Trump's War on Climate Heats Up

In This Issue

• 350 Chicago Has a New Website!

• September Events

  • September 13: 350 at Fall Nature Fest at LaBagh Woods

  • September 16: 350 Speaker Series - “Small Businesses, Big Impact: Leading the Way in Sustainability”

  • September 21: Sun Day Solar Fest

  • September 28: 350 at North Center Sustainability Market

• Action Center

  • Become a 350 Chicago Monthly Sustainer!

  • Online Petition: Climate Safe Pensions

  • Online Petition: Utility Transparency Act

• Climate News

  • Energy Dept Report Paves the Way to End Regulation of Greenhouse Gases

  • Trump Declares War on Wind Power

  • Data Centers and A.I. are Spiking Energy Usage and Energy Bills

• Main Article: How we Make a Difference

350 Chicago has a New Website!

350 Chicago has a BRAND NEW WEBSITE: www.350chicago.org.

Our new site was built from the ground up, spearheaded by super-volunteers Zack and Cole (see our Meet the Team page).

The new site does a fantastic job of showcasing how far we’ve come as an organization. It’s a great place to start if you’ve heard of us but want to learn more about who we are and what we do. Check out our most recent updates, learn the history of 350 Chicago, take a look at our recent accomplishments, check out some of our past speaker series videos, or look into how to get involved with our organization.

September Events

350 at Fall Nature Fest at LaBagh Woods

• Saturday, September 13, 12:00pm - 3:00pm

• LaBagh Woods, Grove 2

350 will be tabling at the Fall Nature Fest at LaBagh Woods! We will be gathering signatures in support of the State Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign and the Utility Accountability Campaign and to generally talk about our work in Chicago and Illinois.

350 Speaker Series - “Small Businesses, Big Impact: Leading the Way in Sustainability”

• September 16, 6:00pm

• via Zoom, REGISTER HERE

Small businesses have a powerful opportunity to lead in sustainability by being central to reducing emissions, waste, contributing to healthier communities and building long-term economic resilience. While facing challenges like limited funding and resources, adopting sustainable practices offers many benefits, including cost savings and enhanced customer loyalty.

The webinar will explore the way small businesses lead on climate action in Illinois by examining key trends and business drivers for sustainability and their benefits. The Illinois Green Business Program is a vital resource helping businesses reach local and regional climate goals. We'll discuss how the program supports small businesses on their sustainability journey, highlighting successful case studies from across the state. The program assists small businesses in areas like energy efficiency, waste reduction, and eco-friendly sourcing, leading to increased profitability and a positive environmental impact.

The session concludes with a discussion on the ways community members can actively support their local green businesses by showing they value sustainability, thus encouraging more businesses to adopt climate-smart solutions.

Cassie Carroll is the Assistant Director to the EnergySense Resilience Center, see more about her here.

Sun Day Solar Fest

• Sunday, September 21, 12:00pm - 4:00pm

• Montrose Beach (adjacent to dog park), 610 W Lawrence, Chicago IL 60613

• RSVP HERE (free!)

Come join Third Act Illinois, 350 Chicago and our partner organizations for the Sun Day Solar Fest!

What's the Sun Day Solar Fest? It's a nationwide celebration of clean energy progress—and a chance to stand up for the solar and wind power that's making our communities healthier, quieter, and more affordable.

Why Should You Come? Whether you're interested in saving money on your energy bills, breathing cleaner air, supporting local jobs, or just curious about clean energy, this event is for you! You'll get to:

• See real results: Hear from neighbors who are saving money with clean energy

• Get practical info: Learn from experts about programs and incentives that could help you save on your energy bills

• Connect with the community: Meet local clean energy businesses and neighbors who share your interests

• Have fun: Enjoy a wide variety of entertainment such as music, kids' activities, “flash mob” dancing, sing-alongs, and entertaining speakers

• Make a difference: Be part of a national movement of people moving to clean energy

Free and Family-Friendly! This event is open and welcoming to everyone whether you're a clean energy expert or just getting started learning about solar and wind power, and battery storage. Join us for an afternoon of fun and information about the clean energy revolution! RSVP HERE

350 at North Center Sustainability Market

• Sunday, September 28, 10:00am - 4:00pm

• Northcenter Town Square, 4100 Damen Ave.

350 will be tabling at the North Center Sustainability Market! We will be gathering signatures in support of the State Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign and the Utility Accountability Campaign and to generally talk about our work in Chicago and Illinois.

Action Center

Become a 350 Chicago Monthly Sustainer!

