The Plastic Bag Store may appear to be any other storefront grocery; however, the items found here are all created from trash picked up off of New York City’s streets. Inside, you'll find your healthy and hearty kale made from L.L. Bean delivery bags, oranges made from thrown away Toys "R" Us bags, some “Bagarino” frozen pizza, and "Bag and Jerry's” Ice Cream. You'll even find some of your favorite magazines like “Bag Appétit” and “Bagmopolitan.”
Each year, the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest receives amazing short film entries from all across the U.S. The submissions are rolling in ahead of the Jan. 5 deadline, and we are preparing to evaluate them. In 2022, we are excited to announce a new prize level—“The Environmental Activism Prize”—to elevate both the young filmmakers and the organizations on the frontlines of climate change activism.
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).
When most people retire, they kick back, take cruises, and visit the grandchildren. Sally Stovall was not most people. She did, indeed, relish visiting her grandchildren, but after she retired from a career in organizational development, Sally embarked on a new, vibrant career as climate activist and community organizer.
In September 2010, Sally and her partner, Dick Alton, were worried about global warming and decided to hold a community meeting to see if others felt the same way. Out of the woodwork poured a cohort of people with the same concerns --no real surprise in progressive Oak Park.
The Pivot Arts Festival and Chicago Community Climate Partners will present an evening of Art and Activism from 5:30 to 8:40 p.m. Saturday, June 9, at Loyola University’s Institute for Environmental Sustainability at 6349 N. Kenmore Ave., in Chicago.
The evening begins with a reception and tours of the LEED-certified, sustainable building at 5:30 p.m. A pre-performance panel will convene at 6:30 p.m., before "Not Every Mountain," to discuss the impact of climate change locally, legislative victories, and arts activism.
During the first half of May, tens of thousands of people on six continents held protest actions under the banner of “Break Free From Fossil Fuels.” Called for by 350.org and organized by hundreds of regional and national environmental and social justice organizations, each action was unique, but the purpose was the same: to keep fossil fuels in the ground and build a just transition to a new kind of 100% renewable economy … and do it now.
The One Earth Film Festival's film, "The TrueCost," inspired us to look for ways to act, and we found Fashion Revolution Week (April 18-24), a week of activism designed to build awareness about the true costs of fashion, including social injustice and environmental degradation.
Will you join us? Two easy steps:
1. Take a picture of the tag of your favorite clothing.
2. Tweet or post it to the fashion brand or store's social media account with the hashtag:
#WhoMadeMyClothes
The United Nations held its first Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972. The outcome of that conference was an Action Plan consisting of 109 recommendations for financial and institutional capacity building to deal with the challenges of environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change. That’s right—climate change has been on the international environmental agenda for over 40 years. The delegates at Stockholm also adopted a declaration calling for a second Conference on the Human Environment.
