New: LVEJO announces the release of:
 Rising Tides Guide to bogus climate change solutions.  PDF (3 MB)
We encourage you to read this booklet and share it with friends and family.

The COAL-OLYMPICS! In Little Village!  
Las COAL-OLIMPIADAS! DE LA VILLITA!
Download CR Postcard for other orgs
Download this image as postcards of Word

PowerShift in Washington, DC

"Weathering the Hood '08-'09" with great picture examples of young people working together to help green our planet and save on LVEJO and community member's utilities.

PDF maps: Crawford and Fisk Coal Plants in Proximity to Schools | Fisk Plant in Proximity to Schools | Crawford Plant in Proximity to Schools
Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) database
Our dirty skies -Trib slideshow of Chicago's biggest polluters. They sit right in our backyards.
Play Audio of 2007 Eco-Justice meeting (streaming audio)           A Coastal NationArt on the Street final proposal
The Cradle to Grave Info:  Kentuckians for the Commonwealth      Comments regarding LVEJO

New: Clean Air ad from the Reality campaign, by the Coen Brothers

 

Mr. King Coal's Neighborhood: Washington DC, Won't You Be My Neighbor?

From the Huffington Post article, By Jeff Biggers  Author, The United States of Appalachia | Posted April 29, 2009 | 10:09 PM (EST)

What does a Wyoming rancher, a Navajo elder, a Southern community organizer, a Latino immigrant organizer from Chicago, a young indigenous Ottawa woman from Michigan, and an Appalachian coal miner's widow have in common?

All of their neighborhoods are under deadly assault from King Coal. And all of these six American heroes have journeyed to Washington, DC this week, on their own dime--unlike the paid hacks from King Coal's payrolls--as part of the First 100 Days of the Power Past Coal movement to testify to representatives from Congress, the EPA and the Council on Environmental Quality about their outrageous living conditions under government regulated coal mining operations and coal-fired plants.

In Mr. King Coal's neighborhood, these are their daily burdens: Mercury poisoning, gall bladder disease, black lung disease, devastated and impoverished strip-mined communities, depleted and contaminated watersheds, and toxic-draped and ailing neighborhoods.

If Washington, DC doesn't have time to journey to the coalfield neighborhoods and toxic corridors of coal-fired plants, then the coalfield neighbors and coal-fired plant residents have journeyed to Washington, DC to bring a bit of truth and clarity to the clean energy debate.

In truth, it's time for top level public servants--like Nancy Sutley, Lisa Jackson and Ken Salazar--who are slowly determining the fate of our nation's oldest and most diverse mountain range and its abuse by one of the most scandalous human rights and environmental violations, to actually see firsthand the horrific impact of mountaintop removal on our nation's citizens in Appalachia, and stripmining operations and coal-fired plants in other parts of the country.

It's easier to compromise with King Coal representatives inside the comfort zone of the Beltway, than in one coal-slurry contaminated area around Prenter, West Virginia, for example, where 98 percent of the residents have had their gall bladder removed.

In the meantime, these are some of the stories Washington, DC representatives heard yesterday:

L.J. Turner is a rancher and member of the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), a network for grassroots organizations from seven states that include 10,000 members and 45 local community chapters. L.J. runs the ranch his family homesteaded in 1918, in Campbell County, Wyoming. Strip mines encroach on one edge of his ranch, while oil and coalbed methane development deplete and pollute the water resources vital to his operation. Aquifers have been destroyed and stock water wells impacted. The loss of water threatens the ranch's viability. L.J.'s story is far from unique in the west, as irresponsible energy development scars private and public lands in rural communities. Strip mine pits have displaced grazing cattle and shattered the western landscape's iconic imagery. L.J. is working to be part of the energy solution and is negotiating to develop a utility scale wind farm on his ranch. He is one of many cowboys who have been fighting to keep their way of life for over 30 years. For a virtual visit to LJ Turner's neighborhood, see: www.worc.org

