In This Issue

• Upcoming Events

  • 10/5- Microplastics: Your Health and the Environment

  • 10/9 - Chicago Climate Connect at Booth School of Business

  • 10/14- 350 Chicago General Meeting

  • 10/15- Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration with Latinxs in Sustainability

  • 10/24- 350 Event: A Conversation about the Climate Crisis

  • 10/27- 350 at Reuse-a-Palooza

• In Brief

  • Volunteer with 350 Chicago

  • Sustainability Assessments Available for DuPage County

  • Illinois EPA Announces Expanded Eligibility for Energy Efficiency Grants

  • Coal Plants Repurposed to Solve Transmission Challenges

  • Emissions from Data Centers May be Higher than Official Tallies

• Differing Takes on Climate from Harris, Trump in the Wake of Hurricane Helene

Events

Microplastics: Your Health and the Environment

• Saturday, October 5th, 10:00am- 11:30am

• Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S State St, Chicago, IL 60605

The Chicago Public Library is hosting Microplastics: Your Health and the Environment. Come to Harold Washington Library Center to hear from Carter O’Brien, Chicago Streets & Sanitation Asst. Commissioner working on waste diversion, and Dr. Tim Hoellein, biology professor at Loyola University studying pollution in urban waterways. Together, they will discuss municipal recycling programs, local & state policies tackling the plastics problem from source generation through end-of-life, and how microplastics effect both the environment and public health.

Chicago Climate Connect at Booth School of Business

• Wednesday October 9th, 6:00pm- 8:00pm

• Chicago Booth Harper Center, 5807 South Woodlawn Avenue Chicago, IL 60637

• Register HERE

Chicago Climate Connect’s monthly, in-person event mixes networking and structured programming to bring together climate-minded Chicagoans to meet, inspire, and support each other. Whether you work (or are looking to work) in climate and sustainability professionally, or are looking to get involved with local initiatives and solutions - we’d love to meet you!

This event will be cohosted by the Polsky Resurgence Center from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. It will be moderated by Mackenzie Siren, Matt Pryor, Michael Boeke, and Sunil Mahadeshwar.

350 Chicago General Meeting

• Monday October 14th, 6:30pm-7:30pm

• Zoom meeting

Join 350 Chicago for our General Meeting! During the meeting, we will provide campaign updates and discuss the work 350 Chicago is doing in Chicago and Illinois to help preserve a livable planet. We will also provide information about ways to volunteer and get involved with 350 Chicago. Please contact [email protected] to attend the General Meeting, we will send you the zoom link.

Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration with Latinxs in Sustainability

• Tuesday October 15, 5:30pm-7:30pm

• Climate Action Museum, 300 S Riverside Chicago, IL

Latinxs in Sustainability is hosting a Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration at the Climate Action Museum for networking, museum tour, and a panel discussion with leading Latinxs in the community. There will be a $15 fee per person to support the Climate Action Museum to encourage, continue growth, and outreach of their museum. Light refreshments to be included.

The panel is moderated by Ayla Olvera - Cisco, Responsible Minerals & Circular Materials Program Manager, and panelists include Angela Tovar- City of Chicago, Chief Sustainability Officer and Commissioner, Rolando Favela - Director of Environmental Policy and Communication, Office of Commissioner Eira Corral Sepúlveda, and Samira Hanessian - Energy Policy Director at Illinois Environmental Council.

350 Event: A Conversation About the Climate Crisis

• Thursday, October 24th, 6:00pm - 7:30pm

• Online Only, Register HERE

350 Chicago is excited to announce and invite you to A Conversation About the Climate Crisis. This will be hosted as a remote event that will bring together people who want to discuss their climate crisis concerns and ask questions. This event is non-partisan and open to all who want to have a serious discussion and learn more about climate change. We just ask that everyone be civil and polite and will not tolerate aggression nor do we want to waste time debating unfounded conspiracy theories. Those registering will also receive a survey asking about topics of discussion you are interested in so please keep an eye out for that and fill that out as well.

350 at Reuse-a-Palooza

• Sunday, October 27th, 11:00am - 3:00 pm

• The Plant, 1400 W. 46th St, Chicago, IL

Come join us at the Fall 2024 Reuse-a-Palooza, a semiannual event which provides opportunities to repair clothing and household items, safely dispose tricky-to-recycle items, and donate bicycles, gently used books, and more, all the while bringing attention to strategies to reduce waste and improve environmental conditions. 350 Chicago was there in the Spring event and we are back in the fall to help educate people on climate issues and provide opportunities to get involved and make a difference. Come say hi!

In Brief

Volunteer with 350 Chicago!