Help 350 Chicago increase its impact by becoming a 350 Chicago Climate Sustainer!

Monthly donations are extremely important for a small organization like ours. They make it easier for us to budget, help us accelerate our impact, and lower our administrative costs, so we can focus more of our time and efforts on fighting the climate crisis.

What does your gift support? Here are just a few examples:

• Sponsors our Fossil Fuel Divestment and Utility Accountability campaigns

• Helps us organize our 60-plus core volunteers

• Supports events like the upcoming Sun Day Solar Fest on September 21st

• Underwrites 350 Chicago’s ongoing monthly Speaker Series events

• Funds our 350 Chicago and Climate Safe Pensions Illinois websites

• Supports our outreach efforts at tabling events

• Provides funding to print postcards, buttons, and literature for our campaigns

• And so much more!

Online Petition: Climate Safe Pensions

Investments in fossil fuels are driving climate change, and they are becoming increasingly risky with significant financial liabilities. The state of Illinois can be both a climate leader and protect the health of its pension funds by divesting from fossil fuels. Climate Safe Pensions Illinois, a coalition whose members include 350 Chicago, Third Act Illinois, and The Climate Reality Project Chicago Metro Chapter, is, therefore, asking the State of Illinois to protect pension funds and provide more transparency to the holders.

Learn more and sign here: Climate Safe Pensions Petition!

Online Petition: Utility Transparency Act

Over the years, utilities have made it acceptable to recover some of their costs from ratepayers that should be charged to their shareholders! They routinely charge ratepayers for the cost of a range of lobbying activities without the ratepayers knowledge.

Learn more and sign here: Utility Transparency Petition!

Climate News

Energy Dept Report Paves the Way to End Regulation of Greenhouse Gases

The Trump administration is moving full steam ahead in rolling back the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases. The EPA’s authority to regulate these climate-change causing emissions derives from the 2009 ‘Endangerment Finding’ where the Obama-era EPA determined that greenhouse gases posed a risk to public health and welfare by driving climate change. This brought all greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane under the EPA’s authority to regulate, and forms the basis of all federal regulation of greenhouse gases from buildings, vehicles, and other sources. This determination was rooted in a global scientific consensus and affirmed by the supreme court.

Now, Trump’s energy secretary Chris Wright has assembled five hand-picked skeptics to form a ‘Climate Working Group’ who drafted a report which questions the science behind the endangerment finding. This report has been widely derided by the scientific community as full of holes, misrepresentation, and cherry-picked data, and multiple environmental groups have already brought suit challenging it. However, Trump’s EPA is nonetheless using this report as a justification to roll back regulation based on the Endangerment Finding. This is all likely laying the groundwork for a full rollback of the endangerment finding, which would end federal regulation of climate change causing greenhouse gas emissions under the EPA.

Read more here:

• Dozens of scientists find errors in a new Energy Department climate report, by Julia Simon, NPR, 9/2/2025

• Green groups sue Trump administration over report downplaying climate damage, by Rachel Frazin, the Hill, 8/12/2025

• Trump’s Department of Energy Gets Scienced, by Bill McKibben, the New Yorker, 9/3/2025

• Why the EPA’s Endangerment Finding Matters, by Alison Cagle, Earthjustice, 7/29/2025

Trump Declares War on Wind Power

The Trump administration has declared war on wind power with little or no justification, making it clear just how much fossil fuel interests have captured the current administration. The administration’s attacks are halting wind projects across the country mid-development and sometimes when nearly complete, withdrawing hundreds of millions of dollars of funding already allocated to wind development, and throwing the entire industry into chaos.

These attacks jeopardize a critical source of clean, renewable energy and benefit only legacy fossil fuel interests at the expense of our environment, the reliability of our electric grid, and taxpayers who are paying more with fewer energy sources in the market. Read more here:

• With Little Explanation, Trump Throws Wind Industry Into Chaos, By Brad Plumer and Lisa Friedman, The New York Times, 8/26/2025

• White House Orders Agencies to Escalate Fight Against Offshore Wind, by Maxine Joselow, Lisa Friedman, and Brad Plumer, The New York Times, 9/3/2025

• Trump admin sued by developers and two states after stopping work on nearly complete offshore wind farm project, by Ella Nilsen, CNN, 9/4/2025

