We are thrilled to announce that One Earth Collective and Laurie Casey of COOP are both recipients of the Village of Oak Park’s 2023 Green Awards, recognizing outstanding efforts in sustainability and environmental stewardship in the community.

Sunday October 22, a sunny, mild day with fall leaf color in full splendor. About 62 people—mostly from Oak Park, but a few from Chicago neighborhoods Austin and Pullman—came to central Oak Park for the Fall Tree Stroll. We soaked up the glorious fall color, got to know our giant, gracious green neighbors a little better.

It’s what you’ve been waiting for. . . our 2022 lineup of tide-turning films is here! All screenings are free (with a suggested $8 donation) and open to the public. Seventeen virtual events will screen during the week of March 4-13. If the Omicron surge cooperates, we will be adding up to 15 in-person events—they will be offered at the same times and days as the virtual events.

Join us in welcoming three new young leaders who will be helping to promote our March and April film festivals. They’ll be helping to write the One Earth newsletters you receive in your inbox, the film descriptions you see on our website, the social media posts you enjoy in your feeds and much more. 

It’s time to look back and celebrate all the things we’ve accomplished together this year. Here’s 2021 by the numbers.

4,046 attendees at 26 film watch parties
At each of the virtual events during the main Fest Season in March and during Earth Week in April, we learned about the climate crisis, were presented with more than 250 action ideas, and pledged to take action.

Join One Earth in offering a warm welcome to our new “squad member,” Jillian Patton, Development Director. She is fresh off a thirteen-year stint in New York City, where she was most recently part of the Development team at NYU School of Law. She was also previously part of the team that raised money to develop the storied High Line, a park built on a former elevated train line on the West Side of Manhattan. Established in 2009, it helped provide a model for similar urban greening projects nationwide, such as Chicago’s 606 path that runs along an old rail line here in the city.

As Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago, Angela Tovar has a big job: steering Mayor Lightfoot’s policy on environmental protection and climate change in addition to being a liaison between City Hall and community organizations in Chicago’s most polluted areas.

Q: What are some key points of that investment [to mitigate the effects of climate change]?

A: We’re focused on green infrastructure and flood-mitigation in vulnerable communities. And we will be planting 75,000 trees across the city over the next five years, for all the gifts trees provide, including heat mitigation. We’re supporting retrofitting for energy efficiency in low- to moderate-income housing and neighborhood-anchor institutions. And many other things—connecting residents with renewable-energy sources; finding better waste management solutions, including for organic waste; and exploring greener transportation options.

Much has been written about the lack of access to fresh and healthy foods in the West and South Sides of Chicago. Many of us read about it. Many of us live it. Some brilliant people are actively working to revise that story. People like Liz Abunaw, owner and operator of Forty Acres Fresh Market, which serves the city of Chicago and western suburbs along Interstate 290 up to Westchester, Ill. . . .

Abunaw is not alone in her efforts to enrich the local food supply. Austin Eats Initiative is a collaboration of organizations that promotes grocery access, culinary entrepreneurship, food education, community gardens, and urban farms in the Austin community, which is Chicago’s second-largest neighborhood by population and size. . . . On Thursday, Oct. 21, the group is staging a screening and discussion of the documentary film, “Can You Dig This.” You have two ways of seeing the film and participating in the discussion: in person or virtually.

While on staff with the Illinois Sierra Club, Kyra Woods established and facilitated The Ready for 100 Collective, a coalition of local environmental and community organizations working to ensure Chicago’s equitable transition to renewable energy. She is now a member of the Policy Team in the City of Chicago Office of the Mayor.

Q: What’s on the top of your mind these days?

A: A serious matter. I’m reflecting on the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. The issues it highlights are not new, but it underscores the need for ambitious and coordinated action. I’m grateful to have a team to work with, committed members across this department, with partners at the county level and—so essential—also at the community level. Together, we’re focused on addressing a range of environmental issues such as waste management, carbon reduction, and air and water quality.

Do you have a “broken” pile or box in your home? You know, those things that need to be glued, screwed or otherwise mended? Clothes needing mending collect near my sewing box, which I store in a side table near our sofa. Things that need to be glued or reattached usually end up in our dining room, where we have enough space to work. But sometimes you need the experts. Who do you call? Next time, try bringing your broken treasure to the Oak Park Repair Café at Fox Park. Not only will you stand a good chance of getting your item fixed for free, but you just may come home with new skills and even a new friend.

Austin Grown is a partnership between BUILD Chicago, One Earth Collective, and After School Matters. Austin Grown teaches an annual summer youth cohort to plant and maintain an urban farm while also educating about healthy food systems, food justice, restorative environmental justice, green entrepreneurship and community-building. All youth earn a stipend while they work and while they learn. The urban farm even houses a flock of 9 chickens and uses solar panels to generate electricity! The youth took part in virtual speaker sessions, chef demos, healthy food tastings, and an eye-opening field trip to Chicago Eco House this summer.

