Environmental activism groups from Northwestern and Evanston co-hosted an event Thursday to talk about their organizations’ climate advocacy goals and the city’s proposed Healthy Buildings Ordinance.
The HBO would mandate that buildings over 20,000 square feet would need to be energy efficient, use renewable energy and remove on-site emissions by 2050. After multiple delays, City Council will vote on the ordinance again on Monday.
Around 30 people, mostly students and faculty, attended the event. Climate Action Evanston Executive Director Jack Jordan (Weinberg ’22) said the event went well, in part because they “almost filled the room.”
“It’s very powerful, both beneficial to the students here and their time here, but also just for the community: to have more collaboration, to build relationships, to build community,” Jordan said. “This is really just the first step.”
In addition to the HBO, Climate Action Evanston, Fossil Free NU and Northwestern Faculty and Staff for Climate Action discussed climate equity and efforts to advocate for more transparency around NU’s sustainability plans.
One of the main objectives was to connect Evanston climate activism groups, Jordan said. There were multiple opportunities for participants to discuss their experiences with environmental activism and time to start taking action. A few of the attendees took photos of themselves to include in an email to councilmembers endorsing the HBO.
The 500 largest buildings in the city contribute nearly half of Evanston’s carbon emissions. Many of the structures in this category are associated with NU.
Linguistics Prof. Matt Goldrick is part of Northwestern Faculty and Staff for Climate Action and said there was a lot of “excitement” about finding how each group’s goals aligned together.
“I was really hoping to get us all aligned on a common goal — the HBO,” Goldrick said. “It wasn’t that hard to get us all on the same page, but it was really great to get everyone exposed to the same thing and making sure we could all link together to help be more effective.”
Fossil Free NU highlighted the connections between the HBO and the main goals of its latest Fossil Free Campus campaign: transparency about the University’s sustainability initiatives, a detailed and transparent plan for transitioning to renewable energy sources and a renewable replacement for the Central Utility Plant.
The event offered one of the first opportunities for Fossil Free NU to work with faculty, Weinberg junior Ruth Debono said. She added collaborating with Climate Action Evanston may help students break out of the NU “bubble.”
“It’s really important to us that we’re making these connections with faculty and with Climate Action Evanston and residents of Evanston so that we can have ongoing movements, not just something that’s cycling every four years,” Debono said.
The organizers encouraged participants to make public comments supporting the HBO at the council meeting on Monday.
Jordan said he hoped Thursday’s event was the beginning of a more inclusive partnership.
“We’re really at the beginning stages of this,” Jordan said. “We’re trying to build up a group, build up a vision for what our community can look like, and how Northwestern can play a really collaborative role.”
Email: lexinewsom2028@u.northwestern.edu
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