Action Alert: 
On April 11, 2014, the Oak Park Village Board reversed its commitment to renewable energy and voted to change our community choice aggregation investment from green to brown. (See related Chicago Tribune article.)
It may be too late to change this particular decision by the board, but it is NOT too late -- and it is crucially important -- that we use our voice to express our continuing desire to have Oak Park take leadership in building a sustainable, resilient community and to ensure that the Village Board is "on board" with us!!
If that is a message that you would like to send to the Oak Park Village Board, please consider taking the following actions. join in the Green Energy Appeal:
- Help us pack the house during the next village board MEETING, scheduled for Monday, April 21 at 8PM at Village Hall (Lombard and Madison). Our attendance will demonstrate support for green energy and sustainability policies.
- Sign the PETITION, urging the board to recommit Oak Park to 100% renewable (green) energy now. If you want to make additional comments, write to: board@oak-park.us to remind the members that we expect them to be sustainability leaders. Remember to say “Thank you!” to Trustee Colette Lueck, the lone board member who spoke in favor of choosing a green energy investment option.
- SHARE a link to the Oak Park Green Energy Appeal page with your family and friends via an email or social media. Watch for updates, background and additional action ideas.
- Stay tuned for information about how you can opt out of brown (fossil fuel-based) energy in Oak Park.
- OTHER CREATIVE ACTIONS as you are so inspired, e.g., write a letter to the editor at Wednesday Journal, Oak Leaves, Tribune, and/or Sun Times. Make signs to bring to Village Board meetings.
As Trustee Lueck said, “This [slight cost increase to support green energy] is a hit I could live with, because I think green is important to Oak Park. . . I also think it is important to the future of our world.”
We do, too!
Background
On October 18, 2011, the Oak Park Village Board approved a plan making Oak Park the first municipality in Illinois to aggregate the resident and small business energy purchasing power and invest in a 100% renewable energy program. Since then, 91 communities in the state followed suit.
Just over two years later, on April 11, 2014, the Oak Park Village Board reversed its commitment to renewable energy and voted to change our community choice aggregation investment from green to brown. (See related Chicago Tribune article.)
All of the available options included rate increases; the Oak Park Village Board chose the lowest cost option. We appreciate that the board is being cost-sensitive on our behalf, but we also know that opting for dirty energy has hidden health and climate costs that are not included in the price. These are what we can’t afford to pay!
Right here in the U.S., climate change is taking a toll on people's lives, damaging land and wildlife, threatening our food supply, and hurting the economy. Think about it: severe weather was not good for Oak Park this past winter, it is not good for the drought stricken farms of the western U.S., it is not good for the flooded Southeast, and it was not good for the people who lost homes and loved ones in Super Storm Sandy.
Most disconcertingly, the Village Board made its decision just days after the release of a United Nations report on climate change that was written by hundreds of the world's leading climate scientists. The report called for immediate policy action to reduce carbon emissions. One of the best ways to do so is to invest in renewable energy.
