probably more brownish-black) message through short slogans basted onto the concrete and flagstone in wet dirt, reminding passerby that "Green Jobs mean Clean Air for the Southside" and encouraging them to get involved with our campaign against Leucadia. The outcome of our project was generally agreed to be a new, interesting way to rally support for environmental causes and, despite the sloppiness cause by lugging bucketfuls of soggy earth around the Quads, ended up looking quite pretty. Hopefully with continuous exposure of their plans to dirty Chicago, UCAN will help make Leucadia's name "mud" in the city of Chicago!

Thanks to the people who made the stencils, the team that put the dirt on the ground and, of course, the backyard which gave us all the mud we could have hoped for.

Action Against the Keystone XL Pipeline by Caroline Wooten

Over 50 Chicagoans gathered outside the Obama Campaign’s Chicago Headquarters last Friday demanding that the President prevent the construction of the Tar Sands Keystone XL Pipeline. The demonstrators, a colorful mix of students, families, and individuals from Occupy Chicago, came bearing a petition against the Tar Sands signed by over 700 Illinois residents.

Ana Ahmeti, a sophomore at DePaul University, spoke before the crowd, explaining the purpose of the visit, “In 2008, Obama told Americans that under his leadership, our generation would be the one to free America from the tyranny of oil. We are here today to remind the President of his promise.”

The demonstration, like many of the countless Tar Sands actions that have happened throughout the country since August, emphasized the role that youth played in Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. One banner, held by students from Loyola University, read “Can you give our generation the audacity to hope? Stop the Keystone XL.”

Although representatives from the Obama campaign refused to meet with the entire group, they did speak with three representatives who presented the petitions on behalf of the demonstrators.

Marissa Lieberman Klein, a student at the University of Chicago, and one of the individuals who delivered the petition, said that in speaking with the campaign representatives, the group emphasized the work that citizens are doing in Chicago to move the city beyond fossil fuels. She explained, “We told them that here in Chicago, a lot of us have been working to clean up or retire the two coal plants in the city. We’re taking efforts to make our city—also Obama’s city—cleaner and healthier. We want Obama to do the same thing for our nation.”

Announcements

Hey all!

With the new school year upon us, I just wanted to post to let everyone know that UCAN is back and better than ever. Please join us for Roll Beyond Coal, part of 350.org's International Day of Climate Action, this Saturday, 9/24. Sandy Carter, UCAN's director, will be speaking, and it's going to be an awesome event, starting with a bike rally from Downtown to Pilsen, and then a rally and a march around the Fisk coal plant after.

We'll be leaving from UChicago in 2 groups: one at 9:30am going downtown to the bike rally, and and another at 11am going straight to Pilsen (on the CTA) for the rally and march. Both groups will leave from the Reynolds Club.

In addition, our first meeting of the year will be next Wednesday, September 28 at 6pm in Harper 140. All are welcome!

Keep visiting the blog for posts about what sorts of awesome things UCAN members did over the summer, and updates on what UCAN has coming up! If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about UCAN, please email me!

Have a great weekend!

Marissa Lieberman-Klein

Internal Communications Coordinator, UCAN

mliebermanklein@uchicago.edu

Student Power!

Student Power

by Edward Warden

It was four months ago when Dingo, Grace and myself had gone to visit Alderman Cochrain of the 20^th ward. Everyone was working their butts off to get the Clean Power Ordinance (CPO) over the finish line before the end of the legislative year at which point if it wasn’t passed it would die in committee. The ordinance, the first of its kind, would force two of the oldest and dirtiest coal plants to drastically curb their carbon and particulate matter emissions or shut down. This would also be the first time a major city passed a bill to regulate its large polluters, namely coal plants. The aldermanic and mayoral elections were in full swing with many of the races actually resting on the issue of whether incumbants supported the CPO.

Cochrain, one of three alderman whose ward includes parts of UChicago, was not supporting the ordinace so we paid him a visit. This was the first UCAN lobbying effort and we didn’t really know what to expect. The meeting left us feeling pretty rotten. Cochrain refused to give us a straight answer, instead preferring to talk circles around us and constantly get off point. When Rahm Emannuel was elected mayor, the CPO died in committee, and Cochrain won reelection by a slim margin.

Zoom back to now, July. School is out and most of us are scattered across the country. A couple of UCAN members though were still in Chicago interning with environmental organizations such as Greenpeace, Openlands, Sierra Club, and Chicago Wilderness. Alderman Joe Moore, the man behind the CPO, was about to reintroduce the ordinance to the new city council and Cochrain was still not a supporter. Caroline and I set out to meet with him yet again. Cochrain actually remembered me from our last meeting but that didn’t appear to help as this lobbying session seemed only to be worse than the first. Instead of trying to even debate the issue he simply denied knowing what we were talking about concerning the ordinance. He suggested that the reintroduced bill was completley new, and he hadn't had time to review it, which was untrue, as the ordinance had not been changed since our last meeting months ago. When I kept pressuring him and basically pointed this out for the fourth time in a row, he slapped the table and expressed extreme frustration.

Well Caroline and I left more than disappointed and went to grumble over a plate of pancakes (very good ones by the way). A couple days later Caroline sent me a text saying that Joe Moore had talked with Cochrain and he had signed on as a co-sponsor of the CPO. WHAT?!?!

Obviously we can’t take much credit and say that our lobbying made him leave the dark side BUT I do believe we can say that our meetings were a very important part in garnering his ultimate support. We demonstrated not only that we are smart and care about the issue, but that we are willing to come back again and again to drive the point home. Really, in a nut shell, that’s what politics is, showing people that you are willing to do what it takes to get the right things done. The CPO now has 35 co-sponsors, enough to even over ride Rahm’s veto if necessary. It’s the home stretch everybody, pat ourselves on the back later, let’s get this done!

Summer Fun in New Hampshire!!

Hey UCAN!

I just wanted to let you all know about the awesome work I am doing in New Hampshire this summer and the amazing work going on across New England by other Climate Summer Riders! I and 4 other college students are biking around New Hampshire documenting, connecting, and supporting local initiatives towards building a sustainable future away from fossil fuels! And there are 26 other riders across New England who are doing the same thing! Please check out our website and blog at www.newenglandclimatesummer.org

And please contact me or Marissa about posting on the blog! I, and I'm sure many UCANers, would love to hear about what you are all doing with your summers!

Happy 4th of July Weekend! Get some sun! And some fireworks!