A bill before the Illinois House that would have ended a mandate for the state to prepare and provide coal education materials for kids met sharp resistance from lawmakers and the coal industry, who claimed environmentalists were waging a “war on coal”.
Did you know that Illinois state law currently requires the development of a coal education program for our state’s children?
[column width=”47%” padding=”6%”]Beyond the Same Old ‘New’ Ideas John Michael Greer asks his audience to acknowledge that one of the […]
Stories from the Heartland Citizens Against Longwall Mining Speak Out Longwall mining at Deer Run Mine and its “planned subsidence” now threatens […]
Overpopulation, climate change, peak net energy, limits to growth, and economic malaise – are creating crises in human civilization never before experienced. But they also are causing an ongoing search for alternatives that not only meet human needs, but also protect and restore the environment upon which we all depend. Watch this presentation on Eco-Villages response to climate change by Albert Bates, Director of Global Institute for Appropriate Technology and get inspired to act!
While much of the country is talking about fracking, corporations such as Peabody Coal and Foresight Reserves LP are quietly extracting coal from America’s Heartland. Strip mining, room and pillar and longwall mining for coal are destroying some of the best agricultural farmland in the world, displacing once cohesive farming communities, and polluting clean water across the Illinois coal basin, which includes the state of Illinois and portions of Indiana and Kentucky.
At the other end of the coal cycle, burning coal is contributing to toxic coal ash dumps, which threatening the health and safety of nearby residents, and destroying our climate.
From Friday, November 1 through Sunday, November 3, Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago presented their 2nd Annual Event, “Celebrating Community Resilience”. Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago is a local, self-organized affiliate of National Bioneers. Eco-Justice Collaborative served as lead for this event with 6 keynote speakers and 75 workshops, along with the participation and support of the Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago Core Team; Program Planning and Outreach Teams. As one attendee said: “Rejuvenating and inspiring, this event fueled my creative spirit to work on sustainability and resilience projects in my community. Plus, I now feel I have broader connections and more resources to do it!”
A report released today by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and Downstream Strategies estimates that in the 2011 Fiscal Year, the coal industry drained nearly $20 million from the Illinois state budget in subsidies and expenditures related to supporting the coal industry. The report, The Impact of Coal on the Illinois State Budget, was commissioned by the Sierra Club, Prairie Rivers Network, Faith in Place, and Eco-Justice Collaborative.
A 50 Year Plan for Surviving Climate Change by Blake Davis The economy is the “canary in the coal mine” […]
Consilience, Concinnity, and The Way Keynote Address by Dr. Gerould Wilhelm, Bioneers Chicago, 2012 When our cultural behaviors are in harmony […]