Marie Gladue Dine comes from the Black Mesa region of northeastern Arizona, where she works with the Black Mesa Water Coalition to fight Peabody Energy's controversial Black Mesa coal mine and to promote green jobs and clean energy among the Hopi and Navajo communities. Peabody 's coal mining operations on Black Mesa have for more than 35 years been dependent on a sole source of drinking water for Navajo and Hopi communities. Between 1969 and 2005, Peabody pumped an average of 4,600 acre-feet of water annually from the Navajo Aquifer, resulting in significant damage to community water supplies. According to Gladue, the coal mining operations have taken sacred lands. Her Indigenous community recognizes Black Mesa as a female mountain, water as her lifeblood, and the coal as her liver. Respect for Mother Earth would mean leaving the coal in the ground. For a virtual visit to Marie Gladue's neighborhood, see: www.blackmesawatercoalition.org 

Mike Cherin, a resident of Rutherford County, N.C., lives 16 miles from the Cliffside Coal Plant, the site of an 800-megawatt coal-fired facility currently under construction by Duke Energy. The plant, if allowed online, would emit 6 million tons of additional carbon dioxide annually, threatening the health of nearby residents, and causing significant environmental concern, including global warming and mercury contamination. Cherin and many of his neighbors are diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and oppose the Cliffside Coal Plant for its threat to public health. Cherin and his wife, an R.N. at the local hospital, are community organizers with the Canary Coalition, a clean air advocacy group in western N.C. which recently helped rally several hundred community members in opposition to the Cliffside Coal Plant, resulting in the highest number of arrests in protest of coal in American history. Recognizing that his region has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, Cherin is an outspoken advocate for green collar jobs to build solar panels and wind turbines, which could fill the region's empty factories. For a virtual visit to Mike Cherin's neighborhood, see: www.canarycoalition.org

Towana Yepa is 22 and a member of the Indigenous communities of Jemez Pueblo and The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. She is fluent in the Towa language and knows the traditional life ways of the Desert Peoples cultures and the Great Lakes cultures. Her tribes' lands are on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, where the deposition of mercury from coal-fired power plants across the lake has ruined the tribes' water supplies and rendered the water unusable for drinking or fishing. The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians fought off a proposed coal plant four years ago in Filer Township, MI. Now, the Indigenous Tribes in Michigan are facing eight more proposed coal plants.

Lorelei Scarbro is a community organizer at Coal River Mountain Watch. Lorelei is the granddaughter, daughter, and widow of West Virginia coal miners. The home in which she lives was built by her late husband, who passed away due to black lung. He was an underground coal miner for 35 years. He is buried in the family cemetery which is adjacent to their home. Lorelei's land, home, the family cemetery, and surrounding environment are now faced with the threat of mountaintop removal coal mining on Coal River Mountain. There is a 6,600 acre mountaintop removal site proposed above her home - but she is joining with local residents to promote a 328 MW wind farm instead. More than 15,000 acres in Lorelei's community have already been destroyed by mountaintop removal - Coal River Mountain is the last remaining mountain with wind potential in that area. The Coal River Wind project would preserve her family's land and history for generations to come, as well as prevent further destruction in her community. For a virtual visit to Lorelei Scarbro's neighborhood, see: www.crmw.net , and www.coalriverwind.org

Samuel Villaseñor is the Clean Power organizer with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), in the southwest side of Chicago. Samuel arrived to Little Village from Huerta Vieja, Iguala, Guerrero in Mexico, when he was two years old. Little Village, Chicago is the second largest Latino community in the nation outside of East L.A., with a population of 100,000 within a 5 mile radius. In Little Village alone, 40 deaths, 2800 asthma attacks and 500 emergency room visits annually are attributed to the two coal-fired power plants situated near the residential area. To bring attention to the health problems associated with coal burning, Villaseñor has helped to organize the Coal-Olympics, a creative community event that pressures the Mayor to invest in long term green jobs, public transit, and housing, instead of Chicago's Olympic bid. Villaseñor's campaign also trains young people in the community on weatherization and retrofitting, to help older residents make their homes energy efficient. The multi-generational activity promotes alternatives to coal and job creation in the city. LVEJO saw a major victory last year when the Chicago Mayor publicly recognized Little Village's two coal plants as responsible for half of the city's pollution. For a virtual visit to Samuel Villaseñor's community, see: www.lvejo.org

Or, check out the inspiring work of his companera Marisol Becerra at Little Village Environmental Justice Organization:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz-O_xOCAOQ&feature=player_embedded

Pictures from The NoGamesChicago Protest on April 2nd‏

Revised Coal-Olympics pictures:

...for more pictures, click here

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Hey Sen. Durbin: FutureGen Dogs Bark, Green Caravan Moves On

"In retrospect, FutureGen appears to have been nothing more than a public relations ploy for Bush Administration officials to make it appear to the public and the world that the United States was doing something to address global warming despite its refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol."

