Illinois is beautiful. Anyone who argues otherwise hasn’t experienced Shawnee’s Garden of the Gods at sunset, the rolling hills near the Apple River, the Mississippi River viewed from the top of the bluffs, waterfalls from Waterfall Glen in the suburbs to Ferne Clyffe in Shawnee, or Lake Michigan at sunrise.
In his next term, Gov. J.B. Pritzker should continue his national climate leadership by prioritizing Illinois’ natural spaces that make our state so beautiful and prosperous. After successfully championing nation-leading clean energy policy with the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, nature-based climate solutions are our next imperative.
Nature-based climate solutions involve conserving, restoring or better managing ecosystems to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, such as allowing forests to regrow, restoring wetlands and switching to regenerative agricultural practices. These ecosystems soften climate impacts, such as extreme weather, and reduce climate pollution by capturing carbon dioxide from the air and sequestering it in plants and soils. They also provide many other important benefits, such as cleaner air and water, economic activity and biodiversity.
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