We are looking for volunteers as always. In particular our communications and fundraising teams are looking for more volunteers. Interested? Just email [email protected] or show up at one of our events above and we can talk about getting involved. Here is an overview of some of our primary teams:

• Fundraising: Write grants, help with fundraising campaigns

• Communications: Help promote us on social media, and write for this newsletter

• Divestment: Join the campaign to get Illinois to divest away from fossil fuels

• Outreach: Plan and attend events, recruit new members and volunteers

Sustainability Assessments Available for DuPage County

Sustainable DuPage is offering DuPage County businesses a no-cost sustainability assessment to give your company high-level green strategies for your operations. If your company is looking to start their sustainability initiatives or is working on a specific project, the SEDAC (Smart Energy Design Assistance Center from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) can visit your business and provide advice, quick analysis, strategies for moving your initiatives forward, or connections to incentives or other funding programs. By getting an express assessment, you will access engineers and green business experts who will provide smart, sustainable strategies and quick advice for planning your next steps. Register here.

The Illinois EPA Announces Expanded Eligibility for Energy Efficiency Grants

The Illinois EPA is expanding programs that provide funding for energy efficiency assessments and efficiency upgrade projects. These new grant programs are eligible for properties that serve residents receiving housing assistance, and includes both single family homes and multifamily properties with up to 20 dwelling units. More information can be found from the IL EPA press release here.

Coal Plants Repurposed to Solve Transmission Challenges

In a report by CNN Climate, the aging Sherco coal plant in Minnesota is being repurposed to use its connection to the grid to solve issues with clean power awaiting connection to the grid. University of California Berkeley researchers found that "the US could essentially double the capacity of its electrical grid overnight by plugging renewables projects into old fossil fuel power plants... whether they be coal, gas or oil." Waiting for transmission and grid connections has been a stumbling block for many clean energy projects that are waiting to be connected, and with any luck this may solve some of those challenges.

Emissions from Data Centers May be Higher than Official Tallies

In a report by the Guardian, it seems that emissions from data centers operated by Big Tech firms may be six or seven times higher than previously reported. This is of course driven by the buzz in artificial intelligence and the billions being pumped into AI infrastructure. Other organizations such as CNBC, the International Monetary Fund, and have also found that new technologies requiring heavy computation such as AI, Blockchain, and cloud storage are driving up carbon usage and are having an increasingly high climate impact.

Differing Takes on Climate from Harris, Trump in the Wake of Hurricane Helene

by Joshua Horwitz

Hurricane Helene has just devastated six states in the Southeastern United States. The death toll is at 179 as of the writing of this article, millions of people are without power, and entire communities have been wiped away. Helene is a perfect example of the kind of natural disaster which will only get worse as the effects of climate change increase. It is the kind of disaster unquestionably worsened by the effects of manmade climate change, and it is the exact kind of disaster that scientists at the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) have warned will increase in both frequency and intensity if swift action is not taken.

The Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, has made a statement about the hurricane, promising aid to the victims of the disaster, but she made no mention of the root cause: climate change itself. This comes on the heels of the Democratic National Convention where Harris barely mentioned climate at all. This pattern continued during her debate with President Trump, as she quickly refocused questions on climate change to focus on economic impact to individuals, a strategy that NPR described as making climate a “pocketbook issue.”

Harris has been consistent in clearly stating that climate change is real, and her new 82 page Economic Plan mentions the need to address climate as part of her economic vision. The plan was praised by Evergreen Climate as a “Win for Climate, Clean Energy Manufacturing, and the Middle Class.” It also builds on real policy Harris helped to pass under the Biden administration: The Inflation Reduction Act, which has resulted in hundreds of billions of investments flowing into the clean energy sector:

Since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed, companies have already announced more than $265 billion in clean energy investments creating more than 330,000 new jobs. As a result of these investments, national battery storage capacity is projected to double in 2024, solar module manufacturing capacity is going to be more than five times higher in 2024 than just three years earlier, and wind energy production will reach a record high in 2024.

Harris Economic Plan, page 29

On the other side of the aisle, Donald Trump used the latest climate disaster- Hurricane Helene- to once again call climate change a ‘scam’ and accuse Harris of ‘staging’ a photo op.

Even more worrying than Trump’s denial of the existence of climate change may be Project 2025. This comprehensive document spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation has made the rounds in Republican circles and would re-configure the federal government in a way that would Jeopardize Global Climate Action and end any pretense of American leadership on the world stage when it comes to combating climate change. Trump himself has attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, but many of his top advisors and allies have been credited with helping to create or advance the project.

350 is a nonprofit and does not directly support any presidential candidate or political party. However we are laser focused on combating the effects of climate change and if Hurricane Helene has shown us anything it is that the need to address the climate crisis has never been more immediate.