That's one of the wakeup calls on the delusions of "clean coal" in a knockout new report by the Majority Staff of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the Committee on Science and Technology. Entitled "The Passing of FutureGen: How the World's Premier Clean Coal Technology Project Came to be Abandoned by the Department of Energy," the House report doesn't pull any punches, giving a blow-by-blow chronicle of the extraordinary bungling and misrepresentation of the FutureGen "clean coal" campaign:

"...what DOE really created was more of a Humpty Dumpty. Just like Humpty Dumpty, when FutureGen fell off the wall in its "restructured" form, it broke apart, and all of DOE's press releases and PowerPoint presentations couldn't put it back together again.

"The end result of this trail of mismanagement? Progress on the great challenges to harness technology to build a greener energy future was stalled, and the United States abandoned its global leadership role.

"No one - except those who may have drunk the Kool-Aid at DOE - was surprised at the
anemic response to the FOA. In the end, almost no one came to DOE's party, and it wasn't the party that had been advertised in the invitation. There were four applications, two of which did not come close to meeting the criteria. Neither of the survivors proposed an IGCC/CCS plant, but hoped to test out experimental carbon capture technology on existing facilities. It was reported that even those applications were incomplete. In January of 2009, Secretary Bodman and his deputies slipped out of town minus viable projects or even press releases claiming success."
 

Joseph Romm, as usual, has done a great job reviewing the report. The full report can be read here (pdf).

Makes you wonder how much Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin knew about this charade. He recently told the Washington Post of his death-defying crusade to bring FutureGen to Illinois: "This has been my longest, most difficult battle in Congress."

I have tremendous admiration for my senior Senator from Illinois--he's hands down one of the most effective, insightful and progressive members in Congress. We're proud of him; we support him; we vote for him. He's our voice in Washington, DC.

And at a time when the great clean green energy caravan has been launched, and the Green Jobs initiative reflects the bright future, we're confounded by his no-holds-barred dedication to the barking dogs of dirty coal, Peabody Energy and the sham of FutureGen.

Durbin keeps pounding nails into the snow to keep the winter of coal alive.

Perhaps he might want to talk to the high school kids in the Little Village in Chicago, who are planning to run with respirators in a faux "Coal Olympics" to demonstrate the environmental costs of coal-fired plants in their lives.

Perhaps Sen. Durbin might want to consider the devastating realities of coal extraction in Illinois--from both underground and strip mining--and its dirty trail of processing, transportation and finally burning and storage of coal ash.

Perhaps he also needs to visit some great American farmers in Illinois who are fighting the loss of their fertile lands to longwall mining.

Perhaps he needs to hang out at the doctor's office in southern Illinois with some retired coal miners, and hear their stories about black lung--still today, over 1,000 coal miners die annually from a disease we have known about since 1831.

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PowerShift in Washington, DC

LVEJO's Youth Group YAOTL (Young Activist Organizing as Today Leader's), Samuel Villasenor, Clean Power Organizer, and Lili Molina, Youth Organizer attended PowerShift in Washington, DC. Marisol Becerra, LVEJO's Acting Chair was one of the keynote speakers opening the event, Rafael Hurtado and Carloyna Macias, LVEJO Board Members, hosted a workshop with over 200 participatns. YATOL members hosted conversations and outreached to to other youth around the myth of clean coal and cap and trade.

LVEJO participated in the direct action to shut down the coal power plant in Washington, DC and bring light to the Crawford, Fisk and other Coal Power Plants in Illinois. With the succesful shut down of the DC plant we invite all those at Power Shift and at home to continue the fight for renewable energy and shut down dirty coal.

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Neighbors' demands met as park plans develop

Residents say they feel empowered to make sure site is clean, safe

By D. Diane Douglas | Special to the Tribune    |    January 28, 2009

The Little Village neighborhood is finally getting its first public park—but it's planned for a hazardous waste site.

The folks at the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization told the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District, "Not so fast."

The site—the former Celotex plant at 28th Street and Sacramento Avenue—is part of the federal Superfund program, which identifies and cleans up abandoned hazardous waste sites. The soil on the 24-acre site is contaminated.

