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Q&A with Kyra Woods, Policy Advisor with the City of Chicago

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Q&A with Kyra Woods, Policy Advisor with the City of Chicago

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.

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Red Alert on Climate Change in United Nations Climate Report

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Red Alert on Climate Change in United Nations Climate Report

The very first finding in the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC, or simply, IPCC) August 9 report is this:

“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.”

I strongly suspect that this is the first time the word “unequivocal” has appeared in an IPCC report, given the IPPC’s “calibrated language” and the fact that these reports require both scientific and political consensus. Artist Alisa Singer illustrated one thread of the evidence for human-caused climate change.

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Reversing Environmental Rollbacks

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Reversing Environmental Rollbacks

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.

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First Virtual Movie Club Night A Great Success

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First Virtual Movie Club Night A Great Success

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.

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GCC Midwest Becomes One Earth Collective

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GCC Midwest Becomes One Earth Collective

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.

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Art Speaks Louder Than Scientific Words

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Art Speaks Louder Than Scientific Words

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.

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What Happens When Artists and Climate Scientists Meet?

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What Happens When Artists and Climate Scientists Meet?

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.

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Young Climate Activists Make No Small Plans

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Young Climate Activists Make No Small Plans

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).

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Treading Toward Equity: A Conversation with Ana Garcia Doyle

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Treading Toward Equity: A Conversation with Ana Garcia Doyle

"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."

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Slipping on the Climate Crisis While Contending with the Covid Crisis

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Slipping on the Climate Crisis While Contending with the Covid Crisis

A few weeks after much of the world locked down to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the environmental picture looked pretty rosy. Automobile traffic plummeted, causing a big drop in emissions, and images from NASA showed a dramatic drop in air pollution.

For environmentalists everywhere, this was good news. Sadly, it was too good to last.