Data Centers and A.I. are Spiking Energy Usage and Energy Bills

If you noticed your energy bills going up, you’re not alone. Energy bills are spiking nationwide, and in Illinois in particular. A common cause are data centers powering artificial intelligence, many of which are in Illinois. These data centers use gigantic amounts of power to power artificial intelligence and large language models such as Chat-GPT, Gemini, Anthropic, and others. The rise of this technology is not only increasing energy costs, but also increasing the amount of energy usage worldwide, making it that much more difficult to transition to clean energy. Read more here:

• From data centers to grid costs, here’s why your energy bill keeps rising, by Kelsey Rettke, Shaw Local 9/1/2025

• Data centers fuel higher power bills. Lawmakers must act, opinion piece by the Illinois Clean Jobs Association, Crain’s Chicago Business 9/5/2025

• Big Tech’s A.I. Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone, by Ivan Penn and Karen Weise, The New York Times, 8/14/2025

How We Make a Difference: Divestment

by Christine Skolnik

This article, focusing on fossil fuel divestment, is the first of a three-part series on what we do and how we make a difference in Chicago and the State of Illinois.

Our Mission

350.org is an international organization working to “create a world powered by just and accessible renewable energy that will move us away from fossil fuels, for good.” The Chicago chapter of 350 supports this global mission by including our neighbors in Chicago and Illinois through tangible actions that make a positive impact on climate and the planet. Our chapter is a national leader and was recently included as a general member of the 350 Network Council.

Fossil Fuel Divestment

Fossil fuel divestment is one of the core campaigns of 350.org and the Chicago chapter. This has been a priority of founder Bill McKibben, as a way to hold accountable not just polluters but the also those who profit by them and support them.

“if it’s wrong to wreck the planet, then it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage.”

- Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org (via Fossil Free)

In 2022, a coalition led by 350 Chicago won an eight-year campaign to convince the City of Chicago to divest its operating budget from fossil fuels, and pass an ordinance to make this change permanent (see our history). This was a great victory in the divestment movement, and shows other cities that this can be done.

After winning in Chicago, we are turning our attention to the state. The current campaign is working to push the Illinois legislature to fully divest the state pension funds from fossil fuels.

Why Divest from Pension Funds?

Pension funds control trillions of dollars in investments worldwide and are some of the largest investors in fossil fuels. Illinois has an opportunity to slow the flow of capital to the fossil fuel industry by divesting its pension portfolios from fossil fuel funds.

Divesting pension funds from fossil fuels is not only good for the planet, it is a fiscally responsible decision for Illinois pensioners and citizens as a whole. This is because fossil fuel investments have lower returns than the rest of the market and compared to other investment sectors such as communication services, consumer goods, financials, health care, and others.

State divestment would align Illinois with the highly successful global divestment movement, and would be an important step toward slowing fossil fuel expansion in the U.S. and abroad. See more about the global campaign here.

So, how are we making a difference?

Chicago 350 is a founding member of Climate Safe Pensions Illinois, a collation of environmental groups with a mission to divest Illinois public pension funds from fossil fuels. Our Fossil Fuel Divestment Act (SB0130/HB3961), introduced into the State legislature in January of 2025, requires pension funds to divest public holdings in top 200 oil, coal, and natural gas companies over a period of five years. It also requires pension funds to publicly disclose their holdings and climate-related financial risks.

Over the past three years Chicago 350 and Climate Safe Pensions Illinois collation members have met with numerous state legislators and have secured sponsorship of the bills from a wide variety of house representative and senators. This year coalition members met with Sen. Robert Martwick, chair of Senate Pension Committee and representatives of several of the pension funds, to discuss the bill. The coalition is now in direct discussion with a number of pension funds opposed to the bill to understand their concerns as stakeholders and to address those concerns.

Every single month we are on the ground talking to people about this campaign and gathering postcards from constituents we hand-deliver to these legislators to show them that this is a priority. This is the main focus of our tabling activities, of which we have many in September- just see our events above!

How can you help?

During the Chicago divestment campaign Chicago 350 leadership learned that passing legislation is a gradual process that requires unwavering dedication and consistent work by a team of passionate leaders and members. The State campaign has to reach a far greater geographic area than just Chicago and is facing stiffer resistance, so the membership at large really needs to pitch in to make it happen. Luckily there’s a lot you can do!

• Come meet us at one of our events above, and sign postcards we will hand-deliver to your state representatives!

• Sign our online petition!

• Get involved and come volunteer with us!

• Become a 350 Chicago monthly donor and support our work!

In short, Bugs Bunny said it best in Space Jam: “Eh, what I’m trying to say is, we need your heeeeelp!!!!!”

Christine Skolnik is one of 350 Chicago’s Core Volunteers.