Residents also were concerned about traffic. A 2006 study by the group found one crash every two days at the intersection near the site.

A city camera now monitors the intersection and a new stoplight sits a block away, said Kim Wasserman, the organization's coordinator.

Wasserman's group threw another wrench in the works, angering their own neighbors who have been itching for a new park.

"We said, 'Before you start on the park, we need to focus on people's homes,' " Wasserman said, referring to surrounding homes suspected of being contaminated too. "That started a 2-year battle with the EPA: What kinds of tests? How deep?"

In the end, residents and the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization got more than they asked for. "The EPA wanted to test 44 homes; 175 homes were cleaned up," she said, to standards higher than what the government initially offered.

Resident Martha Castellano, who has a grandson with a blood disorder, said she doesn't know the cause but she feels empowered to make sure the air around her home at 27th and Whipple Streets gets cleaner.

"We'd like to have green space and trees and the plants," said Castellano, 65, a retired bus driver who said her family must go to U.S. Cellular Field to find a patch of green. She said she is elated about the new park, but added it must be built in the safest manner possible.

"We had a little bit of a struggle with the city to get the lights on the streets and sidewalks," Castellano said. "But now we can see the cleaning trucks go by. I'm gonna fight to get what we're supposed to get. I'm gonna do it not only for myself—it's for my neighbors, for my kids."

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From pollution fight, seeds of change sprout

By D. Diane Douglas | Special to the Tribune

January 28, 2009

Somebody needed to clear the air in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood.

For years, many residents grew tomatoes and cucumbers—but not in the ground because they suspected the soil in their yards wasn't safe enough for the food they would put on the family table.

"Homeowners who knew better grew produce in pots," said Kim Wasserman, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization coordinator. "Renters or people who hadn't been here that long didn't know any better."

And for years residents assumed an awful burning smell that permeated the air was annoying, yet safe to breathe. They adjusted uncomfortably to a film of dull gray ash that blanketed windows in the summertime.

"People in the neighborhood would be like, 'What's that smell?' " said Rafael Hurtado, 18, a high school senior and group volunteer who has suffered from asthma since 4th grade. He reasoned, "If it was dangerous, they would have told us by now."

That tacit acceptance in what is one of the Midwest's largest Mexican-American communities concerned the organization, which decided to do something about it. Members started giving Toxic Tours.

Volunteers guide residents on a walking tour of chemical sites, manufacturing and plastics plants and brownfields to heighten awareness of environmental hazards and provide tools for keeping government officials accountable for monitoring and cleaning up dangerous emissions, deposits and more.

Robin Saha, a University of Montana assistant professor of environmental studies, wrote a book about grass-roots efforts to tackle environmental racism around the country. Saha said the tours are a sign "people are taking what's good and bad about their communities and owning it. In the process, they're able to involve community members, raise awareness of the issues that matter to them and, frankly, call some industries out on the mat."

Environmental justice scholars identified two decades ago what became known as "environmental racism." A 2007 University of Michigan study found most hazardous waste facilities are located in minority areas. Another study from the University of Colorado at Boulder found that environmental inequality exists in most large urban areas.

The toxic tours are a way to get residents excited about learning how to communicate concerns to businesses and government officials. They learn to be alert for public meetings, how to request documents in English and Spanish and how to follow through on complaints and promises by officials.

Wasserman said governments sometimes take the easy way out of solving an environmental problem rather than the safest.

"They want to argue to the decimal point what's acceptable and not acceptable," Wasserman said about issues like clearing the ash and replacing yard soil contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons—a form of industrial waste from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

Toxic Tours are the result of the green revolution going grass-roots, Wasserman said.

Organizers from environmental justice groups say sightseeing can be effective because it shows up close how the same industries that provide jobs, products and services can do a better job of fueling the economy when they choose to or are pressed to use greener technologies.

Wasserman said she believes the Little Village environmental group, in working with—and sometimes disagreeing with—other community stakeholders and politicians, has boosted the health and safety of residents.

"The smell is still around but not as bad as it used to be," said Wasserman, whose group worked with the Environmental Protection Agency and Meyer Steel Drum Inc. The company, at 3201 S. Millard Ave., used to send ash into the air but now uses a vacuum system to suck up the ash.