In November 2017, I participated in a panel discussion on climate change policy in Indianapolis, headlined by a then-former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assistant administrator named Janet McCabe. She had left EPA at the beginning of the Trump administration and taken a post as director of the Environmental Resilience Institute at Indiana University. When asked what could be done to thwart the administration in its effort to roll back environmental protections, Ms. McCabe offered some ironic assurance.

The first-ever Virtual Movie Club Night kicked off on July 15 with a discussion of the documentary “The Ants and the Grasshopper,” directed by Raj Patel and Zac Piper. Exclusively for One Earth Collective Members (membership starts at $25 annually), the Virtual Movie Club will meet regularly to analyze environmental films, provide like-minded community, and promote change. New members are welcome to join at any time.

Keeping food waste out of landfills via composting is a perfect example of how the circular economy can work. Following is a list of Chicagoland composting resources recommended by Jonathan Pereira of Plant Chicago. For those outside of Illinois, search for similar resources in your area to get involved.

We’re getting a new look and a new name! GCC Midwest Inc. is now One Earth Collective. Our 501(c)(3) organization will retain the same board of directors and has a new logo and new digital home at www.oneearthcollective.org.

One Earth Collective has three program areas: One Earth Film Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary season in 2021; One Earth Youth Voices, which focuses on programs for youth ages 8-25; and One Earth Local/Green Community Connections, which focuses on local sustainability programs in Oak Park and River Forest, Illinois.

The Green Community Connections/One Earth Board welcomed three new members at its November board meeting. They will join the other 4 sitting directors. We are grateful and excited to have them join the board. Their unique talents, expertise and perspectives will help us further our mission to support the growth of environmental awareness and inspire the adoption of solution-oriented actions through inclusive educational events and programs.

Below are biographies and brief Q&As for each of our new directors so you can learn a little about their background and what they will bring to our organization.

The art show “Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate” was scheduled to close on Friday, Oct. 30, but will reopen Monday, Jan. 11, and continue through Friday, Feb. 19, at Columbia College Chicago’s Glass Curtain Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash.

After seeing the show recently, one of its artworks continues to haunt me.

Begin with this: Today, nearly 65,000 Native Americans, representing more than 100 tribal nations, live in Chicagoland—making this one of the largest urban Native American populations in the country.

Move on to this: I have lived in Chicagoland for over 30 years, and I only recently learned what I’ve just told you. For this new awareness, I credit the Cook County Forest Preserve Foundation’s October symposium, called “Racial Equity and Access to Nature.”

Like many other Oak Parkers, our family tries to live in an environmentally responsible way. We compost food waste, eat meat-free and organic, and drive electric cars. When we lived in a single-family house, we imagined installing solar panels on the roof, but it wasn't practical or, at the time, affordable. When we downsized into a condo, we faced the challenge of getting buy-in from our fellow owners to add a rooftop solar array, and the available space would have been too small to make much of a dent in our building’s electricity consumption.

In early September, I had the opportunity to speak with climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, advisor and kick-off speaker for Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate, an exhibition of newly commissioned artworks exploring climate change impacts and solutions in the Chicago area. In particular, we spoke about the challenges and rewards of communicating about global warming—sometimes described as global weirding, which is the title of her YouTube Digital Series. Dr. Hayhoe says that talking about climate change is the most important climate action we can take. How we talk about it, of course, is the key, and this became the focus of our conversation.

Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate is an exhibition of new artworks culminating a yearlong conversation between artists and scientists centered on climate change impacts and solutions in the Chicago region.

Through science-inspired sculpture, painting, collage and more, the artworks examine local impact—happening here and now—ranging from extreme heat to flooding to habitat loss and more. They also shine light on local solutions underway, like “cool roofs,” nature-based approaches to slowing stormwater, and backyard habitat restoration. Some imagine future possibilities.

It’s Our Future, the youth-led sustainability initiative in Oak Park-River Forest, got off to a stellar start after winning the Big Idea Contest in March 2019. Among the notable accomplishments in its first five months: an op-ed published in the Wednesday Journal (October); participation in the Climate Summit in Madrid (December); a presentation on the PlanItGreen Report Card to community leaders (December), and hosting the well-attended “Climate Live” event at L!VE Café and Creative Space (January).

Who We Expect to See Where and Doing What

Some of you might have already heard of Christian Cooper via the 2019 One Earth Film Festival screening of "Birders: The Central Park Effect." Far more of us had a first introduction to him via his disturbing encounter with a dog walker in Central Park on Memorial Day and the subsequent news reports.

"Those who have fewer resources often take the brunt of environmental degradation and pollution, but their voices and faces are now being heard and understood and seen. At long last, people are recognizing that the crucial focus of our environmental movement cannot be LED bulbs and recycling but breathable air and drinkable water. What we say about the environment must be placed in a context of justice, of anti-racism. The environmental movement in its best and broadest sense is about justice."

West Cook Wild Ones launches its 2020 Garden for Nature program by announcing grants totaling more than $4,500 to 14 nonprofit and public organizations in the Chicago area.

Garden for Nature funds projects mainly in western Cook County that engage young people in planting native gardens and natural landscapes to make their communities healthier and more beautiful.