Welcome to EJC!

Eco-Justice Collaborative (EJC) challenges us all to act upon the global impact of economic, social and environmental choices that foster unlimited growth and development at the expense of people and our planet.  We believe that the recent convergence of financial crises, climate change, peak oil and depleting resources offer our society a unique opportunity to make meaningful change.

People are listening.  Will we have the courage to reach out to one another, building community as we explore new ways to live within our planet’s limits? OR will we hope for a “techno-fix” that would allow us to maintain the status quo, while we continue to live beyond our earth’s capacity?

The choice is ours to make.

EJC “Happenings”

Help Start a Great Lakes Chicago Bioneers Chapter! EJC is just beginning to draw organizations together to talk about a 2011 conference in Chicago.  Bioneers is about HOPE. This annual conference is a leading-edge forum where tomorrow is unfolded with solutions inspired by nature and human ingenuity. Bioneers visionaries are already creating the healthy, diverse, and equitable world we want to live in.  These solutions just may be our legacy for future generations and the web of life on which our lives depend.

Are you interested in helping launch the Chicago effort?  We’re just getting started.  Click here to contact us …. and we’ll be in touch with you right away!

Delegation to Coal River Valley August 6, 7 and 8, 2010

Join us for EJC’s second delegation to Coal River Valley, WV.  This is the place where concerns over climate change and coal extraction converge through local activism.

Click here for a flier and here for more information. Use our contact form and we’ll send you details.

Click here for an itinerary of our August 2010 delegation.

What’s Next…..

Chicago Clean Power Campaign. EJC is a founding partner of the Chicago Clean Power Coalition, whose goal is to bring about a clean energy future for Chicago!  One of our objectives is to clean up Chicago’s dirty, old coal plants.

If successful, Chicago will be the first city in the U.S. where local authority is used to address climate change and health impacts from burning coal.  Watch the video and click here for more.

July 22, 2010, Peace and Environmental Forum. Join EJC’s Pam and Lan Richart at the Ancient Dragon Zen Gate Peace and Environmental Forum and learn about the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance and exciting campaign supported by nearly 50 organizations! More…

Fall, 2010:  A Resilient Rogers Park…Workshops from September through November will celebrate both the Transition Towns movement and Rogers Park. Learn how to grow food (in containers, on a roof, or in the ground), raise chickens or bees, mend clothes, or lower your energy use!   Or attend gatherings that discuss local impacts of peak oil and climate change and present alternatives to current economic and social structures.  More to come….

Discuss….

Photo: Kat Wallace, Topless America Project

How green is Chicago? Eco-Justice Collaborative is part of a growing coalition of organizations working to make Chicago a healthier place to live. One of the objectives of f the Chicago Clean Power Campaign is to clean up Chicago’s coal plants – two of the oldest and dirtiest plants in the nation.

On July 15, the coalition held a press conference, announcing decisions by the national offices of Sierra Club and Greenpeace to make the Chicago Clean Power Campaign a priority.  This is a sign that not only is the campaign gaining momentum, but it is part of a growing recognition across the country that our addiction to fossil fuels is literally killing us.

The on-going oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the recent mining disaster in West Virginia, the destruction of the Appalachian mountains by mountaintop removal coal mining and the poisoning of our air in Chicago should shake us to the core. How loud must our wake-up call be before we act?  Discuss….

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A Call for Intergenerational Justice…“It is my job, as a father and grandfather concerned about young people, future generations, and the other species that share our planet, to point out that the path the world is on, if we stay on it, guarantees that we will push the climate system beyond tipping points.

This is a moral issue, a matter of intergenerational injustice. Because of the inertia and slow response of the climate system, our generation burns most of the fossil fuels and reaps the benefits while future generations bear the costs. We, the older generations and our governments, cannot pretend that we do not understand this situation — we must accept responsibility.” – James Hansen. Read and discuss…