In September 2009 I observed about Chicago [1]... from The Reader: "Under Daley the city has embarked on aggressive tree planting, installed a green roof atop City Hall, and mapped out an ambitious plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions—but failed to ensure basic recycling services, force dirty power plants [2] to clean up, or confront the city's traffic and transit problems... it did nothing to force the coal-fired power plants on the southwest side to cut emissions."
Citizen activism appears to have improved in Chicago, since then... citizens have become environmentalists, refusing to allow government to sustain dirty coal pollution and bad public health there.
That coal pollution has gone unchecked in Chicago, and will have broadly expanded in Illinois [3] under Obama leadership in Illinois and the White House, may well put a nail in the coffin of Barack Obama's presidential aspirations for 2012... and this issue should keep Obama's right-hand-man Emanuel from succeeding in his pursuit to rule over the millions of poisoned citizens of Chicago, as mayor... and should stand in the way of Obama lifting Alexi Giannoulias into Obama's former Senate seat in Illinois [4], in November.
As the Obama administration continues the Bush doctrine to deny government responsibility to protect citizens from pollution.... Jeff Biggars asks, on AlterNet: [5]"Will Rahm Emanuel and Other Chicago Mayoral Candidates Join the Clean Energy Race?"
Citizens of NEO should similarly organize against pollution in our region [6], and challenge candidates for all offices in Ohio - and for the White House - to include in their platforms plans to force our worst polluters to clean-up their coal plants and other worst pollution point sources in the state and nation... and to Clean-Up Mittal for Real!
Citizens here must become environmentalists and activists for better public health, like is happening in Chicago... where Biggars observes:
Posted by jeffbiggers [7] on @ 6:55 pmArticle printed from speakeasy: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasyURL to article: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/10/07/will-rahm-emanuel-and-other-chicago-mayoral-candidates-join-the-clean-energy-race/All candidates in Chicago’s mayoral race have one thing in common: Like millions of afflicted Chicago residents, they’re all breathing the same cankered air from the city’s two infamous Model-T-era coal-fired plants.
And this Sunday, as millions of citizens from around the world take part in the Global Work Party [8] for climate solutions, the Chicago mayoral candidates will have a chance to join their own constituents in Chicago’s race for clean air and water [9].
Dear Rahm, Carol, Tom, Luis, Rev. Meeks and other mayoral candidates: How green is your Chicago vision?
For three out of four residents (voters) polled recently in the greater Chicago area, this might be one of the most important questions for the candidates this fall.
With reportedly the highest number of LEED-certified buildings [10] in the US, and a climate action [11] plan, Mayor Daley’s touting of Chicago as the “greenest city in America [12]” has one major black eye: The Model-T-era Fisk Generation Station in Pilsen and Crawford Power Plant in Little Village [13]–where thousands of tons of toxic pollution have led to atrocious health care rates.
According to a recent Clean Air Task Force [14] study, Chicago ranks as one of the worst cities in the US for power plant mortality and health care problems. Nationwide, last month’s CAFT study found that 13,200 premature deaths and $100 billion [15] in additional health care costs are attributable to coal-fired plants.
In an extraordinary show of support for Chicago’s Clean Power Ordinance [16] to transition away from the dirty coal-fired plants and launch green jobs, national environmental leaders [17]converged this summer on the Windy City to join a growing number of aldermen, scores of citizens and environmental organizations, and concerned residents in making Chicago ground zero in the climate and clean energy movement.
Chicago is now running out of time.
[18]On this Sunday at 12:30pm, the quickly growing Chicago Clean Power Coalition will rally at the Alivio Medical Center (966 West 21st Street) for an effective and jobs-creatingclean energy platform [19].
Will Rahm Emanuel, Carol Braun, Tom Dart, Luis Gutierrez, Rev. James Meeks and other mayoral candidates join city aldermen and residents for a clean energy Chicago?
For a glimpse of the mercury, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and dozens of other hazardous substances released from coal combustion [20] in Chicago, check out this PSA on the health impacts to children - and visit here [9] for more information on this Sunday’s Clean Power Day of Action in Chicago.
Jeff Biggers is the American Book Award-winning author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland (Nation/Basic Books), among other books. Visit his website: www.jeffbiggers.com
Obama will be back asking us to vote for him in about a year... if we are still alive, in Cleveland, why should we vote for Obama again?
Why should we vote for Atrickland again now, as his pollution kills us?
Any explanations, Mr. President?
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