There’s a green revolution happening in Illinois, and we’re not just talking about citizens recycling cans and bottles, buying organic fruits and vegetables, or even driving hybrid cars. We’re talking about an environmental movement that’s happening on an unprecedented scale.
Statewide, 91 communities are using 100 percent renewable energy, according to a report titled “Leading from the Middle: How Illinois Communities Unleashed Renewable Energy” from the Environmental Law & Policy Center, Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, LEAN Energy US, the Illinois Solar Energy Association and George Washington University Solar Institute.
All of this has happened because of one small thing: Electric deregulation (aka allowing communities to choose their own electricity supply). As a result, Illinois utility providers are competing on the open market for customers, rather than one large entity dictating how much power costs. Each of these 91 local governments voted to purchase power through renewable energy providers (wind, solar, and geothermal sources). And because there is power in numbers, these individual towns were able to leverage their size in exchange for discounts from the energy providers. It’s a winning scenario for all the stakeholders — clean energy companies get more customers while residents get sustainable energy for cheaper prices — and one that more communities should follow.
MORE: How One State Is Making It Easier and Cheaper to Use Wind Power
All told, Illinois customers saved as much as $37 billion over the past 16 years. Additionally, these communities have saved more than 6 terawatt hours, which is the stunning equivalent of taking more than 1 million cars off the road or 250,000 homes off the grid.
“The findings of [the March 7] report are an example of Illinois leading our country’s movement to a more sustainable future from the community level,” said Dick Durbin, a U.S. senator from Illinois. “Communities up and down the state have banded together to pursue renewable electricity, reducing both their utility costs and the state’s environmental footprint. Illinois is showing what can happen when change at the local level is harnessed to create a collective movement, and I hope other states take notice.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Tag: Illinois
Meet the Man Who’s Putting Dry Socks on the Feet of the Homeless
Tom McNamara knows the importance of listening. So much so that he’s decided to spend his golden years listening to complete strangers from coast to coast. And while he does that, he’s going to outfit their feet, too.
As a special needs teacher in Illinois, McNamara spent his entire career listening to people that few others paid attention to. When he retired two years ago, he wanted to keep making a difference in people’s lives: “I wanted to continue doing something, but I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do,” he told David Karas of the Christian Science Monitor. “I bought some socks and handed them out in my local area, and I got a fabulous response.”
That simple act determined McNamara’s future plans. He sold his house, bought an RV, and embarked on a cross-country mission to deliver new socks to homeless people, while also drawing attention to their plight and serving as a sympathetic listener to them. Living off of his retirement funds, he’s already given out 4,000 pairs of socks in 17 states and doesn’t have any plans for stopping. He raises some money for the footwear from friends through a GoFundMe account and makes impromptu negotiations with store managers for bulk discounts as well.
“My goal is to draw attention to the homeless, to have people realize that they are human beings [who] want to have conversations with us,” he told Karas. “They want to feel like they are in the same place as you are, and that’s why I do it in a traveling mode.”
MORE: Homelessness Didn’t Stop the Music From this Teenager
Meet the ‘Million-Dollar Scholar’ Who Wants to Help Other Disadvantaged Kids Pay for College
A year after Chicago native Derrius Quarles’ father was murdered, social services took the five-year-old and his brother from his mother’s custody. He spent the next nine years in foster care and began a dangerous life of “crime and fast money” until one simple act of kindness turned everything around. After arriving late to a high school biology class one day, Quarles was confronted by his teacher, who took him aside and told him, “You have so much potential, and yet you choose to waste it.”
That display of encouragement was enough to inspire Quarles to dedicate himself to his studies and earn more than $1 million in academic scholarships and financial aid. He graduated from Morehouse College, determined to help other young people finance their education. So he wrote a book on the subject, “MillionDollarScholar: Winning the Scholarship Race,” and founded the business Million Dollar Scholar, offering downloads and an app that can help high school students discover scholarships they qualify for, free writing evaluation, resume templates, and online practice interviews.
In a video on his website, Quarles said, “I was going to use what happened in the past as a catalyst to really be able to change myself and use that as some type of inspiration to say that is not what I want for my family when I get older, that is not what I want for myself. I can be different.”
MORE: The Neediest Students Couldn’t Afford His Help, So This Test-Prep Prodigy Stepped Up
These Kids Are Designing the Future — and 3-D Printing It in Their Classroom
How exactly does a 3-D printer work? You can ask the students at Glen Grove Elementary School, who are using one to solve potential urban problems. The students are taking part in the City X Project, an international educational program that challenges kids to come up with ideas for new devices that could help the imaginary residents of City X. The students use tablets to design their objects, then make models out of clay. Then they can use the 3-D printer to create real plastic prototypes. The kids at Glen Grove, outside of Chicago, are working on a device that would clean up a river after an oil spill, for example, and a pair of headphones that a city dweller might use to dampen urban din. The overall goal of the City X program is to use technology to teach students valuable problem-solving skills. It’s not only a great way to get students thinking and learning about design, but also to prepare them to work with the cities and technology of the future. Watching the kids build their models layer by layer with the 3-D printer, one teacher described it as the “coolest thing in the world.”
Chicago Wants to Teach African-American History Year Round. Here’s Why.
The state of Illinois requires that schools teach African-American history, but in most schools, that really only happens during Black History Month or around Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. So Chicago Public Schools introduced a new curriculum guide to help teachers discuss African and African American subjects during core classes throughout the year. The interdisciplinary curriculum goes beyond slavery and the civil rights movement to engage students in lessons on the contributions Africans and African Americans have made at the local and national levels throughout history. The Chicago school district has also begun designing a similar curriculum for Latino and Latin American studies. Officials hope the new programs will not only deepen students’ knowledge and appreciation for their cultures, but will help build stronger student communities within Chicago schools.
Six-Year-Old Saves Family From Tornado
Six-year-old Brevin Hunter’s astuteness in class paid off in a big way recently. The Illinois boy learned about tornado warning protocols in class, and as a result, urged his mother to head to the basement when he heard tornado sirens while playing on his XBox. Since the sky looked clear at the time, his mother thought it was a false alarm, but he was relentless. After finally giving in, the Hunter family went underground, and took the necessary precautions. A short time later, an EF-4 tornado with estimated wind speeds of up to 190 miles per hour slammed into their home, destroying it beyond repair. His mother credits him for saving their lives, and says she wouldn’t have gone downstairs if he hadn’t been so adamant about taking safety.