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Chicago Communities Fight for Clean Air
by: John Dagys

On a chilly autumn morning at the corner of 31st Street and Kostner Avenue, young athletes competed for gold medals. Teams of three fought through the coal dig and leapt over the coal hurdle before sprinting to the bus dash, ending their journey at a cardboard cutout signifying a downtown museum.

No, this wasn't the Olympics, but instead the second running of the Coalympics, a competition in the Little Village neighborhood aimed at
raising awareness to two nearby coal-fired power plants that pollute the city skies.

The Crawford Generating Station at 3501 S. Pulaski Road in Little Village and Fisk Generating Station at 1111 W. Cermak in Pilsen are two of the handful remaining coal power plants in the state. Both plants, owned by Midwest Generation, a subsidiary of California-based Edison International, lie in direct paths to the proposed 2016 Olympics.

Activists like the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, which hosted the Coalympics event, want both plants shut down for the sake of their community and the possible future Olympic games.

"This is not just for the Olympics but it's for the people who have lived here their whole lives and are affected by it every day," said Alex
Martinez, 17, who took part in the event. "For all of our voices to be heard, we need to work as a group to make this happen."

Organization statistics link more than 40 premature deaths each year to power plant pollution, as well as 1,000 asthma attacks and 500 emergency room visits. Health conditions could worsen in the years to come, especially considering that over 100 various schools lie within a two-mile radius of a plant.

The Crawford and Fisk stations combine for 230 pounds of mercury emission each year, in addition to pumping out 17,675 tons of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, according to recent EPA statistics.

Two years ago, Gov. Rod Blagojevich passed a statewide mercury resolution bill, calling for a cut in emissions by 60 percent. This law will come into effect in 2015, not soon enough for many residents.

"If you look at the statistics, we need something now," said Samuel Villasenor, clean power community organizer. "Those numbers are just going to increase if we wait around and do nothing."

With over half the 95,000 Little Village residents under the age of 25, Villasenor knows action needs to be taken now. But he said the
organization's seven-year-long fight will continue with a unique approach.

"We definitely need to be proactive and reactive," he said. "We need electricity, so we're promoting efficiency. If people can cut down on how
much electricity they use, we would need to build less."

Villasenor and two-dozen other supporters gathered to hold the Coalympics, a short competition which saw youth contest three obstacles, all aimed at helping bring pollution issues to light. At the end of the games, three tie-dye t-shirt wearing competitors claimed the top prize, which were gold-painted asthma inhalers.

The goal of the event, Villasenor said, was to gain media interest and awareness of this ongoing issue.

Activists are now calling on the mayor to shut down the coal power plants and help introduce new forms of renewable energy to fill the energy void.  This includes eco-friendly methods such as geothermal, wind and solar power.


"If our mayor claims to be as green as he really is, these are things that he should be indulging in his city to show off," said Kimberly Wasserman, LVEJO coordinator. "So when the Olympics come, he can say, 'Look, not only did we shut down the coal power plants for the sake of our residents, we're trying our hand at renewable energy.'

"That would put Mayor Daley on the cover of Time Magazine if he could pull off something like that."

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DIA DE LOS MUERTOS / DAY OF THE DEAD
vigil on NOV 1st.

Residents from Little Village and Pilsen come together on Dia de Los Muertos to remember those who have passed away due to Midwest Generations coal power plants located in Little Village and Pilsen, causing more than 40 deaths a year, 1000 asthma attacks a year and 550 Emergency hospitals visits a year.

WE REMEMBER!!!

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BY POPULAR DEMAND, THE COALYMPICS II

Community residents and students gather with Chicago activists to participate in LVEJO's coalympics II. Gathered at the corner of Kostner and 31st across the Little Village Lawndale High School, blocks away from the coal fired power plant, students participated in the coal games to draw attention to the problem of air pollution in Little Village and Chicago, caused by the Midwest Generation Coal Power Plant located in Little Village.

The participants took part in traditional Olympics events such as, The Coal Dig, The Coal plant Jump and finally The CTA Dash Race. These events mimicked real Olympic Games and where infused with an environmental justice twist, to address the issue of air quality and public transportation, especially since Mayor Dailey wants to bring the games to Chicago in 2016. In order to even consider Chicago for the games we must clean up our act and close down the two COAL POWER PLANTS in Chicago (in the Little Village and Pilsen community).

