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IEC Blog

The Environmental Case for Voting in the 2020 Election

Reclaimed Heritage Farm: A year later and a flock larger

Jen Walling’s List of Must-see Treasures in Southern Illinois

Green Profiling: When Open Spaces Aren’t Open for All

10 Great Illinois Spots and the Land and Water Conservation Fund

Life Without Running Water During COVID-19

father helps son at kitchen sink

The Truth About Illinois, the Great Feeder of the World

crops

Earth Day 50

Our Top Stay-at-Home Sustainability Tips

IEC’s Top Tip to Save the Planet: Civics and Advocacy

lobby day sign

Cover Crops and the 200 Year Nutrient Pollution Gap

Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

Lead Poisoning Awareness Week

Reclaimed Heritage: How Simple Appreciation is Better for Us and the Planet

Introducing IEC Staff Picks

The Price of Climate Change

Team IEC on Capitol Hill

Bringing Lawmakers Out of Their Office Buildings and into Nature

Cache River

Illinois Has the Greenest Cannabis Bill in the Country

The Critical Need for Water Infrastructure Funding

Clean Water

What joining the US Climate Alliance means for Illinois

Did Illinois just elect the most pro-environment General Assembly ever?

The Environmental Case for Voting in the 2020 Election

By: Jen Walling, Executive Director People often ask for advice on ways that the everyday person can actually make a difference for our environment. Voting always makes my top five list. Here’s why: Elections deeply impact environmental policy. So I hope that you have already voted or plan to cast your vote before the polls close tomorrow.  With Election Day right around the corner, I want to take the time to remind you that your vote matters. I understand that some people have grown skeptical of this premise, but let me offer a bit of proof for why I know this to be true. In 2014–just six years ago–a resolution denying climate change, supporting coal, and opposing the federal Clean Power Plan passed the Illinois House with a vote of 66-32. Environmentalists fought hard to defeat this resolution, but ultimately, the majority of the General Assembly voted in favor of

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November 2, 2020

Reclaimed Heritage Farm: A year later and a flock larger

By Crystal Kern, Finance Director This year hasn’t been quite what I had in mind when I was saying goodbye to 2019.  I’m sure a lot of folks feel the same.  It has only been a year since the last blog about my farm, Reclaimed Heritage.  We had well organized plans of planting various crops and trees this year but COVID had other plans. Regardless, I’m welcoming each day with a new perspective and open mind. Okra Eggplant Pumpkin Cucumber Oxheart Tomato Previous Next Now more than ever, food security is on people’s mind as we see issues such as the right to garden and cottage food laws becoming significant topics of discussion.  Our family is fortunate enough to have the space to grow a big vegetable garden.  As I write this, I’m reminded of the food I have available right now just a short walk from my door. I’m

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October 12, 2020

Earth Day 50

Today, the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. This milestone provides us all an opportunity to reflect on the progress we’ve made and the work we still have to do. The Illinois Environmental Council formed shortly after the first Earth Day in 1975, as leaders in the state looked to convert the excitement of the time into a vehicle for lasting change.  We reached out to a few long-standing members of IEC to get their perspectives to share with you. Virginia Scott joined IEC in 1977 and later assumed the role of executive director. Virginia remains involved with IEC today, and is one of my personal heroes. She recalls that,“IEC rode in on the first wave of environmental enthusiasm that we experienced in the 1970’s. Grassroots environmentalists saw a lack of presence for their cause at the State Capitol and asked ‘Can we work together? Do we want

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April 22, 2020

Our Top Stay-at-Home Sustainability Tips

By Jen Walling | IEC Executive Director When so many of us are spending more time than usual at home due to the novel corona virus, Team IEC is sharing some of our favorite home sustainability tips and resources to help give a boost to our planet and your pocketbook. If you’ve had a chance to check out our blog post about the most important thing you can do to help save our planet, you already know that one of our top tips is to build relationships with your neighbors. You’ll have to read our post to find out why, but in the meantime, now is a great time to check in on your neighbors, especially those living alone– from a safe distance, of course. So far, members of our team at IEC have been able to offer a much-needed toilet paper rescue to one neighbor and received surplus bananas