*** LETS SHOW THE WORLD THE GREEN CITY WE SAY WE ARE, BY CLOSING DOWN THE COAL POWER PLANTS BY FEB 2009 AND REPLACING THEM BOTH WITH GREEN CAMPUSES***

Preparation of the event - Pics: 852,853,854,856,857,881,883,884

PARTICIPANTS PICS: 870,871

COMPETITION PICS: 890,891,893,896,897

AUDIENCE PICS: 906,907,911

AWARD CEREMONY PICS: 902,903,904,905

*** LETS SHOW THE WORLD THE GREEN CITY WE SAY WE ARE, BY CLOSING DOWN THE COAL POWER PLANTS BY FEB 2009 AND REPLACING THEM BOTH WITH GREEN CAMPUSES***
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Follow Up:

"Coalympics" Bring Attention to Pollution in Little Village"

11/20/2008  by John Dagys.  

Nov. 20, 2008 - On a chilly autumn morning at the corner of 31st Street and Kostner Avenue, young athletes competed for gold medals. Teams of three fought through the coal dig and leapt over the coal hurdle before sprinting to the bus dash, ending their journey at a cardboard cutout signifying a downtown museum.

No, this wasn't the Olympics, but instead the second running of the Coalympics, a competition in the Little Village neighborhood aimed at raising awareness of two nearby coal-fired power plants that pollute the city's skies.

The Crawford Generating Station at 3501 S. Pulaski in Little Village and the Fisk Generating Station at 1111 W. Cermak in Pilsen are two of the handful of remaining coal power plants in the state. Both plants, owned by Midwest Generation, a subsidiary of California-based Edison International, lie directly in the way of the proposed 2016 Olympics, according to local activists.

Groups such as the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), which hosted the Coalympics event, want both plants shut down for the sake of their community and the possible future Olympic games.

"This is not just for the Olympics, but it's for the people who have lived here their whole lives and are affected by it every day," said Alex Martinez, 17, who took part in the event. "For all of our voices to be heard, we need to work as a group to make this happen."

Statistics from the LVEJO link more than 40 premature deaths each year to power plant pollution, as well as 1,000 asthma attacks and 500 emergency room visits. The group says health conditions could worsen in the years to come, especially considering that more than 100 schools lie within a two-mile radius of a plant.

The Crawford and Fisk stations combined produce 230 pounds of mercury emissions each year, in addition to pumping out 17,675 tons of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, according to recent EPA estimates.

"If you look at the statistics, we need something now," said Samuel Villasenor, clean power community organizer for LVEJO. "Those numbers are just going to increase if we wait around and do nothing."

With over half the 95,000 Little Village residents under the age of 25, Villasenor knows action needs to be taken now. But he said the organization's seven-year-long fight will continue with a unique approach.

"We definitely need to be proactive and reactive," he said. "We need electricity, so we're promoting efficiency. If people can cut down on how much electricity they use, we would need to build less."

Villasenor and two-dozen other supporters gathered to hold the Coalympics, a short competition which saw youth contest three obstacles, all aimed at helping bring pollution issues to light. At the end of the games, three tie-dye t-shirt wearing competitors claimed the top prizes, which were gold-painted asthma inhalers.

The goal of the event, Villasenor said, was to build media interest and awareness of this ongoing issue.

Activists are now calling on the mayor to shut down the coal power plants and help introduce new forms of renewable energy to fill the energy void. This includes eco-friendly methods such as geothermal, wind and solar power.

"If our mayor claims to be as green as he really is, these are things that he should be indulging in his city to show off," said Kimberly Wasserman, a LVEJO coordinator. "So when the Olympics come, he can say, 'Look, not only did we shut down the coal power plants for the sake of our residents; we're trying our hand at renewable energy.'"

"That would put Mayor Daley on the cover of Time Magazine, if he could pull off something like that."

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LVEJO and community advocates pay a little visit to Mayor Daley on "National Boss Day"
to demand clean air and better public transit, NOW!

Before the Olympics on 2016

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Press conference at City Hall with concerns regarding the Olympic strategy. 

click on any image for full size view

Fisk and Crawford Power Plants in Illinois

People-on-the-street interviews conducted by YAOTL (Youth Activists Organizing Tomorrow's Leaders)