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April 13, 2020

Lead Poisoning Awareness Week

By Iyana Simba | IEC Clean Water Advocate When it came to light in 2014 that residents of Flint, Michigan were exposed to elevated lead levels in their drinking water, the issue dominated headlines. Since then, cities like Newark, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Chicago have also found elevated lead levels in schools, childcare facilities, parks and residences. The CDC has found there is no safe level of lead exposure for children. Exposure to lead can seriously harm a child’s health, including damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth and development, and learning and behavior problems, which can cause lower IQ, decreased ability to pay attention and under-performance in school. Nationwide, lead finds its way into our drinking water through the 6.1 million lead service lines (LSLs) connecting businesses, schools and homes to the water main1. Roughly 12% of those lead service lines are found in Illinois

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October 25, 2019

Reclaimed Heritage: How Simple Appreciation is Better for Us and the Planet

By Crystal Kern | IEC Finance Director I grew up on a self-sufficient farm in central Kentucky. We had a diverse garden with more plant varieties than I can recall along with several animals. Everything produced on the farm solely supported our family. If we had an abundance of produce, we would invite neighbors over to help themselves to what they needed. We spent most of our spare time canning and preserving our food rather than running to the grocery store. I didn’t think of these things as sustainability practices at the time. They were just how we did things. But, that’s exactly what they were. We tended to the land and picked everything by hand, making due with just a tractor and a horse. We loaded our harvests into the corn crib ourselves and spent our days loading hay bales. Our grains were processed on-site with an old hammer mill.

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September 5, 2019

Introducing IEC Staff Picks

Get to know IEC while picking up a few tips and tricks for protecting the environment Historically, our blog has been a place for IEC staff to share our environmental policy expertise and educational updates on the latest issues facing Illinois. However, we’ve been looking for new ways to connect with other environmentalists like you more regularly, because after all, we are all in this fight together. In an effort to do that, we’re adding a new regular series to our blog with the goal of sharing with you more about who we are, what moves us to do this work and what we’re excited about most. For our first “picks”, a few members of our team have shared some of their personal favorite sustainability tips and ways in which our work ties back into our favorites. When in doubt, throw it out by IEC Executive Director Jen Walling This

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August 6, 2019

Team IEC on Capitol Hill

While a majority of our work at the Illinois Environmental Council is focused on passing and implementing environmental policies here in Illinois, we also engage with our state’s congressional delegation to influence federal environmental priorities as well. Recently, our team traveled to Washington D.C. where we met with congressional staff, several members of Congress and Senator Durbin as part of the national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Lobby Day. LCV is a national organization which seeks to pass pro-environment policies at the state and national level. Check out our video recap of our day from the Capitol here! IEC became the LCV state affiliate for Illinois in April 2018, which means we are plugged into a network of other state-level organizations fighting many of the same battles that we are fighting here in our state. Our trip to D.C. provided me a great way to get to know my new(ish)

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June 28, 2019

Illinois Has the Greenest Cannabis Bill in the Country

With input from the environmental community, Illinois is about to become the national leader for environmental protection in the cannabis industry. Earlier this year, Governor Pritzker along with members of the Illinois General Assembly, including chief sponsor Senator Heather Steans, introduced legislation to legalize recreational cannabis cultivation, sale and use in Illinois. For many this was no surprise, as it followed a round of state elections in which the legalization of recreational cannabis was a topic of hot debate, but polling showed it was supported by the vast majority of Illinoisans. Proponents of legalization have argued that ending the war on drugs is an important policy goal and a properly designed tax structure could allow cannabis to fund valuable state programs such as public education. But one issue has remained – is the ‘green’ industry really all that green-friendly? Let’s take a look at a few topics on this question.

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May 31, 2019